Speeches

This term we have learned how to write and present speeches. We used our report writing skills from Term 3 to help us to research our topic and write our speech. We learned how to write an introduction that grabs the readers attention and clearly introduces our topic. We did lots of fun oral language tasks to help us to learn how to project our voice, speak clearly, use tone and pace effectively and how to use body language, gestures and facial expressions. Our favourite activity was a tongue twister competition. How many times can you say these...

Annabelle ate eight enormous apricots

Hungry Hippos Hold Hands Happily

Snoozing Sam Snail snores sleepily

without making a mistake?

We used the camera to record ourselves presenting our speeches then used our marking rubrics to see what we were doing well and what we could improve on. Each person in the class was evaluated by one other person and Miss Morrison, then we evaluated our own presentation. We all thought we did a pretty good job!

This is our wall display of our completed written speeches including photos showing us using body language, gestures and facial expressions to enhance our speeches:

Our class speech competition was won by both Lucas and Alice with Anna coming a very close third - CONGRATULATIONS and WELL DONE!

Here are their fantastic speeches:

What is that lovely sound? It has the ring of a church bell and a happy scream and a shout from a little kid playing. Can you guess what that wonderful sound is? Its Laughing! The most wonderful sound in the world!
Laughing isn’t just a sound. It’s a good, tingly feeling that makes me smile. It is a reaction to being tickled or maybe your idea of a joke. Laughing was not actually invented or thought of. (If it was though, the person would have gotten a Nobel Prize!) It is completely normal for anyone to laugh!
We have all seen a baby laugh so your thinking ‘Its so normal so why is she making such a fuss about it?’ Well there is a lot that you probably don’t know. Babies laugh around 300 times a day. (Bet you didn’t know that!) Adults only laugh around 20 times so babies look pretty happy.
Humour binds people together and creates a better friendship. It is the best cure for a pain or a ache. Laughter protects you from stress which will help after a hard day at work, school or just plain reaching for the remote.
Pump, pump. Do you know what that is? It is the 80 facial muscles in your face pumping away and working hard to keep you fit. But your not exercising. Your laughing and giggling with your friends and making a fool of yourself and keeping fit! laughing is just another way to keep fit!
So I have proven my point. Laughing is good for you. And yes I know that sometimes laughing can be inappropriate like laughing at a funeral or during a maths test but we all want to be a healthy, fit and fun child, don’t we? By Alice

Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No, it’s… you probably know the rest. There’s probably a kid half-way across the world screaming his name right nnnnnow. Do all of you know who I'm talking about? Superman!

The creators of Superman were Jerome Siegel (The Writer) and Joseph Shuster (The Illustrator). Jerry was born on October 17, 1914 and had a skill: writing.
Siegel was a teenager when he got the idea for Superman. He had glasses and was no good at sport… or being with girls. He used to write in his attic about anything that popped into his head. No one understood him: accept Joe Shuster. Born July 10 1914, while Jerry was writing in his attic, Joe was drawing in his kitchen using a breadboard as a surface. Like Jerry, Joe drew anything he thought about. One night Jerry was in bed and BAM!, the idea hit him in the stomach!
Jerry shared his idea with Joe the next morning and they set off to place Superman in the comic strips in the newspapers. But no one would publish it. They carried on like this for 3 years until an editor that once said, “This is ridiculous”, finally accepted it. “But” he said, “Could you change the format? We’re turning comic strips into comic books”. So, Superman became the world’s 1st superhero and starred in the world’s 1st comic book.
The history of Kal-El: Last son of Krypton goes way back to June 1938 when Action Comics No.1 was published thanks to the editor who finally accepted their offer. The visual appearance of Superman has been advanced over the years changing one bit at a time until he became the cool, unbeatable hero he is today. He looked (and sounded) much less fantastic back in the 40s. Of course, everyone back then thought that Superman would never get any better than that.
The editor who accepted the 1st ever superhero: Superman, was the founder of Detective Comics Universe (DC or DCU for short). Jerry and Joe were so desperate to have Superman published by this time that they accepted and sold all the rights for Superman for 310… Million? Thousand? No, $310 hundred dollars. The Superman story and merchandise could have made them millions! They worked for DC for a very long time. They went to court twice trying to get some of the money that DC was making from Superman… and lost both times. Why did they go to court? They were fed up with DC getting the credit for their creation. Both times they got a tiny bit of money. The 1st time DC took their names off anything Superman related. After the 2nd court session, they returned their names. Do you think Jerry and Joe deserve to be recognised as Superman’s creators?
When Jerry and Joe died, DC placed a Superman a shield in one of their comics in memory of them. Although Jerry an Joe may have died, Superman lives on.
So if you think you have the writing skill to create a brand new Superhero, do yourself a favour and take a lawyer with you before you sign any contracts.
By Lucas

Hello everyone! OK, you all know who I am but I bet some of you here do not know a lot about Taylor Swift. Like did you know that she has a brother who’s name is Austen Lee Swift? But that’s not all the members of her family, she also has a mum and a dad , of course! Also did you know that she is 22 years old and loves to sing.
Taylor Swift is a big singing sensation. She started writing songs when she was 12 years old. She turned a negative into a positive when she was getting bullied. She wrote songs about her feelings and how bulling was cruel. Then she started writing positive songs to help other people feel good about themselves. I’m totally against bullying but at least something good came out of her experience like super stardom worldwide! And I don’t think she’s getting bullied now!
I bet Taylor Swift is every young girls inspiration. She’s definitely mine. She has a great voice and great tone. But she also helps kids who don’t have much. She donated $250,000 to an Alabama charity for homeless kids. Taylor Swift shows that you should not just care about yourself, you need to care about others too.
Now you boys in the class room probably don’t know Taylor Swift’s latest song ‘State of Grace’, but I bet most of the girls do because Taylor Swift is so awesome! My favourite song of hers ‘Mine’ and is the first song Taylor Swift ever wrote about a boy y her. I like the tone and the lyrics and the message about not letting people hurt you.
Taylor Swift has had 164 award nominations and won 66. Wow! Well actually I bet I could have done that right? Anyone? Anyone? Fine I guess not.
But you had better watch out because one day I’ll be a pop star singing right beside Taylor Swift! You have heard lots about Taylor Swift and the next time you hear one of her songs turn the volume up and she might inspire you too. By Anna

Technology - Bath Bombs

Our major focus this term has been on designing, producing and packaging bath bombs. We built on our fizzing and foaming science knowledge from Term 3 to use baking soda and citric acid to make bath bombs. We used our science knowledge to create an everyday product.

First we tested 3 bath bomb recipes and evaluated how clear the instructions were, how much each bath bomb cost to make and how effective the final product was. We used this information to choose the 'best' recipe:

Recipe 3

Recipe 2

Recipe 1

We have chosen to use recipe one because it made the bathbomb that held together the best. It wasn't the most expensive and it fizzed up the most. Its fizzing also lasted the longest. Lucy

Then we created surveys to help us to find out the most popular colour, shape and scent from the selection available to us. We had to ask at least 50 people outside of school. We then graphed the results and wrote statements about our findings:

We then used this information to help our group decide what colour, shape and scent our bath bombs would be:

Blue was the most popular colour. The most popular shape was a star and rainforest was the most popular scent. Our group will make two bath bombs. One will be a blue, rainforest star with glitter. The second will be a blue, rainforest circle. William

The next step was to make our bath bombs. Each group made at least 6 bath bombs, enough for 2 each. It was lots of fun but got a bit messy!

One groups completed bath bombs

The we learned about logos and how companies use images, colours and slogans to convey an idea about a product. We created some practise logos for the 'Speedy Delivery Company' in our books before we made our own logos for our bath bombs. We had to create a name for our product and a feeling or idea using colours, images and a catchy slogan. We put a copy in our books as a reference then used cardboard to create our logo tags to attach to our bath bombs.

The next step was to design packaging for one of our bath bombs which we had to give to someone as a gift. We visited Lavish Soaps in Oamaru to make soap and find out about how they package their bathroom products and why. We designed our packaging in our books and had to write reasons for our material choices i.e. cellophane because it will stop the bath bomb from getting wet.

Making soap at Lavish

Packaging Plans

Making our packaging at school

Here are some of our completed and packaged bath bombs with logo tags attached. They are now ready to be gifted to our very lucky friends and family:

Packaged and ready to be gifted

Habits of Mind

We learned 2 new habits this term to help us through our Technology process: Try New Ideas and Create and Innovate.

I am going to try different ways and not give up, I will keep trying. Create and Innovate, Archie

I won't give up when something goes wrong but will try new things until something works. Create and Innovate, Ella

I will try new things and not give up even if it is something that I don't want to do. Try New Ideas, Lucas

The Tale Of Three Trees

On Wednesday, December 5, Room 3 presented the play 'The Tale of Three Trees' as St Joseph's item at the first Combined Churches and Schools Christmas Celebration. Everyone in the class had a part in the play and we had great fun learning our lines, practising and of course presenting our play. The story is about three trees that have have dreams of what they would like to become in the future, but are disappointed when their dreams don't quite become reality. However, the trees soon realise that their dreams have come true just not in the way they expected.