Peter and the Wolf

A few scenes from 'Peter and the Wolf', our recent A+ Production led by teacher and Director Rachelle Watson. If you were at one of the performances, how about leaving us a comment below. Enjoy!

Final School Newsletter for 2010 - 16 December

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School Newsletter 10 December 2010

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Springston School Art Festival

Today saw the culmination of our Arts Inquiry for this term. Parents and community were invited to attend a fabulous Art Festival afternoon, where each class put on a display of the various art forms the students had created, including live outdoor performances.

Here is Part 1 of a series of slideshows of photos taken during the Festival afternoon. You'll see a huge range of different art forms were explored, and students then chose one of these to take further and use as a tool to get their audience thinking about some issue that concerned them. Keep looking back for further slideshows as they are posted!

As you watch the slideshows, ask yourself:

• What is Art?

• And what message is the artist trying to convey?

We'd love you to leave a comment letting us know what you thought of the Festival!

Here are some displays from Room 7 (Year 7-8).

Now a couple of performances, and then the Room 3 displays.

Flocabulary's 'The Week in Rap'

Some of the students who attended Carol's music workshop recently will know something about composing a rap. So, this weekly news rap summary from Flocabulary will probably be of great interest! Every Friday, the Flocabulary team does a summary of a week's worth of news. A really different way of presenting the news, don't you think!

How many of these world news items do you recognise?

The Week in Rap - Dec 3rd from Week in Rap on Vimeo.

Now, there's a challenge for the Media Team to try some time in the future!

'What Now Cook-Off'

Reporters: Courtney, Libby and Georgia

Art Festival Invitation

Reporters: Kachina and Morgan

'Atmosphir' Game website

Here is the link to Atmosphir. We hope you enjoy it!

Reporters: Nic R and James T

School Newsletter 26 November 2010

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Juniors Run, Jump and Throw today!

Reporter: Myami (Year 6)

Year 8 News from Capital E in Wellington

The Year 8s will be having a wonderful time on their trip to Wellington this week. They've already been to Capital E to create a news bulletin. Look out for more news about their trip on their Team Venture Blog, or here on the News Blog.

Freddie's Earthquake Musical Composition

Senior students recently had the opportunity to attend a music workshop with Carol, using Garageband, as part of their Arts inquiry this term.

Freddie (Year 6, age 11) composed a song and created the backing for it. This was the first time he had used this software but he didn't just use the loops that come with Garageband, he used the software's musical typing keyboard to create three of his own loops. But wait, there's more....
Freddie then sang and recorded his own song!

Freddie has been learning the guitar for about 5 years. He certainly has a great musical future ahead of him! Isn't this marvellous!

Firstly, here are the words of his song, and then you can listen to Freddie's recording - WOW! We'd love to hear your comments about this!

While asleep we never knew,
What would come that night.

Paintings fallen, wine askew,
We had quite a fright.

Everything had fallen down,
People sat awake.

It made itself world renowned,
As an unexpected quake.

Aftershocks are every day,
Shaking us up.

Its wasting lots of things away,
But wait and it will stop.

Also able to be heard on YouTube!

Where in the world is Springston School?

An animation from Google Earth, showing you where Springston School is located.

Reporter: Josh G

Peter and the Wolf

This term Rachelle Watson (Room 8 teacher) has decided to organize a classic musical for the senior students. All the children interested in the play had to audition in front of lots of other people, which was very nerve-racking. Here is the cast.

Peter: Kachina and Kes

Bird: Libby H and Alice M

Duck: Georgia W and Alice T

Cat: Hannah D and Lucy B

Wolf: Emma B and Jahna W

Grandpa: Morgan and Emily W

Hunters: Alex P, Libby B, Courtney J, Myami, Annabelle, Esther, James T, Nick R

You may wonder why there are two names for each role. Because there are going to be two shows on two different nights.

These students rehearse in their own lunch breaks under Rachelle's supervision. Hopefully Peter and the Wolf will be preformed at the Arts Festival, in week nine.

We are very lucky to have Mrs. Watson as our wonderful Director and her fabulous expertise.

If you are interested in finding out more about this famous musical go to Wikipedia.

Reporter: Kachina

School Newsletter 11 November 2010

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Milo Cricket

At Springston School Milo Cricket is for Year 5 and 6 students. We have two teams, A and B. There are 10 players in each team, the teams are mixed (they must have at least two girls in each team). The B team is coached by student, Nick R, and the A team is taken by Jack T, both are Year 8 students.

Practices are held twice per week, and we have already competed against four other schools. The B team came third, and the A team got third or fourth.

Reporters: Alice T and Myami (Years 5 and 6)

Lincoln Zone Athletic Sports

On 5 November, students participated in the 2010 zones after getting placed 1, 2, and 3 in the school athletics. Five people got through to Canterbury's, they were: Claudia C, Josh W, William R, Nick T and Hamish T.

We had a great day with lots of parents there and family cheering kids on and having fun. Springston School is really lucky to have so many kids successful in going to Canterbury Area Finals. As we know, Springston is very proud of all the students that participated and tried their hardest in our sports day and zones. Springston hopes that the kids had fun and enjoyed representing Springston School.

Reporters: Tessa E and Claudia C (Year 6)

School Newsletter 29 October 2010

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A wonderful experience at the Christchurch Schools Music Festival

Our wonderful choir has just done themselves proud at this fabulous event! The Christchurch Schools Music Festival is a fabulous musical extravaganza that is not to be missed. The Springston Choir proudly took their place after many hours of dedicated practice under the skilled guidance of Trisa Espiner. Here are some snaps from Carol's iPhone.

Keen to get started - waiting to be seated in the Auditorium

View from the choir stalls, as the second half begins.

All eyes on the conductor

If you were in the audience, please leave us a comment about the highlights of the concert for you.
If you were in the choir or one of the special groups, what will you remember most fondly about the experience, or what was your favourite item?

Senior Athletics Day

By springstonmedia | View this Toon at ToonDoo | Create your own Toon

Reporters: Tessa E, Alice T

Senior Athletics Day 2010

Senior Athletics Day on PhotoPeach

Reporters: Myami and Morgan

What to do in an aftershock

With a big aftershock yesterday, and already a smaller one this morning, it's timely to remind ourselves what to do in a quake.

By springstonmedia | View this Toon at ToonDoo | Create your own Toon

Click on the comic to view it at a larger size.

Reporters: Courtney and Georgia

School Newsletter 15 October 2010

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Skype call with students from St Clair School, Dunedin

The students from the Super 7 Scoopers Blog, St Clair School in Dunedin, have been wanting to talk to some of our students about their experiences during and after the big 7.1 earthquake.

So, today we had a Skype video conference to meet and chat with them. Three of their Year 6 students interviewed four of our Year 8 students (Emma-Rose, Georgia, Lucy, Courtney). They had some interesting questions, and were amazed at our stories. No doubt you'll be able to read what they thought in a post on their blog coming up soon!

Here are a couple of video snippets from the Skype call.

We suggested that the Scoopers listen to this Team Endeavour video created by Izaac, Josh and Tom. The sound and shaking is EXACTLY like in the big earthquake!

One of the questions asked was - what would you miss most in a Civil Defence Emergency - electricity or water? Please post us a comment to tell us what you think, and why.

Tennis lessons at Springston School

On 13 October two tennis coaches came to Springston School to teach the classes some cool tennis moves and skills. They're coming back next week too.

Reporters: Myami, Alice T

Teachers v Pupils Netball

On the last day of Term 3 the teachers and pupils had a netball game. Sadly, the teachers won! The score was 15-9. The game was good to watch - there was lots of cheering for the teachers!

Reporter: James T

Come to Pet Day

By springstonmedia | View this Toon at ToonDoo | Create your own Toon

Reporter: Tessa E (Year 6)

Come along to the Christchurch Schools Music Festival

Springston School's Choir will be preforming at the Christchurch School's Music Festival next week. We would appreciate it if you would come along and support us.

There will be a variety of songs to suit everyone's taste and the theme for this year: 'Theatre, Time and Tales'.

Reporters: Megan and Emily B

Peter and the Wolf

For Term 4 we are doing 'Let your imagination run wild' and the main part is based on The Arts. As dance is an art Mrs Watson (Room 8 teacher) has decided to run a Production called 'Peter and the Wolf'. Peter and the Wolf is an original classic written by Sergei Prokofiev in 1936. Because there is no speaking in this play each character is represented by a different musical instrument.

We will keep you up to speed with the dates once finalized. Keep checking our blogs for more information about the play.

Reporters: Georgia and Courtney

School Library Journal 'Trailee Awards' - we're in the finals!

We have TWO finalists in the School Library Journal 'Trailee Awards'!

This is an international competition that recognises videos that do the best job of promoting books and bringing readers and books together.

WOW - what talented students we have at Springston School! These book trailers were made months ago, without knowing such a competition existed; Carol saw the competition later, and decided to put in three entries. Two of these got into the finals!

And now we urgently need YOUR votes for t

hese “People’s Choice” awards.

There are only FOUR finalists in each category of this competition, and we have TWO finalists in one of these:

Student created for secondary readers (7-12 grade):

• Dead Girls Don’t Write Letters (Roaring Brook, 2003) by Gail Giles. (By Morgan and Kachina - Year 8)
• One Door Away from Heaven (Bantam, 2001) by Dean Koontz (By Emma-Rose - Year 8)

The winners will be announced on the evening of October 22 at the School Library Journal Leadership Summit on the Future of Reading in Chicago, IL.

Please vote now. Scroll to the bottom of the voting page to cast your vote - get all your friends and family to vote too!

Voting ends: 9:00 PM CST, Friday October 22.

THANK YOU to our friends at Ruahine School!

Dear Ruahine School

We cannot thank-you enough for your amazing kindness and generosity towards our school. You guys are fab!

We currently don’t know what we are going to spend the money on, but we will let you know after the holidays (which we are all looking forward to).

Please keep in contact with us via our blog and we will keep you updated of the events here in Christchurch. PS your clown costumes are really cool! :)

Mollie (Year 7)
On behalf of Springston School teachers and students

Spiderman (The real version!) - hilarious!

Morgan, Kachina and Libby were our three Year 8 students who made up the Springston 1 Team for the recent CCES Competition (poor Georgia couldn't make it because she had shingles). The girls planned (hmmm, they took all of 1 minute to do that!) scripted, filmed, and edited the whole movie within an hour and a quarter! Amazing!

The theme was 'Super Hero saves the day". You'll need to listen carefully in just a couple of places, but the acting and humour is amazing, with a few special effects thrown in. Hilarious! Awesome work, girls!!

Super Fairy Princess Guy and the Stupid Burglar - Superhero saves the day!

It's about time we had a bit of a laugh and some fun! So, here is our CCES Competition Junior Team's Highly Commended movie! The challenge theme was 'Superhero saves the day' and, as usual, there were only two hours in which to come up with an idea, film and edit it.

Cory, Myami and Oliver worked really well together and came up with a lot of great ideas. Myami has a little song to start and end the movie (listen carefully), Cory's acting is amazing and he is very funny. Oliver has used some clever techniques to make the movie seem like a comic, and watch what happens when the Super Fairy waves his wand! Great effort guys!

Special Newsletter - return to school 13 September 2010

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Back to School!

Welcome back to all our families - it's a beautiful day to be back into our routines and our learning! Thanks to everyone who has supported us, and helped us get up and running again!

Junior students will be working in the Library and side room until we know what will be happening with repairs for Rooms 1 and 2. Aren't we lucky to have these spare spaces!

Springston School Update - Thursday 9 September

The BOT met this morning and the school will remain closed until Monday 13 September. Teachers will have been phoning the parents of children on their class lists to inform you of this.

Our water and sewerage are all functioning as normal. If you have any concerns about this, please send your children with a water bottle.

On Monday morning all parents are welcome to stay as long as you like to assure yourselves that your children are coping well. You are also most welcome to have a cup of tea in the staffroom from 9:00 am.

We look forward to seeing you all back at school, safe and well!

Selwyn Council Updates

You might like to keep up with news specific to the Selwyn District here, especially the information relating to the safety of water from private bores and wells.

Keeping busy during the closures

How are you all? Safe and warm, I hope, and taking great care of each other.

How are you keeping busy during the school closure? It will be at least Monday before we see you again, so if you're lucky enough to have electricity and remain in your own home, then you might like to check out all our class blogs, and do some of the activities and games your teachers have put up for you over the term.

Don't forget that the Library blog also has some games and puzzles. This is also a great time to get out your board games and packs of cards, or to kick a ball around with friends.

If you're in the Media Team, you might like to log in to the News Blog and post some of your news and experiences to share with others. You can email me if you want to know any passwords etc. Or, anyone can post a Comment here to let us know how you are and what you are doing.

Some of you might like to sign in to ToonDoo and create a cartoon about the Earthquake. You can see some great examples here. Email me for a login and password if you have an idea! I'll put it on the blog!

St Clair School's SuperScoopers Blog students and teacher are very worried about us and I'm sure they'd love to hear you're ok. Others are looking in from all around the world.

Those of you looking for a creative challenge might like to plan or film an entry for the Fair Go Ad Awards - entries must be in by 27 September.

Keep safe, keep well, keep in touch!
Carol

Schools remain closed until Monday 13 September

Ministry of Education Announcement 3:30 pm

ECE centres and schools are closed for children and students until Monday 13 September. Please go to the Ministry of Education website for futher information. Call 0800-225-580 if you have any queries about the website information. A further decision will be made on Thursday afternoon.

Schools to remain closed

Blog updated 4:15 pm 6 September

From the Ministry of Education

Important update: School closures, Monday 6 September

Schools and early childhood centres in Christchurch, Waimakariri, and Selwyn districts will be closed until at least Wednesday 8 September in response to the earthquake.

This follows the Chief Medical Officer of Health advising all public buildings are to remain closed until Wednesday.

More detailed information is available in the Ministry of Education's media statement.

Civil Defence - regular updates here.

All families are being phoned by their teachers to make sure they have this message.

A list of all closed schools in Christchurch and the surrounding area can be downloaded here.

Keep watching this blog or the school's main website for updates.

From the NZ Herald: Where the aftershocks have hit.

Red markers: Aftershocks on Saturday 4 September
Blue markers: Aftershocks on Sunday 5 September
Yellow markers: Aftershocks Monday 6 September
Green markers: Aftershocks Tuesday 7 September
Purple markers: Aftershocks Wednesday 8 September
Pink markers: Aftershocks Thursday 9 September
Dark blue markers: Aftershocks Friday 10 September
Black markers: Aftershocks Saturday 11 September
Red dot markers: Aftershocks Sunday 12 September

View Christchurch earthquake: Where the land shook in a larger map

EARTHQUAKE STRIKES CHRISTCHURCH & CANTERBURY AREA

This is a genuine report, of an extensive earthquake in the Christchurch and Canterbury region, here in New Zealand.

The quake was reportedly 7.1 on the Richter scale and struck at 4:35 am on Saturday 4 September. There have been many significant aftershocks. We are not sure how this will affect our school and families at this stage. Hopefully school families are well-prepared following the extensive learning from last year about how to prepare for a major disaster.

School families should check the Civil Defence website for updates.
Information about storing water.
What to do in an earthquake.

Students' families can leave messages via Comments for this post (if you have electricity and internet etc) to let us know you're ok.

Update: 10:00 am Sunday 5 September. Liz and BOT will be checking the school this afternoon to decide how to proceed. We will keep you updated, as long as electricity and internet are available.

Keep track of aftershocks - strength and timing here.
Latest news on the earthquake from the NZ Herald.


View Christchurch earthquake in a larger map

Inquiry Documentary - Luckiest kids in the world?

We hope you enjoy this documentary, created by Libby, Lucy and Emma (Year 8 students) who have been learning about Children's Rights in their classroom inquiry.

Are Kiwi kids the luckiest in the world? Leave us a comment and let us know what you think.

Reporters: Lucy, Libby, and Emma

Choice & Challenge 'Movie Stars'

'Movie Stars' is an option for the Junior children to choose at Choice and Challenge time.

They choose the parts they want to play and then practise their lines and choose their costumes. One of the children is the Director, and they film the play on one of the Flip video cameras. Then we take it over to the big screen in the Library and watch our movies.

Here are some snippets of the groups we have had so far. We hope you enjoy them!

CCES Multimedia winning presentation

Our Middle age group Multimedia team (Emily, Megan and Courtney) created the winning slideshow for their group, and also gained the overall multimedia trophy.

They had only 2 hours to create a multimedia presentation, and the topic was ANZAC. Each team was given a folder of images to choose from, some sounds, and text which had to be included on the first few slides (each of which, they were told, had to be 20 seconds long). The instruction was that they had to create a presentation for a war museum. Buttons were also to be used, to take the viewer backwards and forwards.

Here is a movie version of their presentation. The judge commented on how well the team worked together, and how focused they were. She also said that they captured the mood of ANZAC Day very well in their presentation.

We'll be posting the entries from the other two teams (Moviemaking) over the next few days!

CCES Competition Winners!

Congratulations to the students who represented Springston School at the Canterbury Computers in Education Society Competition on Sunday 29 August. The 'Springston 2' Team of Emily, Courtney and Megan came first in the Multimedia (Slideshow) Middle age group section and won the trophy for the best overall multimedia for Junior and Middle age groups.

The 'Springston 3' Team of Oliver, Myami and Cory also did well in gaining a Highly Commended in the Junior Moviemaking section.

'The Precious'

Another movie about a key, this time by members of the Senior CCES moviemaking team, Morgan, Kachina and Libby. This movie is a little disturbing, and I think the girls might have been watching some of the movies produced by a certain famous New Zealander... They certainly let their imaginations run wild on this one, and put some iMovie09 special effects to good use! (Again, created in only 2 hours).

School Newsletter 27 August 2010

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'Lost Keys'

This week was the final challenge for the Junior Moviemaking Team before Sunday's CCES competition. They had 2 hours to create a video telling a story related to an object, and the object they chose from the list they were given was... a key. Some great acting here from Cory!

Video by Cory, Myami, Oliver

Netball Tournament at Lincoln

Reporters: Emma and Lucy

CANTAMATH at Springston School

Absent: Jahna

On 11 August Springston School entered two teams in the Cantamath competition - one team in the Year 7 competition, and one in the Year 8 competition. They had 30 minutes to answer 20 questions. the Year 8 team got 10 correct answers (50 out of 100 points) and the Year 7 team scored 50 out of 100 points (10 correct questions). This was a great effort from every one involved.

Year 7

Oliver G

Emily W

Courtney J

Jahna W

Year 8

Josh G

Emily B

Tessa B

Lucy C

Some of the questions proved to be very difficult and the Year 8 team had to pass two questions.

It was a very exhilarating experience and hard work. Another element we had to contend with was the noise, as all the teams were swept away in the excitement of the occasion.

Reporter: Josh G

Anton the Author and Prizewinner

1st Place and receiving $300 of Paper Plus Merivale vouchers in the More FM Short Story Competition is.... Anton P. from Springston School with his story ‘The Boys and the Bear!’

Anton says, “I felt really excited and very shocked that out of all the 7-10 year old entrants I won. Neither me nor my dad knew that I had won, but just this morning Liz came into the class and said that I had won something. I didn’t have a clue but then, as soon as she started to say, ‘Short Story’, my heart started to race. I’m not too sure what I’m going to spend it on, but I’m thinking about drawing, craft books and drawing tools. I just need to go into the More FM office and pick up the vouchers.”

We all wish Anton the very best for winning that prize he might be an author one day.

Reporter: Alice T

Photo: James

CCES Competition

CCES

On Sunday 29 August we are sending 3 teams to Canterbury University to the CCES (Canterbury Computers in Education Society) Competition.

We are entering 2 teams in the Moviemaking section and one in the Multimedia section.

The teams are:

Springston Team 1 - Moviemaking

Kachina

Morgan

Georgia

Libby

Springston Team 2 - Multimedia

Megan

Courtney

Emily

Springston Team 3 - Moviemaking

Oliver

Cory

Myami

We wish them all the best of luck for Sunday.

Reporters: Myami (Year 6) & Tessa E (Year 6)

Jelly Bean Netball Tournament

On Sunday 15 August, the Springston Primary A team won the Jelly Bean Tournament that was held in Rangiora.

We each took home a little container of jelly beans. The Jelly Bean Tournament is a netball tournament that is held every year in Rangiora.

Students involved in the team from school are Libby H, Nick T, Hannah D, Hannah L, Megan H, Courtney J and Jahna W.

It was a great day that was enjoyed by many people and I hope that the ladies that run it carry on for many more years.

Reporter: Libby H

Choice & Challenge Photography Club - check it out!

The photo club group for Choice and Challenge went out with Craig to learn how to take great photos. Take a look and give them a comment. Not bad for the first try!

Library Week Video Competition - PLEASE VOTE FOR US NOW!

PLEASE vote for our video in the Library Week 'Love Your Library' Video Competition, and ask your friends to, too!

'Full of Surprises' by Springston School Morgan, Kachina, and Georgia (Year 8) created this video in just over two hours.

There are fabulous prizes to be won, and the winner is chosen by popular vote. Voting closes on Friday 27 August, so please visit the website and vote NOW. Don't forget to get your friends and families to support our video, too... Thanks!

School Newsletter 20 August 2010

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Meet our new teacher!

Reporters: Isabel and Tessa E

One News - Breaking News - Prison escape!

Cory, Myami and Oliver are entering the CCES (Canterbury Computers in Education Society) competition and once every week we make a new video for practice. This is our third movie that we have made on iMovie09 and we had just 2 hours to make it. This time we made a mock documentary about a prison escape on the news.

Reporters: Cory, Myami, Oliver

School Safety Video

You probably know the car safety advertisements on TV... the ones where you have to make a choice at an intersection about whether to go or not? Cory, Oliver and Myami have created a similar video, relating to safety at school. The video had to be exactly 30 seconds long, and they only had 2 hours in which to plan, film and edit it. They were also asked to use one of the effects in iMovie 09 where you can reverse the video. The safety rule is: Do not run in class!

Reporters: Cory, Oliver and Myami

Room 8 enters cyberspace!

New teacher, Rachelle Watson, has wasted no time in starting a class blog for the wonderful students in Room 8! The class started on Monday, and we can already see the exciting things happening for our newest class - the Springston Explorers.

Room 8 joins our other recently started blog - Room 4's Springston Rockets, so check them out too!

As with all the blogs, they would LOVE to hear your Comments - just follow the 'Comments' link below any blog post. Be sure to Follow or become a subscriber of their blog, as well as our other class blogs, and the Library Blog. Links are on the school's main website and also down the side of each of our blogs. We're very keen to keep building our online community!