Awakeri School Room 12 2007

Who are we?
We are Room 12 of course! The best, most good looking, smartest, funniest and coolest class not only in the school, but in the world!
Our class is full of 31 Yr. 7 & 8 boys and girls with Mr. Hawkes as our teacher. He's very musical and we have a lot of fun.

20th December 2007 Sob, sob, cry, cry. The children of Awakeri school must be so sad that their beloved year 8's will be leaving. It's so sad. I know, you'll be miserable without us. But don't worry, we can still come tomorrow.
Tonight is our senior social! Yay (as Thomas would say) It's going to be a memorable night.
Well, (as Jemma would say) this is my last entry. So we from room 12 wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Zara

17th December 2007 Scroll down for Mr H's final teacher's message of the year.

12th December 2007 It's almost the end of the year because today we get our reports! Oh no! I mean yay, Mine will be perfect. *Cough cough*
Last nights movie night was a success. Many people enjoyed watching all of the movies that we had made. Even some of Awakeri's ex-students showed up to see what we have been doing over the year.
At the moment we have a teacher-in-training in our class. Her name is Ms. Cotter. She has been watching and helping us with our work.

6th December 2007 Yesterday, we got to watch the room 12 Movie, Love Potion #12. It was so funny and the film crew did a great job of it. The world premiere of the movie will be on the movie night which is next Tuesday. There will also be other movies the students have made like room 10's fairy tale video's and movies made by ex-students so it looks like a good night.
We started folk dancing yesterday (which we all love so much!). Thank goodness it's raining today so we don't have to do it (I mean darn!).
Last week we had intensives which was a lot of fun. The year 7's learnt how to be leaders of the school by working with the little kids. They read to them and played games with them. And had chicken and chips made by Mr. Fitz. Surprisingly, no one got sick!
While they were doing that, the year 8's went to Centre Sports in Mt. Maunganui and played soccer, netball and dodgeball, then they went bowling. The next day the Year 8's either golfing or to the Skate Park and the Pa Site.
The year 7's went to the Barr's farm and did some team building activities. At the end, we all met up at the hot pools and had a bbq lunch. For some photo's from the intensives, click here!

27th November 2007 We are almost done presenting our radio broadcasts. The ones we have seen so far were great. They have made us laugh, cry (because we are laughing so much) and think hard (about how they could have thought of such a thing). Below are some photos of some of today's broadcasts.

25th November 2007 We have created some cool mottos to do with most of us leaving Awakeri and going off to high school next year:

23rd November 2007 Well, (as Jemma would say) it's Friday. We are almost done presenting our radio broadcasts. Jarrod, Rachael and Pete presented theirs at assembly which filled the whole complex with laughter (even though some people didn't even know what they were laughing about). Though we still have more to listen to.
At the moment the film crew are editing the movie. We have been watching some of the movie and it looks great but we have to wait 'til the premiere to see the movie properly.
Soon we are going to have some Kareoke from our lovely singers *cough*. Then we are going out to play some softball with room 10.

15th November 2007 We've all just came back from lunch and many of our seniors were playing a game called 'Wavy Gravy'. You may have heard of it. But instead of explaining the rules I'll just tell you what happened. Renee was in and had caught some people but they kept getting away. (In wavy gravy, if you are caught and are waved at, you can sneak away. That's why it's called wavy gravy. (I'm not sure why where gravy came from. I think it's because it rhymes with wavy.)) Anyway, we got so bored with hiding, we started to walk straight through Renee's path, for fun. But that didn't work, she still didn't see us. So we sat right in front of her. That didn't work either. So we tried to see how many things we could do without getting caught. Matthew disguised himself as a little kid, Ben wore a bucket on his head and we even talked to her without her realising what was happening. In the end we were all lying on the concrete laughing so much that we cried! So this lunch time was very, er, entertaining.

14th November 2007 We're about half way through the week which has been all about gymnastics. Almost everyday we go over to the events centre and practise our gymnastics. Today we made up some routines in pairs. We do handstands, rolls and cartwheels on the mats. But we practise on the beam and the beatboard as well. Tomorrow we will show some of the routines to the rest of the syndicate.
This morning we had a meeting about our intensives which start the week after the next. The yr. 8's get to go ten pin bowling and to the sports centre in Mt. Maunganui. While the yr. 7's do activities about looking after the juniors and team building.

6th November 2007 This morning, we started to write our radio broadcasts. In a week or two we will present them to the class like a radio. We've have some really cool ones over the years so we're all excited.
This afternoon, the film crew are continuing with the filming of the movie.
While that is happening, the rest of the class is with Mr. Sheather, doing science. We are studying sound and light.

2nd November 2007 Things are just getting busier and busier! At the moment we are in the midst of shooting our movie, Love Potion #12. The crew have started to film some of the scenes and get props ready. This morning they shot the start of the movie with music from Rm. 12's (and partly Room 10's) band, Crossfate. Today, they played at assembly as a practice for the talent quest at liberty centre this Saturday. Good luck guys!

31st October 2007 Oooooooh! Halloween takes place tonight. Don't get too scared tonight.
This morning Mrs. Shaw, room 11's teacher, had to come to school late, so we had to look after, *hm hm* babysit, them. Because we are playing softball for our house competition, we decided to work on our skills. Then we played softball all morning, so we missed out on maths. We were so depressed. (not!)
This afternoon we have the high jump finals. Because we had our other field events on Monday. And tomorrow we will have our sprints part of athletics.
Yesterday we had the auditions for the Room 12 movie. The three main parts are
Mad Scientist- Ben Fretwell
Little John- Sam Schuler
Super Hero- Guy Kamphorst
There are a lot of other parts but you'll have to see the movie to see them. Coming to a theatre near you.

23rd October 2007 Welcome back from a four-day weekend. But now it's back to school and maturation talks are kicking off. You should have heard Zoe when she found out about the pretest this morning.
She said " What? We're having a maturation pretest? What are we going to do, just write what we know?"
And Mr. Hawkes said, as a joke, "No, I'm just going to get you to draw pictures." Not nice Mr. Hawkes. You had Zoe freaking!
Today is the last day to finish off our slide show presentations about slaves. We are going to view them soon in the staff room, maybe in two weeks time.
Next week we are going to start filming the room 12 movie. Auditions are going to be later on this week and everyone is excited.

16th October 2007 Yesterday we had Mrs. Laurent. We did some cool art about Ag. Day or our holidays. We are using charcoal and colouring pencils. A lot of us have still got a bit of work to do when we have Mrs. Laurent on Thursday. So I'll take some pictures of them as soon as they are finished.
Today some of the students from our class have gone with their animals to Group Day at Otakiri School. Good luck guys! (and girls) Below are some of the many photos from Ag Day.

Click here to see more photos from Ag. Day.

11th October 2007 It's the afternoon and we are listening to our story by Roald Dahl, Going Solo. It's about his life in a war.
Tomorrow is Ag Day and all of the animal areas are being set up. So we can't practice our relays this afternoon because everything is in the way. So we have to make up a new track.
This morning we were voting for the movie we wanted to make. After almost an hour, we picked Aimee's! Congrats! Her story is about a professor that invents a love potion and uses it on people. But I can't say too much, or I might ruin it.
We have just finished our Ag Day horticulture crafts. (and yes, I did think of that big word all by myself. Horticulture, I'm not dumb you know. I have a very good vo, vocabu, I know lots of words.)
If you can't see the crafts tomorrow, They are on display tonight from 4:30pm to 6pm. There should also be some photos on the website in a few days.

10th October 2007 We're back at school and getting back into working mode.
We have been writing stories for our Room 12 movie. I can't say anything because I don't actually know what people have written. It is supposed to be confidential until we pick the winning story.
Athletics is coming up in a few weeks. We have been practicing things like high jump and discus.
Tomorrow we are making our crafts for Ag Day. We have to make things like diorama's, flax weaving and flower jewellery.
Have a look at our cool abstract artwork about ourselves in the Calendar Art folder in the school foyer. While you're there some of our portrait sketches are up on the wall too.

20th September 2007 It's the last day of Term 3! YAY! I mean, er, boo hoo, cry, cry, sob, sob. I'm going to be very miserable without school work.
Tonight is our last night for Operetta. It is completely sold out, but it is going to be a great show.
This afternoon we are going to watch the videos the Senior syndicate have made over the last term. There will be science videos, camp videos and even movies like the Little Mermaid! It is going to be great. But at the moment we are just finishing work like calendar and graphs. They look really good, so far.

14th September 2007 Mr. Hawkes told us a 'very funny' joke a few days ago and thought it was so hilarious that we just had to put it on the website. So, here we go.
We were doing a reading exercise and we had to write the word alert. And Mr. Hawkes just had to tell us about this sign from the second world war. It said 'Be alert'. Underneath someone had written, 'your country needs lerts'. After much discussion everyone finally understands the joke (well Aimee says she understands it!). We searched on the internet, in google images, lert. There was all types of crazy things. You can even adopt a lert!
Also, good luck to the Kapa Haka group who are competing tomorrow in the Rangitaiki Festival. Leaders Liam and Leonie are both from Room 12.

13th September 2007 Yesterday we had a full full run through of the operetta, costumes and all. It was cool getting into character and dancing and singing. Tickets have been selling fast so make sure you get one. Thursday has only got a few left! Click here to see some great photos.
Lately we have been sending out a survey for students to answer. Yesterday we collected some of the data and we will be turning it into graphs. It's quite funny what some people say, like one person said when they wanted to be a spy when they grow up. And some of the answers don't even match the question. Like one of the answers to 'what is your favourite breed of dog?' was a brown one. We will be displaying the data on our windows so watch out for that.

6th September 2007 Well, Spring has sprung! Which means Ag Day is coming soon! Have you been training?
Today we are having a full run through of the whole play. It is going to be a lot of fun. We have put up our fliers and tickets are on sale so it's getting stressful. ( Not for us, for the teachers.)
At the moment we are doing Maths. Sure, maths is boring, for most people, but last week we sent aroung a survey. It has questions like 'have you dyed your hair?' and 'what's your favourite ice cream flavour?' And we are discussing the results. So it's not so boring.
Yesterday we had Mrs.Laurent. Because the Rugby world cup is coming up, we decided to base our day around rugby. Gemma drew an awesome England poster which is down in Student's Work.

29th August 2007 Production is coming up quick and we have a lot to do. We have made posters and flyers and we have learnt all of our lines (I think). One of my favourite parts is probably the bandit's chase scene. Everyone is banging into eachother and we look like complete idiots. And yes, it is supposed to be that way, we are not idiots. Well, most of us aren't.

24th August 2007 Lately, us kids have been having very boring lunch times so we decided to play something new. So we brought in kickball. You may have heard of it in American movies and programs. It's kind of like softball, with all of the bases and things, but instead of using a bat to hit the ball, you use your foot. It's the game we are playing this afternoon.
Nothing else new has been happening today. Just your regular fun Friday.

22nd August 2007 It's another beautiful day outside but we're stilled cooped up in here. Fitness has its advantages.
Mr. Hawkes was in a bit of a rush this morning. He was writing up the schedule but because he was hurrying he wrote everything in abbreviations, which left us quite puzzled. Though it was quite funny watching people's faces as they came in and saw the board.
This afternoon we will be practicing Windust, our operetta. It's fun but a lot of hard work. The school does Windust every six or seven years because it is such a great success. Let's hope it is this year! Fingers crossed!

16th August 2007 Yesterday was a great sunshiny day which was perfect for our soccer and hockey day. It was a lot of fun and Awakeri won all their games. Well, most. And at the end of the day Leonie came up to me, after the whole day of playing soccer, said 'you wanna play soccer?' Which was annoying, but I played anyway because there was nothing else to do. ( I think she is suffering from soccerophobia.)

10th August 2007 Today is Friday! Yay! TGIF!
Fact: For those haven't read this page before or haven't read the entry from the 18th of May, two things.
Shame on you!
TGIF means 'Thank God It's Friday'
Right now Mr. Hawkes is teaching the class about apostrophe's. How exciting! *Cough cough* And no, I am not trying to get out of it! Don't be silly! Yes I am remembering my apostrophes! (I hope.)
Lately, whenever we have a break, us students like to go outside and hackey.
Another fact: Hackey is when you juggle a soccer ball using only your head, legs, feet and chest.
So Mr. Hawkes has organized a hackey competition. It's on Thursday next week during lunch time.

8th August 2007 Well, (as Jemma would say) at the moment we are getting stuck into Opperetta and our soccer and hockey day which is coming up in a few weeks. Not hoccer and sockey day as a common mistake from previous years.
Today Mr. Hawkes is working with the Orchestra for the Opperetta. So we are having Miss Bryson for most of the day and we are having a lot of fun. Like about a minute ago, Ben was playing with his ruler when it smashed into a million pieces. And hit Christine, Joel, Nimai and all these other people in the face. Speaking of a million, we are doing English. What has that got to do with a million you may ask. We are writing a story about what we would do if we won a million dollars. From what I've heard, Zoe finds a check for a million dollars and Jasmine is writing about a Suzuki. Maybe she's moving to Japan! When they are finished I will write about them on the website.
Tomorrow some of the students will be going into town for the E.B.O.P. Science Fair. Students who got a Highly Commended or a placing qualified for the competition. Congratulations to all that will go and good luck. The competition will be open to the public on Friday in the evening and on Saturday Morning. Prize giving is on Saturday afternoon.

2nd August 2007 Today we have an exciting day ahead of us as this afternoon we are going to the movies. No, we aren't seeing the Simpsons movie, but that would be cool. We are going to see the Amazing Grace because we are studying slavery. But anyway, we are all looking forward to it.
Yesterday we had the science Fair prize giving. These are the placings.

Science Fair
1st = Zoe Johnston & Meron McCardle / Ben Fretwell
2nd = Clive / Zara Fowell *cough cough me*
3rd Christine Tipper & Kelli Paterson

Technology Fair
1st Alex Christensen
2nd Sam Schuler
3rd Taylah Bateson & Josh McIntyre

Congrats!

25th July 2007 Yesterday we went to manual for the day. We finished our terrariums.
Fact: A terrarium is similar to an aquarium, but a terrarium has plants and other land creatures.
We made them out of transparent plastic and tin. They also have lights to shine on the plants and animal life for some people.
This afternoon we are starting a new swap between Mr. Sheather and Mr. Hawkes. (Whoever gets Zara in their group gets a pretty good deal) With Mr. Hawkes we will be learning percussion and with Mr. Sheather we will be making power points about slaves.

20th July 2007 Well, it's another rainy school day. No going outside to play games and being cooped up in a stuffy old classroom with thirty other kids. But at least we have a few things going on like life education. This afternoon, we have some time with Shirley when she teaches us about Life Education. We don't usually have it at this time, but Harold the giraffe was playing with the dvd we were supposed to watch and he broke it. So it's like a catch up session.
Right now we are writing our own stories about slaves. We are studying slaves as part of our social studies. We have also been reading a story about a slave in America. Some parts are a bit scary and others yucky, but it is very interesting to hear about.

16th July 2007 Welcome back to everyone. I hope you had a very nice holiday and are looking forward to our "lovely" term we have ahead of us.
This term we have our operetta, Windust, manual, science fair and life education.

28th June 2007 This morning was incredibly cold. We are sitting in the class in our beanies and our boots. But it was great for our hot air balloons. You can read about it and see some pics by scrolling down the page to student's work.

27th June 2007 Get out your partyblowers and party hats because today and tomorrow are half days thanks to interviews. I hope you have been bribing your teachers!
Also, this Friday is our last day of the term. And in the afternoon we are having games and activities and NO work! So it's kind of like a third half day!
Yesterday was the Interschool Manawahe Cross Country. Everybody did very well, even just for going! (Notice how I wrote every BODY, because we had to use our BODIES!)
Kelli Patterson came 3rd in the 12 & 13 year old girls race. Congratulations!

20th June 2007 Today we have our school photos. You know what happens. You stand in rows in front of a camera trying to hold a smile as long as possible, saying 'grandma's skiddy undies'.
Though I think our photos will look a bit strange because at the moment it's only 8 degrees in the classroom. And it seems pretty warm compared to outside! Either the thermometer is broken or the heaters are.

18th June 2007 It is now after lunch.
Fact: For those who are easily confused, 'now' is when I'm writing this. Not when you are reading this. But there may be a slight chance that you will be reading this after lunch on the day of 18th of June.
This morning we had our 12 minute run. Some people ( of whom I may not mention ) forgot their shorts so ran in their boxers. It was a very 'interesting' run.
Right now we a reading a notice that Mr. Hawkes has given us. He gets us to read out paragraphs of the notice out loud. Guy was reading his part about our science fair. It went like this.
GUY: (reading) Your child will have decided on their topic, and work needs to have started. Oh, woops!

12th June 2007 We are busy busy busy at the moment.
In our cross country everyone did well. Some people in our class got a placing. In the 12 and 13 year old girls Jemma came 1st, Zoe came 2nd and Kelli came 3rd. In the 12 and 13 year old boys, Pete came 3rd.
Speech finals are on Wednesday and Thursday. Zoe Johnston, Aimee Jones, Jemma Shaw, Guy Kamphorst and Pete Dowden all made it in to the semifinals.

7th June 2007 The school is very busy at the moment. Yesterday we finished off the last of our speeches and we are still waiting on who will go to the semifinals. (Rumour has it, no one really wants to go to the semifinals. Sorry Mr. Hawkes!) But listening to them all, it's going to be close.
This afternoon is our school's cross country. I am nervous already! And it's 9:30 in the morning!
Yesterday we went to Trident High School's "Man Of Steel" play. We saw many of Awakeri's ex-students which was cool. Many of us thought it was so good, we tried to get a ticket to go see it again! But sorry folks, they're completely sold out for every show!

5th June 2007 I am so sorry everyone. I have been sick for the last week and haven't been at school for a week. So I haven't written anything.
We are very busy this week. With science Fair, speeches, cross country and Trident High School's play.
Tomorrow is our last day for speeches and science fair. They're two of the main objects of this term.
On Thursday afternoon we are having our cross country races. We have been training all term and tomorrow we will be walking the courses.
Also tomorrow, we are going to see Trident High School's "Man Of Steel". You have probably already seen the posters all around town. We will see many of Awakeri's ex-students including Kirsty Wakelin dancing in the first row! We will be watching out for her and holding up her scores out of ten.

23rd May 2007 Usually at the moment, we would be practicing our rugby and netball. Because tomorrow is our Rugby and Netball day. But it is raining, so................... we can't. Instead we are playing word games which Mr. Hawkes copied of a tv show.
You may not know but the school is collecting yummy stickers. This morning we received 100 stickers from a former Yr. 8 student.................. Kirsty Wakelin! So Thank You!

18th May 2007 TGIF!!!
Note: That means 'Thank God It's Friday'
This morning for the first time in Room 12 2007 history we played indoor soccer. Yay!! One amazing fact. I was the only one to score a goal even though I had twisted ankle.
At the moment we are singing. They are learning 'The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down'.
Joel is swinging on his chair and Thomas is putting his hand to his heart like he's singing the anthem. Everyone is looking kinda depressed and Cody is staring into space.
In two weeks, we are having our speech contest. They all have to be about some topic in health.
We have just finished our story 'The House At Pooh Corner' It's very confusing. They go on and on about nothing. There is even a mini play in the middle. And 'cause Mr. Hawkes likes to read every little thing so this is how it sounded.

'HEFFALUMP:(suprised and not quite sure of himself) "Ho-ho!"
PIGLET: (carelessly still) tiddle-dee-dum tiddle-dee-dum'
(And this went on for like three pages!)

Well, now I'm going to join singing and stretch my fingers.

14th May 2007 We have just finished our trivia quiz and the 'Frappachinnos' won twice. (And no, we did NOT cheat!)
Today is our last day with Mrs. Laurent. Aaaaawwwww!!!! But since we were studying countries last week, we are having a shared lunch from around the world. We all had to bring a food plate representing the country we studied. For example, I'm studying Mexico, so I'm bringing corn chips with tomato salsa and guacamole. It all looks so yummy. I'll put on some photo's later in the day.
At the moment we are drawing comic strips or retelling a story from a journal. Everyone is getting stuck into it.

4th May 2007 It's just after morning tea and in pairs we're playing charades for Maori place names.
Before, we were playing bowl-a-fact and Jesse won. Again.
This afternoon, we are doing a mini unit but we don't know what it's about.
In a quarter of an hour, we will be going over to the complex to assembly. We will be showing our camp paintings.
We have finished our trivia Quiz for the week and the "Red Jumpsuit's" won.

3rd May 2007 I'm back! The new representatives for the 'Lean Green Environment Team' for our class are Aimee and Nimai. Congratulations to them!

3rd May 2007 We have just finished our trivia quiz for this morning and so far "Red Jumpsuit's" are winning.
Right now Mrs. Laurent is finishing off our story "Earthquake". We're going to do some writing about it and some drawings.
Oops! I forgot to talk, ER, write about our plays. After morning tea we watch our plays on the TV (we recorded them on camera) I think they were even funnier on the TV Then we had to do our self evaluations. Yes, they're boring, but we have to do it.

2nd May 2007 It is soooooooooooooo hot at the moment. It's probably because we just came back from a dodgeball game. That's right, Rm. 12 earned twenty stars to go out for a game! It's true! It was a lot of fun.
It's about three minutes to home time so I better sign off. Tomorrow we are having elections for the enviro group.

30th April 2007 Our class is so busy at the moment. We have a lot of things to get done. (me)
Because it is raining, we couldn't practice our plays. So we have been in and out having dress rehearsals. It has been a lot of fun, especially listening to people practice. We've heard screaming and pirate talk. And seen laptops and super hero capes. It will be interesting to see what they're all about.

24th April 2007 Welcome back everyone from a very restful holiday. (I hope!) It's weird this week. Just when you think you finish a holiday, you get even more days off. Aren't we lucky to have ANZAC Day?
Since Mr. Fitz is on holiday in Ireland, (lucky) Mr. Hawkes has to take over as principal for a few weeks. So we have a new teacher while he is away. Her name is Mrs. Laurent. We do HEAPS of cool, fun stuff with her.
This morning, we had badminton. Now THAT was cool. There was a lot of fitness activities and we played around the world heaps of times.
Have a nice ANZAC Day and don't forget to give a donation to the ladies on the street.

4th April 2007 With the term nearly over, our class is very busy getting things done.
On Monday, the whole senior syndicate went to Ohiwa Harbour to study the mangroves and estuary. It was very interesting and we had a lot of fun. We did sketches, studied the mangroves and sea life and walked through itchy, sinky mud. Today we will be gathering up our information and comparing what we have learnt.
Yesterday was our last day at manual for this term. In cooking class students made scones and pikelets while in hard materials the students finished off their pinball machines and made jigsaw puzzles.
Today we will be having a 12 minute run, (I bet everyone will be looking forward to that) camp art, maths and finishing our unit on space.
Tomorrow will be our last day of the term. YAY!!!!!! Before the Easter holidays. (CHOCOLATE!) So I would like to wish you all a good holiday and I hope you have a nice break.

29th March 2007 Yesterday was touch day. Schools from all over the district came to our school to play touch. Everybody had a great time apart from the sore muscles at the end of the day.
On Monday the whole senior syndicate are traveling to Ohiwa harbour. We will study the mangroves which we have just done a pretest on. (I think a lot of people put dash's down because they don't know a lot about them. Mr. Hawkes will have an easy time marking those.)

21st March 2007 (later) Mr. Hawkes told us to write down our most Memorable Moments. There were over 95! So I'll just write a few down.
Doing Thomas's hair
Noisy pigs
Falling out of kayak
The chicken
Freezing things
Getting kicked out of cabin and sleeping with the adults.
Apple pie for breakfast

And here are some of our best achievements
Jumping off the ultra high
The Tarzan and Jane swing
The kayak slide
Swimming with the eel.
As you can see we had a very exciting camp!

21st March 2007 On Sunday we had Top School, which you have probably already read about on the news page. The team came third, as well as the cheerleaders. So we are quite happy with that.
On Monday as we were reciting our Maori poems, Ben had to say his in front of the class. At the end, Mr. Hawkes asks Ben to chose a number and he will go through the list and that person will go next. Ben was dumb enough to say 30 which was him so he had to redo it!
Today and tomorrow are half days thanks to parent interviews. YAY!!!!!
In a few weeks time, we'll be going to Ohiwa Harbour for a mangroves and estuary study. Too bad we're not allowed swimming!

12th March 2007 Well, we're back at school after getting back on Friday from camp. There is so much to write about so here we go. Check out our camp photos too.
On Tuesday, we arrived at Blair Lodge in Katikati. We were surrounded by farm animals, trees and people busting to go to the toilet after the long ride. Later that afternoon, we went orienteering around Katikati. One of the tasks was to say hello to a local. Joel, doing as he was told, said hello to two teenage girls. They both said 'hi' back and as they were walking away, one said 'I already have a boyfriend.'
Wednesday was great too. We went for bush walks and swam at Sapphire Springs. While waiting an hour before we could go back in the water after lunch, we made human pyramids and structures. That night we played Spotlight. A group of kids hid in the play house. (ME) And some weren't even caught by the great catcher(cough, cough) Mr. Hawkes.( ME)
Thursday was pretty much all about gold mining. The morning started by bus when we were touring around Martha Hill where there was a gold mining site. Then we were at the Waihi Museum learning all about the gold mining and then to the ruins of the Victoria Battery by train.
Back at camp that night, we had Mock Court. Mr. Kamphorst was "fair" judge. There were many cases with just as many humiliating punishments. There was singing from Zoe, an aeroplane impersonation from Jemma and dancing from Rachael and Tyler.
On Friday, had to pack up and leave. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwww!!!! But on the upside, we drove to Waimarino! YAY! There was a kayak slide, a rope swing, diving boards, a water slide,(GASP) a confidence course, swimming pools and the list goes on! I think that was one of everyone's favourite.
So we had a great time at camp. Now I have to go rest my fingers from writing.

5th February 2007 Funny start to Wednesday last week. The kids were rolling around with laughter with Svargo. (If there was any ground to roll on. We were on the seats.) Svargo is a mime who performed skits and even taught us some of his secrets. I think most kid's favourites would have to be Svargo's last skit when he was a Chinese Karate Master.
But later on after morning tea, the seniors were preparing for the Fun(d) Raiser. (I think I was turning into an adult, all stressed out!) But, by the end of the the day, Rm. 12 had raised over $600!!!!!!!!!! The whole syndicate all together raised over $1500!!!!!!!!!!
On Thursday, we had Swimming Sports. And everybody in Rm. 12 did a good job. A special congratulations to Guy K. and Kelsi P. who both received certificates for their swimming.

2nd February 2007 Well, we have had a very busy week, with Svargo, Swimming Sports, Fun(d) raiser, and others. There's so much to write about so there will be a full report on those after the weekend when there is more time. Plus we are singing at the moment and I would like to be as well. No, I'm not LAZY, I was told to do this!

23rd February 2007 Well, we've just come back from our yacht trip and I think everyone had a great time.
We all arrived at 8.15 at the boat ramp and put on our life jackets. We hopped on a smaller boat called the "Sea Three" to take us to the yacht. It was quite fast and it jumped really high. It had three motors. I was at the front so I got A LOT of frights. We met the "Friday Freedom" in the middle of the ocean just before Whale Island. We talked about safety and then we got split into two groups. The best group, my group, talked about the sails, ropes and the names of things, like the main sail and the starboard. (Yes, Mr. Hawkes, I listened.) Next, we went down inside the boat.
We swapped with the other group next. By then, a lot of people had become seasick. (Me) Some became pale. (Me!) Most were told to look out at the horizon or into the water. (ME)
Now the better group was in charge of the sails and steering. (I got to steer first! It helped get rid of my sea sickness) Then we pulled all of these ropes to get control of the sails. After that, we learnt to tie some knots and before we knew it we were back at the boat ramp, ready to go home.
Well, I'm going to finish off now. We're singing at the moment.

22nd February 2007 Tomorrow the Yr. 8's are going on the yacht! Being one of them, I'm quite excited.
This morning we had P.A.T. tests. Many had the same symptoms as me, head aches! After, the Yr. 8 girls played headbands with Mr. Hawkes. Click here to read what happened.
At the moment, the class is working on our fun(d) raiser. Skits are being practiced, signs are being made and people practicing with money.

16th February 2007 You will never guess where Rm. 12 student Karina Inwood was this morning. I guess you have already read that the Yr. 8's are going on a yacht next Friday and Karina arrived right on 8.15 later realising she was a week early!

15th February 2007 I'm back again, after about half an hour. But when we came back we
started to do spelling. Boring. I know, but that's not what I'm writing about.
We were about half way through marking when a bird flew in the room, did a loop and flew out again. Very random, but that's still not the best part.
We were telling Mr. Hawkes our scores. The test was out of seventy. Then it came to Aimee. She replied "Zoe." The whole room was filled with laughter.
"Well it sounded like seventy,"she said,"And I was focusing on Zoe, so, I, kinda, said it."
Yep, 'Zoe' really sounds like seventy, Aimee.

15th February 2007 Room 12 has a new website monitor for 2007. Yes, it's..........(drumroll please)..................Zara Fowell! Aren't we all lucky to have her!
Mr. Balderston is in our class today, he's so happy to have us. Mr. Hawkes is training up the new website monitors. (ME)
Guess what! Not this Friday but the next, the Yr. 8's are going on a yacht! Well actually, we arrive at 8.15 and go on a boat from the White Island tours. And that boat will take us to the yacht, Friday Freedom. (Which is strange because some people are going on Saturday or Tuesday!)
The following Monday, the whole senior syndicate are holding a Fun(d) Raiser to raise funds
for camp.
Fact: For all of those that did not know, that's where the word 'fund raiser' comes from. Raising Funds. Get it?

This is Gemma's awesome piece of art she did for the Rugby World Cup. We had to create a poster that represents the country. We had to use the country's flag and embellishment. They are up on our walls in the classroom.

We also did poems. This is Zara's diamante poem. It's a poem that uses verbs, nouns, adjectives and phrases and looks like a diamond. That's where the diamante part comes in.

Rugby
Petrifying, thrilling
Blocking, tearing dodging
Crouch, touch, pause, engage!
Kicking, catching, tossing
Swift, rough
Madness!

As you may already know, we have been studying slaves. We have been doing lots of different slave related activities like power points and movies. One of those activities was writing a short story. This is Kelsi's.

My Worst Nightmare

The slave auctioneer heaved open the door. He walks through the damp hay and dirt ground directly to our musty stall. We all stand quietly while he unbolts Talia's ankle chain with his wet, pale hands and drags her out of the musty barn onto the rotting platform where he starts the auction.
I was lucky, I could see through the slit in the wooden barn into the audience.
Talia and I met when this whole slave thing started, we became great friends and she was the first to be sold.
The man stood beside her. "This here is a fine young girl, could grow up to be a great house maid, field worker, or breeder," he yelled into the crowd of rich white folk sounding like he was selling some kind of stock, "She's about 5 foot, a tall strong lass. We'll start the sale at $15, anyone for $15?"
One very clean rich man with spectacles near the front put his hand up and yelled back "I'll pay $25 for this one here." The auction hammer slammed on the table.
My worst fear had come true, the only person that I knew had been sold.

This morning was the perfect morning to launch our hot air balloons we have been working on with Mr. Sheather. Every Tuesday afternoon we are put into two groups. While one group is with Mr. Sheather doing technology, the other group is with Mr. Hawkes learning guitar. It was a lot of fun watching them fly. While most alighted from the ground some caught alight! Apart from Jemma and Zoe's balloon, which did both.
Our balloons were made of of nine or five sheets of tissue paper with some wire and cotton buds at the bottom. We lit the cotton buds which warmed up the air inside the balloon which caused it to rise.


Sam and Tomtom watching the balloon, after almost getting hit by it.	Zara, Kelli and Leonie running with their lovely balloon. Their balloon had a successful flight and landing.

Everyone warming up their hands on a Nimai's unsuccessful balloon. The frost was still on the ground and it was cold!	Jemma and Zoe's large 9 sheet balloon did really well for a while, then it tilted over and.... burned in midair. Watch out everyone!

Yesterday, we had Mrs Laurent for the day. She read us a book called 'Black Death' which is about the plague which happened in England hundreds of years ago. It was a disease spread from rats to humans by fleas. We were given some charcoal and some sugar paper to draw some pictures to do with the story.

After our camp at Blair Lodge last term, Mr. Hawkes told us that were going to do camp paintings, which he does with the class every year. They had to be a close up picture of ourselves doing something at camp. This Friday they will be shown at assembly.

With Mrs. Laurent, our new teacher as you might have read before, we drew all-mixed-up faces. We sat around in two circles. A small one in the middle and a bigger one around it. At first we drew the shape of their (the person we were facing) head. Then we moved and drew someone elses head and so on. Next we added some other features like hats and necklaces. We put in a detailed border and coloured it in.

Song about camp:

Parents
(To the tune of Drift Away)

Day after day I'm more confused
Confidence course, It left you bruised
Joel got cut but he should have had shoes
I've got a strain, Ain't a shame

Give me some parents that know what to do
Tell me the rules or I'll blame it on you
Joel where's your shoes? (x2)

I'm beginning to think what's for tea tonight
Broccoli for breakfast, it didn't seem right
Meatballs with gravy, not a pretty sight
I've got a pain, she has the same

Give me some parents that know what to do
Cook me nice food and I'll share it with you
I'm hungry now (x2)

It's time to go so were heading home............

Dedicated to Mr. H and the parents on camp.
By Jemma S

Some Camp Haiku:

Camp is a hair tie
Seven hair ties through your hair
Is that really camp?

Thomas A

Time to face my fears
Scared but I'm not backing down
Ultra high achieved

Aimee J

Snorting and neighing
Blaming us for pig noises
False accusations

Rachael G

My legs were jelly
As my eyes were looking down
At the flat water

Jemma S

Jazz the pony
Snaps violently at children
Trying to pat him

Karina I

Waiting silently
the frypan hits the table
he yells, "You're guilty!!"

Kelsi P

Teacher's Message
The final week of the legendary Room 12, next year we're gonna have to work on Room 14 being the best room, not that there will be anything wrong with Room 12, it's just that, well, it will be Room 14!
We've had a very good year in 2007. Some memorable things, e.g. Love Potion #12 movie, playing guitars and drums, Cross Fate, Aimee being a lert, Zara drawing a lert, Ben getting snapped throwing water a few minutes after being let off the steps for the same thing! Many thanks to Zara for a great Room 12 web page and a big Well Done to all the students for their efforts.
All the best to the year eights going off to high school. I'm sure they'll do well, like so many of our ex-pupils have.
Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Joyous holidays everyone.

Room 12 had some cool pages in the past too, look at 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003 or 2002.