6BW Huntley School Class Blog 2011

Happy Christmas

2011-12-17T08:30:00.000+13:00

Hi Everyone,
The disappointing weather has put a stop to most of the planned Saturday activities here at Huntley today so the end of the year is suddenly upon us.
This is the last post for 2011.

I hope you have found our blog interesting. The boys always take a lot of pleasure from seeing their work up on the internet.

Have a safe and Happy Christmas. Good luck for the New Year.
I will catch up with many of you in 2012.

Cheers
Barry

Publishing our Bill Peet Stories

2011-12-15T17:36:00.000+13:00

Hi Everyone,
This is the last week for 2011 and what a busy time it is! We have had everything from a washed out BBQ to the Huntley Mile and today, the Olympiad and fabulous Christmas Dinner, prepared of course, by the marvellous Mrs Williams. (To whom I am related, let me remind you!!!)

We have also been working like trojans on completing our Bill Peet style stories. Finished and published at last, here is a sampling below for you to enjoy. I have put up only the first 2 or 3 photos from each of the stories.
To save space on this blog I have put the full set of photos from the selection into separate web albums. Click on the links to view the whole story.

Remember that to enlarge the photo (to read the words more clearly), simply click on the photo.

Cheers
Barry

"Donaldo the Dippy Donkey" by Bruce.

https://picasaweb.google.com/6BW2010/Bruce?authkey=Gv1sRgCKO94s7fy8OFgwE

"Franny Frog" by Jake

https://picasaweb.google.com/6BW2010/Jake?authkey=Gv1sRgCImI7ZCV84mJLg

"Jacky Bean's Surprise" by Rourke

https://picasaweb.google.com/6BW2010/Rourke?authkey=Gv1sRgCI3A2uiD5ZL_jwE

"Steve the Bee" by Tayler

https://picasaweb.google.com/6BW2010/Tayler?authkey=Gv1sRgCIX628Hd17WpOg

Enjoy the stories.

Hopefully we will all catch up somewhere over the weekend.

Cheers

Barry

Printing Day!!!

2011-12-09T17:11:00.000+13:00

Hi Everyone,
Today was the John Brebner print workshop day. It is a marvellous day for creating print art to complete a writing unit we have worked on this term. The boys will bring home a book they have created, including today's art work.

I have included some photos below and also put a web album on the internet for you to find pictures of the boys.
Here is the link to the web album:

https://picasaweb.google.com/6BW2010/JohnBrebner2011?authkey=Gv1sRgCIPd6Mbbsv6dBg

Meeting John at the beginning of the day.

Drawing up our boards.

Jake's very pleased.

Now for the inking process.

Loftus is thrilled.

Tom and Hayden admiring Bruce.

The printing press works like this, fellas!

Loftus and Tom on the press.

Hunter hanging his work up to dry.

Harry carefully checking his print.

Hunter delighted with his work.

Isaac, Hayden and Harry sorting out the type for their titles.

Daniel lining his up.

A super day indeed.

Cheers

Barry

Fun in the pool

2011-12-08T10:51:00.000+13:00

Hi Everyone,
Swim for Life has continued each day this week down at the Marton Pool. Lots of fun!
Tomorrow we are off to John Brebner's print workshop in Feilding. Even more fun!!

Here are some photos I took this morning.
Cheers
Barry

Do it like this guys.

Grab the gear.

Now float on it.

A Tayler thumbs up.

Jamie is all smiles.

Friday Was a Super Night!

2011-12-05T11:13:00.000+13:00

Hi Everyone,
The plays have now come and gone. After a mountain of effort over the last 2 weeks,we can finally begin to relax a little.
The boys put on a tremendous performance on Friday, rising to the occasion. It was a delight to see how much pleasure the do get from these types of presentations. There are some very fine budding young actors among us.

On Friday of this week, we go as a class over to Feilding for a day's art with John Brebner. He takes us for printing, both our own art work and also using typeset letters to put together material for the stories we have been writing. This term, we have been writing stories in the style of Bill Peet, an American author/illustrator. We will put work we produce with John Brebner into our finished books. Very exciting!!

This morning, as part of the "Swim for Life" programme we went down to the local Marton Swimming Pool for swimming lessons taken by lifeguards. We will do that each morning this week.
Here are some photos I took of us getting into the swim of it.

Lining up ready to go.

We're off!!

Just two weeks now to the end of the year and plenty of things still to happen.

Cheers

Barry

Class Plays 2011

2011-12-02T09:53:00.003+13:00

Hi Everyone,
Today we are presenting our play "Aladdin" to the school and to the parents tonight.

I have made a web album of the photos I took at dress rehearsal.
Here is the link to the Aladdin photos:
https://picasaweb.google.com/6BW2010/Aladdin?authkey=Gv1sRgCJTh3ajHlYKbxwE

345BP are also presenting their plays. I have taken some photos and put them into a web album or you to look at.
Here is link to the 345BP class plays.

https://picasaweb.google.com/6BW2010/345BPClassPlays?authkey=Gv1sRgCLqei5r1v-P17QE

Here are a few of the photos I have taken.
Hope to see you at the performance tonight.
Cheers
Barry

Harry K as the Trader

Douggie, Bruce and Loftus

Jack as Aladdin

Tayler and Isaac

Harry N and Jake

Daniel as Sergeant

Hunter as Ameera

The Handmaidens

Hayden as Princess Yasmin

Bruce as Genie

Rourke as Widow Twankey

James and Tom as Empress and Emperor

Hayden and Jack

Jamie as Doctor

The cast

Harry N as Leopold

Harry and Jack

Getting Ready For Our Class Play- Aladdin

2011-11-22T12:30:00.000+13:00

Hi Everyone,
Preparations are now in full swing for producing our class play "Aladdin" next Friday.
Here are a couple of photos with the boys getting a banner ready for Twankey's Laundry and some boxes for the lamp trader.
All we have to do now, is make sure we know our lines! Simple really!!!
Keep watching this space...
Cheers
Barry

Douggie and Harry K on the boxes.

Tom and some helpers working on Twankey's banner.

Hunter Got Second in New Zealand!!!

2011-11-18T16:18:00.000+13:00

Hi Everyone,
Remember Hunter winning the North Island Motor Cycling Championships over the holidays?
Well now to go with it, he has got a 2nd in the New Zealand Moto Cross Championships in Reefton last weekend!!! How good is that???

Here he is with his super trophy.
To earn his placing, he had to race a series of races over two days, not just a one-off event.
What a mighty effort. We are very proud of you Hunter.
We will look forward to hearing and reading more about you in the future.
Well done and congratulations from us all.

We Have A Champion!!!

2011-11-06T20:46:00.000+13:00

Hi Everybody,
Do you know? We have a champion motor cross rider in our class!!!
During the holidays, Hunter won the North Island Motor-Cross Championship!

Here is a photo of Hunter holding his trophy.
Way to go Hunter. We are very proud of you.
He has some more competitions coming up soon so were look forward to some more good news.

Cheers
Barry

PS.
Sorry to take so long to get this up on the blog. I have a new cellphone which I used to take the photo on. The technology with it has taken me a while to get my head around!

Hunter with his mighty trophy.

Getting Ready for Term 4

2011-10-29T16:02:00.000+13:00

Hi Everyone,
Term 4 has got under way and we are off with a rush.
This term we welcome Jamie Penn. Nice to have you with us Jamie. He has already settled in and made new friends. It was his birthday on Thursday, the day after we started so he had a very busy time of it!

We have to get our Public Speaking speeches completed and presented by Tuesday so that we can select class finalists to be auditioned for the school final next week. All boys have now done their first presentation. Some of them want to do it a second time and that is where we are up to now.

For Social Studies this term, we are looking at Gold in New Zealand and how New Zealand people and the environment have been changed as a result of the searching. It is a fascinating part of New Zealand's heritage: full of detail, with a marvellous mixture of myth, adventure, fact and fiction all in it together.

We will build ourselves another PowerPoint presentation to deliver in the last week of the term.
The new side bar will have links to different website I have identified so far.

Keep watching this space for details as our tremendously busy term unfolds.

Cheers
Barry

Rugby World Cup PowerPoint Presentations Term 3

2011-10-14T17:19:00.000+13:00

Hi Everyone,
We finished the term off with a rush and flourish. We had Parent Interviews Thursday/Friday (nice to see everyone again!) and we also had to deliver our Rugby World Cup PowerPoint presentations in the same week. We had lost a lot of time, with various sports' teams coming and going, along with the super Year 8 production to watch. (I hope you managed to see this as it was absolutely super!).

A friend of mine, who knows lots about these things, has suggested I try a new method presentation with our PowerPoints- a programme called "AuthorStream", so here we go on this one.

I hope you all are having a super holiday and the boys all return ready for an exciting last term. Only 7 weeks, but what a lot will be packed into that time!

Enjoy the presentations, if I can get them to work!

Cheers
Barry

Boom

Conor

Conor Rugby World Cup

More PowerPoint presentations from Barry Williams

Douggie

Douggie Rugby World Cup

More PowerPoint presentations from Barry Williams

Harry K

Harry K Rugby World Cup

More PowerPoint presentations from Barry Williams

Harry N

Harry N Rugby World Cup

More PowerPoint presentations from Barry Williams

Hayden

Hayden Rugby World Cup

More PowerPoint presentations from Barry Williams

Hunter

Hunter Rugby World Cup

More PowerPoint presentations from Barry Williams

James Rugby World Cup

More PowerPoint presentations from Barry Williams

jake rugby world cup

More PowerPoint presentations from Barry Williams

Loftus Rugby world cup 2011

More PowerPoint presentations from Barry Williams

Patrick Rugby World Cup

More PowerPoint presentations from Barry Williams

Rourke RWC

More PowerPoint presentations from Barry Williams

Taylor Rugby World Cup

More PowerPoint presentations from Barry Williams

Tom Rugby World Cup

More PowerPoint presentations from Barry Williams

Grandparents' Day and Music Concert 2011

2011-09-28T11:06:00.001+13:00

Hi Everyone,
Yesterday afternoon we held our annual Grandparents' Day and Music Concert. The boys love these events here they are able to involve their Grandparents. We had a terrific attendance- it was hard to fit everyone into the room.
The boys played a couple of maths games with the Grandparents and then we were able to some of the PowerPoint presentations the boys have put together on the Rugby World Cup. I will try to get them up on to the blog over the holidays. Last time, it took ages as I had to deal to each one independently. Hopefully, it won't be quite such challenge this time.
Following afternoon tea, we all went over to the gym for the music concert. It never ceases to amaze me that there is so much talent amongst the boys. There were tremendous performances at all levels.
Here are some photos I took during the concert.

The almost full gym.

Boom and Josh playing their duet on the piano.

The Junior Choir

Boom and Rourke in the front row.

Boom leaves us at the end of the week to return to Thailand. We will miss him. He has been a super boy to have in our class.Good luck for the future, Boom.

Catch you all later.

Cheers

Barry

Mathex Team 2011

2011-09-26T16:52:00.002+13:00

Hi Everyone,
Here it is at last, the 6BW Mathex team which came second in the Wanganui competition last week. It has taken until today for everyone to be here.

Boom, Jack, Rourke and Bruce

A super effort by them, with Jack, Rourke and Bruce all coming in on the day just to be part of it. Boom was the only healthy one!

Such has been the effects of the flu, we still have boys who are not fully right. The coughs continue to ring around the classroom, albeit not as severely as last week. Roll on the holidays!

Our last week is very busy. Grandparents Day tomorrow, Day boy boarders parent interviews on Thursday and Boarder boys parent interviews on Friday.

Hopefully, I will catch up with you all at one of these events.

Cheers

Barry

Mathex 2011

2011-09-22T12:21:00.000+12:00

Hi Everyone,
What a tremendously busy month we have had and still with 1 more week to go too.

The big impact over this past month has been the flu. It has gone on and on. Almost all boys have been effected. Some boys have been away for up to a week and then they have a nasty cough hanging over. Some days I have had 6 boys away and even today there are 5 missing.

Last night we had the annual Mathex Competition in Wanganui. Our 6BW team of Boom, Jack, Bruce and Rourke earned a tremendous second equal place. This was a superb effort from the boys as Boom was the only healthy one in the team! Jack, Bruce and Rourke all came in to class from home during the day, just so they could take part. Jack and Rourke have gone back home again to bed. What an effort from them.
I will eventually put up a photo of the boys- as soon as I can get all of them here at school together!

Our final 6BW effort for the term will happen next week. We have been using the Rugby World Cup as a vehicle for studying New Zealand, an event, an overseas country and interviewing a past All Black (Glen Osborne, who kindly made himself available for us.)
The boys are today putting their final touches on PowerPoint presentations which they will deliver to the class next week. Once they are all done, I will put them up on the blog for you to view. There are some pretty impressive efforts coming along too.

The other exciting happening next week is the Grandparents Day on Tuesday. A super day for all.
Thursday and Friday are Parent Interviews and I will look forward to seeing many of you then.
Catch you later.
Cheers
Barry

Snow Day Stories

2011-08-25T17:43:00.000+12:00

Hi Everyone,
Today was exciting- a visit from Medbury School, Christchurch, sports' teams. they brought their First teams in Football, Hockey and Rugby. We won the football but lost the hockey and rugby.

Medbury arrived here from Hereworth, having played yesterday and returned to Christchurch this afternoon. A nice break for some boys who have had their city go through terrible times.

Last week was the wonderful snow day. We took the opportunity to write about the day and our adventures. Over the next couple of days, I will be putting up the finished stories. You will gather that it was VERY good fun!

Enjoy
Cheers
Barry

Loftus

Douggie 1

Douggie 2

Harry K 1

Harry K 2

Jake 1

Jake 2

Boom 1

Boom 2

Rourke 1

Rourke 2

Jack 1

Jack 2

Hunter 1

Hunter 2

Isaac 1

Isaac 2

Tayler 1

Tayler 2

Bruce 1

Bruce 2

Bruce 3

Bruce 4

Tom 1

Tom 2

Hayden 1

Hayden 2

Harry N 1

Harry N 2

Conor 1

Conor 2

Daniel 1

Daniel 2

Patrick 1

Patrick 2

Snow Day on YouTube

2011-08-15T20:59:00.000+12:00

Hi Everyone,
Things are really getting tekalogikal now!!!
I have just uploaded fun in the snow at the following link.
I hope this works.
Cheers
Barry

Huntley School fun in the snow

Snowman Time

2011-08-15T11:05:00.002+12:00

Hi Everyone,
Immediately after Chapel, out we went for the great snowman building competition.
Here are some of the photos I took.

Here is a link to the Picasa web album I have made for all of the snowman photos.
https://picasaweb.google.com/6BW2010/SnowmanForTheBlog

Enjoy.
Cheers
Barry

Snow, Snow, Snow!!!!

2011-08-15T10:51:00.001+12:00

Hi Everyone,
What an amazing sight when we got up this morning. Snow. Everywhere!!!
I have lived in Marton for over 30 years and NEVER have I seen snow like this. I recall it snowing twice previously, but it never settled as this has. It has even continued during the morning.
Wonderful fun for the boys.
I will put up a second posting with them in the snow as the whole school went out for a snowman competition.

Here is a link to the Picasa web album I have made with all the photos I took.
https://picasaweb.google.com/6BW2010/HuntleySnowMon15Aug

Enjoy.
Cheers
Barry

Jake building a mini snowman.

Jake discovering that snow is freezing on the fingers!!!

Out of the classroom window.

Here's A Way I've Found To Fix It

2011-08-14T17:44:00.000+12:00

Hi Everyone,
Here is my latest attempt to try and fix the lack of transitions in the previous post.

I will have to use a different programme, called DropBox.
The boys' PowerPoints will show up in the side-bar on the right.
Not the quickest or easiest way to do it, but at least you will be able to view them.
Fortunately, this has been a cold wet day and I have been inside for most of it. It has taken all day to figure this out- not something I would want to be doing on a nice sunny day!

Some of the presentations actually have the boys' voices recorded within them. You might be able to get them to run. I haven't yet!
That's all for this weekend!
Enjoy the presentations.
Cheers
Barry

Now What Went Wrong???

2011-08-14T10:14:00.000+12:00

Hi Everyone,
Well, now that's a disappointment. The slides are fine, but the transitions aren't working. Something has gone wrong. Back to the drawing board then. I'll try to work out how to fix it. Keep watching!
Cheers
Barry

PowerPoint Presentations from Term 1

2011-08-13T14:19:00.002+12:00

Hi Everyone,
You may recall that I asked about how to get PowerPoint presentations into our blog.
A clever friend of mine, Allanah King, (who is the guru of this sort of ICT Harry Potter type magic) has shown me this routine.
Hopefully I can get it to work as it should! It won't be her fault if it goes wrong. Keep watching this space!

The first PowerPoints we did were in term one, on Natural Disasters. The boys selected a topic they wanted to find out more on and then created the presentations around their information. In the final week of the term, they presented them to the class. Sadly, between then and now, some boys have managed to delete their presentation. (Many little boys can not resist fiddling with stuff- but perhaps you already knew that!!!)

So here we go-our first attempt at putting up PowerPoints.

Term 2 presentations (Ancient Greece) will follow if this lot are successful.
Cheers
Barry

Boom

Boom earthquake!

View more presentations from 6bwclass.

Rourke

Rourke oceanographer madness of sea!

View more presentations from 6bwclass.

Jack

Meteorologist madness! (by jack trotter)

View more presentations from 6bwclass.

Loftus

Loftus powerpoint natural disasters

View more presentations from 6bwclass.

Hunter

Hunters powerpoint

View more presentations from 6bwclass.

Hayden

Hayden’s power point on volcanoes

View more presentations from 6bwclass.

Harry

Harry’s power point

View more presentations from 6bwclass.

Daniel

Daniel’s power point on volcano's

View more presentations from 6bwclass.

Bruce

Bruce ancient greece powerpoint

View more presentations from 6bwclass.

Jake

Jakes natural disasters

View more presentations from 6bwclass.

Conor

Conors power point

View more presentations from 6bwclass.

Tom

Tom’s powerpoint on

View more presentations from 6bwclass.

Oral Assessments

2011-08-13T12:23:00.000+12:00

Hi Everyone,
Thursday was Oral Assessment Day. After much effort, all the boys presented their talks, poems and books to the Assessor, Mrs Neild. Unfortunately, I have had a heavy cold and was away Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday so I was not able to help put a final polish on the talks, but everyone seemed pretty happy when I got back yesterday.

I took photos of the boys with their boards yesterday. Some of them had already taken their boards home so not all the boys are here. They may be able to bring the boards back, in which case I'll take the photos and put them up.

The standard of presentation of both the boards and the talks is very, very good. Well done everyone.

Harry with "Herefords"

Jake with "Airforce One"

Tom with "The Blue Lake"

James with "Rugby World Cup"

Douggie with "Size"

Boom with "Giant Pandas"

Isaac with "Motorbikes"

Jack with "Scooby Doo"

Hunter with "Skiing"

Loftus with "Skiing Equipment"

Catch you later.

Cheers

Barry

Term 3 Under Way

2011-08-08T16:46:00.000+12:00

Hi Everyone,
As usual, the term is off to a flying start.
We welcomed Harry Kennedy to our class. Harry has quickly made friends and has slipped straight into the the Junior Rugby team. Good to have you with us, Harry.

Week 1 was given over to preparing for our Oral Assessments. For 6BW boys, they will be held on Thursday of this week. We have already heard everyone at least once on each of their 3 aspects of: talk, poem and book reading. Some terrific work has gone in over the holidays and most boys are extremely well prepared.

Week 2 sees us using Rugby World Cup as the centre piece for our Social Studies. Each boy will be focusing on one of the competing teams and making a presentation to the class at the end of the term about the country they have studied. We will focus on elements such as culture, icons, connections to New Zealand and so on, not just the sporting parts. We will also look at how New Zealand as a country has prepared for the event and why, along with looking at some of the New Zealand towns and cities hosting games and teams.
To this end, you will see links to different Social Studies websites begin to show up on the sidebars of this website. The boys will use our class blog as a focal point for locating information. If any of you find any useful sites that would be suitable for us to use, please email them to me.

Photos will follow in the next few days.
Cheers
Barry

Ancient Greece Presentations

2011-07-05T12:49:00.001+12:00

Hi Yet Again,
What a busy day- it must be getting close to the end of term, or something!
In class, we have been studying Ancient Greece and its relevance to New Zealand culture today.
We put our work into Powerpoint presentations and today delivered them to the class.
By the way, I am still trying to work out how to get Powerpoint presentations inside this blogger.
If anyone knows how to do it, please drop me an email at:
bwilliams@huntley.school.nz

Thanks
Cheers
Barry

Bruce

Conor

Hayden

James

Tayler

Harry

Daniel

Tom

Hunter

Douggie

Jake

Isaac

Boom

Patrick

Rourke

Junior Science Challenge Judging

2011-07-05T12:35:00.002+12:00

Hi Again,
Well, we got around and looked at how things went. Some pretty impressive results too.

Harry lining up his group's marble roller.

Bruce getting his group's fixed up.

Lachie doing his group's one.

Ooops! A technical hitch!

Conor, all concentration.

A few adjustments needed.

Line it up Boom.

Oh no!. A mis-fire!
The fixing must have worked well because they then got a bull's eye on the target!

This time maybe???

The dangling marble challenge.

Looking good here!

Look at the height!

They look pleased with their effort.

Hunter's group think they have it sorted.

Results time.

Sherriff take the Junior section!

Squad Science Challenge

2011-07-05T09:40:00.001+12:00

Hi Everyone,
This morning, the Squad Science Challenge is on. Huge efforts are being made to try and score points for the squads as the boys try to use newspaper to build structures sufficiently strong enough to take the weight of different activities they need to complete.

Here are some photos I have just taken.

It's all go. Heads down and working!

Zach, Boom and George are on to it.

Leo, Jake and Harry sorting things out.

Brooklyn, Douggie and Daniel thinking.

Bradley and Joe working on long poles.

Tom testing the height while the others admire it.

James thinking about his group's structure.

Oliver, Alex and Travis working on it.

Squad Book Quiz

2011-07-01T08:28:00.000+12:00

Hi Everyone,
This afternoon, we held the annual school Squad Book Quiz. Here, the boys, in their different age levels, have to answer a series of quiz questions about books and authors. Huge fun and very competitive as the point all add up to an overall squad winner. This year, the winners were Sherriff, who blitzed the field, especially in the seniors.
Here are the photos I took.
Cheers
Barry

Getting ready to go. The excitement is building.

Strombom are looking sharp.

The joker is up for Wilson.

Sherriff want to use their joker too.

Mather are ready. Tayler looks as if he is full of bright answers.

Mr Gay checking out Strombom. Bruce is looking around wondering about an answer.

Heads down and thinking.

Pick-me time. A hand up at the back answering a spot question for the audience.

I know the answer! Pick me. Pick me! Mather ready to give an answer.

Bruce, deep in thought.

Rix-Trott playing their joker. Kelvin looks confident.

Kelvin is now certain he has the answer.

Sherriff putting in a bid.

Mather take the Junior title. Well done on some really sticky questions.

A super afternoon for all.

Stu Duval Day

2011-06-28T12:36:00.000+12:00

Hi Everyone,
As part of our Book Week, we have visiting author Stu Duval with us for the morning today. Stu is a tremendous writer, artist, author and story teller- the complete package!
Stu took the boys for a story he has recently written- "Rat Island" and wove music and actions into it. The boys were gripped to the spot! He followed this up with a cartoon drawing class- again, everyone was enthralled.
Here are the photos I took.
Cheers
Barry

Let's get ready to write and draw. Stu introducing himself.

The boys, enthralled.

How to cartoon

Old Two Fingers! Stu has just drawn the picture beside him.

Stu saying thanks to loud applause from an eager audience.

Stu talking about one of his books.

He illustrates his all own work too.
Not only that, but one of his books is currently being turned into a movie in the U.S.A.- "Lonely Dog" is the title. We'll watch our for it.

Cartoon class time.

Head down time, Boom.

This is how you do it, men.

What a tremendously exciting morning we have had!

Characters and Costumes Day

2011-06-27T11:54:00.002+12:00

Hi Everyone,
This morning the whole school participated in our annual Characters and Costumes dress up. The teachers first presented books and characters to the school in assembly, then we went up to class and the boys presented their characters to the class. We needed to select 2 characters to represent us for the whole school gathering where winners for Junior, Intermediate and Senior would be selected.
Below are photos of the boys in their costumes up in class.
Our two class finalists were Patrick and Rourke.
The Junior winner was Joe Reddish.
Enjoy.

Jack as Lucky Luke.

Tayler as Gregory

Douggie as Robinson Crusoe.

Rourke as Pinocchio

Bruce as Captain Underpants.

Harry as Andy

Hunter as Jack

Daniel as Skullduggery

Jake as Tigger.

Tom as Wal Footrot

Isaac as Alex.

Loftus as Toad.

Patrick as the Mad Hatter

James as Greg

Hayden as Pongo.

There will be more to come during the week.

Cheers

Barry

2011 Cross Country

2011-06-03T14:50:00.001+12:00

Hi Everyone,
This afternoon we have had our annual Cross Country run. The weather has been kind- again! Ideal conditions for running and the boys have put in terrific efforts in front of their parents.
The Junior race was won by Patrick Tobin- leading from start to finish. A fine performance. He was chased all the way around by a close group who finally couldn't quite catch him. Well done everyone on a super effort.

Here are some photos for you to enjoy.
Here is a link to extra photos I took but did not put into the blog.
https://picasaweb.google.com/6BW2010/XCountry#

Enjoy the long weekend.
Cheers
Barry

Miss Newman getting ready to record results. Nice hat!!

Warming up confusion

Daniel showing style.

Plenty of muscles on show

Laces lads!!

Mrs Stewart ready to record.

Stretch

Boom's Bangkok style stretch.

Jake's Palmerston North style star jump

On the line.

We're off!!!

Patrick flashing passed in the lead.

Joe and Bruce on his heels

Geordie following .

Kelvin working hard

Patrick first

Bruce second

Joe third

Well done guys.

I will put up the rest of the photos I took later on.

Enjoy your weekend.

Cheers

Barry

Wanganui Day

2011-06-02T16:52:00.000+12:00

Hi again everyone,
What a busy week, with more to come tomorrow when we will run the Cross Country.
Today we had a full day at the Wanganui Museum on a "Hunt-the-Clues" expedition, followed by lunch at Kowhai Park, ending with an afternoon at the Splash Centre. Wonderful fun for all!
Here are some photos of our day for you to enjoy.

Finding out what we had to do in the museum.

Close instructions please.

An old classroom.

Finishing off.

Lunch in the park.

The old woman who lived in the shoe had many children.
We know what she went through!

How did you get up there????

And up there?

Mr Ord's mountain men.

Give us a wave, fellas.

I want up too.

A helping hand.

Heave!!

Push!!!

Pull fellas.

Much easier like this.

Pull, push or heave. Or all three maybe.

Success!

Hydroslide tickets.

Pool time.

Hydroslide fun.

Mr Ord in the river with a few friends.

Yee ha Oliver!

Lachie loved it.

What a smile from Sam.

Lachie and Oliver. Good mates.

Jacob and Trey.

Jack.

Geordie.

Water polo- or scrag depending on who had the ball!

Tomorrow- the annual Cross Country. Bring it on!!

Cheers

Barry

Measurement Census

2011-06-02T07:59:00.000+12:00

Hi Everyone,
Yesterday afternoon, while the teams were away in Hamilton, the rest of us did some work for the New Zealand Statistics on measurements of ourselves. NZS is part of an international survey on children around the world and we contributed our little bit.
We had to measure height, length of fingers, length of a hair from the back of our neck, arm span, weight of our school bag- if we had one- amongst a range of things.
The boys then had to go on line and enter the data onto a website. Eventually, the data will be returned to us.
Here are some photos of the boys working at different stations in the upstairs hallway. They were in groups of 3 or 4, with a boys from each level in the group. It was an excellent exercise in cross-age co-operation as the older boys had to show some of the younger ones what to do.

Jack taking a hair from Tayler. (It won't hurt Tayler!!)

James watching his bag being weighed.

Zach getting his height measured

Tom measuring Jack's finger.

Isaac measuring his lower leg length.

Harlan measuring Daniel's arm length.

More height measurements

Connor recording Leo's bag weight.

A very interesting afternoon was had by all.
Today, we are off to the Wanganui Museum and Splash Centre.
Catch you later.
Cheers
Barry

Wednesday 1 June

2011-06-01T12:51:00.003+12:00

Hi Everyone,
Much excitement today as half our class left to head with the sports' teams up to Southwell School in Hamilton for a two day adventure. They travel today, play tomorrow morning and return to Huntley tomorrow in time for a late tea.

Here is a photo of our large class! Quality, I told them, rather than quantity.
Tomorrow, we will head with all the other left overs to Wanganui Museum and swimming pool.

This term we have been working on different styles of poetry. Last week we did Cinquain poems and I have some here for you share. The rules for cinquain poems are:
line 1 = 2 syllables, noun
line 2 = 4 syllables adjectives
line 3 = 6 syllables verbs
line 4 = 8 syllables feelings
line 5 = 2 syllables noun synonym

Some of us got it better than others!!!
Here are some for you to enjoy.

Boom1

Boom 2

Tom 1

Tom 2

Bruce 1

Bruce 2

Hunter 1

Hunter 2

Hayden 1

Hayden 2

Patrick 1

Patrick 2

Rourke 1

Rourke 2

Tayler 1

Tayler 2

Friday is the annual Cross Country run followed by Queen's Birthday Weekend.
What a week!

Catch you later.

Cheers

Barry

Haiku Poems

2011-05-25T12:58:00.000+12:00

Hi Everyone,
We have had a very busy couple of weeks- as always!!!
We are working on a poetry writing unit and last week focused on haiku poems.
Haiku are a Japanese form of poetry with just three lines and 17 syllables in the whole poem.
The first line has 5 syllables, line 2 has 10 syllables and line 3 has 5, making the total of 17.
The topics are usually about nature or other thoughtful/reflective things.
In our efforts, we are still getting the idea about the syllables so we haven't stuck strictly to the form.
Here are some for you to enjoy.

Boom 1

Boom 2

Isaac 1

Isaac 2

Jack 1

Jack 2

Patrick 1

Patrick 2

Rourke 1

Rourke 2

Tayler 1

Tayler 2

This week, we are working on cinquain poems so we will have some of those for you shortly.

Cheers for now

Barry

Introducing Isaac

2011-05-10T19:48:00.000+12:00

Hi Everyone,
This week, we have had Isaac join us. He has already fitted nicely into our routines and has made friends.
Here are a couple of photos of him in the classroom.

Isaac with his friends Tom and Hayden.

Meet Isaac

You may have wondered where all the suitcases go for storage.
Down this hole!

Connor, Jack and Tom are the bag boys.

The boys reckon there's nothing down that hole except suitcases, mice and Mr. Rix-Trott!!!

Catch you later.

Cheers

Barry

Term 2 Begins

2011-05-08T16:45:00.003+12:00

Hi Everyone,
This afternoon/evening, the boarders will begin returning back to Huntley following the lovely 3 week Easter break. The winter term get under way in the morning and we will be straight into winter sports routines on Monday afternoon.
I'll put up more details as the week unfolds.

You might notice that I have removed the sidebar links to Natural Disasters sites. In Social Studies this term, we will be focusing on Ancient Greece and how what happened then has importance to New Zealand in 2011- by way of language, social organisation and politics/democracy and sports/Olympics. I will be putting up new links for the boys as I find them (I hope!!).

By the way. Last term as part of our social studies programme we used PowerPoint to make a presentation of our findings. I have tried very hard to find a way to get PowerPoint to run through this blog, but I have been totally unsuccessful in managing it. Does any one know if it can be done (without costing heaps of money and heaps of time?) Send me an email if you can help and I can then put the boys work up onto the internet for you to share. Thanks in advance.

Here are some photos I took as the boys were unpacking in the dorms.
You will notice that I try to never use surnames on photos.
That is just a little protection a number of schools use in case there are nasty people out there.

Mary and Tom

Bruce, Noeline and Hugh

Kathryn (Tutor), Jake and Jeff

Brett and James

Looking forward to the new term,
Cheers
Barry Williams

Ulysses Stories

2011-04-13T14:14:00.002+12:00

Hi Everyone,
This term I have been reading the adventures of Ulysses to the boys. It is right up the ten year old boys' alley. They love these stories. They are full of blood and guts and gore with wild adventures piling rapidly on top of each other.
This past week, we have been writing some Ulysses adventures of our own.
Here are some for you to share.
Cheers
Barry

Patrick 1

Patrick 2

Tayler 1

Tayler 2

Boom 1

Boom 2

Bruce 1

Bruce 2

Daniel 1

Daniel 2

Douggie 1

Douggie 2

Jake 1

Jake 2

More Camp Recounts

2011-04-11T10:43:00.000+12:00

Hi Everyone,
We are now into our last week of school for term 1. We are trying to get lost of things finished before Friday.
Here are some more of our camp recount stories.
I will see many of you at the interviews on Thursday and Friday.
Kind regards
Barry

Hayden 1

Hayden 2

Jake 1

Jake 2

Rourke

Camp Recount Stories

2011-04-04T10:54:00.000+12:00

Hi Everyone,
At last, we have started to get our camp recount stories published. Last week we worked on "Thank you" letters to the parents who were kind enough to accompany us. Now, we have some recounts on the "Best Day at Camp".
Here are some below for you to enjoy.

Today is an exciting day- the beginning of our winter sports set-up sessions. This afternoon, boy will head off with their winter sports' coaches and begin sorting out what needs to be done, what gear is required and so on. Much excited discussion has gone on this morning as we have begun to think about it!

Enjoy the stories. More to come as they finish.
Cheers
Barry

Bruce

Patrick

Tayler

Award to Warren Lane- Bus Driver Extraordinaire!!!

2011-03-23T13:52:00.003+13:00

Hi everyone,
I am sure you will recall our bad bus crash when a car hit the bus almost 2 weeks ago, as we returned from sport in Wellington.
Mr Warren Lane was the driver who did a marvellous job for us in preventing the bus from getting even worse damage and potential serious injury to the boys and teachers.

Today, we held a special assembly here at school to recognise Warren's achievements.
Mr Gay awarded him Headmasters' Colours- the highest honour in the school.
Miss Watson presented him with a staff sports shirt.
Miss Newman presented him with a very large hamper basket on behalf of the P.F.A. and the staff presented him with a bottle of rum.

We were extremely lucky to get away without much more serious consequences.
Thanks, Warren!!!

Here are some photos I took during the ceremony.
Jack T has written captions for the photos.

Cheers
Barry

Mr Lane getting awarded headmaster's colours from Mr Gay.

Miss Watson presenting Mr Lane with a present from the staff.

Mr Lane liking his present!

Mr Lane talking to the boys.

Daniel T shaking hands with Mr Lane.

Wednesday at Camp

2011-03-16T21:49:00.002+13:00

Hi Everyone,
Today was our last day at camp before our return home tomorrow.
We were busy doing our second round of camp activities: climbing the catwalk, the flying kiwi, the climbing wall and walking the blind trail, followed by swimming in the lake. The weather has been just superb for us.
We have been sharing the camp today with another school and that has worked pretty well.

Games time.

Crossing the catwalk.

Flying kiwi!!

Walking the blind trail.

On the climbing wall.

Water slide fun.

Here is the link to the photos I took on Wednesday.

https://picasaweb.google.com/6BW2010/ReducedWed16March#

Have a good leave weekend.
Catch you next week.

Cheers

Barry

Tuesday From Camp

2011-03-16T08:44:00.000+13:00

Hi Everyone,
Today was our New Plymouth day.
We went into New Plymouth and had a ride on Chaddy's Charters lifeboat around some small islands just off the harbour entrance. Next to the Puke Ariki Museum in town and then on to the New Plymouth swimming pool and hydro slide.
A super, but very tiring day.

I have put up the photos into the web album.
Here is the link

https://picasaweb.google.com/6BW2010/ReducedTues15March?authkey=Gv1sRgCK3Aje25oNDbogE#

More photos to come.
Cheers
Barry

Monday from Camp

2011-03-15T21:58:00.000+13:00

Monday

Hi Everyone,

First day of our camp routines. We started with wide games and then rotated through a mixture of archery, kayaks, grass karts and the zip line (flying fox), followed by yet more swimming, swimming and yet more swimming. The day ended with diary writing and a walk down to the river to try and spot eels and glow worms. Any eels all took off when we discovered the joys of chucking stones in the river and then dropping great boulders in to make the biggest splash. Any sensible glow worm around decided the noise we were making was way too loud and stayed well hidden.

Kelvin, Hunter, Jake and Daniel settling in.

Tip over time!!! Hold tight guys!

Here is the link to Monday’s photos in the picasa web album.

https://picasaweb.google.com/6BW2010/Reduced#

First Post from Camp: At Last We Have Internet Access!!!

2011-03-15T21:24:00.001+13:00

Sunday

Hi Everyone,

We set off this morning in great excitement, heading for the wonderful Tawhiti Museum in Hawera. If you haven’t yet been there, call in. It is a superb New Zealand experience! Next, on to Vertical Horizons to let the fun begin.
We started with swimming in the lakes and water slides. There was the 3 wire bridge to cross, the greasy pole to conquer, the swing rope to drop off and the swing bridge to race over. We finished the day with diary writing and mind map drawing followed y a super camp fire and roasting marshmellows. Wonderful fun for all.

I have taken lots of photos and will try to get them up as soon as possible. I am putting them into the Picasa web album. Here is the link to it for the Sunday photos.

You can enlarge of the photos by clicking on them and you are welcome to download them if you wish.

https://picasaweb.google.com/6BW2010/Reduced13March2011#

Cheers

Barry

Getting ready to set off from Huntley

Show us your muscles!!! At the top of the water slide.

Letters to the Mayor of Christchurch

2011-03-09T18:35:00.000+13:00

Hi Everyone,
You are probably aware that just coincidentally with the Christchurch earthquake, we have been studying Natural Disasters at this time. Following the raising of the money at the School, we have been writing letters to send away with our donations
Here is a sample of some of them. Sorry about some of the funny angles they are on, I did them with my camera (much quicker than scanning) but not always very straight.

Tomorrow, lots of us are off to Wellesley College in Wellington for a sports exchange. VERY exciting for those going on their first Prep game!!

Here are the letters.
(Remember that you can enlarge them by clicking on them).
Cheers
Barry

Swimming Sports Day

2011-03-06T15:23:00.003+13:00

Hi Everyone,
What disappointing weather for the Swimming Sports! At least we were better off than the poor folks in Christchurch, many of whom are still struggling with lack of the basic facilities. It's an important lesson in life for the rest of us:- that there is always someone in a worse situation than ourselves.

For those of you who weren't able to be here, with the cold wet weather on we moved the swimming down town into the covered Marton Pool, a much better option than having to cancel or postpone the event. We then all came back to school for prize giving- squeezing into the dining room and eating lunch anywhere we could fit.

I have taken some photos to share with you.

Only 1 week now until Outdoor Education Week Camp- for us at Vertical Horizons Camp, just out of Inglewood in Taranaki.

Enjoy the photos.
Cheers
Barry

Boys lining up waiting for parents to arrive for the church service in the gym.

Mr Edwards looking like a very happy chappie!

Getting seated in the gym.

Sorting out seating

Mr Gay listening to the Choir, with Mrs Stewart on the electric piano.

Inside the Marton Pool.

The long queue getting out after the event.

Mr Brown getting up close and personal with the medallions awarded to boys for getting into 3 or more finals.

And now the cups!

The throng in the dining room.

Squeeze up boys!

Jake getting his medallion.

Bruce getting his one.

Patrick was the Junior Champion for 2011.
Congratulations, Patrick.

Lunch in the dining room for those who managed to get a table.

Catch you later.

Mufti Day and 2 Minutes Silence

2011-03-01T17:44:00.000+13:00

Hi Everyone,
Today we had a mufti day at school and the boys and Staff were charged $5 each to be able to wear mufti. The money will be going into the collection we made on Friday so we should have over $2000 to send away shortly.
Mr Gay and the PFA are sorting out where they would like our donations to go.

As well as that, we held a 2 minute silence in the Chapel at 12:50, in keeping with the national act of remembrance.

Here are two photos I took today.

Kind regards to all
Barry

On our way into Chapel.

The 2 minute silence.

Christchurch Earthquake Donation: $1580.60

2011-02-28T13:43:00.001+13:00

Hi Everyone,
Today we added up the money we collected on Friday for the Christchurch Earthquake victims.
It came to an amazing $1580.60!!!!

It is just wonderful for the boys to be able to do some small thing for the people of Christchurch in this hour of need.

Our next task will be to decide which donation fund we will send it to. Mr Gay and the PFA might want to work with us on this.

We'll let you know very soon.

Many thanks to everyone who gave so generously.
Kind regards

Barry

Here we are, just after counting the money.

Triathlon Day 2011

2011-02-26T13:47:00.000+13:00

Hi Everyone,
We had the Triathlon yesterday afternoon, followed by the first Weekend Leave for the year. A super event, with a great meeting of parents and family for the return home!

I have put in photos below of some of our 6BW class and have added a link to a Picasa web album where I have put all the photos I took yesterday, including boys from other classes and adults too.

Many thanks to those who gave so generously to our 6BW class appeal for the Christchurch Earthquake fund.
We'll work out the money total and let you know.

Huntley School Triathlon 2011 Photos

Cheers
Barry

Getting ready for it in the hall.

Mr. Gay giving final thoughts.

Show us your muscles, men!

Hayden

Jack

Waiting for the swimmers to finish.

Bruce with his goggles.

Jake

Tom

Patrick

Yet more muscles.

Go!!!!

Bruce

Jake

Douggie

Patrick

Loftus

Tom

Harry

Loftus

Douggie

Jake

Conor

Hunter

Tayler

Bruce

Harry

Jake

Douggie

Bruce

Harry

Jake

Patrick

Tom

Douggie

Harry

Jake

Loftus

The Earthquake Donations Collection team.

Sprite drinkers

Hope you all have a good weekend.

Christchurch Earthquake 2011

2011-02-23T18:27:00.001+13:00

Hi Everyone,
What a terrible disaster has hit Christchurch!
We discussed it in class several times today and will continue to do so over the next weeks.

Co-incidentally, we have just begun a social studies unit on Natural Disasters.
I have put in the first of a number of links to different websites for the boys to look at as we study what has happened over the remainder of this term.

If anyone finds helpful websites, I would be happy for you to email them to me at bwilliams@huntley.school.nz

Hope to see you at the Triathlon here on Friday.

In sadness for the people of Christchurch.
Kind regards
Barry