Room 3 Camp March 2012 - Day Three

I had spent the Wednesday night fretting about the rain and checking the Met Service forecasts for the next day, and woke up on Thursday morning to glorious sunshine!!!

This made making breakfast and feeding the children a great experience.  We had a feast.  And then we made our lunches, jumped in the cars and drove down to the wharf.

We took the ferry from the Whitianga Wharf over to Ferry Landing.  As you can see from the photo above, the harbour water was very brown.  This was from the extraordinarly heavy rain the day and night before, washing mud, dirt and debrie down the hills, into the streams, rivers, harbours and out into the bay. 

The view back over Whitianga from the path up to Whitianga Rock.  That big block of buildings is opposite the Whitianga Hotel (to the left) and contains Dinos Pizza and Pasta Restaurant.

Then we walked up to Whitianga Rock, where once a fortified pa (Maori village that was used under attack) once stood.  The path was slippery after the rain and does need some maintainence.

We then walked down to Back Bay (not a bad track), where I made a stupid decision to walk up and over to Front Beach.  Not a good idea.  The track from Back Bay up to the top where there is an excellent lookout is hideous!!!!  It is poorly marked and maintained, and after the rain from the previous days, was down right dangerous.  That and the fact the teacher was far too unfit and nearly died from loss of breath!!!!  (Yep, that was me!!)  It was also a bit of a mistake because it took a lot longer than I had anticipated.  I had planned to do the walk several weeks before to confirm timings... but it rained the day I was to do that.  Oooops. 

After a brief morning tea stop, it was pretty much downhill on a well maintained track/stairs to the road at Front Beach.  Then we walked over to Flaxmill Bay where some indulged in a toilet stop, before we began the ascent to Shakespeare Cliff.

There is more than one way to get to the top of Shakespeare Cliff, and to go up we took the path on the edge of the cliff.... it's mostly stairs.  Great for the butt and thighs.  We got to the top to take in the view and have our lunch and fill out the relevant page in our camp books.

    

       

And then we came back down, made our way back to Ferry Landing (via the shop for an ice block) and onto the ferry.

On the otherside, after more toilet stops, we went into the Mercury Bay Museum, housed in what used to be the dairy factory in times long gone.

             

This museum is a treasure trove, covering everything from the exploration of Kupe (Maori folklore says Kupe was the first navigator to come to Aotearoa), Captain Cook's visit to observe the transit of Mercury, the sinking of the HMS Buffalo in the bay, kauri logging, gold mining, flax milling, farming, conservation, early life in Whitianga, school history...... and there is also a video that is pretty good to watch.  We got there later than anticipated... my recommendation is to give a good two hours to go through this museum.

We took the kids back to the holiday park to change into their togs and headed out to Simpsons Beach (aka Wharekaho), where Wendy from Swim Safe talked to the kids about safety at the beach.  There were no rips at Simpsons Beach, which is why we went there, for Wendy to show them, but we did actually have surf for a change!!

        

Finally it was time for a swim.  The kids had a ball in the surf and on my cousin's kayaks.  I loved getting in the water with them and have a swim.

When we got back to the holiday park, the kids warmed up in the shower and then we prepared an awesome bbq dinner.  Afterwards we went back to the Whitianga Wharf to fish off the wharf.  Unfortunately, due to the dirtiness of the harbour, the fishing wasn't so flash.  The children were given a handline each to keep, and lots of smelly bait.  Even though we didn't catch any good fish the kids had a good time. 

      

After getting rid of the fishy smell in another shower, we had a midnight feast (at 9:00pm), overloading the children with sugar before we sent them off to bed for a big sleep for the last day.

Room 3 Camp March 2012 - Day Two

The day dawned grey but not raining!!  Whew!!!

We got the kids packed up, fed them breakfast, got lunch made and distributed.... meanwhile I popped down to the District Nurse's office and had my final IV antibiotic and the lure removed.  Freedom!!!

And off we went for the day.

First stop was the awesome Goldfields Railways.  We went to the station in Waihi town, paid and hopped on.  I love going on this train as it shows its history and goes through some great landscape out to Waikino in the Karangahake Gorge.

The lady conductor gave us a history of the train and the kids we able to either sit inside or go out onto the open truck (carriage).

After morning tea and toilet stops at the Waikino Station (and coffee for the teacher and grown ups), we trekked across the carpark, under the road and over the river to the derelict site of the Victoria Battery.

          

 

It is amazing to think that this battery was responsible for processing most of the rock from Waihi and parts of the Gorge to get to the gold, silver and other salvagable minerals.... and was also responsible for a fair amount of pollution.  The battery was huge in its day, probably very noisy and functioned until the early 1950s.  We wandered around the battery and had set a time to meet up by the Victoria Battery museum... which we were fortunate to find open. 

           

    

After a quick trip up to the pits, we came back down to the museum to have a guided tour.  It was a real eye opener, and after our guessing at explaining to the kids how the battery worked, this old gem of a museum volunteer rounded out our best guesses, demonstrating how it works.

As we marched back over to the Waikino Station to catch the Goldfields Train back to Waihi, it began to rain lightly.  So lucky it wasn't earlier!!  This rain got a bit heavier while we were on the train, and by the time we got back to Waihi to hop in our cars it was very steady.

Luckily our next visit was (mostly) an indoor one.  We were off to Martha Mine to their Education Classroom to learn from their educator Phil Salmon (former University classmate!).  Phil did take us out in the rain to the Martha Mine pit rim to talk about what they do.... but then we went back into the classroom to learn more before Phil set the children to activities. 

The kids loved the variety of activities.

There were creative activities.....

.... making a movie on the computer....

        

and using I-Pods to find out more information to solve a puzzle and unlock a secret treasure!

At the end of the time, the rain was pelting down!!  We then set off to Whitianga (via Whangamata).  It was not a fun drive in the driving rain, and I was a little worried about the fact that high tide was at 7pm and that brings a risk of flooding either side of it over roads leading to Whitianga.  I was also a teeny bit stressed about the fact that all but one of our activities the next day were out of doors!

When we arrived in Whiti City (as those of us who have lived there call it), the rain was raining like it rains in Whitianga - hard out!!  The area outside of the cabins we were staying in at Mercury Bay Holiday Park was flooded to our ankles, meaning it was bare feet or jandals to get everything in and out of the cars and cabins.

Once we had got as much out of the cars as we could, got the kids and ourselves reasonably presented, we scrambled through the rain to the cars to drive into town to go to Dinos Pizza and Pasta Restaurant for dinner.  This was a god send as it would have been a nightmare to cook and feed kids in that rain!!

Luke, the proprietor, is a karaoke mate, and he did a great deal for us.

My main ambition for taking the kids out to a restaurant was for them to use their manners, use good table manners and order from a menu.  I really got a tickle out of watching the kids read the menus intently and discuss their options.  And then I had to laugh as each one of them told the waitress their order:  MVP (Most Vital Pizza), essentially a meatlovers pizza.  It cracked me up how they practically all ordered the same thing!!

At this point, if you asked the kids what their favourite part of camp was so far.... they said Dinos!  The tummies rule!!!

Then we bundled back into the car and went back to the camp ground - the rain meant that my plan of going to play at the park was drowned.  The dads took the kids down to the tv room to watch a bit of tv while the ladies sorted some kids and food out.  I went to the supermarket and got us some fresh buns and ham and stuff for the next day.

And it was early to bed for the kids that night.  All settled in before 9:00pm to listen to the rhythm of the pouring rain.... and hear the fire station horn go off to tell us that someone had lost control of their car in the flooding on the way into town!!!

Room 3 Camp March 2012 - Day One

OK, so....

Packed the car - tick.

Stuffed up the IV lure, been back to the doctor and had a new IV lure installed and had the antibiotics injected  -  tick.

Gone home and picked up the stuff I've forgotten and released a silly young cat  -  tick.


Ritchie McClaw, the silly young cat!!!


Picked up the non-driving parent  -  tick.

On the road again (think bad country song by Willie Nelson I think).

First stop:  meet all the kids and their parent drivers at the L&P Bottle in Paeroa.

The great thing about this stop is that it is free!!!   Unfortunately, it needs a little maintenance.... some of the information signs have things missing and what looked so flash back in 2004 is looking a tad tatty now.  So this does make it a little tricky for the children to find the answers to the worksheet in their camp books. 



The L&P Bottle worksheet from my
camp book.  I always do the camp
book too.

 Being the fussy teacher that I am, I have to have them do a camp book to answer questions and record experiences and draw and glue in pictures. 

But the kids were happy having their photos taken with the bottle, and we went to Albert Park (I think that what it's called where the rugby and netball courts and croquet pitch is) to eat lunch at the band rotunda and play on the playground.

Second stop:  Karangahake Gorge, and specifically to do the Karangahake Tunnel Loop and the Windows Walk.

Unfortunately, due to my cellulitis, I had to stay in the car and put my leg up.  A shame really, because this is a walk I've done at least three or four times, and I really enjoy it every time.  Also I had never done the Windows Walk part, so I was disappointed not to do that, as I keep hearing how good it is.

Heading over the bridge and into the Karangahake Rail Tunnel

So while I sat in the car with another parent's NZ Fishing magazine, off the kids and parents tramped without me.  It was a tad wet (so one advantage to being invalided off the activity) but I think the kids really enjoyed it.

In a later post I will come back to the activities associated with this walk.

After a couple of hours (and a catnap or two for me and learning about the benefits of soft baits when fishing), the children and their parents were back, slightly damp, hungry and ready to go.  We decided to flag the Heritage Walk in the CBD of Waihi, and headed straight for our accommodation, the Waihi Motor Camp.  The kids were keen for a swim, and the dads were happy to oblige with the supervision, while the ladies began making nachos in the kitchen and I went to the supermarket to get fresh buns for lunch, toast for breakfast and a few other bits and pieces.

Here is a tip for anyone who gets sent on camp with pre-signed cheques and no BOT member or principal with signing rights:  it is a nightmare!!!  Supermarkets do not want to accept a cheque without their special signature approval card.  Waihi Countdown will not be getting any business from me in future.  Waihi New World were more accommodating.  This is why having the school credit card was supposed to be a good idea - until that did not work.

The nachos (mince and mexican chips) were a big hit at dinner time.  There was also avacado, cheese and sour cream to go with it.  And salad - lettuce, cheese, tomatoes, cucumber.  One child went back for four helpings.  And we finished with ice cream in a cone.

After dinner we did our camp books, had a good old fashioned sing along, and had the kids in bed by 9:00pm.

Room 3 Camp March 2012 - the stuff that tries to derail a school camp before it starts

My class went on Camp in Week 8 Term 1 2012.


This was the first camp I've organised since 2005, so I was full of enthusiasm and nervousness.  I began considering what this camp might look like over a year ago.  It firmed up more during term 4 last year, and really began to take shape during January. 


I was thinking of this unit for term one that looked at ourselves and New Zealand.  I wanted to focus on how people came to NZ (Kupe; Maori migration; whalers, missionaries and sealers; the Treaty of Waitangi; settlers, kauri loggers, gum diggers, gold miners; where our own families fitted into coming to NZ) and how people coming to NZ changed the land through clearing the bush and building farms, towns and cities.  We would look at how people would set goals to achieve a new life in NZ and work towards them, and how we set goals for ourselves and work towards them


I planned a full on itinerary, had it all in place... and then real life hit it.

A week before leaving on camp, I was having a parent meeting.  I had planned our first stop on camp to be the DOC Kauaeranga Forestry Centre up behind Thames.... so I jumped online to check out some details to tell the parents ten minutes before the meeting.... and discovered the centre was closed for two weeks due to re-construction, including the day we were to visit!


To say I was upset was to be mild... this part of the trip was to look at the kauri logging of the Coromandel and life back in the day. 


So I told the parents that we wouldn't be going there, I'd be adjusting the timetable as a result and then later in the day I rang DOC to see what the story was, and they kindly sent the DVD they usually show at the centre... but it's still disappointing the kids didn't get to see the life size replica of a log dam that used to be abundant in the Kauaeranga Valley.


So I changed the timetable to have a later start time for camp, and at the childrens' request, put in a stop at the L&P bottle. 


All sorted.  Yeah... right.


Always count on the unexpected.  And my unexpected happened three days before camp began in the form of two wasp stings above and below my left knee... that developed into cellulitis within 24 hours.  So the day before camp I'm at the doctors having an IV lure inserted into my inner elbow and being given the medication for two further days of IV antibiotics.


I wasn't going to be able to walk on the first day of camp!!  I could barely drive my car the day before camp!!!  I started to tell my principal he'd have to come to the first day, arranged for a parent who decided to come at the last minute due to weather conditions to be my driver.....


Oh yeah, the weather.  I'd been looking at the long range forecast for a week on the Met Service website for the Coromandel (http://www.metservice.com/rural/index) and it was not looking good.  Rain was too polite a term for the weather forecast for Week 8!!


A new newsletter goes out to tell parents that the start time will be 10:15am to gather instead to allow for my IV antibiotics to be administered. 


Then there was the shopping trip to get groceries for camp as we were going to be self-catering (first time for me).  Always make sure if you are using the school credit card that you know the PIN... or that the principal actually knows the PIN.  Because it did not work and it looked like we were going to camp with no food.  Luckily, a month earlier, our school had filled out forms to have an account at the local Pak n Save.  Nobody however knew what had become of it.  I found out at the checkout when the chief checkout lady found our completed application in the service desk and saved my bacon!!!  Love that lady.


So the next morning, everything is ready to go in the car before I pick up a parent to head out to school, my 'nurse' (mum, who actually is a nurse) has drawn up the antibiotics ready to inject into the IV lure.... and the IV lure falls out!!!!


*^$%*&*!!!!  To put it mildly.


My doctor is in a town 20+km away, but no one in the town I live in would put in a new lure.  So that means a trip to 20+km to get the antibiotics put in!!!  I ring the principal and let him know, jump in the car and start driving.  I get over half way there and find a tree has come down and the road is closed and I have to stop and ask for directions to get around it!!  Then a wait at the doctors for the next nurse available which allows me to text and ring the parents coming on camp telling them what was happening and asking them to pick up the last remaining things at school and get on their way, saying I'd meet them along the way at the set time and place.


Once the nurse was satisfied I wasn't going to die of an allergic reaction to the antibiotics, it was back in the car and back home (because a cat had hidden inside), and round to pick up the parent who I was supposed to pick up earlier.


And we were on the way!!!

The View from our School - Landscape in watercolour pencil

It was a hot, sunny August day, at the beginning of Term Three, a Thursday afternoon.  We'd been inside hard at it all week, and I decided, stuff it, let's go outside and draw the view!!

Yep, it was a blue sky day.  So we found some lino to press on, dished out the paper, found our pencils and rubbers and dragged our chairs outside.  I asked the children to find a suitable place in the bus park and look at the view.  While they were looking, I took a few photos as I have a few students who would struggle to draw as the view was so big.

I showed the children how to hold their hands up like a picture frame to decide where they would be drawing.

Some finished drawing that afternoon (we were out there for about an hour), but some used the photos I took.  They brought the photo they wanted up on the laptop, zoomed if necessary and drew then.  I have one boy who is obsessed with perfection, so for him, this was the way he felt safest to do this art activity.

The picture above is mine.   I try to do all the art activities so that the students have a chance to see the techniques I am teaching demonstrated.  We were using watercolour pencils to do this art, and I had the box of 12 purchased, one box between two students.  I also brought in my person watercolour pencils as it had more colours, in particular, white. 

I talked to them about what is furtherest away in the picture/view.  And that would be the sky, so I told them they needed to do this first.  I showed them how to colour darker further up, and lighter as it got to the hills.  I showed them how to outline the hills and to use a combination of dark green and dark blue, pressing lightly but colouring in solidly to get the 'far-away-ness' of the ranges in the distance. 

I showed them that has they did each layer of hills closer to the front to use brighter, lighter shades; to use different shades of green and degrees of pressure to show differences between the layers; to use different colours combined to create the differences between the layers; to change the direction they coloured in to show diffences between the layers; how to outline the trees.

Things like the wires on the fence near the front and the fences in the distance were encouraged to be done last, after the water was applied.

We actually mostly applied the water as we completed each layer.  This ensured that each 'front' layer went over the previous one.  I showed them how if you use less water the colour is darker, and the more water you use the lighter it becomes.

When it came to the paddocks and trees, how the brush was used was also important.  As with using the colouring pencil, the direction the brush went in was also important.

The students experimented on spare paper with how to make the trees appear in the bush parts of the landscape.  We also had fun adding in sheep, rocks and fences towards the end of the pictures.  These picture took a long time, and we came back to them over many weeks, just doing small parts at a time.  And some of the children were amazing at the small details.  Check out the fence in the picture at the bottom as an example of those small details that 'make' the picture.

I love what the kids achieved because they all tried their best and really listened to and watched the techniques that I demonstrated.  All their pictures have effectively demonstrated their techniques and show their impression of the view from our school.

What you will need:

• pencil and rubber
• A3 cartridge (not the thin stuff either)
• Something to press on
• A spactacular view

(and it's a good idea to take photos at the time to refer back to later)

• Something to sit on (optional)
• water colour pencils
• fine brushes, water in an appropriate container

To finish, mount in an appropriate way before putting up on a wall to display.

Sneaky Poetry

Just thought I'd mix it all up with a bit of English to break the monotony of art activities.

I got this from a book that has all sorts of poetry forms in it, and I find that it is a fantastic way to teach the children about verbs, nouns, adjectives and adverbs.  Above you can see a photo of the modelling books I used to introduce this with my class.

The last time I did this, the theme my class was studying was NZ native birds.  But you could do this with any theme really.  While I was relieving I found pets was a good theme.  Children love writing about their pets.

So this is how sneaky poetry works:  You don't tell the reader what it is until the last line, and the four preceeding lines are clues.

The first line is an adjective and a noun.
The second line has two adjectives.
The third line has two or three verbs and a noun.
The next line is a phrase or a thought about the subject.
The last line reveals all.

So lets say I wanted to write a poem about my (now not so little) kitten, Ritchie McClaw.
Firstly I would brainstorm as many adjectives about him as I could (e.g. black, hyper, cheeky, destructive, naughty, curious, inquisitive, cute, adorable, annoying...).

I would also need to brainstorm some verbs to describe what he does (e.g. rip, tear, jump, eat, snuggle, investigate...).  Below is an example I did with the class in the modelling book:

So here it goes....

Black feline

Curious and destructive

Ripping and tearing the newspaper

Snuggling on the couch

Ritchie McClaw

Obviously the layout of the poem is important and some students, particularly young students, struggle with the idea of using new lines for each section of the poem.  Punctuation such as commas and full stops are not necessary, but capital letters at the beginning of each line are.

Ofcourse, once the students have written their poems, I'm sure you'll find an appropriate way to publish and display them.