Welcome to term 2 

 A fresh start and hopefully you didn't leave your sharp manners somewhere in the holidays. 

The class has come back very enthusiastic and positive and we have a great vibe in the classroom.  Long may it last! As you are aware in the last week of term, we all went to Te Pāpā and Pāpāwai  Marae as a culmination for our Inquiry studies and to kick off to our new inquiry surrounding ANZAC. We all had a great time there and learnt heaps of information. We saw the Gallipoli war scene, it looked very realistic. We were amazed by the huge lifelike models of soldiers and a nurse that we saw.  There was loads of information to find out and some of us didn't want to leave the exhibition.

 We also went into the maori exhibition where we had to fill in some worksheets. (We are continuing with these in class now.) There was also the giant squid who Ella Fenwick's (last year's head girl) father worked on.  Some of us also visited the earthquake house. We had loads of fun and no one in rm 9 was sick on the bus!

The same week we also got to go to Papawai Marae.  We did several activities while we were there.  we learnt about some of the history but our highlight was seeing the eels. 

By Isabel and Annabelle

ANZAC

Yesterday Mr Plimmer came in to speak with totara syndicate about the ANZAC soldiers and told us some of the history of Gallipoli and the battle fought at Passchendaele. It was very interesting and we learnt a lot. Some of the things we learnt were that the mud in Passchendaele was really deep, it was about knee deep. Before Passchendaele was attacked it was a  town, but after the war in Passendaele the town was gone. It had been destroyed by all the fighting and bombing. The war started in 1914. Soldiers on each side dug a system of trenches. Hitlers invasion of Poland in September in 1936 led to the out break of the second world war. We are doing inquiries in class.

by Phoebe and Emelia