The Bubble

The Mystery Bubble At 1:15 on 31st August we discovered a bubble! Not just any bubble… NO! It was a water filled bubble in the middle of the big field. We were all so excited that we wanted to pop it. Our Caretaker Mr Scoullar rang our school plumber to come and look at it. If the plumber allows us to pop it the year 8s are allowed to jump on it and pop it in a method of our choice. We hope the plumber gives us the OK to pop it! If you’re wondering what it feels like it is like a water bed that is about as wide as the distance between 2 rugby posts. By Tamra Park, Taylor Alcock and Samara Keen on behalf of all students and Mrs McG of Room 11 of Abbotsford School.

Our Creative Letterboxes

In Term 2, week 5 and 6, Room 11 created their own style of cartoon letterboxes ( for example Mickey Mouse, Elmo ,SpongeBob, Lightning McQueen and lots more).We had two weeks to design and construct a letterbox with a variety of different materials. Our letterboxes had to have certain requirements on it. Everyone’s letterbox was completely different with their own special feature. We had to write an explanation about our letter box, using an explanation format and a rubric. All of them looked fabulous and we are looking forward to our next creative task.

By Hannah Power and Talisha Miller

On Monday afternoons the year eights from Abbotsford School go to Taieri College and do technology. The year eights are split into three groups, one group does cooking with Miss Crawford, one group does metalwork with Mr Woodside and the last group does fabric with Mrs. Julian. We are in food technology and love it. We are making breads and at the end of the session we get to design and make our own bread. Next week we are making bread with rock salt and olives in it. We really enjoy food tech and can’t wait until we are in fabric next term.
By Samara and Ryan

Optical Illusions in Room 11

Optical illusions On Friday afternoon we had some free time because most of the year 8 boys were at their rugby game at Fairfield School (which is another story)! Anyway, we arranged ourselves into groups of three or four and had a camera for each group. We were given a task sheet with a specific optical illusion on it. We then had to go outside and take photos of ourselves in different positions to make these special photos. The best part was watching them all in a Photostory, (which we created on the programme photo story). We did a fantastic job at making it all come together. There were so many optical illusions to pick from and the ones that were chosen were portrayed very well! Hope you enjoy our video, because we sure did!! By Taylor Alcock and Liam McIntosh

Otago Girls High School Visit

Every Thursday, for eleven weeks, twelve of the Years 8s from Abbotsford School catch a mini bus or taxi into Otago Girls High School. Some of us go to the computing lab and some go to the language lab. It is really fun because you get to be in a high school with heaps of other kids and can see what happens there. The computing people use things like Scratch, Photoshop and Photostory. On Photoshop we put our faces on cartoons or famous people like Brad Pitt and make them all wiggly and distorted. You can put your faces on cars and other things too and they look amazing!

By Jack Hosking and Ryan Howie

Our trip to Queens High

During term 1 all of the year 8 girls at Abbotsford School went on a visit to Queen’s High School. We went there to work in the science lab and the art class.

In science we had to investigate a problem and figure out different ingredients for the secret mixture. To work out what the secret mixture was we had to mix different chemicals together and record what colour it changed to and if the stuff dissolved or not.

In art we coloured in a butterfly picture with really cool coloured pencils.

At the end of the session all of the girls were allowed to have a very tasty blueberry muffin.

Queens was very cool!!

By Samara K & Tamra P

Kings

Our trip to King’s High School.


In Term 1, week 8, the yr 8 boys travelled in a bus to Kings High School. We did some superb science experiments.

In science, we learnt about the Bunsen burner and its parts. We also managed to use it and experiment with it. We dipped these wee metal sticks into vinegar and then into chemicals and some of them changed colour. E.g.: the colours ranged from purple to green and even a rainbow kind of colour!
We also played with magnets and batteries to make a reaction and rotate the wire coil. We also poured a gas over the flame and it extinguished the flame! It was CO2. He called it a retardant.
We had an awesome time with the science teacher. At the end of our session at Kings we had a delicious caramel slice! We had so much fun that we would love to go back.

Jacob C and Teone A

Tug ‘o’ War

On Friday the 23rd of April Abbots house organized a house day. The house and vice captains decided to have a big tug ‘o’ war afternoon.
On the house day everyone in the school, including all the teachers dressed in house colours. It was really cool because every house won a tug ‘o’ war in a different age group.
The year 8 students then had an intense battle against the staff and the year 8 students pulled to victory! The next house that is doing a house day is Burns so we can’t wait till next time.

By Liam Docherty and Liam McIntosh .

Terrific Wacky Wheels Thursday

On the 25th of March Abbotsford School had a terrific wacky wheels day! We all had to dress up in wacky costumes and bring something with wheels on it! There were bikes, scooters, skateboards, roller-skates, and lots more! Our teachers dressed up as well! The year 7 & 8’s had to wear vests while patrolling the drive ways and bays, so we could all be safe! We all had to make a gold coin donation so we could help fundraise for our year 7& 8 school camp which is our ‘Outdoor Camp’ and will be down at Pukerau. We had prizes for the three best wacky costumes in each class. Years 1-4 had the top drive way to play on and years 5-8 had the bottom drive way. We all had a heap of fun and we can’t wait until the next wacky wheels day!

By Mikayla H and Matt P

Jumping for joy Term 2 Week 1 In room 11 this week we have been testing our jump rope skills. Some of us can jump one rope and others can jump two. Our new sports gear is not only helping our jumping skills but our ball skills are getting better. Double Dutch is a hard skill to master. Two of room11’s students had a go and are doing very well. Holly Bartlett and Liam McIntosh were brave enough to be videoed. By Taylor Alcock and Jonty Anderson

Our Fabulous Classroom…Room 11!
Week 7 Term 1
We have been in our fabulous new classroom for 7 weeks now. We are all really enjoying it. In Art, we have learnt about complimentary colours. The complimentary colours are: Green and Red, Orange and Blue, Purple and Yellow. We are all enjoy playing with our new interactiveboard. Every morning we write our names on it and this is how we take the roll. In writing time we can edit someones writing and make it heaps better!
We have done our Curriculum Vitae’s to show the staff so that they could make a choice for House and Vice Captains. We are learning about the brain like how it works and how it develops and right now we are labelling parts of the brain. We all love our new classroom and hope to have a lot more fun in it.

By Tony C and Hannah P

Abbotsford Is Sun Smart

On the 15th March 2010 Penelope ( from the Cancer Society) came in and
awarded Abbotsford School an updated Sun Smart Award for being a Sun Smart School. She also gave us a tree to plant for shade, sunscreen, a sun smart sign, and a U.V. Index board. She talked about the U.V rays and how New Zealand is known for high U.V. rays around January and how we are lucky to have so many trees and shade to sit under. The House Captains planted the tree with Mr Scoullar our new caretaker!
We really appreciate her coming and awarding Abbotsford School the Sun Smart Award!

By the House Captains
Talisha, Holly, Jonty and Jordan

Abbotsford Triathlon



On Friday 26th February, on a hot and sunny day, Abbotsford School held a fantastic triathlon for Years 3-8 students.
We ran, biked and swam in teams of 3. Parents were welcome to come and we had heaps to watch us. For the last few weeks we were training,and it's all leading up to the Greater Green Island Triathlon, to be held at our school on Wednesday 3rd March. Yr 8s ran once around the big field, then ran to a cone in the middle of North Taieri Road away along by the book bus stand. The cyclists biked 4 times round the block and the swimmers swam 8 lengths. Everyone had to compete and it was challenging but heaps of fun. We are all in the Greater Green Island Triathlon held this Wednesday 3rd March.We are getting to be very fit!

By Holly Bartlett and Joel Blackley

Week 2
Life Education
This week we went to the Life Education truck to learn about the brain.
We learnt how to relieve stress on the brain. Everyday we put stress onto our brain so it is very helpful to know about this. Pip taught us the reactions of putting harmful drugs into our systems and what happens when you have too much or any of them. We were very appreciative of this learning experience and had a lot of fun along the way.

By Taylor A and Jonty A

Welcome to Room 11 2010 to 'Excel in 11!'

Dear Parents and Students of Room 11
We take this opportunity to welcome you all to Room 11 in 2010!

We appreciate the confidence you have in our school being able to provide a high quality education for your child. We know that there can be pressure on you in year 6 to look elsewhere for your child’s Intermediate year’s education but we firmly believe and are soundly backed, not only by past parents and students, but by professionals within the wider Dunedin educational circle, that Abbotsford School is held in high regard!
We very frequently have principals and teachers coming to visit us at Abbotsford to view how we teach various aspects of our curriculum.
This year, as in past years in the senior school, we teach some subjects as modules and share our teaching expertise across Year 6, 7 & 8 so that your child receives the maximum benefits of our combined teaching strengths: such as The Arts and P.E. We continue to develop our schools excellent ‘ICT’ programme which has a major emphasis on Inquiry Learning, encouraging the students to think about how and where to locate information themselves. (This is very important at Yr 9 and beyond).
We also feel that this team approach will be of huge benefit to your child in the form of preparation for possibly up to 5 or 6 teachers per week in Year 9!
As Mrs McGregor is also involved in the management of the school, we are very pleased to inform you that Mrs Morton will be job sharing in Room 11 on Thursdays and Fridays. We feel very confident that we are providing our year 7/8’s with a wide range of educational, sporting, cultural as well as social opportunities to mix with other students of their own age, especially with our neighbouring full primary schools. (Referred to as the Greater Green Island Cluster or GGI).
We have both taught in this area for several years now and each year only reinforces our belief that Abbotsford School as a full primary, is unique in its position to be able to provide special opportunities for the year 7 and 8’s in which to develop their leadership and decision making skills.
Many children return to visit and are delighted at how well prepared they were for secondary school (as are their parents!) We constantly hear them say how much they enjoyed and appreciated their years at Abbotsford which is reinforced by the large numbers of them attending the likes of our end of year assemblies and returning on their secondary school days ‘off!’

We feel that your child’s social development is very important at this stage and as a staff encourage them to be able to express themselves confidently and appropriately within their peer group.
We also focus on having the children accept the consequences of their own actions at school, which of course parallels the ‘real world’. They are constantly encouraged to ‘think through’ their decisions, actions and the consequences. We insist on responsible behaviour from them and hope that as their parents and caregivers you will understand and support the importance of this approach!
Homework is important but the real emphasis of homework is to develop a habit of revision as well as most importantly- recreational reading. Homework is the responsibility of your child and they are accountable for quality of work and completion dates. We, as teachers and you, as parents can encourage these obligations but ultimately the responsibility at this age, is with them. You will be informed if your child does not comply with homework requirements via a phone call or at parent interviews.
Our aim is to work hard, definitely have fun and really enjoy our time here at Abbotsford School!
We look forward to getting to know your child and having them settle quickly and comfortably into class routines. Please encourage your child to ask if anything is unclear to them or if you have any concerns or queries, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Below you will see some of the various activities our year 7&8 students will have the opportunity to participate in during the year. We would really appreciate your assistance with some of them and if required, notes will be sent home asking for parent help and/or the inevitable money! Please be aware also, that often our senior students (your children), are expected to take on many leadership roles and activities (listed below). These roles are really important and give them a huge sense of responsibility!

With regards to you all and looking forward to a really enjoyable and productive year!

Jill McGregor & Sheryl Morton
Classroom Teachers