Race Against Time By Sean

A man ran panting through the streets of Wellington on a dark and stormy night. He was on his way to parliament. Heart beating like a drum, sweat pouring like a fountain it was the happiest day of his life he ws running he had to make it he was at the gate and..." Nooooooo!!!".

Sebastian was once a very simple boring man. If anything he was very mechanical. He used the same routine every day. But this day was different. Ring ring
"Hello" said Sebastian answering the phone.
"Is this Sebastian" came the reply
"Yes" said Sebastian worried.
"I'm very sorry sir but your brother is dying at the local hospital on baker street and he wants you to come right away." Without further reply Sebastian slammed down the phone and raced to the hospital.
"Sebastian is that you?" his brother said in a rather croaky voice. Sebastian stepped in and as he stepped in he saw his brother as pale as a ghost lying on his bed staring at an old album looking over the pictures at when they were young and in their teens.
" I heard you were sick so I came" said Sebastian mournfully.
"I'm sorry" Sebastian added.
"Ah forget it." said his brother. Closing the book. He made a gesture and Sebastian sat down.
"What happened"said Sebastian curiously.
" My hearts failing. Man, what I'd do for a new one." He said
"Anyway the real reason I brought you here is not to pity me, listen I need money" He said half regreting he had asked.
" How much do you need?" said Sebastian. " $250,000" he replied holding back.
"What!" Sebastian almost had a heart attack himself.

Two days later he was in bed thinking about what to do about his brother when his cellphone rang.
"Hello" said Sebastian. "Is this Sebastian" said the caller gloomily
"Yeah" he said.
" I'm sorry I forgot to introduce myself my name is Greg." He said a little chirpier though Sebastian didn't really notice.
" I know this might seem a bit uncanny but I called 'cause I know you need money" he said slyly.
"I'm offering you $250,000" said the man
"Is this some sort of joke cause if it is its not funny" said Sebastian.
"Listen this isn't a joke I'm offering you a job I saw you are a business man in trouble so I'm offering you this chance to be a CEO again, take the $250,000 as pay in advance"He said. "That sounds great when do I start?" Sebastian waited and he thought he heard a shocked tone.
"Listen your on flight 29 on your way to Wellington" he said rapidly. " You have 10 minutes say your name and they will let you on the flight. HURRY!!!" He screamed.
"But---" and the phone cut off. In a flash Sebastian ran to his suitcase opened it and started stuffing things in like mad then he rushed to the road for a taxi. Minutes later he's walking and almost there when he is stopped by a message over the speaker.
" Plane 29 has left the air strip". Then what seemed like the whole world. Heard a blood-curling yell and then a fit of sobs. "No" He said " I cant miss that plane". As he walked home he bought a cup of coffee and a newspaper and sat down as he was browsing the paper he noticed something. "Thats it!". He screamed.

Suddenly the whole cafeteria stopped to look at him.
"Sorry" said Sebastian. As everyone resumed to their so busy lives. What he saw was an add in the paper offering a ride to a station then taking him to his destination the Wellington parliament. Sebastian checked his watch perfect!. Just about enough time to make it if he hurries.
"O.K. I have exactly 23 hours and 48 minutes to get there the harbours 3 miles from here oh look ill take that bus!".

Ring ring ring "Oh hello" said the shopkeeper. As Sebastian went in.
"What can I do for you " he said.
"Two tickets on the Queen Mary please" Sebastian replied
"Going to Wellington eh'?" said the shopkeeper as he leaned over to get the ticket.
"Yeah" said Sebastian.
"Well anyways that'll be $218.40 but you'd best be going the boat leaves in a couple of minutes" Sebastian handed him the money and walked out.
Urg arh eh "Seasick are you?" said a man passing by.
"Yeah" replied Sebastian
"Maybe you should go see the ships nurse, you dont look so good". Sebastian just caught as he was leaving. Suddenly boom! crash! bang! then silence. Sebastian ran out to see what was happening. There was a large crowd outside. Sebastian tried to listen but over the noise he could only catch the words.
"Engine broken" Sebastian was flabbergasted. Then the crowd settled down and the captain said
"All mechanics please report to the egine room"

Clang clang whir whoosh! how the engine roared into life. They were back on track Sebastian was hot and sweaty they had worked long however they needed and he was tired he went on to get some sleep. Next thing he heard was a loud beeep!. He woke up with a start but they had made it. He looked at his watch
"Oh" Sebastian said there was a hour left and the bus was coming he calmly walked out it was a very unpleasent night. He was on his way to the parliament. So as he left his cabin he was devastated to hear that a man on the loud speaker was saying.
"I'm sorry the bus has broken down It will take about an hour to fix, we offer--" thats all Sebastian heard as he raced to find a taxi, he was 20 miles away.

7. " The parliament please and quick!"yelled Sebastian. The taxi driver took off and Sebastian looked at his watch, 25 minutes it would only take 20 minutes to get there. He laid back in his seat. He woke with a start it had been smooth sailing until now. The taxi driver was outside inspecting the traffic.
"Oh no" Sebastian looked at his watch ahhh! he had been sleeping for 50 minutes!. But he could make-out the silhouette of the paliament house in the distance. As quick as lightning he ran out the barely missing the door as he was running for what seemed like hours. Now he could see the staircases of the parliament he saw the gate reached for it and...
"Noooooooo!". He was too late they had closed. He fell on his knees suddenly. Ring ring Sebastian didn't want to answer but the ringing wouldn't stop he picked up his cellphone.
"Hello" Said Sebastian sadly.
" Hi Sebastian this is Greg I know I told you to go to Wellington I never thought you would make it, actually I was quite sure you didn't make it anyway your brothers all paid for but the reason I called you is to tell you that--" Then the phone cut off.

The Accident. By Terri

Late one evening Cara went one a bike ride far from home, but half way through, she was rounding a corner when her bike hit a large rock ''AGRRRHHH!'' Screamed Cara as she went crashing to the ground with a huge ''THUMP!' ''Ohh, MAN!''She yelled as she studied the huge graze going right down her leg.Cara tried to get back onto her bike, but for some reason she couldn't! Then she saw why, when she had fallen off her bike her ankle had gone 'CRACK!' It was broken. Pain shot through her leg as she tried to put her foot on the pedals over and over again.

She sat down and tried to think of what to do, but nothing would come, so she tried calling for help, but because she was in the middle of the forest There was no one for miles: Cara tried calling again and a dog sprinted out of the bush, it started sniffing and then stopped when it got to Cara, it sniffed at her pocket and then sat down and tilted its head,

''what THE?!!'' Cara thought, but then she remembered something, ''of COURSE!'' She thought, the dog had smelt her bacon! She had put it in her pocket in case she got hungry! Cara thought about this for a moment, then she wondered if the dog had an owner, she loved dogs, and look at the way its tilting its head, she thought, it was so CUTE! She thought about it for a moment, and then gave the dog one of the pieces of her bacon.

The dog ate happily, then a thought struck Cara. She could use her bike lock to put on the dogs collar and join it to the handle-bars of her bike so that it could take her to its owner! ''If it has one.'' Cara thought. Then she did it. The dog finished eating and looked at Cara again with those CUTE milky-brown eyes, its head automatically tilted, it was just TOO cute! Cara had plenty of bacon, and used it all to get the dog to run.

After hours with the dog, Cara finally, through tired eyes, saw a little cottage at the side of a foot path. The dog went up to the door and started barking, the barking was answered by a tall, thin man, who yelled ''FLUFFY! Me boy! I've bin' lookin' for yeh fer days!'' Fluffy barked and licked his owner's face, ''oh, Fluffy, who've yeh bought with yeh? MY! What did yeh do to tha' ankle o' yours?????''
''Oh, well, sir, I was hoping you could help me! I broke my ankle when my bike hit a rock!''
The man smiled. ''Well, tha's lucky for you!'' He said. Cara frowned, What is WRONG with this man?!!! She thought, but then he said ''cause I'm a DOCTOR!''
''Well, that's GREAT!'' Yelled Cara, surprised.
''Well, I think I o' ta get started on tha' ankle o' yours, then!'' ''THANKS!'' Yelled Cara, but he'd already gone inside.

He brought out a first-aid-kit and set to work. Just minutes later, Cara was testing her ankle, the doctor had put it in a special cast made for ankles. SHE COULD WALK AGAIN! But there was still one problem, she couldn't bike because of the cast! But the doctor insisted that he'd give her a ride home.....

Cara arrived home safely to a worried mum and dad and had to explain why she took so long and what happened.

LOST IN THE FOREST WITH A CREEPY CAT by Neha

Hannah went for a walk in a forest for exercise. She left a trail of coloured feathers so she wouldn't get lost. Hannah had a party to go to. It meant a lot to her because it was the first time she was invited to her friend's sleepover birthday party and she was very excited. Hannah walked into the forest slowly the same thing was going around in her head "what if a cat jumps out?" which scared her because she was scared of cats because once her friend Jess's cat bit her so badly that she had to go hospital and couldn't use the hand for a month.

At last Hannah reached the heart of the forest. She turned around and screamed 'the feathers are gone!" What was she going to do? She was 100% sure that she left them there. She was never going to make it in time for the party.

Hannah looked everywhere for the feathers when suddenly she saw a cat fiddling with them. Hannah was so frightened she hid behind a bush, in the dirt which she hated. Hannah thought very hard and 2 minutes went by. Hannah knew she was going to be late for her friend's birthday party but she didn't have time to think about that now, she needed to think about getting home.

Hannah tried to throw a rock at the cat but her aiming was bad because she'd always hated sports. She also realised that punishing the cat would not take her back home. Hannah sat on a nearby rock and scrunched her fist untill her whole hand was completely white not even a little speck of red. All Hannah did from there was thinking but the problem was that she never thought straight.

Hannah looked at the cat's collar so she could blame the owner for getting her lost and then show off her stories and get all the attention in the future. On the collar it said Hannah's surname "Star" Hannah was confused maybe her mum had brought a new cat "but why?" thought Hannah, "I thought I had already told mum I was afraid of cats." Hannah started to walk in circles thinking what to do next.

Hannah walked up to the cat. It jumped into Hannah's arms.It looked at Hannah with its shiny green eyes."Oh...Oh...Kay" Hannah said. The cat jumped off Hannah's arms. The cat started walking Hannah followed it hoping it would lead her home......It turned out that the cat did lead her home. Hannah asked her mum if her mum brought the cat. Her respond was a yes.
"why did you buy a cat when you know when I am afraid of cats" Hannah asked.
"you've been afraid of cats for most of your life so I wanted to get you over it" Answered Hannah's mum
"well that answers a lot!" Hannah exclaimed.
Hannah made it in time for Jess's birthday party and always felt safe with her cat from that day.

One Small Step For A Man And One Giant Leap For Mankind. By Campbell.

Bob Spring had been training to go to the moon for months and couldn't mess up, because no-one had been to the moon and back before.But that was going to change. Bob walked to the space ship.

"Ok this is it Ground control, I am all strapped in and ready to go". Said Bob. Bob felt like a 5 year old getting a lollipop he could almost pinch his self to see if he is dreaming or not.

10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1,0 blast... Bob began to cry because he couldn't believe it.

"Bob you could just be the first human being to walk on the moon". Said commander. Many hours pass.

things were going just fine until...

"OH NO you need to get out of the spaceship now because there is a meteor heading your way" bellowed out the commander.

Bob was so fast he was as fast as a cheetah,he went straight to the escape hatch and drifted into space. And then he swam straight away from the spaceship then straight away as he turned around he saw the ship and the meteor right in front of his eyes collide into the ship. He was so sad he could almost cry. He thought he could make it,but now he definitely couldn't make it because his space ship had just exploded.

All he could hope for was for someone to come and save him.
"What happened". said Bob.

"Can you send up a ship because I am stuck here". said Bob.

"I am very sorry to tell you this we can try but it will take a whole day, but your oxygen tank won't last a whole day, sorry Bob. Said the ground control.

"Oh man this is the worst day ever". Said Bob

5. Bob was desperate for someone to come and save him, he had 24 hours left till he had no oxygen and then he'd die.He had to find a chance of getting back home.He wished he had never even came to the moon. "I hate myself". said Bob.

"Hey don't feel down, this is a one in a life time opportunity because you got to go to the moon and back,well maybe not back but you know what I mean. Said ground control.

"Thanks you really made me feel better." Said Bob.

"Your welcome'. Said ground control.

"That was supposed to be sarcasm". said Bob.

"I only have minimum time left on my oxygen tank, if only NASA was here right know they would get me home safe and sound."Why did I have to come to the moon. said Bob.

"because you wanted to be a superstar remember". said ground control.

"Oh right... well that was stupid. I might as well just give up".Said Bob.

'Trapped' by mick.

''HELP! ANYBODY! I'M TRAPPED! PLEASE, SOMEONE...''.Eoin was trapped in his hotel room, surrounded with metal doors, with all his luggage is in the hallway, no food and no drinks. Eoin's day was fine...then...not so fine, he got trapped! In his hotel room! If someone does not find him in time, Eoin's would be history! His phone is outside! He can't contact anyone!

Eoin was so exited! It was the day when Eoin starts his new job, rating hotels. For his new job he had to give out five stars, the first star is for good food service, the second for noise level, third star for the room space & design, 4th star is for good food and the 5th star for originality.Eoin was on his first hotel to rate! When Eoin got to his room, he had a room with damaged sprinklers, the hotels policy was to keep everyone safe, so the smoke alarm activates the sprinklers, the sprinklers activate the metal doors.That same day Eoin left his door open, at the same time, the neighbours were baking cookies, the smoke came in... the smoke alarm...BOOM!!! he knew that sound... the metal doors!!!

Eoin was trapped! He was starting to panic ''What is going on'' He said out loud. The metal doors were loud as they slammed to the ground.Eoin was trapped till night, without eating anything, and the thing was... he's alone, and still waiting for someone to come ''If the smoke alarm went, surely the firemen would've came, probably cause my alarm is broken'' thought Eoin in his head all night.

Eoin was still awake, looking for somewhere he could escape, he found nothing but he found a window that was not slammed with metal, he looked, but it was too high for him to climb out of. The sun started come luckily Eoin's door wa still open, and the lady from next door came in, she called for help!

Finally, the firemen were here, Eoin smashes the window and the firemen climbed through with there ladder.Eoin was too dizzy to go down the ladder so one of the men called a helicopter to bring them down, it actually worked!

The firemen got Eoin out safely, Eoin saw his mum rushing to him ''Oh my poor baby'' she said ''Mum your embarasing me'' replied Eoin ''Get the kid a drink'' said the chief ''and get me a flat white'' Anything else'' asked one of the men

''With marshmallows'' replied the chief, until another BOOM!!! another... hotel room with metal doors.

''Well, anyway'' said Eoin

''What'' said the chief

''ZERO STARS FOR EVERYTHING, WORST HOTEL EVER!!!''

'Danger, Success or Failure' by Mohsin.

John was a guy who was always late for meetings. He has to interview people but when he was late for the fourth time his boss said, ''don't miss tommorow's meeting I'm giving you a warning''. The next day, John was wondering when was the next meeting when... the phone rang interrupting his thoughts. ''HELLO!!, I mean hello''said John.

''John Better not be Late again''. SLAM!

''man'', thought John ''that boss always screams like a cat, ''John said.''I will not be late again''. He said with confidence. So he got changed into his suit and jumped into the car and zoomed off.

When John arrived at the city, a new building sight was blocking the way. It was dark and the smell of it filled up his nose. John could hear a drip of a leaking pipe. he could also hear the cars beeping waiting to get to the other side,''Now how am I going to get to the meeting in time?''. Just then he saw a walk way that lead to the other side. there was a sign of the site that said DO NOT CROSS. John got furious and got out of his car. He new he shouldn't but he had no choice... but... he did.

''Phew''. He said with relief. After a few minutes he reached the building,''What time is it?''. he said with fear. He went to the elavator and his hand trembled when he pressed the button 2nd floor and up he went.''Come on hurry...hurry'' he repeated over and over again. but... ''BOOM''!!!!. the elavator stopped.

He stomped on the elavator floor and looked annoyed,'' Why does this always happen to me? I don't deserve this!'' He said. His heart was sore, he was breathing deeply, his muscles were aching. But then he noticed something. There was a vent. Just then two thoughts struck his mind. Where does it lead to and Could I fit through the vent?. So he climbed in the vent and kept going,'' this vent smells like grandpas 85 year old sock''.He said. He saw a room bellow and jumped down... it was completely empty,'' That's it!! I wasted my time no actually I wasted my life''. he said with anger. The wind blew passed him it made him calm down then he heard voices above him.

''I'm in the wrong room?''. John said, the wind blew past him again another feeling came in it was the feeling of HOPE! he went to the third floor his aching and sore heart went away. He was there. He opened the door. He only could hear his heart thump but nothing else

''John''. His boss said with a suprise look on his face said,

''yes''. John replied .''John''. The judge said again

'' Just finish the sentence will ya''. John said

''You have come to meeting in time'' said his boss,

''yes!!!'' his heart pounded with excitement then he jumped. After the meeting that John came early on his mum came ''I heard you were doing dangerous stunts to get to the meeting'' she said.'' sorry''.Said John but.... John was interupted by his mum with a sentence......that's my son...and boy then his mum squeezed his cheeks then his face went red and he was blushing with embrassment.

'Where's My Dog?' by Shannon

Melissa was taking her dog Lucky to her best friend Kaitlyn's house. When she got there they all went to the park . Melissa had never had so much fun in her life especially when they started to play with a frisbee. They had so much energy .

"Wow this is so much fun" Melissa said.
"I know and I was wondering if Lucky could come to our house for the night?"
"Yeah sure" replied Melissa.

Later on that day Melissa's mum sent a text to come home. So Melissa said goodbye to Kaitlyn and walked to the bus stop she caught a bus began day dreaming about something random like fruit and a rainforest and wasn't thinking about Lucky. As soon as she got home and in the gate she held it open for Lucky to come in......
"Come on Luck....."Then realised Lucky wasn't behind her. She was so worried. "Lucky?...Lucky here doggy where are you?"
she mumbled."Oh no what am I going to do?When mum finds out she's gonna flip!".
So she decided to try and find the park.

"Bus!Hey bus stop!"yelled Melissa. The bus pulled over. "I've lost my dog at the park".
"Umm...Okay do you want to go to the park?" the bus driver said to her.
"Yes please".They stopped at a park.
"Here we go" the bus driver said to her.
Melissa got off the bus "Umm thanks but I don't think.."
But the bus was already gone "darn it!" she had gotten on the wrong bus Melissa needed to find the right park now that she was lost. She ran to the train station . And caught a train.As Melissa was on the train she saw some dogs with their owner walk past and thought of Lucky.

While she looked out the window she saw some parks nearby.
"Hey there is...oh no it's not".
"maybe its no its not that one either."
She hopped off the train and looked for some more parks but couldn't find the right one
"man this is annoying!" She thought to herself.Melissa was getting frustrated and worried about Lucky.

Melissa was over trying to find the right park but in the distance she heard some dogs she thought "that's got to be it." She sprinted to the park with her heart pounding against her chest.Finally she was there "Yes....finally.....im.....oh man." There were so many dogs that she couldn't count them. "Oh come on....you gotta be kidding me!?" she puffed.
She was so annoyed and angry that her face was completely red and looked like she was about to explode.

She walked through the park looking anxiously at every dog she walked past.Melissa was tired of trying to find her dog then she heard a familiar voice "LUCKY!" and saw a familiar dog run up to the girl who called. It was Kaitlyn!!! Suddenly out of the blue Melissa ran up to the dog and tackled it! And it was Lucky! But Melissa had forgotten that Lucky was staying at Kaitlyn's house and she done all of that for nothing. Still Melissa would never forget anything as important as her dog Lucky.

The life of Jennifer, By Angel.

Jenny's mother in-law didn't like Jenny. She wasn't from a rich family so Jenny was treated like a servant. "Come here Jenny why aren't the dishes washed? I told you to do them". Said the mother in-law. "Sorry mother I had a headache" replied Jenny, Jenny wished she could just live with her husband Jacob but Jacob wanted to take care of his mum. Suddenly the phone rang. Jacob wondered if it was about his job application. "Hello it's Nick from America, remember you applied for a job "Yes" said Jacob "I wanted to tell that you got a job in America you can join next week" That's great" said Jacob. Jacob had found a job in J- jays. Though Jacob already had citizenship Jenny's hadn't arrived yet. A week passed and it was time for Jacob to go "My citizenship hasn't come yet so how can I go"? asked Jenny "I'm sorry but your citizenship got cancelled" said Jacob in a low voice. Jenny felt sad when she heard that. She didn't want to leave Jacob but she had to stay with her mother in-law.
Months past and Jacob was still in America. Jenny was struggling doing the work for her mother in-law. One day Jenny was felling really sick "I think I can't do anything, maybe I'm getting a fever said Jenny to herself. "Why aren't you scrubbing the kitchen floor? I told you to clean it" said the mother in-law. "That's enough I'm getting out of here. You can live by yourself !" said Jenny in an angry voice and with that she left the house. While she was walking out of the house she called one of her friend and asked her "Could I please live at her house till Jacob comes back?" "Sure" her friend said.
In 2 months time Jacob came back from America. "Mum, I'm so happy to see you" said Jacob smiling happily. "Where's Jenny?" he asked "Well um... um... oh ya she ran off with our gardener" she lied. Suddenly Jacob felt anger towards Jenny. The mother only wanted Jacob to marry someone else who was rich. "Why would Jenny do that? I'm going to look for her" said Jacob and with that he ran out of the house to look for her.

Jacob was searching the whole town but he couldn't find the gardener. He sat down to have a drink. Suddenly he turned around and saw the gardener. He ran towards him and grabbed him by the neck and asked "Where's Jenny?".
"I don't know I saw her running out of the house because your mother and Jenny had a fight" Said the gardener trying to catch his breath. Jacob felt really sad that Jenny left he hated his mother now.

On the way home Jacob saw his beloved cousin Emily. He stopped the car and went up to her. "Hey Emily have you heard the bad news?" asked Jacob sadly.
"No" said Emily "What happened?"
"Well Jenny ran away because of my greedy mum and I have no idea where she is" said Jacob.
"Well today is your lucky day! Jenny is living with me right now"
"Really?" asked Jacob "Yes, come along I'll show you" said Emily. Jacob drove the car to Emily's house he was filled up with amazement. He stopped the car and went up to the door. Jenny opened the door. Jenny's eyes looked like a flash light hitting her eyes when she saw Jacob. "Oh Jacob it's so nice to see you" she said with tears in her eyes.
"I'm sorry my mother started a fight with you" said Jacob
"It doesn't matter anyway she is old now and she doesn't know what to say" said Jenny.
Days have passed and Jenny and Jacob bought a new house and lived together happily(away from the mother in-law of course). "Your visa got canceled" said Jacob lying. "Not again" said Jenny laughing. The End

Soccer Fever, by Travis.

It was the final.Dylan and his team hadn't won a single game in the season.The opposition striker chipped the ball into the air Dylan the goalie had a chance!Dylan felt the ball brush his fingers back,he could catch it!,Dylan tryed to catch it....OH NO!The ball was to slippery for him,he couldn't hold on and the ball went into the back of the net!Dylan wondered if he could get out of this mess!!!

Before the game had even begun Dylan and his parents actually arrived at a ground,they soon realized Dylan couldn't find his team.Dylan's heart was pounding like a ball hitting the ground.They jumped back into the car looking for the pitch.Dylan was getting frustrated.He spotted one of his team mates walking with his mum to the ground so they followed them to the pitch.The ref had already started the game without Dylan!The opposition had the ball,Dylan raced out of the car and towards the goal.The opposition had beaten Dylan's mid-fielders.Dylan was almost there!The opposition had beaten Dylan's defenders!They shoot the ball....

Dylan saved it!It rebounded out to the opposition strikers!He was a few metres directly in front of the goal.But that gave the opposition's striker an option....the opposition chipped the ball very high into the air.Dylan felt the ball hit his hand!Dylan's going to save it!He was terrified,what would happen if it went in?Would his team get angry at him?Dylan thought in that split second....OH NO!The ball's to slippery for him he dropped the ball into the goal.Dylan and his team were gutted.The score was 1-0 to the opposition.

Dylan's team kicked off,the opposition stole the ball off Dylan's team straight away.Meanwhile one of the parents dropped their chocolate bar in the corner of Dylan's goal,it was very small and Dylan didn't spot it until....

Dylan spotted the chocolate bar!It was his favourite kind....CADBURY!He would never let anything harm the chocolate bar,he hadn't had one in months since his Dad put him on a diet.Dylan ignored the ball and dived for the chocolate bar's safety,he felt the ball hit his back....Dylan had saved the ball!The ball deflected off his back,over the opposition's defenders and to Dylan's strikers!They shoot....

It hit the crossbar!Dylan got up with the chocolate bar and he immediately saw his strikers score a goal at the other end of the field.The referee blew the final whistle.The final score was 1-1,Dylan saved the day.

One Crazy Bird by Becca

CRASH! "Oh no, it's broken something in the lounge!" He rushed into the lounge, and the sight inside made him stop in his tracks. Thinking back to the beginning of the day, Fred remembered how this had all started...

Fred was playing on the computer. He was supposed to be doing his chores, but he didn't care. His mum had gone out to do the shopping, so she couldn't tell him what to do. He was so engaged in the game he was playing he didn't notice when something flew in through the open window and landed on the kitchen bench. It saw the closed window on the other side of the room, in the bit that was Fred's lounge. Thinking it was open, the sparrow flapped its wings and took off, knocking over a vase. CRASH! Shards of purple and blue china flew through the air like razor-edged raindrops. Fred rushed into the kitchen and saw the sad, shattered remains of what had once been his mother's prize vase. "Oh no! Mum's gonna kill me!" he groaned. THUMP! "What was that?" His eyes wandered to the window and there he saw a little brown shape, lying on its back. It hopped to its feet and squawked at him. Suddenly it shot into the air and knocked over and entire shelf of glass ornaments. "I think it's a sparrow." Fred thought.

Fred panicked. "If I don't get this thing soon," He thought, watching it glide to the couch and rip up a pillow, "It's going to wreck the house!" He grabbed the thing nearest to his hand and threw it with all his might... before realizing it was a pillow. It missed the sparrow completely and landed in the sink. After throwing a couple more things he gave up. He decided he'd just open all the doors and windows, completely forgetting his mum was a writer, and she had left the bits of paper that made up her latest story lying around before going to do the shopping. The gale coming through the windows started making the paper blow around, so he had to close the windows before it blew out. Mum's story was scattered across the floor. Fred made a mental note to clean that up.

After a quick glance at the clock he realized he only had half an hour before his mum got home. He panicked and started running around in circles before thinking of a plan. "I'll just go into the garage, grab some birdseed and lure the sparrow outside with it." He said aloud. When he returned to the lounge after hearing something else break,the sight inside made him stop in his tracks, drop the box of birdseed and mutter "Oh, my gosh!" The lounge was a complete bombsite! Shards of vases, dinner plates and cups littered the floor along with torn fragments of his mum's story and ripped-up cushions were strewn across the couches.

The sparrow was perched atop a high shelf, staring at him with empty, black eyes, watching his frantic attempts to clean up the mess. Fred gritted his teeth, muttering, "at least I can finally get this mess cleaned up. No thanks to you!" He added, looking up at the bird and clenching his fists. "If you hadn't come here in the first place, none of this would have happened!" The bird returned his gaze and gave a "Chirp chirp!" Of protest. "Oh, come on, don't deny it!" Fred yelled. "You're the one who wrecked the house!" "Tweet." The bird replied. "Oh, I'm talking to a bird!" He cried, throwing up his arms. After that, both bird and Fred remained silent.

After another twenty minutes of cleaning, Fred heard the sound of a car coming up the driveway. "Mum's home!" Fred, exclaimed, but, looking down at the mess, his face fell as he realized he still had heaps more to clean up. He heard the car door closing and the door into the hallway opening... his mum's footsteps coming up the hallway... she was coming in through the door and she screamed. "AHHHHHHHH!!!!!" "Er... hi... Mum..." Said Fred feebly. "What... you... happened...?" She stammered, glaring at the mess as though willing it to disappear. Suddenly Fred burst into a rather bad explanation. "Mum... sparrow... vase... pillow... HELP!!!!" He stammered. His mother stared at him. "You know," She said, "I don't want to hear it. Just get this mess cleaned up." "O-Okay" Fred stammered. Then when his mother left the room, he glared up at the sparrow and said, " I hate you." "Tweet."

The Interview. By Sanaya.

" Hurry up mum we will be late for my interview!", Scarlet bellowed out. She was very worried. A few minutes later inside the car Scarlet was nervously clenching her fists and sweat was dripping down her forehead. She was thinking what will happen if my words are gone from my head, and what happens if they ask me questions I don't know. She was going to her fifth interview and this time if she missed it she wouldn't get the job and she has missed a lot of interviews before. It was her dream job.

EREK!!!! mum braked so hard at the red signal that they nearly fell of their seats. They waited for it to turn green but... Mum let go of the brake and something wrong happened, the car wouldn't go. Scarlet's mum checked the petrol tank and she saw.... "Oh no Scarlet the petrol ran out we can't go anymore", shouted Bella.
"Oh no this can't be happing I won't be able to get my job". Beep Beep Honk Honk " Move your car lady", the man at the back shouted. " We can't it's run out of Petrol", shouted Scarlet.

" Can somebody help", screamed Bella.
" Wait I have an idea let us try and push the car Scarlet said.
"It's not working what are we going to do", Scarlet said.
" Well of course it's not going to work it's heavier than you are", said Bella. Scarlet didn't even bother to listen she was thinking for a solution and it suddenly came to her. " That's it I am going to look for a taxi", shouted Scarlet. She ran to look for a taxi with her heart pounding like a sprinter. 10 minutes past and no taxi came. After a while she walked back to the car with tears in her eyes dripping one by one. Her mum comforted her just like the old days when Scarlet was a baby.

Bella and Scarlet tried one more time but it still didn't work. " Hello, Hello can somebody please help", asked Scarlet on her half broken phone. Nobody picked up, she knew that she wouldn't get the job, she was angry and upset. She was never like this before. " Don't worry Scarlet I know you will get the job", said her mum. Scarlet stared at her jagged car like a dumb kid. She didn't even bother to talk and she just wept in her cold bare hands. " Mum I know this is terrible, I know your angry and I absolutely know I won't get the job", wept Scarlet.
" It's okay if you don't get the job and I am not angry, who made you think that" replied Scarlet's mum.

Scarlet picked up her cellphone which was nearly broken and called her boss. " Hello boss, I have important news. I know I am late I can't make it today to the interview so can you please give my job to the next person on the list I am very sorry", said Scarlet.
" What there is no interview today it's tomorrow didn't you listen", said the boss.
" WHAT!!!! no inter... interview today but how could that be", said Scarlet.
She took a pause and took out her note book and she read with her eyes what it said. Tuesday 9:00 sharp Board Room. " NOOOO!!!I can't make it tomorrow", said Scarlet.
"Oh well to bad for you won't get the job", said the boss.

Scarlet felt depressed and angry. " What, how can he do this to me", said Scarlet to her mum. Her mum comforted her but Scarlet just pushed her hand away. She cut the line in anger and locked it. Scarlet decided to call the tow truck to come and get her car. Minutes past and after 30 minutes it finally came with a really loud beeping sound. The people came and stuck the car to the handle. Scarlet had to walk ALL the way back home with tear drops in her eyes. Tears dropped on the road and that night she never forgot the day when she missed her dream job.

The Printer of Doom. By Adam.

"Why do I always end up outside the Principal's office?" Thought Billy. Just then the moment he dreaded came, the door handle creaked slowly around and then the doorway trembled and then dust came floating down like snow on Christmas day and gently landed on the ground as the door was pushed inwards. Then a thin and bony hand reached round the door and felt around in till it turned the light on, even though it was the sunniest day in the year. Billy was sweating, not just ordinary sweating, it looked like at any moment a mini flash flood would take hold of the room and sweep everything away. Just then the principal came in, he looked very angry as he sat down behind his desk. Then the words came.
"You are in big trouble Billy this is the 9Th time you've been sent to me. I've never had in the history of the school a person as naughty as you, you are running on thin ground Billy, now go back to your class and I never want to hear your name again. Understood?" Said the principal.
"Yes." Said Billy, hoping to escape from his angry principals rampage.

When Billy got back to the class he then got back to doing an assignment on the computer, once the teacher told him what his class were doing. "This is fun." Thought Billy. When Billy had finished doing his assignment he started to fiddle with the number of copies to print, when Todd came along. Todd thought that Billy didn't know how to print so he clicked PRINT for him, but Billy had the quantity set to. "30 BILLION!" Billy knew that the printer could print all those pages and much more!

''OH NO!!'' Said Billy, Suddenly his enemy ,Jim told on him.
''Billy's been naughty!'' Jim said. Billy pointed at Todd, the person who clicked print and said.
''He clicked it, he clicked it!''
''No I didn't." Said Todd.
''YES YOU DID!!!'' Billy shouted at Todd.
''Stop it all of you right this minute!'' Snapped his teacher. ''Now at this moment it is better we worked out how to stop the printer.''
''OK.'' They all said.
''Good.'' Said the teacher.
Everything is going wrong like a collapsing building. Thought Billy.

Just then the printer beeped and it's screen lit up like Christmas lights, it said. "No black ink, no black ink!" Billy's cry of pain and agony changed from. ''Nooooooooo!!!!!!!'' To. ''YES yes!!!!" He was suddenly joyful again because he thought it would stop printing, he ran over to the computer and clicked stop printing. Nothing happened, he clicked it again and again and again but nothing happened. Then the printer screen showed. "Everything alright." Billy suddenly howled as he just realized that he had been clicking the wrong button all along. He leaped up on to the table with the computer on and slammed his foot into the screen. His foot went right threw it, he yanked it out and kicked the computer off the table. With an almighty crash it fell onto the floor and lay there with sparks flying all around it. But the printer was still spewing out pages like a sick baby.

Just then billy had a brainwave he tried to block the printer with a block of wood. This had no effect at all. So he yanked out one of its many paper trays, but it still kept printing. He yanked the other trays out again and again and again, but they were all empty. Just then he remembered that since they had built the new paper mill next door they had unlimited supplies of paper to everything in the school that had to do with paper.

He suddenly new how to stop the printer. He pulled and pulled and pulled at the power plug until it came out of the socket. The sudden silence sounded like the world had stopped, then all the kids cheered.
"Billy is our hero!" They cheered. After they had finished cheering the teacher then marched up to Billy and put her hand on his shoulder and shouted.
"YOU'RE IN A LOT OF TROUBLE YOUNG MAN!!!!!!" And pulled him by the ear to the principles office. When he arrived at home his mum grounded him for a year, and he had to work hard to get money for a new computer for the classroom.

The Locked Car. By Ollie.

"Time to go home" Said Cage to himself as he walked to his car. When he was walking he saw some of his friends.
''We heard you were having your 36Th Birthday" said Nathan''.
"Yeah I'm having it when I get home he replied."
"Can you come?"
"Yes see you there."Said Nathan He kept walking to his car.

But when he got to his car he found he had locked his keys inside.''NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!! I locked my keys in my car!!!!!!!!!!'' He said.''Maybe my friends will give me a ride home. '' So he started to walk back to his friends but when he got there his friends already left. So he walked all the way back to his car.

On the way to his car he found a stick and he got to his car and tried to wedge the door open with it. But the stick snapped. "Oh no'' said cage. "I want to go home and have my party".

He went round asking people if he could have a ride home but everyone he asked says no. It was getting darker and darker and soon he gave up. He waked back to his car he sat on the curb thinking about what was probably happening at his house.''They will probably be eating my cake and opening all my presents by now." Cage thought.

Suddenly he found one dollar on the the side of the road so he went to the bus station and waited for a bus. But when the bus got there the bus driver said "I can't let you on the because you don't have enough money."
cage said ''But I need to get home, I locked my keys in my car."
''Did you try the door'' the bus driver said as he closed the door and zoomed off along the road.

Cage went back to his car hoping that the bus driver was right. There were no people or street lights on the street and he couldn't see were he was going he found his car because it was the only one there. He tried the door and it was unlocked. ''THE DOOR WAS UNLOCKED''!!!! Shouted cage and got in his car and drove off to his party.....

Inventing Central. By Nael.

Inventing Central had yet to get a star critic to judge how well the business was so they were working very hard for a 5/5. But did they manage this with something unexpected happening? Luke, the company's most talented inventor, had quit and was sad just thinking about it. When he was thinking about it, tears fell out of his eyes because
he was scared that the inventors would get a low star rating.

The next day, Julius, the owner spoke to his staff. "I have a surprise for you." He said. "I hired three new inventors! Meet James, Lenny and Jacob."
"Nooo!" Tim, the team manager said. "Especially not when losing Luke!" He, and the other employees were scared because they thought the new inventors would make matters even worse.
"But they just might make the difference!" Said Julius.
"Were getting a star critic in a couple of days, no way the new inventors will learn everything on time!" Tim said.
"But we have no other option." Said Julius.
The boss disagreed with the rest. "Come on guys, I hired them as a replacement for Luke. I'm sure they'll eventually get the hang of this. No more arguing guys, it's time to make me proud!" He said.
"Oh really?" Tim, an employee said. "They'll get the hang of things? Your right, they'll get the hang of things, the hang of GETTING THINGS WRONG!!!"
"Okay, Okay. They might make some mistakes." Julius said
"Sorry Boss, but they need expert advice." Tim said.

Julius agreed, and Tim called the expert advice company. Shakter from the company picked up the phone. "Hello?"
"Hi, We have three useless inventors." Said Tim
"Don't be so rude." Julius said.
"Ha Ha Ha", Shakter laughed. "I'll do what I can. Bring them to me as soon as possible."

The next day the 3 newbies were expertly treated.
"I don't think it will work. Said Tim. One day of expert advice won't change anything."
"It might, you never know." Julius said
"Boss, this isn't a cartoon! It's obvious were going to get a 1/5."
Just when he said that, the telephone rang. It was the expert advice company. Julius picked up.
"How are they going?" He asked.
"Amazing, they're naturals. Why did you bring them here? They're good enough to be the best in your group." They said.
"Wow! That's so cool. Thank you so much." The boss said. He grinned. Then he turned to Tim. Tim new what that meant. But he was less than excited. "Did you here that?" Julius said to Tim. "They said they were amazing!"
"Yeah well, people can say anything." Replied Tim.
'Why don't you have faith?" Julius asked.

James, Lenny and Jacob returned to the inventors building. It was the big day. The day of judgment. They had to invent and design something. Then the star critic would rate their business. 3,2,1 and they started. They had some difficulty, but they were keen with three newbies. No longer newbies now. Beginners perhaps, and if they lead inventing central to a 5/5, they wouldn't be beginners anymore. Legends, legends is what they would be called.

The results were in. The official Inventing Central's rating will be called out any second now. It was a very nerve racking moment. Their mouths shook and so did their hands. They were quivering with fear. "Don't worry. Whatever happens, we will still be a good company." Julius said. It was scary for them because they didn't know when they would call out their rating, like at the top of a roller coaster you don't know when you'll fall down. But it was just about to be announced and the inventors were waiting nervously for the moment of their lives...
Then in a sudden, the inspector said, "Five out of five!! Congratulations!!"
YAY! YAY! WHOO! Their cheering filled the room, they were celebrating like mad! The picked up James, Lenny and Jacob and celebrated for them. Now they had earned their rights to be called legends.

The Bully. By Sullivan.

Thwack!! "uuunnnggghhh!"That's what thirteen year old boy Billy heard everyday at Rock wood High School. Billy was getting his daily atomic wedgie of agonising pain from the school bully." Another day another atomic wedgie." He thought. He was actually getting into a routine of this. At 9:00 he got an atomic wedgie ,at 10:45 he got a swirly and later at 2:15 he got 25 massive punches thrown at him. This happened to Billy everyday.

The next day Billy was in the cafeteria eating a beef pie with his friends. They were chatting about normal boy stuff when Billy noticed the bully taking a nerds lunch money." I don't know why that bully is so mean." whispered Billy to all his friends.
" I think its because his mum left him at the carnival and never came back for him."Replied Billy's friend in a mysterious." voice that bully is the toughest bully on the west side there is no way anyone can beat him up."

RIIINNGG!!!"Come on you stupid locker I am going to be late for class!!" As Billy struggled to open his locker he didn't notice the bully walking up the hall behind him. Billy's hands began to sweat his eyes began to bulge he looked like a sun burnt boy that had just ran a marathon. With one more mighty pull his hand slipped of the handle and accidentally hit the bully smack dab on the nose.
"OOOOOOHHHHHH!!!!" Said the bully."You are so going to get it Billy I am going to knock your face into next week,I challenge you to a brawl on Friday after school and don't chicken out!!!!" As the bully kept on walking Billy just stood there petrified his face went as white as snow and he wondered what he just done.

"Why must you always get yourself into these things." Sighed Billy's friend. Billy still petrified from yesterday suddenly came up with a plan,
" I will pretend to be sick and not go to the fight ."Billy aid eagerly. Billy's face went white once more." But I am still going to get beet up the next day." Billy sank back into his chair, The bully walked up behind Billy and flicked him in the back of the head.
"See ya tomorrow hehehehe."

The next day it was time,Billy was paralyzed and scared he stood there on the courtyard waiting for the bully to arrive. The Bully stomped his massive feet on the pitch black gravel as he started to charge, what a beast the bully was. He had gigantic black boots with chain dangling around them,Billy just pictured them stomping his tiny head into the ground. "AAAAGGGHHH" yelled Billy as he ran for his life.
"STAND STILL YOU LITTLE WORM!!!!"Shouted the bully. After fifteen minutes of running for his life Billy was cornered at the flag pole, the bully was about to headbutt Billy when he jumped out of the way, the bully whacked his head on the flag pole. The bully stumbled. Billy found his opening and lightly punched the bully in the stomach, as the bully fell to the ground like a demolished skyscraper the whole crowd gasped.

Billy didn't believe it he had just beaten the bully. "I don't believe it I won,I WOOOONNN!!!." The whole school cheered for Billy. Billy started to pose and dance a victory dance."I can beat anyone,who's next." But Billy noticed his friends leaving with sad faces. Billy just realized what had happened. "I've become the bully." Sighed Billy.

Survivor: Ultimate Africa. By Cameron

Max was on summer vacation. He was staring out of a plane window, bored... Very bored... very very ultra mega bored... suddenly "Wow!" Max said as he stared at a mother lion and 2 cubs running across the Savannah! Dad leaned across the isle of the little plane and said "Hows my big 10 year old boy?" "well apart from the three lions, bored" Max said "Um..., well can you at least try to have some fun till we get to Africa?" Asked dad. "Try playing on your Nintendo?" "But-" max began to reply, but Suddenly the plane tilted! Max and his dad was thrown from side to side gripping the seats. Hand over hand they made there way to the control room...

Max's dad opened the cockpit door... "Oh no!" Cried Max's dad
"What?" Said max still stuck behind the door
"Oh help us!"
"what!"
"help us please!"
"What!!!!"
"Oh sorry max, look"
"Oh no! He must had a heart attack!" Said max afraid. As Max's dad tried to smile he said "I know we cant drive a plane but we have to try. Besides it's only a little plane . "Well if we are going to drive this plane we better hurry were just about to cra-"
Smash!!!

The plane rammed into the trees at great speed, Max was gripping the seat as hard as he could, "THUD!!!" the plane slammed into the biggest tree max had ever seen. Max was thrown across the cabin and he slammed into the glass, the glass shattered and max flew out of the cabin. Max's head hit a tree so Max went spiraling towards an oak tree, he fell to the ground and lost consciousness. Max's dad (Ross) also went flying, but he hit the control panel. When Max woke he could feel the blood trickling down his forehead."Max, Max!". Max could see that his dad's hands were bleeding and a smear of blood was on his cheek. Max groaned
"Thank goodness your OK!"said dad with relief. He pulled max to his feet, then Max and his dad limped into the forest.
"H...hello, any body home?!" Shouted max shivering. "SQUAWK!" Suddenly a parrot flew down from a branch and landed on Max's shoulder, it started pecking at Max's head "Squawk!" "Get off!" shouted Max as he pushed the parrot away. "Look!" Said dad jumping with excitement "The end of the forest!"


The two boys made there way to the opening. Dad's heart almost stopped at the sight... the Sahara desert "Nooooooooooo!" Dad screamed. He screamed so loud that a few birds flew out of the trees and it echoed 6 times before fading away. "Wait I recognise this desert, it was on one of those pamphlets back at the airport!" Cried max "There is a ferry over those dunes we have at least 2 and a halve hours to get there" Max and his dad stared at the giant dunes miles and miles away, and even still they looked huge!

Max and his dad started the long walk to the dock. The sand was burning there feet like hell, it was like they were walking on the sun! They did not know it but there was something watching them... Something big... "Oooowww!!!" Max screamed. Suddenly A huge rattle snake had its teeth rapped around Max's ankle and it wasn't letting go! Everything went blurry as max fell to the hot desert floor screaming trying to fight it off! Luckily his dad had found a rib bone of a dead animal and started whacking the snake with it, Max screamed even louder as his dad had just whacked Max on the shin by accident! "Hissss" The snake slithered away in pain.

Max moaned and moaned, he couldn't walk so his dad carried him over his shoulder to the wharf. "wait!" shouted Max's dad as the ferry left without them, Max's dad started waving and fell to his knees exhausted. suddenly a helicopter flew towards them. Sand stung their eyes as the helicopter landed, max and his dad almost got blown off their feet as the wind was super strong. The pilot strait away recognised Ross, "Oh bless my soul, it's Ross Crutcher! An honer to meet you. We've all been looking for you since the crash."
"Well lets just say we had a little slip up in plans" Said Ross. The helicopter took off and they flew to the hospital...
Max woke "Where am I?" Max said.
"The Doctor said you would be fine, he said that the venom had been removed from your body." Max's dad leaned over the bed and said "you'll be all right buddy, at least we got to Africa."

Cameron & The Mutant Pancake

When we were typing up maths word problems, Cameron typed up the weirdest word problem anyone in the class has ever seen! This was it:

A mutant pancake had 38 ray guns and a portal shot out 41 more right in front of him, so how many ray guns can he use on disgusting human mouths?

Many of us agree that this is the strangest word problem in all of the (about) five pages of word problems we have. Hopefully, Cameron will write more strange word problems like this one about the adventures of the mutant pancake. Perhaps he'll even make a comic about it...

When we read this we imagined some amazing pictures in our heads... that's one of the best things about reading good ideas! They get you thinking!

We'd like to know what YOU see in your head when YOU read this word problem!! Soo... SHOW US!!! Make a picture that shows what you think about
when you read Cameron's idea and SEND IT TO US!! We can't WAIT to see what you come up with and we promise to make a blog post to show off all the ideas that come in!

Click here to e-mail us your ideas!

GO NUTS!!

Mohsin's Soccer Recount: Shark Attack!

A couple of days ago we went down to the court to play some games with soccer balls. We wrote little recount about them afterward and here's Mohsin's:

We were lining up to play soccer! My heart started pounding with excitement and then I started to jump! I wondered how this was going to go and we started warming up, then we got into action. My legs started twitching and my whole body shook with fear because we had to play shark attack where we have to get past the cones before the coach who was acting as the shark gets our soccer ball. Okay, it was my turn, I ran out, I couldn't resist it I wanted to scream! Sully ran into me then... I ran, I dodged that one, now the next one, my head was spinning, somehow I began to pray. I kept dodging one more, then the ball came loose it was beginning to make me shake it came towards Shania then something happened...

I WON!

Mt Ruapehu

First I'd like to say sorry that I didn't tell you who was writing on the post before this.

It's Becca, one of the kids in room 14.

Anyway, on Saturday we left Rotorua and went to Mt Ruapehu. For about an hour what I saw out the window was either pine/temperate forest and/or meadows/towns, then as we went up the mountain it was cold scrublands (tussock grass and other small plants) which finally turned into snowy rocks. Now, this was the first time I had EVER seen snow, so I want you to imagine it. Imagine the first time you saw snow, and how excited you were. Now imagine how excited you would have been if you had been hearing about how awesome the snow was for about 5 years and not seen it at all until now. Now you know how I felt. I'm 10 now. I was also ten when I saw it.

We were planning to stay there for 2 hours. That was until we discovered that it was 2 degrees outside with 80 kilometer-an-hour winds. Because of that, we stayed for about 2 seconds! We put on warm clothes, crossed the road, picked up a chunk of ice, chucked it in the chilly-bin, and got back in the car! We did stop to look at some icicles on the way down though, and they were really cool.

The picture shows me and my mum by the icicles, and the mountain from the southern side.

Whakarewarewa

On Friday the 19th, I was not at school. I was about 457 kilometers away, in Rotorua, by the time everyone else was sitting around eating lunch. To be exact, I was in Whakarewarewa village. (It is pronouced faka-rae-wa-rae-wa. You can visit their website here.) This village is surrounded by geysers and steam vents, as well as boiling hotpools. The photos show a meeting house through the steam, and a place where the ground is falling away because of the steam. The surface temperature on some of the hotpools is about 200 degrees celcius! THAT IS HOT!!!! The deeper down in the pool you get, the hotter it is. People live in the village too, and they use some of the pools for cooking stuff like sweetcorn in little netted bags held up by a string tied to a rock. They also have put little boxes with lids over some of the steam vents so they can cook their dinner. You can walk all the way around the village and see all the hot pools. You can actually move into the village if you are from the same bloodline as the people living there, but I recommend you don't, not because the people there aren't nice, but because it smells like rotten eggs! Despite the smell, I think it would be really cool to live there! The people are really nice and all from the same bloodline, but there are 26 different families living there. I'll tell you more about the rest of my holiday in later posts (like maybe tomorrow!)

Ice Strikes Summerland!

These past few days its been really cold in the mornings in New Zealand... but Summerland don't care they just have fun on the ice. One morning it got so cold Campbell, Mohsin, Josh and Adam went on the field because it got covered with ice.

Did you know at midnight it was -2 degrees celcius! And this is what we did..

By Campbell, Mohsin, Josh and Adam on ice!!!

NB: Mr Hall is aware that the voice on the video may sound like his. Of course this isn't possible. He would never support such jersey wrecking hijinks.

The Secret Lives of School Bags

Today we played a little game I like to call Innies and Outies. We sit in a double circle, one on the inside of the other. Mr Hall picks a topic he wants us to talk about. Today's one was "Things In My Bag".
One of the girls said her buddy had a sea of rubbish at the bottom of their bag. They said they need to clean it up! One of our ten-year-old boys has a baby toy in his bag! One person keeps their luchbox open ALL THE TIME. This causes all the lunch to fall out. Someone has 9 things in their luchbox. One of our 9-year-old girls has another sea of rubbish, as well as two very muddy toy cars that drown in it!
One of the boys used to have a 'Barney and Friends' raincoat!

One of the boys has a cashew nut wrapped in a blanket (the cashew nut is also broken in half. It was wrapped in a blanket to keep warm.) The broken cashew nut has been lost! Here is a photo of the empty blanket.


One of the ten year old boys has a screw in his bag. The screw, named Lenny, has been in this bag since year 4, but we think it is lost.

This bag also has a comb that looks very much like it needs a wash. It is covered in hair gel.
Would YOU use this comb!?

What secrets do you have in YOUR bag?



By Becca. Roving reporter for the Huia Whanau.

Physics: Playing With Levers and Fulcrums

Check out our slide show of our great lever experiments!
After playing around with lifting people off the ground using only one finger, we set off to build our own levers and fulcrums using newspaper. The goal was to fire a plastic cube as far as possible. Many designs were put forward and tested, and Nael's team won with a mighty shot that cleared the audience!

Star Wars.. The Return, By Mathew.

I was at home with my dad and brother. I was bored because I was not allowed to watch TV, My Dad doesn't like me to. I would have played Lego but my brother already was. All I had was my dad's old toy cars and for me toy cars are not my thing.

My dad went out. I started to wonder were he went. Did he go to the dentist or the pub or did he go to the movies? After a while he came home. He said he went to the movies and the video store. He got a bag out of his car and it had EB GAMES printed on it. In the game bag was... Star wars battlefront II!. Oh my goodness!, I was so HAPPY I screamed "Cowabunga". I played the game until it was 9:00 p.m then I had to stop. I got to bed at 9.30.

The next morning I got up at 8.00 am and I went to play again, but my Star wars battlefront II game disc was on the floor! My brother had SNAPPED the disc into four pieces. "Oh no! Oh no! No! No! NOOOOO!" I screamed I could not believe it! I fell to my knees and no words came from my mouth.

So I played cars for hours until it was lunch time, Wait I know what you are thinking. How can lunch be bad? This lunch was bad!

I had pickled onions sandwiches "oh no, come on". I said.

So, after that I went to Dale's house on my bike. It was more fun than playing cars. I did have a Flippaball game at 4.00pm, it was 3.40 "time to go". I said.

I got to the game of flipper ball in time. After a while the game ended at the score of 10 to 1, ''We won! We won!" I could have been the most happy player in my team.

My Mum drove me home. There was a bag on the bench. I could see something inside the bag. I bounced over to see what was going to be in the bag. It was a new Star Wars Battlefront II game disc and a Bakugan. "Yes!". I was happy that my Dad had gone out and bought me a new game. "Whahooo!".

Mick's Pup Purchase

We had to go buy the cat some food so we went to the pet store to buy some. I was super bored. Our cat is fatter than an elephant!!! He did't need more food!!! Then I saw the greatest thing...It was a dog!!! The dog had very floppy ears and a long tail. It waged his tail so much that it seemed like he wanted to play. He was really cute. I really wanted that dog. When I looked at the sigh it said...

SEX:MALE.

BREED:GOLD LAB x GOLD RETRIEVER x BEAGLE.

I asked dad if I could get the dog but he just said ''No''.

I was very sad. I was thinking "NNOOO!!!" I really wanted the dog. I would have spent a lot time with the dog. Like play fetch, or maybe just run around with him. I'm sure fetch or running around would have been fun. But then we left the pet store.

Dad dropped us off at Grandma's place. It was boring. ''Come on, can this day get any worse?'' I thought. Dad came back really quick. ''That was quick'' I thought. But then I thought, dad doesn't usually go to work at these times. For me, it was kind of a mystery to find out where he went.

We went home. I was still thinking about the dog in the car, my dream was to play fetch. He was probably bought now I thought. My dream was over. When I got home..... a dog suddenly attacked me!! ''Is this the same dog at the pet store?'' I thought. "Yes!!" It was the exact dog I saw at the pet store! I was so happy I exploded with happiness. In my head I said..."Yea, whoo!!! I got the dog I wanted!"

We played fetch, it was out of this world!!!

Just then mum came home and she exploded with anger. Dad hadn't told mum about the dog. I came inside. The dog and the cat started fighting.

Later on mum got over it. I thought she would never get over it but when the cat and dog took a nap with each other she was just happy they made no more noise.

And that's my story of how I got my dog.

Superheroes With Room 15!

What a great afternoon with our little buddies from Room 15! The Extreme Team paired up and made each buddy a superhero in their own drama and them performed it to the class. It was huge fun and every story had a nail biting problem and a happy ending. Thanks for a great day Room 15. Your superhero selves are welcome back any time!!











Sully fought Super Harry and became a vicious giant spider. Harry's greatest fear.












Nael and Ollie helped Cayden overcome his soccer fear.












Josh and Noor showed Adrienne as the crime fighting super hero who foils Josh the burglar.












Mathew the evil alien is defeated by Jayda the secret superhero.












Campbell and Travis rode the roller coaster with Imaad.












Ashi had to overcome some strange PVA coated chicken nuggets from Mc Donald's! Lucky Sanaya was there to help!












Mohsin the monster is defeated by Carson in an epic battle.











Kezia uses her Xray vision on Mick the mighty robot.










Neha narrates as Ara becomes a sidekick for Jae woo.

Who do you think looks the most dramatic?
Which story would YOU like to be in?

Birthday Monster, By Ara

Ara's recount

I was very excited! like I could not believe it! we went inside Charlie's party. My friends Courtney, Dain, Sharon, Neha, Stella, lana, Alex, Conan and Renee were all there. This was going to be the best party ever! Mom and Dad gave the cake to the girl. Yummy! But i wasn't sure if Kanishk, Noor, Shania were coming.

We all got a goodybag with a drink! Inside the goodybag was a pinball game, 4 chocolates, a lollie pack, a crown and a lipblower. Lana was very lucky because she was the only one who got the orange juice. We all exept Lana got a rasberry juice. Ohh Mavie went late. Oh, no!(Gasp).Mum said I have to give all my stuff to Mavie! But why? What?! My Mum said ''There are no more"! I said are you kidding me?! And she said No.

Next was the yummy chocolate mud cake! Mmm But... Suddenly the girl said, ''Dance chipy!'' ? I thought ''Who's Chipy?''
When I turned around I saw a... Big headed MONSTER! Ahhhh!!! "Go away from me!'' I said. Finally he was gone. That was close! My friend Stella said, ''Charlie the chipmunk had hugged me. She said it was freaky! Charlie was an ugly costumed clown. His costume had very skinny and wiggly legs. Everyone laughing at me. ''Oh,! thats not funny guys!" I turned pink. What, do you think it's funny?" I said to my self. Ha ha very funny guys!
I'm embaressed! No more laughing!(phew).

''Now the cake?'' I asked. Oops! silly me forgot about the happy birthday song! And the candles were gold and white. 1, 2, 3. Oops!!!!! Oh, man! I had forgotten to make a wish for lego city police jail and stuff! Because I like to play with lego!

''Now can I open my present Mum?'' I begged. ''Oh! Do I really have to play a bit more?'' My Mum said ''Yes''. Weee , hef, poof I went on the bouncy slide 45 time! I said ''Let's play hide and seek on the play ground!'' And everyone said ''yes''. We did twenty one. Who is in? Alex! he counted up to 50. Oh, he found Neha, then Neha was in!(Phew).All the running and stuff made my heart pound. Then it was present time! Everyone went inside the Charlie's party.

Everyone told me to open my present. But I just opened Stella's first. Wow! it was a littlest pet shop plush toy! My friend said there is a password on the collar. Renee got me a growing crystal. Alex gave me a Hannah Montana hand bag. Countney gave me a spikey ball and Terri got me a littlest pet shop! Very cute! Conan gave me a pokemon. My cousine Dain bought me a solar system. I said, ''Thank you'' to everyone. I had a great day!

Hard Day's Work, By Angel

It was a Tuesday morning and I was thinking I was not going to have a nice day with my mum. I put on the T.V and watched a cartoon lying on the bouncy couch.

My mum came in with a smile on her face. She said we're going shopping. I was wondering which shop we're going to. I asked my mum, "Which shop are we going to and why?" but she didn't say anything. I was curious and surprised because mum didn't say a thing when I asked her. I wanted to find out.

We we're walking towards the car, again I asked, "Mum which shop are we going to," but now she replied saying, "It's a surprise". I had butterflies in my tummy when she said that. I was really tired then so I put the radio on and I drifted to sleep.

While I was in a very good sleep I felt like somebody was calling my name and shaking me then it stopped. Again it happened and suddenly I opened my eyes to see my mum right in front of me. I jumped up like I got a shock but when I looked around I saw we we're right in front of my aunt's shop. I got off the car and wondered why we are here. First I thought we came to buy groceries. "Well lets see," I thought to myself.

We went inside and looked for my aunty. "There she is," I said to my mum. She was helping somebody look for an item. I ran really fast to her like a cheetah and gave her a big hug. My mum came over to her, while I was looking for something to buy.

"Angel come here," mum shouted, "What is it mum?" I asked her, Mum replied saying, "You can work here for half-an-hour since I need to go to work". When she said that I was so delighted and exited, my face grew happier and happier every second. I asked her, "When am I starting?" She replied saying, "When ever you like but it has to be today." "Could I start now?" I asked "Of course you can". I ran to the counter and got ready to start work, "Bye mummy" I said to Mum. "Angel could you help me with these packages and after you done that could you go and help that person over there?" Sure why not" this is hard work I thought to myself.

"Angel I'm back". I looked over my sweaty shoulders to see who that was. It was my mum and she had come back from work. So quickly, I thought to myself. I looked at the clock it was half past 2. I waved goodbye to my aunty while I was going. "Oh wait there Angel I've got a lollipop for you" said my aunt "Thank you," I replied "Bye". While we we're going home I told my mum what I had learnt to do like how to count the money and help people find things they couldn't. I had a brilliant time with my aunt.

Secret Hut. By Ollie

I was at my beach house and was extremely bored. I could have nearly died of boredom. Luckily my cousins were there. We were playing in the sandpit but we had done that a million times. We would normally be playing play-station but we weren't allowed.

Then my Dad said" Why don't you go to the park and make a hut''? So we went to the park. It was lucky there was no-one there otherwise they might have followed us to out hut spot. We went over to the track which is in the bush and went down it.

We walked off the track and looked for a hut. It took half an hour to find a good place but it was worth it. The only problem was someone had already found it. We knew that because some of the walls were already made.

We worked on it for ages. We broke branches and made walls with them. We stayed there all day. We found some logs and used them as seats.

We saw some people.. "Oh no!" I said. "There's some people over there on the track!"

They might be some of the people who made the walls. We followed them but they just went down to the beach.

It was time to go home. We wanted to stay but it was dinner time so we got all our stuff and walked home.

When we got home we told our parents about it Mum said we could go tomorrow if we wanted to, we all said ''yes''!

The Exploding Cake. By Courtney

The cake had exploded and it was absolutely everywhere. I was screeching like a jungle monkey. My mom was in the lounge by the kitchen watching "Chucky". It was horrifying, but when she looked into the kitchen she said "I left you alone for a few seconds and you trash the kitchen what did you do?!" she yelled and nearly lost her voice. If you would like to find out how this all happened, then go ahead and read on.

Mum said that she thought it would be a great day to be cooking. So she started to get the cooking stuff out and I joined in. It was so disgusting. The cake was all lumpy and squishy and I hated it. Until I put the choc chips and the chocolate syrup in and then it was time for the oven. I thought this was going to be great.

I put the cake mix into the oven and turned it on. I watched it for a while and nothing happened so I stared and stared at it. Then it started to bubble so I took it out cooled it down with some cold water and then threw it away because it was pinky-brown and disgustingly lumpy.

I just could not believe what had happened. Nothing, absolutely nothing happened. I just could not stand it but then I got over it. We decided to start again and just when we thought we got it... ''Bam Boom Crash Bang.'' The cake had exploded. It was absolutely everywhere. I didn't know what had happened. I followed the cook book and everything. It was so sticky it would not come off anything.

My mum went absolutely crazy running around the house! I knew she was furious! So furious her head could have blown up, but it didn't. We tried and tried to clean it off our clothes. Nothing happened, but finally it came off, and took about two hours to pick it off.

When I was cleaning up I tasted some. It was disgusting. Yuck! It tasted like sour milk and dough. I felt like fainting and I nearly did, because it was so frustrating. ''Cleaning is as fun as getting stung by a bee'' I repeated over and over in my head.

I felt like I was going to explode! That's just what happens when I clean up stuff. I get the shivers and really feel like exploding. And that taught me that next time I should really concentrate more.

Silent Drive To Somewhere... By Terri

I was really bored playing in my room with my brother and my toys I wanted to go out and do something fun but I couldn't think of anything to do, plus my mum was asleep so I wasn't allowed to wake her up. Mums usually up at 8:00 in the weekends but it was nearly lunch time! I just felt the urge to go in there and yell as loud as I could WAKE UP! so I clenched

my teeth and fists as hard as I could and my knuckles soon turned white.

Suddenly mum yelled out "kids! COME HERE!" We both jumped at the sound. Why was she calling us? I really didn't care I just really wanted to get out of that room! My brother and I immediately sprinted to her side when she almost shouted " We're going out so I want you both in the car immediately" Woo hoo! I thought we were finally going out! "We need to be there at 11:30 and it's 11:20 now! so we've only got 10 minutes! so get a move on! I will meet you kids in the car I just need to get my hand bag." "Wait! mum!" I screeched after her but she was already gone.

So my brother and I got in the car and started waiting about 10 second's later mum was in the car and we were driving up the road "Mum" I called and waited for her answer but she didn't. "Mum!" I called again but louder still no answer!. "MUM! HELLO! IS ANYONE THERE!." When I turned to look at my brother he was staring at me with his hands over his ears. "What" "She hasn't answered me yet." "But you are yelling in a car!" He said. " And so are you!" I yelled back to him with a giggle. Just then mum said "Nearly there kids stop fighting!" My brother and I started staring at each other.

Then suddenly we both at the same time remembered where we were going? Were we going to come home again on that day? Then I looked out the window to try to get a clue to where we where going. The first shop I saw was pack 'n' save up ahead in the next street "are we going there?" I thought then we turned to a different street. "Oh come on Mum"!! " at least give us a clue" I thought. Then I saw toy world and deliberately yelled out loud " YAY are we going to Toy World Mum?" "of course Not!" Mum laughed. "why would I waste my time taking you kids to Toy World" "HA!!" she laughed. I soon felt a rush of sadness surround me I was really hoping we were going to Toy World.

Maybe we were going to my friends house wait then why was my brother with me? No we couldn't be going to my friends house my Mum would have told me about that one. Hey I've got it! We could be going to my cousins house. Wait, my good cousins or my bad ones? last year my bad cousins came up behind me when I was playing hide and seek with my good cousins and squirted me with a water gun! I mean what did I ever do to them? Nope we weren't going to any of my Cousin's house. We turned into a completely different drive. "Phew" I thought as we went in a different direction to see my bad Cousins.

Then suddenly the car stopped and I nearly smacked my head on the front seat when I looked to see my brothers expression I saw that he was bouncing up and down in his seat with a huge grin on his face staring out the window then I saw what he was looking at it was the Movies! Mum took us to the movies! I just couldn't believe it! It was so cool,.. but, new problem. What were we going to see?!!

Weekend With Nannie and Grandad. By Tori-Grace

There I was playing with my toys. I wanted to play at my friend's house and play with her toys. But my mum told me no! She was too busy.

A few seconds later my mum called me to her room. She told me the bad news. I was going to my Nannie's and Grandad's. I just wanted to scream! Every time I go over to their house we do nothing fun. If I'm staying with them we sometimes play games, like snakes and ladders. The times that I play with them my brother always wins. It is very annoying! Why couldn't I win for once?!! When my brother and I go over nearly every single time we fight. My throat gets so sore.

Eventually we were on our way to Nannie's and Grandad's. I was starving. My brother was so annoying! Finally we got there. We barged inside to give Nannie and Grandad a hug. Soon it was dinner time and we had the same old peas and potato. I hate the peas and potato she makes. It's horrifying! Oh and the carrots! I have to eat them. They're hard orange things that make you see at night but I don't believe that!

The next morning I went through to the dining table to eat some breakfast. Every time we eat breakfast I have the same food. We always have licorice after we have breakfast. But this time it tasted unusual. I think it was expired!! But why? Would my Nannie really do that? I didn't think so. She's nice. After breakfast I played with my brother outside with one of his toys.

At afternoon tea time, we had to eat biscuits and drank the juice. I love the biscuits she gives me. I've tried them once before. They were so delicious that my mouth was actually watering! I ate all my food and dinner was still to come.

Soon it was dinner time. We were at the dinner table. Nannie gave me a little bit of meat. I only ate half of my plate. I wasn't very hungry. After dinner, I was full. I just heard Nannie say "It's time for bed." What? it's way to early for me to go to bed. That can not be right but I just went to bed to make Nannie happy.

The next morning it was time to go home. Mum came and Nannie and Grandad gave me a present before she picked me up. They had given me a swimming bag.I had really needed a new one. ''Thank-you this is so lovely! I love it but best of all I love you!'' I said in a high voice. After a moment I gave Nannie and Grandad a hug. We were on our way back home.'' I will always love you Nannie and Grandad'' I said as the car went further away.