Writing part 2

1 vertical Velcro.

 This activity is like the vertical bungee but instead of trying to grab a can of soda, you are wearing a special Velcro suit and there is a wall of Velcro and you have to try to run up and stick to it without being pulled back by the bungee.

2. Cricket target.

This activity is a bit like cricket ball throw at the athletics but instead of trying to throw it as far as you can, you are trying to hit a target on the ground on the first bounce. You can use a cricket ball of a nerf ball.

3. High jump hurdles.

This activity is basicly high jump crossed with hurdles. It is a race but instead of hurdles it is a high jump mat and so you jump it then go to the next mat. The first to cross the finish line wins.

4. Dive comp.

This activity is where you stand at one end of the pool and dive in and swim as far as you can without taking a breath. In the pool there will be obsticals for you to dodge and if you hit one it will take 10 cm of the final distance swum without taking a breath.

5. Hands stuck.

This game is mostly like stuck in the mud but when you get tug you have to crouch down with your hands on the ground. When someone comes to rescue you they have to leap from over you and the game continues until are runners are tagged and stuck to the ground

 

By Jakob Millar

                                                   Halloween night

 It’s that time of the year again, Halloween where kids stuff themselves with candy! But this year is the year when Taylor would prove to her friend she is not a wimp and go where people were way too scared to even walk past.

“Oi, I dare you this year to trick or treat on that ‘haunted house’ at the end of the street!”

 April smirked with a mouthful of candy hard to see the expression on her face with all the face paint on and it was nearly dark.

Taylor hesitated “It’s a bit dark. I think we should head back.”

 A cold breeze nipped them. They looked around to see no one else was out trick or treating on the street they were on.

April broke the silence, “Don’t be a chicken! When people at school find out everybody will want to hangout with you! I’ll be right behind you!”

Taylor really didn’t like the idea but she agreed and the house was coming into view. It was like those ones you see in movies; gloomy, dark, smashed windows with curtains flowing in the breeze.

Approaching the front door step Taylor yelped as the rotting plank gave way. She quickly pulled her sneaker out before she went with it and cautiously continued.

Knocking on the huge front door saying ‘trick or treat!’ uneasily. Waiting for an answer she looked around to find April wasn’t there!

‘Ugh! I cant believe her’ she thought

‘She’s such a … a’ she couldn’t find the word to say and turned to the huge front door “I’ll show her who’s not a chicken!” And before she could pound on the door again the door creaked slowly open revealing only blackness inside.

Taylor broke out into a hot sweat and turned to try and run but something hit her HARD on the side of the head. She dropped to the ground unable to control her body … then something cold and sharp grabbed her by the ankle and dragged her through the door.

She wearily tried to scream but no sound came out and before she became unconscious she saw April in the candle light, not moving, very pale and staring into space with a slit in the side of her neck. Thick blood was still oozing out leaving a pool of it on the ground.

Then…… blackness.

Ella

Beyond the veil

It’s been 3 months since my cousin died.

He lived a normal life, he was a grocer, he had a girlfriend, a dog, his own flat; everything every 21 year old aspires to. He never drank, or took drugs… He had a clean record. But for some reason, out of nowhere… He killed someone.

We were cleaning out his flat, all his belongings, everything. The police had been through to find anything that could link to just why he went so insane as he did, but they never did find anything…

But I found something. I had been going through the belongings under this bed when I found an old, brown tattered journal. The leather binding resembled that of a man who had been in the sun far, far too long, and its pages were just starting to yellow.

I had seen him with this before… Back when we stayed at our grandmothers around the time we were six or seven… He would take it everywhere with him. I started to wonder if he still wrote in it, whether there were things in there that might explain just why he caused all this trouble for himself.

I flicked ravenously through the pages, hungry for an answer. Then, my eyes fell upon a certain paragraph…

“October 2^nd, 2014:

This is the first night I’m spending away from home. It’s a little strange without Mum and Dad, but at least I have my flat-mates, right?

 I keep hearing whispering, and I swear I see things moving in the dark. Then again, I might be seeing things. It’ll probably go away, I hope.”

I bit the inside of my cheek and frowned. He was always such a nervous person… I felt a pang of guilt slap me in the face; I should have called him that night. I shook my head and continued to read…

“October 5^th, 2014:

It’s been three days… The whispering I’ve been hearing? Yeah, they’re not full blown voices. They keep repeating ‘Beyond the Veil’ ‘Come Beyond the Veil’ and ‘Please’… I’m going to see a psychiatrist in the morning.”

This was starting to get strange; the police did say he mentioned something about ‘The Veil’ when they interviewed him, just before he got sent into Bedlam; an insane asylum, in which he committed suicide a week later after being admitted.

The next date was a jumbled mess, and everything was written in some sort of strange language, like a mix between English and Arabic… I suddenly got a feeling of dread, like the floor was going to collapse. I put the book down and caught my breath before reading again.

The next few paragraphs were like the last, but a few words were visible.

 ‘Help me’, ‘Please’ and ‘Please save me.’ It was unsettling, but things started to thin out on the next page, with an entry saying this…

“October 8^th, 2014:

It’s done. I displayed how to transcend beyond The Veil… The public aren’t happy. They’re coming for me… The Veil will protect me. The voices said it would.”

I put the book down and shuddered, tears clawing at my dry eyes. I looked out the window and realised it was now dusk which seemed to have been dropped upon the city landscape outside like a 10 tonne weight.

I sat on his bed and rubbed my eyes, I figured I should go and see how Mum and my Aunt were getting on with clearing out the lounge. I was about to get up from the bed when a hand fell upon my shoulder…

I froze. I felt a wet hot breath behind my ear… I smelt something familiar; A smell similar to that of soap and almonds… I only knew one person that smelt like that- and that was my dead cousin.

A cold hard object was pressed upon my neck… A blade, just barely cutting through my fragile skin, like a man holding a hammer and nail to fine china…

“Hello… Cousin” A male voice mused. I started to scream and thrash my weight around, the blade was now pressing even harder against my neck, just breaking the skin, causing small droplets of salty, hot blood to dribble down my cold neck. I writhed against him, using all the energy in my tired body to try and get away.

“I’m lonely… Why don’t you come visit me? ... In fact, why not come live with me? Come with me… Beyond The Veil.”

 Motorbikes are better than Horses - My speech 2014

Firstly: You don’t have to clean up a motorbikes mess.

Secondly: You usually don’t get attached to your motorbike but it’s common yo get attached to your horse. So when your horse dies you will get emotionally affected because there may not be another horse like it. But if you’re lucky you might get fifty bucks from the meat factory.

 If you crash your motorbike or it gets crushed by a bus you can just buy another one without being sad and sell the pieces that aren’t broken on Trade me and sell the pieces that are broken to Scrap Palace.

Thirdly: who would want something that can kick, poo, buck or even bite?

 Fourthly: No matter what part of my motorbike stops working I can just buy another one, but with a horse this is not true, if a horse loses a vital organ, a limb, a heart or a brain that’s the end of the whole horse.

Fifthly: Horses attract flies where as a motorbike does not. Unlike horses a motorbike does not catch diseases and curing a disease can cost a lot of money and can be a big hassle.

If I come off my motorbike it’s usually my own fault whereas with a horse there could be lots of reasons why you  fall off. Plus you have to at least have two acres to put the horse on whereas with a motorbike you just have to have a garage.

With my motorbike I can jump as high as I want and go as fast as I want, but with a horse you can’t because if try to make it jump something really high it could fail and break it’s leg and therefore it would have to be put down.

How would you feel if you were riding a horse and you realised that it had a mind of its own?  Well with a motorbike you are the only one controlling so if you are an experienced rider you can relax a little.

My final reason is a horse can be a big responsibility. You have to wash it after you ride it, brush it, polish your gear like your saddle your boots and reins other wise it all doesn’t work  well or it hurts the horse. 

I hope you are now persuaded that motorbikes are better than horses.

My recount on Cross country

 2014 Cross Country

 

On Friday 22^nd August, Saint Peter’s Catholic School had their school cross-country; there were parent’s teachers, family, friends and students. This was it, a 3k run for the year 7s at Lake Te Kutu Park, WHAT A CHALLENGE!

As the clap!!! went it was an adrenalin rush for the year 7 students. After about 20 or so minutes I was in sight of the finish line. It gave me a good feeling after the painful, difficult run.

Seeing the finish line was great because the hills we had struggled up and the rocks we stumbled on were enough for me. It was like I couldn’t handle it any more; well that’s what my body was saying all right.

Go Tia!!! Go!!! I thought to myself but it was actually the St Anne’s team saying Go!!! Go!!! Go!!! , It gave me even more off an adrenalin rush. It was an amazing feeling to be able to have other people supporting me, as well as my friends.

Finally “YES!!! “ I thought to myself, “I’ve done it, I’ve come 5^th out of the year 7 girls.”

It was such a great feeling to have and it’s not like I cared about getting a certificate, because I had a great time and a lot of fun doing the run by myself, even with no friends running with me at all.

So to conclude my cross-country experience, I had a great time and enjoyed the whole lot of it. Mr. L and Mrs. Gordon did a great job together doing the amazing job of organising it .

Oh don’t forget Go St Anne!!! .

 “TURN ON THE RADIO WHAT DO YOU HEAR?

 GO ST ANNE GIVE THEM A CHEER!!!

By Tia .H .T

Cross Country

“On your marks, get set, go!” We were away! The year eight boys had started their race and it was going to be a good one. Henri and Declan were already in front and I had to keep up with them if I was going to get a good placing.

As soon as we went around the whole lake and just about to go up the daunting, steep hill, Jacques overtook me and I became very exhausted and had legs as wobbly as jelly. Somehow I found the power to keep going up the hill even though I was about to collapse and faint.

As I ran over the bridge I sprinted as hard as I could towards the finish line. It was exhilarating with the wind at my back and my house cheering me on.

When I crossed the finish line I had nothing left at all. I knew I had given it my all and left nothing on the track.

I was a bit disappointed that I didn’t get a top three placing but at least I was in the top six and my Mum was proud of me, and that was all I could ask for.

 By Takuira

Cross Country

              Cross Country

“Ba Boom Ba Boom” My heart was racing and the adrenaline was pumping as I reached the start line, “This is it, “ I muttered under my voice. I slowly looked down at my Southland jerseys’ logo; I then remembered what my mum told me earlier that morning,

 “Wear it with pride! Do the province proud!”

“On your mark!” Mrs Boodle bellowed, my nerves of steel turned to glass and shattered.

“Go!” exclaimed Mrs Boodle as the clapper crashed together and we were off, like lightning I took off with Henri.

I was beginning to lose him, I was getting tired and I could hear footsteps behind me,

“Better pick up the pace,” I thought to myself

As I came through for the first lap I was chanting in my head

 “Run my race not anyone else’s!”

Through all this I found myself most of the way up the hill, Henri was just in sight.

 “I’m coming for you” I mumbled to myself.

Once I was on the hilltop my thigh, ankles and calves all wanted to explode but I kept going and thought of one of those “Keep Calm” posters to soldier on.

Henri was out of sight by now and I was focused on to the task at hand, holding on to my place.

I got to the downhill to see Mr L on his musty old mountain bike sitting by the track 

“Careful Declan there’s a bit of loose gravel on the way down!”

He yelled to me as I was running away from him.

I began to go down, as I neared the bottom I slipped a little and heard Jacques yell to me from the top,

 “ HI DECLAN!!!”

I turned to him and smiled but ran faster knowing he might catch me.

The finish line was now in sight, I saw Henri cross the line, and I made a last effort for the line and noticed my Grandpa standing on the sideline. I could hear the school going wild as I crossed the line.

I went straight to my Grandpa

“Great race Dec, well deserved” he said to me as he patted me on my back.

By Declan

Cross Country

My racing heart suddenly came to a stop as I heard Mrs Gordon announce on the ear splitting microphone.

“Year eight girls and boys could you please make your way towards Mr G to stretch.”

As we slowly walked towards Mr G to stretch, a large blanket of nervous whispers formed upon us.

The next thing I knew the year 8 boys were lined up all ready to start.

“On your marks” Mrs Bodle yelled…

‘BANG!’

Away I went sprinting into the lead with the sound of shoes running on gravel close behind me, as the sound slowly started to drift away from me ears.

Trying to swallow my sliver was getting harder as I went. The sound of kids yelling and screaming came into my head as I finished my first lap.

Running up the hill got steeper and steeper, finally making it up with my legs burning wanting to stop but still managing to keep on going around the top of the lake then down the steep hill.

Finally, I sprinted down the home straight as kids cheered me on and across the line I went.

“Yes still undefeated.” I whispered excitedly to myself.

HENRI F

Anisoptera, the Dragonfly

It’s small and it’s fast. It’s the King (or Queen) of the insects. The Dragonfly (AKA Anisoptera) is the star of this page! Let’s dive right in!

Let’s start off with something controversial. The Dragonfly is not the fastest bug of the bunch. The Horse Fly is the real speed demon with the southern dart being the runner up! But as far as I’m concerned, this page is supposed to be about the Dragonfly!

So, the Fly of Dragons is 10 centimetres long and weighs 1 gram… 1... gram… The top speed ever recorded for a Dragonfly is 97 Kilometres Per Hour (KMPH) set by the Southern Giant Darter (which is in no way related to the Southern Dart). That is 3 Kilometres short of the top speed allowed in New Zealand!

Speaking of speed, an average Dragonfly is capable of going 29 KMPH! It doesn’t sound like much but if you were that small; it would feel like 522 KMPH! That’s faster than a Bugatti Veyron Super Sport for all you top gear fans!

As well as being fast, it is also very manuverable.  Scientists have only ever been able to make a Jet capable of things only Dragonflies can do, and it’s currently in smouldering ruins.

It’s also capable of eating its own weight in 30 minutes! Just imagine you eating something the same size and weight as yourself in half an hour! It mostly feeds off other insects like Ants, Wasps and Bees. However, its life can’t be perfect. Creatures like Lizards and Toads also hunt it. But that would not be a problem for Meganeura!

Meganeura is the prehistoric counterpart of the modern-day Dragonflies. It is the size of an Eagle! It was flying about doing its thing 300 million years ago. It can fly at 133 KMPH! But still not as fast as the Horse Fly.

So maybe this piece of writing has convinced you that Dragonflies are remarkable creatures! They are small and next to weightless, they can even fly in reverse! Would you prefer it to a household pest? I hope you would!