by Jamie

Suddenly an ear-splitting roar shook the canopy of trees around me. The mighty jaguar was on to me; I imagined his fangs tearing at my flesh. I hid in the bush, hoping he wouldn't find me.

I peeked out and a flash of black shot past me. Little frogs jumped around in the canopy of trees. 
"A poison dart frog," I thought.

There was a hissing sound up in the trees as a tree snake dropped down. It looked at the bushes and slithered away stealthily.

The freezing cold water | by Nolan

I shuddered as I dipped my foot into the freezing cold water. For some reason I thought it was hot although I was shivering. A whistle blew. I regained my senses and swam. Everyone was 1 lap ahead. Anyway I came second in the end. But of all the races, 1st, yay!

So after that I searched for my mum. I knew she was there. Finally I found her. The first thing I said was, "Can I go home?"
Obviously she said, "No, it's only halfway through school!"
"Awww!" I moaned.

30 minutes later, on the bus, I felt relaxed and relieved but tired.

Can you guess what this is...? | By Francesca

Sharp spiky rocks form up
from the hard surface.
A dark black path
leads beneath the hill.
At the front it looks like
a giant snail shell
crawling across the rocky sand.
A slim pokey stick
sneaks out the back.
It's like a mini
microphone!

The shining rock | By Quinn

The rock shines so much I can't see
because it is so sparkly.

It looks like a crystal
it could be marble.

I wonder if it's a crystal
or marble?

So much depends...

Last week our poem of the week was William Carlos Williams' poem, The Red Wheelbarrow:

so much depends
upon

the red wheel
barrow

glazed with rain
water

beside the white
chickens.


Over the weekend, Saoirse wrote her own version. Here it is!

New Zealand/ Nature’s Omelette | poem by Avie

Yesterday Lola and Kate found a strange nest-like object on the way to school.  It sort of looked like a kina, mixed with a hedgehog, mixed with a nest (without the hollow in the middle).  We wrote some observations in our writers' journals about it which we'll use as inspiration for a poem next week.

By coincidence, today Avie came and showed us a poem he'd written after seeing a bunch of pohutukawa blossoms stuck together.  He's a poet as well as a musician and a fabulous caretaker!

New Zealand/ Nature's Omelette

Fallen pohutukawa flowers

saffron on the fried earth.

The sun is the egg

a yellow circumference…

A pinch of black seed

and a tablespoon of light rain.

The lemons fall from the tree

with a sprinkle of parsley…

Nature’s blossom weaves a fabric

together like whitebait patties

cooking slowly.

The wind whisks together

all summer day long

turning once white/golden

when the sun is beaten and left to run

too late in the scorching heat.

Flipped over underneath the folds

the crimson blossom burns

towards the end of season…

By Avie