For the final few weeks of term, we are looking at imagery and metaphor in poems.  We read and analysed some poems like Wild Ideas and then we had a go at writing our own.  Here they are.

Ocean Orchestra

Vibrato shivers
And the crescendo picks up

The waves rise to fortissimo
As the conductor uplifts his arms.

Foam washes up onto the sand
And gulls cry the soprano high notes
As alto pohutukawas sing harmony.
The great ensemble repeats the chorus.

Brianna


Wild One

Wildly unfurling, it gallops down the coast.
Clipping the rocks and chucking its head as it goes.
Flicking crest of waves on the dry sand.
Dodging the broken shells it returns.
Beyond the travelling fish the sun disappears.
Alone, still dancing.
Frolicking wildly, unable to be tamed.
         By  Sarah

Forest Family

My mum is the bird in the sky watching over everyone.

Paul is the baboon who is the boss of the house.

Michael is the bear, annoying and tough.

Emily is the orangutan that comes and goes.

I am the squirrel is cute and cuddly.
  by Ollie 


My Family

Mum is the elephant that protects us.

Dad is the hyena who plays with me .

Im the meerkat running around being crazy.

Kara is the lion strong and fierce. 

Chris is the tiger looking out for me.

Together we are the animals from the jungle.

By Mackenzie 


The Animal Family
My dad is the lion because he is brave and strong.
Mum is the lioness because she takes good care of us.
Liam is the tiger because he protects the family.
I'm the fox that protects the family too.
By Samantha


Animal Family

My mum is the lioness that cares for us.

Dad is the tiger that protects us from every thing that tries to hurt us.

I'm the kiwi that sleeps at day and hunts at night.

JR is the jaguar that plays around with dad and keeps everyone active.

Andre is the tiger cub that stays cute and hangs around with mum.

Together we are a family of mixed animals.

Freedom


Medicine Cupboard
My family is a medicine cupboard 

Mum is the bandage that patches us up.

Dad is the plasters that makes us feel better.

Katelyn is the panadol so the pain goes away.

Summer is the vitamins that gives us the energy to get through the day.

Trent, last but not l'm the cupboard thats keeps us all together.
Trent


Back lawn

Mum is the flowers, she makes the family bloom
Dad is the shovel that digs out the weeds
Benjamin is the trees to give us shelter
I'm the lawn to look nice for the family
Jake and Ryan are the bushes to take up space
Daniel


The Jungle Family


My father is the man-eating lion that protects our family from hunters.
My mother is the strongest bear in the forest that no one messes with.
My sister is the cheeky little monkey who always gets in trouble.
I'm the squirrel monkey who always looks out for my sister when she needs it most.
Sam
 
Fiery Racing

Gun fires
Race ignites
A flicker of fiery light 
Emerges from the wood
Leading the pack
Rising higher
Growing louder
Rapidly increasing its velocity
Pressure to the leader
Applied by waves of heat
Pushes it to its peak
Smothered by its followers
Lacking oxygen
It smoulders
To ashes

By Jake 


My Family Tree

Dad is the powerful tree that watches over.
Mum is the healthy roots that keeps us all together.
My brothers are the birds that tweeter through the trees.
My sisters are the fruits that feeds the family. 
And I'm the leaves that sway around the ground.
Temaria

Bring It In
Shot sinks in.
I make him run.
Knowing that one wrong footstep
Can, and will, bring him back
To square number one.
Another shot down.
He finds this fun.
Quickly gets retrieved,
Running like a gun.
Eager for the thrill and adrenaline,
Panting, exhausted,
He keeps going,
Directly under the sun.
Needs a break.
He needs water.
Bones ache
Ball toss perfectly straight.
Smash it.
Give it your all.
Don’t hold back.
So where will you find me?
Down at the courts.
Matthew

Machinery Yard
A bulldozer is a rhinoceros, smashing whatever is in it's  path.
The wrecking ball is a shark destroying a concrete wall.
A digger is a rabbit digging up the land
A helicopter is a pterodactyl I with it's eyes in the sky.
A motorbike is a cheetah screaming quickly to the end.
By Logan

Speed increases
Speed increases as it passes each player,
It jumps in mid year just out of reach.
There’s still enough energy to carry on,
but it slows down just to pass the opposition.
Its feet slam onto the hard solid court,
It can’t move or it will count as a step.
As it dodges the hands of the opposition the ball gets to the goal. Girls’ ponytails sway as if lambs tails,
flying around in joy.   
By Billie 


Casting Out
The furry wire sways in the wind.
The waves bark at me.
I smell his ghastly breath in the wind.
I pat the rods fluffy handle and start to feed the beast.
It barks again as I drag it onto the beach.
He tries to pull it away from me.
It flops as I sink a knife into its head.
I peel the scales off its flesh.
​Alex

​                       Garden Family 

My Dad is the shovel, the shield of the garden protecting it.

Mum is the flowers, the cheerleader of the garden cheering on vegetables and plants to grow nice and strong. 

My cat is the sprinkler,calming the wind.

Billie is the bush that is nice and lovely and helps you to grow strong.

I'm the fruit tree and I give the garden shade when it needs it the most, to protect it from getting sun burnt 
 Jazzy Jeff 

Garden Family

Mum is the soil holding all of us. 
Cyril is the shovel keeping away the weeds.
Braxton&Mila are pansies, delicate and needing attention.
Kaitlen is a tree, protecting us. 
Logan is like an oak tree strong, and giving us protecting from the sun.
Sasha is beautiful rose, full of colour.
By Sasha

Dog and Car

Two eyes shines immensely
Four legs, ready to travel
Ears severely getting hit by the air
​Not a bad day for a morning jog

It roared before it started the expedition
It can last for hours, but don't make it overheat
Or it explodes
Why don't we make it rest every hour?

Oh, no. It needs some fuel.
I fed it some Canned tuna with beef
Now, it needs some water to drink
Time for another journey!

By: John Rey

The Animal Family

My Father is the mighty lion of the jungle he keeps everyone safe from animal hunters.

My Mother is the queen of all bears she rules the forest.

My Brother is the Jaguar He climbs all trees and chops them down immediately.

My Sister is the little cute chipmunk she came from a bird egg and grew up as a chipmunk she is the fastest nut eater of all chipmunks.

And Im the cheetah fast and tough who always hunts other animals for food.
By: Pippo 

Snowy days have passed.  Snowflakes fail.  Lily enjoys the snow and made a snowman.  The house lights flick on and the snowman comes to life.  Lily is amazed with joy and claps her hands with happiness.  He made her laugh in many ways and could think of all that would keep her happy. (Temaria).

The snowman drips with icy water.  His sticky arm is almost completely off his body.  I shove the melting snowman into my freezer, so he can keep cold.  I give him my spare teddy bear so he can hibernate through the summer. (Sam)

Lily was feeling hungry.  She opened the fridge and picked out an iceblock.  She was too busy on her phone and didn't even notice her beloved snowman moving towards her and smiling, ready to go outside and play.  She didn't care and slammed the door closed.  The snowman felt lonely.  (Pippo).

Lily worked in the boring old office.  She knocked over her cup of coffee, which knocked into the lamp.  The light shone on the snow globe with snowflakes falling glistening on the mini snowman looking at her from inside.  Lily remembered the snowman she had made when she was a little girl.  She grabbed her car keys, put on her jacket and drove home.  She opened the garage door, moved everything out of the way to open the freezer door. (Daniel)

A group of Toroa students have been reading 'The Cay' by Theodore Taylor.  One of the main characters - Timothy- believes that there is a d'jumbi with them.  A D'jumbi is an evil spirit that comes to haunt people and make trouble.

Timothy makes an effigy of the d'jumbi to ward off the evil spirits.  The reading group have made their own effigies.

To scare away D'jumbi I will break it's head and rip the cloth.  I used woven flax and braided twine for Stew Cat.
​Jake

I will set it on fire to scare D'jumbi.  The material i used is flammable.
​Billie

I used natural products such as clay for my effigy.  To scare D'jumbi, I will crack his head open.
​Sarah

To scare D'jumbi I will pull off the ears and pluck the whiskers.
Brianna

To scare D'jumbi I am going to pop the balloons.  This should be enough to ward off the evil spirits.
​Matthew

A group of Toroa students built some models of the earths crust and discussed how earthquakes happen.

A group of Toroa students made some models of towns built on swamp land.  We simulated an earthquake and watched what happened to the buildings.

Tanya has been in today to show us some groovy hockey skills.  Some of us had trouble controlling the ball!  Our skills are improving though.  Thanks Tanya!

On Monday 20th of July, Toroa traveled to the Timaru Museum to learn about survival in World War One.  We had to sort through gear and decide which was necessary and which gear was not.  We worked with care packages from home  and bandaged out injured comrades.  We played an awesome game and hopefully survived the Gallipoli campaign.  We also learnt the importance of socks on the Western Front.  There are some photos below and will be more in the Galleries shortly.

Back in the day, frogs used to be all colours, like a rainbow.  The good side to this was that everyone noticed them.  The bad side was that all of the predators noticed them as well.  One by one all of the colourful frogs disappeared.  One fateful day one frog, Mr Hopper, decided to go for a hop down to the stream.

When Mr Hopper arrived at the stream, he saw other frogs leaving, saying "Don't go in there.  The stream has slime in it."  But he didn't mind that the stream had slime, so he carried on.  As Mr Hopper entered the stream, he saw the tiniest bit of slime.  He picked it up and stared at it.
"Yeah, there's slime, but it's so pathetic."  He started to giggle.  Then a big croak came out.  "Excuse me!"
He looked back at the slime and turned to see no-one looking at him, so he ate it.
​
Nothing happened so he walked out of the stream and hopped home.  As Mr Hopper was hopping, everyone pointed and whispered about him.  He blocked them out and carried on.  Suddenly a little frog yelled "Oh no! Mr Hopper is sick!"
Mr Hopper rushed home trying to find a mirror.  "I'm green!" he yelled.  Then he fainted.  When he woke up he felt sick and he stayed feeling that way.

On his birthday he didn't feel sick anymore.  It was a miracle.  He hopped up and looked in the mirror; He was still green, but he liked it.  Soon after, everyone else liked it too.  His family and friends hopped down to the river and ate some slime and that is why frogs are green.

- By Billie-Ruby