Earthquake

The fourth of September 2010 a destructive earthquake shook Canterbury at four thirty five am. The earthquake magnitude was seven point one on the Richter scale. The fault line runs through New Zealand, that’s why it hit Christchurch. It was life threatening.

At the time when the earthquake terribly struck, all the power went off and the traffic lights were unstable. Petrol stations were completely off and cars were filling their tanks with out paying. The tectonic plates has not moved for sixteen thousands years, no one noticed the plates were there because it was too deep. Australia and Pacific plates were the ones that moved.

The earthquake was devastating but there were no one killed, only a severely injured man. A lady had a heart attack. A chimney fell on a man causing injuries and was put in to an induced coma for a week but he is still alive.

When the earthquake happened I was still asleep, pretty crazy but my sister came into my room and slapped me so hard that I had a red cheek. I quickly woke up and the power went off. I thought that someone was coming to kill us. I quickly got up and ran to the car, then I asked my sister what is happening, she said the earthquake, I was thinking what the flip.

If the earthquake strikes again people could be more prepared.

Jordan

Year 7

Earthquake

Canterbury Earthquake

On Saturday the fourth of September 2010 at 4.35am, an unexpected and traumatizing earthquake measuring 7.1 on the Richter scale shook the Canterbury area. The epicentre occurred outside of Darfield. The two tectonic plates that caused the terrifying earthquake were the Australian and the Pacific plates, which had long been forgotten over a 16,000 year time span.

The earthquake lasted for a really long ninety seconds. Most people felt a violent shaking, like their house was wobbling upon jelly. Also they heard a harsh loud noise like a train crashing into their houses. These rumbling sounds come from sound waves that are let off from the plates colliding into each other. As well as rumbling sounds most people heard their house shaking and their belongings crashing to the ground.

The aftermath of the earthquakes fury was devastating. Most of the historical buildings had crumbled to the ground. Luckily the damage was mostly to houses and buildings. There were no deaths to people related to the earthquake except for a lady who suffered a fatal heart attack from the strain of the earthquake. As well as buildings and houses crumbling, there has also been a lot of liquefaction. Liquefaction is the process in which silt rises from the cracks in the ground. A man had also been severely injured when a chimney crushed his legs, feet, head and ribs. He is now in an induced coma for a week.

I will never forget the day the terrifying earthquake severely shook the very foundation of our house. I was fast asleep in my warm cozy bed. Then out of the blue my bed began to shake violently. At first I thought I was dreaming, but I quickly realized this was reality and not a dream. I suddenly realized it was an earthquake. I ran to the doorway as fast as I could powered by adrenalin. I waited there traumatized until the earthquake subsided. When the shaking stopped I went to see if my family was okay and prepared for aftershocks.

After the terrifying earthquake looters looted many stores and schools. This means that people broke into stores or schools and stole their belongings. I feel disgusted about this because it is wrong to steal, especially after a huge earthquake

Kiwa

Year 8

Autumn Reports

In Kahikatea we have been learning how to write reports. We have looked at the structure of reports, so using paragraphs and sequencing our ideas in order of importance and also using different types of vocabulary like technical terms and "Wow" words. We have also been trying to keep in present tense and use more formal language. It has been hard not putting in our personal opinions or using lots of adjectives like we had learnt to do in our expressive writing. Please read our first reports about Autumn and see how we are doing.

Autumn

Autumn is a season that comes every year. It occurs in March, April, and May between summer and winter. Autumn is also slightly cold as it is close to winter.

In autumn leaves on deciduous trees change from a lush green to a menagerie of colours, which includes red, yellow, orange and brown. Eventually the leaves blow off the trees and land on the ground. Not all trees lose their leaves, they are called evergreens. The most common sight of autumn is leaf litter and leafless trees.

During autumn, grass and all sorts of plants stop their growth immediately. The reason for this is because the temperature drops dramatically from summer and it is to cold for the plants and grass to grow faster. Also in late autumn, a variety of animals hibernate including frogs and hedgehogs. The reason behind this is because their body temperature drops. So they crawl into a dark secluded place and sleep. Then they emerge from their sleep in the spring.

As autumn gets colder, it also gets darker. Since autumn gets dark earlier most people stay inside and keep warm. In autumn at 7am New Zealand time the sky is still mostly pitch black and again at 7pm. The reason it gets colder and darker in autumn is because New Zealand is moving away from the sun, so it is not as warm and bright as in summer.

In America they call autumn fall!

Kiwa, Year 8

Autumn

Autumn is one of the four seasons. Autumn is a season between summer and winter. The weather starts to change and it gets colder. Autumn is in the months of March, April and May.

The most common feature about autumn is the leaves change to different colours. In the autumn season there are a lot of windy days. The evergreen tree's leaves do not fall off like the deciduous trees do. The smell is fresh. When you stand on the leaves that are brown, they make a crackling noise.

During autumn there are a few benefits. For example the grass growth lessens, therefore no mowing the lawns. Some animals hibernate. During other seasons the animals collect food to hibernate. Hibernation is the time every year when some animals sleep throughout the winter. In autumn the animals are getting ready for this.

When autumn starts it gets darker earlier and brighter later. The days start to feel shorter. Lots of people are starting to get quite run down.

Lily, Year 8

Autumn

Autumn is a season that will happen in March April and May every year. It is between summer and winter. The atmosphere will develop into colder weather.

During autumn leaves will start to change colour, the colours they will change to are pink, orange, red and yellow. The leaves are like teeth, they will become loose first and then they will fall but they do not fall straight to the ground they will sway side to side and fall slowly. Evergreens are trees that have leaves that will not fall. Deciduous trees are trees with leaves that will change colour and their leaves will always fall slowly to the ground.

Also during autumn the grass and plants will become sluggish and slow down their growth. Close to the end of autumn it will suddenly start to get colder because it is almost winter and also some animals are preparing to hibernate. Hibernate means to sleep for a long time during cold weather.

In autumn these are some of the jobs that are required. The first one is raking up the leaves because all the leaves fall off the trees and you have to rake them up. Also back in the day they used to have bonfires to burn the leaves.

Autumn is the third season of the year and also in America they call autumn fall.

Janelle, Year 7

Autumn

Autumn is a season that comes between summer and winter. The months that autumn is in are March, April and May. Once a year when it is autumn, the leaves fall and the leaves change colour.

You can tell when it is Autumn because the leaves go all different colours. It starts off green, yellow, orange, pink and then red. When you stand on the leaves that are brown they make a crunchy sound. When the leaves fall they sway down to the ground, funnily enough the deciduous tree's leaves go a menagerie of colours.

During autumn there are some benefits like the plants slow down so you do not have to mow your lawns. The animals get ready to hibernate which means they sleep through the winter. Also autumn is the season they collect food to hibernate.

One of the many jobs of autumn is that you have to clean up the leaves that fall off the trees. Some people even used to start bonfires to burn the leaves. A bonfire is when your friends gather around and pile up all the leaves and sticks and burn them.

Autumn is one of the four seasons where it is really windy and cold.

Kaycee, Year 8

Polyclub Performance at Beckenham School

Our Polyclub did a performance at Beckenham Primary. We performed brilliantly and the audience loved watching us.

E manaia lava le matou siva na fai i le aoga a Beckenham

(We danced really well at Beckenham School)

Year 7/8 Technocraft at Aranui High

Look at the awesome patu and mere we made at Technocraft with Matua Dave

Rugby Fun Day 2010

Our future All Blacks and Black Ferns!

Where the Wild Things are!

Here are some of our New Entrant class members meeting up with "The Wild Things." Wow, watch out everyone!

Singalong Stars

Some of our talented Year 7/8 students providing the music for Singalong

Pohutukawa - Things starting with "S"

Watch this movie our Year 1/2 class made. It is showing objects around our school starting with the letter S. They took the photos and recorded the voices.