Welcome to Room 32

Thursday, 19 September 2013

Club Ski Champs - Gemma

My dad calls me to wake up at 5am. We are going to the mountain for the club ski champs, but first we have to drop my sisters at the swimming pool for training. We then drive south, and I fall back asleep. When we go to Otorahanga we had to stop for a short break as I felt sick from the windy roads. Finally 2 hours later we get to Mount Ruapehu. We get on our ski gear, and put on our rucksacks, and go and stand in the chair lift queue. We line up in the queue, and while we are there we get scanned to check we have our season passes for the mountain. We finally get on the chairlift and ride up to the Ruapheu Ski Club Lodge where we are staying. We then drop our gear in the lodge, and then go out west skiing. It was such a hot day we had too much warm clothing on. We ski the Turkey run and then go up on the T bar to the top, and ski down the Black Magic. But, we ski down too far and we have to hike back up again carrying our skis. That night we have dinner in the lodge. I sleep in a top bunk, and my dad sleeps in a bottom bunk. The next morning, it is RSC club champs. I have my breakfast then put on my ski gear. The first race I do is the slalom. When I do the slalom I didn’t go too fast between the poles as I had seen lots of people who went before me crash. One the giant slalom I went really fast as the gates are further apart. That night it was prize giving I found out that I came first in the Giant Slalom and Slalom for the under 10 years old, and I won a huge trophy and a medal. I also came second in the under 13 years old category and won a medal.

By Gemma

Thursday, 29 August 2013

Energy House Trip

On Monday Room 32 went on a trip to the Energy House. It was near the train station. First we went near the train station to see the solar panels which provided the energy for the house. Then we were lead into the house and travelled up stairs to the wetback. Lots of people (including me) noticed it was warmer then the usual home. Simon (the house owner) then explained how mostly every wall had 3 layers of insulation! Now that's warm. then we split up into our groups. I was in Jo's group. First we had a closer examining of the wetback. I thought you lit a fire in it because there was a large hollow like a fireplace. There were 2 thin pipes coming out the back which I thought the heat energy went and heated the hot water. There was also a very tall funnel coming out the top which I thought lead to the chimney. It didn't. Instead it lead to the hot water cylinder which is where most of the water for the house was kept. We had a look at the kitchen with it's radiator, fridge with the thickest walls for insulation, different types of solar panels on display on the bench and some different types of lights. There were some questions for us to answer; however, and some were tough. On the deck/veranda, though, more questions bombarded us! We went to go see the water cylinder buried under the deck/veranda, answered a question then went over to the other end were we saw some pipes. There we answered a question then headed back inside to the freezer which had walls which were noticeably thick. After that we waited for our turn to go up the ladder to the attic where we saw the hot water cylinder. It had wires from it leading to all the different places in the house. Then we went back to school

The pipes out the back of the wetback.

The buried water cylinder.

One of the many lights.

A solar panel.

By Matt

Pizza Day

G2T was awesome. We made pizzas and hunted for pine cones all morning!! The chefs first made the dough and then rolled it. Topping was then added and the pizza was cooked. The gardeners; who had great fun, tramped into the center of the gully and hunted for pine cones... there were kids all over the place but luckily the bell went and that sent them running. The gardeners then went and got some fire wood, to add to the pine cones because the blocks would keep the pizza oven burning. The outcome was delicious pizzas in record time!!! G2T was awesome!

By Caitlin

Ski Team Trip

For most of the week we were at the North Island Ski Champs down at Mt Ruapehu. We were competing for the school. Monday was a pratise day and we had a lesson with this guy called Benny. After that we had a snowball fight.

On Tuesday it was race day and it was a really good day to race on but the snow was crusty. After our first race we were lucky to hear that there was a second race because Gemma had crashed on her first. It was a fabulous crash because I went right through the gate and took the gate over the finish line!!!

On Wednesday Gemma, Mikalya, Grace, Rachel, Abby, James, Louis, David and Paul started on our huge snow fort. Our snow fort grew as tall as David who is James's dad. We had a snowball fight. It was Meadowbank, Milford and some other kids we made friends with vs Kings. Some kids were really mean and through ice at Abby's eye and she had to wear an eye patch they also bruised Louis face and knocked down both of our snow forts.

On Thursday we had to go home and back to school. NEVER!!!!!

By Mikayla and Gemma

Gemma's going around a gate

Gemma's coming up to the finsh line

Mikayla's at the start getting ready to race

Mikalya's started the race

Hugh, Madaline, Ej, Grace, Mikayla, Gemma, Paul(captin),
Xavier, Rachel and Abby

Hugh, Madaline, Ej, Grace, Mikayla, Gemma, Paul(captin),
Xavier, Rachel and Abby with their poles in the air

Tuesday, 27 August 2013

Energy Experiment - Bottle Rocket 1

Last Thursday Room 32 investigated how to make a bottle rocket fly by using air pressure from a bike pump. We needed a 1L bottle, a stand, a bung, a bike pump and clear open space.

We discovered that when we tipped some of the water out it blasted higher into the sky. However, without enough water in it, it struggled to gain as much height.

It was one of the best experiments we have ever done!!!