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SOCSD Kids,

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Each new entry I make is called a "post". Each time I make a new post, with a new topic, there is a green comments link at the end of that post. Clicking on that link puts your comment at that post. You don't have to scroll all the way down to the beginning of the blog to post a comment.

For example, if you want to comment on The Royal Show, find the comments link at the end of that post, but before the Alpaca post. You'll have to scroll slowly and keep your eyes open for the green comments link. That way you can find your post again later, AND you can read what others have to say about the same topic.

New pages are being added, and new comments are coming in all the time, so I hope you'll visit this site often! The more people who add comments the more fun it is to read!

Royal New Zealand Show

Welcome to the Royal New Zealand Show!

Held every spring, for 3 days, the kids are given a day off from school so they can attend. It started many years ago so the farmers could bring their best animals and compete to see who had the best sheep, or cow, or goat. Nowadays, they still bring their animals, but there are also rides, and different ethnic foods, and things to buy. Here's a sampling of what I saw at the show:

Cow and Bull Contests

Did you know that there are many different types of cows and bulls? Each type had its own competition at the show. Here are pictures of just a few that I saw.

The bull in the top picture is the largest bull I saw at the show. The brown bull next to it looks very different, doesn't it? The boy has a miniature cow. Her baby, right behind her is even smaller. The man with the long beard is dressed in a traditional Scottish kilt. He has a long-haired cow. I remembered seeing these wonderful beasts in Scotland.

When it was time to enter the contest, the owner would lead the animal around a pen in front of the judges. They won ribbons and trophies. Did you notice that the brown bull won a ribbon? Winning awards makes the farmers' animals more valuable.

Rooster Contests

I also enjoyed seeing the many different kinds of roosters! I had no idea that there were so many different kinds. Many of them were crowing and making an incredible amount of noise!

Sheep Contests

There were many different types of sheep there. I thought about the nursery rhyme, "Baa baa black sheep, have you any wool?"

These sheep had lots of wool! Not only were there awards for the best sheep, but also for the best wool. In this picture on the left, you can see some of the award winning wool.

Rides & Food

There were also plenty of carnival rides for the kids. A funny one I saw was a giant slide. It looked like the Titanic sinking. Can you see the boy sliding down it in the picture below? Remember, if you want to enlarge a picture just click on it. Then click the back button to return to the blog page.

After looking at all the animals I was starving, so I headed over to one of the food vendors. I bought a chicken kabob (pieces of barbecued chicken on a stick). It was yummy. I also bought a piece of homemade fudge. It was melt-in-your-mouth good!

Human Contests

After lunch I was ready for some more action, so I watched the chopping competitions and the sawing competitions.

In the chopping contest, the lumberjacks stood on top of their log. When the whistle blew, they began chopping furiously! The first one to chop all the way through, to split the log in half, was the winner!

There were many different sawing competitions. In the picture above, the lumberjacks had to use a two-handled saw to cut through the pole. There was another team trying to beat them, so there was lots of yelling and cheering. Everyone was having fun!

There were also lots of vendors at the show. They are the people selling things. You could buy a handmade toy, or clothing, or a tractor for your farm, or a new-and-improved milking machine for your cows!

On my way out, I saw the horseback riders practicing with their horses. Their events would be held later on in the day.

There was so much to do and see at the Royal New Zealand Show! Now I understand why the children were so excited about it coming to town! What would you go see if you could go to the show?

Alpacas Rule! Sheep Drool!

Will YOU take us home?! We are alpacas. We live on a farm near the city of Christchurch with 100 other alpacas. Alpacas were brought to New Zealand from the country of Peru many years ago. One of us is brown, and the other one is white, but some of our friends are grey and some are black.

Here's a picture of our handler, Sheryl, taking us for a walk at the Royal New Zealand Show. That's where we met Ms. Christie-Blick. She thought we were very cute, and she liked the humming noise we made. She pet us while she talked with Sheryl, and she learned all about our warm wool and the number of uses for it. She was amazed at the thickness our wool. In our opinion, alpaca wool is much better than sheep wool. It is used to make sweaters, scarves, mittens, hats, and all sorts of warm clothing.

The wool is dyed different colors and then spun into yarn. Here is a picture of alpaca yarn. The yarn is used to make clothing. Below is a picture of some sweaters made of alpaca wool.

We also make good pets. Ms. Christie-Blick wanted to take us both home to be her pets. (Sheryl said she couldn't buy just one because an alpaca by itself gets too lonely.) Unfortunately, her yard in New Zealand is too small for us. Also, it would be too long a plane ride back to New York. Maybe she'll just buy a nice alpaca sweater instead. Remember, alpacas rule!

If YOU could have an alpaca as a pet which one would YOU choose??? CLICK HERE to see the alpaca pets for sale at our farm.

Redcliffs Kids Take Over Blog

Year 5 students (9 and 10-year-olds) have taken over this blog posting. Partners discovered what they had in common. They used this information to tell you about themselves. Do YOU have anything in common with these kids? I have given them the URL (the computer address) for this blog site so they may be reading your answers!

We both like having pets. Rachel has a dog named Elsie and is about to get two kittens. Lucy has a goldfish named Hokey and is getting a puppy. We are both small girls and have long hair. We both love chocolate and reading books. Rachel likes fantasy and classic books like ‘A Little Princess’ and Lucy likes adventure and funny books by Paul Jennings. Lucy’s favourite subjects at school are art and music. Rachel likes writing and doing productions at school. ~Rachel and Lucy

We’ve both got blonde hair and freckles. At school we like playing on the bars, netball and swimming. We are both really busy doing things like having piano, swimming, dancing and French lessons. Ella loves Harry Potter books and a book called Stormbreaker by Antony Horowitz. Hannah likes the authors Andy Griffiths, Paul Jennings and Roald Dahl. Neither of us has a pet at the moment but we are both getting dogs soon, probably a Labrador, a Fox Terrier or a Spoodle, which is a cross between a Poodle and a Spaniel! ~Ella and Hannah

Both of us like reading books. Joshua’s favourite author is Lemony Snicket and Charles’ favourite author is Christopher Paulini. Joshua likes cricket and Charles likes to go skiing in winter. Joshua’s favourite take-away is Burger King and Charles likes Subway. Joshua’s favourite movie is Stormbreaker and Charles’ is Blue Streak. Joshua has got a pet cat named Clown. Charles has a dog called Perdy. ~Joshua and Charles

We both like playing on the bars at school a lot. We both have blue eyes. On the weekends Bridget likes shopping and Amy likes to play on her trampoline and can do forward flips! Our favourite subjects at school are Maths and English. We both like playing netball. Bridget loves watching ‘Shortland Street’ on TV, which is a New Zealand made soap opera and Amy likes to watch ‘That’s So Raven’. Bridget’s favourite food is Cookies ‘n Cream ice cream and Amy loves Hawaiian pizza! ~Amy and Bridget

Chloe’s favourite food is fish ’n chips and Madison loves chocolate! Madison plays netball, swimming, keyboard and does jazz dance and ballet. Chloe comes from Canada and has only just arrived in New Zealand. She loves it here! She used to play soccer, swim, play violin and do belly dancing. We both like drawing, Maths and have our ears pierced. In summer Madison likes to go to the beach and swim in pools and Chloe goes horse riding on the beach. We both love animals! Madison has a Labradoodle named Charlie and a mouse named Milo. Chloe is going to have a dog and two guinea pigs soon. ~Madison and Chloe

We both love sports, especially soccer. We both like going to each other’s house to play. Both of us have pets, Ollie has a cat named Monty, and Bradley has two mice named Tiny and Teeny Tiny. We are both ten years old but Ollie is older by four days! We are really good at school work and are in the top groups for everything! We are also in the same cricket team and get up really early, 3am, to watch World Cup Soccer! Our favourite take-away food is Burger King. We like Indian food too. ~Bradley and Ollie

We’re both quite good at running and gymnastics. We both like eating lollies, especially chocolate ones! We both like chocolate coloured Labradors. Sylvia likes to go surfing at Sumner Beach. Ellie has a waterfall near her house that she likes to play in. We both like hanging out with our friends, shopping, going to the movies and gossiping! At school our favourite subjects are Maths and Art. We also like to go ice skating in our free time. ~Ellie and Sylvia

We both love Surf Life Saving and went to the South Island Champs. Brittany came second overall and Isabella came fifth overall! We enjoy the same pop music like from the movie High School Musical. Our favourite celebrity is Lindsay Lohan. We both love eating lollies and Pringles. Brittany is half Indian and Isabella is from Melbourne, Australia, but we both look similar and love eating Indian food! ~Brittany and Isabella

We both have large gardens at home. Charlie is from New York and this is his first year in New Zealand. Zak is from England and has lived in New Zealand for just over a year and a half. We both like watching the Simpsons on TV. We both like doing Maths at school. On the weekends Zak likes playing with his cat, Smudge. Charlie likes drawing pictures and going on vacations. His favourite place to visit is Wellington, the capital of New Zealand, which is where his cousins live. Zak loves playing soccer and Charlie goes swimming on Mondays after school. Charlie has two cats named Eleanor and Gerty.
~Zak and Charlie

We both like pets. Blaise has a cat named Cloudy and Clem’s dog is called Stella. Both of us like chocolate! Blaise does Surf Life Saving at Sumner Beach and we both like shopping. Clem likes drawing and we both like playing on the computer. Blaise does Jazz and Clem does Ballet. In summer we both like going to the beach and Clem always takes her dog. We love swimming in summer and going on holiday! On TV we like watching Spongebob Squarepants, and Bro’ Town, a New Zealand made programme. We also both like doing sports like swimming, netball, tennis, skiing and volleyball. ~Blaise and Clem

We have our names in common. We are both Olivia! Olivia R likes dancing, hockey and swimming as well. We go to swimming together, actually. Olivia S likes to go horse riding and she has a dog called Rachel. Olivia R has four guinea pigs named Patch, Skin, Snowy and Gingerbaby and a cat named Ruby. Olivia R goes to Brownies and her favourite thing to do there is grass-sliding, but once she just about broke her arm doing it! Olivia S likes playing on her computer and both of us like reading.
~Olivia S and Olivia R

Neiden is a vegetarian and his favourite food is carrots. Lucas’s favourite food is Nachos. His favourite sports are rugby and running. Neiden’s are cricket and soccer. On the weekends Neiden likes to go down to the park and play cricket or soccer with his friends. Lucas likes playing with his friends on the weekends. We both like having pets. Neiden has 18! Most of them are goldfish. Lucas has a huge Great Dane named Boy. ~Lucas and Neiden

Monique likes sport and she is good at it! Rebecca likes to do Maths at school. She also likes to play on her roller skates in her free time. When Monique has free time she likes to go biking. Rebecca’s favourite food is Spaghetti Bolognese. Monique doesn’t have a favourite. She loves all food! Her dog’s name is Tura. It is a German Shepherd crossed with a Border Collie and he’s only six months old. Rebecca has a cat named Winnee and two guinea pigs named Fluffy and Pippy. Both of us like reading books and Maths. ~Monique and Rebecca

Join Me at Redcliffs School

Miss Saxon's Year 4/Year 5 Class is awesome! The kids are great! They are eight- to ten-year-olds. They were so nice to me during my two-week visit, and even let me teach some lessons.

The students liked the books I brought over from America. While I read aloud, I talked with them about using context clues to help understand unfamiliar words, using clues in the story to help make predictions, and using inferential thinking to understand what the author is really saying. Do these reading strategies sound familiar to you?!? Are you still using them every time you read?

This day the kids chose Two Bad Ants by Chris Van Allsburg for me to read aloud. They loved the clever story and the way Van Allsburg's drawings showed the ants' perspective of the world throughout their adventure. What's your favorite read aloud story?

I showed the kids the Culture Books my Cottage Lane students had made. They LOVED them! They were very excited to see the drawings, the magazine pictures, the explanations about different aspects of American culture, and even some real money taped into the books! When they held the books they knew these hand-made treasures had traveled across the world.

The class was inspired! They spent the rest of the day making their own Culture Books for me to bring back to the United States. They used our discussion about "culture" to get ideas, and they re-read the American Culture Books several times to get ideas about how to make a good book. They made them very colorful and very interesting. You would know a lot about the Kiwi culture after reading their books.

Click Here for Sylvia's and Ellie's Video about Their Culture Books

***Remember to turn on your computer's sound. It will take a few minutes for the computer to load the video. Be patient. Click on the link only once. You can scroll down and continue reading this blog while you're waiting for the video, but open only one video at a time or it will slow down even more. :)

Bradley and Ollie made videos for you, explaining how the word "Kiwi" is used for many different things.

Click Here for Bradley's Video about Kiwis

Click Here for Ollie's Video about Kiwis

It could become confusing when someone talks to you about their Kiwi, but it's easy if you remember to use context clues.

Here's a picture of the front of Redcliffs' School. Isn't it nice? They have lots of room to play in front and in the back of the buildings. They usually play soccer, cricket, and other games during recess. However, they had never played kickball, so I told them the rules and we went out to play one afternoon.

They caught on quickly and really enjoyed playing kickball.

You'll notice that they are all wearing hats. This is a requirement for all school children this time of year to protect their faces from the sun. Because the air is so thin down here, there is a good chance of getting skin cancer from over exposure to the sun. New Zealand and Australia have the highest rates of skin cancer in the world. Wearing a hat, and using suntan lotion, allows kids to play outside in the sunshine without worry.

One day I got to join the class on their field trip to Science Alive to attend a class on electricity explorations. It's a small, hands-on science museum in the city of Christchurch. Mums (They say mum, not mom here) and dads drove groups of children to the museum so they wouldn't have to rent a bus. The science class lasted about two hours, but the children were never bored because there were lots of hand-on activities. In the picture above you can see Lucas experimenting with static electricity.

Miss Saxon is also trying out some of the activities.

Just in case you think Kiwi children are very different from American children, I've included these last two photos to show you that they are not very different at all. All over the world, kids just want to have fun!