Alana wins 2011 Speech Competition

Champion Speech Maker

Alana won her year 8 speech competition with a very humerous speech based on her winning science fair project. Her topic was nappies and the environment. We sourcing a better video that I will link to later, but in the mean time here's the B grade version of the A grade speech

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=at3E07XcPB4&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Speech Competition

Alana has made it to the semifinals with a great speech about the environmental impact of nappies whether they be disposable or cloth. This came from her science fair project for which she won the Otago University Biochemistry Dept prize, again, this year.

She has been liaising with a company in CHCH who are able to compost disposables in six weeks and has also been in touch with the DCC to look at whether such a venture could be started down here. As the market is small one option would be to combine Dunedin and Southland. As medical waste already comes south from Oamaru to the Dunedin landfill it would not be precedent setting to look at the feasibility of whether nappies could make the same journey. More work for her next year to look into.

Ross Creek adventure or was it torture?

Alana's year group had a day at Ross Creek running, abseiling and lugging a kayak over a set course. Apparently if they did not perform an aspect well they had to drop and do ten of their best press ups!

Looked a lot of fun but judging by the teachers photos and how Alana looked when she got home absolutely exhausting.

Sam's concert with Suzanne Prentice

Several weeks ago the primary schools held a combined choir concert with Suzanne Prentice as a fund raiser for World Vision. There were hundreds of kids and they performed superbly. To our surprise Sam was really looking forward to it and thoroughly enjoyed himself.

Sam was seated on the left side balcony, not that there's a hope of seeing him!

No cameras allowed but took this with the phone.

Gold Rush

Tonight we were out with Grandad to see Alana's school production that she has been working towards during the third term.  It was called 'Gold Rush' and Alana was one of the cattle rustlers.  Was a wonderful production - enjoyed by all. 


Check out this link: it's a little bit of video taken on Blair's ipod touch from the back of the auditorium. 

 

 

The Otago Regional Science Fair

When I went to collect Sam from the Otago Museum and from his hydrogen bomb making with their teacher the  Argentinian Amedeo, I happened to find the regional science fair display!

We had been told that Alana had received a commendation for her project on the kidneys. But, this was not the case, she was in fact a prize winner and had received the Otago University Department of Biochemistry Award as well as an Aurora Award (one of the sponsors of the Science Fair). We are so proud of her!!

Check this link out!!

Proud Parents & Excited Daughter

Over the past term Alana has been working systematically through her school science fair project.  It was a challenging project which she enjoyed.  Also required a huge degree of sacrifice from her poor parents who were her subjects - going without coffee for two weeks, collecting and measuring urine output etc as she looked as the impact of different fluids on urine output.

Well to cut a long story short, Alana received a prize today in assembly for her project and a $10 voucher.  Her project now goes into the Dunedin wide science fair competitions.

If you go to the following link, you'll see her project "Our Amazing Kidneys" which her teacher placed on their classroom blog.
http://picasaweb.google.com/115950610652638045379/ScienceFair2010?feat=flashalbum#5485116152271160002

Alana survives Bus Crash!!

On the way to Orokonui Eco-sanctuary, our bus was turning a sharp corner when a car came hooning down the hill not bothering to stop. So, the bus swerved to avoid a car crash but clipped the corner of a rock and these are the results! No one was hurt. Because we had all been asked to take cameras on the trip we were all out snapping the damage!

Back in time

The following document to the NZ Company, dated 28 June 1848, appears to be a letter written by a nurse seeking to emigrate to Dunedin from London, on the ship the Philip Lang. It states that both she and her blacksmith husband are fit and well to travel to NZ; being of sound mind and hardworking in nature! Included is a doctor's note of attestation to these facts. A closer examination shows it to be a complete fraud!! It is nothing other than a computer generated letter, soaked in instant coffee to give it an aged appearance, dried and then singed arround the edges to complete the aging process. While it may be a fraud, it's a pretty cool school project and one that Alana had a lot of fun doing.

Year 6 camp ! =-)

These are some photos of me and my friends at Bannockburn camp.

Josie, Rebekah and Alana

St Martin's School

Alana and Samuel love school. It is big, nearly 600 kids and with them being so used to a smaller, almost semi-rural school of Balaclava, we really wondered how they would cope. But, to our great delight they love it which is such a blessing. It is Samuel's first move. However, for Alana it is her thrid primary school and while she really misses her Dunedin friends she has managed very well.

The school is in Otago Colours - one block dedicated to the 'Blue and Gold!' thanks to ex-Otagoite, Bruce, the school's principal. If you look closely you will also see that the windows are deliberately off square!

The kids most favourite place at school is the amazing tyre
playground - it was designed by a chap from up Blenhiem way.
Acutally when I first saw it I was pretty excited as well.
When I have been down there I am on it just as much as the kids.



But, such a great playground comes at a price. In the first few weeks the kids would regulaly come home and tell us who had fallen and broken a limb this week!


Ah well we are too risk averse any way!! Well this is what I announced at work to which the reply came - "wait until it is one of your kids!!!!!"