We're ONTV!
by Pat Quinn

Atiamuri School is on a visit to Wellington.  They've come to Capital E 's ONTV studio to make their own TV news and weather 
programme.  Pat Quinn catches up with them there.

It's nine o'clock. 
We're at Capital E to make a TV programme, and we've all got jobs to do.  Some of us will be researching, writing, and 
editing the scripts and drawing the pictures to go with them, and others will be doing the interviews, operating the cameras, and 
presenting the news and weather.
Georgina takes us into the classroom.  One wall is glass, and through it we can see the studio.
The writers, researchers, editors, and artists get straight down to work at the tables.  If we don't have words and pictures, 
we won't have a TV programme.
The camera operators, floor manager, and control room people go into the studio.  It's a real working TV studio, and 
Georgina tells us that we have to have it up and running by the time the scripts are finished.  It's past ten o'clock already.
In the studio, we start reading up about our jobs.  Then the camera operators start practising.  The cameras are real TV 
ones, worth thousands of dollars.  The camera operators practise focusing, zooming in and out.  Cool!   Once a shot is set up, 
they have to remember to take their hands off the camera.  "Don't tap it and hum your favourite tune," warns Georgina, "or it'll 
look like there's an earthquake in the studio."
Everyone in the studio has to wear headphones so that they can hear the director speaking.  One side of the headphones 
goes on one ear, and the other side goes behind the other ear so that people can still hear what's going on around them.
At the back of the studio is the control room.  It's small and has a big window looking into the studio.  There's a whole 
row of TV monitors and a sound desk with masses of knobs, like the control panel on a spaceship.
The director works in the control room.  She's like the conductor of an orchestra.  She decides which of the pictures 
showing on the monitors will get recorded, and she decides which camera shots to use.  She also has to talk to the floor manager 
to let the presenters know when to start talking.
It's eleven o'clock.
In the classroom, the news teams are busy writing their stories: the tidal wave in Papua New Guinea; the All Blacks vs. 
South Africa game, and a story about a noisy rooster.  The graphic artist is doing a picture for each story.  The weather team is 
planning storms and rain.  The interview team are preparing their questions and practising their interviews.
Now the studio teams are getting ready for a run-through using a practice script.  The presenters clip microphones onto 
their Capital E T-shirts.
"Tell the presenter to sit up and sit still!" the director tells the floor manager.  Now Camera 2 has gone out of focus.  
Camera 1 forgets to move across to the weather presenter.  And the weather map hasn't got any weather symbols on it!
We muddle through to the end.
Twelve o'clock.
At last we're ready to use the real scripts and pictures that the classroom teams have prepared.
One more practice.
Then the red RECORDING sign lights up.  
"Silence in the studio," says the producer in the control room.
"Silence in the studio," repeats the floor manager.
In the classroom, the remote camera operator says, "Silence in the classroom."
"Starting my countdown," says the director.
"Starting my countdown," say the floor manager and the remote camera operator.
5  4  3  2  1  
Our school logo comes up on the screen and then the opening music.
"Cue presenter on," says the director.
The floor manager holds up her arm.
" NOW!"
The floor manager points at the presenter.
"Good afternoon and welcome to Upper Atiamuri news "
We did it!  Our very own TV programme!

[Set out as in TV script - see page 17 of booklet.]
Camera 1	A	/
Midshot Presenter 1

PRESENTER 1
Good afternoon and welcome to Upper Atiamuri news!
A school group from Atiamuri had a rude awakening this morning at a camping ground in Porirua.  At 4.30 a.m.,the peace was 
shattered by a noisy, louder-than-life rooster.  Bleary-eyed people woke up in their cabins thinking they were still in the country 
 


photographs by Adrian Heke

Two Matchbox Tricks
by Jan Trafford

The Case of the Missing Finger

Here's a gruesome trick to try out on your friends  or maybe your parents!

FIND
	an empty matchbox
	cotton wool
	a red felt pen
	nail scissors

1.	Carefully cut a large hole at one end of the matchbox tray so that your index finger can fit in easily and lie flat inside the 
box.
2.	Cut a hole in the same place on the bottom of the matchbox cover.  The hole should reach to the edge of the cover.
3.	Place the cotton wool in the box and put plenty of red felt pen on the cotton wool to look like blood.
5.	Poke your index finger through the hole and bend it so that your finger is lying on the cotton wool.  Pull the cotton wool 
around your finger to hide the hole in the box.
6.	Turn the box so that it is lying on the palm of your hand.  Put the lid on the box.  When you open the lid, it will look as 
if part of a finger is lying on the red cotton wool.



Give Your Friends a Buzz!

1.	Find an empty matchbox.
2.	Open the box, and on the bottom, in red pen, draw the letter B.
3.	Shut the box.

Say to your friend "Do you want to see my amazing red bee?  It's in this box."
You could put the box up to your ear and say "I can't hear it buzzing  I think it might be asleep." 
Then open the box very slowly and show them your amazing RED B!

The Quick Slick Rubber Band Trick
by Jane Buxton

For this trick, you need a rubber band measuring about 6 centimetres.

Slip it onto your first two fingers, like this.

Now close your hand and slip all your fingers into the rubber band, like this.

Keeping your fingertips hidden, hold out your fist to your friends.  Tell them you have a magic rubber band.

Then say some magic words and open your hand quickly.  The rubber band will seem to jump from your first two fingers to the 
next two.

Le Polo Pulu 
by Jill MacGregor

Mikaele makes rubber cricket balls to sell at the market in Apia.
The rubber to make the cricket balls comes from the pulu tree.
Mikaele gets up early before school to collect latex from the pulu trees that grow near his village.  The trees are tall and 
straight and tower above the banana palms and taro plants.
Latex is a milky, white liquid found under the bark of the pulu tree.  It is a natural juice that contains tiny particles of 
rubber.
When the pulu trees are young, their bark is smooth and shiny.  By the time they are six years old, however, their trunks 
are covered with slash marks and blotchy, white stains.  The trees have been "tapped" for latex.
Early in the morning is the best time to collect the latex.  It flows more freely when the air is cooler.
Mikaele makes a slanting cut in the bark with the sharp blade of his machete.  The bark will heal, but he must be careful 
not to harm the layer of wood underneath.  The milky latex oozes from the cut and drips slowly down the trunk.
Mikaele scrapes the latex from the bark with his finger and wipes it onto a large taro leaf.  It drips everywhere and sticks 
to his fingers, but he can peel it off when it dries.  
When Mikaele has collected enough latex to make one ball, he takes it back to his fale.  
First of all he mixes the latex with water to stop it becoming too thick and sticky.  
Next Mikaele drags some sheets of corrugated iron into the sun and cleans off any dirt and dust.  Then, using a brush 
made from the fibres of a coconut husk, he paints the latex evenly onto the grooves of the corrugated iron.  
Mikaele leaves the strips of latex to dry and harden in the sun while he goes off to look for scraps of old rubber to make 
the inside of the cricket ball.  The knobbly pieces of rubber are hard to break because they are so tough and stretchy.  Mikaele 
squeezes the pieces tightly together into a small ball.  
When the painted strips are dry, Mikaele takes the ball of scraps and begins to peel the strips of latex off the corrugated 
iron and roll them around the ball.  He turns the ball slowly and carefully, stretching the rubber just enough to fit firmly over the 
surface.  He wants to make the ball smooth and even.
When it is finished, the rubber ball is solid and very bouncy.  Mikaele adds it to the other cricket balls he has already 
made.  He counts them.  
Two dozen  enough to sell at the market in Apia next Saturday.

Samoan Words
le polo pulu	the rubber ball
fale	house

Rubber has been used for hundreds of years.  Long before Christopher Columbus arrived in America in 1492, the Mayas and 
Aztecs used latex from rubber trees to make rubber balls for playing games.
Latex is also found in small quantities in dandelion plants.  Break the stem of a dandelion, and you will see a milky white juice.  
Rub this on your finger and watch the juice change colour as it dries.  This juice contains small particles of rubber.


Goat Girl
by Angie Belcher

"Now," said Mrs Saunders, "Pets Day is getting close, and it'd be nice if everyone had an animal to enter.  The 
goat farm has some tiny kids that need to be bottle-fed. Who'd like to look after one?"
I put my hand up as fast as I could.  I didn't even think about what Mum would say.
"Please, Mum," I begged.  I went on and on till she gave in.
As soon as I saw the tiny white bundle, I fell in love with her.
She jumped and skipped and ran after me.  So I decided to call her Runner.
Runner soon knew that I was her mother.  "Ma-a-a-a-a-a  m-a-a-a-a-a-a," she bleated every time she 
saw me.  
I watched a video on hand-rearing kids.  Runner needed to be fed a special milk formula three times a 
day.  Her face had to be wiped with a flannel after every feed.  If milk dried around her lips and nose, it would 
cause big scabs.  The video also said that I should keep her bottom clean.  I didn't like the sound of that job 
much.  I decided Mum could do that!
Runner needed somewhere to sleep. 
Mum wouldn't let me keep her inside.  
"Would you like to borrow our dog kennel?" my neighbour asked.
It was perfect.  I filled it with fresh hay and made Runner a cosy home.  
Having a goat was fun at first, but I soon got tired of getting up every morning to feed her.  I pretended 
to sleep in. 
When I got up, I found Runner eating the washing.
Mum began to get angry.  She said it was like having another baby.  Runner cried all day because she 
was lonely.  She followed Mum around.  She ate everything in sight, including Mum's shoelaces, my hair, and 
the newspaper.
"That goat has got to go," Mum said.
I begged her to let Runner stay.  "I'll get up and feed her every morning.  I'll make sure her face and 
even her bottom are clean!  Please, Mum.  Please!"
For the next two weeks, I made sure Runner kept out of trouble.  I fed her carefully.  I took her for long 
walks on her lead.  I brushed her coat.
On Pets Day, she looked beautiful.  When she got to school and saw the other kids, Runner got very 
excited.  She jumped and frisked around the place.  
"Hey, girl, keep your goat under control," one of the fathers called to me.
Runner performed well in the calling competition.  She balanced really well on the beam during the 
obstacle course.  And when the judge checked her coat and face and bottom, he said, "She looks just beautiful."
But Runner wasn't interested.  She just wanted to jump all over me and nibble my hair.
Runner didn't get first prize, or second.  But she was still a winner to me.
And the green ribbon for trying hard was enough for both of us.
Runner was taken back to her farm a few days later.  I cried and cried.  Mum didn't.  Nor did Dad, but 
they did promise that one day they would take me to visit her.
Next year, I'm going to ask if I can rear a calf for Pets Day!
photographs by Andy Belcher, Legend Photography

Shipwrecked Journals
by Mona Matepi

There were wet, soggy School Journals everywhere when Martin and Ngatokoa got to school one morning.
"They're shipwrecked Journals," said the teacher.
Out on the reef, the ship that had brought the Journals to Atiu Island was lying on its side.
The ship's name was the Aroanui.  When she struck the reef, she had been carrying lots of cargo for the people of Atiu:  
soap powder, flour, milk powder, tins of corned beef and baked beans, wood and iron roofing for building houses  and the 
School Journals.  
Some of the men had gone out in a small boat to rescue as much of the cargo as they could.
Some of it had already sunk to the bottom of the sea.  Luckily the boxes of Journals had stayed on board the ship, though 
waves had been washing over them.
Everyone in the school was busy trying to save the Journals.  They took all the books out of the cartons and spread them 
out in the sun, turning each book page by page to make sure that all the pages were properly dried.  They all worked right 
through the morning till 12 noon, when they stopped for lunch.
After lunch, some of the Journals had dried out.  But now they were covered with a grainy white powder.  What was it?
"It looks like soap powder," said Russell. 
And that's what it was.  Some of the soap powder from the ship's cargo had spilt onto the books.  It had washed off 
some of the coloured ink from the pages.  The teacher was very sad.  
"Don't worry," said Russell.  "We can still read them.  And one day, I'm going to write lots of stories.  You'll be able to 
read them in the School Journal."  
And he took yet another soggy, shipwrecked Journal out of its box and laid it in the sun to dry.

photographs by Nikki Griffin

Freaky! 
by Janet Cooper
Miramar North School

When the Rockwall arrived at our school, it was folded up on a trailer.  It looked quite small.
But when it was unfolded, it was 6.5 metres high.  It looked awesome!
The wall slopes backwards.  The front slope is called "over vertical", and the back slope is called "under vertical".  
[Diagram] There are shapes called "holds" screwed to the wall to put your feet on and to hold on to.  
The front is easier to climb because it's an over-vertical slope, and there are more holds.  
First of all, Jeremy gave us a talk about safety and showed us how to use a harness.  He also showed us how to put on 
our safety helmets properly.
Then it was time to go.  There was enough room for four people to climb at once.  
Marty clipped Daniel's rope onto his harness.  Then it was Hemisha's turn.
Kaz was belaying.  This means that the rope attached to Hemisha's harness went up to the top of the wall, threaded 
through a metal clip called a karabiner, and then came back down and was attached to Kaz's harness.  
As Hemisha climbed, Kaz pulled the rope tight.  If Hemisha slipped, she would dangle from the rope, but she wouldn't 
fall to the ground.  
Hemisha climbed carefully.  About halfway up, her feet slipped, but she quickly found new holds to stand on.  Everyone 
cheered.
When each climber reached the top, they had to abseil back down to the ground again.  They had to lean backwards till 
their feet were level with their chest.  Then they had to "walk" backwards down the wall as Kaz let out the rope.
Scary!

[Photo caption]
Some of the Room 2 kids made a papier mβchι rockwall for the library with a model of a climber hanging from the wall.    

	When the Rockwall came, I couldn't wait to get up, but when our turn came I was freaked.  When I got half way up I 
fell off.  But when I came down, I wanted to do it again.
Maria

	When I saw it lying down it looked easy.  When it was up it looked enormous!  When I had finished I felt awesome.
'Opeti

	When I saw the size of it, it made me feel a bit sick, but once I did it I felt proud of myself.
Katherine

	My leg was shaking, but my head told me to go for it.  And I did it!
Margaret

	Getting down was the hard part because you had to stick your feet up on the wall and pretend you were walking 
sideways.
Ria

	It was majorly FREAKY!
Simon

Getting Your Own Way with Your Parents
by Sarah Keast

Ask them for what you want.
YES
Congratulations!  You didn't need this guide!
NO
Present a suitable argument.
YES
NO
Try to persuade them.
1.	Puppy eyes.
2.	Pleaaase, pleaaase 
3.	I'll clean up my room without being asked for a month.
YES
NO
Why?
Ask them for their reasons.
YES
NO
Present an answer to each of their reasons.
YES
CONGRATULATIONS!
You have got your own way with your parents!
NO
Too bad!  Try again some other time.


Rabbits in the Classroom
by Jan Maguiness and Room 2, Otumoetai School

In our classroom, we have two rabbits.  They are white with black markings and are called Californian rabbits.
Our rabbits are really tame.  The female (or doe) is called Babs, and the male (or buck) is called BJ.  
Sometimes we let them out in the classroom.  If any of us are feeling sad or lonely, it's good to be able to give the 
rabbits a cuddle.  When we go outside for morning tea or lunch, the rabbits can run around on the grass with us and 
share some of our food.
One morning when we arrived at school, Babs was busy tearing up bits of newspaper and carrying them in 
her mouth to the place where she sleeps.  BJ was busy eating grass and pellets, as usual.
Our teacher told us to take BJ out of the cage because Babs was going to have babies (or kittens, as baby 
rabbits are called).  Bucks will sometimes kill kittens.
We were very excited.  None of us had ever seen baby rabbits before.
After we had taken BJ out of the hutch, Babs began to pull fur off her tummy.  She took the fur into her 
sleeping area and spread it around the newspaper nest she had made for her babies.  We thought it would be very 
painful pulling your fur out, but Babs didn't seem to mind.
We decided to cover the hutch with a blanket to give her some peace while the kittens were being born.  We 
knew that we mustn't disturb her for a few days in case she got upset and killed the kittens.
The first time we opened the lid of the sleeping area, we couldn't see any kittens at all.  Babs had covered 
them up to keep them warm.
After ten days, we could see the four kittens all snuggled up beside each other.  
When they were two weeks old, we were allowed to hold them.  At first they were frightened, but after a 
while they got used to us.
There was a lot of work to do looking after them all.  Every morning and afternoon, we had to clean the 
hutches and make sure there was plenty of fresh water in their drinking bottles.  We had to pick fresh grass and 
dandelion leaves for them to eat.  They also had rabbit pellets and some raw carrot, cauliflower stalks, or silver beet.   
The baby rabbits couldn't stay in our classroom for ever.  When they were seven weeks old and weaned from 
their mother, we had a class vote and decided to sell the baby rabbits.  With the money we earned, we bought a turtle 
for the classroom.  It was hard saying goodbye to the baby rabbits, but we made sure they all went to good homes.

Do You Eat Grass?
by Lloyd Esler

Do you eat grass?
I do, and probably you do too!  
The grass family is huge.  In New Zealand, there are over a hundred different kinds of grasses, including mountain 
tussocks, bamboo, pasture grass, toetoe  and, of course, fields of wheat, barley, oats, and corn.
I bet you had grass for breakfast!  Bread, Rice Bubbles, bran, porridge, cornflakes, and Weetbix are all made from grass 
seeds.  And the sugar that you sprinkle onto them comes from the stalks of that well-known grass, sugar cane. 
So why don't we go out and chew on the lawn when we get hungry?  The answer is that our digestive systems just can't 
handle grass in that form.  
Cows' stomachs have four chambers.  The grass they swallow goes into the first of these chambers, which is full of 
bacteria that help to break down the grass.  Then the cow lies down, brings back some of the partly digested grass into her mouth, 
and chews it again.  This is called "chewing the cud".  This process helps the cow to digest the grass and turn it into milk.
For breakfast tomorrow, I think I'll have cornflakes.  And maybe a nice cold drink of recycled grass!


