why reading is better than TV- Jonas Holle

Why reading is better than TV

By Jonas Holle

Many children prefer to watch TV in their free time rather than read a book. Why is this so? Is it because children (and adults) are too lazy these days to even use their imagination? When you read a book you create the images of the characters and the setting, and they are your people, not another human being on the planet will imagine the same images that you will. However when you watch TV you do not do this, you merely sit there and stare at a picture in a box created by someone else. You are not expanding your imagination; in fact you’re shrinking it.

You might think “sure reading might be better for you than television, but its still boring.” If you are a person you thinks this, then you are lazy! This is because TV is no more entertaining than reading. It just doesn’t require you to do as much thinking. Therefore, you find it more relaxing, but what you don’t get is when you read a book, not only do you expand your imagination, you expand your vocabulary at the same time. Whenever you read a new book, you learn lots of new words and you don’t even realize it!

Secondly, reading exercises the brain, which doesn’t just help with things like your vocabulary and your imagination, but it actually makes you a more focussed and knowledgeable person. You just have to stroll into your local library and look at the nonfiction section and you’ll see that there are hundreds of books filled with interesting facts about all manners of things! There are books about insects, there are books about history, there are even self-help books! The list is truly endless. At the same time books are incredibly portable. All you have to do is slip it into your bag (or your pocket, if its small enough) and you can take it anywhere, while a TV is probably one of the least portable objects in the world.

 The scary thing is that our whole planet is being overrun by TV. There is not a single country in the world that doesn’t have television. But the even scarier thing is that nine in ten people will choose TV over reading in their spare time. Now that is a scary statistic and I’m not saying that everyone should go and throw out their TV right now and never look at a screen again. I’m just trying to say that we should cut back a bit guys and if you have learnt anything from the last few paragraphs then you’ll help our planet from being overrun by TV.   

"Is Reading, more beneficial than Television??" By Shivona Chandiramani

                                                                                                                       8^th April, 2011 J                        

                             Is Reading Books, better than Television??

In the age of television, reading books is not as important as it once was. People can learn as much by watching television as they can by reading books."

Day in and day out, the masses huddle in front of the magic box in hopes that it will entertain them. 

No, I’m not talking about a toy box or even about a computer terminal; I’m talking about what seems to sometimes be synonymous with God almighty — the television. It utterly amazes how so many networks can all recycle the same garbage and call it entertainment.

Fifty some-odd channels on and not a thing that most people even remotely are interested in watching. The sole virtue that TV seems to possess is that it can occupy the mind undemandingly. For the record, I do own a TV, and I do have cable (FOXTEL), but I don’t sit there the whole day occupying myself to it.

I do get some use out of it, I just do not think that just because I don’t watch TV that no one else should. 

I just find it disturbing how many fat, lazy couch potatoes there are out there who will engage in such behaviour when they actually do remove their lazy butts from the couch as they to proceed to tear up the entire room just to look for the remote when they could simply get up and manually change the channel. I can think of a million more productive ways to spend one’s time. First and foremost, why not 

try reading a book?

Instead of sitting in front of the TV all day long, you could be reading a fascinating book and broadening your horizons.

I have received a great many rewards from reading, such as an extensive vocabulary and much better grades on papers, because even if it isn’t class-related, writing a better paper never hurt anyone’s grades. 

For movie buffs out there (not saying I'm not one, HaHa), many of the great movies are in all actuality originally based on books, and for the record, the books are always better because they are so much more informative and allow for greater immersion into the story.

So the next time you get the urge to watch some mindless, tasteless, regurgitated garbage on TV put down that remote, do yourself a favour and curl up with a good book.

I hope you have gained a lot of knowledge on my report on “Is Reading Books better than Television??”

By Shivona Chandiramani J

Ethan Davis 2

SHORT STORY – ETHAN DAVIS

BALI:

I was really excited to go to Bali, I had heard from a few people that it was a really good place to go on holiday for and that the culture and that the way people live their daily lives really makes you realize who you are and how lucky you are. I’d also heard from pretty much everyone who goes there is that you all most always score good waves, and that was probably the thing that got me most excited. On the plane I was filled with nervous excitement so the whole way there on the plane I couldn’t sit still. There was also another reason for my excitement, I was going to meet some of my best mates who we hadn’t seen for around a year and a half. We got there in the morning at around 7 o’clock Balinese time, luckily Bali and Australia are almost in line with each other so the time difference wasn’t too bad. We were going to stay in Bali for two weeks. We stayed in a really cool little villa with a pool and there was about 3 bedrooms surrounding it, I got my own so I was stoked about that.

During the two weeks that we stayed there for we ate out pretty much every night and no-one luckily got a case of “Bali Belly”, the two words tourists use to describe food poisoning in Bali, it happens a lot. The food was so good and the people were really helpful and I was surprised to hear that many people spoke English.

The roads in Bali are ridiculous there are about 100 cars and 1,000,000 motorbikes it’s scary. In Bali there are often major traffic jams and so having a motorbike to weasel through cars is pretty helpful. That’s why I guess most of the population have motorbikes, they literally cram 5 people on a bike meant for two and there were newborn babies just sitting on the handlebars, it looked like they were trying to kill them. Bali is also a lot poorer than Australia and there are so many homeless people, living in construction sites or just anywhere under shelter, especially as in Bali you can get some pretty horrendous thunderstorms.

The animals there are pretty wild too, when we went to the Uluwatu monkey temple they would steal everything that hung off you sunglasses, thongs, hats and as a result I had my brand new thongs chewed up. In the process they bit me and about 3 hours after I started to vomit (all over the rental car) and I felt really bad, I got taken to hospital because they thought that I might get rabies, so I had a vaccination and then went back to the villa later that night.

While we were in Bali, we also surfed, we had a local guy called Yudi who knew the waves really well and everyday he took us to different waves: Nusa Dua, Balingan, Cangguu, Uluwatu, Rainbow Bay etc. This was the highlight of the holiday for me as the waves were super fun and we had one perfect day at Nusa Dua. Bali is the best! 

Bella Kable Task 2

I was so excited for board training; it was this afternoon from 4:30-6:00pm. The waves were big and an on shore wind was causing rough conditions that were also causing bluebottles to wash up on the shoreline. When I arrived at training we were all sent out in the corner of the beach and were told to paddle down the beach to where we were going to be training. Massive sets were rolling in and we all caught massive waves into the beach. As we were paddling in and out doing a couple of paddling drills from the beach a massive set wave hit us when we were all paddling out, as it was massive, the biggest wave of the day everyone let go of there boards, and since we don’t have leg ropes all of the boards flew into the beach dinging and cracking each other. When we had all finally swam in to the beach we all ran to our boards to see what condition they were in and if any damage had been caused. Mine and the coaches’ daughter Harriett were the only two boards that had smashed together and dinged each other’s boards. My board and Harriett’s boards were stuck together with my fin going into the middle of her board and making a massive whole in the bright green fiberglass surface. Her board was completely damaged and had to be taken to the ding repair the next day whilst mine was only a slight scraping to the fin, which didn’t make a difference to my board and hasn’t had to be repaired for the past two years. As training was cancelled due to the board dinging incident I ran home straight away and started crying on the way there because I was upset about dinging Harriett’s board. When I was running past the surf club my coach screamed out to me in an angry tone, Bella you must be careful of your board and not let it out of your sight or else you will cause danger to a person next time. These lines Brucie my coach had said to me made me even more upset and sent me running home as fast as my legs could take me so he wouldn’t be able to say another nasty word to me. When I arrived home I explained the whole situation to my parents, my dad sent an apology to Brucie and Brucie rang my Dad back explaining that he had only said those mean words to me because he had had an argument with the man parked next to him just before he had seen me about being too close to each others cars. I felt a lot happier once Brucie had explained why he was so annoyed at me.

This was in the under 11’s age group and now two years on every time I see Harriett’s board around the club house or being paddled I see the repairing of the ding in bright blue a completely different colour to her green board.

Jordy Frish Task 1

Camp Experiences

It was the first full day of camp and I had two of the best activities. After a long walk to where my groups’ activities were we finally arrived at a tiny metal door that I doubted I would fit through. We were told that this was where we would be doing caving. After a quick demonstration on how to put on the safety helmet and some rules we plunged into the darkness.

At the beginning of the cave it was a nice width but as we started to crawl through the pipes I realised this was not going to be fun. At the first open room it must have been thirty-six degrees with about eighteen people breathing in one enclosed room with no fresh air. After that it only got worse. After we got past the point and went into the next open room, it was not only the one room that we had to turn off our torches, but it was ever smaller and still those twenty people breathing in and out.

 As we continued things widened but still the spaces were cramped and stuffy. After a gruelling thirty minutes in that cave we exited and we were given a choice, either go back with only one torch or take the ten second walk back to where we started. I was kind of bewildered that thirty minuets in a cave transfers over to ten seconds of walking.

Then we did the most challenging activity, it was called “Adventure Valley”. This course was built by the army and it was properly built for army training. The first obstacle was jumping down through tyres and landing in muddy water. Most of the course went on like this for quite some time all the courses were hard but one course in particular was the worst. This obstacle involved climbing up a slippery pipe with no grip and then had I to climb down it without doing too much damage to myself.

Then we had dinner. It was one of the best (camp) spaghetti and mince ever. After dinner we went to a waterslide to have some fun.  The water temperature was perfect and it was a good length, everyone had some fun on itJ.

The next day was the last day of camp and my group had the best activity. We had the giant swing. The swing was a 15 meter drop and a 4 second free fall. We were all give a number in order to go on it. My number was 16. After waiting for 15 people in front of me, I went up and it was scary. At the very top you have the choice to pull the rope that starts the swing or go lower. At the very top I pulled the rope and I felt a powerful jolt, and I was falling after the four seconds that felt like an eternity. I swung back up and then down again this repeated for quite some time until it finally stoped.

 Overall, I think it was an amazing camp. Everyone had lots of fun and it gave the new students a chance to make friends and  I also challenged myself and learnt new things. J

Jordy Frish Yr7 English

Ruby Biancardi Task 1

It only takes one day for you to fall in love with Paris. Trust me that’s all it took for me. From the moment I stepped out of the plane and an associated 21 hour flight I knew I was destined to be here.

It was back in 2007 when I took my first trip to Paris. The four of us went - my mum, dad, brother Hugo and I. We were warmly greeted by the French at the airport although my parents weren’t impressed when my mum’s suitcase was lost. It was only after at least an hour and a half of negotiating that we finally got out of the airport (except my mum was still angry because she didn’t have her bag). From there we instantly got a taxi and were transported to our luxurious apartment right in the heart of Paris. The apartment had an astonishing view of the Eiffel Tower or in French “Le Tour Eiffel”.

My first priority was to check out the place. There was quite a bit to check out with its 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom a reasonable sized kitchen, a living room and 2 floors and a TV of course! I liked the place and was ready to settle in for the 1 week stay. We had arrived early in the morning so we had a whole day ahead of us to explore.

At around midday, after a lot of fussing about over sleeping arrangements and unpacking and of course the awful torture of homework, we were all set for a picnic in Champ de Mars (the park in front of the Eiffel Tower). We had a nice little picnic which included fresh warm baguette from the baker with fresh meat from the local butcher (my mouth is watering even thinking about it). We also had splendid view of the Eiffel tower.

Given Hugo and I were only young at the time, mum and dad took us to see a French play in the park after our picnic. The play was hosted and performed by children around my age (eight years old). It was a lovely little play based on the story of little red Riding Hood but my brother cried when the wolf appeared!

 That evening we had dinner out to celebrate the fact that it was the first time in Europe for Hugo and myself. The restaurant was of high quality and in fact it had 1 Michelin star (which means it’s very high up in the ranking of restaurants). Hugo and I had continuously been warned on approach to the restaurant to be very well behaved, although this meant nothing to him as he was only three years old! My mum made me order very exotic food and in the end I tried SNAILS (in French “escargot”). They weren’t that bad thinking about it now.                                                                                                                                                                                                

The day was wonderful and we all really enjoyed it for our first time and we didn’t want it to end but there was always tomorrow and the next day and the next day. So really we had nothing to worry about except mums lost bag!!!

Darcy Burgess story

VECTOR MARSDEN

by Darcy Burgess

We sat in the luscious green grass of the beautiful Sandam School playground. Sandam was my friend Jimmy’s and my regular destination when we went to his place. Jimmy lived in an apartment just opposite Sandam and we would get a football and go for a kick in the freshly cut grass.

Sandam playground had everything from a smooth road for skating to a wall to play thumbles (a game we used to play). Another thing about this spectacular place was if you walked to the far side of the playground (from Jimmy’s place) there was a mulberry tree. Jimmy and I used to climb right up to the top of the tree to get the ripest and juiciest mulberries. We would come back home with blood red and black stains all over are new school clothes.

As much as we loved Sandam there was only one problem: the park was actually a school ground for the kids of Sandam Public School. This would have been completely fine but the Principal of Sandam was a horror­–just a real nutter.

I had never known this until one day.

Jimmy and I were kicking a football against the school wall when we heard this firecracker-type explosive noise, the hairs on the back of our necks stood up. Out walked a giant of a man with wide shoulders and muscular arms. His head was shaved and he was almost completely bald and had a tattoo of a skull on his right bicep. He started approaching Jimmy and I. We had no idea what do. We froze. It was like our feet were stuck in mud,

I couldn’t move.

I saw the man’s eyes widen and turn an awful murky green. He stepped one inch in front of our faces and bellowed, “Get outta ‘ere. I don’t wanna see youse ever come ‘ere and kick the ball against our wall again,” he shouted. “So go on get out.”

“Yyyyes sir,” we stuttered and then we started scurrying away like mice running away from a human with a broom, until we got to Jimmy’s place. Jimmy was the most innocent kid you have ever met and within a second he had told his mum what had happened. Jimmy’s mum was a bit the same. She knew who this man was and she told us: “Vector Marsden,” she said. “You don’t wanna mess with him boys.”

I called Jimmy over. Although I was scared of Vector Marsden
I wasn’t going to let him get away with what he did. I mean Jimmy and I weren’t doing anything wrong, we never hurt anybody, we were just kicking the ball against the wall like we had been doing for 4 years. “Hey Jimmy you wanna go tick him off again.” I said. “No way,” Jimmy blurted out. “I’m never going near that guy again. He scared the living daylights outta me.” “Oh come on,” I said, “Don’t be such a wimp.”

It took some persuading, but I somehow managed to get Jimmy to come with me.

Disobeying his mum’s orders we ran towards the school with our ball and again started kicking repeatedly against the wall. “Now,” I started saying slowly, “When Mr Bozo comes out and tells us to go away we shall do it, but when we start walking back shake your finger in the air like so (I then showed Jimmy what to do).”

We saw shadows running down the stairwell and then once again out came Vector. He ran towards us and then stopped even closer in front of our faces. I could see his huge nose hairs come curling out of his nostrils as he shouted. “Haven’t I told you rats to go away?” We didn’t say anything. “Take a bloody hint and get the hell outta my school”. We still didn’t say anything and very bravely we started walking away a lot slower than we did before and with great reluctance stuck our hands in the air.

I looked at Jimmy and our nervous face began to twitch. I started to wiggle my finger from side to side. It took less than
a second for the principal to know what we were getting at. We suddenly heard, “I’m gunna get ya you rats.” Jimmy and I bolted, running as fast as our little legs could go. I looked behind and saw Vector getting closer and closer and then the fatal blow happened. BOOM! Jimmy’s face planted onto the soft but sharp grass. Jimmy was my best friend I could not leave him behind. I stuck out a hand and he grabbed it.

Jimmy was of chunky stature and as I pulled with great strength his weight made me fall over as well. There we were, two little helpless boys with a giant of a man sprinting behind us. But we were not about to give up we lifted ourselves up off the turf and jumped the fence with tremendous strength. Our smartest move was that we kept on running. We were faster than this man and we had to lead him to the wrong house which is what we did. We got way ahead and stopped, caught our breaths and ran back to Jimmy’s place. When we got home I was surprised to notice Jimmy didn’t tell his mum what happened, he just shrugged it off. Ever since Jimmy has been a different, more confident person. We still talk about that day a lot now and it’s one of my best adventures with him.

Darcy Burgess

MY FIRST 2 WEEKS AT REDDAM

By Darcy Burgess

The first week of Reddam House High School was different to any other first week of school I have ever had. The first day we had an assembly and were introduced to our teachers, Year Coordinator and our Year Tutors.

Once we had an insight into what every teacher was like we had to do a thing called a streaming test. These streaming tests were to try to identify to our new school how good we were at a certain subject. They didn't make us do a test on every single subject. No, that would be just cruel. What we did was just a test for English and Maths, therefore they can get an idea of our ability in those two subjects. That was basically all we did on our first day.

Our second day was even more of a surprise—we had the swimming carnival.
I wasn't all that excited because I'm not a great swimmer but it's still a day off school. It was a scorcher as expected but it ended up being a great day and my house Bennelong won! Which apparently is very rare. The best thing about these two days was the excitement of the 3 days afterwards and I think you know by now what it was—CAMP!

I woke early, stoked to be going to camp especially so early in the year. With my bags packed the night before it was just a normal morning routine. Mum drove me to school and we said our goodbyes. Off I walked feeling like a big boy. Camp was at Cataract Scout Park and as soon as I got to school they started loading the bus with luggage and with students.

As I walked onto the bus, a flow of cool air from the air conditioning slammed right into my face. I was instantly captivated by the camp feeling. I went and sat down with my friends, although it took us about 20 minutes until the bus actually started running. Unlike most camps I have been to this camp was only 1 hour and 30 minutes away from the school campus, which was good because I’m sure you all know how tedious a long bus ride can be.

We arrived right on the estimated time. They ran us through the procedure of getting food, which applied, for every single meal. After this we were put into our cabins, which is, as we all know, one of the most fun things about camp. I was in a cabin with a lot of my friends so there was no drama there.

My activity group (the group of people I spend the day doing activities with) consisted of none of my old primary school friends so it was a great chance to get to know some new people, which is exactly what I did. Throughout the whole camp I made a range of new friends and all the activities were great, including activities like caving and pioneering that I had never done before and I have been to a few different camps. Having camp in the first week was a brilliant idea because it is one of the best ways I think of getting to meet new people.

After having the best first week I was even more excited to get into the grand scheme of things. After the good rumours I heard from all the previous Reddam kids I couldn’t wait to see what was in store for me in the next big step of my life.

Carlos Perez Task 1

The next step to my life

It was the year 2010. I was currently at a school called Wiggly Primary School in the north part of Rydney. I was just about to enter year 6 next year, my final year after being there for 5 tremendous years. As to where I would be going to next had already been decided, it was a school by the name of Larist Brothers North Rydney. I was very happy to be going there, the cheque was in and everything.

My mother had just had an operation to her neck. She had just finished her finally Year at Semarie University. She was currently looking for a job as a Spanish/French teacher.

The good news is she had found an opening at a school called Blue Manner House but unfortunately she was currently in the stages of her operation but that did not stop her. She was so enthusiastic about the idea of finally becoming a teacher that when she talked to the Primary Principal of the school she got an interview on the day after her operation.

After much success with my mother’s operation, my father and I took my mother to her interview at Blue Manner House (we were with her in the hospital by the way). My father and I took my mother into the school and we waited for the principal to be ready for my mother’s interview. At this time I had heard many brilliant things about Blue Manner House that I was just wishing my mother the best of luck in her interview. After a few minutes of happily waiting by reception the principal was ready and my mother started the interview.

By now my father and I were anxiously waiting to find out whether or not my mother had done well and this would be the place where her career had a real big boost. It seemed like quite a while until my mother came out of the interview, but by the time my mother came out she seemed very happy which was in fact very settling for me knowing that this seemed like it was going to turn out well.

Unfortunately Blue Manner’s system with interviews is they tell you whether or not you’re in or not by another Interview which would soon be happening. After about two days of waiting to receive another interview, my mother finally received one two days later. Good news! My mother got in! The excitement was unbelievable!

So about a month later my mum started her job as a French teacher at Blue Manner House there were some good days and some bad days. The interesting thing was a started to become quite fond of the school and found out that it was primary and high school, my options started to change…

As I have already told you I am currently at Wiggly and I am going to Larist Brothers, but one night my parents approached me and said:  if you would like to go to Blue Manner instead of Larist we would be happy for you to go there instead.

So after much thought I finally decided we would decline the cheque and I would go to Blue Manner! There was one down side though, considering that I am the only one from my current school going to Blue Manner I was going to be alone. Luckily after the primary principal heard I was going to join Blue Manner in 2011 she invited me to their music camp where I met many friends like Sommanel and Lyson

It has now been about a month since I started in Blue Manner House and I am really enjoying my time here!

Carlos Perez Task 2

Unfamiliar Faces          

It was a stormy day in Rome, Italy. My family and I John (Dad), Gloria (Mum), Lisa (Sister) and Carlito (Me) had started a big trip and this was the fourth destination. We had been exploring various parts of Rome such as the food and Notre dame.  At that point I was having the time of my life but things screwed up a bit when we went on a tour…

It all started when we casually went down to the bistro in the hotel, we had planned a tour for the day which was going to be focused on various places of Rome, such as Churches and underground places. Once we were all set we commenced out into the city. We ended up looking at a few things on the way and by the time we finished it was lunch time, we went to a small pizza cart and got some scrumptious Italian food. Near where we were eating is where the tour group was meant to meet, a matter of time went past and there were a few couples and tourists. The tour guide started to guide us to our travel. We saw many places on the way and in my vaguest memory I was not interested in all this boring stuff we went past but I was happy anyway. After various Rome locations we arrived at a church, this one I could not remember the name of so I will recall it as the church with the statue where if you put your hand in it gets “burnt”, but of course you don’t get burnt it’s all a silly myth.

My family and I walked in to the church. It was a large gorgeous church with old ages architecture, I remember my parents being very fascinated with all this, which always ticked me off. So I just casually went along with it. After looking at various angel statues and putting our hand in the statue, my father and I walked out of the church but before we went to the exit my father told me I should pray on the way out. The bad thing was that my father went through a different door than me, and I found myself lost.

At that moment where all I saw were unfamiliar faces a rush of panic went through my spine all I did was cry and run. I ran for my life so fast that I ended up lost. Then when I finally stopped and calmed down I found myself in a strange park, after spinning in circles I fainted out of fear.

Suddenly I woke up being shaken by a strange man he had a long combed moustache and short black hair. It seemed like hours we were there staring at each other. After a while of oddly looking at each other this mysterious man starting talking to me with strange words, all I said was I don’t speak Italian and finally he said “speak English you? I said yes I do in a sudden action the man grabbed me by my body and ran away. HELP!! I was screaming but no one would come to help none was even looking! Suddenly a rush of heavy fear ran over my body again, until I saw a familiar place, the church! Here it was, and they’re very anxious was my family sprinting at me I was so happy my family was there, the man helped me, I assumed so I then said the only word I knew in Italian gracie. After much tears of joy we commenced to our next destination, and of course I was pouring with tears.

After walking for a short distance I saw a strange face on that man suddenly he pulled out something it looked like a sharp…         DAD WATCHOUT!!!!!!

 

Tullie Zimmerman

Year 7 2011 Camp

Today was the second day of camp. As per usual we would wake up at 7aqm each of us had a shower from my cabin, get dressed and go straight down to the food hall. Today’s breakfast was hash browns, scrambled eggs and toast. After we had finished eating we would go straight into our activities for the day.

The morning activity today was rock climbing, which I was excited for. Our wonderful instructor Nick and our amazing drama teacher Mrs B took us on a long walk down to the rock climbing area. When we arrived at the area another instructor by the name of Shaggy was there, he was  in charge of showing us how to put on our harnesses and helmets. After knowing how to put or helmets and harnesses we got straight into it!

 The first rock climbing wall I did was called The Ocean. It was the easiest of the all. I had a lot of motivation from all my friends to reach the top. When you reach the top it is a wonderful moment. The next wall I tried was the one just a little bit harder but in fact it wasn’t hard at all. I had reached the top with in no time. Then I did some belaying. So I got back into my harness and helmet and held onto the rope they were attached to. Every time they had stepped up onto a higher rock you would have to pull up and make sure there was no slack. After a long tiring activity it was time for morning tea.

Our group all walked up to the Cake House were morning tea was served. Today we were having freshly cut mouth watering oranges, Bananas and green cordial. We all met up for 10 – 15 minutes with all the other groups to chat and share the news on what activity we just had done. After morning tea our group was scheduled to participate on The Giant Swing. Nick took us all on another walk to The Giant Swing.

Then we arrived to The Giant Swing. The activity I had waiting for the most out of the camp. Once again we were shown how to put on our harnesses and helmets and then we started. Every time somebody had a go we would pull this long orange rope and walk backwards to lift them higher up into the air. After 6 or 7 people it was finally my go.

I walked over to the diamond made out of rope and went under it. Nick strapped me in and I had to walk up 3 steps of a ladder and then let go so that I was dangling in the air on a rope. When it was the all clear everybody started to pull me up higher and higher with the tree tops. It was an amazing sight and then when you look down and you see your feet dangling in the middle of the air it was so scary. Everybody yelled 3, 2, 1! And I pulled this small blue rope and I went whoosh whoosh in the air backwards and forwards and backwards and forwards until Nick told me to cross my legs and he would hold onto them until I would stop. Then I stepped onto the ladder and Nick un-buckled me and let me go on to the ground. That was by far my favourite activity in the camp and cannot wait to go back again next year if we go.

Gal Kaminski Task 1

Task 1 by gal kaminski

I walked into the front gates of my new school “Reddam House” I was a bit nervous about a new school that I only new 2  people and that I did not even come to orientation day because I only knew I was going to Reddam about a month before the year actually started.

I headed up the stairs and made my way to the basketball courts to have a little look around the school to see if I recognised anybody.

The first person I saw was a guy named Eric Zykov he is a kid from my old school Rose Bay Public School which I was in from year 1-6. The next person I saw was Bobi Klein she was also from my old school but they were already hanging out with other people so I sat down on the side of the basket ball court for a couple of minutes by myself. After that I went back to the front of the playground where a teacher was waiting for all the year 7 children to come so they can all walk to Adelaide Hall for the first assembly of the year.

My second  day was a bit better I met a couple of new people and it was the annual Reddam  swimming carnival I did not participate in any of the competitive races but I did participate in the participation races it was a fun swimming carnival. My third forth and fifth days a in Reddam were the best I think out of the whole two weeks. They were the days we went out for camp. On the way to the place we were staying which was “Cataract Scout Park”, I met a really nice kid name Maxmo who offered me to sit next to him on the bus. By the time we reached our destination it was nearly lunch time my favourite parts of camp were the “Giant Swing” the “Flying Fox” and “Caving”. Camp felt really short but everything is short when you are having fun.

 The second week at Reddam became time to learn something. The first thing I did when I came on Monday was head up to the basket ball courts when I saw all the year 7 kids sitting down in one room so I joined them and the teachers were handing out each persons time table and telling them their tutors. From then on it was learning, but it was fun learning because all the teachers are great and there is no subject that I do not like so far in Reddam. Maxmo and I still hang out at recess and lunch with a couple of other kids like Kenneth and Kenny. I joined up to the basket ball team and we play every Saturday and train every Tuesday, I also signed up for a sailing academy which we have every Friday after school I really enjoy sailing and I think Reddam is the best school I have been to so far.

Michael Grant task 1

Autobiographical writing by Michael Grant 
On our first week of school we had our year 7 Camp at cataract Scout Park. When we first arrived we went in the dining hall to eat lunch. We had sandwiches then we headed to our first activity for group three rock climbing. I was the person that held the climber on our wall.

After rock climbing we had pioneering, where we made catapults. We had Daniel in our group so it was all good. When we finished making the catapults we shot water balloons at each other it didn’t go too well no one really got wet.

 Then after pioneering we had dinner penne Bolognese with salad it was pretty good. Everyone was pumped for what we had next, the waterslide, a 40metre slide. After dinner we had an explanation of the to the waterslide. After that we went to the waterslides at 7pm we all were so exited I took off my shoes and lined up. On the first go I had to sit up but on the second go Noah, Bryson and I did a train. It was so much fun until we packed up at had to go to bed. About 30 minutes after lights out, all the cabins (except for ours) was having a party until Mr. Garret came in and told everyone to stand outside the cabin facing the wall for 5 minutes the we went to bed.

The next day was really fun, we had caving first which was really fun. We all went through a cave with spiders, toads and goannas we went thought main chambers stood in the blackout room which was as close as pitch black. Then we went to the other side our instructor asked us if we wanted to go back with no torches about half of us said yes and back we went it was so much better because we went through a tight space it was like a secret passage out.

After caving was orienteering we all got a map and a compass and mark off checkpoints. Our team was Jared, Sam and Hannah we were all good up to number 7 we went the wrong way. We wasted time we went the other way after 20 minutes and we saw Dario's team just sitting there but we helped them but they went the wrong way so we all just went back we were all sick of orienteering.

Then after we had lunch we had challenging valley. The muddiest activity in the site, we went thought muddy obstacle everyone got so muddy and wet. After challenging valley we had another go on the water slide. For another hour then dinner all the same then that night we had night activities then about 10 minutes through the lights went out we all thought it was a game turns out it was a black out it lasted like 18 hours so we did night activates in the dark.

The next day still no power. We had scrambled eggs and bacon for breakfast. Then off to the flying fox we had our explanation then we had our go we ran to get our equipment I gave mine to Gabi. Then waited for my go next was Alexandre we bucked up and jumped off 3 story building and fly when we dropped the rope and got off.

After that we had the giant swing a 15 metre swing. I was so scared when it was my go I was shaking when I went up. I was so scared then I pulled the rope then it didn’t go then I did it again then I freefell 15 metres I screamed – but it was my favourite activity after that we had lunch the went home and that was the end of year 7 camp.

Chelsea Stokes Task 1

Autobiographical writing by Chelsea Stokes (The Caves & Chelsea just didn't mix)

I could hear the dry soil crunch beneath my feet, I could see the mounts of rust on the old and tiny door, I could hear the birds tweeting high above the treetops, as I guided myself inside the cave I could feel the damp ancient rocks on my fingertips, and I could smell the fear coming from my own breathe...I could feel the terror building up inside of me...like a construction site hammering and building bigger and bigger, it was unbearable; I knew I was claustrophobic but had a determined mind to conquer this Dreadful phobia.

As I entered the cave, it was whole different scenery; the area around me was now limited, no turning back. It was pitch black in there except for the occasional line of sunlight peeping through a crack. It really was an amazing thing to see because the light shone as you would see the rays of sunlight reaching down in the ocean water. Everyone also had their torches that all shone in different places at once it looked pretty awesome. Our extremely enthusiastic leader wanted to try something new so she gave us all a coloured glow stick that connected like a bracelet around your wrist. My glow stick was a violet purple; at one stage it was so dark that all you could see were all the different coloured bracelets crawling in the cave. 

Then we came to a spot in the cave were the roof was only 30cm of the ground, I’m claustrophobic so this was terrifying for me...The fear built up again, this time as quick as a flash, it hit me so fast. All I have to do is tuck my head down along with the rest of my body, crawl through and then we are in bigger space again it was that easy! I also had a big, white, bulky safety had on my head so the space felt incredibly smaller. Eventually I realised it’s only going to take 3 seconds and then I’ve finished part one so I just ducked my head then the rest of my body, slided through as fast as possible and then as soon as I was out from under it I sprung straight back up just like an elastic band.

We had just been told we had finished section one and now it was time for section 2 but firstly we took a little break to breathe some fresh air because it was sticking hot in the cave as there was no cool air coming in. As I was breathing the new clean air before my next rush of fear I noticed my hands knees were black from the dirty mud I was crawling on, “I call dibs on the first shower!” I stated to my roommates. One of the weirdest things was that we were under rocks and sand and we hadn’t seen any creatures yet...

As we started crawling again the roof was less than a metre of the ground but for some weird reason I wasn’t scared. Then SUDDENLY something very minuscule leaped right in front of me. At the time I had a heart attack because I was not expecting anything at all. But quick as a flash, my flashlight shone on the little creature, once I saw it I was stunned by what was before my eyes. It was a pale green colour, it had 4 incy little legs, the whole thing was about the size of my fingernail and it was as cute as a button. I hadn’t seen many of these in real life before! It was a miniature Frog.

A frog in a cave, yes it does sound a bit funny. A couple of minutes later we stopped somewhere in the cave were I found another creature. This one was much larger, Much Darker Green, longer legs and higher at jumping. It was another Frog quadruple the size of the other one, but it leaped away before anyone else got to see it.

My experience of this cave was amazing and I’d like to do it again sometime. In the end my determined mind set on a goal and I managed to achieve it. Caving is still quite frightening but I still love doing it for the experience and fun I get out of it.

Written by Chelsea Stokes

Task 2-Zac Zurnamer

It was a hot, humid day on the Greek island Santorini, my grandmother, my brother, my mum and myself decided to go to a small restaurant just up the road from the hotel we were staying at. I remember seeing another family taking an alternate route up to the shopping village where the restaurant was, so I decided when it was time to leave for lunch to tell my mum and grandmother and take the alternate route.

As I walked further and further across the footpath I began to realise that I was nowhere near the restaurant, so I walked past a few houses but no one spoke English. I just got a bunch of odd sounding Greek responses I knew that I was in big trouble now, lost, no one speaking my language, on an island that I’ve been on for 3 days. I had no idea what to do!

After about 15-20 minutes of searching managed to find an American man who had bought a house on the island and was in his garden hanging up his washing, he seemed to have a lot of Basketball jerseys, there were too many to count! I asked him how to get to the shopping village he gave me very complex instructions, ‘You then turn to face north and walk in that direction then turn east.....’ I eventually then said, ‘Look man, I’m 11, I don’t what you are talking about! Can you use left and right rather?’ he then realised that I didn’t understand a thing that he had been saying and started all over again. Not a good idea, those directions were just as bad as the other ones, after he had finished talking and talking and talking about random things he suddenly asked me what my name was and where I came from, as it turns out he knew a lot about Sydney and he said that his father was born there.

After leaving the man to finish hanging up his washing I decided to try and find my own way there, as he was no help, I then came across a couple sitting on the rocks together and decided to ask them for directions, but once again language was an issue, well not really language, accent rather, couldn’t understand a word, their French accents were to strong and words like ‘up’ suddenly became extremely confusing. I kept on walking for at least another 10 minutes when I saw some shops, this was it I walked up a large flight of stairs only to find that I had the wrong restaurant, and once again there I stood, no phone, no food, no water, in the middle of nowhere. After another long period of walking I saw more stairs, and this more than just one building at the top, I thought to myself for a moment then realised that up there had to be the shopping village. I was so hot and tired, I didn’t know if I would make it up those stairs, so I counted as I went up ‘1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7...’ until I reached 112 stairs, I met my mother at the top of the stairwell hoping for some sunburn cream and a bottle of water, or milk, or even baby formula! I needed fluid, and I needed it fast, I fell into her arms and stumbled into the restaurant, and god was right there, in the form of a freezing cold glass of coke.

After a delicious lunch and the most water I had ever had in my entire life, I finally got back to my hotel room and slept for the entire afternoon. I was so happy that I found a way to the restaurant, I almost felt lucky to be alive! All I know is that could’ve turned out much worse if I had just given up.

By Zac Zurnamer

Task 2.By Bobi Klein

The Gun

Task 2

So I am at Emma’s house, my best friend, to sleep over one night.  Emma’s parents are out and left us at home on our own for a few hours.  Suddenly at 11:00pm we hear a knock at the door.

Then all of a sudden we hear a creak coming from the laundry door. CRASH BANG THUMP.

We hear footsteps coming from up the stairs. Emma and I hide under our blankets shivering from fright and bewilderment.

The door to the room we are in opens all of a sudden and to our delight we see Emma’s father.  Emma had forgotten that he had been out at the movies and after returning home and had come upstairs to check if we were all right and whether we were asleep.

We jumped up from under the covers with great excitement and gave him such a big hug.  We did not know who was making the loud noises from the lower level and all we could think about was that there was a robber in the house and that he was coming to steal things from the room we were in.

Emma’s father told us that he had brought us something to play with, a plastic edged water gun.  We both thought that this was pretty cool. Emma and I were throwing the water gun around whilst lying on her bunk bed.  We threw the gun back and forth from the upper mattress where Emma was to the bottom one where I was.  I mistakenly missed the water gun and it hit me square in the head above my left eye and split my eyebrow in half.

Before either of us could murmur another sound there was blood dripping down my face.  We called Emma’s dad to come and see me.  Luckily he is not afraid of the sight of blood like my grandmother is and we rushed to the emergency ward at the children’s hospital.  After a short wait, I was taken and looked over by a nurse who in no time had summed up the situation, stitches, oh my G-d.  Doesn’t sound good.  I had never had them before. But a girl’s got to do what a girls got to do.  Yep you got it, cry.  Nah, I was strong and held it together, well only just.  I received 15 stitches on my left eyebrow.

I was feeling a bit woozy after that fun experience, not.  So it was decided that I had better sleep at the hospital overnight.  So you think that’s all.  No, not quite.  Not only did I cut my eyebrow and nearly lose an eye.  I went to hospital, they smell, and waited, got stitches and yes I fell out of the bed.  I had a nightmare that I had cut my eye, dah, and the side bed lever was not erected, so yes I tossed, turned and fell out of bed. 

So, there is a very good lesson to learn here.  Guns are not for young people and can lead to whole lot of problems, so stay away from them.

Task 2 jasmine fountas yr 7e

She was nervous, her hands were trembling and there was sweat dripping down her spine. Her heart was skipping beats and pumping as much blood as possible through her veins. It was March 17^th and it was time for all her hard training to pay of. It was the state championships and she was ready for action.

She was at the start line of the 100metres, she could see her competitors, they were focused, but so was she. The finish line was I her view. She quickly set up her blocks and did a practice run. She was ready and she knew this was her chance to finally get a medal.

“On your mark” said the starter as he lifts his arm up and points the gun to the sky. Sally’s heart suddenly started to beat faster as she felt more nervous and felt butterflies in her stomach. “Get Set” he yelled and she knew it was her time, she took one last look at the finish line, she inhaled one last breath of air and she felt more focused than ever. It was dead silent and then suddenly the gun blew. She emerged out of her blocks like a bat out of hell.

She was in fourth place with 60 meters to go. At this time in the race she was full speed as were all the other competitors. She ran past the crowd, she heard her family cheering for her. At this point in time she could only hear her mum saying she didn’t have to win she was already proud of her whatever happened. After hearing this she found the determination and strength from within and wanted to win even more. As she was sprinting towards the 50meter mark she got her second wind. All of a sudden the crowd went wild. Sally was moving up, she was now in third place, then second. It was now and her nemesis Naomi battling it out for the gold medal. At this stage in time third had dropped a little behind but she still had a chance, Sally and Naomi were now at least half a second in front of third.

The crowd started clapping as they approached the finish line. Naomi kept pushing for that first spot but Sally wasn’t giving up, this was her time to shine, and this was the reward for all her hard work. As they crossed the finish line they both pushed their chest out but the judges couldn’t tell who won so it went to a photo finish.

They waited anxiously for the results to show. They waited and waited, Sally was even more nervous than before the race. After 10 minutes the results had shown Sally had ……….. WON!!!! She was so happy, not only had she won she had beaten her nemesis Naomi. She was so happy when she saw the results, winning this race meant everything to her. Sally was now officially the under 13 girls 100 metre state champion. Now her Olympic dream was even closer. Sally slept very well that night