WRITING

We have focused on Recounts this term, and now we are starting Procedural Text. Here are some examples:

Recount:

On Wednesday 13 February, my class and another class from my school got on the bus and travelled to Piha to learn about Water Safety. We left at 8:00 so that we could allow time for travelling. It took us over an hour to get to North Piha Beach. When we arrived, some lifeguards greeted us. One of them took us on a tour of the Surf Club building, then another taught us all about the different types of equipment that lifeguards use.

We were shown the IRB (Inflatable Rescue Boat), ATV (All Terrain Vehicle), paddleboard (for a rescue involving 2 or 3 people), No Swimming Sign (to warn swimmers of dangers) and flippers & a rescue tube (lifeguards need these on them the whole time).

After a quick morning tea break, we were taught all about rips, holes and CPR. The lifeguards showed us CPR on a dummy. They also showed us how to recognise rips and what to do if you ever get caught in one. We learnt about all the different types of waves too, and were also reminded to SLIP SLOP SLAP and WRAP! (and slide into some shade!)

Then after lunch, we headed to the water. There was a big game of Octopus with all the parents playing! That made it almost impossible not to get caught because there were so many parents!

We were split into 3 groups. My group did free swimming first. It was lots of fun! Then we buddied up and rescued each other with a rescue tube. Lastly, we got some boogie boards and had heaps of fun in the waves! The boogie boards we used made you go really fast and they took you right to the edge of the wet sand!

Coming back, the sand was really hot! We then got hosed down and we dried off. We caught the bus back home, tired, but very happy as it had been an awesome day and we had learnt heaps!

Procedural Text:

Banana Cake.

Ingredients:

50g softened butter
1/4 cup of milk
1 beaten egg
1/2 cup of brown sugar
2 mashed bananas
1/4 chopped walnuts
1 heaped cup of self-raising flour.

1. Put the softened butter into a bowl.
2. Pour the milk and brown sugar into the bowl too.
3. Add the egg and mashed banana.
4. Ground the chopped walnuts with the back of a spoon. Add these to the bowl.
5. Tip the self-raising flour into the bowl.
6. Mix all the ingredients together.
7. Spoon the mixture into a microwave safe dish.
8. Cook in the microwave on medium heat for 11.30.
9. Remove from the microwave.
10. Let the cake cool for 5-10 minutes.
11. Carefully tip the cake onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Enjoy!

Explanation Text:

How do cows turn grass into milk?

Cows have a peculiar method of turning grass into milk, involving four stomachs! Very Clever.
When a cow eats grass, they don't chew it fully before swallowing. The half chewed grass goes into the Rumen, the first stomach. Fluids soften it and the grass moves on to the second stomach, the Recticulum.
What happens next is unpredictable! The grass is softened once more and made into cuds. The cuds return to the mouth and the cow chews them and swallows yet again.
In the Omasum, the third stomach, the grass is simply broken down even more.
Next, the grass goes into the Abomasm, the fourth stomach. Here it is actually digested.
Then the 'grass' travels down the cow's intestines and the cow extracts all that will keep her healthy and well.
The leftover 'grass' passes into the udder, and the rest is destined to be waste.
A cow makes milk like this most of the time, therefore cows should be milked often. Otherwise, she will make less milk.
This method of turning grass into milk is truly interesting, and quite unique. Maybe we should give more credit to these milk-making machines that go 'moo'!

Persuasive Text:

I don't really have an example of this but because we are doing inventions this term we have also looked closely at how people make money and how they advertise.