Hidden In The Shadows

Hidden in the shadows,

A striped form lurks,

He slips from the river,

Water cascading from his black lined fur,

From out of the trees a deer steps daintily,

Her torso quivering nervously,

She glances about looking for danger,

And seeing nothing she lowers her head to graze.

Deep in the darkness his golden eyes glow,

With silver teeth gleaming,

He tautens his muscles,

And flies from the grass,

He leaps for the neck,

Claws unsheathed,

She falls to the ground,

Her death is near,

And she gazes upon him,

With a face of fear,

Her souls unloosen and fly to the sky,

Her death upon her,

She leaves with pride.

How To Surf
 You will need:
A surf beach
 Surfboard with a leash

Surfing is a really enjoyable, fun and exciting sport and really easy to learn. Here are 7 easy steps to help you surf properly. Have fun learning!

 1. Enter the water with your surfboard under your arm after attaching the leg leash to your ankle.

 2.Lie flat on your board on your chest and paddle.
 When you paddle, raise your head and paddle with your arms bent at the elbow. Cup your hands when you paddle. Head to the area where the waves are about to crash.

 3. When you see a decent wave coming, turn your board around so it faces the shore.

 4.
  Start paddling gently when the wave is a few meters away behind you. When you feel the wave push you, give two or three forceful strokes.

5. Watch out for other surfers and make sure you are not too close to them when you are about to catch your wave.

 6. Place your hands under your shoulders on your surfboard. Do a push up and quickly place one foot in front of the other still in the push up position. Don’t let your body touch the surfboard. Stand up sideways and make sure that one foot is in front of the other. Stand in the middle of the board.

 7. Ride the wave until it finishes and to turn, lean to one side or the other.

Have a brilliant time surfing! I hope you have learnt a lot from these steps. A surf lesson helps the most and is the best if you are learning to surf.

My Green School Experience

My Green School Experience 

My brother (year 5) and I  went to "the greenest school on earth" in 2013. The Green School Bali starts from kindergarten and classes go right up to 7th form. It is located along the Ayung river, near Ubud, in Bali Indonesia in the middle of a jungle. The classrooms have no windows, walls or doors.

The school's totally bamboo buildings are powered by renewable energy sources including micro-hydro power,  from a hydroelectric vortex. Look at all the school's solar panels.We liked the compost toilets. In each toilet cubicle there is a different toilet bowl for weeing and pooing. The compost goes straight to the gardens to fertilise the trees and shrubs. The Green School kitchen uses biogas for cooking from animal waste. Our food at recess is served on banana leaves on bamboo plates and the vegetables come from the school's organic gardens. There is also a raw food café in case we got tired of school food.

The school teaches you to be creative thinkers, to care about the environment and lots of other interesting things. Some of the subjects I took were surfing and lifesaving since Bali is surrounded by surf beaches. Everyone of course has to study environmental awareness.

Our subjects were hands on. For example, when we were studying volcanoes, we had to make one and also climb Mt Batur, the most active volcano in Bali. We cooked eggs for our lunch in one of the steaming vents when we reached the summit. I liked learning outdoors! My friends there are learning to make an irrigation system now. Last month they constructed a dam.

Other school activities I enjoyed were Mud Pit Tug of War (That's my brother in grey), Swimming in the school's natural swimming pool by the Ayung river, Testing the water quality of the Ayung river, River Clean Up and making something out of the litter we found in the river, Green Camp and many other fun things.

  

 Green Schools website is  http://www.greenschool.org/ The assembly hall below is where we gathered every Friday for a Green School performance. That's my favourite part of the school.

I have a website too which I completed just before I went to Green School www.kidsgreenliving.com
Check it out if you have time.

Meet Tiera Schagen

My name is Tiera. I am 11 years old and I am in year 7. My mom is from Singapore and my dad is kiwi. I grew up in Singapore and have been living there for 10 years.

I then moved to Bali for half a year. In Bali I went to the Greenest school on earth, I really enjoyed it. The whole school relies on solar panels and it has a giant vortex to generate its energy. As a subject in school, I took up surfing and life saving. We are now here and I really like it in New Zealand because of the weather.  I have made really nice friends here and I’m sure I’ll enjoy my school year.