Finding the Main Idea with Turtles

The group is comparing story settings, writing their own openings from visual prompts, and learning how plot structure builds suspense.

Year 7 have finished poetry and moved on to adventure narratives. Year 8 are studying an extract from When the Mountains Roared.

Both year levels are working through poetic forms and literary devices, and the Auckland Libraries mobile bus called in again this week.

The Creative Writing cohort has been pulling apart the opening pages of well-known novels, then building plots and characters of their own.

Year 9 are turning Othello from page to stage through freeze frames, and Year 10 are preparing for the ASB Theatre production of Macbeth.

Year 7 and 8 students have been writing and presenting persuasive speeches, and the Auckland Council mobile library bus called in at the school.

Year 9s are constructing three-paragraph analytical essays using the BUG formula. Year 10s are working through Cambridge-level language analysis, learning to distinguish it from literary analysis.

Year 9 students are mastering the art of summarising, while Year 10s are developing the deeper reading and paraphrasing skills needed for Cambridge assessments.

Year 9s are mastering summary and paraphrasing skills. Year 10s are working through Cambridge-level comprehension, learning how to use evidence, inversion, and concision to lift their answers.