Safe Cycling: Second Practical Session

Our second practical session involved lots of obstacles!!!

First we had to practise our u-turns......

....riding through cones set out in a zig-zag.....

....biking through a straight line of cones and then buddying up with someone to ride close together through a curvy course.

To start with we thought it was easy and probably rode over more cones than we were actually avoiding but then Mrs Young decided to penalise us if we touched a cone - we had to begin that particular challenge again.  Suddenly our skill and concentration level increased because we didn't want to have to keep repeating the same task!

Then we completed a few extra challenges which looked quite easy but actually weren't.  The first part involved us riding close by a partner around the field.  After we did that a couple of times we had to keep one hand on our handlebars and the other hand on our partner's shoulder.....not so easy!

Constable Read then challenged us to increase the number of people we were riding beside and connected to.......CHAOS!!!

The final task was to ride on the obstacle course set out on the courts.  Some of the obstacles included riding through tennis balls....

.....going over a bumpy stretch of road....

....riding between two narrow hoses and looking over our shoulder to identify an obstacle....

....and trying to stay on top of a hose in a straight line.......

So far we give the programme the big 'thumbs up'!!!

Skate Boards: Round 2

Here are some more of our finished pieces........

Skate Boards

Another art piece we have been working on for a while are our skate boards.  

First we had to cut out a skate board shape from card.  After applying two layers of papier mache to it we then coated the skate board in white paint.  Once it had dried we drew our design on and then painted, collaged or dyed our designs.  

We had to have our initials and date of birth on our skate board but the rest of the design process was entirely up to us.  we have used images, symbols, words and colours that mean something to us.

Once we had completed them, Mrs Young attached some velcro dots to the back so that they can stick to our walls.  Very clever!

Here are the first of our completed skate boards.

Safe Cycling

On Monday our class began the Safe Cycling programme that is run by the New Zealand Police.  The first afternoon was spent focusing on the Road Code and Bike Code before we were let loose on the Tuesday and Wednesday completing the practical components of the programme.

We've had more fun doing this than we thought we would and the weather has been brilliant so far!!!

Tuesday saw us practising how to get on a bike, scooting along and braking.  Once we were all sorted with that we moved into riding between obstacles at a slow pace which meant we had to have really good control of our bike and our balance!

Our final challenge involved us giving a 'high-five' to an oncoming rider.

Distorted Kiwiana: Batch 2