And BACK to Skateboarding!

 On the third week of Skateboarding our intrepid adventurers were definitely into mastering the skills to ride the boards. They are having a heap of fun and have been inspired to bring in boards from home to ride in the mornings before school.

Of course their teacher had to get in on the act as well. 'In my day' we didn't really have skateboards, rather we made trolleys ourselves and careered down hills with no brakes or helmets! These skateboards are smooth and quick and the inevitable happened; I fell off! Landed on the side of my left thigh very hard and still sport a large bruise 10 days later. I did however get back on last week and start to master cornering in both directions!


I have a much healthier appreciation for skateboarders and the effort and skill it takes to use a board. It is a heap of fun!  These video clips are the kids really just starting to learn, we will take more next week, because some students have moved on to tricks.

 

Lucky for us the weather has been good for most of our sessions and we can be outside on the courts rolling around. On our second lesson it was raining so we spent time breaking down a skateboard and putting it back together. This was really interesting as we learnt how important the different parts of the wheel bases were and what they did.

Te Waka Ako

Out new learning space is called Te Waka Ako or The Canoe of Learning. The opening ceremony was on Monday the 22nd May. We have now had two weeks in the building and there are many changes that we are getting use to. All the students have posted their thoughts about the move in an activity using de Bono's Thinking Hats. Check out their blogs. You can find these on the right hand side column of this blog.
Mr Riceman and the Manukau Class have a great blogpost about the event, with a great movie and explanation. Check out their blog site.                     http://wpsriceman.blogspot.co.nz/

Artwork Inspiration

Last Term our focus in The Arts was Visual Art. We looked at the work of a well known New Zealand artist, and created a piece that had elements of the artists work in it. Our room looked at the work of Fatu Feu'u. We used paint on heavy cartridge paper and black or silver pastel. Learning to paint with detail and lots of straight edges was a challenge, but we are very happy with the results.



Check out some of Fatu's work.

Technology Challenges

We have had such a busy month in Room 9, moving from our single cell classroom called Room 9 to our brand new building, called Te Waka Ako (the canoe of learning), with two other classrooms and becoming the Hauraki class. Before we shifted the students worked very hard to complete work that they could put onto their personal blogs. It is always a bit of a process completing the work, getting it checked, creating a meaningful blog post, getting that checked and finally the getting the green light to go ahead and post their work. In all of this our class blog has been a bit neglected, so several different blogs will be loaded over this weekend.
Earlier in the term we had some fun with newspaper, sellotape and string. The challenge was to create different items with a very limited time frame and only three different resources. Using the Ready Set Design site we were given these two tasks.
            I need to protect myself from the rain. I need to collect and carry small things.

Ready, Set, Design is a favourite educational activity. We use it as a way to introduce the concepts behind "design thinking" to groups. It's very adaptable, and lots of fun!  Here is a link to the instructions.
      http://cdn.cooperhewitt.org/2011/09/02/Ready%20Set%20Design%20vX.pdf

 The Smithsonian put out an great video explaining the reasoning behind having small groups create objects in this way. Check out this clip.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIXSuZg2awA&feature=player_embedded

Check it out and challenge your class!


Check out more photos in the slideshow.

Skateboarding

This Term for Physical Education, we get to do SKATEBOARDING!!

The team that came in to teach us were very professional and organised.

On our first session we had safety gear to learn about, unpack and attach.

Then we had time to learn the very basics of rolling on the board across the courts.

Next week we will learn more 'safety stuff' and moves that will give us

speed and confidence. And we can't wait! Izzy wrote an acrostic poem

about our session. We are all doing some writing on it and using some

of the many photos our teacher took of us. Check out our individual blogs

down the right hand side of this class blog. They will be coming soon.

Starting with the gear,

Knee pads,

And elbow pads next,

Then wristbands last.

Excellent!  Skateboarding time,

Blue, pink, orange boards.

Ok, let's go! Position your foot!

And now let's push along the court.

Reaching the finishing line,  we  are

Done. Gear  away

Into the boxes.

Now, boards in formation.

Gosh, that went fast

Filled with pride, I went to class,

Unfortunately, the lesson is over...

Now, I can’t wait to go back!

by Isabelle

Responsibility to being GREEN

Our overriding inquiry this year is about Responsibility. Our Responsibility to the Planet is part of this Inquiry. In Drama we looked at what we think it means to be GREEN. We watched this video narrated by Morgan Freeman and discussed lots of things that are shown in it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lieN18OTlME

After watching another short clip targeted at very young students, we had a go at acting out and 'freeze framing' the different points in the clip that the children said were being green.


Then we came up with things that we do that we considered 'green' and so helpful to the planet. We only had 10 minutes to come up with a very quick skit/play about one idea.
Below are some clips of us acting out what we think are some things we could do or do do that help the planet.  We are going to develop our skills and thinking more, in producing plays, throughout the term.
One group of boys decided planting trees was an important part of being 'green' while a group of girls went with installing solar panels.
  Another group corrected other people's ignorance over the correct bins to use, while a fourth group suggested people should use buses more. The final group suggested people needed to tell others about the impact they were having on the Earth.

There was crazy noise, but heaps of cool conversations and idea bouncing all around the room on a very wet Thursday afternoon. We sure had a heap of fun with everyone willing to give 'drama' a go. Watch this space for more polished video clips about what we think we can do to get to that 'day' that Morgan Freeman speaks about in his clip.

Term Two

We have rolled into Term Two. The students in Room 9 returned with happy hearts! I think the holidays were good for everyone. It was lovely weather in most places over the holidays and lots of our class got outside and had some fun enjoying our country.

ANZAC DAY:
Last Term we focused on Anzac Day a week before the holidays and again for the first week in Term Two, because it fell in the holidays. The school had a commemorative assembly last Term in the hall, due to the wet weather. We read poems, observed one minutes silence and played the Last Post. Several senior students shared some knowledge about the wars and New Zealand's role in them.

BOOKS:
We read a book called One Minutes Silence. It is about Gallipoli from both sides of the War. It asks you to think about how it was for the Allied Soldiers and how it was for the Turkish Soldiers. It is an excellent read that really makes you think and wonder about life for all the people and how they really weren't any different from each other. The Author David Metzenthen is Australian and lives in Melbourne. Michael Camilleri has created stunning drawings to illustrate the story throughout.
This Term we are reading Caesar The Anzac Dog by Patricia Stroud. this is another excellent book to read. It is based on a true story about a bulldog from Auckland that was a mascot for the 4th Battalion in the First World War. He helped find wounded soldiers and lead the Red Cross workers to them in No Mans Land. His collar is on the 3rd floor of the Auckland War Memorial Museum. Our class would recommend these books to everyone. They are 'must reads'!!

BLOGS:
Finally we are all starting to post our work onto our learning blogs. The Year 6 students will keep adding to their blog they started in 2016. The Year 5 students are starting brand new blogs and are very excited about it. They will have some work about Anzac Day and the Caesar book posted onto their sites soon, so check them out and tell them what you think of their work.

All their blog links are down the right hand side of this Room 9 Blog.

Wheels Day

Fundraising for our Camp in Term Three is underway. In Week 10 of Term One the Senior School put on a Wheels and Food Day with a Bake Sale at Lunchtime. We also sold American Hotdogs at morning tea. It was a great success. Unfortunately the weather meant we couldn't have the Wheels Day component of the day so we had to postpone that until Week 11.

Bringing our wheels to school is always a heap of fun! With the new classroom construction happening at one end of the school, the driveway was a no go area but that didn't matter. the many different types of wheels mixed and mingled with no upsets, mixups or tragedies! As well as wells we used other fun school equipment for students that didn't have wheels to bring. These included trolley boards, stilts, moon hoppers and unicycles. Room 9 had all kinds of wheels and were responsible for helping those from other classes as well.

 We think we will have another Wheels Day this year, because it is a heap of fun and we learn new skills from each other and with each other.

Room 9 Students

Room Nine has 26 Year 5 and Year 6 Students in 2017. We are a 1:1 device classroom for our second year. All our Year 6's have had a year of experience and with their expertise and help the Year 5 students are learning fast!! In Term One we created a Google Drawing about ourselves and also wrote Bio poems about ourselves. We have put them all together into one slideshow.

Creative Writing

Over the last 4 weeks we have had Creative Writing Sessions 3-4 times a week. Each day there is a different focus and a starter to get us going. We can choose any style of writing we like but need to use the focus or picture in that days writing. Room 9 students have loved choosing their writing style and have come up with amazing extracts.  Some examples are below and more will be on our individual blogs too. What would you write if you were given these starters?

Missing Ice Cream by BEN 

 

Adventure by JAMES

  

Puppies by ALEX

Disaster by BRUNO

Friends by CONRAD

Swimming and Writing and Swimming!

This term, Swimming has been a big focus for our Syndicate and Class. We have had 10 lessons on Water Safety at our local council pools: Cameron Pools, as well as learning some swimming skills. We are also lucky enough to have a school pool where we learn more swimming skills. Last Friday all the Middle School and Senior School went down to Cameron Pools for their swimming sports. Every student was entered into a freestyle and a backstroke race and then some were also in house relays. Finally 4 Year 6 girls and 4 Year 6 boys raced a relay against the Senior teachers.










In Writing we have been focusing on Recounts so we wrote about our experiences at the Cameron Pools. Here are few examples.

We are really enjoying Writing this year. We are doing Creative Writing at the moment so keep checking for new blogs with some of our new work.

Week Six Already!

WOW! Five weeks have past and we have not started using our class blog. We have been busy with so many things, but have not put blogging into our programme yet, so sadly it has lain dormant. So...in Week 7 we will have some reflections, statements and student work posted.
For now a few photos are in order. A picture tells a thousand words and all that!!

2017 has BEGUN

               

A screenshot of the eggs close up.
They look like a raspberry! Tucked in under the light. 

    ROOM 9 is known as the HAURAKI group.

We had only two days in class in our first week and were so busy getting to know each other, the new class environment and pets, and our new chromebooks that no pictures got taken!  Except..... some ideas on looking after our chromebooks (important) and the new eggs that the giant water snails we have had laid behind the light in our tank, and ON the light. They are bright pink! We will be watching with interest to see if they hatch.
The snails are fascinating to watch on the glass.

Water snails on the glass. 

The snail and goldfish tank.

The second lot of eggs they have laid this week!! 

Getting to use our chromebooks is very exciting for those new to it, and for those who haven't had them over the holidays. We will be doing more work on learning how we can look after them at all times.
SO FAR we know .....
...to leave it in a safe place so no one can stand or sit on it
...to make sure it is not near the edge of a surface so no one can knock it off the table or bench
...to walk with the screen closed and
...to use two hands when carrying it
...to close the lid carefully and not slam it
...to work on a hard surface so it doesn't overheat
...to not use it when we are eating of drinking
😁 😁 😁 😁 😁 😁 😁 😁 😁 😁 😁 😁 😁 😁 😁 😁

We Have Been BUSY!!

OH DEAR!! We have not put anything up on our class blog page for nearly a month! Room 9 has spent their time and energy on getting work completed to put on their personal blogs. They have completed all sorts of great things. Once the testing was all over in Week 6 we reflected on our Production, then got cracking on making toys, researching a toy to create a documentary, writing a script for our documentary, organising our end of year events and items for the final assembly. Below is a collection of work from some of the students.
We wrote reflections on the Production we were all involved in.
Here is Izzy's.........
 

 Here is Kobe's..........
 
All the class completed a reflection using deBono's Thinking Hats. Check them out too.

This is Charlotte's Slideshow Book Review on a book she read.

Hilary's Slideshow Book Review on a book she read.

All the class completed a Book Review on a novel they read. Check them out too.


We have looked at what makes a great documentary. Joyce's work on that....
And this is Travis's work...

Finally for now a couple of examples of some compare and contrast work we did in Inquiry with toys old and new.
Antonio looked at the similarities and differences between pull along caterpillars. 
Kayci chose the trucks to compare...

Overall Room 9 have become very adept at using their chromebooks to produce all sorts of work. They are teaching me new skills and tricks every day!
They have also been making Cybersmart Games with James. They will upload their games to their blogs next week.

Stars in the Making!!

Last week Waikowhai Primary School put on the Production Alice in Wonderland. There were 74 students in the senior syndicate who made up the main cast, backstage, sound and lighting, dance crew and a musician group. As well as that all the other classes in the school were involved in a class dance that were woven into the story throughout the event. It was a heap of fun and a huge amount of effort!! Here are some of the Room 9 students who were in the main cast. More pictures and reflections to follow.