Lego Spike Prime in wahanga whā

We have been learning and constructing with Lego Spike Prime again in wahanga whā (term 4). We were grouped in small roopu with peers we don't usually work with so we can build relationships, learn from each other and also tautoko each other. We are learning to collaborate, communicate and problem solve.

We were able to choose a task from our class site or create our own.

Athletics

We had a busy day today. During the middle block we did athletics. We are practicing for our House Group Athletics Day later in the term. Our class did Shot-Put first, followed by Long Jump. We learned how to push, not throw, and to use our bodies to help get a further distance when dpoing Shot-Put. For Long Jump we learned to pump our arms and legs to build up speed and to take off with one leg and land without stepping or falling backwards.

Ordering Decimals

 This term for maths we have been focusing on fractions, decimals and percentages. We have been working in small groups to play maths games to practice what we have been learning. In this photo Cyprus, Amaziah and Manuera were ordering decimals from smallest to largest. How do you think they did?

Kapa Haka performance Term 3

For the last few weeks, our whole school has been practising for the Te Ohonga o Ngāpuhi Kapa Haka performance.

We had waiata training from Whaea Lainie and Whaea Gaylene.

We performed He Honore, Toro Mai, Tutira Mai Nga Iwi, Te Pou, Magic People and the Haka.

We learned the importance of singing with a clear voice and opening our mouths wide. We also learned to show pride in our performance so it clearly shows when we sing that we are proud of our culture.

Here is a photo of our last practice on the performance day.

Here is our performance which was live-streamed on Facebook.

Class Movie Making

This week we have been learning about making movies using We Video. We learned about different camera angles you can use in your movies to make them more interesting. We learned how to edit our videos using We Video. We used the cutting function to cut out the parts we didn't need. Some of us also added audio to our movies.

We found it easy to record our actions, do close-up shots and use different angles.

We found it challenging to get the timing right and get good sound quality and lighting. The sound was tricky because it was a windy day and there was lots of background noise from other students.

Some of us really enjoyed acting and being able to create what we wanted. We liked being able to come up with our own ideas.

Next time we could try working through the editing stage at a slower pace so we are not rushing to finish.

Lockdown Acrostic Poem

During week 1 of the lockdown, room 6 wrote an acrostic poem about being in Lockdown to share what we are going through.

First, we made sure we understood what an acrostic poem is. Most of us knew what an acrostic poem was, we just didn’t know what it was called.

We started a new google drawing and wrote the name Lockdown going downwards using WordArt.

Next, we inserted text boxes to write the information for our poem.

After that, some of us added images that suited the topic, and some of us made changes to our fonts and formatting.

We found it easy to write a sentence that started with the letter in the acrostic.

We found it hard to think of relevant adjectives for my poem.

We really enjoyed making connections to my personal life and how I am experiencing being in lockdown.

Next time we need to try adding adjectives and verbs in my writing to make it more interesting for my reader.

Chris' poem.

Our Term 2 Assembly

 

Week 4 of term 2 was room 6's turn to run the school assembly.

We showcased some of the work we have been doing for Te Reo Maori and Cybersmart.

Tamariki took turns presenting their work and did really well with speaking with confident clear voices so they could be heard.

We also said goodbye to Whaea Lee. She finished working to go on maternity leave. We will miss her but we know she will come and visit us. 

We now have Whaea Leah as a Teacher Aid in our room.

Classroom Countdown

This week for maths we have been working on our problem-solving skills based on the game Countdown.

We have done this before, and are revisiting it as we find we are also practicing our communication skills at the same time. Our goal was to try using different, or varying operations. 

To start off we are given a target number. The teacher writes the number on the board, then writes up 6 "card" numbers. The card numbers are the numbers we can use to try and get to our target number. The rules state that you can only use the card number one time. If you can reach the target using less than 6 cards that's ok too. It is ok if we can't get the target, but we just need to try and get as close to the target as possible.

Exploring our Awa with Whitebait Connection

Yesterday we went on a field trip to Te Maata stream, one of our local rivers. We went to explore the river and to see whether it was healthy or not. We tested the water PH level, water clarity, temperature, and found lots of different invertebrates. The majority of invertebrates we found were Mayflies. All of these indicated that our river is healthy! Thank you to Matua Ray from Whitebait Connection for showing us how to do this type of testing and teaching us about our awa.

Sharing our mahi live on Facebook

 

This week we have been working hard on our presentations for our Whanau Matariki Art Trail (happening in week 10). We have been making inforgraphics to show what we have learned. Some of our students were chosen to share their awesome mahi with Miss Simeon. When they went to show her, she decided to share some more by broadcasting on Facebook Live. 

I Am Water

We are learning to locate language features and to understand the purpose of different texts. We read a poem called I Am Water. We talked together as a class about the poem and we created a glossary to help us with the words we didn't know. Next, we glued the poem into our literacy book and we looked for different language features. Most of the language features we found were verbs and nouns. Then we highlighted what we found to show we knew what language features there were.
We found it easy to locate nouns in the poem.
We found it hard to understand some of the words in the poem so using the glossary was helpful.
We really enjoyed reading the interesting verbs used because they inspired us to write better.
Next time we need to practice using some of the new vocabulary we have learned in our conversations and our own writing.

                     

 

Lego Spike Prime

On Fridays, for Technology, we do Lego Spike Prime. 

This week we made some creations and presented them at assembly. We had to think about what we would make, collaborate within our group, and reflect on our learning.

We are building our collaboration skills and realising who we work well with. We are also developing our resilience and problem-solving skills.

Countdown Challenge

The challenge is to use the numbers available and the four standard operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division) to hit the target.

Using the 6 cards below, try to get to the target. 

Show your working out.

You can only use each card once in your solution.

Want to step it up? Try using exponents.

Write your thinking in the comments.

Cybersmart: Kawa of Care

We have been going over the Kawa of Care during our class Cybersmart Lessons. We are remembering how to look after our devices, so we have them for a long time. The Kawa of Care ensures that students will get the best use of their device and that schools and families understand how they can best care for the devices.  
We discussed being in the "Right Place Right Time Online" and how this looks both at school and at home.

Term 2 Week 1 Holiday Recount

This week we have been practicing our recount writing. 

We started off with Whaea Debb recounting something she did on her holiday in Queenstown. We discussed the orientation of a recount, having the 5 W's. We then worked on organising our ideas into paragraphs by sequencing the events. We followed this by adding a conclusion about how we felt. Then we reread the writing and worked on adding language features such as verbs, adverbs, and adjectives to make the writing more interesting for our reader.

Here are some of our recounts.

Clickety-Clack Cicada

We have been learning about language features during Literacy. The way we have been doing this is by reading and understanding poems. 

Some of the features we identified in the poems are metaphors, verbs, onomatopoeia, and adjectives. 

This week we read Clickety-Clack Cicada by Jill Brasell.

We found it easy to identify some of the language features such as metaphor, onomatopoeia, and verbs.

We found it hard to locate the nouns because it is an area we think we need to work on more.

We really enjoyed learning about metaphors because they make the story more interesting and help to create an image in our mind about what the author is trying to tell us.

Next time we need to work on discussing the poem more and sharing our ideas.

The Loaves

                 

This week for Literacy we have been learning about metaphors. A metaphor compares two different things.
We are learning about this language feature to help us become better writers.
In this poem, the author uses the language feature of metaphors to compare bread to clouds, and the sky to an oven.

Epic Reading

This year as part of our reading program we are using Epic. Epic is a digital reading platform with a collection of 40,000+ popular, high-quality books.

So far our class has read 250 books!

We love reading the different genres of books. One of our favourites is graphic novels.

E-Pro 8

This week some of our students took part in the E-Pro8 Challenge. E-Pro8 is an inter-school science and engineering competition. Students take part in a series of tasks designed to promote science and engineering. 

The competition took place at Dargaville Intermediate School. Our class representatives were Dallas, Iroam, Amaziah, Isabella & Chris. All of our reps did amazingly well! The teams were Omega & Beta.

Team Omega took out the win for the day and is now off to the finals in Whangarei next week!

Some reflections the students made were that next time they need to read the task carefully and refer back to it.

Week 5 Maths Problem: Animals' Sports Day

 

Working in your groups, carefully discuss this problem.

Comment below. 

Who do you think won each event?

Why do you think this?

Answer using full sentences. 

Add the names of the people in your group to sign off.

Bonus question! (worth Caught Being Goods 👍).

The next day four of the animals wanted another sports day, but the caterpillar had gone to sleep and would not wake up!

"When he wakes up, we'll have another sports day!" said the frog. The three others agreed.

Some days later the caterpillar did wake up. He crawled out of his sleeping bag. He looked quite different!

What had happened?

Again they decided to have a swimming race, a running race, a high jump, and a long jump.

Who do you think won each event this time?

Has the caterpillar's change made any difference?

Why do you think this?

One Is a Snail Ten Is a Crab

We read the book One Is a Snail Ten Is a Crab by April Pulley Sayre and Jeff Sayre.

It is a counting by feet book. There are different characters that have different number values. 

For example, 1 is a snail, 2 is a person, 4 is a dog, 6 is an insect, 8 is a spider, and 10 is a crab.

We then got into mixed groups. We had pictures of the characters and an iPad. Then we made number sentences and patterns using the characters. We talked in our groups about our ideas and came up with some on our own and some with our group. 
Next, we used the iPad to take photos to show what we learned. 
We really enjoyed looking at numbers in a different way like this.
Here are some of our pictures.

We are learning about writing Narratives.

The purpose of a narrative is to entertain your reader. 

What we already know is a Narrative has to have an Orientation. The Orientation is the setting that has the When, Where, and Who.

It also needs a complication or problem. Which means it needs the Resolution to solve the problem.

We talked with a buddy and came up with ideas for characters, problems, and solutions.

Here is one of our short narratives.

One day, mother horse took her ponies to the forest to look for berries. 

Mother horse saw a big tiger and she ran away from her ponies. 

Mother horse started limping, her leg looked sore. 

The tiger saw the horse but did not see the ponies. 

The tiger ran after the mother horse.

Mother horse's leg was not sore so she kicked the tiger and galloped away.

Welcome to room 6's blog for 2021

Welcome to Room 6's blog for 2021. It is day 3 of our school year and room 6 has been learning a little bit about each other and our teachers. We have been building relationships and friendships and learning how to do things in room 6. 

The first thing we did was be introduced to our class learning site. We found it was similar to our previous sites but different in other ways too.

Next, we constructed our class contract. We agreed on what should be in the contract and that we should try our hardest to not break the contract.

We also updated our blog profiles making sure we had thought about and written down our learning goals for the year.