Room 8

Life is not like a box of chocolates ......

2011-11-16T20:08:00.002+13:00

IT'S LIKE A GAME OF CHESS!

You have to know how you and your pieces can move. And you have to make plans and strategise. You often don't see immediate results but the fruits of your labour can be seen later down the track. (Yes, a game of chess can be quite a long game.)

Some Room 8 students have been studying the game of chess and are getting better with each session.

Here are some of the fabulous chess players:

Athletics Day Timetable

2011-11-13T23:32:00.001+13:00

Tuesday 15th November 2011

Stitching!

2011-11-13T23:07:00.007+13:00

Room 8 has really got into the swing of stitching. They have been practising on plastic canvas with great dedication. They have been learning how to do four different kinds of stitches.

1. Running stitch

2. Half cross stitch

3. Full cross stitch

4. Back stitch

We have also learned a really cool trick for threading needles. This trick came from Georgina's grandmother and it works every time! You don't even have to lick your thread! Ask someone from Room 8 to show you how to thread a needle the easy way.

2011-11-13T22:58:00.002+13:00

Before we started learning about the kind of work that children involved in Child Labour do, we had a good think about all the jobs that Room 8 students do everyday.

Here are some of the Room 8 jobs:

- Cleaning the whiteboard

- Taking the roll

- Opening the windows and blinds

- Giving out CARE certificates

- Paper recycling

- Picking up rubbish from the floor

- Looking words up in the dictionary

- Returning the class books to the library

- Monitoring electricity usage

- Putting chairs up

- Putting things away

- Turning the lights on and off

- Pushing chairs in

- Handing out paper

- Buddy conferences to edit work

- Looking for examples of Standing Tall habits

Room 8 is full of very helpful people! I'm sure they are great workers around the home too.

Friday Night Disco

2011-10-29T10:57:00.015+13:00

There was a good turn out at the disco and Year 3 proved how good they are at lining up by dancing around the dance floor in a very long locomotion line! These are a few photos that turned out.

Welcome back to Term 4

2011-10-26T10:41:00.003+13:00

We are off to a good start for this busy and short term. Everyone is very proud of the All Blacks and this Friday there is a school disco. Bring $5 and your dancing shoes and come along at 5pm to the school hall.

Our Social Inquiry topic this term is Child Labour. We will be learning that children all around the world have to do different amounts and kinds of work. Many children have to work full time to help their families and miss out on education and learning but there are ways to increase their options and break the child labour cycle. Check out the links on the sidebar. We will be having an art auction in Week 6 to raise money for The Green Gecko Project in Cambodia.

In reading we will be doing guided reading groups and readers theatre. We will be reading with expression, a clear voice and intonation. In writing we will be learning the skill of persuading someone that you are right. In maths we will be doing number revision and geometry. Make sure you wear suitable clothes for doing athletics and there will also be time to learn stitching and weaving skills. Phew! Get ready for a busy and fun term!

23 October 2011

2011-10-26T10:38:00.001+13:00

We won the RUGBY WORLD CUP! This is a day to remember in New Zealand history.

October 26, 2011

Buddies

2011-09-25T12:56:00.003+13:00

We have a 'buddy' class from across the road. They are in the senior school and we have been to see their work and they have come to see our work. We went to see their amazing eco house projects.

This is the garden that is behind our buddy classroom:

Soccer skills

2011-09-25T12:42:00.002+13:00

We were lucky to have a special morning with some professional soccer coaches, originally from Scotland. We have some very talented soccer players in Year 3!

Book Characters

2011-09-25T12:29:00.000+13:00

The book characters in the books we read have come to life!

Boats that float

2011-09-25T11:59:00.003+13:00

The success criteria: a boat that floats. You can use anything you find at home or in the classroom junkbox. Most of these boats floated but some did not. The ones that did not float tipped over or got too wet and sank. Have a look at these creations!

Getting to know one of the locals.

2011-09-25T11:57:00.002+13:00

Lenny came to visit Room 8 and he was a very well behaved visitor. He was just a bit nervous and so he chewed on his lead. Then we gave him a tennis ball and he chewed on that instead.

Strange weather

2011-09-14T14:57:00.002+12:00

The sky was dark. We saw some lightening. We heard some thunder. The electricity when out. But we weren't scared! A big load of hail fell out of the sky and it began to blanket the ground. We learned that light travels faster then sound. We also got a big tick for saving electricity yesterday afternoon!!

Calendar Art

2011-09-12T15:50:00.003+12:00

WALT: draw pictures that we can enjoy looking at all year round.

Room 8 have created some really beautiful pictures that are eye-catching and individual. They traced photos of themselves and got creative with their choice of colours. These pictures will be put on the fundraising calendars and are available for purchase. Only the picture of your child will be put on the calendar you purchase.

Can you recognize your child?

Resilience

2011-06-23T12:42:00.001+12:00

This video highlights the connection between healthy eating habits and being resilient!

Kapa Haka Sneak Peak

2011-06-17T12:43:00.002+12:00

Have a look at a Kapa Haka practice. We are in the process of learning a new song.

Boat Floats

2011-06-10T10:15:00.001+12:00

Meet the neighbours

2011-05-27T15:45:00.000+12:00

There was a 'Pocket' behind the couch in Room 8! A cat named Pocket and another cat called Puss in Boots who both live over the fence came to Room 8 for a visit. They are very curious cats and had a good look around the class room. Don't be surprised if you bump into them when you are out doing cross country training!

Cross Country Practise

2011-05-27T12:03:00.000+12:00

We went down to Williams Park to go over the course for the Cross Country Race on Tuesday 7th June. Everyone has made huge improvements since we have started practicing in the mornings. We are getting stronger and fitter! Keep up the good work!

Plays

2011-05-23T12:52:00.000+12:00

We have been doing plays during reading time. We needed to know our parts well enough so that our voices would be clear and fluent and we needed to speak with expression and use our bodies to show what we were feeling. Room 8 has got some great actors!

An apple a day keeps the doctor away

2011-05-23T12:06:00.000+12:00

Thank you very much to the Lion's Club for supplying the apples!

Writing Instructions

2011-05-23T11:41:00.000+12:00

We have been learning how to write instructions. We had to write instructions for making milos and then we had to follow the instructions to make the milos. The instructions needed to have a title, a list of the materials needed, numbered step by step instructions and pictures to go with each step. It was really easy to see when the instructions were missing some steps or didn't have enough details! After completing the activity we did a class reflection. This is what we need to remember for next time.

We had a buddy conference before we published our instructions. We had to sit knee to knee and we needed to find two compliments to give to the other person about their work and one 'wonder'. The wonder had to be something that the other person could do to make their work better.

Well done Room 8!

2011-05-22T20:26:00.000+12:00

Because you sat so well during assembly and because you showed so much courtesy, you got the Muritai Bear AND 10 minutes of extra play!

Reading and Follwing Instructions

2011-05-22T17:09:00.000+12:00

We have been unpacking instructions during reading time and learning how to follow them. We have been making paper cups, pop-up cards, danish heart-baskets and purerehuas (spinners that make a noise). Some instructions were easy to follow and others much harder. There were lots of verbs, such as measure, fold, cut, and rule. We had to reread the instructions to make sure we were doing them right.

Tea bag rockets and lava lamps

2011-05-08T20:37:00.000+12:00

Click here to find out how to make a tea bag rocket Children need adult supervision to do this at home.

We conducted our own science demonstrations in the class. The tea bag rockets worked really well. The air inside the teabag became heated and caused the tea bag to float up into the air. It worked just like a little hot air balloon.

The oil and water in the lava lamp don't mix. All you need to aid is food colouring and alka seltza tablets to get the blobs.

Click here to find out how to make a homemade lava lamp

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 BLAST OFF!

2011-05-08T20:01:00.000+12:00

The weather was great and the students were lined up to watch the science demonstration. The rocket was going to fly up into the air. BUT it didn't go according to plan. It turned out the pump was faulty and leaked air so the bottle couldn't get enough pressure to launch into the air far enough. Mr Devonport's bike pump helped and the rocket was able to travel 20-30 metres.

Similes

2011-05-06T13:08:00.000+12:00

Your eyes are as bright as the sun. By Rufus

You are as soft as a kitten. By Georgina

You are as beautiful as a rose. By Holly

You are as brave as a lion.By Saxon

You are as sweet as a lolly. By Sabine

You are as soft as cotton. By Luca

You are lovely like a kitten. By Daan

You are as cute as a puppy. By Nina

You are as cool as a rockstar. By Rachel

You are as fast as a tornado. By Ethan

You are as small as a mouse. By Scott

You are bigger than a tree. By Mika

You are as cuddly as a puppy. By Charlotte

You are as nice as a Burman. By Amy

You are as fast as a cheetah. By Katie

You are as funny as a clown. By Lea

You are as soft as a cloud. By Charlotte

You are as smart as a scientist. By George

You are as witty as Jason. By Samantha

You are as wet as the rain. By Fergus

You are as fizzy as a fizzy drink. By Abigail

You are as hot as an oven. By Ethan

A simile compares two things.

Lest We Forget

2011-05-02T20:39:00.000+12:00

Anzac Day was on April 25th. ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. Some of Room 8 students attended the Memorial Service on that rainy Monday morning last week. We walked past the memorial this morning and the lovely flower wreaths were still there. There were notes attached to the wreaths saying 'thank you' and 'we remember you'. We looked at the dates of the wars and the engraved names. The big wars happened a long time ago but we still remember.

Welcome back to school

2011-05-01T19:59:00.000+12:00

Welcome back to Term 2! Hope you have had a fabulous holiday and I'm looking forward to seeing you all back in Room 8. What is happening on Tuesday?

Week 1 is National Science Week. We are celebrating as a whole school on Tuesday with the FIRST ROCKET LAUNCH using our new rocket launcher.

Then we are beginning a Term long SCIENCE Unit studying the FORCES OF FLIGHT.

We aim to:

Learn how an aircraft flies.
Carry out a series of scientific experiments to explore the the forces of flight.
and then use our knowledge to design, create and test our own rocket using the rocket launcher!

HERE'S SOME other HIGHLIGHTS FOR TERM 2

As part of LITERACY we will be reading and writing lots of INSTRUCTIONS and EXPLANATIONS, following and reflecting on different science experiments. There will be lots of thinking, observing, measuring and reflecting as we carry out the different science experiments.

MATHS will be about addition and subtraction, measurement and statistics. Students will need to be able to measure accurately to the nearest metre, centimetre and second in their science experiments.

During VISUAL ART we will be delving deep into the finer points of painting, studying a model artist and creating some wonderful artworks of our own.

PE for the first half of term will be DAILY Cross country training, in preparation for the BIG RACE in Week 6. Later in the term, we will be developing our ball skills - throwing and catching.

Check out the Year 3/4 WIKI on the BLOG throughout the Term for fun videos, games and information from our in class learning.

Healthy Sandwiches

2011-04-15T15:15:00.000+12:00

Here are the photos of our healthy sandwiches. It was a group effort and everyone brought an ingredient each. One person bought the carbohydrate, two people brought a vegetable and one person brought the protein. It was great to see the teamwork as everyone helped to make the group sandwich! Well done Room 8!

Eddie Quansah

2011-04-10T14:54:00.000+12:00

Eddie Quansah came to Muritai on Thursday for a very entertaining performance with drums. He is originally from Ghana and is now living in Australia. We learnt that drums are used for communication over long distances and village celebrations in Africa. Eddie has been playing drums since he was a little boy and his drum playing certainly got us moving! Here is a video clip off Muritai students getting up and having a go.

Rippa Rugby Tournament

2011-02-27T22:27:00.000+13:00

Well done to our students who participated in the Rippa Rugby Tournament at Fraser Park on Thursday. It was a great event and our students did us proud. Thanks to Mr Skilton for organizing the team!

Mind Mapping

2011-02-27T21:30:00.000+13:00

We have nearly finished our first Mind Map. Mind Maps are a different way of getting our ideas down on paper and organising them in a brain friendly way.

For more information about Mind Mapping see The Learning Den

Monarch Butterfly

2011-02-27T21:26:00.000+13:00

Room 15 very kindly shared with us one of the chrysalises from their big collection of Monarch Butterflies. We put the chrysalis in with the flowers that were sitting next to the window.

We went away to swimming and when we came back we found this beautiful little insect. Talk about good timing.

It needed to dry it's wings and sit quietly for quite a long time before it was ready to fly away.

Thank you Room 15!

Meet our wonderful class!

2011-02-05T13:02:00.000+13:00

Hello 2011 !

2011-02-01T23:23:00.000+13:00

Kia Ora and WELCOME to the Room 8 Blog!

I hope you are feeling excited to start the 2011 school year. We have lots to look forward to.

I'm a new teacher to Muritai and this is a photo of myself (on the left) and my sister and her youngest son. It was taken at the festival of my niece and nephew's Japanese kindergarten. I lived in Tokyo for 4 years and taught at an international school with children from all around the world. It felt just like home because my sister and her family lived closed by.

I'm looking forward to starting a new learning journey with Room 8 in beautiful Eastbourne. I imagine a classroom environment where we are developing the skills to explore, learn and connect with the world around us, whilst maintaining routines that help us to become lifelong learners.

Keep watching to see what we get up to on this blog!

/Pippa Grant

Year 3 - 6 Christmas concert

2010-12-16T15:14:00.000+13:00

Merry Christmas everyone!!!!! and have a great summer break!

Thank you for all your hard work this year Room 8, you have been a fantastic class to teach and all the best for Year 4!
Miss Collier :)
Thank you parents for all your help and support!

A snapshot of our EOTC week!

2010-12-13T07:51:00.000+13:00

Friday: Zoo trip
Monday: Beach sculptures
Tuesday: 'Something different' rotation: Christmas card making, Stone people, Art and Science experiments
Thursday: Butterfly creek walk
Friday: Bishops park games and swim

Driftwood, stone and seaweed sculptures

2010-12-06T16:42:00.000+13:00

Today the Year 3s and 4s kicked off 'Education outside the classroom' week with cooperative sculptures at the beach.

CHECK OUT THE WINNERS - who get a small edible prize

Year 3 - Winner

Dylan and Tim

Year 3 - 2nd Place

Andrew, Ben and Paige

Year 4 - Winner

Monty, Mathieson and Euan

Year 4 - Second place

Amy, Willow and Georgia

Most creative Winner

Lucy, McKenzie and Ella - Sushi Shop

Mini Carnival

2010-12-02T20:09:00.000+13:00

Over the past few weeks the Year 3 & 4's have been very busy preparing for a mini-carnival. The carnival was part of our Integrated Studies Unit - Orphans of Nepal. All term we have been learning all about Nepal, including finding out about how the Himalayas were formed(Tectonic plates), Language, Religion, Food and much more. We also found out about the Orphans of Nepal Trust and the Oprhanages the Trust supports.

The Year 3 & 4's organised their own stalls - selling food and drink, playing games and running competitions. They were amazingly organised and ran fanastic stalls. Thank you so much to all the families who helped plan and organise the stalls with their children. It was a huge success!

The Year 5 - 8's came and spent lots of money! In total we raised just over $900!! This will go to the Orphans of Nepal Trust as the Orphanages wish to buy chicken coups!
Here are some photos of a great afternoon...

Blogging poetry

2010-11-29T17:18:00.001+13:00

Remember to check out Room 8's Sharing Blog (see the link under favourite blogs) to see some of our poetry. We have chosen to blog either our Himalayan Haiku or a few of our favourite lines from our summer poems!

Stitching!

2010-11-29T17:11:00.001+13:00

This term Room 8 have been working VERY hard to improve our stitching skills. It has taken a lot of effort, patience and team work!

We have been learning to:

Thread a needle and tie a knot with independence.
Sew along a drawn line.
Design and make a wall hanging

Here area few photos of our finished designs! We think they look great!

Stars for Starship

2010-11-16T16:53:00.000+13:00

And the winners are ...

The completed stars were judged last night and it was so hard to make a decision. Here are the winning ones from the Year 3 and 4 Team. They were a little different from the rest and hopefully they will catch the judges eye in Auckland.
Well done Eva O!
All the stars we send will go on the Christmas tree at Starship to cheer up the children who have to spend their Christmas in hospital.
Check out the judging last year and see where the stars go.
http://www.mercury.co.nz/Kids/starship.aspx

The rest of our stars will go on our class Christmas tree later in the term!

Athletics Day at Petone Rec

2010-11-15T16:29:00.000+13:00

The sun was shining and everyone had a fantastic time last Thursday at the Petone Rec for our Year 3 - 8 Athletics Day!
Everyone tried their hardest, competed well and of course had a great time!
Here are a few snaps of the day.
Congratulations to our speedy Room 8 relay team who won the Year 3/4 relay race!

Thanks to Mr Hull and Mr Skilton for organising such great event and a big thank you to the parents who supported us!

Athletics

2010-11-03T15:45:00.001+13:00

Here are details of the Athletic Tournament. It will be held, weather permitting, on Thursday 11th November at Petone Rec.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Calendar ART

2010-10-28T16:30:00.000+13:00

Wow look at our fabulous art work!!!
Please bring your money and form to Room 8 to order a calendar, pack of cards or diary as soon as possible (last day Friday 5th November). Please remember if you have brothers or sisters at Muritai we need the money and order forms seperately.

Nepal Presentation

2010-10-27T15:49:00.000+13:00

This afternoon all the Year 3 and 4's were lucky enough to have Macey's grandparents (Room 10) come to speak with us about what life is like in Nepal. Ross and Kathleen spoke about the different regions of Nepal and the differences in clothing, housing and how they carry things. They showed us items of clothing like; scarfs,dresses and bags, as well as jasmine paper that is made in Nepal and much much more! Make a comment about what you learned from our expert visitors!

Writing

2010-10-21T17:34:00.000+13:00

This week in Room 8 we have been planning POETRY all about summer. First we looked at Language features in a good poem;
Alliteration, Simile, and Onomatopoeia.

We looked at photos/pictures and used post-it notes to brainstorm loads of ideas about summer!

We also read other poems about summer and picked out language features we liked in the poems.

Then we used an EXPLOSION chart to record ideas for our own poetry!

Before we started writing we created a class WILF (What I'm Looking For)

We are looking forward to posting our Summer Poems on the blog when we are finished!!

Orphans of Nepal

2010-10-17T11:31:00.000+13:00

This term the Year 3 & 4 integrated study topic is the Orphans of Nepal.
We are going to explore Muritai School's relationship with Bistachap Orphanage in Nepal. This relationship has been going on for a long time supported by The Orphans of Nepal Trust.
Our big idea is: "We can make a difference in the lives of others"

Before we learn about the Orphanage and how we can help, we are going to learn a bit more about where Nepal is and how the Himalayas were formed - TECTONIC PLATES!
Check out this cool video ...

Room 8 Garden

2010-10-11T17:53:00.000+13:00

Room 8 is planning to grow Beans and later on Sunflowers!!
This term the children will grow their own seed in a pot in the classroom first and then plant it outside in our patch of the Year 3-4 garden.
Today we talked about what we need to grow our beans! Miss. Collier found 24 small pots for Room 8 to plant their seeds in and a few stray Runner and Dwarf beans at home. We thought since we are an enviro-school, let's re-use and recycle what we have at home rather than go out and buy new items.
If you have any of these things at home please bring them into Room 8...
- Dwarf beans seeds
- Dwarf sunflower seeds
- Potting mix
We now have bamboo sticks! Thank you Callan and Alex :)

Thanks for your help!!

Whacky hair and Treasure hunting!

2010-09-24T12:36:00.000+12:00

What a great end to a fantastic term. Today we came to school with Whacky hair to raise money for Ferndale School in Christchurch. We are hoping to raise over $1000!
The Year 3's put their Position and Orientation skills to practice by writing and following Treasure Hunt directions using North, South, East, West, 1/4 turns and clockwise and anti-clockwise directions.

PRODUCTION!!!!

2010-09-21T09:15:00.000+12:00

Wow what an amazing production!
Here are a few photos of the Year 3 dance groups: Putting on the Ritz, Celebration and Don't worry be happy!

PRODUCTION!!

2010-09-06T17:02:00.000+12:00

Room 8 has been very busy preparing for the School Production: The short and incredibly happy life of Riley!
We have been making up our own dance routines and making our own props and costumes.
Each Year 3 class is in charge of making a different part of the costume. Room 8 has been making and painting the sticks that we will dance with in our part of the production!! We chose the colour and design we wanted to paint our our stick so our parents can recognise us on stage!

RUGBY WORLD CUP!!

2010-09-01T07:45:00.000+12:00

On Monday morning Room 8 and the rest of the Year 3 and 4's were lucky enough to have Ben from Room 10's dad come to visit. He talked to us about the rugby world cup next year and we even got to have a photo with the REAL cup! Wow!!!

WOW! Homework

2010-08-27T15:54:00.000+12:00

Room 8 have been so creative with their homework lately. This week the task was to draw a plan of their ideal bedroom. They had to be creative and think about what they would love to have in their bedroom if they could...
The children drew elaborate plans with things such as hidden trap doors, 3D TV's and grass rugby fields. Some children built a model of their ideal room with materials such as lego, tinfoil, doll's furniture, popsicle sticks, fabric and lots of other creative things!

Mr Dobson came in and chose the 3 most creative plans or models. The three chosen were Lachlan's plan, Isla and Tom's models. They were all amazing!

2010-08-20T08:17:00.000+12:00

On Thursday Room 8 had their first Life Education lesson all about being Happy and Healthy! This means thinking about what our body needs- exercise,brushing our teeth,eating healthy and many other things. We were also learning about different feelings we have, learning how to cope with our feelings and accepting other people's feelings that are different from our own. Here is a link with some information about the unit http://www.lifeeducation.org.nz/about-us/happy-and-healthy.php We are looking forward to our next session next Friday!

Pyramid Homework

2010-08-13T10:31:00.000+12:00

This week for homework our task was to construct at 3D pyramid out of anything we wanted!
The pyramids look amazing and the children had some very creative ideas for example: newspaper, card, straws, lego, plasticine, ice-block sticks and even corn starch. Some of the pyramids were painted and had pictures of mummies and hieroglyphic writing on them. Some people even put pretend mummies inside! What a creative bunch!!

Vegetable Fun!

2010-08-12T11:43:00.000+12:00

Room 8 decided to make a spinach and tomato salad with the spinach we grew and silver beet and potato quiches with the silver beet we grew. Here are some photos of us making our healthy afternoon tea with the veges we grew!

How is our garden going?

2010-08-11T08:05:00.000+12:00

On Tuesday Room 8 decided it was time to harvest our vegetables! We have lots of spinach, silverbeet and italian parsley. Now we have to decide what to do with it all....

This term and next we are going to grow some plants from seed in our classroom and then plant them in our section of the Year 3/4 garden.
Watch this space!

Soccer Tournament

2010-08-03T17:47:00.000+12:00

This week Muritai students are lucky enough to have Tony from SportZone organising soccer tournaments for the syndicates.
This morning the Year 3 and 4's had their turn, it was heaps of fun and luckily it was a lovely sunny day for us!
Check out some photos of our great morning!

Short Story Competition!!

2010-07-30T10:33:00.000+12:00

Late last term the Y3-4's had a homework short story competition, which many children entered. Thanks to everyone who entered! The teachers just LOVED reading all the stories, and were so very impressed with the huge variety of story ideas.

The standard was so high it was a bit tricky to judge the winners!

However, the judging has taken place and the winners are as follows:

Y3 Competition:
3rd- Andrew Sutcliffe
1st equal- Charlotte Goble, Olivia Palmer-Smith.

Y4 Competition:
3rd equal- Willow Forbes, George Mirfin-Newman
2nd- Jasmine Stock
1st- Sally Bird

Congratulations!

Reading and Writing Reports

2010-07-28T15:51:00.000+12:00

This term in Room 8 we will be writing reports. During our Guided Reading time we have been reading lots of reports on different things so we know what a great report needs!

In our groups we have read horse reports, kangaroo reports, zookeeper reports, sun bear reports and even reports on colossal squids! After reading these reports we came up with a list of things that a report needs - W.I.L.F (What I am Looking For) for a great report.
Now we are working in pairs and using what we have read to record key words and plan a report.

Ancient Egypt

2010-07-22T16:38:00.001+12:00

This term in Room 8 we will be researching all about Ancient Egypt. Today many of the children brought in books and treasures from their or their families experiences in Egypt! It was great to have so many things to look at!

We did KWL charts in our co-operative groups. First we wrote facts or information we knew about Egypt (K). Then, after sharing information and looking at books and treasures, we wrote some questions we have about Egypt on post-it notes (W - what we want to find out).
Some of our questions were:
- What are the pyramids made out of and why were they built?
- Why do people wear headscarves?
- What are mummies?
- What is inside the pyramids?
- Why do people ride camels?
- Do they speak a different language there?
- What do they eat in Egypt?
At the end of the unit we will fill in the L section of our chart - What we learned.

Room 8's Last Day of term

2010-07-02T12:32:00.000+12:00

What a fun way to end the term! Art and GREEN DAY!!

Portfolios

2010-06-25T12:43:00.000+12:00

This week Room 8 have been working hard to put together examples of their learning into their portfolios.
Today we had a class discussion about this and here are a few things we discussed:
We do portfolios to -
think about our learning.
show our family examples of things we have been learning.
show strategies we have been learning to do.

We are also talked about why end of term is important:
to think about all the stuff we do at school and what we do well or are good at.
for setting new goals and thinking about what we need to work on.

We set new goals so we know what we need to work on at school and to keep improving so that we can be the best that we can be.

Art

2010-06-18T15:43:00.001+12:00

For the last week or so Room 8 has been working on a technique called Scraffitto.
It was a long progress but we have created some fantastic pieces of Art.
First we had to plan a 'village or hill scene' with pencil.
Then we had to pastel over it using bright colours and blending the pastel.
Next we painted over piece by piece of our scene in black paint. We used a toothpick to scratch the paint away so the bright pastel colours came through.
We tried to be creative with the patterns we scratched out.

Some of us created another piece of art this time using square or triangle patterns of coloured pastel. We used the scraffitto technique again to stratch out patterns. IT WAS VERY TRICKY!

Kapa haka

2010-06-16T14:00:00.000+12:00

This week is Matariki ( the beginning of the Maori new year): Room 8 has found some great information for their homework!

What does Matariki mean? Matariki is a cluster of stars which is only visible in the early morning for a short period of time. Matariki has two meanings, both referring to a tiny constellation of stars; Mata Riki (Tiny Eyes) and Mata Ariki (Eyes of God).

Why is Matariki important? This group of stars is important to Maori as it helped them to know when to plant their crops. It was also seen as an important time for family to gather and reflect on the past and the future.

Why do we celebrate Matariki today?
Today Matariki means celebrating the special place we live in and giving respect to the land we live on.

Year groups around the school have all been celebrating in different ways. Today we had Kapa Haka and we celebrated Matariki by learning Whai - String games!

Fractions!

2010-06-14T16:59:00.000+12:00

We are learning about FRACTIONS at the moment!
Here is a cool tutorial about fractions...http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/mathgames/fractions/fracTut1.htm

Here is a fun game you can try...http://themathgames.com/our-games/fraction-games/play-fraction-balls-1/

Matariki

2010-06-10T07:44:00.000+12:00

What is Matariki? In Kapa Haka this week Mr Chadwick has been talking to us about Matariki. Next week we will be doing some fun activities to celebrate this special time of year.

For homework this week your task is to gather information about Matariki.
Yesterday we discussed where you can find information. Here are some suggestions the class made:
Lachlan - talking to experts
Mila - newspapers
Alex - Library/books
Lucy B - Internet
Here are a few links you might find useful:
http://www.matarikievents.co.nz/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matariki

Remember we do not want people bringing in pages and pages of information. So you need to summarise the information you have found into a few sentences.

More fizzing and foaming - making Witches Brew!!

2010-06-02T14:42:00.001+12:00

What do you think would happen if you mix baking soda, dishwashing liquid and food colouring in a tall glass and then add vinegar!??
Can you remember which ingredient is the acid and which is the carbonate?

Some more things to think about:
What effect does the dishwashing liquid have on this experiment?
Does the shape and size of the glass effect the experiment?
What is the name of the gas that is made by mixing an acid and a carbonate?
To watch another cool fizzing experiment take a look at this great clip Mrs. Chao found!!

The Fizz Inflator!

2010-05-17T18:31:00.000+12:00

This term we are investigating Temporary and Permanent Changes. We have been learning about solids, liquids and gases.
Last week we started looking at Chemical reactions, and what can make them. We looked at the 'fizz inflater' video on the Year 3-4 Science wiki.
Today, the children of Room 8 taught Miss. Collier how to conduct this experiment by giving her step by step instructions.

Photographer: Alex Brown Room 8
The experiment shows that an acid (vinegar) and a carbonate (baking soda) can make a gas (carbon dioxide) when mixed. It blows the balloon up.
After the experiment we discussed what would happen if...?
- there was more vinegar
- a bigger bottle
- we used a water balloon etc

This week Room 8 will be working in groups to modify (change) the experiement by changing the...
-amount of vinegar
-amount of baking soda
-size of bottle
-size of ballon
The children will need to predict what will happen (hypothesis) and plan (equipment, ingredients, method) before conducting their experiment. They will then need to observe (watch) and record their findings (results).
Keep checking the blog to view updates of our experiments!

Room 8 Garden

2010-05-17T18:24:00.000+12:00

Some of you may have noticed that our vege patch is coming along nicely.
This afternoon we pulled out some of our rolly polly carrots to see how they were going, we cut some of our rainbow silverbeet and spinach and we even tasted some of our herbs!
Unfortunately, our purple cauliflower has big holes in their leaves from white butterflies. We are on the look out for ideas to keep those butterflies away!

Photographer: Alex Brown Room 8

Performing Arts

2010-05-08T15:43:00.001+12:00

At the end of last term and for the beginning of this term Room 8 have been doing Performing Arts with Mrs Hooke. The children all worked very hard to create a fantastic dance! This week they were able to perform in Assembly.

We were excited and a bit nervous about performing in front of the WHOLE SCHOOL. We did really well and Miss Collier was very proud.

Plus we won the 'Muritai Bear' for being the best class in assembly. Go Room 8!!

Presenting our News Reports

2010-05-04T16:16:00.000+12:00

This week we have been presenting our carefully planned News Reports on an article of our choice.
Our presentations have gone very well so far with people using loud, clear voices to speak to an audience. Our buddy assessors have to watch very carefully to assess us against the criteria.
They have given some very thoughtful feedback for us to work on and improve our News Reports. One thing many of us need to work on is eye contact - this means looking up briefly at times to the audience while we are presenting.

News Reports

2010-04-23T15:16:00.000+12:00

Click on the image to make it bigger and easier to see!

What are we looking for in a News Report?
Eye contact (Did they look at the class?)
Clear voice (Could everyone hear them?)
Did they tell you Who, When, Where, What, Why?
Were they prepared? (Did they know what to say?)
Your buddy will assess you against these 4 things after you have presented.

Earth Day!

2010-04-23T08:31:00.000+12:00

Yesterday was Earth Day. To find out more about what Earth Day is Room 8 looked at this website on our class projector.
Then we talked about some of the things we already do to help look after our environment. We came up with things like: turning off the lights when we are not in the room, picking up rubbish, recycling, biking or riding our scooters to school instead of driving and many more great things!
Next, we had to think about What else can we do??
We thought we could start composting at home, re-using things like milk bottles and ice-cream containers, using public transport like buses and ferries or sharing rides!
As part of our Healthy Lifestyle Inquiry we have made a Year 3 and 4 Garden! Check the slide show of what we did on earth day and look at our much our veges have grown! We are very pleased.

Healthy Lunch Wraps!

2010-03-31T13:41:00.000+13:00

For homework this week Room 8 had to design a Healthy Wrap to make for lunch as part of our inquiry question "How do I know I live a healthy lifestyle?"
We planned how we we would make them and what ingredients we would like in our wrap. We brought ingredients like: lettuce, carrot, tomatoes, tuna, salami, ham, chicken, cheese and many other tasty but healthy ingredients!
Today we got make our wraps. They were delicious!

Afterwards we used our thinking hats to reflect on the good points (Yellow hat) and make a judgement (Black hat - not so good things or things we could do better next time).
Some of our Yellow Hat ideas were: It was yummy and healthy, I liked making it, I liked designing it at home.
Some of our Black Hat ideas were: Next time I would put in less filling, Next time I wouldn't put in so much coleslaw, It was hard to make my wrap.

2010-03-25T17:46:00.000+13:00

Bored with spelling homework??
Click on this link to Mrs. R's top ten tips! They look like really fun ways to learn your words...
http://learningsupportatmuritaischool.blogspot.com/2010/02/mrs-rs-top-ten-tips-for-easing-agony-of.html
The Learning Den Blog link is now listed in our Favourite Blogs on the toolbar. Mrs. R has some fabulous ideas so make sure you check them out every so often!

Swimming sports

2010-03-17T13:49:00.000+13:00

Wow what a fantastic day we had on Friday!
All our hard work training for our events paid off and we had so much fun! Even though the weather was cold everyone tried their very hardest and give all their races a go so WELL DONE! Take a look at our photos to see some of the action.

Thank you to all the parents who came along to support us especially those who were able to help out the teachers by doing jobs. A huge thank you to Mrs Drinkwater for organising it all for us.
Thank you to Jasmine's (in Rm 11) dad for the great photos!!

Swan Plant

2010-03-09T15:55:00.001+13:00

In Room 8 we are lucky enough to have been given a swan plant with a monarch caterpillar on it. Yesterday the caterpillar turned into a Chrysalis. Soon the chrysalis will split open and out will come a beautiful monarch butterfly.
What will happen if the butterfly comes out over night or over a weekend? What can we do to make sure the butterfly is safe if this happens? What do monarch butterfly eat?
See if you can find the answers to these questions to help make sure the butterfly has safe environment!

Kapa haka

2010-03-03T14:37:00.000+13:00

Today was our first day of Kapa haka with Mr Chadwick. First we played an action game in a circle. We sung Oma rapiti - Run Rabbit! and
We learned a new song about butterflies called Purerehua. It was fun!

ICT

2010-03-01T17:16:00.001+13:00

What helps us learn????
We have been collecting information about how we learn. We have been reading about how food, water, fresh air and sleep help our brains to work well.
We have also been sharing and discussing things that we think are helpful to our learning - working in groups, bright colours, pictures, having silent time to concentrate, brain gym These are just a few of the ideas we came up with!

Today we were learning how to use comic life to present our own profile sheet on "What helps me learn?"

visual mihi

2010-02-25T12:42:00.000+13:00

W.A.L.T: express who we are and where we come from using visual means - patterns, koru and pictures.
Here are a few examples of what we have done. Come into our classroom to see them all...

A mihi is used to introduce ourselves, and is usually spoken. We have made some wonderful visual representations of who we are!
Now we are going to learn how to present a traditional maori mihi. We hope we can blog that too!

Who are we?

2010-02-16T17:22:00.000+13:00

This week Room 8 was asked to bring something in from home that gives the rest of the class a clue about who you are. It can be anything, as long as you can explain to the class why it is important to you.

What could you bring to show?

Fabulous faces!

2010-02-11T15:59:00.000+13:00

This week in Room 8 we have been creating self portraits. We have been learning to create a Picasso style portrait using strips of paper.
First we practiced drawing eyes, noses and mouths by themselves. Then we drew a pencil outline of our portrait using a grid so we could put our features in the correct place.
We had to cut our portraits in 4 - 5 strips! We arranged them so that our face looked crazy!
Then we glued them into place and used pastel to make them fabulously bright.
We hope you like them....

Writing about what we know

2010-02-04T13:33:00.000+13:00

This term for writing we are writing about Memories! Today we were learning to recall a memory. We created a class memory wall with some of our favourite memories we could write about. Some of our ideas were: My first friend, Gran's new house, My first school visit, A camping trip, My cat, my first tooth and many more!

Our first day!

2010-02-03T16:29:00.000+13:00

Today we had our first day together in Room 8! We had a great day getting to know each other and organising ourselves for the school year.
We started the year with a special Powhiri to welcome new students and teachers to Muritai School. We have two new families joining our school in Room 8. We have Isla Armstrong who has come from San Antonio School and Lucy Blacker who has moved to Eastbourne from England. Welcome to Muritai School and Room 8 girls!
Check out the photos of the powhiri below..

Room 8 2010!

2010-01-13T11:49:00.000+13:00

Welcome to Room 8's blog for 2009. On this blog you can keep up to date with Room 8's learning throughout 2010.
Room 8 I have been busy getting your classroom all ready for this year and I am really looking forward to seeing you all on Wednesday the 3rd of February - the first day of school for 2010!
From Miss Collier.

Hi Room 8!

2009-12-26T11:18:00.000+13:00

I hope you have had a very Merry Christmas and are having lots of fun now that it is holidays.

I am writing you this message because you might remember we asked my friend Chris in Antarctica some questions on his blog. He has been really busy with his work down in Antarctica BUT he has answered your questions for you! If you would like to find out the answers to our fantastic questions then you can follow this link http://chrisjury.wordpress.com
You will need to scroll down to where it says "Hello Miss Collier and Room 8 Muritai School" and then click on comments in blue writing on the side. There you will find the answers to Room 7's, Room 11's and our questions.

Enjoy the rest of your holidays and see you at school next year!!

End of year!!

2009-12-18T08:13:00.000+13:00

Well it is the last day of school and we can not believe how fast the year has gone!
Room 8 has had a great year full of fantastic learning and lots of fun!!
We hope you have a MERRY CHRISTMAS and a nice holiday break.
See you in 2010!

Antarctic Treaty

2009-12-07T18:39:00.000+13:00

This week in Inquiry we will be learning about the Antarctic Treaty. Do you know what this is?

Look at the map here it might give you some glues...
What is a treaty? (Have a think about our class treaty, what is it and what does it mean?)
What does the map tell you about the Antarctic Treaty?
Does one country 'own' Antarctica?
What types of statements might the treaty include?

Have a think about these questions and be ready to share your ideas and thoughts in Inquiry this week!

Inquiry Presentations!

2009-12-05T14:01:00.000+13:00

For the last few weeks Room 8 have been researching an Antarctic animal. We have been finding information from books and websites. Our big question is "How does (our animal) survive in the extreme weather conditions of Antarctica? To answer this question we had to research their habitat, the food they eat and where the fit into the food chain, their appearance and all of these factors contribute to their survival.
We were then able to choose how we wanted to present our information to the class, for the last week and a half some people have been making Diaramas, some people are working on posters, news presentations and videos. Below are the videos that some of us have made. The rest of us will be presenting our 'animal inquiry' to the class on Monday. We hope you enjoy our videos!

2009-12-04T12:10:00.000+13:00

Cute Penguins
By Isobel

2009-12-04T10:47:00.000+13:00

Penguin Puppets
By Madison

2009-12-04T10:46:00.000+13:00

Exciting Emperor Penguins
By Amy

2009-12-04T10:45:00.000+13:00

Fur Seals
By Mia

2009-12-04T08:10:00.000+13:00

Bears talking about Emperor Penguins
By Thomas

2009-12-04T08:09:00.000+13:00

Penguins
By Christian

2009-12-04T08:05:00.000+13:00

My Penguin Video
By William

2009-12-04T08:03:00.000+13:00

Cool Leopard Seals
By Euan