Using our imagination through e-learning

Last Friday, we explored different classroom blog sites. Room 10 had found these cool writing websites (see below), so in pairs, we experimented and used our imagination to create our own stories.

http://www.sundhagen.com/babbooks/

http://myths.e2bn.org/create/tool527-story-creator-2.html

http://netrover.com/~jjrose/storywriter/storywriter.htm - your spam filter may block this one : /

http://www.worsleyschool.net/socialarts/generate/astory.html

http://www.squiglysplayhouse.com/WritingCorner/StoryBuilder/index.html

http://www.eduplace.com/tales/

http://www.funbrain.com/funbrain/cgi-bin/wt.cgi?A1=s

Our Outdoor Education Experiences

At outdoor education we learnt how to balance on a surfboard and how to surf on some waves in Sandy Bay. When we went to Adventure Forest we learnt how to balance high up in trees and to overcome heights. It was great to try something new to do for a school trip. (By Halle)

Our Outdoor Education Experience

Our syndicate went to Adventure Forest and Sandy Bay for our EOTC experiences. We were divided into two groups. The first group went to Adventure Forest and learnt how to use a karabiner and harness to scale along a variety of challenging circuits. Some of the children were scared of heights, but they over-came their fears. The other group travelled to Sandy Bay where they learnt how to surf. They learnt the importance of balance, technique and water safety. Both groups then swapped activities on the alternative day. A special thanks to those parents/caregivers who assisted with transport and supervision.

RWC 2011

Rugby World Cup fever hit Room 15 with a storm. William, Kaleb, and Matthew were provided the challenge of using the e-learning application, 'I Can Animate' to reproduce the Rugby World Cup Final using just lego. They spent many hours moving individual characters around to recreate the final match between the All Blacks and France. They have also added in a humorous part just for fun-see if you can identify that part. Well done guys. Watch out Peter Jackson!!

Favourite Book Character Day

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Last Friday, the school celebrated 'Favourite Book Character Day.' The event was organised by Rimu Whanau. Children were given the opportunity to be their favourite book character for the day. The costumes were amazing!!!! Later that day, the school had a parade to show off their designs...it was so funny! Sarah and Taine won 'Best Dressed Book Character' for Room 15. Even Mr McKernan got involved-he was 'Bob the Builder.' There was also an elderly lady in costume too...I wonder which teacher that was???

Wacky Wednesday Hair Day

Well...Wacky Wednesday Hair Day finally arrived today. The immersion activity was organised by Kauri whanau. The children were buzzing with excitement showing off their designs. Mr Werder's new hair colour even matched his pink shirt. Tino pai team for using your imagination!

Cricket Coaching

Welcome back to another busy and exciting term. This week, some cricket coaches from Northland Cricket Association visited our school to teach us some simple skills required for the game of cricket. We learned how to catch, throw, field and bat.

Future Olympic Gold Medal Winners

Ben has been teaching us about gymnastics. He has taught us how to do cartwheels, forward rolls, handstands and backward rolls, just to name a few. We have learnt about the key movement skills linked to gymnastics, these include: balance, rotation, spring, swing, flight, locomotion and landing. Thank you Ben for teaching us about these skills and for making it fun. You never know, one of us may win a gold medal at an olympics in the near future...watch this space!

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Heritage Park Museum

Last week, Rooms 13 & 15 visited Heritage Park Museum to look at Whangarei and Northland's taonga/treasures. The education teachers at the museum were amazing. They discussed the many aspects within a museum and how a museum operates. We learnt about the origins of 'museums' and how it (museum) got its name. The classes were split into two groups. One group visited the Kiwi House...WOW!!! The kiwis had a disagreement with each other, which excited us all. The other class went on a 'taonga treasure hunt', then we swapped activities. All in all, the visit was a huge success. A special thank you to the many parents/caregivers who helped with transportation and supervision.

Our Treasures...Our Taonga!

Ahakoa he iti he pounamu
Although it is small, it is greenstone

Room 15 children have been busy making pounamu and prayer stones. We have been discussing the important links to our concept of ‘taonga’ and how they can be a sacred treasure. A pounamu is a humble way to deliver a small gift. The word pounamu stands as a metaphor for something precious or a treasure from the heart. Prayer stones are a way for humans to give physical expression to the aspirations of a prayer. Texts of sacred words, phrases and symbols are frequently etched, scribed, painted, or drawn on them. They may be simple rocks with words such as peace, love, kindness, kia kaha, etched or drawn on them. We will use our prayer stones to help us pray for those in need.

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How many treasures/taonga do you know are in a catholic church?

Last week, the Year 4 syndicate visited the church. Fr Thige spoke to us about some of the many taonga/treasures in the church. These treasures can also be seen in most catholic churches in New Zealand and in fact around the world. The children wrote some brief explanations about what they saw. Enjoy!!!

Pounamu's Stones

A few weeks ago, we read the book 'Pounamu's Stones' by Dot Meharry. This narrative is about a girl called Pounamu, who is raised by her grandmother. While spending time with her gandmother, she learns practical skills and great wisdom. Pounamu's heart tells her that her grandmother has chosen her for a special reason, but she must first learn and discover a life's story before she finds out what that reason is. Once we had read the text, we looked at different designs of pounamu, and created out own through the use of pastels. Enjoy!

Our Church, Our Taonga

The Year 4 Syndicate recently visited the church to look at the amazing taonga present inside of it. Fr Thige spoke to us about the important treasures within the church. These included (just to name a few) the chalice, ciborium, monstrance, and the tabernacle. We also walked around the church and looked at the 14 Stations of the Cross, the Crosses on the pillars (that represent the 12 disciples), and the 3 sacred oils that have been blessed by the Bishop. Once we had returned back to class, we talked about the taonga we saw, then wrote some amazing explanations. A special thanks to Fr Thige for his time and knowledge.

The Wittens

Hi my name is Paige, and I’m going to talk to you about some chinese writing. My family have been having a young women named Jiali stay at our house to see what it’s like to experience life with a kiwi family. On her last day with us, she was secretly writing a little booklet with our names writen in chinese. There is my dad’s name which is Vaughan, my mum’s Natasha, my sister Helaina, our cat Angel, and of course me, Paige. Jiali stayed with us for three whole weeks. I have enjoyed listening to her stories about her life in China. I hope she will do the same when she returns back to China and tells her family and friends about New Zealand life. My language...my taonga!

My Taonga...My Treasure

Room 15's Quilts/Tivaevae

Last week, we read the text 'A Quilt for Kiri' and the sequel, 'A Gift for Aunty Nga.' In the sequel Kiri visits Rarotonga with her parents to meet Aunty Ngā and gives her a tīvaevae that she and her mother have made. One of our follow-up activities included looking at some of the tivaevae designs to help create our own quilts.

Our Whanau/Family... Our Taonga

We have been using different e-learning applications to help illustrate our taonga..our family! All people are taonga as we are all tapu and come from God. Family histories, whakapapa and Te Reo Maori are all considered taonga too. To complete this task, we have imported images of us, our family, our taonga and researched different aspects to our name and ethnic backgrounds. We have used Kid Pix, Comic Life, iphoto, Photo Booth, and Safari to complete our 'taonga poster.' Here are just a few posters.





We

Our Special Taonga

A Taonga is a sacred treasure (such as an heirloom), a gift from God (such as our talents), anything that has its own intrinsic tapu because of its connection to God (such as land, water, sky and church sacred objects). All people are taonga as we are all tapu and come from God. Family histories, whakapapa and Te Reo Maori are all considered taonga.
Another aspect of this definition states, "special things like teddies or jewellery are precious treasures, but that does not make them taonga". What are your views on this and if you think such objects are 'taonga' or 'treasure?' Enjoy our taonga images from Room 15 tamariki.

Term 3's Concept...'Our Taonga-Our Treasures'

Term Three's concept is 'Our Taonga-Our Treasures.' The two essential questions are: What are Taonga? and How can Taonga be created? The enduring statements are: 1) A ‘taonga’ is a gift, belief or belonging that is treasured, and 2) Sacraments of the Church are treasured gifts from God. Below are whakatauki or proverbs that have strong connections within the questions and enduring statements of taonga/treasures. Maori proverbs called 'whakatauki' or 'pepeha' are sayings that reflect the thoughts, values and advice from past generations.

Ahakoa he iti he pounamu.
Although it is small, it is greenstone.

Ehara taku toa, he taki tahi, he toa taki tini.
My success should not be bestowed onto me alone, as it is not individual success but success of a collective.

Ko taku reo taku ohooho, ko taku reo tau mapihi mauria.
My language is my awakening, my language is the window to my soul.

He aha te mea nui o te ao?
He tangata! He tangata! He tangata!
What is the most important gift in this world? It is people! It is people! It is people!

"Let us keep close together not far apart. You are my taonga, I will not let you go" (Olivia)

"I want to keep close, not far away" (William)

"Talk to someone and they will talk to you" (Kaleb)

Maths Zone

This is a brand new interactive mathematics site with loads of cool games to assist with your basic facts knowledge. Just click onto the web site: http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/maths/interactive/index.htm

QUAKY CAT!!!!!!

Quaky Cat is a book about the Christchurch Earthquake involving all the cats from the town especially a cat named Tiger. Tiger runs through broken windows, over broken homes just to find his owner Emma.Emma is also trying to find Tiger until they meet in the hall at the end of the street. Written in response to the Christchurch earthquake of 2010/2011 Quaky Cat is an evocative and uplifting story that will touch the hearts of all who read it. Mr McKernan read this amazing book to us and our (missing) Quaky Cat posters can be viewed in the attached movie. Enjoy!!! (By Hunter and William-Blog Reporters)

Our amazing pencil holder creations

Anna from Eco Solutions came and helped room 15 make wonderful pencil holders. We reused material, bottle caps, strings, buttons, tin cans and cardboard. With the help of Mr Werder and Anna we were able to finish them. There were cats, people, aliens, monsters and dragons. We had lots of fun making them. THANKS ANNA!!! (By Alyssa-Blog Reporter)

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Fruit and Veges...YUM!

Our challenge for art was to do an observational drawing of a cross section of a piece of fruit or vegetable. We sketched it first, then coloured it in using pastels. We had to match the image with our drawing as best as we could to make it as 'real' as possible.

Science Rotations 2011

Last week, the Year 3/4 Syndicate had science rotations where we looked at different change experiments. The change experiments included: making hokey pokey, lava lamps, sherbert, popcorn, making butter, and making jelly. We enjoyed all the experiments, especially the one's that involved EATING!

MorphX Creations

Room 15 children have been learning how to use 'MorphX' to show how an image can 'change' into something else. They had lots of fun experimenting with different images and facial expressions. Here are just a few for you to enjoy.

Hockey 2011

Last week we went to the hockey stadium and did some hockey lessons with Mac our hockey coach. We did this on Monday
and leant how to dribble and we knocked down some cones. We played a game when he said go and get the cones, so we did. We are going to have some more hockey coaching next week. From Matthew and Olivia (Blog Reporters).

Forensics in Fire

Tigger Reading group recently read a explanation text about fire forensics. Hunter and William used photo booth (video) to help explain the main ideas of the text. The text is written by Dr David Icove and published by Sails.