Report Writing

Tonight I began writing the children's reports. These are due out at the end of Term 4. This year we are using 'School Master' to input our assessment data. We have worked extremely hard as a staff, over the last two terms, to develop rubrics to help us make the system unique to our school.

Preparation for the Pantomime and Oral Assessments

Today we spent the morning preparing our drama and poetry performances for the NZ Speech Board Oral assessments. Annie was beginning to panic because we have so much on and haven't found that much time for preparation. But we all got down to work today and achieved so much. All groups are well underway with their presentations. Thank you everyone for your effort and commitment today.

Wendy came in this morning and we had lots of children audition for key roles in the pantomime. Annie also held auditions for roles in the two scenes Room Ten are performing - The Cards and the Mad Hatters Tea Party. I bet that will give you a clue about our pantomime. Gilly and Annie also worked with us on our 'Card' dance. What brilliant ideas everyone had and we love our music - Robbie Williams ' Let Me Entertain You'! We are going to have lots of fun!

What a lot of 'English' and 'The Arts' objectives we worked on today, too many to write here but we shared them in class. Phew! A busy but fun day. Thanks to all our helpers today. We value and welcome you in our class.

Snacktivities - Brain Breaks

With all the intensive work that the children are doing in class it's only natural that they need a break, both physically and mentally. Brain breaks, or brain gym is one of the ways we give the children a mental break. Snacktivities gives them a physical break. We use both of these in the classroom to help keep the children focused, and to refocus themselves after an intense learning activity. The children have become really good at managing these breaks themselves, an important part of self-management.
Click on the link below to find an excellent booklet that is able to be printed as a PDF. I found it on an an English site called Primary Teacher UK.

Room's 3 and 10 Assembly

Here are some photos from our assembly presentations. Room 10 shared some of last terms mangonels and some of their findings and reflections about their 'Rocks and Erosion' inquiry. Room3 shared their artwork and writing.

Room 10


Today we had visitors from a Japanese High School. We welcomed them into our school by having a Powhiri. After the Powhiri they worked with classes teaching the children Japanese games and activities.

Surf, Slurp & Summarise

WALT... surf slurp & summarise information about the three rock types
Today we began to claim the information about rocks by filtering the information asking these questions : What claims are being made in this information? Are these claims true and important? Why?
The children love using this frame. We used books, posters and the internet.
What is surfing slurping & summarising?
It is one part of the 5 CLAIM frames from Gwen Garwith's 3 Doors to Info Literacy.
I completed this online professional development a few years ago and it has become part of life in Room10. I recommend that you check out this research-based, trademarked learning model and programme. Follow this linkto find out about this programme. Thankyou Gwen for this great programme and making this available via the website.

Information literacy is the ability to find and use information with critical discrimination in order to build knowledge (Gawith, 1994).

Surf

• Keep your GAP MAP and SEARCH TERMS in front of you.
• SURF or SCAN quickly through the resource.
• Make a mental note of what looks relevant - no underlining, highlighting etc..

Slurp

• Now slow down and SELECT only those sections that look relevant.
• Reject what doesn't relate to your MAP and gaps.
• Interview the information - look at your MAP and gaps and ask yourself whether any of the information is relevant. (This is where it helps to highlight or underline.)

Summarise

• Apply the SIEVE and then RECORD summary notes. You'll find it useful to head up sheets of paper with an INFORMATION GAP on the top of each sheet. Write your notes in your own words. If you want to copy, include in "speech marks". Make sure you record details of the info resource accurately.

School Photos

Today we had our school photos taken. Hope they turn out OK! It was very windy outside so hair was flying in all directions!

What is Labour Day?

Remember!! A holiday on Monday as it is Labour Day. Read more about why NZ celebrates this day.

Click on the picture of Samuel Parnell to visit NZ History Online to learn more
Here is Wikipedia's definition
'In New Zealand, Labour Day is a public holiday held on the fourth Monday in October. Its origins are traced back to the eight-hour working day movement that arose in the newly founded Wellington colony in 1840, primarily because of carpenter Samuel Parnell's refusal to work more than eight hours a day. He encouraged other tradesmen to also only work for eight hours a day and in October 1840 a workers' meeting passed a resolution supporting the idea. On 28th October 1890 the 50th anniversary of the eight-hour day was commemorated with a parade. The event was then celebrated annually in late October as either Labour Day or Eight-Hour Demonstration Day. In 1899 government legislated that the day be a public holiday from 1900. The day was celebrated on different days in different provinces. This led to ship owners complaining that seamen were taking excessive holidays by having one Labour Day in one port then another in their next port. In 1910 the government "Mondayised" the holiday so that it would be observed on the same day throughout the nation. Nowadays for the majority of New Zealanders it's "just another holiday".Wikipedia 2008

Comic Strip about the Rock Cycle

We are using our knowledge of the rock cycle to create a comic strip. Here are our WALTs.
...explore a variety of comic strips.
...discuss components of comic strips.
...examine conventions of comic strips.
...apply knowledge of the rock cycle & what learned about comics by creating a comic strip

We are all enjoying this activity and are nearly finished. It was fun to do! Here is an interactive Comic creator for you to try at home. It is from Read, Write and Think. Click on the link below

Art Exhibition

Today we went to the 'Wanaka Arts Society ' exhibition. The guest artist was Deidre Copeland. Deidre Copeland is a New Zealand artist specialising in large portrait painting, detailed drawings and sketches. Click on the image below to read more about her and view some of her art.

We were also lucky to view a lot of our talented local artists art work. One of the art works we viewed and appreciated was by one of our relievers, Susan Davidson. Susan won an award! Susan made a variety of worksheets for us based on art appreciation. They were lots of fun to complete. A special feature of the exhibition was the embroidery display.

Upper Clutha Athletic's Sports Day

BubbleShare: Share photos - Craft Ideas

Some More Games to Play

Play a Yahtzee Style Game called 'YatzyMaxi' on 'The Kidz Page' website.

Play this thinking game called 'Wizzball'. Get ready to give your brain a workout!

Play this brain game. It gets that brain working. Its called 'Bricks Breaking'.

Rocks (Wordle)

Click to see our rock word cloud.

New School Announcement

On the last day of term we found out for sure about our new school. We are being relocated to the Scurr Height's site since we have out-grown our old site and school. 2010 is the year we will move but we will have to wait and see which term. We are all VERY excited! Here are some pictures of the official announcement.

Upcoming Elections

We have a poll operating in the right hand sidebar. Please go on and vote for who you think will be the NZ Prime Minister in the upcoming 2008 NZ elections - John Key (National) or Helen Clark(Labour). We are studying probability so we want to see how accurate this is? Keep an eye on the progress. We will graph our results and see if our poll was accurate.

Rock Cycle

Here are some examples from last weeks inquiry as promised

10,000 visitors since May

We went on line in April and began recoding our visitors in May. In 6 months we have recorded 10,000 visitors. Thanks to all the people out there who check out our class blog. We hope you continue to read about what we are doing in Room Ten. We will continue to provide you with lots of happenings in our class
PLEASE LEAVE US A COMMENT AS WE LOVE TO HEAR FROM PEOPLE ALL OVER THE WORLD!

Identifying Rocks Game

This game will help you learn about rocks.
What a fun week we have had finding out more about rocks. I have been impressed with the knowledge you all have gained. We have started to use the knowledge. Tomorrow I will add some examples of students work on the rock cycle. It was great to see the variety of diagrams. The work we did earlier in the week, looking at the way people interpret the rock cycle has paid off. You guys rock!! Excuse the pun!

The Three Types of Rocks

Push Play Activities - Aerobic Power!

Playing Probability Games

NZ Speech Board Oral Assessments

Click the link above to view a syllabus

I am going to prepare the children for the NZ Speech Board ‘Oral Communication Assessment’ examination again this year. This will meet many of the English Curriculum strands as well as build confidence and self-esteem. The programme is designed to promote clear and effective oral communication, to develop language and listening skills, and to encourage courteous and confident sociable behaviour. A key factor of this programme is enjoyment. Last year we had incredible results. All children who sat passed, with a high percentage receiving distinction and the rest highly-commended and commended. All the preparation is done at school but there may be a need for parental assistance near the end, e.g. gathering any costumes for your child or practising poem/show and tell at home. The assessments will be held in the school during Term 4 (Week 5- 11th November) examination report about their performance and a badge/bar if they pass. The levels of attainment are as follows:

Distinction
Highly Commended
Commended
Pass
Not Achieved

I sent a letter home today to explain what it is all about and what it entails. Please return the slip to school ASAP.

Middle Syndicate Athletics Training