Wire Sculpture

Today we learned a lot about how to bend and join wire when creating a sculpture . We looked at lots of wire sculptures on line, done by famous sculptors. We all thought they were AMAZING!  We also made a sketch of a sporting pose then used this to help us make the sculptures.  On Wednesday we will cover the wire with tin foil. Watch out for our creations.

Olympic Popplet

Vote Below For Your Favourite Olympic Sport

Olympic Ring Dance

Today we created Olympic Ring Dance routines and shared them. We learned about accepting each others ideas, working as a team and respecting each other. The dance performances were great. We only had a short time to prepare our dances so we all had to focus and support each other.

Olympic Rings

Can you make the Olympic Rings out of things at home. Photograph these and email them to school or bring the photos into school to share. Here is a montage of some ideas. Be creative

Making the Olympic Rings

We all experienced the linking of the Olympic rings and how it connects us .

London Olympics Emblem

What is an emblem?
The dictionary says...
1.special design or visual object representing a quality, type, group, etc.
2.a visible symbol representing an abstract idea


The London Olympics Emblem is based on the number 2012.
This is the year of the games. The word London reminds us of the host city.
The vision at the heart of the games is that London 2012 will be ‘Everyone’s Games’.

The Olympic Flag

This is what we learned today...

• The Olympic rings are a symbol of the Olympics


• There are five interlacing rings


• The colours of the rings are blue, yellow, black, green, and red on a white background


• The colours were chosen because at least one of these five colours is found on the flag of every nation


• The rings are interlocked to show friendship among the nations


• The rings represent the 5 main land areas of the world (continents) - Asia, America, Europe, Africa and Australia


• The Olympic motto is Citius, Altius, Fortius. This means Faster, Higher, Stronger in Latin

Tomorrow we are going to get into groups of 5 to make the rings by interlocking our arms, forming a circle, so that we can experience how the rings interlock and unite us.

Then we are going to make up a short dance. Our starting position will be a ring, then move outwards and around, twisting and turning, then coming back to our starting positions.

Olympic Games 2012

This term we will be learning about the Olympic Games. To start the inquiry we will be learning about the Olympic rings. We will complete a visual art unit on sewing and will stitch the Olympic rings. Watch out for photos of our sewing. The 2012 games will be held n London. Visit these websites to learn more and play some games.







Games

Thinker Keys

Now we know lots obout the Olympics and China we are going to use this information to think creatively and critically. Over the next 2 weeks we will do lots of thinking about the Olympics and China in our reading,writing and speaking activitiies. Inquiry is such fun!

WALT... think about he Olympics creatively and critically
Brick Wall Key
‘People should be able to take performance enhancing drugs to compete at the Olympics.’ Argue for this statement.
Alternatives Key
List 5 different countries that are competing in the Olympics.
Reverse Key
List 10 sports you WON'T find at the Olympics.
List 10 things you WON’T find at the Olympics.
List 10 things you CAN’T do at the Olympics.
What If? Key
What if anyone was allowed to enter the Olympics? Write a paragraph about it.
Combination Key
Combine a swimming pool and a running track. Draw a picture and describe it.
Bigger, Add, Replace Key
Make a rowing skiff Bigger, Add something to it and Replace something on it.
Questions Key
Write 5 questions that have the answer “a gold medal.”
Write 5 questions that have the answer “he would be disqualified.”
Write 5 questions that have the answer “athletics.”
Variations Key
How many different Olympic sports can you name?
How many Olympics gold medalists can you name?
Disadvantages Key
List 5 disadvantages of the Olympics
List 5 disadvantages of being an Olympic athlete.
List 5 disadvantages of the Olympics.
Different Uses Key
List 10 different uses for a swimming pool at the Olympics.
List 10 different uses for a chair at the Olympics
Prediction Key
What will the Olympics be like in 8 years time?
Ridiculous Key
They should build venues big enough for everyone to go and see their favourite sport. List 5 reasons why you agree and 5 reasons why you disagree.
The Olympic games should be held every year. List 5 reasons why you agree and 5 reasons why you disagree.
People are not interested in the Olympic games anymore. List 5 reasons why you agree and 5 reasons why you disagree.
Commonality Key
List 5 things the same about the Olympics and a box.
List 5 things the same about swimming and archery.
List 5 things the same about NZ and China
Alphabet Key
List 1 Olympics word for each letter of the alphabet.
Inventions Key
Design a New Zealand Olympics uniform.

De Bono's Thinking Hats

Today we used the yellow and black thinking hats to explore postive and negative points of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. We looked at some articles about issues at the games. We discussed lots of ideas then we used a T chart to record our thinking. What a lot of thinking went on!
Some of the black hat thinking recorded was ...

• Pollution makes it hard for athletes to run
• Someone visiting from USA was killed by a Chinese person
• Some people took drugs to make them stronger or faster (this is cheating)
• Some peoples homes were knocked down for the stadiums
• Lots more traffic
• Lots of money used when there are poor people
• Some people got injured and couldn't compete
• There were some violent protests
• There was some bribery and blackmailing (by officials)
• Lots of athletes didn't get medals even though they had trained very hard
  

Some yellow hat thinking recorded was...

• It is a time of peace
• Lots of countries come together to compete
• There was great teamwork
  
• New buildings were made (like stadiums) for people to use
• People won medals
• Lots of people visited China
• People learnt lots about China
• People had fun
• There were some peaceful protests about things that are not so good about China
• Brings people together
• Some athletes won lots of medals for their country

Yummy Olympic Flags

We made Olympic flags today for Golden Time. We used rectangular plain biscuits, white icing, and red, black, green, yellow and blue M & Ms. Here are some photos.

Haiku Poem

Olympics

Amazing medals
Mahe Drysdale wins a gold?
Rowing is such fun

Olympic Sports and Venues

WALT... find info from books and web sites to answer key questions
... surf, slurp & summarise info
OLYMPIC SPORTS
Aquatic (diving, swimming, synchronized swimming, water polo), Archery, Athletics, Badminton, Baseball, Basketball, Boxing, Canoeing/Kayak (flatwater and slalom), Cycling, Equestrian, Fencing, Football, Gymnastics (artistic, rhythmic and trampoline), Handball, Hockey, Judo, Modern Pentathlon (5 disciplines: shooting, fencing, swimming, riding, cross-country running), Rowing, Sailing, Shooting, Softball, Table Tennis, Taekwondo, Tennis, Triathlon, Volleyball, Weightlifting, Wrestling.

Use the National Library site to find information


MORE OLYMPIC FACTS
Games Mascots: Fuwa, designed to express the playful qualities of five little children who form an intimate circle of friends, Fuwa also embody the natural characteristics of four of China's most popular animals -- the Fish, the Panda, the Tibetan Antelope, the Swallow -- and the Olympic Flame.
Number of Sports: 38
Number of events at the Games: 303
Number of Venues: 31
Number of Spectators (est.): 7 million
Number of television viewers (est.): more than 4 billion
Number of registered volunteers: 700 000
Number of visitors expected during the games: 2 million
Population: China: 1.3 billion, Beijing: 11.6 million
1st Modern Olympics: Held in Greece in 1896
1900 (Paris) was the first Olympiad in which women participated

Try this sport word find

Check out the BBC's Olympic Sports Map

Olympic Fun!

The Senior Syndicate organised a mini Olympic Games for the junior students. Nic's brother Finn was the mascot. Can you spot him? Michael is holding a real Olympci torch from the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. We were so lucky to be able to hold it.

Olympic Oath

Today Annie asked us what an oath was and noboby knew. So we decided it needed to be an inquiry question. This was our question ... What is an oath? What is an Olympic oath?

The Athletes Oath
At the start of each Olympics, every athlete promises to play fairly and obey all of the Olympic rules. One athlete from the host country takes this oath at the Opening Ceremonies on behalf of all athletes. The chosen athlete holds a corner of the Olympic Flag while repeating the oath:
"In the name of all competitors, I promise that we shall take part in these Olympic Games, respecting and abiding by the rules that govern them, in the true spirit of sportsmanship, for the glory of sport and the honor of our teams."
The oath was written by Baron de Coubertin, and became a part of our Modern Olympic Games in 1920. Olympic officials also have to take an oath. While holding a corner of the Olympic Flag, one official from the host country repeats a similar oath on behalf of all the officials.
At the 2000 Sydney games the athletes oath included a pledge against the use of drugs at the games.
"In the name of all competitors, I promise we shall take part in these Olympic Games, respecting and abiding by the rules which govern them, committing ourselves to a sport without doping and without drugs, in the spirit of true sportsmanship, for the glory of sport and the honor of our teams."

Math's Olympics

Compete in the Math's Olympics at the Math's Playground. You may win gold!

It is challenging but give it a go!

Roman Numerals

We had a big discussion today about Roman numerals. This came from an inquiry question ... What is on the obverse and reverse sides of the Olympic medals?
We found out that this is the 29th Olympic games and this is written in roman numerals on the obverse side of the medals as XXIX.
2008 is MMVIII
Practise your Roman numerals at this site http://en.beijing2008.cn/spirit/symbols/medals/index.shtml
And here is a Roman number online conversion site
http://www.onlineconversion.com/romannumerals.htm

Happy converting!

Olympic Diamante Poem

Poetic Writing - Diamante Poem
WALT... write a poem using strong adjectives and -ing words

What is a diamante poem?
It is shaped like a diamond. It does not have to rhyme but each line uses specific types of words like adjectives and -ing words. It can be about one topic or two opposite topics.

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