Snorkelling

Photos of our day at snorkelling. Enjoy!

-The highlights for me this year have been... Outdoor Education.
My best days this year were Outdoor Ed because it teaches us more about outdoor culture.
Disappointments I experienced were cross country.
Some important decisions I made.... trying to get Kaiah and Jade back together.
People who are important to me are Jade, Ariana, Kaiah and Mrs Wendt.
Achievements I am proud of are getting faster at my work.
Special memories of times with my friends.... Seeing them at school and playing with them.
Something I hope I won't have to experience again is cross country.
New interests I have developed this year are playing the guitar.
Issues I am concerned about ...not being fast enough at my work.
My hopes for the future...I hope I can see my friends.
Summing up...
This has been the best year of my life.
Jessica
Posted using BlogPress from my iPad.

Adventure forest

Hooray the time has come.Today we are going to Adventure Forest.
It is going to be so AWESOME! We will learn so much we are so excited I think our favourite bit will be the flying foxes.
When we got there Francois told us the rules. He took us to get our harnesses on.
We did the practise levels.Then we were on to the real courses they were so much fun but they were scary too. It was a long and challenging day. The worst part was when we had to go on a very high courses.It was so scary.
On that course there was a very wobbly and scary part. It took a lot of confidence to complete these courses


By Sophie & Tiffany

Ki-o-rahi

Ki-o-rahi is a traditional Maori game based on a Maori legend. The legend is about a husband and a wife named Rahi and Ti Ara and how Rahi saved Ti Ara from the evil fairies.The balls name is Ki the pou in the middle is the rock that is called the tupu which Rahi hid under when the evil fairies cast a spell that made Rahi very hot. Just before Rahi died of heat a bird called hokoioi spurted fresh water into Rahi's mouth.Then a tuatara came and walked so fast around the rock and it made a moat.The pou in the game is the rock that saved Rahi from the tuatara. He was finally saved by walking down a pathway called an ara and into the world of the living Te Ao. In the game there are 2 teams one of them is called taniwha and the other is ki-o-ma.The team taniwha is trying to throw the Ki at the Tupu and if they hit it they score a point. If you get 5 points in a row you win automatically and if you get 10 points you also win.The other team ki-o-ma tries to score a try in the middle of the circle around the tupu. Each person has 2 rips. If a person has the ball and gets ripped they have to pass it over in less than 3 seconds and if you get your 2 rips ripped it is a handover. A try is worth more if you touch the outside pou with the ball before you run into the middle. Each pou you touch is worth one point.

By Ben Campbell and Jordan

Adventure Forest Photos

Enjoy photos of our Adventure Forest Experience

DJ's Reflection

The highlights for me this year have been... Getting a trophy at prize giving.
My best days this year were Outdoor Education because I learnt a lot.
A disappointment I experienced was getting disqualified in karate.
An important decision I made was moving to Auckland.
People who are important to me are my family and friends.
My achievement I am proud of was seeing my test results.
A special memory of a time with my friend was... Going on a huge bike ride.
Something I hope I won't have to experience again is breaking my wrist.
A new interest I have developed this year is starting a new school.
An issue I became concerned about is if I move to Auckland will I see my friends again?
My hope for the future is that I become very good at karate.
Summing up..... This year has been very interesting and I'd love to have it again.
By D'Artagnan

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Snorkelling Outdoor Education

Hooray today's the day what day is it? Monday, this is when rooms 13,14 and 15 come together and go snorkelling at Reotahi Bay. Nearly every single parent offered to help with the transport. So when we got there everybody was zooming faster then the speed of light onto the wavy grass.
Then the lady in charge came over to tell us the rules. 1 of the rules was don't
Litter on the Marine Reserve, the second rule was do not wave at a person because in sign language it is danger or help, the third rule is always listen to
The instructors because you might miss out something important. Before we left school we all got split into five groups then the 1st group got into their
wetsuits and the snorkelling gear Then they walked down a steep hill and onto the boiling hot sand. Splash splash splash in they went with their supervisors tagging along with them. We both saw Grey Mullet,seahorse and a big snapper. When we were not in the water we did a little work sheet and a scavenger hunt. The importance of Marine Reserves are that you cannot fish there so that fish are sustained for future generations. Also everyone can see sea life in their natural environment and learn about them.
Ella and Jade

Surfing

One of our outdoor education activities was surfing. First of all we got sorted into three groups. The first group were in the water first, of course, which meant that they had to get ready first. So we all got into our wetsuits, and yellow shirts that everyone had to wear so that we didn't get lost. Then we all went down to the beach to get shown what to do in the water. The rules are don't go out of your depth, jump off your board before you reach the shore, and don't surf too close to the rocks. Then Simon and Jo taught us how to catch and ride waves. They said first you lie down on your tummy with your toes near the end of the board, do chicken wings on the rail, then you slide your legs up between your arms and stand up and turn around.
We all got to stand up on our boards, but most importantly, we all had lots of fun!

By Ben M and callum.

Maria's Reflection

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
The highlights for me this year have been Outdoor Education and lucky book orders. My best day this year was Wheels Day because you can ride your bike at school. Disappointments I experienced were cross country.Some important decisions I made are I need to clean up after myself. People who are important to me are my cousins and mum and dad. Achievements I am proud of are getting good reports. Special memories of times with my friends are when me and all my friends threw water balloons at my brother. Something I hope I won't have to experience again was when I broke my elbow. A new interest I have developed is snorkelling. Issues I became concerned about were cross country.My hope for the future is to move house and get a dog.Summing up this year has been awesome.
Maria

Location:Percy St,Whangarei,New Zealand

'Going Bush'

Yesterday Ben Murray and 8 other chosen people from our school went to the 2012 Enviro schools Expos and the theme was, as mentioned in the title, 'Going Bush'. It was at the Kiwi Museum. We all gathered in the meeting room and got our name/group tags. The leaders of our groups each got a clip board with our group name and the time table on/in it. Our group name was Tawa. 'Going bush' was all about pests to our native environment in New Zealand like weeds and stoats and rabbits, etc. We learnt that African Club Moss ( a type of weed,) is taking over our native moss. And for anybody who is curious, it looks like a lot of tiny, thin ferns. There were also some other action stations, and there we learnt about insects, lots of ways of catching insects and trees, types of trees, and what people used them for before packaged food came along. (Such as what fruits you can eat, what Cabbage trees are used for, etc.) It was all very interesting, and we all had a good time.

By Ben Murray.

Maori Movement

We used an ipad app to make a sock puppet animation to teach some of the Maori words for movement. Here is an example of one.

A PhotoCard from Tyson

Created using Bill Atkinson PhotoCard, now available free on the App Store. This email includes one JPEG attachment.

Wheels day

Yay today's the day...Wheels Day!! Every body was at school on their wheels rushing to class.There were also sorts of things with wheels like roller blades,skate boards,inline skates,scooters and bikes too. Then all of a sudden the bell rang every sprinted to class.When every body was inside they were talking about their things with wheels. Meanwhile the other whanau group was getting ready to have there turn on the course's. They were rapidly racing round the field and the court. During the other whanau groups time on the Courts we heard a bid gigantic humungous CRASH!!! Every body blazed over to the window like lightning bolts. There it was a little girl crying outside our class window. After that accident happened another whanau Group went to the courts and field but we heard no more crashes.Finally it was our turn. Every body put on their helmets excitedly then the rest of our whanau group ran out like a herd of cats and we were the mice. So while we were getting
chased we went to the courts to find out the rules and other things we needed to know about. There was one more thing the teachers said No helmet no ride! So we went off to ride our bikes and the other things we brought. We were having so much fun until ring ring ring the bell rang but our legs and feet needed a rest. It was time to have lunch. The fun was over!
By Jade and Ella

Location:St Francis Xavier

E-waste

Today we went to the ICT suite. Why? To learn about E-waste. The person taking it was called Anna. We learnt that E-waste is electronic waste. Electronic devices have either a power cord or a battery. We learnt the reasons that people throw away their electronics. What are they? Well either they break down, or are out of fashion. We learnt how electronic devices change over time. Which, of course, which, of course, is why people get rid of their old stuff, to get the cool, new stuff. Which of course, is why people keep on making E-waste. We learnt lots of interesting
facts, but one of the most interesting things that we learnt was that 426,000 phones get discarded daily. We made booklets about everything we have learnt.

By Ben M and Callum.

Movement

Today we had an immersion activity for our concept this term "Movement."
We had many different forms of Transport to view- police car, ambulance, fire truck, milk tanker, motor bikes and our favourites some vintage cars. Mr Vesey (Erin's dad) brought along a pedal car that was a replica of an old sports car. It took him one and a half years to build it.

Our Challenges

As a reflective task we thought about the challenges that we have faced and what skills we used to help us face or overcome them.

Famous New Zealanders

Here is a slide show with some more of the children's presentations on famous New Zealanders.
Please click manually to view slide show

Sir Peter Blake

We have been researching famous New Zealanders and the challenges they faced along their incredible journey. Children could choose the app they wanted to present their information on. This is Callum and Ben Murray's research on Sir Peter Blake. There will be more presentations coming.

My Dad

Thoughts about our dads.

Colours

As part of Mrs Batchelor's challege rotation children had to make a colour mosaic. Children chose a theme colour and took photos of objects that were mainly reflecting this colour. They then made a mosaic using comic life.

Not only did 8-year old Mac win the School cross-country, he also won the Whangarei Primary Schools cross-country and the Northland Champs!
Mac said "I felt really nervous at the start of the race but once I started running the nerves vanished. The most challenging part was trying to overtake the other people because when I sprinted they sprinted.
We are expecting big things from Mac in the future, watch out he could be
the next Nick Willis!

Sustainable Coastlines

Chris from Sustainable Coastlines visited our school last week. He challenged us to think whether New Zealand is a clean, green country!!! We were rather shocked to see evidence that it isn't! and that the story of rubbish starts with a simple act of dropping a piece of rubbish in the road. We were devastated to see the impact that plastic rubbish in particular is having on our coastlines and sea life. So come on people stop and think before flicking that piece of rubbish out the car window or dropping it on the footpath and road.

Challenge Rotations

We have been involved in Challenge rotations over the past 3 weeks.
Mrs Wendt's inside rotation involves children completing various tasks.
Children can choose from origami, mancala challenge, questionaut (laptops), ipad challenges,
juggling, domino runs and whai(string games)- there is an instructional clip on you tube for children to follow-string games Jacobs ladder. Here are a few photos of us working.

Calendar Art

We have completed some artwork for our Calendar art which parents can order in Term 4.
Our theme was Seascape and our inspiration came from a book called Tangaroa's Gift by Mere Whaanga-Schollum. The artist uses koru and black and white designs. Our art was made with dyes (paua colours) and black vivid.

Another activity we have in our challenge rotation is using an online game called Questionaut. It is from BBCKids and is a challenging activity where you go on a quest to retrieve a hat. You have to solve a problem at each level then answer 5 questions correctly to move on to the next level. These questions range from literacy and numeracy to science.

Questionaut

ipad apps

We have made a folder of Challenging ipad apps to use in one of our Challenge Rotations. These vary from quiz challenges to puzzles and maizes. These activities challenge the children to think, problem solve, take risks and modify/ change if they are unsuccessful. They support the skills we are encouraging children to develop to overcome challenges such as perseverance and persistence.

Challenge

I apologise for not posting regularly on our blog this term. We have been busy creating, learning about the Olympics and what it is like to be an Olympian and immersing ourselves in challenging activities.
Here is a brief overview of things we have done.

Fonterra Farm Visit

We had the most wonderful experience of visiting Fonterra Dairy Farm. A big thank you to Kim Robinson who organised the trip as well as Steve and Jeff the farmers who hosted us. We learnt so much and completed a challenging worksheet which taught us that you need to be a good mathematician to be a farmer. We also had a couple of challenge activities to complete while we were there. We set up electric fences to separate a paddock into 3 even areas for the cows to graze in and we moved some new born baby calves from their mothers into the sheds. Once again a huge thank you to Kim.

Our Pattern Work

As a cumulative task, we used the ipad app pic collage to take photos of our pattern artwork and inquiry. We wrote about how pattern helps us make sense of the world, how animals use pattern and what the world would be like without pattern.

Our Myths

As part of our concept pattern, we have been writing myths about the animal we studied for our inquiry. We then made the myth into a podcast or used photo babble on the ipad to retell our myth.
Unfortunately we are having trouble uploading our photo babble stories. Here are a few of our podcasts.

Turbo touch

Today we did turbo touch. One of the players from the starting team stood behind the touchdown zone with the ball. They tapped it with their foot then passed it out to a player. Almost everything was counted in twos. Each team could have two touches. The opposition team had to be two metres back from the person who had been touched. And how long did the opposition have to wait before they could touch them (the person who got touched). That's right! Two seconds. You're not allowed to drop the ball if you do the opposition team gets the ball. If you score a try and you're standing in the touchdown zone it will not count. We all had loads of fun.





By Ben.M and Callum.

The Rope Swing at Health Camp

The rope swing is 27 feet tall. The super swing goes super fast. We hang on as tight as we can. It was awesome!

Tyson Cook
29/5/12

Dj and joecarl

Dj and joecarl demonstrated kata for us today.

Dj and joecarl

Kata demonstration

The Gymnastics Competition

At school we showed our news which were our gymnastics ribbons and medals(awards). For our gymnastics competition we had six routines. The routines were pommel,high bar,vault,floor,rings and Parallel bars. The colours of the ribbons are green,blue,red and gold.The red and gold ribbons are the ones we are aiming for. After lunch we showed the class our routines, well most of them anyway. We showed them the parallel bar routine, then the high bar routine.After that we showed them our floor routine. And last, but not least, our pommel routine. Last of all the teacher took a photo of us together holding up our medals,ribbons and certificates.
By Thomas Robinson and Ben Murray.

Thomas and Ben

Thomas and ben will be reporting on their gymnastics. Here is a slideshow of their demonstration that they put on for the class.

Room 13 news

Each week in pairs children from our class are going to be reporters and write a news story about something that is happening in our class, school, or home life. We will be using the app blog press to send it straight to our blog so watch this space.
We will also be writing stories on our sfx authors blog.

Fun Brain

In Maths we have been using this new interactive Maths website called Fun Brain to explore number. It is fun!. Click on the picture and it will take you to the website.

http://www.funbrain.com/brain/MathBrain/MathBrain.html

Pattern Search

As an immersion activity Mrs Pene took photos of patterns found within our school. Armed with a camera or ipod and with a selection of photos we had to find the object the pattern was a part of. We took a photo of the object as evidence and Mrs Wendt checked that we had correctly identified the objects. Some of the patterns were hard to find and we needed clues.

ipads in the classroom

We are lucky to have ipads to integrate into our classroom programme. We have had iplay sessions as part of an immersion rotation where we have been able to use any app and find our way around an ipad.
We will be using them within our maths and literacy programmes and looking at new creative ways to present our learning

Business Cards

As a culminating task for Our Story/ Our Culture we designed our own business cards. We have used QR codes to link people to our authors blog where you can read a little bit about our name, family and culture. You will have to scan the QR codes to see where the other code takes you!

Go on a hunt to see what other things use QR codes.

Cultural diversity

Using the photographs from the culture dress up day we used the alpha key to alpha out the background and put ourselves in a landscape that depicts our culture.

Culture Day

Today was our school cultural day. Some of our class dressed up in a cultural dress from another country. We had a school parade and all danced to the makarena. Can you guess what country we are from?

Te Ao Marama

On Friday we had the most wonderful experience at Te Ao Marama in Te Hana. We visited a pa based on one you would have found in the 17th century. Matua Ben and his team greeted us with a powhiri and we were also greeted in the village by a wero. (challenge)

I would highly recommend Te Ao Marama to any class, we learnt so much.

QR Codes

This is a QR code. If you have an iphone, ipod touch or ipad, you can download a QR scanner to read this code and take you to our link for our sfx13 Authors Blog. We are making business cards with these codes on so you can read what we have written about ourselves.

You can go to QR generator sites where you can imput urls (links for internet sites) and create a code that takes you straight to that site.

Swimming Lessons

These are some photos of our swimming lessons.

We think we have made great progress.

All About Me

We are making booklets about Our Story. These are our Comic Life stories

All About Me on PhotoPeach

Wordles

Using a programme called Wordle, we created a wordle using words to describe ourselves.