Goodbye 2009

We have reached the end of school for 2009, and we're going on holiday! We have had a fantastic year this year, filled with exciting things, but we're all looking forward to Christmas and having a break. We'll be back at school at the start of February next year, although we'll all be in different classes. We'll be big Year 4's! Some of us are going to be in Sandie and Kerry's class and some of us will be with Mrs Fale. Mrs Hamilton is moving too, but she's just changing classrooms.

Our class is packed up and we are going to enjoy our holidays! See you next year!

Highlights of 2009

Room 10 has had a wonderful year in 2009. We did lots of wonderful things like going on trips, making circuits, writing sense poems, sports events, algebra fun day, art, keeping ourselves safe, writing narratives, learning about Antarctica, reading journals and lots more. We have really liked having a blog so that we can share our learning with people around the world. Mrs Hamilton's highlight of the year is watching her fantastic class become independent learners who have lots of fun! Watch the movie to find out some more highlights!

Reflecting on our Learning

Since school is almost over for the year, we have been talking about all the interesting things we have learned this year. We wrote all about what we have learned in reading, writing, maths and other areas, and then picked one thing to tell YOU about! Watch the clip to find out what we learned...

Fiafia Day

On Friday it was Fiafia Day. Our parents came to our classroom at 9am to see our amazing artwork and all the great learning we have done this year. Then we did a performance for them. We performed the song, Uira, which is about the Maori god of thunder and lightning. We looked pretty cool! If you'd like to hear the song, play the slideshow and you'll hear it!

The Edublog Awards

This week, we were lucky enough to be nominated by Room 9 Nelson Central as the Class Blog of the year. On Wednesday, we heard that we had made the finals! This is a global award and there are many schools competing around the world. We are very grateful to Room 9 Nelson Central for nominating us and also very proud of ourselves for all the work we have done this year. We have had lots of fun!

If you're visiting here from edublog, please check out all the exciting things we have done over the year! If you'd like to vote for us, click here, scroll down to find our name, and then press vote!

Science: How to make candles (heat and light)

To finish off our learning about sound, movement, electricity, magnetism, heat and light, we made candles! It was heaps of fun and very messy.

First we made a hole in the centre of a yoghurt pot, then we threaded the wick through the hole and tied it to a skewer at the top of the pot to keep the wick straight.

Next, we put in anything special that we wanted to add, like glitter, beads, buttons and leaves. Then it was time to add the wax! We got to choose different colours to make our candles. Ashleigh melted the wax in a pot for us, and then poured it into our yoghurt container.

Finally, we left our candles to set in trays overnight. Tomorrow we will be able to remove them from the yoghurt pot. We can't wait!

Collaborative Writing: Narrative

This week we have been doing some really cool writing! We were asked by Room 9 at Nelson Central if we would like to write narratives with them.

We have been using google docs to do this. A group of two people from our class and two from theirs write the story together, at the same time, over the internet! It is very cool.

If you'd like to check out some of our stories, please visit their blog by clicking on the link, since their teacher has kindly put them up!

It has been lots of fun for us, learning to write in a different style, and getting to work together with kids we've never met! Thanks for including us, Room 9!

Narrative Writing: Robots

We have been practising narrative writing this week because we are doing an exciting collaborative project with another school, so we wrote our own narratives all about our robots. They are masterpieces!! Many of them are pages and pages long, so here are the beginnings of just a few to give you a peek into the fantastic robot narratives!

Today was Robot Day and I think it was the best day ever! Something weird happened when I finished making my robot though. It suddenly came alive! When I moved, the robot moved the same way as me. Then I realised that I was the controller, but I didn't know how I controlled it...

By Anisah

Once upon a time there was a robot called Chucky who lived in the trees. I lived in my house underneath him. He was very cool but I was scared of him. I wasn't sure if he was a friendly robot. One day, he came down from his tree and started walking towards me. I was so scared that I couldn't move. All I could do was...

By Ethan

A long time ago there was a robot and a girl. The robot's name was Aly and the girl's name was Phoenix. Aly wanted to save the world but there was a problem - he had to break into the Evil Diamond Palace because the blue powerful diamond that would help him beat the bad guys was there...

By Phoenix

Robot Construction

Yesterday was robot making day! We spent all morning gluing, tying, nailing, taping and fitting together our recycled plastic and metal objects to make or robots. We had some fantastic parent helpers who made sure we were safe using the hot glue guns, sawed and drilled for us, and helped our robots to come to life!

Next we got to choose a colour to spray paint our robots, and we taped over any parts that we didn't want sprayed. Our lovely parents then spray painted them for us and we left them in the sun to dry.

Finally, we added the finishing touches, unwrapping any covered bits, adding extra decoration and fixing up any bits that had fallen off. We are very proud of our finished robots and think they look amazing.

Thanks to Toni, Donald, Julie and Peter for all their help!

Photos by Jennifer.

Maui and the Sun: Retelling Maori Stories

This week, Group A have been reading all about the trickster Maui and how he slowed the sun. They then retold the story in eight points and made those points into a play. They practiced and practiced their play until it was perfect. Then they performed it for the class and for you! We hope you enjoy watching.

Robot Preparation: Sketches

We are going to be constructing our robots this week, so in preparation we have sketched the plan of what we hope they look like. We then created a charcoal drawing of our robots, complete with their names. We also made a crayon and indian ink creation of our design. Now we know exactly what we want them to look like, we're ready to begin building!

EOTC at Grey Lynn Park

Continuing our EOTC experience, today we went to Grey Lynn Park to do a scavenger hunt. We had to count and name the sculptures there, count the number of rubbish bins and answer lots of other hard questions! We also had to find objects that went with different adjectives, like prickly, tall and heavy. Then we played Castle as a final activity. Phoenix took heaps of photos of us while we were doing all these cool things. Check out her awesome photography!

Our Trip to MOTAT

On Wednesday, the Kauri Team went to MOTAT. MOTAT is short for Musuem Of Transport And Technology. We went there to learn more about electricity. We learned about electrons, conductors and insulators from a man called Frazer. We did an electricity trail around MOTAT and saw heaps of cool things like the Victorian Village, old forms of transport, the boiler room and lots more!

We also went to the Challenge Zone, where there were lots of fun activities to do like building a small bridge, the kaleidoscope room, looking in a mirror that made you look short and fat, and there was even a mirror where you could shake your own hand!

Another area was Sports Alive! There was a rowing race, a running track where you could test your own speed, there were places to shoot balls into hoops, there was a rugby ball you could kick into a net to see how fast your kick was, and a balancing machine that sees how long you can balance for.

We had a really fun time at MOTAT and we hope that we can go there again soon!

Kid Pix Animation: Building Robots

Our robot construction project is underway! Today we divided up all of the junk we have collected. We sketched the design of our robots, and soon we will begin to assemble them. Jennifer made a slideshow which shows how she might build her robot, piece by piece. Check out her awesome work!

Science Concepts: Gravity

This Kid Pix slideshow by Robbie shows gravity in action. His leaf slowly falls from the tree and hits the ground. Watch the movement happen!

Science concepts: Magnetism

We're learning all about electricity, movement, sound, light and magnetism this term. We learned that magnets have a north and south pole, and that unlike poles attract each other while like poles repel each other. Celia chose to show this by making an animation in Kid Pix. Check it out!

Martin Horspool's Robots

Since we're going to be building robots soon, we had a fantastic guest speaker in to tell us all about how he does it. Martin Horspool builds amazing robots which he sells to people. He builds his robots out of things that have been thrown away. He showed us some of his cool robots and then explained how we could join different parts together to make our robots. He also answered heaps of questions for us so we're feeling almost ready to begin constructing our own robots!

Calendar Scraffitos

These are the last scraffitos that Room 10 will be doing this year. We made these for the calendars that our parents can buy for next year. So parents, see if you can pick which one will be coming to your house sometime soon! As for Room 10, we're moving on and will be looking at construction this term, specifically the construction of robots. Look out for those later in Term 4!

Myths and Legends: Poems about the Trojan War

For reading, Group D has been learning all about the Trojan War. They have written some poems to explain what happened. See if you can tell what kinds of poems they are!

Long, long ago there was a war

and you’ll never believe what people saw.

A thousand ships were sent,

hundreds of peoples souls were lent.

The Greeks built a wooden horse,

the Trojans took it in of course.

Greek soldiers came out of the horse at night,

all around there was fire and fright.

The Greeks won and they left the place

and the Trojans left, without a trace.

By Maia.

Troy

blood thirsty, scary

fighting, killing, trying

it was really horrible

War

By Stella

Wooden horse

Open war

Optional

Disaster caused by the gods

Ended with many deaths

Not fair

Horse was a trick

Of the Greeks to get inside Troy

Really strong armies

Ships sailed from Greece

Enough ships to conquer Troy

By Jordan

Troy

Swords, shields

fighting, chopping, battling

Many people died there

City of flame

By Briar

Harvesting Radishes and Lettuce from our Garden

Earlier last term, the Kauri team planted vegetables in our school garden. We have been watering them and looking after them since then. We got back to school this term to find that all our vegetables had grown! The radishes and the lettuce were ready to eat so today we harvested them. We brought bread and some other fillings from home and together with the lettuce and radishes, made ourselves yummy sandwiches! They tasted delicious and we had lots of fun.

Hercules and the Lion by Group D

Last week Group D read a book all about Hercules, a Greek mythical hero, and how he killed the Hydra, a nine headed monster. They also read a list of the other tasks Hercules had to do. Then they had to expand one of Hercules' tasks using their imaginations. Stella chose to write about Hercules and the Lion. The book said, "Hercules had to kill a lion with very tough skin. Then he put on it's skin to keep him safe." Stella expanded the story and then her group created a play based on her story. Watch the clip to see Group D performing Stella's rendition of Hercules and the Lion.

Retelling the story: Why the Crocodile Has No Tongue

Group A have been hard at work already this term. This week, they have read the Junior Journal story, Why the Crocodile Has No Tongue. Then they retold the story in six points and then acted out the story. Watch the clip to find out why the crocodile has no tongue, and read the original story in Junior Journal 24!

Term 4 Learning Goals

We are back for our fourth and final term this year! We're very excited as we will be learning all about mythical and scientific heroes, statistics and writing to inquire. As well as that, we will be improving our animation skills using Kid Pix and Keynote. We have also been thinking about other ways in which we could improve. We all set one goal in an area we think we could strengthen. Watch the clip to find out our goals!

Term 4: Looking Ahead

We're already thinking about Term 4 in Room 10. Here are some of the things that we are looking forward to next term!

Term Three: PMI (Plus, Minus, Interesting)

.We've almost reached the end of Term Three, so Room 10 has been reflecting on everything we have done this term. We did a PMI using Post It Notes, which we stuck on the windows, to help us reflect on all of our learning this term and how we felt about it. Then some of us recorded our thoughts using Photo Booth. Watch the clip above to find out about our Pluses, Minuses and Interestings!

Trip to Waitakere Gymnasium

Today Room 10 and the Kauri Team went to the Waitakere Gymnasium. We got to use heaps of cool equipment and practice lots of fantastic moves at different stations. Then we did a sculpture walk in Olympic Park, which was hard work since it was raining! We had a great time today and hope we get to go back again in the future!

All about Reports

This week for reading, Group B read an report by Mitchell Rattenbury about his Grandma, Dot Meharry. It told them all about Nana Dot, her likes and dislikes and her hobbies. Then the members of Group B were asked to write reports just like Mitchell, but about another person in their group. Here are Jennifer and Xavier to tell you all about each other!

(Reading from Junior Journal 33, My Grandma is an Author.)

Kid Pix Diagrams

Because we are learning all about animals and report writing, we drew our animal and labelled it's features in Kid Pix. Here are some of our finished diagrams!

Friday Reflections

On Thursday, Room 10 went to the Grey Lynn Library. We walked for 10 minutes to get there. When we got there I was so excited to use my library card. There were two ladies there who helped us. I got out a rhino book for my report. We stayed there for 30 minutes and looked around the library. Then we walked back to school. I felt happy on the way back because I had a good time. I liked going to the library because it was so fun and I learned lots about animals.By Ethan.

Nearly every day this week we did art. For art we have been learning to do scraffito. We also did drawing and painting. My group painted a lion. The colours we chose for our

scraffito background were pink, purple and green. It looks really good. The part I liked most about it was the drawing and painting. I only sort of liked scratching because the black paint got under my fingernails. I really really liked painting because our lion was so big that we could choose lots of colours. Art was great this week.

By Amy.

The thing I enjoyed most this week was PE because I liked playing tapawai which is a traditional Maori ball game. We won 2:1 after we had split our class in two and challenged each other. I scored one point and the other point we got because the defender knocked over the cone. My favourite position is shooter because I am good at it. In total I've scored six points but two didn't count. I felt really happy playing tapawai.

By Matt.

Visual Art: Scraffito Panels

Here are Room 10's finished scraffito panels, which took us about 5 weeks to finish. They were a lot of work! We talked about hot and cold colours, creating a contrast, shape, patterns and how to use space effectively when creating our masterpieces. Each panel was designed and created by one person who had to work together with their group of three to make their panels look like part of a whole. Have a look at the results!

Algebra Fun Day

Today in Room 10 we had Algebra Fun Day! This meant that we got to do algebra all day. We learned all about patterns, how to find the next number in a pattern and work out what the rule is, and also how to use "greater than, less than and equal to" signs. We learned lots and had heaps of fun. Check out our pictures to see our cool day!

Group A: Facts about Bees

Here are the girls in Group A to tell you some interesting facts they learned this week in reading! Phoenix filmed this movie using the flipvideo. Listen carefully and you can find out all about how bees talk to each other.

Reading Group C: Retelling the Frog Adventure Story

Here are the other three members of Group C (Robbie, Anton and Max) to retell their story of the week. This is the same story that Amy and Celia used to find frog facts! We hope you enjoy the retelling just as much!

Xtranormal Movie: Reading Group C on Frogs

This week, Group C read a School Journal story about frogs. Here are Amy and Celia to tell you some facts they learned when they were reading.

Zoo Trip

On Thursday, the Kauri Team went to the zoo to gather information for our report writing. We walked there from school through Western Springs. At the zoo, there were lots of animals for us to choose from for our reports. We also visited the Education Centre where Jen talked to us about Orangutans and Kiwi and how their habitats are changed. Then we had the long walk home, which really tired us out! It was an exciting day.

Protect the Kakapo!

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Grandparents Day and Book Week

This week was Book Week at Grey Lynn School. We celebrated by reading exciting books and having different teachers read to different classes every day. Today was also Grandparents Day, so our grandparents came to see our class, and we showed them around the school, especially the library, where they were allowed to donate a book if they wanted! They also looked at our art (the scruffito drawings) as part of the Art Exhibition.

The day finished with a character parade. The Kauri Team dressed up as animals from any book we had read which tied in with our Animal Heroes theme. Costume winners were chosen based on originality, connection to a book, and whether they had used stuff at home to make the costume. Watch the clip and see our winners, as well as the rest of our fun day!

Term 3 Art Project - Scruffito

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For art this term, we are learning all about painting. We are also experimenting with a technique called Scruffito, where you colour in a piece of paper with crayons or pastels, paint over it with black paint, and then scratch patterns into it. We also added painted animals, since animal heroes are our topic this term. Here are the finished results of Room 10's first try at scruffito!

Classifying Animals: Birds

Here are Matt and Sasha to tell exactly why birds are part of the bird family. This helped us to understand how birds like the kiwi and penguins could be birds even though they can't fly! We hope you like it!

Report Writing: Sharks are fish!

For report writing this week, have been focusing on making sure all the words we use are factual and that we don't use words like 'you,' 'I', and 'we.' We are also learning to have an introduction at the start, bundles of facts in the middle and a conclusion at the end. Maia has written a fantastic report about sharks, and together with Jaime they made a movie using the report as a script. See if you can hear the three parts of a report in the movie!

Classifying Animals: Amphibians

We have been learning how to classify animals in Room 10. Here is a movie by Max and Jennifer about what the characteristics of an amphibian. Take a look!

Kelly Sports

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This term we are practicing Report Writing. Here is our report, which we wrote as a class, on our Friday experience at Kelly Sports.

Kelly Sports is a sports programme that happens after school on a Tuesday on our school field or courts. Once a term a person from Kelly Sports shows their activities to Grey Lynn School kids. Jeremy works at Kelly Sports.

Jeremy teaches a game called "Fishing." One person has a net and the other has two tennis balls. The first person throws the tennis balls and the other person has to try and catch them in the net.

Another game is called "Chopsticks Catching." The game requires one person. The person throws the ball and then catches it with two or three fingers like chopsticks. This game requires lots of skill.

A third game involved passing a rugby ball over one persons head, and then under the other persons head, before doing the "washing machine" where the two people pass their ball around their waists while standing back to back.

Kelly Sports teaches skills like passing a ball, catching, throwing and skill for playing games like ripper rugby, hockey and soccer.

100 Days of Learning Celebration

Today we celebrated 100 days of learning at school this year. We did lots of fun activities to do with 100: for fitness we did 100 star jumps, we worked out facts like which day was 100 days after our birthday for maths, and we drew what we thought we'd look like when we're 100 and wrote a description for writing. We're also trying to fill our 100 minutes of reading thermometer this week!

Another fun thing today was making fairy bread using 100s and 1000s. We also dressed up using the number 100, and the Kauri Team tried to bring more than 100 cans to give to Auckland City Mission. We definitely succeeded!

We had a school assembly on the court and presented some items to our parents to celebrate 100 days of learning. The Kauri Team sung a fantastic song and did our Kauri Team cheer, which was really loud. All our parents were really impressed with us. It's been a great day!

Term Three: Looking Forward

We're back! Today was Room 10's first day back at school for Term 3. We have had some exciting holidays, but we're all glad to be back at school and ready to learn about new, interesting things. Our topic this term is Animal Heroes, and as part of it we will be going to the zoo. We will be learning how to write informational reports for writing, and we're working hard on multiplication and division for maths! Painting will be our focus for art, and gymnastics is part of our P.E for the term. It's going to be a busy term full of learning and fun!

Watch the movie to see some of the things we are most looking forward to.