Team 18 St Albans School

The Scientist Who Needed A Friend

2011-12-03T22:45:00.002+13:00

Jake had an idea to create a mystery story about a scientist and his appearance in a school yard. The children in the playground are playing with Moshlings. The scientist does his best to find himself a friend.

Let's take a look at the video:

The Lion Cub

2011-12-03T22:25:00.002+13:00

Gyda wrote such a good story about an African Reserve that it was turned into script for a puppet theatre. When a lion cub is found by itself and wounded, the team at the reserve go into action. Gyda hopes that you enjoy her story.

Counting down... 3. 2, 1, action

A Touch of Greek Mythology

2011-12-03T22:02:00.004+13:00

James, Robert and Ibrahim wrote stories based on the Greek myth about Medusa. Jordyn had fun using her puppet in the role of Medusa. Neve works the narrator puppet.

Let's take a look at how their story pans out.
Counting down 3, 2, 1 .....

2011-12-03T19:20:00.005+13:00

Sharing our Puppet Theatres at Syndicate Assembly

After writing narrative stories, a number were selected to be re-written as script for puppet theatres. We had fun making our wooden spoon puppets and having parents come in to work with us during the making process. They looked so real when they were finished. We spent two weeks learning the scripts. Some of us took them home to read for homework.

Last week we ran the Middle Syndicate Assembly so that we had an audience to perform our puppet theatres to. The video footage of each puppet theatre is posted separately because of their length. Find the Puppet Theatre label and the title that you would like to view.

The first video is based on Toby's mystery story about the pyramids in Egypt. Toby was interested in the treasure recovered over the years. He wanted to know what happened to it. Maybe some families from our school were in Melbourne for the recent Tutehkahmen exhibition. Passages of Toby's story were used in this puppet theatre.

What problems could exist? .....

Athletic Results

2011-11-06T21:16:00.002+13:00

Team 18 had a wonderful day on Tuesday at St Albans Athletic Sports.

1) Our boys relay team won the Year 3 relay event.

2) Girls 7 years

Piper Wilson-Bungard took first place in; shot put, high jump, long jump and sprints.

Lydia Mercer-Beumelburg came second place in shot put and Gyda Jolley second in discus.

Neve Vangioni came third in shot put, discus, high jump and long jump.

3) Boys 7 years

Jackson William came second in high jump and third in sprints.

Toby Lambert came second in long jump.

We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate these children. They made us all feel very proud of them. All of that training paid off.

Our Big Day Out at Orana Wildlife Park

2011-10-11T17:02:00.016+13:00

Our Orana Wildlife Park Visit:

On Wednesday, Room 18 went on a bus trip to Orana Park. The drive was pretty calm until we hit a bump in the road. It felt like we were on a roller-coaster for a short time.

When we got to the park an educational ranger met us near the entrance fence. His name was Toby. Toby explained a few of the rules (re safety) and then let us enter through the gate. He led us into a large room within the park where we could leave our bags. Then we went into another room that had seats similar to that of a theatre. Two other education people met us there.

We followed our guide outside and headed for the lion's den. One of the lions was bigger than all of the others. A family of lions including the mother were all cuddled up in one corner of their yard because it was quite cold. The big lion stood a few metres away to keep watch. We saw the large cubs play with each other. The mother lion got a little cross at times.

Next we went to see the Spider-Monkeys. They came out of a small opening in their house to get to their island. 'Magnificent at swinging!' "I wish I was able to do that." I thought to myself.

After that we went to see the Lemurs. They were sitting on ledges peering out at everyone. We also visited the rhinos and got to feed the giraffes. That was my favourite part. Finally we saw the Meercats. They were digging lots of holes in the sand. I was on guard too!

We were hungry by that time so we went back to the education centre for some lunch. After lunch we had some time to visit the tigers and the farmyard before saying goodbye to the park rangers, getting on the bus and heading back to school. What a fun day we had.

Reported by Robert

Thank you to Jordyn's mother for the photographs:

Our Award Winners for Week Eight

2011-09-23T08:11:00.004+12:00

Congratulations to our award winners this week.

The award for achievement went to Gyda for the progress she has made in reading and writing. This week Gyda read to the class from a challenging text. She enjoyed the opportunity to share her literacy skill with her peers and laugh at the humorous content.

Toby was awarded a certificate for his courteous approach to sharing during team assignment. Toby displays many of the values that St Albans School works towards; respect, community, showing initiative and creativity. What a great example he sets .

Jake achieved the Heart of Achievement this week. Jake has demonstrated such a positive attitude to his work and continues to strive for excellence in all that he does. We particularly like Jake's questions and the interest he shows in our Inquiry subjects.

Congratulations and well done to these students.

Expressing An Emotion Using Art

2011-09-23T07:51:00.009+12:00

The theme that the Christchurch Art Gallery tutors used for the abstract art lesson was 'emotions.' The children screen printed the background of their work in gold paint and then used dye to paint in their foreground. The use of colours and brush strokes was to depict their chosen emotion. These photographs were

taken throughout the art-making process.

Dr Nutty is Caught on Video

2011-09-17T21:03:00.003+12:00

This footage captures some of the moments caught of video by one of our parents. The full performance is available on CD.

Our Performance Day

2011-09-17T20:43:00.003+12:00

It is so hard to believe that all our hard work paid off and our performance was staged. It seemed such a lot of time had passed since we had written the script and started to learn it. We went into role, with costume and makeup and it all came to life. It was great having the middle and senior school there as an audience. Best of all we had many of our parents in the audience to clap at the end of each scene. A video was made of the performance by Ibrahim's dad. If any families want a copy please contact our teacher.

Visit from the Public Library

2011-09-10T22:00:00.003+12:00

On Tuesday a number of children from the middle syndicate enjoyed participating in storytelling. Props including hand held puppets were used to bring the characters in picture books to life. The performances were superb. Here are a few photographs sent across to us from Room 19. Thanks to Mrs de Vries.

Assembly Presenters and Awards

2011-08-25T18:52:00.005+12:00

This week it was Room 18's turn to run assembly. Holly and Jack did a great job.

Our Heart of Achievement Award this week went to Jack for his wonderful attitude to all curriculum work. The other two recipients of awards were Holly for her work ethic and Jordyn who works so hard on her reading. Congratulations for all of your hard work.

Learning About Cubist Artworks

2011-08-25T18:25:00.016+12:00

Integrating artwork into our geometry unit gave the concepts of rotation, translation, refection, open and closed spaces an all together new meaning. Having discussed and shared some of Pablo Picasso's cubist work, the children viewed video footage to learn more about the concept of cubism and how this form of artwork is created.

We based our artwork on a selected container within the classroom and proceeded to visually manipulate it. Once the object was drawn onto the paper, shading was taught, as was the importance of enhancing specific lines on the artwork.

Here are some of the completed artworks and children sharing them at assembly.

The first piece of art is Ella's creation.

The second artwork belongs to Jack.

Daniel had not quite completed his work at this stage.

Sharing at assembly:

Room 18 Awards

2011-08-20T15:13:00.002+12:00

Assembly Awards;

The recipients of our awards in Week 2 were as follows:

Heart of Achievement: Lydia Mercer Beumelberg

Values Certificate: Daniel Bensley

Achievement Certificate: Blake Sayers

We offer these children our congratulations.

A Message for Room 18 Children and Parents

2011-08-17T10:06:00.003+12:00

An opportunity to be really creative:

It seems that we are in the grip of yet another disruption to home and school life. I have decided to post some spelling words onto the Blog and ask the children to use them creatively in a snow poem or short story.
To enhance the writing use a simile if possible (e.g. as slippery as an eel, silent like my thoughts ) or alliteration ( a string of words that start with the same letter or sound).
Don't forget to illustrate your work and bring it into school on Friday morning.

If you have time to access the IXL site on the blog, select Year 3 or Year 4 depending on how confident you feel. This site is closely linked to our math curriculum and will help to develop math concepts. It is interactive and very user friendly.

Words for your writing exercise:

silent shivering still shimmering soaking sudden surprised slippery surface

'Our Wheelie Day'

2011-08-13T22:22:00.007+12:00

On Tuesday, one of the requests submitted by the students through their school councillors came into fruition - a 'Wheelie Day.' What a perfect Tuesday it was. The sun shone and the air was warm. The children enjoyed the 45 minutes to show off their skill. What a wonderful way to get some exercise. We include a short slideshow of the event.

2011-08-13T21:06:00.001+12:00

The children would like to share some of their narrative stories with you. Having studied the process of bread making, they have written a story about what could happen if the bread making process went horribly wrong. It is difficult to publish all of their work but we hope you enjoy reading a sample.

The Bread Monster
Written by Neve

Early one morning a scientist was doing a bread experiment on how to make bread. He wrote the write things into his book but he had one thing that he had not labelled properly. It would be the potion that would make the bread come alive. He fixed the problem and wrote that down in his book too. He thought that the potion was a bottle of yeast so he put the yeast in with the other ingredients. The scientist stirred it up. The bread was ready.

The bread turned into a bread monster. It chased the scientist all around the laboratory. He ran out of the laboratory and ran into a bread shop. The bread monster had followed him. The scientist was heading straight for the oven. The scientist saw some rope that was dangling off the roof. He got to the oven and quickly climbed up the rope. The bread monster could not stop so it ran right into the oven. The scientist jumped down off the rope and shut the oven door and turned the oven up to 200 degrees Celsius. The bread monster was cooked alive. When he came out of the oven he was as solid as a rock.

Monster on the Rampage

Written by Blake
A monster was on a rampage and every time he stomped his feet, he created an earthquake. He had one eye and a bagel for a shield. He had a bread tail and bread wings. He was quite smelly, really quite rotten.

There was a totally wicked Wednesday when everytime the monster saw the sun, he grew bigger and bigger. He grew so big that he floated off into space, suffocated and died. That made the sky rain loaves of bread.

The Bread Monster

Early one morning the bakers were making a new type of bread. Suddenly the oven started to rumble. It was like a 6.9 earthquake, except in the oven. This tiny bread man jumped out of the oven and slipped out of the bakery.

The sun came out and then the little bread man started to grow. No more than a few minutes later, the bread man was a giant!

He went into the city and went on a rampage. The bakers screamed, “Oh no! That’s not good. That’s where the professor lives.” The bakers ran after him and into the professor’s laboratory. They said,” professor there’s a bread monster on the loose.”
“Oh no!” the professor said. Robert, Jake and James ran in.

“We have a solution,” they yelled. They brought a giant toaster into the room. “Meet the giant toaster 2000,” they said. They all took it outside and lured the bread monster closer. Once he was inside of it, they pushed the lever down and then popped him off into space. No-one knew what might happen next but the professor was delighted with the result.

Written by Robert

Shapes

2011-08-07T15:12:00.004+12:00

We have been studying Geometry this past week. We have been learning about the difference between polygons (2D shapes) and polyhedra (3D shapes). We have been learning their names, how many faces, edges and vertices they have and how to use them in artwork and construction. We used translation, reflection and rotation in some of our artwork.

This movie was taken during a team activity. Each group was asked to create a number of different shapes and to colour them. After that was completed we were provided with glue and newspaper and asked to sit in a circle. The goal of the activity was to cooperatively create a picture using the shapes we had individually made without talking to each other, but to use all the shapes we had made. We had to take turns and encourage each other using positive body language. Here is the result.

This is another activity that we completed as a group. We had to construct a polyhedra based on the shapes that we had been shown. To keep the structure together was quite difficult. We found out that triangular shapes were definitely the strongest. We wondered whether maybe we should consider that when we rebuild our new city. Here are some of the photos taken during the construction phase.

End of Term Two Poetry Competition

2011-08-07T15:05:00.003+12:00

While the poetry competition results are known, we thought that it would be great to share this movie with you. We are sure that you will agree that Jackson, Lydia, Robert and Bukhosi were very convincing during their poetry recital.

Our In-School Beach Activity Day

2011-07-21T16:12:00.005+12:00

The year to date has not enabled school trips to the beach or swimming pools. To make up for these lost opportunities, we thought that it would be fun for the children to participate in beach related activities for their 'Big Day In.' The activities included making a hula skirt in Room 17, a pair of wacky sunglasses in Room 19 and using fabric crayons to create their own placemat based on a beach theme in Room 18. This slideshow was taken after the activities had been completed and the children were sharing their work with the adults and Junior School. Everyone enjoyed their shared lunch.

Welcome to Room 18's Laboratory

2011-05-28T14:28:00.004+12:00

Since the beginning of week 3 we have been following an Inquiry process to find out what a number of scientific concepts mean. One of the first was to look at different liquids and to work out why some liquids fell to the bottom of a container while others floated to the top, or remained in the middle of the container. The objective of this Inquiry was to establish what density meant.

Questions asked were:
a) What do we already know about the liquids we are using in this experiment?
b) Knowing this about the liquids we are using, what is our hypothesis?
c) What must we do to create a Fair Test?
d) If we measure 50mls of each liquid and place it in a beaker, can we predict what will happen?
e) How will we make sure that our recordings are accurate?
f) Observing the process, can we conclude what has happened?

The slideshow will take you on a short journey through our Inquiry process. The children having completed this part of the process still have questions they want to answer. We will share the results of this work with you next week. In the meantime, enjoy watching the slideshow.

2011-05-28T13:10:00.003+12:00

Evaluation of our clay unit:

We thought you would like to listen to some members of the class sharing their pottery experience . While the creative process develops new skills and is great fun, it is also important to be able to evaluate the end product. Students generally enjoy discussing their process and receiving feedback. The clay sculptures were designed to represent a strength the student exhibited. We hope you enjoy watching the movie.

A Chance To Discuss Our Process:

How we used statistics to learn about Multiple Intelligence

2011-05-15T21:34:00.013+12:00

The first two weeks back at school this term have provided an opportunity to reflect on our Term One Inquiry and to enable the children to use their knowledge of SOLO Taxonomy to assess their learning journey. While most children believed that they were in the Unistructural Phase (knew one piece of information) at the beginning of the unit, they were confident to place themselves in the Multistructural Phase (had made multiple links with the subject) or Relational Phase (confident to justify their position based on their understanding and application of knowledge ). Refer to the link on SOLO Taxonomy for further information on SOLO Taxonomy at the side of our Blog.

Rather than have the children write a report on their findings, we decided to informally share ideas. The children were asked to respond to questions aimed at unlocking their understanding of Multiple Intelligence. The movie is divided into sections and is approximately 10 minutes in duration. You may find the youtube site posted at the side of our Blog interesting. Howard Gardner discusses how he believes an understanding of Multiple Intelligence could shape American education in the future. The New Zealand Inquiry Model is certainly taken a huge step towards this goal.

Once you have viewed the movie we would be grateful if you would click on the link 'post a sticky' at the bottom of the wall. This will direct you to wallwisher where you will double click on the orange background to post a note to the children. If you have any questions, the children will do their best to answer them. If your child wants to post a note to share how they feel about the work they completed, they are most welcome.

It's Autumn

2011-05-08T21:02:00.002+12:00

During our first week back at school, our writing focus has been the development of Haiku poems. What better ignition than to view our grand old oak trees preparing for winter. Rather than publish poems on the Blog, the children recite their own work. We hope you enjoy the poems that are posted.

Holiday Adventures

2011-05-08T17:31:00.012+12:00

The First Week Back for Term Two

The class share their holiday experiences in small groups.

Here are some of the exciting events that they were involved in over the two week break.

Jackson: "I went to Hamner Springs with my friend. I fell off the edge of the mini waterslide but I was okay. My family went down to Lake Ohau. It was there that I got another piece of my favourite Lego."

James " I was in Auckland for some of the holidays. I went to see my friends Elliot and Nick. They used to go to our school. One day we went up into the SkyTower. It was fun."

Neve: " I know that Jake was in Dunedin because I saw him there. I went to stay with a relative. We went to the museum and found out about how electricity works. That's where I saw Jake."

Jake: " Yes, I was in Dunedin. While I was there I went on a tour of the Cadbury's Chocolate Factory. There was lots of chocolate to eat, but I'm not a big fan of it."

Jack: "I went all the way to Tekapo and Queenstown. It was really lovely because the leaves on the trees were all changing colour."

Toby: " We went on a long trip up the West Coast of New Zealand. I went over the Arthur's Pass to Greymouth and Hokitika and then onto up to Westport. We saw the pancake rocks at Punakaiki and then came back through the Lewis Pass. We did such a lot of traveling, but it was fun to see so much."

Myah: " I went up to Nelson to stay with my nana for Easter. She is really artistic. On Monday, we made nests out of clay and coconut shell and decorated them with feathers. Our eggs were made out of small stones. I was allowed to paint them."

Daniel: "I had my birthday during the holidays. I went to the Airforce Museum with my friends Robert and Jake. We had lots of fun jumping out of planes. I was given plane kits to make up. This is a Spitfire."

Working with Clay

2011-04-10T20:37:00.006+12:00

This week we commenced the art component of our unit on Multiple Intelligence. Before the children were able to handle the clay they had to think about and design (a) a pot and (b) a sculpture that might represent one of their strengths (intelligences).

The aim of the unit:
To learn about the texture of clay as it is being crafted
To join pieces of clay correctly so that when dry, they remain attached
To produce a coil and pinch pot
To creatively sculpt an object depicting a personally selected intelligence
To evaluate their own work and the work of others

We thought that an early glimpse at a work in progress may demonstrate to you the focus that each child had during the first phase of the unit. In this slideshow the children are producing their coil pot. Mucky hands were just another enjoyable part of this tactile experience.

We will post the sculptures at a later date.

Recounting St Albans Cross Country

2011-04-10T19:02:00.004+12:00

The children have been learning how to plan a recount so that events are sequenced and ideas are grouped for audience impact. While it is difficult to share all of their wonderful work on the blog, we will post two recounts this week and another two next.

The Amazing Day
It was the day of the cross-country. I was feeling excited. Mr Williams told us to line up and he showed us where to go. We did warm ups. When we were ready, Mr Williams blew the horn. I was running in 10th place, and running in 11th, Robert was right behind me. I was trying very hard to win. I was trying to get in front of other children. It was very hard. Bukhosi came first. It was his third win in a row. I saw him zooming past me like a rocket. While we were running, we first went out of English Park and through a gate, past the spider web, past the classrooms and out a different gate back into English Park. We had to watch out for trees on the way. We went around the square of the field in English Park, but we had to do two laps. We did some things again , but on the final lap we cut a corner to get to the finish line. At the finish we got a drink bottle. It said ‘ASB’ on it.
Written by Daniel

The Day Finally Came
Guess what I did on Thursday? It was our cross-country. A week before the cross-country we were in training. We were doing laps around the field. We did about six a day until it was time for the proper cross-country.

On the day, first we sat on the grass until we could move onto the chairs in the stadium at English Park. I was wearing my house colours. Mine was yellow. It was my turn to run. Mr Williams warmed us up. Then he blew a horn and I ran as fast as a rocket. I pounded over the hill and past a lot of people. When I got to the end of the race, I got a drink bottle. I found out that I had come in 15th place. Bukhosi won. After that I sat back down on the seat.
Next it was the girl’s turn. Piper came 6th and Lydia came 5th. Beth came first in the Year 3 girl’s race. We all ran a long way.

Written by Jack

Our Cross Country

2011-04-03T16:45:00.016+12:00

Our fitness training finally paid off. Every member of Room 18 completed the Middle School Cross Country. Bukhosi went on to win for the third time in succession. His determination was evident from the beginning of the week. We include a few photographs of the event.

1) The team wait as the junior classes complete the course

2)At the finish line

The winners and their very proud moment:

3) Yellow drink bottles each competitor received after completing the race

Poetry (Imagery)

2011-04-03T15:55:00.010+12:00

The children in Room 18 have continued to develop their understanding of Imagery. They have written poems about the sea using pictures and objects for motivation. The poetry aims at capturing each experience by using the five senses (sight, sound, taste, touch, smell). We have posted a number of published works for you to read. We hope you enjoy them.

Picture A Calm Day (Imagery)

The salty sea moves gently across the sand
I hear cheeky dolphins wriggling under the rowing boat
I feel the new paint job as a rub my fingers across the side of the boat
And taste the salty sea as it splashes in my face.

Howling gulls flying over the seven seas
Great white sharks surround the boat
I lower the feeding cage under the ocean
The terrifying sharks amaze me.

Finally I head back to the surface
Lightning smashes and thunder rumbles overhead
It’s time to go home.

Written by Blake (Year 3)

My Day at the Beach

Touch the slippery shiny shells
They look like gold
I taste the salty water as it slips down my throat
Hear the dolphins talking to each other
See the bubbles as the shoal of fish splash their tails
Smell the fish after they are reeled onto the boat
I loved my day at the beach

Written by Piper (Year 3)

My Sea Poem

As I lift the rocks, crabs scatter
Their pincers are clicking.
I feel the waves roll smoothly over the top of me,
And taste the water as it swirls over my tongue.
I touch the slippery green seaweed
See the seaweed swaying
As the wind would blow it,
If it were leaves on a tree.
The water is warm,
But I don’t put my head under the salty sea.
I prefer this view.

Written by Madison (Year 3)

My Sea Poem
I watch groups of seagulls flying together.
As we touch the shells, I see massive waves pounding
We see a shoal of fish as we dive into the sea
As I swim, slimy seaweed floats underneath me.

Climbing out of the water,
A crab pinches my thumb with its claws.

We have our picnic on the shore
I make a sandcastle with my shovel
Later, I see my sandcastle disappear.

Written by Holly (Year 3)

The Sea

The dolphins are talking,
Rain pouring,
Thunder roaring.
I dive and touch the sandy bottom
Then swim into an underwater cave
Sharks and fish swim past
I can’t touch them.

Written by Toby (Year 3)

A Journey Through Our New City Centre

2011-03-24T21:56:00.009+13:00

The first two weeks back at school have been very industrious. We wrote some poems about our experiences on the 22nd of February as they happened at school. By thinking about how we sensed each moment we were able to share ideas and memories that helped us settle back into the classroom and school life. We will include some of these at the end of this post.

First we would like to take you on a short tour of our new central city. We all decided that we wanted to have apartments in the centre so that families could enjoy some of the historical buildings that would have to be saved. Of course the Christchurch Cathedral would be restored and the Art Centre would also stay. There was a decision made to get rid of the grey flagstones that have been a part of the cathedral site for a long time now. We wanted to replace them with lawns and gardens that families, children and visitors could enjoy. The trams that were a part of the central city approximately one hundred years ago would also have to be returned. The city centre would have to be a fun place for children and families. We thought that a bit more colour would help lift the centre as well. We hope you enjoy the movie.

We have included some of our poems for you to read.

Mother Earth’s Shock

I had just finished my lunch
When the bags shuddered in the cloakroom
I felt myself shaking,
first to the left and then to the right
I was holding onto two bars
But realized that they were shaking too.
I could smell something like sewage
All the way to the cracked green field

I waited a long time before I saw my dad walking toward me
He picked me up and we stayed on the field for a while
Trying to cheer other children up.
After that we went home

Our house was such a mess
Broken glass everywhere
Pictures had fallen off shelves
The bookshelf had bumped into the wall
Making a nasty black mark.

I needed to sit on the couch and relax
I sat on the floor
Away from the candles
And watched tele.

Written by Robert

The Day Mother Earth Groaned

As my friend talked to me in the sandpit
The quake hit
Everything shook around me.
I saw people running to the field,
So I did too.
I waited for a parent to come for me
My nana turned up to get me.

After a couple of days I could taste the dust.
After a few more I could smell the sewage
The city would never be the same.

Written by Toby

When the Earthquake Struck

As I was going to start my delicious raspberry yogurt
That was when it happened!
I stood up, trying to keep my balance,
But fell over and hit the ground.

I heard the teachers stumbling out of the office block
They pointed to the field
So I too went stumbling to the field
I felt worried because the last earthquake had been bad
My cat had run away
Right now she could be anywhere

Lydia

Game is Over

As my hands touched the ball
I heard the earthquake
I tried really hard to keep my balance
But I gave up and put my hands down
I curled up.

A duty teacher said to go to the field
We lined up and waited
When mum came to sign me out
I was scared to go to my house
But we were okay.

Written by Bukhosi

Exciting Earthquake

I had taken a bite of my plum
When I saw the cracks opening in the ground
And the Earth rock from side to side.
The smell of sewage made me screw up my nose
I heard some screaming coming from the field
I thought the people were silly screaming.

I saw my Nan running to collect me
To keep me safe.
As we left school, I saw a car upside down.
That was when I knew that things were bad.

Written by Jake.

Settling Back Into School Life

2011-03-12T22:01:00.005+13:00

Those children who were back to school this week worked hard to construct a model of central Christchurch as town planners of the future. We split into three teams; one to create paper models of historic buildings, another to create models of apartment blocks and a third to paint the street map for the buildings to sit on. We were very fortunate to have Mr Ken Dalziel and Dr. Joyce to work with us over the two days.

A unanimous decision was made to retain the Cathedral building, but with a few modifications. The children decided that the grey flagstones had to go as they weren't at all appealing to children or families. They would replace the flagstones with lawns and garden. This would bring people into the middle of the city again. They wanted trams to circle the square as they did in the early 1900s. The major difference was that inner city apartments would become a feature of the central city. There was talk of using monorail in some parts of the city rather than standard buses. What a fun time they had. We will post some video footage of the completed model next week. Here is a slide show detailing the earlier stages in the process.

2011-03-06T14:51:00.002+13:00

I have decided that a good way of staying in touch during your absence from school is to use wallwisher. All you have to do is open the Internet site below, double click on the wall that has been created and post me a short note to let me know how you are and where you are staying if you are out of the city. I will receive your notes and we can then post them onto our blog to keep everyone updated.
Hopefully we will all be back in Room 18 before too long. If you need to pick up your school bag don't forget to read the updates on the school website as a time for pickup has been posted.

Here is the website for wallwisher: http://www.wallwisher.com/wall/Oc4g9selG9

Missing you all.
Mrs Hunter

Thinking of You All

2011-03-02T16:17:00.004+13:00

Yesterday I walked into the city with friends for the 2 minutes of silence. As we walked home we cut through Mona Vale. The homestead was badly damaged and instantly I thought of Vienna Heeswyck and her family. Vienna's father is the restaurant manager at Mona Vale. You are all very much on my mind and I look forward to having my class back together again soon. I'm sure many of you are staying with friends and family outside of the city. Enjoy walking in the fresh air and playing with friends. Try to find some time to read each day and write in a diary if you can. As we have already discussed, writing is a unique way of communicating thoughts and feelings. Stay safe. Mrs Hunter

What Is Your Opinion?

2011-02-20T12:22:00.004+13:00

In our reading group we have been looking at sharing our opinion about an event or issue. We read sections from a number of nursery rhymes and fairytales. We looked at one event within the text and had to make a statement about the outcome. The statement then had to be backed up with a good argument. We had to write this argument into our reading books.

We will share some of our work with you.

The Emperor's New Clothes - written by Lydia
I think that they weren't being fair with the Emperor. I mean first of all, telling a lie...well what kind of people were they? It's almost like imagining that everybody was laughing at Barack Obama. The fact that the Emperor was able to tell everyone that if they couldn't see the clothes they were stupid, was so silly. I suppose in some ways it's even, but I'm not so sure. I guess the Emperor was a bit silly, in fact I've decided he was really silly, but they shouldn't have tricked him in the beginning.

The Emperor's New Clothes -written by Madison
I don't think it was fair when the Emperor had to walk on the red carpet in his new clothes (naked). I bet he was embarrassed. All that laughing would be terrible. The tailor or designer should not have tricked the Emperor. I don't think that was fair at all.

The Three Billy Goats Gruff - Written by Robert
I do think that the goats should have gone across to the other side of the bridge. The problem was that the troll was very greedy. He should have let the three goats get across. It was just his luck that the big goat had very long horns. His horns were long enough to knock the troll off the bridge and into the water. The troll was never to be seen again. The troll should not have been so greedy.

Snapshots with our Korean Student

2011-02-20T11:56:00.006+13:00

Our visiting student:
Jeiun Lee, a university student from Korea observed in our classroom last week. We asked her to teach us a Korean song as we had been told that she was learning the piano. We also wanted to hear a Korean story. During her first day with us we were allowed to ask Miss Lee questions about Korean life, including school life. We compared life in Korea to that of New Zealand. Miss Lee told us that Korean students work hard at school and feel much pressure to be successful. She liked the way we had a chance to run our own Team meetings and to discuss our needs openly. She was surprised that the classroom programme took each child's needs into consideration. While Korean children read from the same book, we have many reading groups within one classroom.

The song Miss Lee taught us told the story of 'Goldilocks and the Three Bears.' We thought you would like to see photographs and a quick film strip with us singing together. We found it quite difficult to master the Korean words.

Our story was about the creation of Korea. Miss Lee told us the story about a bear that wanted to be a person. The bear had to eat garlic and a special plant for one year at the end of which time the bear became a woman. The woman met God's son and married him. They had a son who went on to create Korea. We talked a little about this creation story and compared it to others. We found this really interesting.

Progress with our Waitangi Unit

2011-02-12T20:12:00.008+13:00

This week we have completed much of our work on the Treaty of Waitangi and the events that surrounded its existence. We have been busy writing our own recounts on these events and will share some of content with you once our drafts have been published. We thought that you would like to see how our paintings (based on the treaty study) turned out. While they are not all on the blog, you will find our work displayed in the classroom.

We also met with our buddy class Room 23 for the first time this term. They brought poems that they had written about themselves to share with us. The poems were based on the senses (e.g. sight, hearing, touch, smell).
We had a chance to share what we knew about the Treaty, the events that led up to its signing and many of the people responsible for its existence, both Maori and European. We told Room 23 that we might have been speaking French today if New Zealand had not become a British Colony.

Photos From the First Days at School for Team 18

2011-02-04T17:34:00.010+13:00

We are already working hard. Our Statistics Unit is well underway. In these pictures we are creating pictographs with a buddy that we wanted to work with.

Reading in the 21st Century can be such fun. Can you imagine this 50 years ago.

Our First Two Days for 2011

2011-02-04T17:19:00.003+13:00

Here we all are on our second day at school for 2011. We thought you might like to see a photograph or two of the class and catch up on what we have been up to. We have been writing about special moments during our summer break and a reflection on our first day at school. Some of the comments were:

I was nervous but it was great!

I got to see my friends again and meet some new people.

It was really exciting and we had a really fun day.

I didn't know about the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi and it was great to learn about it.

I think I felt tired because I was so excited and everything was new.

We thanked Mrs Hunter for a great day and asked her if we could camp at school for the night. She smiled.

Here are our photos:

Athletics Day

2010-11-10T17:11:00.008+13:00

We thought that you may like to see a few photographs that were taken on St Alban's Athletic Day.

Our Reports and Poems on the Canterbury Earthquake

2010-11-10T15:38:00.002+13:00

A Rocking Time

Suddenly my cupboards started to shake
I'm surfing on my bed.
Mum comes racing down the hall,
yelling,"Vienna!"
I yelled back, "Mummy!"
She picked me up
We huddled under the doorway,
Then finally it was over.

Written by Vienna
aged 7 years

The Natural Disaster

At 4:35am the ground started shaking
The lights went off
My lamp fell down
My bed shook fiercely
The new building behind our house
Moved...
A whole 10 cm
I was terrified when the earthquake struck
My mum text our friends
Dad checked on the neighbours
We listened to the radio
to find out about the damage

Jermaine 7 years

Dangerous Cracks Appear

Something was rocking,
The ground was shaking.
A tremendous shock, a terrifying night,
Rocking, shocking shaking.
Power... no...power off!
What a scary night.
Such a tremendous wait,
This earthquake that hit Christchurch and Kaiapoi
Never felt anything like that before.

Georgina Huckett 7 years

George has a strong interest in science. Among a number of subjects that fascinate him is geology. As part of our report writing unit the students were asked to form a report about the Canterbury earthquake. This is George's report.

At 4:35am on Saturday the 4th of September, 2010, an earthquake struck Darfield. A richter scale which is a machine that scientists use to measure underground vibrations from vault lines or tectonic plates recorded the measurement of the earthquake as 7.1. There have been more than 2000 aftershocks.

What Causes an Earthquake?
Under the surface of the Earth there are tectonic plates that move slowly on a liquid substance which is heated by the Earth's core that is molten iron and is hot as the surface of the sun. The rock that surrounds this fiery ball is molten and is called the outer core. At its deepest point it is 2,000 kilometres thick. The liquid substance that surrounds the outer core is known as the mantel. The mantel is 2,500 kilometres thick. The mantel is covered in tectonic plates. These tectonic plates move on top of each other. An earthquake is caused when these tectonic plates hit a bump which causes a vibration that travels through the crust. We call it an earthquake.

George 7 Years

Our Painting Unit based on our earlier work on Simple Machines

2010-10-12T17:12:00.005+13:00

In Term 3 Team 15 developed a deeper understanding of the colour-wheel and how contrasting colours can be used to create a more dramatic effect. The students experimented with warm and cool colours using predominantly cool colours in the background, adding black and yellow to create line and light. By assembling 3D components of their simple machine designs painted in warm colour in their foreground, the students added yet another dimension to their artworks. This movie will take you through the process.

Our Trip to the Christchurch Art Gallery

2010-09-12T15:13:00.002+12:00

Our Trip to the Christchurch Art Gallery

Georgina H

On Wednesday we had a trip to an art gallery. We went on the bus. When we got there we went into a room and there was a man named Matua. He spent some time showing us Maori moves and symbols. He showed us the koru shape, poutama (shaped like zig-zag stairs) and hongia (shaped like teeth),

Matua showed us an artwork he called the ‘around and around thingy’. Electricity allowed the parts to circle around each other.

We split into two groups. Some of us went to see Maori Tikis. The real Tiki looked very small but when photographed with a format camera, they looked huge. We talked about what the Tiki might symbolise and thought it might be spiritual and connected to Maori ancestry.

Amelia also writes about the visit:

After being introduced to the art gallery teachers, we went back into the art gallery and looked at some art created by Andrew Drummond. These were moving pieces of art that were electrically controlled.

Then we split into two groups and moved around the art exhibitions with Gintra and Matua. We saw Tikis, a bear rug carved out of Kauri, a giant staircase made out of thin kebab sticks that went up to clouds that were made out of white plastic bags. Then we went to see the Blue Planet Room. Everything was blue. You could look through a kaleidoscope that made wonderful patterns. There was even a movie on a big screen about people riding bikes under water. In the Blue Room we saw an artwork created by Rueben Paterson that was decorated with glitter. It was this picture that we used to inspire our own artwork. This is what we had to do to create it:
My Procedural Recount:
First we had a painting race. We had to paint a sheet of cardboard with frosted blue quick drying paint. Our table won the race. Then we drew some Maori symbols onto our piece of paper that had been folded twice to form the shape of a triangle. Then we had to cut out our shapes to make a stencil. When we were finished the cutting, we opened out the piece of paper folded like a triangle and put it onto our piece of painted card. Next we had to use the screen-printing process. We used another shade of blue paint and screen printed over our laid out pattern. After that is was time to put the blue glitter on top of our artwork. Adult helpers dried off our work with hot blowers. Once we all had out paintings tucked into the art bag, we caught the bus back to school. We were really excited about taking them home to share with our families. This was my best trip with Room fifteen for the year.

Reading our Narratives -How to view the text more effectively.

2010-08-26T08:26:00.003+12:00

A little advice for reading our narratives:

If your screen is bright you will find the scrolling text difficult to read. We suggest that you dim the screen until your eyes adjust. This is the only means that we could find to overcome this affect. Let us know how you get on.

Narrative Stories Brought to Life

2010-08-26T07:51:00.002+12:00

Hot Off The Press -Read our Narrative Stories
These are some of the narrative stories that we published at the end of Term 2. We studied narrative text styles for five weeks. Before writing our stories, we read lots of different narrative picture books and explored the way they were written. We learned that narrative stories come in many different forms but all have a plot that includes a problem and solution.   The writing process was broken down into small chunks so that we could understand what went into each part of it. First we planned our story around a theme. Then we developed the plot thinking about how the problem would happen and how it would be solved. The characters were developed to suit the story we were writing. We used visualisation to imagine our characters and then brainstormed lots of different words to describe them.   The hardest part was getting started. We had to set the scene using the ‘w’ words; where, when, who and just a touch of why. We knew we had to save the what, how and why for the body of the story. We talked about whether our story would have a climax or anti-climax at the end. Most of used an anti-climax.   The hardest part was going back to reread our work every two or three sentences. We were told that this was called 'recursive writing' and that it was very important. We had to make sure that what we had written made sense. After proof reading and editing our work we thought that we did a great job of writing. We hope you like these stories that have been put into an imovie scrapbook format.

Our Technic Lego Extension Activity

2010-08-25T16:44:00.002+12:00

As a part of our 'Simple Machines' unit, a group of students who had demonstrated a keen interest in the scientific component of our work were provided with the opportunity to further their understanding of levers. William Joyce came in to spend an afternoon with these children. Nate and Teariki used digital images to record the session. These images have been inserted into a Keynote application. We hope you enjoy sharing their experience.

The Dance Component of Simple Machines

2010-07-13T14:58:00.004+12:00

During the shared planning phase of the unit, the students thought that it would be fun to create a dance that demonstrated how simple machines worked (moved) and were used in everyday life. As a class they brainstormed different types of machines that they wanted included and how these might be performed. While the entire dance is not shown here with the students in costume, this short movie clip provides you with an example of how we worked together to put our 'Simple Machines' dance together.

Question and Answer Time

2010-07-13T14:25:00.003+12:00

Before undertaking our planned 'Technology Challenge' which necessitated creating a vehicle (using recycled materials) that would move independently down an inclined plane, the students shared their understanding about concepts covered earlier in the unit. This information confirmed the extend to which critical knowledge had been transferred to the student and could effectively be applied during the technology challenge phase.

The Roof Goes On - Pulleys in Action

2010-07-05T16:09:00.003+12:00

Here we are observing a moment in our school's history. A pulley is lifting the roof structure into position. We were really excited to be there to witness it. We noticed the construction workers using a number of simple machines to make their workload easier.

Our Unit on Simple Machines

2010-07-05T14:37:00.005+12:00

We have completed a large percentage of our unit on Simple Machines and believe that the time is right to share some of our completed work with you. Our 'Simple Machines Book' takes you on a journey through our unit. While as students we contributed much to the direction the unit took, this book provides both you (parents and viewers) and us (students) with an opportunity to reflect on the Inquiry process required to produce this work. There are additional movies included on our Blog that were filmed as part of our learning process. If you cannot view the book or movies please add a comment.

We hope that you enjoy sharing this work with us. Please feel free to provide feedback.

2010-05-19T21:54:00.000+12:00

The Sea

Dolphins jumping high

Like someone doing a flip on a trampoline

Starfish swimming very slowly

through the deep blue sea.

Colourful small fish surrounded by huge rocks

Multi coloured crabs and starfish

Scuttle along the smooth sand

The soft sand with its shiny shells

Tiny fish swimming in breathtaking coral reefs

Pretty jelly fish lifting to the surface of the water

A stingray hiding in the sand,

Away from the Hammerhead sharks.

The sea, all that magic is found there.

Written by Adam

2010-05-18T08:29:00.000+12:00

Sometimes I Wonder Why It is That Way

The slippery salty smashing waves

Shining blue dolphins nudging sharks

Sleepy soggy stingrays swimming through the blue

Seagulls waiting for us to leave

While the boats whish onto the shoreline

Sloppy sea slugs under people’s feet

Magpies searching for gold things

Brownish black caves looking like wolves

With horrifying sharp teeth,

Even coloured grass as though they have eyes

Eyes to the sea

By Safiya

2010-05-18T08:18:00.000+12:00

Welcome to our Team 15 Blog

Recently the children explored the concept of imagery. They wrote poems using their senses (e.g. see, hear, smell, touch). These are a few of the poems that were written.

The Sea

Glimmering sand surrounds

Oceans vast and wide

Screeching seagulls on jagged cliffs

Florescent jellyfish filling oceans with colour

Dolphins with wonderful shining colours on their skin

Gropers swimming gracefully, gliding through the silent sea

Jagged rocks and glittering sand covering the seafloor

Gaping caves, shadows dancing

Like swirling images on the screen

Shells scattered on the sand as it shimmers in the sunlight

Terrifying ferocious waves smashing onto cliffs

I taste the salty spray as I walk along the beach.

Written by George