Monday 29 June 2015

Congratulations to:

Harry for receiving the mathletics trophy today at the Kauri assembly. Harry earned over 10000 points in a week. Well done.

Josh for receiving the Resilience certificate today. Josh received it for his consistent use of the Stuck strategies and is great attitude to learning challenges. He took up the challenge of finding out who Richard Pearse was, and used it as a tool to generate new learning by going home and producing a report on him. Well done.

Here are the two proud lads.



Thursday 25 June 2015

Ramadan - What is it?

Today we talked about the different cultures at Oaklands and also the different festivals. Nobody mentioned Ramadan, which was interesting. That was fine as it meant we had something to learn that nobody knew about.

Here is what we found out and identified as interesting pieces of information.

During Ramadan Muslims are prohibited from eating from dawn to dusk - Leah
Fasting becomes compulsory upon turning 15 - Isaac
Ramadan usually lasts for 30 days - Alissa
Ramadan starts on Thursday 18th June and finishes Friday 17th July, 2015
The starting date is about 11 days earlier each year because of the lunar calendar - Campbell
Eidul Fitr marks the end of Ramadan -  Alissa
On Eidul Fitr students don't have to come to school - Jack W

Tuesday 23 June 2015

Flight challenge

Hi Room 9.

I have a challenge for you, and it is in 3 parts.

Given we have been learning about flight and forces, I thought you might like a small challenge.

Tomorrow you will have some questions to research about a famous New Zealand aviator. Although it is commonly accepted that the Wright Brothers of the USA were the first to achieve flight in a 'flying machine' a Kiwi inventor, who lived in the South Island is thought to have actually been the first.

Your questions:

[1] Who is this Kiwi inventor?
[2] Where was he or she from?  [ hint: a town in the South Island - two words]
[3] How far did s/he reportedly fly?

Good luck. Those with correct answers go into the draw for $100 of class money.


Thursday 11 June 2015

Expert groups

Today we did an activity where we became experts in some information and then shared it with members of our group. We first made a group of 4 and then each team member was given a number 1,2,3 or 4.
Mr F then got all the number 1s together, then the 2s, 3s and finally the 4s. Each number had a different text about air resistance and air pressure. We read our text and then talked with our group to clarify any words and ideas we were unsure of, and then asked and answered questions to show our understanding. Finally we had a go at summarizing the text. All of these steps are part of the reciprocal reading process which we use when doing guided reading.

Eventually we got back together with our original groups so that there was a 1,2,3 and 4. We then became experts and shared our learning with our group. Because we were looking at similar topics there was some crossover i.e, some of the information was the same. That was fine because it helped to validate what we learned.

Our next step is to show our understanding in another way, perhaps by using a series of pictures, perhaps by making a video.

Here we are in action today.








Tuesday 9 June 2015

Air Resistance

Today Room 9 went outside and experienced the effect of air resistance.
We began by walking and then running. We then experimented with material of larger surface area to see what effect that had had we ran over a set distance.

Tomorrow we will share our thoughts and our reasons as to what forces were in play. Today we are sharing some photos.

But, here is a question to ponder: Why, when you move forward does the sheet / tarp / parachute form into a convex shape ( a bulge in the middle)? There is a scientific explanation for this - it's based around high and low pressure, fast and slow air flow.
















Friday 5 June 2015

Room 9 V Room 10 challenge

Today the mighty Room 9 took on Room 10 in a game of Dodge Ball Bomb.

After a thorough demonstration and explanation of the rules it was game on. In fact, we ended up having 3 games. Room 9 played as a team on a mission and won all 3 games.

 As a result we retained the CUP. As our Student of the Day, Brianna received the cup as well as giving a short speech on behalf of Room 9.

 We in Room 9 believe that there is a lot of social learning that can be learned through sport.
Our foci for our class challenges are honesty,persistence, resilience as well as how to be a humble winner and a positive loser.

 Here is Briana and Holly during the speech and presentation event.







Thursday 4 June 2015

Atmospheric Pressure Reading - 5 questions to answer

Here are the 5 questions. Write your answers on the back of the reading and hand it in to me tomorrow. [1] Does air have a weight? [2] What 2 things does air resistance depend on? [3] Air resistance is increased by increasing the ... [4] Which requires something to be moving through the air, air resistance or air pressure? [5] What travels in random directions?

Monday 1 June 2015

Farewell Oscar

On Friday we said farewell to Oscar as he returns to Denmark. We had a shared lunch on Thursday when he was presented with a signed card and an awesome souvenir Kiwi from Amelia that he nicknamed 'KFC'.

On Friday he was presented with a signed baseball cap with everyone's name on, including Smiley's. Here we are for one final photo with Oscar.

Thanks for all the memories Oscar. We won't forget you.

Room 9 and Smiley


Te Reo akomanga challenge quiz

On Friday the year 5/6 students had a challenge quiz - kind of like Cantamath - the their akomanga (classroom) learning.

We made teams of 4 and competed against each other to see who could answer the questions correctly in the shortest time.

Well done, Room 9. 1st and 2nd place. Bring on the next challenge!