Census Survey Fun

Today our Year 7 and 8 students took part in a nationwide survey through Census in Schools NZ. The survey is part of an international project where some questions are in common with other countries so as to provide comparisons between countries, while others reflect the interest of Kiwi kids. Other countries involved in the survey are Australia, Japan, South Africa, UK, Ireland, USA, Korea and Canada. The survey is completely anonymous.

Once the 'census' or survey is complete the international and national data will be supplied to us and will contribute to our statistics programme in maths. There is a wealth of information and data collected these days so it is important that students are statistically literate. Even filling in the survey provided lots of learning opportunities - questions involved adding up mls, working out how to write height in cm's only, and words such as circumference and arm span.

Kaleb seeing how long he could stand on one leg 

Using string to help measure circumference 

Measuring arm span

Working out the best way to measure arm span

More arm span measuring 

Engaged and learning 

Using technology to record results

Everyone fully involved in their learning 

What's Up - Week 5

In Maths this week we continue to look at place value and ordering decimals. We move into bigger numbers as we progress and then begin applying our decimal knowledge to solve word problems.

Reading this week we continue to get stuck into individual novel studies and look at the comprehension questions that accompany each book. We will also continue to look at a weekly wonder on Wonderopolis. We will read about it together as a class and then the children can choose an aspect related to what they have read to research. We had some really interesting outcomes from last weeks which looked at our middle names.

Our Writing this week is based around informal writing and description. We are taking part in a New Zealand wide postcard swap. This means we will all be filling in a postcard and sending them off to another school and they will send a class set back to us.

We are also signed up to a census in school programme which will inform part of our maths programme. This week all Year 7 and 8 students will complete a survey for census and then later on we’ll use the data as part of our statistics unit.

It is our second to last week of swimming so we need to be making the most of it. The students are required to bring their togs every day. If your child is not swimming a note needs to come to school on that day to explain why.

On Friday the School Council are holding a PPP, Pink, Purple and P day to raise money for Renee. Donations will be used to send a care package to her and her family in Texas. We hope things are going well over there for them all.

Digital Citizenship

During a Digital Citizenship lesson we watched a powerful video aimed at showing kids how careful they need to be with privacy settings online. We had a great discussion around how the things you do online should be the same as the things you do in real life. For example you wouldn't leave the front door  of your house wide open for anyone to wander in so why leave your social media settings wide open for anyone to see. We discussed what information is ok to share online and who you should be sharing things with. In the real world we don't give personal information out to people we don't know so it's important we make sure we know who we're talking to online as well.
The video is well worth watching and is only about 8 minutes long.

What's Up - Week 4

We survived our first full week of school last week, but there were some pretty tired children by Friday afternoon!  Our week was full of learning including continuing with our Tiny House maths activity, our creative writing tasks and our STEM challenges.

This week it’s important to remember all Year 7 and 8 children will be going to the Stratford pool on Wednesday to complete a swim safe survival session with an instructor. While we are there, interested students will partake in trials for the Turnbull Cup Team. A note was sent home about both these things today. We will be at the pool from 10.30 - 12.30.

In Maths this week we continue to look at area and perimeter as we finish off our Tiny Houses. We also begin looking at place value and ordering decimals.

Reading this week involves getting stuck into individual novel studies and looking at the comprehension questions that accompany each book.

Our Writing this week is based around a picture and a story starter. We are getting our individual writing goals sorted as well.

Swimming is still on at school every day , weather dependent, and students are required to bring their togs every day. During swimming times we are also doing some light training to gear up for our school tryathlon.

A big reminder that this Friday night is our Country Fair. Be sure to come along and support the school by participating in some exciting activities.

We are looking to create a class collection of materials for our STEM activities. If you have any of the following at home that you are happy to donate please send them in!

Wool, string, ribbon, plastic lids, straws, small containers such as yoghurt and butter tubs, corks, bubble wrap, cardboard tubes, buttons, iceblock sticks, beads, toothpicks and pipe cleaners. Thanks in advance.

Have a great week.

STEM - Working as a Team

Friday's STEM activity was a good one and really made everyone work together and communicate. At first the kids thought the activity was easy but they soon found it wasn't! Each child had a piece of strong that was attached to a ring in the centre of the circle. Different objects were placed on the ring and the idea was to lift the object up and lower it down without letting it fall off the ring. At first the tennis ball and the cup were easy. We then moved outside and used Miss Jury's drink bottle - this took lots of attempts to get right. Then we filled a cup with water. The video at the bottom shows how well the group worked together to achieve this pretty tricky task.

Maths - Tiny House

Over the last couple of weeks students have been completing a challenging, problem solving maths task. The task was called Build a Tiny House, and that's exactly what they had to do while applying area, perimeter and geometry skills. The activity also focuses on using designing elements, multiple problem solving skills and collaboration.

Students had to create a 3D tiny house and allow space for 20 specified pieces of furniture, often using nets that they had to design themselves and then calculate the area and perimeter of each piece.

At times this task has been very challenging but everyone has persevered and as the houses near completion the effort is proving to be very worthwhile - as you can see from the following pictures.

Hopefully by the end of this week, students will have their own finished houses ready and will post them on their blogs. 

What's Up - Week 3

Week Three sees the beginning of homework. This year we will be completing as much homework as possible online within Google Drive.  If this method isn’t going to work for your child, we are more than happy to look other options, however we would like everyone to try for a few weeks first.

On the 22nd of February we will be going to the Stratford Pool for a session on water safety and survival. All Year 7 and 8’s will attend this session. At the same time we will be completing trials for Turnball Cup. An outside swimming coach with help with the selection of this team. We will be travelling by bus on this day. More information will be sent home later in the week.

Continuing with the water safety theme we are lucky enough to have secured a day at TOPEC where we will complete an action packed day of river safety. We feel river safety is really important for many of our kids with rivers on farms and around in our everyday lives. This day will be on the 12th of April. We will be requiring parent help and since the cost of this day is quite high we will be needing parent cars to transport us to and from TOPEC. More information will be sent home closer to the day.

Within the classroom we are busy completing maths, reading and writing tasks as well as some cool art to brighten up our rooms. We continue swimming each day, weather permitting. In maths students are completing a task where they have to construct a tiny house. The house has to have furniture and other required features incorporated. All pieces of furniture have to have their area and perimeter measured and recorded. So this forms our first mathematical focus. In reading students will be begin novel studies this week. These novels will be read in class. Once finished students complete a set of questions based around comprehension and critical thinking. Last week, in writing, we started a piece which required students to be descriptive and show the readers through descriptive words where the story was set. These pieces will be edited and posted onto blogs throughout this week.

Digital Citizenship and online safety is a focus for the beginning of the year. We will be completing lessons in class around this very important subject. Students have also been asked to complete an online game for homework over the next few weeks that is based around making them think about being safe online.

Have a great week.

First Week Activities

We've had a fun and busy week and a half of learning in Room 3. Students have participated in activities such as team building challenges where they have had to work together to achieve a mutual goal. One of these activities was called the Human Knot.

We have also completed several S.T.E.M challenges. These challenges involve science, technology, engineering, mathematics and problem solving in a collaborative environment. So far students have had to work together to save a worm from drowning using only paper clips and have completed a set of cup stacking challenges using only string and a rubber band.

As well as these activities, we have been swimming, completing self portraits, discovering how area and perimeter is involved in building a house and writing descriptive pieces based around our holidays.