Learning About The Past

Over the past few weeks, Room 3 have been working on our Inquiry topic - Learning About The Past. We've focussed on learning about early explorers to New Zealand, and the early European settlers who came to Aotearoa.

We've been using the skills of skimming and scanning for keywords to find information quickly AND we've been learning how to use KEYWORDS to write notes from. It was 'tricky' to start with, but the more we practised - the better we became.

Here's an example by Anthony...

We learnt about how Edward Wakefield started an organisation called The New Zealand Company, which brought many Europeans from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland to New Zealand in the 1800s. We made our own advertisements using Power Point, trying to persuade people to migrate to New Zealand.

Here's Georgia and Erika's ad ...

We gathered information on the types of jobs people did when they came to New Zealand, and worked together in groups to present it using Comic Life




 We look forward to showing you all the work we've been doing at parent conferences!

Winter Sports

Over the past 3 weeks, the senior school have been participating in various winter sports - to learn large ball skills. Room 3 have joined in with the fun. Here's a few pics of what we've been up to ...

Ripper Rugby with Miss Simpson ...

 

 

 

Basketball with Miss Campbell ...

Next week we have another session with Miss Campbell, then we're off to learn soccer skills with Mr Ricketts.

PJ and Pie Day

Last Friday the student council organised a PJ and Pie day. Everyone came to school in their favourite pyjamas - including the teachers!

We had lots of fun dancing around in our PJs...

But the best part was tucking into delicious PIES!!!

PJ and Pie Day was lot of fun. We look forward to the next fundraiser from the student  council.

Measuring Capacity

Over the past few days, we have been learning about measuring capacity (volume).
We started off by comparing various sized containers, and ordering them from what we thought held the least capacity through to the biggest capacity.

Then we estimated how many cups it would take to fill each container. We found it was easier to estimate the capacity of smaller containers.  The bigger the container - the more 'far out' our estimates were!

Then we moved onto estimating and measuring in standard units of measurements (millilitres and litres). We have learnt how many mls there are in a litre, and are starting to work on problem solving activities with capacity.

PJ and Pie Day Coming Up

Measuring!

In Maths, we are learning about measurement (as well as 'polishing up' our basic facts).
Last week, we started learning about measuring lengths of objects and distances outside the classroom.

We kicked off our topic by measuring our smiles.
YES! We actually measured our smile, by using string. We discovered that some people have bigger mouths than others. Miss Jeynes said she already knew this. (ha ha)

Then we used our 'smile lengths' to measure objects around the class. We estimated first...

We practised estimating and measuring lengths and widths of objects in centimetres. Then we moved outside, and used metre rulers to estimate and measure larger spaces ...

 

 

We are getting smart at working out perimeter and areas of shapes ...

 

 

 



Next week, we'll be learning about measuring liquids. Stay tuned !







Eating our produce

Yesterday we tucked into the broccolli and cauliflour from our garden.
Miss Jeynes blanched the food first, (which we learnt means to put in boiling water briefly).

The vegetables were delicious - especially because we got to dip them in onion dip!
(Thanks Miss Campbell for the onion dip!)

Here's some pics ...

Not all of us like broccolli or cauliflour!

Welcome Back!

Phew! Didn't the holidays go fast?

This term Room 3's topic is Learning About The Past. Our focus is on the time of the early European settlers, how they lived, the challenges they faced, and the effect they had on the land and the Maori people.

We will be learning the skills of skimming and scanning texts to find information, as well as learning how to ask quality questions to get more information. Today we started using De Bono's Thinking Hats which is a great tool to help us organise our thinking and planning.

Here are a couple of our activities ...

We also came up with some ideas about Humpty Dumpty.  We discussed the facts from the poem, the good and bad points about Humpty's fall, and what we thought or felt about Humpty...

We had fun coming up with NEW ideas about why Humpty might have fallen and what could have happened next ...
                                     

Celebration Of Learning

Wow! What a fantastic night we had last night. All the classes showed, explained or demonstrated what we have been learning about in Maoritanga this term.
We have all learnt so much about Maori culture, and Room 3 certainly learnt some new skills when researching information and presenting it to an audience.

Here are a few photos...

I hope you all have a great holiday!

What a brilliant day we all had at school today. The student council organised a WHEELS DAY. Lots of us brought rollerblades or scooters to school and had a BLAST, zooming around the courts ...

As an extra treat ... we were able to order spiders (not the creepy-crawly kind) and lollies!

 



But wait ... there's more!
Miss Campbell organised a group of Japanese students (from IPC) to come and perform the drums. WOW! They were incredible.

 



 



Thanks to the student council, Miss Simpson and Miss Campbell for organising this fun day for us.

Fun Day Coming Up!

Inquiry Learning

We are working hard on our Inquiry projects in small groups. We have chosen to explore different parts of Maori culture and present it in a Powerpoint presentation.

We started off brainstorming ideas on what we already knew about our topic. Then decided on questions we wanted to find answers to. We jotted ideas on where we could go to, or who to ask, to get information.

We found books on our topics, and some of us collected information from home with the help of our parents. We also found a lot of information and helpful pictures from the internet.

Of course, we also learn by DOING!

Some of us are now organising and sorting the information we have collected, to share what we've learnt. Stay tuned ...

Learning Rakau with Room 6

On Friday, our buddy class taught us various Rakau sequences. We learnt how to tap, clap and pass rakau sticks and this week, we are going to make up our own sequences. Thanks Room 6 for your help.

A helicopter visits Room 3!

Last Friday, Regan brought his remote controlled helicopter to share for news. He took it for a 'spin' around the room. (Our apologies other classes if you heard squeals of excitement) - It flew right up to the ceiling and circled the room several times before crash landing.

School Gala

Wow! What an awesome day we had on Saturday with the Halcombe School Gala. Thanks so much to all the parents and family who helped out or donated goods. Thanks also for everyone who came and supported the school by spending up large.

Here's a few photos from the day...

Cricket Coaching

 Today Room 3 had cricket coaching again. We got to practice the skills of bowling, batting and catching. Today was particularly special because we all got a brand new cricket bat each! We'll be practising our cricket skills at home now. (Look our windows!!!!)

Junior Swimming Sports

Last Friday we had our Junior Swimming Sports. We showed off our swimming skills we've been practising for the past 6 weeks. Here's some photos ...

A special visitor

Today Manu (from Te Manuwa Museum) came to visit us. He brought some very interesting artefacts. We saw him: use some traditional Maori carving tools, play some musical instruments made from wood and vegetables, and he showed us how the Maori people used stones to imitate the sounds of insects. This is how they caught birds!

At the end of the session. He asked us to give him 4 words in Maori. Then he made a song up on the spot for us using these words. Very clever. Thanks Manu.

Show and tell

Today Mataora and Rutene brought some brilliant Maori items to school. Rutene showed us two patu. His uncle carved one of them.
Mataora brought a carving that he had carved HIMSELF! It's not quite finished yet, but it already looks amazing. Thanks Ru and Mataora.