Week 9 and Homelearning 30th June.

The Storylines show on Monday was absolutely loved by all of us. It was wonderful to see the books we were familiar with being acted out. The actors were just fantastic and incredibly entertaining.
We had a few ups and downs with our interactive whiteboard during the week. There are still a few problems that will need to be sorted but we have used it during a range of different subject areas. Maths has suddenly become a much more interesting topic as we practice our mental strategies before the train leaves the station (ask your children about that one!). The children from Room 4 who are in the Keas reading group have done a wonderful job reading 10 NZ fiction books during the term and during the week they sat a test to see who would represent our school at the Interschool competition. Out of all the Year 5 and 6's who read the books from the 4 Year 5 / 6 classes we are thrilled to announce Zoe topped the test and will be captain of team 1. Other members of our class who qualified for the teams are Adrianna, Kelsey, Tarran and Jared. Only one other student from Year 6 qualified. WOW!!!!! Mrs McKenzie is incredibly proud of you all and well done to the other children who worked so hard reading the books. The NZ Authors competition is this Tuesday so GOOD LUCK to you all.
It is hard to believe this is the last week of term 2. It has been an action packed term for Room 4!!
With the Homelearning last week we had a few children who had trouble getting their "Wordle" created which is such a shame as it is lots of fun. Never mind this is one BIG learning curve for us all. I am pleased the children have been so good at posting their comments.

HOMELEARNING FOR THIS WEEK.
1. Spelling on Thursday.
2. Mathletics-you all did really well last week so keep going on gaining your certificates.
3. Miniclips-go into Matthew's blog and click on his "Awesome miniclips" and have a go at some of the online games. Great site Matthew!
4. "Rader's Numbernut"-click on this in our Favourite sites. It takes a while to load but just be patient! Click on the Fractions section and do some of the activities.
5. Create your own blog! Fantastic those of you who have had a go at this-well done Courtney, Matthew, Amy, Demi and Tayla. Have a look at these blogs and post a comment-remember our 2 stars and 1 wish.
You are all becoming real web 2.0 experts!!
Have a great week everyone.

Storylines show 23rd June

Week 8 Term 2.

What a fabulous week we had with all the excitement during Bookweek. It was great to see so many children focusing on books and reading and showing so much enthusiasm for our visiting authors, librarian and the local Police. Everyone looked awesome on Friday for our dress-up day as a book character. I am not sure who that unusual lady was who was dressed as Aunty Elsie from "Kiss, Kiss, Yuck, Yuck"! The Bookfair was a huge success and it was wonderful that so many people donated a book to our school library-THANK YOU!
Miss McCallister has enjoyed her week with Room 4. She is looking forward to the next 6 weeks.
We had fun sharing our personal timelines with our class and then reading them to our buddy readers. We showed them an interactive book on our Interwrite board. (Have a look at the slideshow on the side)
Here is the Homelearning for week 8.
1. Mathletics-let's see if we can make an all out effort to have everyone qualifying for a silver certificate this week!
2. Wick-Ed- click on the Wick-Ed site and click on Interactives. Click on the Zoo. Read the story then complete the wordfind and the Cloze Missing words activity. Print them off if you can (or copy them out) then glue in your homelearning book.
3. Rainforest Maths- Click on Level D (dark orange) which is the same as our Year 5. Click on Fractions at the end of the Number row. When you finish the Shapes section try doing the ordering section. If you really feel confident have a go at equivalent fractions too. If you find all of this level too hard go back to the start and try Level C.
4.Wordle fun!- You'll enjoy this one. Create your own Wordle like the example on the right side of the blog. Choose any theme you like. SAVE it on the Wordle site and we will look at them on our Interwrite board.
Enjoy!

Interactive whiteboard-Thursday 19th

Well we were finally able to use our Interwrite board today. There was a huge amount of excitement as everyone arrived in the classroom. We had a nice background image of a park on the board. We learned how to select the pen tool and use a narrow line and to change the colour. We also learned how to use the eraser. We think we did a great job and were very successful on our first attempt. What do you think of it?
The photo shows Matthew adding his name on the board.

Tuesday 17th June-Author visit-by Morgan.

Today room four went to visit an author in the library . The author's name was Christine Hurst. Christine Hurst wrote a book and went to get it published so she could read it to us. The book was called "The boy who bounced around Aotearoa New Zealand". The book is about a boy who kept on jumping on his bed when his mum told him not to so she told him he would bounce away. Christine thought of this idea when her three year old son was jumping on his bed and Christine told him, "Stop jumping on the bed."
He said "Why?"and she replied "Because...
you will jump away."So she wrote a book about it. She read the book to us and then we asked her questions.
"What are your favourite type of books?"
"I like picture books, chapter books and sometimes nonfiction."
"Who is your favourite character ?"
"Definitely Zack."

Tuesday 17 June.

At last we have had the electrics done for our Interwrite board and tomorrow is training day for the teachers so hopefully on Thursday we will be able to give it all a go. We are all VERY excited about it!
What a lot of fun we are having during Bookweek. Lots of children have bought books at the bookfair in the Library Information Centre. Remember Thursday (by lunchtime) is the last day you can buy a book. Today we had a visit by an author and she was extremely impressed with the high level of questioning that our Room 4 students asked her. It was good to compare her answers with those of the author the children read about on the Homelearning last week. One of our school values-PERSEVERANCE- featured a lot in both their answers. Today the children have been writing about the author's visit and tomorrow they will get to post some of their responses on the blog along with photos of course.
At lunchtime today we had three of our local Police came in to the LIC to read aloud to a group of children while they were eating their lunch. One of them was Morgan's uncle! A reporter from the Courier heard about it and came in to do some interviews so keep an eye out for that article over the next few days.
Remember the Book Character dress-up day on Friday!

Week 7 of Term 2.

Hello Room 4. Miss McCallister (Trainee Teacher) comes back tomorrow. She will be in Room 4 with us until 15th August. I can hear you cheering!! It will be great to have her back with us.
We have a lot of exciting activities coming up this week for BOOKWEEK. On Monday we have a visit by Tina who is the childrens' librarian at Highland Park Library. On Tuesday we are being visited by Christine Hurst who is an Author. On Wednesday selected children from the Senior school will be doing a Writer's workshop with Sharlene Bodle who is a local Author. On Friday we have our fabulous BOOK CHARACTER parade. Have you organised your costume yet??? Both our visiting authors will be available for book-signing in the LIC after the parade on Friday. Our BOOKFAIR continues in the LIC during the week and the final day is Thursday at lunchtime so get in quick to buy your books.
HOME LEARNING.
I had a lot of positive feedback about how much both the children and the parents liked the Home learning being web-based. We will try it again this week so here goes.
1. Remember to keep going onto our Mathletics site-this is a very valuable resource and we need to make the most of it while it is freely available to us this year. We have had many children showing improvement in their maths and earning certificates for their effort.
2. As it is BOOKWEEK and we are focusing on 'Myths and Legends' go into the link on our Favourite Sites and click on "GLOBAL TALES". Click on "AUSTRALIA", follow the instructions and read the story. Choose some of the other countries and read their myths and legends. Be prepared to retell your favourite story.
3. Go onto the link "STORYPLACE" in our Favourite Sites. Try an interactive story at this site. Click on "OTHER THEMES" and choose one of the "TOPSY-TURVY" Tales. Enjoy creating your own story. If you have a printer at home you may like to print it out but ask your parents first please.
4. Some fun interactive maths for you to have a go at-click on "ALIEN ADDITION" in Favourite Sites.
5. Click on "WICKED"-same site as last week-click on "TOPICS". Click on "EINSTEIN" and go into the "Mini Challenge". Have a look at "Einstein's timeline". See if you can create a funky timeline about YOURSELF using photos (or photocopies of photos), dates and information. Present it in an interesting way and bring it to school on Friday 20th. Points to think about:
* Consider colour, layout and design
* Check your dates are correct
* Write a brief caption for each photo
6. Spelling will come home on Thursday.
7. Dragon maths book-Page 33.
Some children have yet to bring their money and permission to attend the "Storylines show on Monday 23rd June.
Enjoy your week everyone.

Thursday 12th June

YAHOO! Our new Interactive whiteboard was fitted in the classroom on Thursday. We are all very excited about it and we can't wait to get cracking on using it to enhance our learning and teaching. It is an "Interwrite" model and it is VERY high tech indeed! Later in the year I will try and organise a time for parents to come up and see it in action. I will be having a series of professional development training sessions on using it-first one this Wednesday afternoon. A big learning curve for us all and a very exciting leap into the new age of learning and teaching.
The photo shows it being installed by Scitech.

Trip to the Museum.

What an absolutely awesome trip we had to the museum. We learned a lot about Matariki and the Maori culture. The Maori performance group was excellent. I did have a little slideshow of photos on here but the firewall at school prevented it from being opened at school so I have removed the slideshow. I will try and find another way to share these with you.
I changed my mind!! Here is the slideshow again. I decided as it was really cool I wanted you to see what you can do with Bubbleshare to show photos. We just won't be able to see it at school. Give me some feedback as to whether or not you like seeing your photos like this.
BubbleShare: Share photos - Find great Clip Art Images.

Get better soon Mackenna.

We were sorry you were so sick yesterday Mackenna. We will think of you while we are at the museum. Have fun with the homelearning activities on the blog. You might like to also have a look at the museum website at www.aucklandmuseum.com
We will miss you so get better soon.
Mrs Mac

Homelearning week 6.

Hello Room 4 I have decided to post your home learning on our blog this week. Well done those of you who have written comments on the blog!
Your home learning is web-based this week and it ties in with our study of Matariki, our Bookweek activities, and for Maths you need to spend some time on Mathletics and an activity on the Wick-Ed site called "Flitting with Fractions".
I know you will have lots of fun having a go at these activities. This a is a new way of getting you to do home learning so we will talk about the pros and cons during the week. It means your parents need to be able to let you access your home computer. I hope this is possible for everyone.
Okay-here is what you need to do. Go to www.tki.org.nz/r/wick_ed/multi_choice/archive.php#
Go to 'New Zealand' and click on "Matariki". Follow the instructions, answer the questions as best you can then see how you scored.
Click on the 'Interactives' button, find "Matariki" and follow the instructions in English.
Have a look at the 'Books' (also on the Interactive button-go to the bottom of the page) and click on the 'Harry Potter' activities. You might want to do the 'Lord of the Rings' activity as well if you have time.
Click on the 'Maths' button and click on "Flitting with Fractions". You will need to watch the Demo first.
Click on the 'Cool Kiwis' button. Go to 'More Cool Kiwis' and find "Janice Marriott-Author". Read the interview with her and answer these questions by writing them in your Homelearning book.
1. Name 4 books written by Janice Marriott.
2.Who are her favourite authors?
3.According to Janice what does it take to be an author?
4.What does she think is the best thing about being an author?
5.How old was she when she wrote her first chapter book?
6.What does she most admire in people?
7. Who is Arlo?
I will put a link to the site on the right of the blog in our Favourite sites spot.
That's it for this week but remember you also need to have your spelling tested on Thursday and read each night. Keas group-you don't have much time left to read your NZ Author books so persevere with them.
Our exciting news is that our Interactive Whiteboard is being fitted on Tuesday so we will be able to use it when we share and discuss your answers to your homelearning on Friday.
We are off to the museum on Tuesday so remember to bring a suitable lunch in a named plastic bag with a named drink bottle and something for morning tea that is easy to eat.
On Thursday our awesome SCHOLASTIC BOOKFAIR opens in the LIC. There will be lots of books for you to have a look at and buy.
Have a great week everyone:) Mrs Mac.