25,000 Visits On Our Blog

I was sick for four days this week and while I was away we passed a blog milestone- 25,000 views of our blog. Olivia's Mum made a wonderful Clustrmap cake with candles and we took photos to mark the occasion but they were lost when someone didn't quite upload them to the computer and then someone else deleted the photos from the camera itself. These things happen. You will just have to imagine the beautiful cake and our smiling faces.

The little red dots on the map above shows you where those viewers came from. Thank you everyone.

Homework Bedrooms

There were a few more tidy bedroom homework photos that I just found sitting in my spam folder so I thought I had better publish them as Maisie, Tullamore, Jake, Caleb and Bella took all the trouble to take them. Well done for taking the photos, uploading onto your home computer, attaching to an email and sending the photos to school.

Homework

This week for homework Moturoa class had to tidy our bedrooms and then take a picture of our bedrooms and email it to school. This is my wardrobe. I had a big job because I had lots of things behind the things in front to tidy up.

Canadian Mentors

Two beginning teachers from Regina, Canada are taking an interest in the things we are doing on the internet in our classroom. You will see them commenting on our blog, podcast and maybe even our Voicethreads. We may even get to talk to them on Skype. So you know who they are I have asked each one to introduce themselves. Click on the pictures to take you to a bigger version that is easier to read.

Firstly there's Karie...



And then Amber...


We welcome them to Moturoa Classroom and hope they learn and enjoy the experience.

Mrs P Reads For You

You will need a fast internet connection to view this great web site. Mrs P sits by the fire and reads you stories. Be patient- it does take a little while to load but should be nice and fast at school.

Chunky Chalk Podcast

This week's podcast was made to describe how we made chalk. The instructions are in NZ School Journal Pt 02 No. 4 2000. You just need some plaster of paris, some water, a plastic bag and some food colouring. If you want to try it at home we can lend you the school journal. Leave your request in the comments. School Journals are a wonderful resource.

Kia Kaha

This is what we have found out about bullying and how to stand up for ourselves.

Kia Kaha

If you would like to see the bigger version then click on this link.

We are going to add our voices to this Voicethread that a class in America made. They are learning about the same sorts of things as us.

Tyler's BMX Riding

This is a photo of me. I am in Whangarei. It is a good time in my fast gears. It is Thor gear. It was sunny there. That was the race I came second in one race.

Science Fair

This week we start our investigations in readiness for the Science Fair. We are going to start by completing a class project all together so that we know better how to complete a project. Then we will all have the chance to make our own science project.

It is important that we learn about fair testing- just changing and testing one thing about our experiment so that we can find out what effects our one change has on the experiment. We are learning how to do these things...

• Identify a problem.
• Research the problem.
• Formulate a hypothesis.
• Conduct an experiment.
• Reach a conclusion.

To find out more we will use this website that explains the process better.

And to make our own project we will have a look at this website. It will help us pick our individual projects.

River Bugs Podcast By Jan Trafford

For reading this week Kakapo group made this radio play of Jan Trafford's article in the School Journal about a water adventure on the Buller River, near Nelson.

Kakapo group were focused on reading with fluency, expression and clarity.

They would love some feedback on how they might improve their oral skills the next time they read aloud for a audience.

I have put this podcast on our blog as a movie but if you search iTunes for Allanah you will be able to download our podcasts properly and listen to them on your iPod while you go jogging or in the car on the way to work!

Torbea's Fishing Trip

Last Friday I went on a fishing trip with my dad. It was really fun. We drove from home feeling all excited. I was thinking that we would catch lots and lots. The engine was dripping saltwater.
It made salt from the hot engine. (That's the photo at the bottom right hand corner above). This fin is a gurnard's fin. It looks like a butterfly's wing. We saw some albatross. We caught 7 kahawai, 2 octopus, 1 rig, 1 moki, a few paddle crabs, about 7 gurnard cases, 12 red cod, 1 blue cod, 10 wras (spotties), 14 stargazers (monkfish). The boat's is the FV Sharyn. We ancohored near Fisherman's Island.

Appleby School Library

Today Raewyn and I decided to make a link on our blogs to the Appleby School Library so you can search for books while you are at home or in the classroom so that we can search for library books from our classroom.

So you can find the link I have put it in the side bar as well.

I don't think the link will work at home- only at school. Can you let me know in the comments if you can see our library from somewhere other than school.

Tullamore's Kidsline Poster

Last week for homework everyone had to draw a Kidsline poster. When we brought them back to school we had a vote for what five people would go into the draw to win the Kidsline competition. This one is about a kid getting bullied on the side of road then he goes to the park and calls Kidsline.

Fletcher's Kidsline Poster

For homework last week we did a Kidsline poster and what you are looking at is my poster. What we had to do was a picture. I did four people on the left hand side that were sad then a teenager in the middle with a phone talking to the kids that are sad and helping them find a strategy to sort out their problems. Hopefully they will all be happy again.

Bella's Kidsline Poster

For homework we had to do a kids line poster all we had to was get a piece of paper from Allanah and take it home. To do it I made mine a collage unlike everyone else. A collage is lots of piece of paper glued on top of each other.

Mother's Day

Today is Mother's Day we recorded some of the things that we really like about our mothers.

Maths Lines 10

Maths Lines 10 is a game I am sure you will enjoy. You have to shoot the compatible number that adds to 10.

3+7=10
6+4=10
1+9=10

After a bit of practice I can get to Level Five before I lose control. What about you?

Autumn Fun

Today was a beautiful autumn day and over lunchtime a group of us made our own fall day! We had to work together to get the leaves in a big enough pile to make a soft landing. We had to take turns so we didn't crash into each other. We supported each other and challenged ourselves to have the courage to take the plunge. It was very cool fun.

'I' Statements

As part of our learning about Kia Kaha- standing up for ourselves and being strong- we have been practising 'I' statements.

You say an 'I' statement when someone has upset you, hurt your feelings or bullied you.

You stand up tall and strong, look at the other person and tell them how you feel, why you are feeling that way and what you want them to do.

"I feel upset when you push in front of me because I was here first. I want you to go to the back of the line."

To say an 'I' statement you go.....

I feel _____________ when you _______________ because _______. I want you to ____________ .

We enjoyed our role plays to show you how to say 'I' statements. Try it for yourself. Let us know how it goes for you.

Know your place in the world

With this map of the world you can draw and type. Maybe you could mark where you have been or where you would like to go. Click on the link in the text to see the full screen version.



We could do a lot of learning with this map.

Sailing

Hi my name is Fletcher and I love sailing because I've always liked being on the water because when I was little I always liked boats and ships and I still do.
''Do you know why I like power boats? Because they are fast.

Dancing Competition

On Easter weekend I did a ballroom dancing competition. It was so much fun. I was in the news paper. I looked like a strawberry. It does not look like me because of all make-up. Of course I won because I was the only person dancing in my age group.

Mini-Dylan's Holiday to Christchurch

Straight after Easter Amy took me on holiday with her to Christchurch. We went down the East Coast and it was very foggy, but we did see a train. Next stop that day was Orana Wildlife Park and I got to look at the lions and the giraffes, one was really grumpy and Amy fed the baby. Lisa wouldn’t let me go up to the giraffes; she was worried that I would get eaten.

I saw three boy cheetahs and we saw the cheetah chase the meat. The man said one cheetah would run at a time and the other two would jog behind him and it was true. They sounded just like little cats with their meowing.
The next day was Monday and we went shopping at one of the malls and tank driving at Tanks for Everything. We were allowed to climb all over the tanks and inside them too.
 This one to the left is called the Ferret and it’s a 4x4 scout car. This one on the right is called the Hagglunds BV206 and it can go on land or water. You can use it for lots of different things it can go anywhere.


We went to the Canterbury Museum. Here is one big dinosaur; can you see me by its foot? We got to touch it. It was plastic.
Next I went in a gondola. At the top we got off and went into the time tunnel ride experience, that took us though the history of Christchurch. It was a lot of fun.

On our last day in Christchurch we stopped at Willowbank before heading to Hanmer Springs. We saw lots of different animals that we could feed and pet.
Yes I was worried that the horse was going eat me but Lisa had a good hold on me.

Here I am in a Maori whare. Can you see me in the window?

Vincent didn’t like this swan, it bit him.
After visiting Christchurb we were off to Hanmer Springs. Wow what a place, lots of thermal pools and spas to play in. Just what I needed after a busy time in Christchurch.

Mostly in Hanmer we just played in the pools but we stop for a short time for a game of mini-golf. I had a great time on holiday; I got to see lots of wonderful things.
A big thank you to Amy and her family for giving me such a great holiday.