Tuesday, 16 August 2016

Sasa Practice

We have been practising the School Sasa everyday in Room 8. Today we started learning the last part, check out these clever, coordinated cookies! We need to fix up some of our kupu (words) but our beat is nearly spot on!

We are all very excited for Polyfest in Week 6!

Ko Pokatu mātou - AUE!



Monday, 15 August 2016

Writing in Room 8

Wow! I am so impressed with all of our descriptive writing! All of us have been working on a moment in time piece and we finally got to publish them yesterday.

Earlier in the term we were learning about the rule of thirds in photography. We each chose something to photograph using this photography rule. We all chose something non-living/non-human to photograph, which meant we had to use lots of personification in our writing.

When you are reading our booklets, open one tab at a time and see if you can guess what we are. Maecy shared her published writing with her mum yesterday and she was able to guess what Maecy was while reading the second tab! Well done Maecy! Our photos are in the middle of our booklets so you can see them as you open up the last tab (some of our photos went missing after we were given new iPads so we have used photos from google images).


Personification: giving human or human-like characteristics to something non-human e.g. The autumn leaves danced across the damp grass.

Below are photos of some outstanding examples produced by: Connor, Logan, Maecy and Jackson. Ka pai koutou! 





























Wednesday, 3 August 2016

Reading With the Kikorangi Group

Today the Kikorangi group read a fictional text called Rowing to the Olympics. We had great discussions about this story and then talked about answering questions with more detail. Here is a photo of us working really hard today, tino pai koutou! Check out the detailed answer these three clever boys wrote together. I can't wait to read your independent activity answers!




Tuesday, 5 July 2016

Descriptive Writing

In Room 8 we have been analysing, annotating and writing our own setting descriptions. We have created our own sunset artwork and written a short description about our art. Can you spot our strong verbs? Miss Osborn will have our writing and art up to view next term.


The bare, black trees stand tall around the night sky. A tiny flying Blackbird soars around the sinking sun. Colours of deep blue, blushing red and flaming orange surround the falling fireball.
By Hannah Eade

A lifeless tree lost its only dark leaf as it quivered down to the ground. The sky slowly changed its colours across the misty blue blanket. The bright sun shone vibrantly as it faded to the next hemisphere of the world. The tree looked like it was dusted in black dirt. 
By Cody Laffey

The orange, red and yellow fireball is sinking down and is as bright as a light bulb. Lots of colours mix in to the night sky. The black tree remains in the darkness, standing tall like a soldier, waiting in front of the sunken sun.
By Maecy Neely

Two old, monstrous, black trees stood still while the bright, yellow sun lay low. A blushing pink and purple blanket covered the sky. Blackbirds started to sing sweet songs. The two tiny, tweeting birds nestled in the dark, leafless trees.   
By Marissa Adendorff

The bare, black trees sit there while two brown bunnies gaze at the vivid sun that is dropping in the horizon. The tree looks like a silhouette. Three birds sit on its branches singing to the late afternoon sun.
By Seb Lovett

In the autumn breeze, Hawks circle the fading sky. Tiny little birds find mud and sticks to build their nests so they can snuggle up to find warmth. As the sun drops they disappear into the darkness. 
By Tysharna Rosewarne

There are birds flying around and some are sitting on the trees. Branches are trying to grab the sky. The sky is yellow, orange, red and blue because the sun is going down. 
By Te Amohanga Mackie

One humungous Hawk circled the bright yellow sun in the horizon. The blushing, dark purple sky was as pretty as a monarch butterfly. Old, leafless trees sat in front of the burning fireball. 
By Jacob Begg


Two old, black trees sit far away from the ball of fire that is about to start its next journey. Deep purple and blushing pink orbit the dark objects lying on the ground. Swirls of yellow and orange form together and a little cat sits calmly on the ground.  
By Alex Hart

Yellow, orange, red and blue melt together as the bare trees and the beautiful cat stand in the middle silently. The miniature sun sunk down in the horizon. The leafless tree is still but straight, lots of wonky branches clutch the thick trunk.    
By Brooke Leith

A pearly white sun with a glimpse of yellow peered at the leafless tree. A kitten hid under the branches that were as sharp as knives. The mix of colours turned dark as the sun fell asleep like a baby.
By Hannah Price

Shimmering, glowing lights sunk into the horizon. The navy blue with red and yellow sky is fierce. The giant trees flow with the branches that are lying softly in the bright night sky.
Emma Gilbert

The yellow sun burst in to flames. The dead trees wind away in the darkness. The windy sky blew the bare trees. Dusk is slowly breaking through the afternoon sky.
By Deacon Kynan-Wilde


The glistening fireball shone bright. The rabbits stared at the dark night sky. As the sun shone like fire, the tree waved in the swaying wind. The bloody sky made lightning.
By Logan Wolferstan

Dark black trees stand still in the night sky. The sun is sinking behind the orange, red and blue sky. Long branches lead into tall, dark trees. The yellow is fading behind the other colours.  
By Lucy Griffin


The dark old wavy trees sit on the shady ground. The orange sun slowly falls down and the sky transforms into a black, misty night. The sun finally disappears behind the mountains.     
By Connor Gilliland

A glowing fireball sinks into the red and orange sky. As the brown Woodpecker pecks the bark skyscraper, the miniature bird patiently floated.    
By Molly Henderson


The centre of the sun is yellow and the fiery outside is orange. The dark, wavy and tall tree stands by the sinking sun. The sky is mixed together like a cake mix. The bird glides over the hot, burning sun.
By Luka Peters

The angel white sun bloomed with colours. Leafless, lonely and rotting trees were a silhouette. Birds flew around the shimmering sun. Red and yellow, orange and blue stole the afternoon sky.
By Jake Green


The sun is setting and you can see a bird’s shadow. The bird is falling to landing on the tree. The sun is glistening in the sky.
By Sam Harland


The slow sun sat nicely up in the afternoon sky and it is gently dropping down. The sky is gleaming. The broken, old, branchy tree sat near the blazing sun.
By Maddison Excell

Wednesday, 1 June 2016

Week 5

This week for maths we have been learning about symmetry. We are learning about this because our focus is Matariki and we are going to be making Manu Tukutuku (Māori kites) to celebrate the Māori new year.

We have been reading about Matariki in our reading groups and watching some short video clips too.

Today we looked at reflection and rotation by drawing our own designs using Symmetry Artist, it was so much fun!

This term we have been looking closely at how to write a report. Today we started writing our very own report. We had to collect information about an animal in our reading groups (Miss Osborn gave each group a School Journal that had information about our animals).

We were lucky enough to have two fun-filled days with Mrs Davis last week and we made our very own Newspaper called 'The Memory Times' - Miss Osborn cannot wait to read our memories. Well done to everyone, especially Maddison and Jake who received a RERE award for their efforts.

Thursday, 12 May 2016

Foyer Display Weeks 3 and 4

Guess what? Room 8 are lucky enough to display some of their outstanding mahi (work) in our school foyer! A handful of students have their animal adaptations art up for our community to read. They look great and Mrs Reid is super excited to have such a wonderful view for two weeks!

Feel free to come in and check it out!


Wednesday, 11 May 2016

How do people influence places and places influence people?

Today we picked coloured beans out of a cup which organised us into our Social Sciences groups. We then picked another colour, which organised us into roles within our group.

Our roles are: CEO, 2IC, Reporter and Recorder.

Today we had our first group meetings and started brainstorming pātai (questions) in our group books. We are learning to be good researchers by learning new research skills. We are also learning how to work together as a team.










Tuesday, 10 May 2016

Te Rōpū Tapatoru

Today Miss Osborn was so impressed with the Tapatoru group. They were learning to solve multiplication problems using repeated addition. We also looked at reversing problems.

For example:
4 x 3 is the same as 3 x 4
so
4 + 4 + 4 is the same as 3 + 3 + 3 + 3

They were super clever and did a great job! Check out some photos of us working hard today.



Thursday, 5 May 2016

Walking Water

6/5/16

This morning, Room 8 took part in an experiment called Walking Water. Before starting, we had to discuss what we thought might happen after completing the experiment. We had to write predictions.

Here are some of our predictions:

"I think the liquid will soak up through the paper towels into the cup. I think that because paper towels are like toilet paper and they soak up water."
- Deacon

I think the blue water will rise up one of the paper towels and the yellow water will be soaked up by the other one. I think this because paper towels are like towels and soak up moisture.
- Taejin

When Mrs Johnstone came in to help us, she had a great wondering: she asked what would happen if we used tissues (she thought they would be too thin and break). Guess what? The tissues were much more absorbent than the cheap paper towels. Miss Osborn wonders if thick paper towels would soak up the water quicker, what do you think?











Monday, 25 April 2016

WALT explain how some animals adapt to their environment (animal adaptations)

For science we have been learning about animal adaptations. We each chose an animal to research and this is how we have published our information.

Come and check out our findings by opening the flaps we have created on our animals.