Maths Holiday Challenge

In case you are looking for homework this holiday, check out this homework task created by Megan Clune who teaches Maths/Science at the University of Auckland.

You have five thousand dollars to go on a trip around New Zealand. You can either plot your trip on Google Maps - My Maps, or make a slide show/ poster showing where you would go and what you would do. Will you spend all your money on the most expensive hotels or do some wild tourist activities like sky diving?

 

Lest We Forget

Today Room 4 discussed the significance of Anzac Day. We first revised who the ANZACs were and learnt a little about their time in Gallipoli. Next we considered why it is so important to remember those who fought for us in WW1. To support this remembrance, we created artwork with images of ANZAC soldiers and poppies.

 

We used tea to dye the back of the artwork, made a collage poppy and then stuck the various parts together and used paint to add highlights and create one final piece.

Who are Room 4?

This term Room 4 have the pleasure of blogging with Room 5 at Wesley Intermediate and Room 4 at Ahipara School through Tuhi Mai Tuhi Atu. We are really looking forward to getting to know both of these classes. We have made a presentation to introduce each learner to help you learn a little about them before checking out their blogs.  We have also created a video so you can see how to pronounce their names and learn about our class!

                  

End of Lockdown!

 Today we celebrated our last school day in lockdown 2.  We went into lockdown really abruptly and halfway through the week, but we still managed to get straight back into our daily Google Meets and blog posts.

Today we had a virtual end of lockdown celebration, and brought whānau to join us. It was fantastic to see Faith, Gene, Maung Maung, Zaria, Noah and some pets alongside our classmates.

School will be back on Monday, we will all be there as we can't wait get back together in person!

Themed Friday: Toys!

 This week we have all been working really hard with our online learning. Mrs Stone was really proud of us for making the most of a tricky time, especially as 90% of us managed to do some school work or attend a meeting at least once this week.

Just a few of the toys who attended our meeting

As most of us had already finished our learning tasks for the week, we decided to have a themed Friday. After some discussion, we agreed that a soft toy theme would be a great one to start with. This meant that everyone brought a soft toy (or several) with them to our meeting. After we discussed our last create activity for the week, we also had a themed Kahoot (Toy Story) to celebrate.

It is so important to keep our spirits up over the lockdown! What could you do to improve your mood today? 

Room 4 Chefs!

 Are you in lockdown this week? This week Auckland remains in level 3, just like many other parts of the world! We have been finding lots of great ways to make the most out of this lockdown. One great way is to cook for your family. 

Why not try out Marika's delicious Anzac biscuit recipe?

Is it too early for cookies? Well then try Sauma's breakfast suggestions!

Maths Week

 This week is Maths Week in New Zealand, which means one thing for Room 4 Maths: Mathletics. For us, mathletics is less about speed and more about team work. We get points for collaboration as well as correct answers.

This year we completed a series of challenges, which involved learning about famous mathematicians, completing algebra equations, geometry, measurement and more! 

Year 8 Camp Day 1

Today was the first day of year 8 camp 2020. It is an absolute blessing that we have made it here to Thames, as we were originally booked to go in May (in the lockdown!). It is our fourth year coming to Kauaeranga Christian Camp and we always have a fantastic time.

On day one we played Cross Games (team building activities in the gym) and had our first rotation of activities. On day 2 we have 6 more rotations, so tomorrow will be a very action packed day! Check out this short movie to see what we have got up to on our first day, the very start of our amazing camp experience.

Tha Zin - The Myth of Hermes

Today in inquiry we learnt about myths from Ancient Greece. We learnt about the different gods (Ancient Greece was polytheistic) and their story of creation. We then looked at some of the crazy things newborn Hermes was able to do in this story:

Welcome to Term 3!

Today was the first day of term three, which at Pt England means an immersion assembly!

Check out Jahzara's recount of the assembly:

The assembly started with an introduction from Mr Burt, who explained this terms theme ' A World Of Difference '. Then each team presented what their focus was. First up was Team 1.

Team one mostly focused on how other people from other countries get to school, what they eat for lunch and what they do after school. Their main focus is to learn more about different countries. What they do before school, after and during. Schools in other countries are different to us and so I think it'll be cool that they're looking at how they work :)

Team Two had a set of the cartoon Dora. It was a cool way to present their movie. They had a look at other places around New Zealand. They had a look at the many famous places like, Rotorua and the mud pools, Queens town and the snow, ETC. They also made the choice to not only explore New Zealand but to also explore the world :)

Team 3 made a movie based off of 'The Amazing race.' Due to covid-19, some people haven't been able to travel the world. So they found a way to travel without getting on a plane. The amazing race had a whole bunch of challenges to complete. Visiting the many well known places around the world. Traveling to Egypt, New York, Rio and more.

Team 4! Team 4 looked at the different foods in other counties. They ate and discussed about where it comes from. They explored Google Earth and explored their food. I reckon this would be an amazing way to learn about different countries as many people do love food.

Team 5 based their movie off Sina and the Eel. We'll be looking at different Myths and Legends that link to different traditions and countries. We'll be showing our learning through, movies and animations. Although I know a few Myths around the polynesian area, it'll be cool learning more about different legends all around.

I'm very excited to learn lots this year. A fresh start to the term! Lets make the most of it :) 

Getting Creative!

At the end of last term we spent a little time getting creative with art. This added a sense of 'us' and our personalities to our new class. 

In our first project, we learnt about colour and contrast as we created silhouette art. This was a really fun design which proved to be really effective. We each chose our own design for our art work and we experimented with different backgrounds - check them out below!

Next we made our inspirational quote artwork. This is a room 4 right of passage, as it is an activity that we do at the start of the year, every year. As we changed home class in term 2, we decided it was important to do to set up our space.

Matariki Day 2020 - Zaeeda

Today we had a Matariki Day at School.
Matariki is the Maori name for the cluster of stars called the pleiades. The celebration Matariki is the first rising of these cluster of stars. It’s a harvest festival that takes place nearing the end of Winter. While everything is getting ready for the time ahead of them. Ergo, Matariki is the marking point for the New Year and the New Growth.

The Pleiades are the cluster of seven stars. Many people debate on whether or not there are 7 or 9 stars. The Maori constellations states that there are 7 stars Tupu-ā-nuku, Tupu-ā-rangi, Waitī, Waitā, Waipunā-ā-rangi and Ururangi.The Greek constellation includes 9 stars. Including Hiwa-i-te-rangi and Pōhutukawa.

At school we have celebrated Matariki in many different and fun ways. One of them being our Matariki fun days. After a special assembly, the whole school splits up into different classes a mix of yr 1-8 student. Then you spend the whole day doing either, Sport, Cooking, Crafts, Movie Making.



On Friday our school did our Annual Matariki Fun Day. I was put into Arts and Craft, despite the fact that it wasn't my first choice so I was a little skeptical about being in Art and Crafts, mostly because my arts and craft skill haven't improved much.

When arriving at room 7 which would be my class for the day. The rest of the group was there too; Me, Tha-Zin, Leilani, Te Rangimarie, Taliyah, Kauri, Josh and Paschal were all from the senior block so a good chunk of the group would be made up of seniors.

Mr Goodwin let us into the class and explained what we were going to be doing. We were to make a galaxy art in which we had to add a matariki quote onto afterwards. I quite enjoyed doing this it was fun and didn't take to long. We had all finished nearing the end of the middle block. Me and Tha-Zin also got to talk a lot about High-School and our time in Mr Goodwin's Class.

The day went by very quickly and reflecting on it now. It wasn't too bad. I this would have to be my favourite Matariki Group. And I just realized that this was my last Matariki Day, it's a bittersweet feeling. But for everyone who's going to be doing these in the future good luck and make the most of it. ;)