Lockdown Again?

This week Auckland moved from level 1 to level 3, meaning that we are back into online learning and staying home in our bubbles. As frustrating as this is for us all, we know that we can get through it and we are using all of our learning from the last lockdown to help us get through.

Alongside tuning in to our Google Meets and completing short bursts of school work,  Room 4 have been getting really creative and finding great ways to make the most of this time.

Check out this video of Austin teaching his little sister how to make a volcano:

One Team!

 After spending time apart with the year 8 camp and year 7 step up programme, it is important for us to get back together and enjoy being a class.

To support this, on Monday we had sharing time where we each had the opportunity to get up and discuss our experiences over the past week. It was great for the year sevens in particular, who now have a better idea of what to expect at camp.

We then completed some team building activities as a class, where we put our learning from camp and the step up programme into action. It was so good to see that everyone was happy to work with each other and we had a great laugh!

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! 

What did you learn?

 Last week we had the year 8 leadership camp and the year 7 step up programme. This was an awesome opportunity for everyone to step out of their comfort zone and develop as leaders. 

Comment what your highlight was below, if someone has already said it, respond to their comment!

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.

Argumentation Board: Is it ever okay to steal?

This morning in Literacy, Room 4 got to use their first argumentation board for the term. Today's topic was 'Is it ever okay to steal?'

                 

We first discussed our initial thoughts on this matter as a class, where most people were on the opposing side, believing that it is never okay to steal.

Next we investigated, got some factual information and wrote one reason for or against the argument. Interestingly over the course of the lesson, a few people changed their opinion on the subject.

The groups then got together and chose three arguments to use in a more formal debate. Three speakers were selected from each side and the rest of the class were given the opportunity to rebut the arguments that were made.

Multi-Sport with Mr Hughes

On Thursday and Friday, Room 4 are lucky enough to be taught by Mr Hughes. Part of our Friday programme is that we FIOP (finish it off properly), where we complete all of our learning tasks from the week and make sure that our blog is up to date.

After this we like to celebrate with fun fitness activities, this week we played multi-sport. This was great as we all worked as a team, communicated, displayed respectful relationships and most of all had fun!

We will be using these skills more as we head off to camp this week!