Room One Mapua's BLOG! (2006)

Favourites of 2006!

2007-01-22T17:43:00.000+13:45

It has been an amazing year to be teaching and to be a student in Room One - we have ALL made great strides in our learning and confidence.

As the year draws to a close and our teacher Mrs Boyd goes off to work at Nelson Cent ral School in town we have gathered a collection of our favourite posts over the year.

Thank you for visiting over the year, we hope that you'll enjoy our favourites as much as we enjoy sharing them with you! We've loved so many other students and teachers looking at our blog, commenting and emailing us with positives.

Our teacher's very first post welcoming people to our blog

Our Amazing Kidpix Future Flight designs using a photo slideshow!!

The celebratory post we made when we got 500 hits - we were also featured at ULearn and Teacher's started looking at our blog!

Our very first movie we made, hosted on You Tube and displayed on our blog

We were part of the Flat Stanley Project - this is a sample of what our Flat People did and how we recorded it so that the Flat Person's owner overseas could view it instantly!

One of the most memorable whole school assemblies we presented and how we made a detailed photo slideshow for the parents that couldn't attend

How we introduced and used a class del.icio.us (social bookmarking) account to encourage safe internet useage at home by Room One kiddies

A simple use of Comic Life in our blog - parents can click on the pic to make it bigger and print it out

Using an interactive puzzle on our blog

Presenting a shared story attractively and realistically on our blog

Communication in the School Holidays - click on the link to the webnote page too

Promoting fun literacy-based games online to be used at home for homework

Sharing technical knowledge with our parents & incorporating shared writing of instructions

Promoting extension maths Homework

Our Flickr Photos that we shared throughout the year with parents/caregivers from around the world!

ALSO DON'T FORGET TO BROWSE THE ARCHIVES ON THE RIGHT HAND SIDEBAR - you can't see all our posts on this main page!

Thanks for visiting :)

[Click here to visit Mrs B's new class blog]

Aquatic Centre & Rabbit Island Trip!

2006-12-07T09:12:00.000+13:45

Yesterday our WHOLE SCHOOL went to the ASB Aquatic Centre in Richmond as well as Rabbit Island!

Room One had a fantastic time! We especially likes the wave pool at the Aquatic Centre and digging in the sand at Rabbit Island.

Thanks to all the parents that drove us all there! :)

You can see more photographs of our great times on our Flickr photo site: click here!!!

Phone Calls during class!

2006-12-07T09:04:00.000+13:45

Today some of us got to use the landline phone or the cell phone to ring a special person...

We had already drafted and published our letters to Santa, so now we took the next step and rung him on his special phone line!

The phone number is:

0800 222 222

if you want to ring it yourself!!

In our letters we had to make one wish for the world, one wish for our family and we were allowed to ask Santa for two things that we would like to get for Christmas. We had a great time!

Thinking Hat Tuesday

2006-11-28T10:33:00.000+13:45

Today our "Thinking Hat Tuesday" topic is a weird one!

"What if your ears were on the backs of your hands"

Put on your different thinking hats and think in different ways about this topic.

You might think of the idea in terms of:

Black Hat - it's weaknesses or bad points

Yellow Hat - it's strengths or good points

White Hat - the information and facts

Red Hat - your feelings about the idea

Green Hat - new or creative ideas linked to the idea

Blue Hat - thinking that would be required.

Post up your fantastic ideas ideas as a comment and don't forget to sign your name!

A Science Experiment at the Beach!

2006-11-23T16:05:00.000+13:45

Today the whole Junior Syndicate walked down to the beach to conduct a Science Experiment!

We had to make a sand sculpture/creation at the beach, the next day we are going to come back and see the effects of EROSION on our creations.

Our aim was: to investigate the effects of water of our sand creations.

Check out the photos of the creations that each group made.

Moutere Hills Athletics Day

2006-11-13T17:20:00.000+13:45

We had an amazing time at the Moutere Hills Athletics Day on Saturday!

Here is a bubble map that we did as a whole class: it's amazing what we can think of with all 25 brains working together!

Here is Harry's recount story of Athletics Day:

On Saturday the 11th of November it was Athletics Day. My favourite things were sprints, distance run and long jump.
I found sprints hard because I'm not that fast. I found distance run easy becasue I passed a lot of people. I found long jump hard because I can't jump that far.
Mum and Dad came to watch me.
For long jump I scored a 1. For distance run I got a 2. For sprints my time was 13-87.
Athletics day was at the Upper Moutere Domain. The whole Moutere Cluster came. Mapua school won a shield.
Athletics Day was fun!

By Harry

Super Water Science Experiments

2006-11-10T17:14:00.000+13:45

EXPERIMENT ONE:
Whipping air into something that normally sinks

In this experiment we used an egg white. Normally the egg white sinks when put into a bowl of water.
We wanted to see if we could make the egg white float. We whipped it using a fork, putting air and bubbles into it.
The results were that most of the egg white FLOATED!
We discovered that AIR HELPS THINGS TO FLOAT!!

EXPERIMENT TWO:
Investigating the surface tension of water

In this experiment we wanted to find out about the surface tension of water.
We put a small piece of crepe paper into a bowl of water. It wriggled out and floated!
We tested if the needle would float in the water by itself but it just sunk to the bottom.
Next we gently laid a needle of top to see what would happen. Most of us thought that it would all sink down together..... BUT ..... they both floated. It was amazing!
The paper supported the needle in the water.
Check out these photos taken by Hannah!

Kelly's Kitten Story

2006-11-09T12:51:00.000+13:45

The Kitten Who Ran Away

Once upon a time there was a girl called Anna Rose, she had a kitten called Fluffy. One night Anna Rose forgot to lock the cat flap and Fluffy ran away. The next morning Anna Rose noticed Fluffy wasn't sleeping at the end of her bed. She was so worried she searched the whole house but there was no sign of poor Fluffy. Anna Rose walked to her room and looked out her window.

Just at that moment her face lit up. There was Fluffy stuck at the very top of a tall tree with a crowd all around him and a fire engine ladder rescuing him. Anna Rose ran outside to the tree. "Fluffy!" she shouted as the man on the ladder climbed down with Fluffy in his hands. Fluffy jumped into Anna Rose's arms and started licking her face. Anna Rose took Fluffy home.

That night Fluffy was kidnapped by Scott Hamperson. In the morning Anna Rose couldn't find Fluffy again. She looked out the window, she wasn't stuck up at the very top of the tall tree. She searched the whole house once again but there was no sign of Fluffy. This time she was more worried than ever. She wasn't at the end of her bed and she wasn't in the house. "What if she's hurt?" she thought as she ran to tell her Mum. "I'll ring the police just incase she was kidnapped" Mum said.

The police asked Anna Rose all sorts of questions about Fluffy. Fluffy was by now getting taken to New York Ciry with Scott Hamperson. Scott Hamperson was goinf to a cat show.

On the boat Fluffy got out of her cage by scatching at the lock. She jumped into a canoe that was floating by. The police tracked down Scott Hamperson with their police file. Then a police boat came to get Fluffy.

Fluffy showed the police Scott Hamperson who was arrested for robbery. The police took Fluffy home to his family who lived happily ever after.

By Kelly
Photos from Google Image Search: By Kelly

Pet Day at Mapua!

2006-11-02T21:23:00.000+13:45

Today Mapua School held Pet Day, this is only held every second year. It was a very exciting day!

Firstly in the morning we had the toy and fruit/vege creation section. It was amazing to see some of the entries that people from both the junior and senior school had brought in.

Kalani won 1st prize for the junior toy section & Tullamore won 1st prize for the junior fruit/vege creation section.... well done!

Today is Pet Day. I entered a vegetable train. It is flat, it is not put together very well. I still think it is great. I also brought two soft toys. Their names are Claire Bear and Googie. They are cute because they are my toys.
By Oscar

Today I am entering a dog. She is called Flo. She plays with me a lot. She plays with me a lot. We run around a track. Flo is orange and white. She is 6 months old.
By Josie

My chicken is called Shark. She is 2 years old. We are bringing her in a box with a lid on it so that she doesn’t get away. She is brown, red and orange.
By Tullamore

Check out some of the other action at Pet Day:

A del.icio.us Room One

2006-11-01T21:00:00.000+13:45

Last Friday Room One went to the computer room and experienced their first taste of something truly del.icio.us!

Mrs B has set up a Room One links list on the site del.icio.us!

The great thing about this is that it is a safe list of websites that we can browse. They include everything from interactive maths and english games, actvities as well as sites that are just for fun!

You might like to bookmark our Room One Mapua del.icio.us site to your computer so you can visit and have some fun learning after school or on the weekend!

Click here to visit our Room One Mapua Del.icio.us link site... we'd also like to remind you to check out the Groovy Captain Underpants Games.... they're our favourites! More neat games and websites that are child-friendly will be added over time.

From Mrs B & Room One :)

Room One in the News!

2006-10-15T13:21:00.000+13:45

Check out this newspaper article about Room One at the Masked Parade!

Ok, well, so the article isn't from a real newspaper....... just a bit of fun! :)

The Nelson Masked Parade

2006-10-13T21:38:00.000+13:45

Tonight we had a fantastically colourful, exciting and fun time at the Nelson Masked Parade!

I think Room One felt a bit famous as they couldn't stop waving to people on the parade. We had a fantastic time enjoyed by all.

Many thanks to the parents that supported us by dropping their children off on time and dressed in their marvelous costumes.

Click here to download the above picture in larger size- ideal for printing & sharing with family.

Stunning Room One - Future Flight Costumes

2006-10-12T22:30:00.000+13:45

Today we had a DRESS REHERSAL for the Masked Parade.

We all got to try on all of our costume together for the first time.

We had propellar hats, our rocket jet packs and our sparkly gold neck pieces and skirts.

We looked great; very golden and sparkly. Everyone loved our rocket jetpacks and their flames as well.

Here is an awesome slideshow Mrs B made of us dressed in our costumes!

STUNNING!

A new kid in Room One!

2006-10-11T21:57:00.000+13:45

Today Room One got a new class member!

Kevin is brand new to Mapua School and comes from Germany. He speaks German and is just beginning to learn English. Kevin had a lot of fun playing with the boys in the playground and it seems he especially loves the computer and our may pole!

This is a map of where Germany is:

We can't wait to get to know Kevin better and to teach him some more English!

Since Kevin is such a neat child - have fun putting a photo of him together in this puzzle! Enjoy!

Many thanks to Allanah from Appleby for this neat Puzzle idea!

Day One, Term 4!

2006-10-09T17:11:00.000+13:45

What a fantastic start to Term 4 we have had!

It is such a great feeling to have a class full of children who are excited to be back at school and who can't wait to get back into learning.

We have a big week ahead of us with the Minstrel visiting and planning for the Masked Parade on Friday. You should have got an important notice home today about times/meeting points etc for the Masked Parade - if you haven't seen it - ask your child where it is!!!

Today we learnt how to play "Around the World" to practise our times tables in Maths.
Children had to answer 2 and 5 times table questions really quickly and try to "defeat" the "challenger".

Our champions for today were:

* Tait - defeated 5 and then another 4 children!
* Oscar - who defeated 6 children
* Theo - 4 children
* Robbie & Tiana - 3 children each
* Kelly & Alex - 2 children each
* Kurtis and Harry - 1 child each
* Ackolades also to Hannah, Poppi and Nicholas who all also defeated the challenger.

Congratulations to these FANTASTIC Mathematicians!

The Room One Term 4 Newsletter will also be out tomorrow.
If you can't wait until then dowload a PDF copy NOW from here!

Hope you all had safe, relaxing holidays.
:) Rachel Boyd

Afterthought- I showed this video from You Tube with the Kids today.
They LOVED it, so here it is for your viewing pleasure....

SINGING, DANCING, GROOVING SLUGS!!!

Added note: if you choose to investigate YouTube be aware that some videos may not be suitable for children.

So what are you up to in the holidays?

2006-09-28T09:33:00.000+12:45

Hi Room One!

I hope you have been enjoying your school holidays so far!
I have been very busy and so far haven't done anything really exciting. I've been to the Dentist (!), caught up with friends and tidied up my house!

What have you been doing in your holidays?
Tell me all about it...

You know those little yellow sticky notes I have? (post it notes)... Well we now have our own Room One online version of these, they are called Webnotes!

Click here to check out our very own Room One Webnote page and leave me a sticky note telling me what you've been up to in the holidays so far!

It's easy to do, just follow the directions on the sticky notes that I've put up so far. Just remember:
* click the disc to save your note when you've finished
* don't forget to sign your note so we know who wrote it
* only use your first name to sign your note.

Have fun and I can't wait to read all your notes!
Mrs B :)

Reflecting on Term Three!

2006-09-24T18:52:00.000+12:45

WOW Term Three has been both a busy and productive term for both myself and Room One. On reflection, I believe it's our best term so far! The class has really gelled together well, we work independently AND as a team, children are aware of others' feelings and ALL children are actively involved in their learning.

What a great class! As a teacher, it's times like these in the holidays that you just say "WOW! my class is amazing"..... Quite honestly they make each day a joy for me!

Enjoy the photographic tribute I have put together - reflections of Room One in Term Three!

Kind regards,
Rachel Boyd
AKA Mrs B

PS Hope you're enjoying your holidays :)

Bon Voyage to Harry's Flat Stanley

2006-09-22T14:26:00.000+12:45

Today we said BON VOYAGE to Harry's visiting Flat Stanley!

It is the last day of Term Three so we wanted to get Flat Stanley home to his school. Harry and Alex took Flat Stanley for one last trip around the school. They took him to the adventure playground and slid down the poles, gave him a ride on the may pole and even helped him up the steep climbing ramp. He sure has had a neat time at Mapua School.

In the holidays Mrs B is going to send away the book we made on iphoto with Flat Stanley and his suitcase, we hope that they enjoy reading and seeing what Flat Stanley has been up to!

Photos by Alex & Harry!

Jokes by Tait!

2006-09-19T09:23:00.000+12:45

Tait wanted to post some JOKES on the blog to make you laugh... so here they are!

Why did the strawberry stand in the middle of the road?
>because it wanted to create a traffic jam!

Knock, knock...who's there?
Fig.
>Fig who?
Aren't you going to fig the doorbell?

What type of pencil do robbers use?
>a pistil (spelt incorrectly on purpose!
What do you get when you cross an apple tree with a pine tree?
>a pine-apple tree!

Click here to hear Tait reading his jokes on our podcast!

Another email from Maia

2006-09-18T14:59:00.000+12:45

Today we got another email from Maia.

She sounds like she is having a neat time seeing her Dad and catching up with family.

She mentioned that she is even going to Sea World and Disneyland soon... she is very lucky!

Here is a map Mrs B made on Kidpix to show you where abouts in the world Maia is visiting.

We can't wait to see you when you get back Maia!

A Captain Underpants Homefun Surprise!

2006-09-17T12:25:00.000+12:45

For extra homefun this week I have found Room One an EXTRA special treat!

Great to celebrate both our fantastic 500 hits and the last week of Term 3.

In Room One we absolutely LOVE the Captain Underpants series by author Dave Pilkey.
This week we have a fantastic "Splashernator 2000" hangman game to play.

Try and guess what the hangman phrase is by clicking on each letter (remember try the vowels first). Beware however that each wrong letter brings you closer to doom and getting Captain Underpants wet in the Splashernator 2000. Once you've had a serious try, you might also like to see what happens if you get the phrase wrong.... what happens when Captain underpants gets wet???

CLICK HERE TO PLAY!

ENJOY and post your thoughts on this game as comments below!

Mrs B :)

WOW - 500 HITS!

2006-09-16T21:53:00.000+12:45

WOW!
All week we have been watching the hit counter and...

today the hit counter on Room One's Blog hit 500!

A fantastic achievement since we have only been blogging since the end of June this year! We will have a little celebration on school on Monday.

It's great to see our parents/relatives/friends and even teachers from all over New Zealand have been checking out our blog!

We hope to get lots more comments on our posts, just click on the word comment at the end of the post you want to comment on :)

Kind regards,
Rachel Boyd

P.S. do you like the cool road sign I created? It was made here at Custom Road Sign!

The Mapua School Cross Country

2006-09-13T16:57:00.000+12:45

Yesterday Mapua School held the annual Cross Country.

You'd never believe it.... but.... ROOM ONE CLEANED UP!!

Our children did SO well, ran their absolute hardest and gained most placings for their age groups. WELL DONE ROOM ONE!

Here are Room One's Results:

Year 3's:

1st Alex

Year 2 Girls:

1st Hannah

2nd Grace

3rd Sophie

4th Lauryn

Year 2 Boys:

1st Theo

2nd Oscar

3rd Harry

How to learn your 2x tables!

2006-09-12T21:12:00.000+12:45

Today we had the cross country during middle block so our programme was a bit muddled :)

We did our usual Thinking Skills Tuesday programme which was really funny. Our topic was "if we had two hands instead of feet". Room One thought that would be pretty funny.... maybe we'd be like apes/gorillas and eat bananas!?

We also made a VIDEO this morning to show people how we work out our 2x tables.
We hope you enjoy it.

NOTE: If your internet connection is slow or dial up we suggest you let the video play once sluggishly (right until the end) while you have a cuppa. It will then be easier to view the second time it has loaded.

Please let me know if you would like a compressed copy of the video (Quicktime format)emailed to you by sending me an email to: rachel.boyd@mapua.school.nz

Skip Counting in 2's - the 2x tables!

2006-09-10T18:37:00.000+12:45

Hi parents!

Last week we spent time skip counting in 2's and used this to answer 2x table questions.

We plan to make a video in class to show you how we skip count to gain the answer.
As a class we are trying really hard to learn our tables using our number knowledge, not by rote like many adults were taught. This means our children will not panic if they have to work out 2 x 14 for example (meanwhile the rest of us are saying ahhh! never learnt my 14 x table!)

KIDS:
Here is a link to a fantastic website where you can practise those 2 x tables.

TABLE MOUNTAIN

Your challenge is to get the man to to TOP of the mountain!
Make sure you select the 2x tables button.

[PS and when you get him there it is so much fun to press the "descend" button to watch him go down the other side :D ]

Have fun learning - Mrs B.

Asriel entertains Flat Jack!

2006-09-08T11:20:00.000+12:45

Today I got to look after Flat Jack! First at morning tea we went to the playground, but then the bell rang. We had to go back to class and do some learning.
Flat Jack helped me to paper mache my balloon. It is getting much stronger. At lunchtime I gave Flat Jack some of my food - sandwiches with cheese and tomato in them. Then I gave him a sandwich with jam in it. He thought it was yummy and scrumptious!
We went to the playground again with Hannah. I showed Hannah that I could make Flat Jack stay on the bars. We had a great time. Then we went to another part of the playground and we did some other cool fun things like going down the fireman's pole and going across the swing bridge.

We hope Flat Jack enjoyed his very last day at Mapua School. On Monday Mrs B is going to package him back up for his flight back to Hewett School is South Australia!

Atorea & Sophie look after Flat Jack

2006-09-07T12:44:00.000+12:45

Today we looked after Flat Jack. We had a great time playing tag with him. We had a great time. Flat Jack is really cool! He's a COOL DUDE!

By Sophie & Atorea

Kelly's Big Challenge - The New Classroom

2006-09-06T20:55:00.000+12:45

Today Kelly had a special challenge waiting for her when she got to school.

She was going to be a special News Reporter and Photographer for the day!

Kelly's task was to find all about the new classroom that was being built.
She:

wrote down questions she had about the new classroom being built

interviewed Mr Hepburn to find out the answers

took digital photos of the new classroom being built

drafted, proof read and spell checked her report

re-wrote her best copy of her report

KA PAI KELLY - What a fabulous job you have done today!

On the 20th of August some builders started building Room Nine. Mr Gully is in charge of the builders. The builders are building Room Nine because a lot of people are starting school. The builders have been working for about three weeks now.

The door to Room Nine will be in the front of the building. Mr Hepburn will be teaching in the new classroom. None of the Room Eight people will be moving into Room Nine. Mr Hepburn thinks the builders will be finished on the 20th of September.

Photographs & Report by Kelly

Flat Jack's day with Tiana

2006-09-06T15:57:00.000+12:45

Today Flat Jack spent the day with Tiana because Maia has gone overseas to visit family. We think that Flat Jack will miss her but Tiana was a fantastic host!

Today they did all their classwork together and also played at morning tea and lunchtime out in the playground.

Tiana even drew a picture on Kidpix of them together.

"We read a book together called 'Tiger' at morning tea. It was a great book!"

Picture & Story by Tiana

Tomorrow Mrs B will pic someone new to look after Flat Jack so that he is not lonely! I wonder who it will be?

Room One Hosts School Assembly

2006-09-01T14:47:00.000+12:45

Today Room One had the VERY important job of hosting the whole school assembly.

We were well prepared and rehearsed and VERY excited!

Our assembly's theme was FUTURE FLIGHT!

We used our different thinking hats and presented our best ideas about flight of the future to the school using these.

We talked about:

all the bad points/weaknesses (black hat);

the positive points (yellow hat);

our feelings about future flight (red hat);

the things we would need to think about for future flight (blue hat)

the facts and information about future flight (white hat)

and our favourite... the creative, new ideas about future flight (green hat) - we invented our own!

We had a FANTASTIC time hosting assembly and we can't wait to do it all again.

Please post us a comment if you attended to let us know what you thought; just click on the word comment or the pencil at the end of this post. We would LOVE to know what you thought!

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Google Image Search - Clouds!

2006-08-30T17:20:00.000+12:45

Today some of Room One started preparing our Future Flight Artwork.

We needed to find big photographs of clouds to mount our amazing Future Flight Kidpix pictures onto.

Mrs B showed us how to use Google Image Search.
Here are the steps we followed:

1. Type in www.google.co.nz into address bar while on the internet
2. Click on images
3. Type in 'clouds' as a search term
4. Scroll through the pages until you find the "perfect" cloud that you like
5. Click on the image
6. Click on "see full size image" to get the picture by itself and BIG!
7. Hold down on the mouse and drag the picture onto the desktop of the computer
8. Ask Mrs B to print it!

We found it a bit challenging to drag the photo onto the desktop, but we kept on trying!
The rest of our class will be selecting their clouds tomorrow.

Take a look at some of the clouds we chose today. They look so fluffy and relaxing!

Room One goes to the Beach!

2006-08-29T19:05:00.000+12:45

Today was a really busy day for Room One.

We are preparing to host assembly on Friday, are learning lots about 3D shapes and we have just changed all of our reading groups around.

We used alliteration to rename our reading groups.
They are now called:

Purple Penguins

Golden Giraffes

Green Gorillas

Red Rabbits

It was such a nice sunny day so Mrs B got special permission for us to walk down to the beach for a short time.
It was so hot, sunny and beautiful. A special "Thank You" to Debbie Cox who came with us; we wouldn't have been able to go without you!

Check out our gorgeous photos that Mrs B & Tait took!

Flat Stanley & Flat Jack's busy Friday!

2006-08-25T15:59:00.000+12:45

What a busy day it has been for Flat Stanley and Flat Jack!

I really think they must be impressed with the great work that Room One children are doing.

First they both helped Maia and Harry work on their "wheelbarrows" that they were making to celebrate our blend of the week "wh".

And later they got really "stuck" into the paper mache work that we are doing to make our masks for the masks parade.

We learnt that it is fantastic to be flat and laminated, because when you get all "gluey" you can just be washed clean!!

Daffodil Day

2006-08-25T15:53:00.000+12:45

Today it was Daffodil day which is a special day when we help support the Cancer Society.

Most of Room One brought coins for our coin trail and we added them to the beautiful Daffodil Miss Hough had drawn in chalk on the new court area.

Half the money raised goes to Mapua School for more shade cover and the rest goes to help the Cancer Society with research and to help people with Cancer.

We were also lucky enough to get a great daffodil day tattoo!

Future Flight Designs

2006-08-24T17:14:00.000+12:45

Phew!
Room One has been working SO hard to finish their Kidpix future flight designs.
You will be AMAZED at the results.
I can certainly see people getting around in the skies like this in the future.

The slideshow below might take a little while to load but it is WORTH the wait. All children's work is featured.
Please enjoy....

Presenting:
Flight of the Future, by Room One

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Homefun Week 6

2006-08-21T14:34:00.000+12:45

We are still learning LOTS about shapes.

Did you know that a ten sided shape is called a decagon?

Here is some extension work looking at all the different names of shapes with 3 - 10 sides.
Click on the link to play the game and test your knowledge!

Click here for your maths homefun!

PARENT NOTE: * Info is in the red box on the site (this has the answers in it) - children need to study these and learn the names * The game is played in the orange box on the site (scroll down) * To start the game, scroll down to the YELLOW box and click countdown to answer as many questions as possible in 60 seconds.

HAVE FUN!

Masked Parade Masks

2006-08-18T15:51:00.000+12:45

Today we started to make our head masks (hats) for the Mask Parade.

We firstly started with a balloon. Then we paper mached over the top of the balloon with glue and pieces of ripped newspaper.
We applied one layer of newspaper this afternoon, next week we will put more layers on to make our hats strong.

Later we are going to cut our balloon shapes into a hat and decorate the top of the hat with our future flight designs. They are going to be awesome!

Check out the cool slideshow... it's worth the wait!

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A surprise for Miss Trayes!

2006-08-17T23:41:00.000+12:45

Today we all prepared a great surprise for Miss Trayes.
It is her last day at Mapua School today and WE WILL MISS HER!!

We all brought something to share for lunch and had a great time eating and talking.

At School Assembly Mrs B gave her a big card as her "certificate" and Miss Trayes had to stand up there with all the other children that got awards :D

Later we gave Miss Trayes the signature bear that we all signed. Mrs B also gave her a poster, certificates and stickers for when she teaches her own class.

We hope she had a great day and enjoyed her special surprise!

BYE MISS TRAYES, PLEASE COME BACK AND VISIT US!

Flat Stanley's day with Harry!

2006-08-17T09:29:00.000+12:45

Today Flat Stanley spent the day with Harry who is looking after him.

"First Flat Stanley did fitness with me. We had Mrs Higgins and we played fun games. Flat Stanley helped me later with some of my work. We were writing our current event story about a zookeeper who got attacked by two lions. I wrote 1 and a half pages!

At morning tea time we went to my hut and Flat Stanley climbed some trees. After morning tea we read the book "At the Marae" together, it was pretty hard. For maths Flat Stanley helped me to draw shapes on our worksheet.

At lunch time I forgot to take Flat Stanley out to play. I think he would have felt sad. Afterwards I said sorry and I wont be leaving him behind again!"

By Harry.

Flat Jack's day at school!

2006-08-17T09:27:00.000+12:45

Flat Jack spent the day at school with Maia today.

Here are some of the things they got up to...

"I went to the playground with Flat Jack and we went down the fireman's pole. We went to my hut and put some more rocks on the sides of the pathway. It is not quite finished but it still looks good. I think Flat Jack had a lot of fun.

After that we went and Flat Jack climbed on some trees. Tomorrow I am going to take him back to my hut to finish doing the rocks.
By Maia.

Thinking Hat Tuesday - If our noses were on top of our heads!

2006-08-15T08:57:00.000+12:45

Today was Thinking Hat Tuesday in Room One.
We put on our different thinking hats and we explore situations and problems by thinking in different ways.

Today we looked at the BLACK hat, the RED hat and the GREEN hat.
Our Creativity Starter was:
IF MY NOSE WERE ON THE TOP OF MY HEAD....

BLACK HAT THOUGHTS
The black hat is all about the bad points and the weaknesses.

Your hair would tickle your nose - Maia

The hairdresser might cut your nose off by accident - Kelly

If it was windy the air could go into your nose and mouth - Asriel

You could sneeze into someones face - Alex

A bird may poop into your nose! - Tiana

RED HAT THOUGHTS
The red hat is all about our feelings.

It would feel bad if I had a cold; some snot might go into my hair! - Grace

I would feel annoyed because when walking down a dusty street; dust might go up your nose - Hannah

I would feel annoyed because the wind migh blow our hair up our nose! - Robbie

I would feel sad because people would say I looked funny - Theo

I would feel sad because people might call me names - Lauryn

GREEN HAT THOUGHTS
The green hat is all about creativity and new ideas

You could cover it up with long hair and the doctor might ask "where is your nose?" - Atorea

If you were at a party you could wear a party hat over your nose - Tullamore

The basketball might squash your nose and boogies might come out - Josie

You might go to sleep and knock your nose - Tequila

You could be playing soccer and sneeze; and it would go all over the ball and make you win! - Victoria

Miss Trayes!

2006-08-14T23:12:00.000+12:45

For the past 4 weeks Room One has been lucky enough to have Miss Trayes helping and teaching in the classroom.
On Friday it is her last day at Mapua School; we are going to have a special shared lunch for her.... but it's a SECRET (so we hope she doesn't read this!)

Here are what some of Room One had to say about Miss Trayes:

Miss Trayes is nice. If you're working with another group she can help you. Miss Trayes is doing well at teaching. She is good at helping Room One out.
Sophie

I am sad that Miss Trayes is leaving Mapua. I hope you will have a great time at Teacher Learning. I have enjoyed having you teaching Room One.
Grace

I am going to miss Miss Trayes when you leave Mapua School. But I am not going to be that unhappy because you might still babysit me.
Tullamore

Junior Syndicate Assembly

2006-08-11T13:03:00.000+12:45

Every second Friday we have a Junior Syndicate Assembly. All the children from Room One, Two, Three and Four come and we sing songs and the teachers give out certificates!

Here are some photos Tiana and Lauryn took of our Junior Syndicate Assembly!

Congratulations also to our Star of the Week: Robbie

Blend of the Week - Week Four

2006-08-11T12:58:00.000+12:45

This week our Blend of the Week was "tr"

We have had a very busy week working with Miss Trayes. We have had a winter themed big book and poem (Jack Frost). We hope the warmer weather will continue... we are sick of winter!

Today to celebrate our learning on the blend "tr" we made a TRUCK

They were a little difficult to make but we just kept trying. Here are what some of them turned out like!

(photos coming soon)

David Kemp (Artist) Interview

2006-08-10T15:35:00.000+12:45

This afternoon David Kemp (a local artist & sculptor) came to talk to Rooms 1, 2 & 3 about mask making.

Since he was our EXPERT we had prepared 4 questions each to ask him. We wanted to find out more about making masks, where to get the materials and how to join things together.

At the end of the question time David showed us how to paper machie and how to make a frame for our masks with a headband. It was really useful and we have come away with lots of ideas for our masks that we will be making for the Nelson Masked Parade in October.

Current Events Thursday - New Money!

2006-08-10T10:54:00.000+12:45

Today was Current Events Thursday for Room One!
Robbie and Lauryn were our news reporters.
They had gathered a newspaper article from the Nelson Mail about the new 10, 20 and 50c coins.

We wrote some fantastic reports on the new coins. Here are some of them!

We are having new money. The college boys were excited because they wanted to use the new money. They went to the dairy and they went to the fountain in Nelson and they dropped their old money in. They said “rust in peace”.
By Theo

On the first of August all the people are swapping old coins for our new ones. They are 10c, 20c and 50c. All of the old coins people are throwing into the yellow and purple fountain and saying “rust in peace”.
By Lauryn

College boys are swapping their money.
(You can use your old money until the end of August)
Some new shops wont take the new money.
By Nicholas

Make sure when you are next in our classroom that you check out our new Current Events book in our Library Corner. It looks like this and we will be adding to it each week!

Room One's Sport Afternoon

2006-08-09T15:37:00.000+12:45

This afternoon Room One had sport with the rest of the Junior Syndicate.

First we were with Miss Hough doing rugby skills and then we were with Ms Quint doing basketball skills.

We had a lot of fun practising our Large Ball Skills.

Check out the action!

Lune Poems

2006-08-08T12:35:00.000+12:45

Today we wrote LUNE poems with Miss Trayes.

A lune poem is a special poem that has 3 words on the first line, 5 words on the second line and 3 words on the last line. I wrote two lune poems, one was about the beach and one was about rain.
By Tullamore

Cute little lambs
I love my little lamb
You're my favourite!
By Kelly

Rain drops dripping
Jump in the puddles, jump
I'm loving it!
By Tullamore

I love writing
At school playing on the bars
I like reading
By Hannah

I love water
The water is lovely water
I love the beach!
By Robbie

I love starfish
The oh so beautiful starfish
Starfish Starfish Starfish
By Atorea

Introducing Flat Jack!

2006-08-07T10:42:00.000+12:45

Room One has had SO many Flat People visiting this year! We have also really been enjoying seeing what our Flat People have been doing when they have been on their adventures!

Flat Jack is the latest Flat Person who is visiting us. Maia is looking after him. Flat Jack is from Hewett Primary School in South Australia.

Last week Maia and Sophie introduced Flat Jack to two important people in our school.
They are Mr Gully (our Principal) and Denise (our Office Manager)

Here are the photos that Maia and Sophie took of Flat Jack meeting Mr Gully & Denise!

Well done Maia and Sophie - you are learning to take fantastic shots with the digital camera!

Dear Parents & Caregivers

2006-08-06T14:14:00.000+12:45

Hi there!

Just a note on how to view our old posts!
Current posts are the only ones visible on this main page.
Check out the ARCHIVES on the right hand side bar to view posts from June and July. They are stored there to make the page load quicker for those of us still on dial up internet.

Also we would LOVE it if you would leave us a COMMENT!
Just click on the comment word at the end of a post and leave us some nice words of encouragement! Room One would love to see some Mums, Dads and family members commenting on their learning (especially if you're located overseas!)
You can post as "anonymous" so you don't have to join anything; please just remember to sign off with your name.

Hope you're having a neat time looking at what we've been up to!

Kind regards,
Rachel Boyd :)

Blend of the Week - Week Three

2006-08-03T14:29:00.000+12:45

This week our Blend of the Week was "th".

We counted SO MANY "th" blends in our Big Book of the Week: Thunder Mountain!!!

We also thought of LOTS and LOTS of "th" words and words that have "th" in them like:

birthday

thump

thought

thirteen

thursday

thick

their

thousand

For our blend activity we made a THEATRE and THEATRE PUPPETS!!
They are so great! We can use them to pretend we are putting on a play in the theatre!

Kia Kaha - Day Four

2006-08-03T11:05:00.000+12:45

Today we had our last session with Mr T for Kia Kaha!

First we played a game. We all sat in a circle and there were cards on the floor. Mr T chose a girl and then a boy to pick a card. They had to read it out loud and Mr T asked the them what they would do in that situation. We had to talk about good choices we would make if someone punched you; if you feel like kicking someone; if someone stole your lunch money and if someone offered you their lunch. Room One had lots of ideas for good choices they could make.

Then Mr T read us some stories, they were all about helping and making good choices.

By Sophie

We finished the session by making a HELPING TREE.
Each person had to write their name and the name of people who could help us on the apple.
We then coloured the apple and glued it onto our Helping Tree.

Some of the people we discussed that we could go to if we need help were:

Mum

Dad

Mrs B

Miss Trayes

Brother

Sister

Mr Gully

Denise

Friends

We have learnt lots in Kia Kaha, THANK YOU Mr T.

Kia Kaha - Stay Stong, Walk Tall

Kia Kaha - Day Three

2006-08-02T11:18:00.000+12:45

Today in Kia Kaha with Mr T we learnt about behaviour & making good choices.

We learnt that it is easier if you tell the truth all the time and not blame other children. We need to take responsibility for our actions and tell the teacher or our parents the truth if we do something bad or wrong. Parents and teachers will usually find out the truth and they will be angry that you lied to them and you will get told off!

By Kalani

Room One Art Exhibition

2006-08-02T11:12:00.000+12:45

Room One is on show!!

Our Term 2 fish prints are currently on display on in the Mapua School Library.

Please come and view our great prints in our Art Exhibition whenever you are nearby and leave your comments on this post!

Kia Kaha - Day Two

2006-08-01T12:58:00.000+12:45

Today Mr T (the Police Education Officer) came again to take Room One for Kia Kaha.

He read us a story about some children that were being mean to a girl. In the story the girl told the teacher and the mean children got in trouble. She was brave and she asked for help.
We learnt that it is important not to be mean to others, and if if people are being mean to you; you can tell your class teacher or the teacher on duty... even if the mean person tells you that you're NOT to tell anyone!

By Asriel

Kia Kaha - Day One

2006-07-31T11:05:00.000+12:45

This week Room One is doing Kia Kaha with Mr Tonkin.
He is a police Education Officer.
Kia Kaha means Stay Strong
Today we looked at similarities and differences between people. We realised that everyone is different and it is a GREAT thing!

Mt T read us a story called "Happy Spring". It was all about children in the classroom. Some children were sharing and being good friends and other children didn't share.

At the end of the session we got to redesign the colour scheme for a police car!

We look forwards to seeing Mr T tomorrow!

Maori Language Week

2006-07-28T18:00:00.000+12:45

This week Room One and other New Zealanders have been celebrating Maori Language Week!

Each day we have had a Maori Quiz & Miss Trayes got to decide who the winners were.

The winners of the quiz each day were:

Monday:

Tuesday: Tait

Wednesday:

Thursday: Maia

Friday: Tiana

We have been revising our Maori colours too! Check out the link to the right of this page to practice your colours in Maori!=====>

On Thursday Kalani and Sophie were our Current Events Reporters. They both brought in the same article - it was about Maori Language week as well!

On Friday we used our knoweldge of Maori colours to make a GIANT shared picture. It is beautiful and we worked SO well together!

Blend of the Week - Week Two

2006-07-28T17:46:00.000+12:45

This week (Week Two) our Blend of the Week was "sw".

We thought of lots of "sw" words like:

swan

swim

sweat

swish

swell

swamp

swoop

swirl

swarm

sword

To celebrate our learning we made a "SWAN MASK" for our Blend of the Week Activity.

Check back soon to see some of Room One wearing their Swan Masks!

Pacific Inspired Artwork

2006-07-25T13:22:00.000+12:45

Last week on Wednesday we were meant to have sport but it RAINED!

So instead we did some Pacific inspired artwork with Miss Trayes using crayon & dye.

We had to remember all we had learnt about repeating patterns last year and think of lots of great ideas to put on our pages.

Tait has written a great recount of how they made them:

Shapes Gone Wild - By Tait

First I had to think about what I was going to do.

Then I had to draw my picture in pencil.

Next I went over the lines in crayon. I chose black, blue and green.

Last I dyed mine. I dyed it violet.

Have a look at how some of them turned out. They are BEAUTIFUL!

Apricot Fudge - Sharing Time!

2006-07-24T10:43:00.001+12:45

We all worked SO hard on Friday in our companies making, packaging and marketing our apricot fudge.

Here are some of the finished products!

What a good job all of Room One did, working together as a company!
Our fudge was yummy and we ALL enjoyed eating it!

Apricot Fudge!

2006-07-21T14:10:00.000+12:45

Today we formed COMPANIES and were going to MAKE, PACKAGE and MARKET some Apricot Fudge!

Some students were the creators (they made the product)

Some were in charge of packaging

Some were the marketers (they made posters and pamphlets to helps sell the fudge)

Check back soon for photos and reports!

Feelings Poems

2006-07-20T13:28:00.000+12:45

This week we had a great Poem of the Week called "Feelings"

Since we are going to be learning about poetry we decided to use our poem of the week to help us write OUR OWN feelings poems!

FIRST we brainstormed feeling words, THEN we talked about the structure the poem had to follow. The structure was:
When I feel _______
I feel _______
Like a ________
or a ________

Have a read to see some of what we wrote for our feelings poems.

When I am happy
I feel excited
Like a dog waiting at the top of the driveway
Or Gus when I come home.
By Theo

When I am mad
I feel white hot
Like an erupting volcano
Or an explosion.
By Tait

When I am jealous
I feel very, very mean
Like a mad and hungry lion
or being hurt really, really badly.
By Tiana

When I am sad
I feel chilly and blue
When I am happy
I hope you do too
I feel yellow like a dandelion.
By Atorea.

Fun with Apple's Photo Booth

2006-07-19T09:54:00.000+12:45

This morning some children got to take their photos in quite a unique photo booth!
Miss Trayes has a great new programme on her BRAND NEW apple laptop!
It is called PHOTO BOOTH!
Here are some of the photos we took of ourselves!
Prepare to laugh!!!!!

The First Day of Term Three

2006-07-17T12:28:00.000+12:45

Monday 17th of May was our first day back at school after having TWO weeks of holidays.

Mrs Boyd wanted to find out all the amazing things we had been doing so she asked us to put on our thinking caps!

We used the alphabet thinking key to "Alphabet our Holidays"

We had to think of words that described our holiday and they had to start with each letter of the alphabet.

We found the letters j, x, q and y challenging and we had to think very hard... and creatively to fill the box with a word that related to our holidays.

Here are pictures of some of our work.

The Mapua School Junior Disco!

2006-06-30T12:00:00.000+12:45

On Thursday the 29th of June we had the Mapua School Junior Disco in the hall. Most of the boys in our class went. Lots of us were wearing our cool jeans and we put gel in our hair!
There were lots of great songs being played. Our favourites were “I’m a believer”, “We will rock you”, “Hey baby” and the Macarena.
We bought our pocket money and spent it at the canteen. We had fun dancing, eating and talking to our friends.
We had an awesome and exciting time. We can’t wait until the next disco!

By Room One Boys

FISH TO DISH

2006-06-29T09:25:00.000+12:45

On Tuesday we celebrated our FISH TO DISH topic with a Junior Syndicate Fish and Chips Day!
The fish was delicious Hoki that was given to us for free, it was EXPORT quality and was YUMMY!
We ordered fish and chips and we ate it out of our VERY OWN takeaway fish boxes that we made!
They are very flash and they include a logo that we made on the computer using Kidpix, a company name made using Microsoft Word, a description of the product and a photo of the delicious fish!
We had a fantastic time!!

WELCOME!

2006-06-29T09:09:00.000+12:45

Hi there Parents/Caregivers and welcome to Room One's Blog!

We hope you enjoy reading about what we have been up to.

Please feel free to share this web address to your family members, especially those overseas, I am sure they would love to keep up with what we busy Room One children have been up to!

You also may post comments on this site for the children to read, they would be really excited to know that they were "world famous" on the web!

Keep checking back for more posts by the kids as I introduce them to the world phenomenon of "blogging" in Term Three.

Kind regards,

Rachel Boyd
rachel.boyd@mapua.school.nz