Our Last Swimming Session

Kia Ora all

Over the last 4 weeks, Room 12 have been participating in swimming lessons at the Tawa School pool and today was their final session! We must say a huuuuuge thank you to the Easyswim instructors. They did a fantastic job to accommodate all the different abilities within the class.

Room 12 had a blast today learning water safety skills - take a look at the photos below : )

Miss Roberts Visits Zealandia

I have always wanted to visit Zealandia and what better time to do it! If you haven't been, I would definitely recommend it. As you know, Room 12's inquiry this term is looking at NZ native birds. I was lucky enough to see takehe, shags, kaka, bellbirds, robins, saddleback, stitchbirds, fantail, tui and kereru all within their natural habitats. My favourite was the saddleback - they have a very loud machine-gun like call.

Here I am with a takehe - only 250 of these left!

Room 12 Calendar Scavenger Hunt

It was chaos today as Room 12 wildly searched the room for yellow question cards. Each card asked a question that related to either time or the calendar. The race was on!

Investigating our NZ birds!

Kia Ora everyone.

Week one of Term 4 over and we are already well into our new inquiry 'All Birds Welcome'. Room 12 students have been really enthusiastic and it is amazing to hear some of the knowledge they have already.

We began the inquiry by heading outside with our hands over our ears. This was a strange experience for all of us! We came back to the classroom and a great discussion began about what surroundings we would normally hear. We began to think about birds and questioned whether we would be bothered or not if we couldn't hear them.

 Have you got any great NZ native bird books at home to share? Spotted any articles in the newspaper that we might find useful? We would love for you to bring them in. Also, if you know of someone in the community who might be able to speak to us about NZ native birds please get in contact.

 Below you'll find Room 12 sorting or classifying a range of New Zealand bird images into groups of their choice. A few non-native birds were included to make things tricky! No group sorted their images in the same way. We all had a look at each others work when we were done.

Milan, Tayler, Lucy, and Sophie sorted their images by how common they are. 

JJ, Jake, Joshua and Bhavik sorted their images by what birds they thought were native and non native. 

Vedika, Rebekah, and Trinisha sorted their images by the colour of the birds 

Harry, Jozef, Marwan and Ian sorted theirs by the size of the birds. 

Flynn, Hopoate, Sophia and Liam sorted their images into alphabetical order. 

Emma, Calla, Daniella and Kiah sorted their images in a range of ways, based on looks, native, non-native, and size. 

Our Beautiful Calendar Art!

Check out our calendar art masterpieces! We loved how each one came out so different.  If you would like to see them in person, pop into the office at school. 

Fun with the letter K

Room 12 had some fun creating an Educreations video during handwriting time about writing the perfect K. We found it tricky handwriting on the ipad but this helped us talk about what a perfect K looked like. Have a look at what we created..

Basic Facts Practise

Looking for another way to practise basic facts at home? Head to this website.
Click here ---> Prototec Basic Facts Website
The parts of each stage may not match exactly to the rungs on the Redwood Basic Facts ladder, but do reflect what each child needs to know at each math stage. Students in after 3 years at school should be working at early stage 5. Before this however, stages 2-3 and 4 need to be known well :) What is really great about this website is that it marks the answers and you have two options - to be timed, or to do it as a sheet.

 Have fun!

Exploring fractions

Last Friday, Room 12 had fun exploring fractions. Room 12 were asked to make and find fractions using anything and everything from around the room such as Lego, playdough, paper and math blocks! They had to make sure that if they were making fractions, the parts of the whole had to be equal/ the same. This helped us refresh our minds about what fractions are and ways fractions can be found. Here's a few pictures of our fun creations. 

Term 3

Welcome all to Term 3!

I hope everyone had a fantastic break and it's been great to see everyone.
Almost at the end of week 2 and we are all settled in once again! In maths we have been learning all about probability. We move onto ratios and proportions (fractions) from week 3 and this will cover most of the term. I'm looking forward to having lots of fun dicing and slicing things into halves, quarters, eighths, fifths, thirds... and I could go on!

In reading we have begun to learn about a new reading strategy called summarising. It's a fantastic strategy, especially when year 3's are beginning to read longer texts.

In writing, we have been focusing on brainstorming and giving exciting new words a go. The vocabulary Room 12 has been coming up with has been amazing! Let's not forget the importance of making sure we have full stops and capitals though..

Finally, our inquiry this term is called 'Fun with Friends', and we will be focusing on lots of different aspects of games. At the moment, we have been following the Commonwealth Games.

As you know, learning conferences are very quickly coming up next Wednesday and Thursday. Please do let me know if none of the available times left suit you.

Lastly, I took a number of photos from our market day. These have been posted below.

National Standards Expectations Tab

Hi all,

The National Standards and understanding the learning expectations can certainly be confusing! I have therefore added some easy to follow information regarding the expectations in reading, writing and maths after 2 and 3 years and by the end of year 4 in a tab at the top. The files even contain information regarding how you can help at home. I hope you will find them useful!

Caitlin

New Tab - Home Math Knowledge Activities

Hi Parents and Caregivers,

I have added a new tab to the top of the blog. If you are interested in working on a child's math knowledge at home, this tab will interest you! If you click on 'Home Math Knowledge Activities' you will come to a page full of Number Sequence,  Place Value and Number Facts activities that you can do at home, based on a child's math level. Some activities also include printable resources. To get to the activities, just click on each box - I would recommend clicking on those boxes at the year 3-4 level. However, some children have only just been at school 2 years - so don't be afraid to check out the year 2 level also as it includes all that really fundamental math knowledge.

Have a happy Queens Birthday weekend!

Miss Roberts

Homework Update

Kia ora parents and caregivers,

I have been getting a few queries regarding homework and so I thought I would provide you with a little more information that I hope might clear up any questions you may have. Homework is essentially the same every week. Children should be practicing their basic facts and reading for ten minutes each night. A child is certainly not restrained to only practicing the single rung they are sitting at. I would encourage you to revisit lower rungs also to ensure early, essential basic facts are still remembered. Reading Eggs and Mathletics are also fantastic websites children can hop onto to supplement their homework. Sometimes I may set tasks for students through Mathletics which are related to specific learning needs. These tasks have to be completed before they are able to access the regular Mathletics website.

The white sheet that frequently goes home that contains the 'extra for experts' grid of activities does not change - so if your child does not receive this sheet there are no problems. When a student improves their basic facts level, I do then endeavour to send one of these white slips home with their new stage written at the top of the page. If you are ever unsure where your child is working, please don't hesitate to come into the class and check out the basic facts ladder on the wall.

Homework books are due on Fridays and go back out the same day.

Click the blue link below to find the homework information sheet:
Homework Information Sheet

If you have any other questions, please email me, comment below, or visit Room 12.

Regards,

Caitlin

Room 12 Wants YOU

Kia ora Room 12, Parents, and Caregivers

 I am sure many of you have heard by now that we (Pūkeko) are currently in the process of organising our very own market day to raise money for a chosen charity! The market will be held in Week 8. We have been learning all about problems people face in New Zealand and how there are many different charities out there that rely on people like US. So with some hard work, we are hoping our market day can be a way to help those less fortunate.

 We have started to brainstorm stall ideas and in groups we will later make these ideas come to life. Ideas fall under crafts, games/activities, food and 'other'. We will also be creating a range of advertisements, letters and decorations to entice all to come!

SO do you have any crafty skills you would like to share with us? Would you like to help Room 12 prepare for the market in week 7? Are you available to help out on the day (26 June)? Do you have some super ideas for us? Please email me - caitlinroberts@redwood.school.nz

 As we confirm stall ideas at the end of this week more information will become available.

 We are all very excited for our market day on June 26 and we hope you will be able to make it.

 Regards,

 Miss Roberts

Redwood School Cross Country 2014

Following some very wintry feeling weather, Wellington put on a stunning day for the Redwood School Cross Country! It was great to see everyone push hard to do their very best. Well done to Joshua from our very own room 12 and Tui from room 13 for their excellant effort and 1st placings in year 3.

Wild Things

Room 12 is getting prepared for next weeks assembly celebrating Redwood School's Book Week! Pukeko classes have been asked to perform a wee item... Can you guess what book we are focusing on?

Join us at assembly next Friday : )

New Maths Strategies Tab!

Hi all, 

I have added a 'math strategies' tab along the top of the screen. On it you will find a range of strategy stages children are taught in primary school. It is a fantastic resource as it is easy to follow and it allows you to see where your child might be at, and where they will be heading next. All children will learn most of these strategies throughout school as they allow them to get a better grasp on mathematical concepts and help them do math problems at a faster speed! So have a look and i'm sure this might help you bring some super math learning into your own home : )

Have a lovely Thursday,

Miss Roberts 

Term 2 Hello

Welcome to Term 2 everyone!

I hope you all had a happy and relaxing easter holiday. The break has certainly been great for Room 12 after a long 11 week term. The energy levels have been topped up (aided by plenty of chocolate i'm sure) and the children have started the term really enthusiastically.

We have already begun the term with a very interesting show by a man named Bernard called the 'Spirit of Polynesia'. Bernard, with his wealth of cultural knowledge, took us on a trip around polynesia, sharing his experiences and a range of dances. Redwood School had loads of fun and cheered enthusiastically for volunteers who joined Bernard up front!

Room 12 begun their interesting new inquiry today. We were looking at problems people in New Zealand might have. Children brainstormed a huge range of problems many face in their lives. We then wondered.. what happens to these people? Who can help them? With 26 super brains in Room 12, we realised that is what charities do. As we delve deeper into New Zealand charities, Room 12 would love to know if YOU or someone you might know, is involved in a charity? If so, please contact me! If not, you can help us by talking to your children at home about charities and their roles.

Finally, would like to take a moment to briefly talk about homework. Students are expected to read every night for 10 minutes, and practice their basic facts - this of course is not restricted to their basic facts level! Homework books are due Fridays, and go back out the same day. Mathletics is a really great way to expand children's math knowledge in a fun and engaging way at home. Likewise, Reading Eggs is another fantastic tool!

Have a fantastic week,

Miss Roberts

Happy Birthday Dr Seuss!

Yesterday Redwood School celebrated Dr Seuss' birthday by having a wacky day filled with Dr Seuss fun. Lets not forget we were dressed in our PJs for the occasion! Room 12 started the day by noticing a few wacky things including a shoe on the wall which was particularly puzzling. We later learnt that the shoe on the wall was a line in a Dr Seuss book called Wacky Wednesday. We also read the tongue-twisting Fox in Socks and Bartholomew and the Oobleck. The later story of the two is about a page boy named Bartholomew who is determined to save the kingdom of Didd from oobleck (a very sticky green goo) that is falling from the sky. Room 12 found trays of oobleck in the classroom after morning tea and excitedly felt the oobleck. The oobleck felt strange! It was both hard like a solid.. and soft like a liquid. We learnt the scientific name for this type of fluid is non-newtonian. Today we started writing about our oobleck experience and are learning to add detail to this piece of writing.
Below are a few photos showing us having fun with the oobleck. Lucy fittingly renamed it ew-bleck...

Hurrah for Mathletics!

Kia Ora Room 12 Parents and Caregivers,

Children's Mathletics usernames and passwords are ready to be given to those children who have paid the activity fee. I have laminated these to be sent home and ideally stuck somewhere handy.

Regards,

Miss Roberts

Week 3 Highlights

Week 3 was all about assessment. Room 12 even did some assessments they had NEVER done before! They all did a really great job and persevered when things got tricky.

Amongst the assessment however, we continued to work on our statistics. Redwood School was notorious last year for their bad milk carton folding. We therefore collected all of Pukekos milk cartons, and investigated each classrooms carton folding by collecting data using a tally, and displaying it by drawing up bar graphs. Some classes were certainly better than others! We also found out there were more cartons that were folded properly compared to badly which is a good sign that we have improved.

Let us again rewind back to last Friday when Pukeko had their first syndicate assembly! Joshua, Jj, and Hopoate were super RED role models for Room 12 last week and so received a certificate for their efforts. Well done boys!

Homework has begun!

Hi Parents and Caregivers,

Homework books and homework sheets that specify your child's basic facts rung have been sent away. Students need to paste these small white sheets into their homework books. Our syndicate leader Cherie Arlidge apologises for a mistake in the homework. We thought students would have their Reading Eggs and Mathletics usernames and passwords by now, however this is not the case. We will hopefully (fingers crossed!) have these all ready in within the next couple of weeks. Meanwhile, students can still read every night and practise their basic facts via the link at the top of this blog.

Have a great weekend!

Regards,

Miss Roberts

Student Space.. What is Student Space?

Hi all, 

Some of you may have noticed some tabs beginning to appear at the top of the blog. One of those tabs is 'Student Space'. This tab will take you to the 'Student Space' blog which will be where you will find posts from Room 12 students only related to our current learning. I hope it will became a great space for student voice. 

Miss Roberts 

Week 2 Review

It has been a busy week for Room 12 and so before we knew it the week was over! Students began (and almost completed) statistical investigations this week. The students were split into groups and chose a question based on Room 12 likes and interests. Our investigations included birthdays and favourite shops, teachers, movies and toys. We collected our data using a tally and then drew bar graphs to display our findings.

Room 12 also did some super writing this week. As our current topic is 'Knowing Me, Knowing You', we wrote an informative piece about ourselves. We were learning to write an interesting introduction and use paragraphs to break up our different ideas.

A big highlight this week for Room 12 however was assembly. The first assembly of the year was on Friday and it was Room 12's job, alongside Room 19s, to organise it. We brainstormed what the RED value of Respect looked like, took photos of us showing Respect in different ways, and presented these photos as a powerpoint to the WHOLE school! A big thank you to our big buddies from Room 19 and our super speakers Lucy and Joshua who both did a fantastic job. Lets not forget to mention our IT helper Liam making sure everything was running smoothly behind the scenes!

Paddington this week went home with Liam. Liam has been showing the RED value of Responsibility throughout the week.

Finally, I would like to say a big thank you to those parents who were able to attend the Meet The Teacher evening on Thursday. You helped me learn valuable information about your children that will enable me to ensure they feel comfortable in Room 12 this year.



I hope you are all enjoying this beautiful Sunday afternoon and look forward to seeing you tomorrow,


Miss Roberts

Room 12 works on our BIG JUMP! Our class collectively jumped our way across the entire courtyard.

Week One Review

Week one done and dusted and what an awesome week it has been. We have played human bingo, chain tag, seaweed, toilet tag, and had a tricky hula-hoop race (pictures below). All of these activities, amongst others, have helped us get to know one another this week. Room 12 has also been working on a piece of writing, based on one 'moment' we enjoyed during our holidays. We are looking forward to sharing this writing with you very soon! We have also been working on our spelling, a piece of art, and learning all about statistics. After we gathered data using a tally, we found out Room 12's favourite colour was blue! We then displayed our information using a bar graph. Next week, students will be carrying out their very own investigations about Room 12 using tallies and graphs. 

Finally, Paddington went home this week for the first time with Taylor! Taylor has been a great role model for room 12 this week, exhibiting all RED Learner traits. I look forward to Tayler sharing her adventures with Paddington on Monday. 

I wish you all a very happy weekend,

Miss Roberts 

Sheldon moving through the hula hoop with the help of Jozef.
Teams had to move the hula hoop right around the circle, without letting hands go!

Awesome work!

A big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Ian and a big thank you to Ian's mum for baking
 a delicious cake!

Hi everyone,

Phew! What a day Room 12 has had and what a beautiful day Wellington put on for the first day back at school. We began the day by choosing our very first 'RED Rockets'. Everyday two RED rockets are chosen and today Daniella and Marwan took on the role. Both did a super job helping me and showing Room 12 what RED learners look like! RED is the name of Redwood School's mascot and stands for learners that are Respectful and Responsible, Engaged and Empowered and Driven to be lifelong learners.

Today we also worked on creating a warm and supportive learning environment by creating our classroom Treaty. After reading the book 'The Tree Hut Treaty' we learnt that a Treaty meant a list of promises and this helped us brainstorm what promises Room 12 would like to make.

Check out the photos below on what else Room 12 got up to!

Room 12 created a learning web. We introduced ourselves and shared our interests. 

Room 12 busy working on the classroom scavenger hunt!

Hei konā mai,

Miss Roberts

Tell Me About Yourself

(Update: There was a little problem with the survey, this is now all fixed!)

Hi Room 12,

Below is a link that will take you to a survey that I have created that will help me learn more about you all. This is super important so that I can make sure you learn the very best in room 12 this year. So click below.. and off you go!

CLICK HERE TO DO THE SURVEY

Hint: A survey is a group of questions that help people find out information about what people do, think and like. We will be learning all about this in maths next week!

Haere Mai to the Room 12 Blog!

Welcome everyone to 2014. 

Three days until school begins and I am so excited to meet you all! I have had an amazing holiday and spent an unforgettable two weeks in the Coromandel with my partner and his family. A highlight was definitely visiting Cathedral Cove. Snorkelling with stingray definitely got my heart pumping.. 

I hope you all have also had a relaxing and fun holiday and look forward to sharing Room 12's learning   and adventures on this blog - comments on posts are welcome! 

See you all very soon,

Miss Roberts

The beautiful Cathedral Cove

Miss Roberts goes snorkelling!