End of Term 3.. Bring on Term 4!

We said good bye to Term 3. It was certainly a sad time. Room 12 were not impressed that they would have to sleep in, go to parks and spend time with family. They hated the thought of watching TV and using their devices. Just the thought of going to movies did not impress.... 

We hate holidays

Perhaps a hint of sarcasm there.... This is a more accurate reaction: 

Over the moon! 

Today Room 12 came back bouncing off the walls! Brimming with excitement to see one another, the guinea pigs and what Term 4 will bring. We began the day with a class problem solving activity to get our brains working. Room 12 had to cross an acid river in groups of 5 using only diamond lilly pads (paper). Only two lilly pads could ever have two people at a time standing on it. Once they got to the other bank, the whole class at the same time had to jump onto it. I was so impressed with the way they worked together, problem solved and encouraged others. Check them out in action.

Room 12 Crossing the Acid River from Caitlin Roberts on Vimeo.


Room 12 makes it across the acid river! from Caitlin Roberts on Vimeo.

Our New Furry Pals

Hi Everyone and welcome to Term 3 

Have a look below and see how our little friends are settling in. We have been thoroughly enjoying their funny behaviours especially their loud squeaks, 'popcorn' jumps and their habit of jumping on top of their hay rack for a nap. The children have developed a real empathy for them which you can see in their very careful handling of them. Keeping the cage clean is the not so glamorous side of owning guinea pigs but they are showing real responsibility to get the job done each day without a fuss. Check out our first couple of days with them below featuring our buddies from Room 7. 

Lastly, we need your help! The guinea pigs need about a cup of vegies per day, with about 2 servings of fruit (depending on the level of sugar) per week. We've discovered they LOVE celery (the leaves especially) and are enjoying cucumber and carrots almost daily. Guinea pigs are able to eat a huge range of foods so if you have leftovers or want to pop something little in your shop to help, here are some ideas: 

There is also an extensive list through this website here 

SHE SAID YES!

Its been a long road... but Mrs Goodin said YES! We proposed to her with a real ring box and link inside to the presentation. Thank you to Hannah for that clever idea.

Room 12 and buddy class Room 19 do the Running Man!

Hello all!

Room 12 and Room 19 had the shared responsibility last Friday to host whole school assembly. Seen as it was book week we decided to create our own Running Man video... book week style! Check out it out make sure to share it with friends and family.

What do you think of our moves??

Room 12 Meet Nibbles. THE Nibbles.

Kia ora everyone!

As you know, Room 12 is working on the change of getting a pet for the classroom, specifically a guinea pig. We read an article about a very brave guinea pig called Nibbles which you can find here. Nibbles lives down the road at Tawa School and survived last year's flood. Little did we know, the story of Nibbles' survival was so good it became a Ready to Read story that was only released a couple of weeks ago! You can listen to it here. Room 12 decided to get in contact with Robyn (Nibbles' mum) to ask a few questions in the hope we might perhaps receive a reply.. which we did from some Year 1s at Tawa Primary. Next thing you knew.. we had THE Nibbles and her rescuer Annette visiting our classroom. Even Mrs Goodin was excited we had a celebrity visitor! Annette helped us answer a few more questions we had and has also given us some things to think about. We are currently working on a proposal for Mrs Goodin and now know we may need to seek evidence to back up our thoughts and ideas from different people.

See our questions, response and photos of the final visit below.

Summer and Shea passing Nibbles carefully 

Room 12's Change Inquiry - What's Happening?

Check out the videos below to see what we've been up to! Make sure to enlarge them to full screen by pressing the little square in the right hand corner. 

Let us know what you think by leaving a comment. We would love to hear from you!

Easter Fun

Room 12 participated in an easter hunt!...but before any chocolate was consumed, they had to perform a number of physical, literacy and maths challenges found in little plastic eggs. Their last clue provided them with a map of the school and an 'x-marks the spot' clue. It certainly wasn't easy but they did a wonderful job! Today we also recognised people living with epilepsy by taking part in Purple Day. Do you like our moustaches?

Summer, Harper, Hope and Chhung Li hold little chocolate
 eggs which they are about to gift to our buddy class!

For this clue, they had to unscramble a word.
Using the magnetic letters helped! 

"I HAVE TO WHAT??" Xavier laughs at their next task.

Hard at work. How many dots would their be on an 8 sided dice?
This was tricky!

X Marks the spot

Hurrah! Smiles all around for chocolate. 

Lets just say the eggs lasted all of 20 seconds

Year 3/4 Sports Day

The sun was shining and the wind was not blowing. We had a blast at the Year 3/4 Sports Day! Seeing over 500 children from all over Tawa participating in games together was pretty special. Have a look below at some of the fun we had. 

Thoughts are private... words are public.

Kia ora everyone,

Room 12 were given a challenge - to squirt out all the tooth paste from a tube and then put it back in again using a spoon and toothpick. They quickly discovered that it was pretty impossible! We discussed how this task is like the words we say. When we say things that hurt others, they make a big mess and we can't take them back. Saying sorry might help, but it won't take back the hurt that someone feels. Room 12 will remind themselves of this challenge to help them be RED in the classroom and playground.

         

First Day Madness

Kia ora,

We are already into Week 4! Time sure does fly. Check out what we got up to on the first day.. children were in relay teams and had to run and stick 4 post-its on their team member then tag another team member to do the same. The objective was to have fun, cheer on one another and be the first team to have successfully stuck all of their post-its on their team member.  Luckily we didn't have too much wind! Room 12 also got stuck into a classroom scavenger hunt - hunting for pink clues and answering questions. 

Welcome to Room 12!

Kia ora!

A big welcome to the new students of Room 12 this year, their parents and caregivers. I look forward to meeting you all over the coming weeks. I hope you all managed to have a restful Christmas and new year break. The blog is regularly updated so I encourage you to follow us by email (see right of screen) to check what we are up to. We also have a private instagram page #room12redwood.

Download the app and follow our images. 

As always, if you have any question please feel free to email me caitlinroberts@redwood.school.nz. 

Movie Trailer - Room 12 On The Loose

There's a new movie coming out this Summer and Room 12 are the stars! It's generating Oscar buzz and critics are reviewing it positively. Check out the trailer!

Room 12 and 20 do the Sasa

On the last week of term 3, Room 12 and buddy class Room 20 had the pleasure of hosting assembly. We were lucky to have Fiona teach us the Sasa which we got to present to the whole school. Check out our practise..

Te Ika A Maui

As the term draws to a close, I have created a small compilation of Room 12's part in the production to remind us all how AWESOME these children are.

Miss Roberts

Check out our calendar art!

Production is Nearing..

Nearing closer and closer is the Pukeko Production! We are scrubbing up our dance moves, testing out our lungs and have been getting a bit creative. Room 12 had fun creating this amazing piece of collaborative art. Take a peek.. You'll need to pop along to the production to see the final product! 

Room 12 Coaches

Today Room 12 learnt how to 'read with someone'. This wasn't simply reading.. We are working on learning to be a Reading Coach. Being a Reading Coach involves, with the help of one of our yellow cards, listening to someone read and supporting them if they are a bit stuck. Room 12 learnt how to offer that person suggestions and strategies to help them. Strategies, however, are only offered if the reader has asked for coaching. We are learning to be patient with our peers and to not just 'tell' each other words.

Check out a video of a few pairs having their first go at reading with someone and coaching! 

A Lovely First Day Back for Miss Roberts

Hello all!

After a couple of weeks in the USA and another few recovering from surgery, it is lovely to be back. I had a wonderful time overseas enjoying weather that required just a single layer of clothing. 

Today was a day focused on settling in again to those old routines. Room 12 worked wonderfully in teams on an oral language activity called 'See, Run, Do'. 'See-ers' looked carefully at an image, 'runners' were told by the 'see-ers' what they saw, and 'doers' had to draw what the 'see-ers' were told. It involved a lot of good communication, team work and self control not to peek at the picture!

Here are a few of the results:

For maths this term, our focus from now is fractions. That means finding fractions of shapes and sets. This new topic provides a good excuse to eat cake and work on cutting it into fractions. You might also like to enjoy a lolly or two and share them in halves or quarters, or if your feeling hungry, eat the whole lot!  Halves and quarters is where we will begin next week to refresh our memories. From there we will move onto others. 

Have a lovely weekend! 

Miss Roberts

Room 12 Bake ANZAC Biscuits

Upon reading a School Journal article about ANZAC biscuits, Room 12 learnt the origins of these delicious treats. The next day Room 12 got to bake their very own using a recipe that made a single biscuit. This meant we only had one chance to ensure we used the correct amount of all the ingredients or we might have spoiled our own biscuit!

Check out a few pictures below: 

Redwood Remembers the ANZACS

Pukeko's inquiry this term revolves around WW1, and it is off to a roaring start! It has been wonderful to see so many children enthusiastic to share artefacts and information they've found out about ancestors that fought.

Last week, Room 12 focused a lot of their learning on the question - What is ANZAC day?

We've been learning about the procedure of a Dawn Service, poppies, and the tough times the ANZACS faced at ANZAC Cove. You will find some pictures below of Room 12 acting out the landing and being faced with armed men, steep cliffs and ridges using the largest hill we could find in the playground. We had to visualise and imagine the hill being much larger! We even experimented using balls of paper to find out whether it were easier to fire ammunition up hill versus down hill to help us understand the difficult situation the ANZACs were in. 

Redwood School finished the first week of the term with a moving service to remember the ANZACS in front of our Fields of Remembrance.