Anzac Day

While Andrew has been away our relieving teacher Sana has helped us continue on our amazing learning journeys.

We celebrated Anzac Day by thinking of the men and women that helped our country be a place in which we are free to be who we are, express ourselves freely and if we set our minds to it - be whatever we want to be.

Ambury Farm 2014

What an amazing time we had on our trip to Ambury Farm this week. We learnt about farm animals and how they help provide us with food and even got to meet quite a few. Mr Big, the female goat was Andrew's favourite.

We also went on a foreshore walk, saw some amazing lava flow areas and thousands of sea birds.

Write about your experience at Ambury Farm.

Brian Falkner Visit - What if?

Today the Year 5 and 6 students were lucky enough to have a visit from world famous Kiwi author Brian Falkner. He told many inspiring stories about his work and shared with us some of the amazing books he has written. Check out his website for more information about his work and books here.

One of the ideas he gave us was that sometimes it's a struggle to come up with ideas for writing a story. He said we should try using the saying 'What if?'

For this post you can try the what if challenge. You should try to include A.5 different what ifs or B. link them together. Here is my example A. :

1. What if - I was given one million dollars and had to think of all the ways I would use it.
2. What if - I built a flying space suit and soared into space to discover new life forms.
3. What if - my dogs started talking to me in posh voices and were actually undercover scientists.
4. What if - we could control robotic machines with only our brains.
5. What if - everything were a dream.

Example B.:

1. What if - I walked into the classroom early one morning to find the desks were piled up to the ceiling.
2. What if - an army of ants had moved the desks and it had become their new kingdom.
3. What if - I decided to fight back with an android fly spray army and Room 18 became a war zone.
4. What if - the ant King asked for a truce and I agreed and I decided to become part of the ant kingdom and we began expanding all across Balmoral School.
5. What if - we succeeded and the ant King and I became the new rulers of New Zealand.

Now it's your turn! Please read other peoples work and make a comment about it.

We are the champions!

Will the All Black win against France be one of those events that you will remember exactly where you were and what you were doing in years to come?  Did you celebrate this Rugby World Cup in a memorable way?  Did you have a World Cup experience during any of the tournament?

WELCOME BACK TO TERM 4

This term will be a very busy term, filled with many other events that may be memorable to you.  Some will centre around sport, while others will be more academic.  For the Year 6 students, Poroporaki is going to be one of those occasions.

Write a blog comment about either an event you are looking forward to this term, or perhaps about a memorable moment for you about the Rugby World Cup. 

Always be ready to shout "Go the Mighty All Blacks!"

Rugby World Cup 2011

In Room 18 we have been very excited due to the amazing celebrations happening during the Rugby World Cup. We have had flags hanging in our room, and have been supporting not only the All Blacks but other teams from around the world that are competing. 


Watch this video and answer these questions with detail.


1. What is your favourite team at the Rugby World Cup and why?
2. Explain what you will be doing during the Rugby World Cup?
3. What do think the Rugby World Cup will mean to New Zealand? 

Welcome to 2011!

Hi Room 18! Welcome to our class blog space for 2011.

This will be your first posting area and you will use this as a place to introduce yourselves. You have all read the class blogging rules and understand that our thoughts, ideas and information are available to be read from anywhere in our world.

You can publish without a Google account, but it's best if you sign up with one. If you publish without a Google account, you MUST include your name. If your name is not included in your post it will not be published. Please include your first name when posting without an account.

So, now it is time to write a brief introduction about yourself. Include these things:

Your first name, and your year level.
Some family information – for example who you live with – no names please.
You may wish to name the area you live in. For example – Mt Albert, Sandringham, Mt Eden, Balmoral.
If you have links to other countries tell us about them. Maybe you have lived in other countries?
Some of your interests.
Set yourself some big goals for 2011 – they can be class related, sport related or even outside of school. What is it that you really want to achieve this year? We can look at these and aim to achieve them!

I am really looking forward to our blogging journey and can’t wait to read your comments.

Let’s get blogging Room 18!!

Our Wonderful World

In Room 18 we are lucky to have had some contact with another teacher from Argentina, her name is Florencia.

Her students are wanting to know about New Zealand and Auckland - so it is our opportunity to tell them about our wonderful country. We live in a beautiful place, a place of freedom with so many wonderful and unique things about us and our culture. Be proud Kiwi's and share your country!

For our Argentina friends - can you tell us about your beautiful country too?

As an extension you can also choose one other country you are interested in and find some things out about it. Be sure you look where it is in the world on a map. Here is a link to Google Maps.

DO THESE THINGS FOR YOUR TASKS:

- Write some information about your life in New Zealand. What are some unique things that we do here that may not be done else where?

- Find out some interesting facts about another country in the world … At least 10 things. You could do it as a ‘Did you know?’ if you wish to.

Anti- Whaling

Last week we discussed the issue of Japanese whale ships in the Southern Ocean and their hunt to kill whales for 'scientific reasons'. Now, although it has been proven that whale meat does in fact make its way to Japanese markets, these ships still hunt and kill whales.



Since we spoke about it a New Zealand protester boarded one of the Japanese ships as part of his protest. He is now in Japanese custody as a prisoner, because he broke laws and trespassed onto the boat. He is now being called a 'pirate' due to what he has done.

For this post you have a few things to do. Answer the questions below after reading the article here.

What do you think of whaling in the Antarctic? Is it OK or not?
Is it fair that the New Zealand protester Pete Bethune is being held as a prisoner?
What should happen next?

YOU MUST also make a comment on something someone else said. For example: I agree with Johnny when he said ... OR Johnny I would like to ask you about what you said when ...

Keep up the awesome work Room 18, and we are looking forward to hearing about your ideas.

Injustice ... Justice

This next assignment is to research about injustice/justice.

IDEAS: Stolen generation (Australia), Slavery (USA), Zimbabwe conflict, NZ land wars, Treaty of Waitangi settlements, Berlin wall destruction, Apaertheid (South Africa), Freedom of Nelson Mandela…and many more.

Include facts and references and your own personal points of view – eg An “I think statement…”

This will help you with Rich Task in the coming weeks.

Make at least 1 reply to someone else’s response or article.

Well done Zach!!

We have some great news regarding a competition we entered called 'Doodle for Google'. One of our awesome students has been successful in getting into the top 20 for his age group and with enough votes - he can make it into the final!

Our school has the chance to win an interactive whiteboard and $10,000 worth of technology equipment. So your vote is very important - support Zach in his achievement and support our school.

VOTING HAS NOW CLOSED - BUT GO AND CHECK IT OUT!

http://www.google.com/intl/en_nz/doodle4google/vote.html

New Zealand Native Fauna and Flora

Kia Ora Room 18!

For this exciting task you are to get your research thinking caps on and find out about some of New Zealand's wild life. Be they small creepy crawlies, insects or birds; how will we attract them and support them in our adopted school area.

Firstly, come up with a chosen fauna species; then find out as much as you can about it. We need to know how it will be attracted to our area, and how we can keep them in their natural environment, this means finding out about what fauna we may need to plant.

This is going to be great.

Room 18 - you are excellent scientists, so lets start studying!

What's happening in our world?

This new section is for you to post your ideas about any current events that are happening to you and around you, be they in our country or somewhere else in the world. You may post links to articles that you have found, video clips that may be of interest or anything related to your post. It is also important that you respond to the article clearly and justify your opinions. Post comments and questions related to your current event or to the posts of others. This topic will be ongoing and I hope to see you adding more into here as you find it out.

Some links you may wish to use are: The New Zealand Herald, theStuff news site, TV 3 news, CNN (U.S.A), BBC (U.K), Australian news, TVNZ, or Google news. Any other great sites you find, please include your link.

June

June was new at Windy Primary, she had just come from America, but New Zealand wasn't the second country she had lived in. Before America, June had lived in England, Egypt and Germany, but she was actually born in Iran.

When June first came to Windy Primary, her teacher paired her up with Sam. Sam was a lovely girl, she was always supporting those around her and had many friends from many different countries and cultures. The teacher had made a good choice, because when Sam saw June, she didn't notice June's different style of dress, or the scarf she wore over her head. Sam didn't notice June's different accent or religion and the different types of food she ate during break time.

Out on the playground one lunchtime a voice called out. " Hey look at the new girl! Look at the way she is dressed! What a geek!"

It was John, standing on the high part of the playground and looking down at Sam and June, who were sitting own their own having a quiet talk. 

He called out again. This time hopping down and walking up to Sam and June. His friends started laughing. 

"Ha! Why do you wear that stupid thing on your head! It makes you look so stupid!" John shouted, as he stood in front of the girls. 

Sam stood up and confronted John. "Why are you so mean John. Why don't you just go away." She said calmly. John didn't seem amused.

"What's that stupid thing on your head anyway!?" He reached down and snatched the scarf from June's head.

June hid her face and began to cry.

Why do you think John acted that way? 

Find out 5 facts about culture in Iran and make a comparison to your own culture - Are there similarities? Are their differences? Explain clearly.