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.

Room 18 sure can dance!

Room 18 shared their amazing creative dance at the end of Term 1. This dance was created for our Rich Task  and aims to reflect New Zealand immigration, history and cultures. Check it out and leave a comment.

Philosophy Ideas - Imagine

In class at the moment we are having some interesting discussions based around the lyrics of John Lennon's song Imagine. We have analysed the lyrics and create a range of questions to generate in depth discussion around these.

Room 18 - for this post you are to respond in detail and with reasons to one of the following questions. You will also ensure that you are reading other peoples posts and respond to one of them as well.

QUESTIONS:

1. Can we all share our money?
2. Could we live without religion and live in peace?

Camp - Harlem Shake

Wow - what a great time we had at camp! Plenty of fun, risk taking and persisting at the wonderful Henderson Valley camp Carey Park.

As part of our camp concert some of the students, mostly from Room 18 came up with the idea to do their version of the Harlem Shake.

Find the link to the clip here.

Welcome to a new year!

Welcome back! The school holidays have finally come to an end and I am sure that each of us had a great time and a well deserved holiday break no matter where we were.

This year, Room 18 will continue to update our wonderful blog site, and continue to enhance our learning through the use of this online learning space. There are a few rules to remember though ... here are our blog guidelines.

In working with this blog and any other webspaces, all students need to ensure that they follow these important guidelines. They are designed to make sure that you enjoy these spaces.

• Only ever use your first name or a nickname when you are writing on this or other blogs or wikis.
• Never use any other student’s last name.
• Never post any personal information–such as your home or cellphone number or home address on this or any other blog or wiki.
• Never share any of your usernames or passwords with anyone and never log in as another student.
• Always tell your parents or teacher right away if you come across anything that makes you feel uncomfortable.
• Remember the “grandma rule” that anything you put on the internet could be read by your grandmother so only write things you could say to the nicest of grannies.
• Be a good online citizen and never write or post anything that could hurt anyone else.
• Always check with an adult if someone asks for your phone number or to meet you.
• Never make arrangements to meet anyone over the internet. Always talk to your parents or teacher if this is an issue.
• Make sure you publish only your own work. Don’t under any circumstances use other people’s work and call it your own.
• Make sure that you read over your writing before you post it to check the spelling and that it reads okay.

If you wish to change or add to these rules please post a comment with details of our reasons.

Use this first post as a way to introduce yourself and your family. Include - your first name only, the suburb you live in, your year level, your interests and hobbies, what makes you unique and special, your family information - how many brothers and sisters you have, maybe even something interesting about your mum and dad, and of course tell us what goals you want to achieve this year in the wonderful Room 18! 

Have fun and welcome to Room 18, 2013!!

Gangnam Style - Last day 2012

Last day fun 2012. Room 18 knows how to have fun!!

Farewell Year 6 2012

It's that time of year again. A time for reflection and a time to look back over the memories and learning that has happened for our Year 6 students, not only over the last 2 years together in Room 18, but their whole Primary school time. It's a big change ahead. Students lives continue with a new school to attend, new learning, changes in friendships and in themselves. Go well Year 6 students. Always remember your time in Room 18 and I will always remember you. Good luck - Kia Kaha.

This picture is of a range of Year 6 students from Hiringa shortly after their graduation.