Room 9 Nelson Central 2009

Over the Rainbow Production

2009-12-10T22:32:00.002+13:00

Come to our Production!

2009-12-08T10:50:00.003+13:00

Our syndicate is performing a production on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons at 1:30pm. The production is called "Over the Rainbow" and will be held at the School of Music in Nelson.

Check us out in our costumes below, see if you can spot some of the characters from The Wizard of Oz!

Our Edublog Nomination

2009-12-07T14:00:00.004+13:00

Today we decided which class blog was a really good one that we wanted to nominate for the Edublog awards.

Our vote for BEST CLASS BLOG goes to Room 10 Grey Lynn School in Auckland.

We hope you win narrative writing buddies!

Collaborative Writing - Day 3

2009-12-02T20:40:00.008+13:00

Today was our 3rd day of collaborative narrative writing with Year 3 students in Room 10 from Grey Lynn School in Auckland.

3 more groups were online using Google Docs to write a story together at the same time. Take a look at the completed narrative stories:

Indiana Jones in Space

Names of story authors:
Nelson Central: Ellie and Ella
Grey Lynn: Jeru and Salote

Once upon a time, Indiana Jones had been sent on a mission to travel to the moon. He needed to locate some special rocks that might have oxygen in them. But evil monsters were protecting the rocks because they needed the rocks to help them breathe.

When Indiana Jones arrived on the moon, the first thing he did was put on his space suit so that he could breathe. His space suit also had a high tech whip in it which would help him later. He located the rocks with a special rock locater that the President had given him. He held it out and it beeped when it was near the special rocks. He was in the right place, but he had no idea how to get the rocks out. The rocks were way too heavy for him to carry.

He saw a space dog and asked if the dog could help him. "Of course," said the dog. "What would you like me to do?" "I need you to distract the evil mosters so that I can get to the rocks and pick them up with my special electrical whip." "Ok," said the dog, "but you'll have to give a good reward afterwards." "It's a deal," said Indiana.

The dog got a red flag and waved it in the monsters faces and ran away. The monsters followed the dog. Indiana used his electrical whip to lift the rocks all the way back to the ship. The dog met him there and got a bone as his reward. He was very happy. Indiana got what he wanted too, the rocks to take back to the scientists lab on Earth. It was a great deal that had helped them both!

A magical holiday

Names of story authors:

Nelson Central: Charlotte

Grey Lynn: Maia

A long time ago, there were two friends called Madeline and Jack who were going on a holiday. They were going to a magical place in England. They flew there on a jet and went straight to the house that they had rented for the week with their parents.

When they got there they immediately ran out into the snow. The snow felt soft and wet like a towel that has been accidentally dipped in the bath. They threw snowballs at each other and made snow people. They loved being in the snow, but soon it was getting dark and they needed to find a place to stay for the night. They went up to the house, but they found that it was locked! "Oh no," said Madeline "where are we going to sleep?" "There's a cave over there," said Jack. then Madeline turned around and saw it.

When they went inside the cave, they saw that some creatures pick ing up objects that looked like glitter . "What do you think that stuff is?" said Jack. "It looks like fairy dust to me," said Madeline. "I think we should get out of here!"

Suddenly, a tiny voice said, "can you help us?" Madeline and Jack jumped because they had never heared such a small heard such a small voice. When Madeline looked down, she saw a pair of wings and a little face. "The goblins are stealing all our fairy dust and using it to fly," said the fairy Sparkles. "But we need it to help the corn grow next spring." "What would you like us to do?" said Madeline. "We've got snowmen," said Jack. "Would that help?"

"Perfect," said Sparkles. "I'll just tap them with my wand and that will make them come to life!" Sparkles went outside and came back with an army of snowmen. "Fellow snowmen," said Sparkles, "follow me!" The snowmen started to throw very bright snowballs at the goblins. When a snowball hit a goblin, the goblin dided soblin dissolved instantly.

"It's working!" yelled Madeline. "Keep going!" The snowmen continued throwing snowballs until all the goblins had dissolved. "Thank you snowmen," said Madeline. "See you tomorrow." "And thank you, Madeline and Jack," said Sparkles. "Is there anything I can do to help you?" "Yes!" said Jack. "We need to get into our house!" "Of course," said Sparkles, as she unlocked the front door with her wand.

"That was a truly magical holiday," said Madeline. "I agree," said Jack, "and it's only just beginning!

The Parrot and the Dog

Names of story authors:
Nelson Central: Nopera and Dom
Grey Lynn: Jordan and Briar

Once upon a time there was a Dog called Jazz and Parrot called Squawky. They lived next door to each other, but they hated each other. Jazz was always chasing Squawky and trying to catch and eat her.

One day there was an earthquake. Jazz was busy chasing Squawky up a steep hill and he was getting closer and closer. Squawky called out, "please stop chasing me. I'm getting tired and it's not fun!" Jazz didn't care, he thought that was a great game.

Suddenly, BANG! Rumble, rumble, rumble. The ground began to shake. "It's an earthquake!" yelled Squawky. "This is fun!' It's like a massage on my wings!" Jazz wasn't so excited. "Help!" he wept. "The ground is breaking under my weight.; I don't know what to do."

Squawky was having the time of her life. She was having a roller coaster ride in the sky. But down below, she could see Jazz trembl.ing it looked liked he was in a sand He looked very scared. "I will save and help you only if you promise not storm to chase me anymore," said Squawky. Jazz agreed.

Squawky swooped down and scooped Jazz up in her sharp talons and took him to safety. Jazz wriggled like a wiggly worm in Squawkys talons, but Squawky didn't drop him. When they finally reached the safety of Squawky's home, Jazz was really relieved. He had escaped from the terrible shaking earth.

From that day on, Jazz and Squawky became best friends and visited each other every day. Sometimes, Squawky would let Jazz chase her, but only for fun.

Well done Groups 7, 8 & 9, very imaginative stories.
Our final day of narrative writing is tomorrow!

Our Stream Digi Art

2009-12-01T16:46:00.002+13:00

We have been learning about healthy streams for our Inquiry topic this term and have made some brand new digi art to go with it!

We had to make an artwork that showed ways that people can care for and look after streams. We also took all the digital photos by ourselves.

Can you notice what we are doing to keep the stream clean and healthy?

Leave us a comment with any of your guesses!

Collaborative Writing - Day 2

2009-12-01T13:11:00.009+13:00

Today was our 2nd day of collaborative narrative writing with Year 3 students in Room 10 from Grey Lynn School in Auckland.

3 more groups were online using Google Docs to write a story together at the same time. Take a look at the completed narrative stories:

The Dog that couldn't bark

Names of story authors:
Nelson Central: Aria & Aulay
Grey Lynn: Amy and Anton

Once there was a big dog called Spot. He couldn't bark because he had a bad disease in his throat. He lived with his owners called Jack and Jazmine.

One day, when Jack and Jazmine were out shopping, Spot saw some strangers snooping around the house. Spot watched as they smashed the toilet window and went inside. Spot knew that they were being robbed! "What shall I do?" He thought. "I can't even bark to get help! I'll have to deal with this all by myself."

There was a trampoline standing next to the bathroom window. Spot jumped onto the trampoline, bounced really high and did a somersault through the bathroom window. He landed on the toilet seat, which luckily was shut.

Spot charged at the robbers and cornered them. Then he leaped as high as a kite and scratched them on the face really hard. He grabbed them by the pants and pulled them out the front door.

Just then, Jack and Jazmine came back.''Oh No!'' said Jazmine sadly. ''We have been robbed. I think we should call the Police." But Spot jumped up and showed them the robbers lying on the front step.

''Well done Spot!'' said Jazmine and Jack. Then Jazmine said "You are an amazing dog."

Jazmine quickly went inside and discovered that nothing was stolen even though the toilet window was smashed. They called the Police and got the robbers taken away to jail. Then Jack got Spot a big, big bone. "Here you go," he said. "Good job. We can trust you to guard the house even though you can't bark. You're the best!" Spot felt very proud of himself and happy to have such nice owners.

The Robot Cat Adventures

Names of story authors:
Nelson Central: Sheridan and Jacob
Grey Lynn: Jennifer and Cameron

Once there were two robots who were best friends. Their names were Flyer and Braike. They lived in a space ship with their cat called Max.

Flyer and Braike were trying to fly their space ship to Mars, but they kept getting stopped by big green aliens who wanted to take their beautiful cat, Max. The aliens had never seen a cat and thought it looked delicious!

Flyer had an idea. He said, "we should transform our space ship into a shield space ship so that we can get past the aliens." Braike thought that was a good idea, and Max was just glad that he wasn't going to be eaten! Flyer found some recycled material like metal junk that they couldn't use any more, and they made a strong protective shield.

Finally they landed on Mars , but the aliens were already there. "Oh no," said Braike. "What should we d

o now?" "Maybe we should talk to them" said Flyer. "They might not be as terrible as we think. Maybe they just want to pat the cat." "Ok," said Braike. "But we are NOT giving them Max."

''Greetings Aliens," said Flyer. ''What do you want from us?" exclaimed Max trembling. ''We just want your space ship and to take a photo of your beautiful cat so that we can make one like it back on our planet," said the big green alien.

"Well," said Flyer, "you can only have our ship if you give us one of your cool space ships. And we will let you have a photo, but you can't have Max. He's ours."

Braike was very proud of how Flyer stood up to the scary aliens. She thought that he was very cool. The aliens were also impressed with how Flyer talked, and they agreed to everything that he said.

So Flyer and Braike stood beside Max the cat and the Aliens took a picture of the three. Then Flyer and Braike zoomed off like a motorbike and said ''goodbye." Max said ''meeeow!" They thought it was a good day after all.

Where is Santa?

Names of story authors:
Nelson Central: Luke & Ethan
Grey Lynn: Stella and Ethan

Once there was a girl called Bella who lived with her very mean parents called Joe and Kim. It was December and Christmas was coming. Her parents were so mean that they weren't going to give her any presents for Christmas.

In her bedroom she decided to write a letter to Santa but he didn't respond, so she decided to go to him. She didn't know how to get there though, so Bella called out, "Santa, Santa, where are you?" But there was no reply.

Bella decided to call Santa's hotline to see if she could get him to come and see her. She picked up the phone and dialed the number but all she heard was his answering message. She thought she better leave a message, just in case.

"Hi Santa, it's Bella here. My parents are being very mean to me and I was wondering if you could come to my house and help me."

Bella knew one place that she could find Santa. It was the shops! She decided to look in the shop and to her suprise he wasn't there, so she walked sadly to her house. When she arrived, she called again "Santa, I need you," and suddenly he was there.

She said, "oh Santa, you're here!" Then he said " I got your message and I came as soon as I could. Here is a little toy for you. I need your help as well. Can you be a helper in my workshop? One of the elves has had to move away and I need another helper." Bella felt really excited about getting to live with Santa and also getting to move away from her mean parents. She went to tell her parents, but they didn't care anyway. So she went back to Santa's workshop in his sleigh.

The first thing she did when she got there was make a toy truck made out of metal. She was so happy to be with Santa and his reindeer at the North Pole. She was as lucky as a cookie, the luckiest person in the whole world.

Well done to the 3 groups who wrote their stories today!

Collaborative Narrative Writing - Day 1

2009-11-30T13:36:00.008+13:00

This week Room 9 are writing some narrative stories collaboratively with another class!

The class is in Grey Lynn, Auckland. They are year 3s and are from Room 10. We have been reading, looking at and commenting on their class blog for two terms.

We are using Google Docs, the Internet, a computer and a mouse to work together with them. Each morning this week at 9:30am we will be online and working with them.

Today 3 groups got to have their turn. They wrote amazing stories. Take a look at the fabulous writing they produced together with Room 10 in an hour:

The Bus Ride

Names of story authors:
Nelson Central: George N & Denver
Grey Lynn: Celia and Anisah

One day Tim was walking to the bus to go to school. But he was too late for the bus because it left at 8.30am and he got there at 8.35am! The bus had already left and he was stuck there with nowhere to go like a little bird lost. He felt left out. His mum had gone to work and his dad lived in Wanaka.

Tim had chased the bus but the bus was too fast! He saw another bus coming and put his hand out to make it stop like magic. But this bus was going to the beach. He said to the old bus driver, "I need a ride to school, where can I get one?" The bus driver said, "hop on and I will take you there." Tim hopped on and sat down, but then he realised that he had forgotten to tell the driver what school he went to and the bus had already started moving. He wondered if he should say something, but he was feeling shy and scared of being growled at by the driver. Tim knew he needed to be brave, so he said "Stop!" "Ok," said the driver "I go to Richmond Street school" said Tim. "Ok" said the bus driver and he took him there.

The bus stopped Tim said "thanks," and went into his class but he realised the class was empty. Then he said "aha! My class is at assembly and so is the rest of the school." So he ran down the bumpy hill to assembly and went to his teacher. His teacher said "Where have you been, Tim?" He told her all about the bus ride. She said, "Well done for being brave" and he joined his class.

Tim felt really proud of himself for being brave and finding a way to school even though he missed his real bus. Now he knew exactly what to do if he missed his school bus again.

The Scared Cat

Names of story authors:
Nelson Central: Eden & Jayden
Grey Lynn: Sasha and Xavier

Once upon a time a cat named Ginger and a giant Bigfoot were walking through the woods. Ginger was on his way to the bank and was taking a short cut through the woods. Ginger didn't know that Bigfoot was next to him because Bigfoot had invisible powers. Ginger was scared as she thought she was all alone in the woods.

Ginger could feel the ground rumbling near him. He turned around in a circle to see if he could see anything near him that could make the rumbling, but there was nothing to see. Ginger slinked further into the woods, along the curvy path which was as curvy as a wriggly snake. Bigfoot was following her.

Suddenly Bigfoot appeared right in front of her! Ginger was very very scared. "Do you have any money?" asked Bigfoot. Ginger knew he was going to rob her, so he quickly ran up the tree behind him. Bigfoot couldn't climb the tree since he had no claws, so he stood at the bottom of the tree and shook it. Ginger climbed up to the very top of the tree and then leaped to the next tree that he could see.

Bigfoot raced to the bottom of the next tree and shook that too. Ginger
quickly jumped to the next tree, and the next, and the next. He was using the trees like trampolines. The trees were his own little cat path. Bigfoot got dizzy trying to follow him and he fell down and that was the end of Bigfoot. Ginger was not scared any more.

Ginger made it to the end of the cat path, jumped down and hurried to the bank. He had made it! He was cleverer than Bigfoot. He found all his friends at the bank and told them about his big adventure. He had learned his lesson, and on his way home he was NOT going to take a short cut ever again.

Lost and Seeking

Names of story authors:
Nelson Central: Katrina & Pete
Grey Lynn: Phoenix and Jaime

On Saturday, Nadia and John went to their friend Jack and Julie's house after soccer practice. They played cricket, but John hit the ball over the fence and they didn't know how to get it back. Over the fence lived an old, angry man who hated it when people went into his property.

They decided to risk it and go over anyway. They used a ladder to get over the huge fence and went over to look for it. When they finally climbed down the other side of the fence, they realised that they were standing in the middle of a spooky maze and there was a ghost.

The ghost had hid the ball at the top of the hedge. He would not give it back to them.

The kids knew that they needed to get out quick, but the ladder had fallen backwards to their house. They would have to go through the maze to get out the other side. The old man was guarding the end of the maze which would make it even harder to get out, but they knew if they waited until night he would be asleep because he was so old.

They started getting very tired but they knew they needed to leave. They raced out the paths to find the way out. Jack said, "This way, I've found the exit!" The others followed him out of the maze. They were exhausted and very tired so they went to sleep.

When they woke up it was night time. The ball had fallen back into the garden. "Perfect," said Nadia. "Now we can get past the wicked old man since he is asleep." Soon they were safely back at Jack and Julie's house. They would make sure to be more careful with the ball next time and would never forget the exciting maze next door.

Room 9 Teaching!

2009-11-25T16:26:00.010+13:00

At the Nelson Kids' ICT Expo last week 12 students from Room 9 were extremely brave and confident...
They got to teach over 2,000 children from 8 different primary schools!!

Room 9 were running 3 stations. They had to demonstrate, teach and help the kids (and some of the teachers too!)

One station was using xtranormal to make animated movies, another station was using Tutpup for maths challenges and the final station was using Kidpix for artwork.

Take a look at some of the interviews and photos of Room 9 presenting in the video below. They were SOOOO fabulous!

A huge congratulations to the 12 students involved - you made us all so PROUD!

Nelson Kids' ICT Expo

2009-11-24T14:09:00.000+13:00

On Thursday Room 9 went in a bus to Victory School. We went because it was the Nelson Kids' ICT Expo.

There were lots of other schools there like Hampden Street, Nelson Intermediate, Clifton Terrace, St Joseph's, Auckland Point, Nelson Central, Victory School and Hira School. They all had something to show and children there to teach other children.

Most of the children from all of the schools came to visit and have a look at the expo over the 2 days. That was over 2,000 children!

At the Expo we saw a dinosaur, it was made by the children of Hampden Street School, they used it in their advert. There was a boy who had made a game called "The Adventures of Ball Man". Some children had also made a movie about the expo, some people from our school were interviewed for it. Victory School had a very cool craft shadow puppet show.

Some people from Room 9 got to teach at the Expo and got to show the children how to do things on the computers. We had a group teaching how to make animated movies using xtranormal, how to take a maths challenge on Tutpup and how to do beautiful artwork on Kidpix. They got to teach children as old as 13 years!

Take a look around the awesome Kids' Expo in the movie below :

Our Stream Study

2009-11-12T13:18:00.008+13:00

Last week we went to the stream up the Brook to learn about healthy streams.

This week some groups of students (who will be presenting and teaching other students next week at a BIG Kids' Expo) have been experimenting using the online website xtranormal to make their very own animated movies about the features of healthy streams.

Check out the groups' work below, we can't wait to show you the completed 'proper' projects after the Kids' Expo next week!

By Ellie and Luke

By Pete and Eden

By Charlotte and George N

Well done groups! They are looking FANTASTIC for an experiment, you will produce AMAZING movies next week when teaching all the other students from around Nelson in the Kids' Expo!!!

Goodbye Hannah!

2009-11-06T14:25:00.010+13:00

Today is Hannah's last day teaching with Room 9.
We have really enjoyed having her with us over the past 4 weeks.

Here are Room 9's goodbye messages to Hannah :)

Happy World Teachers' Day!

2009-10-30T08:57:00.001+13:00

Friday 30th October was World Teachers' Day!

Room 9 has made a tribute and gift for teachers at Nelson Central School and all over the world - check out the video below! We hope you enjoy it :)

What we have enjoyed this term!

2009-09-24T13:29:00.005+12:00

WALT to write a letter

Term 3 is just about coming to an end. Room 9 brainstormed lots of things that we have done this term. We chose things we really enjoyed doing.

Then we wrote a letter to Rachel to tell her what we enjoyed doing this term.

Take a closer look at our brainstorm by clicking on it to view our ideas larger.

70 Nile Street,
NELSON

24 September 2009,

Dear Rachel,

I liked skipping because we were getting fit and learning new ways to skip. I also liked fairy tales citizens because we got to hear new stories that interesting. I liked it when Nina came because we got lots of stories read.

From George B.

70 Nile Street
NELSON

24 September 2009

Dear Rachel,

I enjoyed skipping because I learned alot more about skipping. I liked having Ruth over because I liked it when we had to guess the music. I liked Jump Jam because it was jumpy fun.

From Ellie

(please note for Internet safety reasons we have used our school address instead of our own)

Hosting Assembly

2009-09-23T09:24:00.008+12:00

Last week Room 9 hosted Kowhai Syndicate Assembly. We decided it would be for spring.

For our spring assembly Room 9 had to prepare and write our words and choose the songs. Room 9 also had to make some daffodil artwork. We had to show our daffodils to the whole Kowhai syndicate. The songs we chose to sing were Just One Earth and Seasons.

The whole Kowhai Syndicate came to our assembly. Lots of our parents also came. We even dressed up for assembly, we wore spring coloured clothes, some colours people wore were greens, pinks, yellows and clothes with lots of flowers on them.

Dave, George N's Dad took some pictures and 2 movies of us. Thank you Dave :)

By Aulay and Ellie

Our Writing Spot Blog needs...

2009-09-16T17:53:00.005+12:00

YOUR COMMENTS!

Students have been working very hard, either individually or in pairs to independently write on our special Writing Spot Blog.

It is a special place where students can independently express themselves, showing you some of what we are learning either in writing, or in our classroom learning programmes. Take a look over at our Writing Spot Blog today and see who you'd like to leave a comment for!

CLICK ME => http://room9writing2009.blogspot.com/

Spring Chicks

2009-09-11T10:58:00.016+12:00

Today Jacob brought 3 chicks to Room 9.

Everyone got a turn to pat the chicks.

It was raining on the day that the chicks came to Room 9.

They were very smelly!

We tried to feed the chicks but they did not want the food.

Check out the photos!

By Jacob and Luke

Road Safety

2009-09-10T14:10:00.002+12:00

On Wednesday Ronald McDonald came to visit the kowhai syndicate.
He taught us about Road Safety.

We learned that when we are on a bike, scooter, skateboard or rollerskates you MUST put a helmet on.

He also taught us about Sneaky driveways, they are a driveway that you can't see.

At the end, George N and Aria got to thank Ronald for coming to teach us.

By Eden & Jazmine

Double Birthday

2009-09-10T13:49:00.003+12:00

Today we found out that Lesley, who is a teacher in our syndicate (Room 13) has the same birthday as Aria in our class!

Check out the little movie "Birthday Wishes" that we made. It also has a special message from Aria.

Procedural Writing

2009-09-09T14:27:00.005+12:00

WALT write descriptive procedures that help people to do things.

This afternoon Rachel set up a special task page on our wiki with procedural writing tasks we needed to complete. These were to help us with our instruction writing.

Take a look HERE at our special page and you can also learn about procedural writing!

Inquiry: Rights for Everyone Rich Task

2009-09-07T10:36:00.004+12:00

WALT identify facilities at Nelson Central School that support disabled people.
WALT suggest possible changes and adaptions that can be made to make Nelson Central more disable-friendly.

This afternoon we shared our completed 'Rights for Everyone' Voicethread rich task to a packed house of our parents/caregivers and our Room 15 buddies. Thank you so much for coming, we loved sharing our learning with you.

Our Inquiry topic over the past 6 weeks has been looking at disabilities.
We learned lots about the different types of disabilities there were and then investigated our school.
We identified lots of facilities that Nelson Central School has already got to support people with disabilities.
Our next task was to then find out if there was anything else we could do to make Nelson Central more disable-friendly.
The two disabilities Room 9 decided to inquire and learn more about were visual impairment (blindness) and physical disability (in a wheelchair).

A BIG thank you to all the parents/caregivers who came to our celebrations on Friday afternoon - we just love sharing our learning with you!

Our Feet First Picture Book Entry

2009-09-03T17:01:00.005+12:00

Room 9 has entered a competition run by Feet First to design a picture book for children.

It had to be based on active travel, be 16 pages long and we were allowed to choose the genre and style of our writing.

Room 9 worked very hard
developing the storyline using a storyboard,
choosing the language (rhyme and alliteration) for the story,
developing the background artwork in Kidpix
and posing for the photographs.

We are very proud of our picture book!!
Take a look and see what you think, we will let you know if we receive any good news :)

Spring has SPRUNG!

2009-09-01T17:06:00.016+12:00

Today is the first day of Spring!

Room 9 wrote some fantastic descriptive poems to say Ka Kite to Winter and Kia Ora to Spring.

WALT use several different adjectives to describe winter and spring

Ka Kite frosty, white ice
Ka Kite frozen, snowy, snow
Ka Kite soft, slippery ice
And freezing icy icicles.

Haere Ra cold, windy storms
Haere Ra bare, old trees without any leaves
Haere Ra hot water bottles
And frigid icecubes.

Kia Ora fluffy hatching ducklings
Kia Ora new, little baby lamb,
Kia Ora fresh new flowers
And beautiful blooming flowers.

Haere Mai nice, green grass
Haere Mai silky, smooth, flower petals
Haere Mai happy new world
And pretty flowers.

By Eden

Take a look at a few more of the awesome poems below by clicking on the pictures.

Doing our BEST!

2009-08-27T15:50:00.004+12:00

One of our school values is DOING OUR BEST.

Room 9 discussed with our cooperative groups what we thought this would look like and sound like. Then we reported back and gathered all our ideas. Take a look by clicking on the picture to see our ideas bigger:

Are you doing your best?

Thinking Hat Tuesday: If clouds had strings

2009-08-25T10:22:00.005+12:00

Today we worked in our cooperative groups to talk about our oral language talk topic for Thinking Hat Tuesday. We had to think about if clouds had strings hanging from them.

Click on the picture to view our ideas larger!

Inquiry: Similarities and Differences

2009-08-17T12:28:00.016+12:00

WALT identify the similarities and differences between a person with a disability and a person without a disability

Inquiry Stage: USE

With our Inquiry partners, we chose one of the disabilities we have been learning about in class and USED our information in a new way. We used a double bubble map to compare and contrast how we are the same and different to a disabled person.

Check out some of our maps (click on them to see them larger) and see what we came up with!

We learned that disabled people can still do so many of the things that we can, they might just do them in different ways.

Many thanks to our visitors over the past few weeks that have helped us with our learning :)

Book Character Dress Up Day!

2009-08-14T12:41:00.010+12:00

Today the kowhai syndicate dressed up as their favourite book characters to celebrate Library Week.

Room 9 dressed up as 101 and dallmations, fairies, spiderman, Indiana Jones, Pipi Longstocking, Darth Vader, Princess Belle, superman, Angelina the ballerina, Alice in wonderland, slinky Malinky, a cat, a cowboy, Harry Potter, an alien and Bottomly Pots.

Rachel dressed up as Badjelly the witch and Nina dressed up as Cat and the Hat.

We had a fantastic day and lots of fun dressing up as our favourite book characters!

By Connor & Eliza

Week 4 Current Events

2009-08-14T09:35:00.012+12:00

Do you know what's happening around you in the world at the moment?

Let our Current Events Reporters for this week inform you!

Press play to hear the report and make sure your speakers are turned on!

Here Joe reports on the floods in Taiwan:

This is George N reporting on the Tongan Ferry wreck that has just been found:

Luke's report is about a monkey that escaped from Willowbank Wildlife Reserve:

Dom's report about children from Murchison who are making and selling bracelets for fundraising:

Charlotte reports on high school girls from Chrsistchurch who are not allowed to play rugby:

Well done to all our reporters. Please leave them a comment!

How to make Oobleck

2009-08-12T09:38:00.006+12:00

WALT write sequenced instructions

Oobleck is quite hard and solid. When you touch it, it becomes all slimy in your hands and it feels really gooey. Oobleck looks like it wouldn't be gooey but it can be. When you bang oobleck with a spoon it doesn't sink into it. When you put your finger on oobleck it will sink into it. Oobleck is fun to play with and I liked making it.
By Eva

How to make Oobleck

You will need:
Water, cornflour, measuring cup, food colouring, mixing bowl, spoon.

What to do:
1. Put two cups of cornflour in the bowl

2. Pour one cup of water in the bowl

3. Pour a little bit of food colouring in the bowl.

4. Stir the goo

5. Now you have oobleck.

It feels sticky.

By Denver

Week 3 Current Events

2009-08-07T13:35:00.005+12:00

Once again, our Current Events reporters have been super busy scouring newspapers for interesting news to share with Room 9 and all of our blog readers.

Press play to hear the report and make sure your speakers are turned on!

Katrina reports on a white heron who travelled from the South Island to the North Island:

Pete reports on a New Zealand man who celebrated his 100th birthday

Jazmine reports on the Murphy Street playground tree planting on the weekend:

Luc reports on the renovations of the Kai Pai shop opposite school:

Well done to this week's reporters.
I'm sure they'd love your feedback too, please feel free to leave them a comment!

Inquiry: A visit from Anne and Peddy

2009-08-05T11:53:00.000+12:00

Our Inquiry topic this term is: Rights for Everyone

We have been learning about different types of disabilities. Today we were lucky enough to get a visit from Anne and her guide dog Peddy.

We wrote questions that we wanted to find out the answers to about Anne and her blindness. We emailed them to Anne. Today she came into Nelson Central to answer them.

Here is a story that shows how special Peddy is:

Peddy is a working dog and she helps Anne because she is blind.
Peddy knows how to cross roads and knows when it is safe. You are not
allowed to pat Peddy because she might distracted.

By Jayden

Check out these videos to hear some of our questions for Anne and the answers to them.

We learned how important Peddy is to Anne, she helps Anne with so many things in her daily life.

Even though Anne is blind, she can still do many of the same things we can!

Introducing Nina

2009-08-04T11:40:00.011+12:00

Nina is a teacher who is teaching with Rachel in Room 9 for 5 weeks this Term. Next year Nina will have her very own class! She has been doing lots of teaching with Room 9.

Today, very secretly, Room 9 used Wallwisher to post up some positive sticky notes to Nina to share with her what we think of her so far. Have a look below to see what was written and who said what!

(use the scroll bars to view it all below or to view it in full screen click here)

Week 2 Current Events

2009-07-31T14:18:00.004+12:00

Our Current Events reporters have been super busy scouring newspapers for interesting news to share with Room 9 and all of our blog readers.

Press play to hear the report and make sure your speakers are turned up!

Here's Eva's report about a woman who swam with a dolphin last week.

This is Nopera's report on Ashley Thomson who became paralysed and hopes to get treatment.

Well done to Eva and Nopera for sharing these current event articles with us!

Celebrating Maori Language Week

2009-07-31T11:15:00.006+12:00

Māori Language Week 27 July - 2 August 2009

Te Wiki o te Reo Māori 27 Hōngongoi - 2 Here-turi-kōkā 2009

This week is Te Reo Maori language week.

This week Room 9 celebrated MaoriLanguage week.

We had a book read to us in Maori then in English by Matua Elmars.

We have been doing Maori greetings in the monning.

We have learned our colours in Maori.

We sang some Waitatas.

Today at assemby we watched a poi show.

It was great!!!

By George N and Pete

To continue the learning at home you might like to check out these cool links:

100 Maori Words every New Zealander should know:

http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/culture/tereo-100words (if you click on the words you'll be able to hear them pronounced correctly)

Play the Maori Language "How are you feeling" game

http://www.cybersoul.co.nz/tauihu/howryou.html (listen to the question "How are you feeling" in Maori and see if you can guess what they are saying their feelings are)

100 Days of School!

2009-07-23T12:14:00.000+12:00

Wow! We have been at school for 100 days!

Today we had a celebration day. We did lots of 100 day activities and even made our very own 100th day crowns!

Check out the video of us counting in 5's to reach 100!

Here are some photos of what we got up to!

100th Day Celebrations on PhotoPeach

Moon Landing

2009-07-21T17:32:00.003+12:00

Yesterday it was 40 years since humans first ever landed on the moon.
That is pretty exciting and amazing!!

We watched these two clips from YouTube that show the first steps ever made on the moon.

Press play and check them out!

Did you hear the famous line that astronaut Neil Armstrong said when he stepped onto the moon?

96th days at School!

2009-07-03T14:44:00.004+12:00

Today we have been at school for 96 days!

Every day we count how many days we've been at school. Then we count in 1s, 2's, 5's, 10's, adding 10s or odd numbers to get to the number of days we've had at school.

Today was the 96th day of school. Take a look at the video below to hear us singing our Days of School song. We are going to have a celebration when we reach 100 days of school

The Boy Who Cried Wolf: Retelling

2009-07-03T13:50:00.002+12:00

WALT retell a story.

Today we had an experiment and used some new features on our interactive whiteboard (IWB).
We used the video function and some pictures to help us retell an Aesop's Fable we have learned about this week. It is our very first attempt so isn't perfect, but please turn your speakers right up, listen carefully and enjoy!

Well done George N and Pete! You worked so well together to retell the fable of the Boy Who Cried Wolf. Next time we'll try it with a big microphone so people can hear you better!

A Visit from Kath Bee

2009-07-03T12:12:00.003+12:00

Today Kath Bee came to our school to play to the Junior Choir. Kath Bee is a singer and songwriter.She plays songs for children.

Some of the songs she wrote are:

Dragons under my bed,
Individuality
Seasons
Save the Planet
Dad I want to be a Camel

First we sang the "Hello" song. George from our class got to go up and say the greeting "Ciao" from Italy. Next we sang one of her best songs Dragons under my bed. We did some actions too. We also sang Individuality. Kath split our group in half and we sang one line each. Some of the older children did some actions up the front. Jessie was chosen to go up and do actions for the song Dad I want to be a Camel. She did lots of Egyptian camel and animal actions. Pete went up the front to help sing "Save the Planet". He held up a sign saying "recycle". To finish we sang a goodbye song.

We thought Kath Bee's visit was fantastic because it was really fun. She came to do the workshop with us to teach us singing. She came because we sang some of her songs at the Magical Stars Choir Concert.

Shared writing by Room 9

Pete's Big Win!

2009-07-02T08:58:00.007+12:00

We have been playing "Who Wants to be a Mathionaire" in the mornings before school. You have maths questions and you have to try and get the maths answers correct. Every time you get a question right you get money. I have been playing lots and lots. Now I have got to the top level. I got all the questions right and I got the million dollar cheque!

By Pete

You can play the basic level of the addition game here to see if you too can win a MILLION DOLLARS!

http://www.mathsisfun.com/games/mathionaire-addition-quiz.html

Ways to Save the Planet

2009-07-01T16:07:00.001+12:00

This term our Inquiry topic has been "10 Ways to Save the Planet"

Here we have some of the completed posters we did with one of the changes or actions we could make to help the planet.

Next term when the rest of our class is back (we have had lots away sick) we are going to finish our unit and make our digital story full of ways you can help us Save the planet!

Room 9's Matariki Wishes

2009-06-25T15:52:00.004+12:00

The 24th June was Matariki in New Zealand.
It is the celebration of the Maori New Year.

We had a great time doing three different rotations of workshops.
First we made fern prints with Rachel. Then we did knucklebones with Neroli. After that we did poi and rakau with Lesley.

In the afternoon at eLearning time we thought about our Matariki wishes for the world were. We used Kidpix to draw in pairs what our special wish was.

A visit from Charlie

2009-06-23T13:30:00.005+12:00

This is Charlie. He is 12 weeks old.
He is a Goldendoodle.
He had 8 Brothers and sisters.
He came on an aeroplane from Auckland.
When Mum and dad went into the Mitre 10 Mega he did some hiccups.
If you like to eat alot you will be like him.
We gave him a bath and he kept on getting out.
He kept on going under the gate one day and following us to school.
He likes walks.

Typed and written by Ella

How the Kangaroo got its pouch

2009-06-19T15:36:00.011+12:00

WALT write a sequenced and detailed retelling of the Aboriginal Dreamtime legend

'How the Kangaroo got its pouch'.

How the Kangaroo got its pouch
Long, long ago there was a kangaroo mother. Her joey always ran away, she didn't like that. One day she was looking for her joey and while she was looking for her joey she met up with a wombat. The wombat was weak and tired and thirsty. The mother kangaroo said "hop on my tail and I will show you to some water" so he came with her. Next she showed the wombat some nice juicy grass and the wombat munched it all. After that mother kangaroo forgot about her joey and ran back to look for her joey. He was fast asleep under a gum tree. So she went back to the wombat. He was not there, he had disappeared. Then she smelt danger and it was a hunter so she bounded off to her joey. She took her joey over to the wombat but he was not there. The mother kangaroo said "well he must have gone home".
Really the wombat was not a wombat. He was a spirit and he was looking for the most gentle creature. He gave the mother kangaroo a pouch. She said "that's not fair" so he gave all kangaroos a pouch.
That is how the kangaroos all got their pouches.
By Eden

How the Kangaroo got its pouch
A long time ago a mother kangaroo was feeding her baby. The mother found a wombat. The wombat said "I'm hungry, I'm thirsty, I'm blind, I'm old!". The mother kangaroo said "I will take you to some water".
By Sheridan

How the Kangaroo got its Pouch
A long, long time ago there was a hungry kangaroo who was eating. A wombat came along, he said I am hungry and thirsty". The kangaroo said "grab onto my tail and I'll take you to the water and food". Then the mother remembered about her joey. She bounded everywhere and then she found her joey under a gum tree asleep. "I'll leave him" kangaroo said and bounded back to where the wombat was. She smelt danger, it was a hunter looking at the wombat. The kangaroo chased the hunter away. Then went back to her joey.
By Jacob

How the Kangaroo got its Pouch
A long, long time ago there was a kangaroo with its joey. The joey kept on running away, the mother kangaroo always had to look for her joey. Life was tiring. One day the mother kangaroo met a wombat. The wombat was very old. The wombat said, "I am blind and I haven't eaten or drunk for days". The mother kangaroo said "I will take you to some water" and then "I will take you to some fresh grass" and she did. Then she remembered about her joey. She bounded across the field and she couldn't find him. At last she found him, he was asleep. Then she bounded back across the field again. She smelt danger, she chased after a hunter. The hunter ran away. She went back to her joey.
By Aulay

If you like you can view the video we watched to learn about this Aboriginal Dreamtime legend below, just press play:

Copyright free photos from: http://morguefile.com

Our Trip to the recycling centre and landfill

2009-06-17T16:38:00.004+12:00

Yesterday we went to the recycling centre and landfill as part of our Inquiry topic "10 ways to save the planet".

We wanted to find out what happened to all of Nelson's rubbish and recycling.

Here you can see a snippet of just some of the things Room 9 learned while on the trip (you'll probably also notice how popular the compactor was with the students too!)

Publish at Scribd or explore others:

Hatupatu and the Bird Woman

2009-06-17T16:33:00.001+12:00

Have you heard the Maori legend of Hatupatu and the Bird Woman??

Room 9 have had so much fun learning about the legend and retelling it for our writing. Can you believe we even wrote our retelling over THREE days!!

Please feel free to come in and read our Hatupatu stories in our writing books, just make sure that you have enough time to read them... they are sooooooo long and detailed :)

Our Maori Legend Digital Story: Tangaroa's Gift

2009-06-05T11:01:00.003+12:00

Our Maori Legend Digital Story: Maui and the Sun

2009-05-28T17:17:00.006+12:00

We have been retelling stories as part of our writing unit. We learned about some Maori legends including Maui and the Sun.

First we storyboarded all the ideas from the legend out into a 6 box storyboard. Then we wrote a sequenced retelling of the story. Next, with a buddy we each took a part of the legend to draw a picture on Kidpix of and to make a voice recording of.

You can see below the WALT and success criteria that we followed, and see our final product!
We hope you enjoy :)

Publish at Scribd or explore others:

Maori Legend retellings

2009-05-21T12:37:00.005+12:00

Room 9 have been learning to retell stories in their writing.
We learned about several Maori legends and focused on retelling them in detail and in the correct sequence.

Here are some of Room 9's retellings of Maui and the Sun

Maui slows the Sun
Maui wanted to go fishing but the sun went accross the sky too fast. He couldn't go fishing. Maui's brothers made a net. They caught the sun. The sun said "Let me go!". Maui started to wack the sun with the jaw bone. The sun said "ouchy". The sun promised that he would go slowly in the sky. Now Maui got to go fishing for longer.
By Jazmine

Maui slows the Sun
Once upon a time Maui lived with his brothers. Maui said to his brothers "Let's go fishing!" but it was too dark. So Maui said to his brothers "make ropes and a net". Maui and his brothers went to the hole that the sun came out of. At the hole, they stretched the net over. When the sun came up they caught it and got caught in the net and the ropes. Maui climbed the ropes and hit the sun with the magic jaw bone. "Why are you doing this to me?" the sun cried. "Because you are moving too fast" Maui said. Finally the sun said that he would slow down.
By George B

Kidpix image drawn by Aria and Jessie.

Our Holiday Digi Art

2009-05-07T16:37:00.001+12:00

We're now back at school for Term 2!

We had lots of fun in our school holidays. We used crayon, dye and a digital photo to make our very special
"Holiday Digi Art"

First we had to decide what we were going to draw.
Then we needed to think of what we'd be doing in our setting and pose for a photograph
Next we drew our setting and coloured it with crayon.
Finally we printed, cut out and glued on our digital photograph.

Take a look at our Digi Art below and see what you think!!!

Term 1, 2009

2009-04-09T01:00:00.000+12:00

We have had such a busy time in Room 9 over the past 10 weeks of term 1.
We have learned about and done so many interesting things.

Today we had to write about one thing we particularly enjoyed, liked or was our favourite. We gathered all our ideas by doing a big class brainstorm.

You can see here in the diagram all of the things we remembered being involved in during Term 1:

We have done so much fantastic learning this term.
Take a look here at our Writing Spot Blog here to see what we have liked the best in Term 1:

http://room9writing2009.blogspot.com/

Thinking Hat Tuesday - If there were no adults

2009-04-08T12:33:00.003+12:00

This Tuesday our thinking skills topic for Oral Language was

"If there were no adults".

This was definitely quite an exciting topic!
We used De Bono's Red and Black thinking hats to investigate and discuss how we would feel and why it would be bad if there were no adults around.

You can check out our best ideas by clicking and looking at the photo below.

Walking Wednesdays: Feet First

2009-04-06T19:40:00.003+12:00

All of Nelson Central School has been attempting to walk, cycle or scooter to school each Wednesday this term for "Walking Wednesdays"

"Feet First" 2009 encourages primary school students to walk to school with a caregiver, friend, or organised walking group at least once a week, every week, during term time. You can read more about the Feet First project by visiting here: http://www.feetfirst.govt.nz

Room 9 has been keeping a graph every Wednesday to record who walked, cycled or scootered to school each day. It has been great to see the numbers go up each week!

Take a look at our graph and start thinking how we could continue this healthy initiative next term!

Thinking Hat Tuesday - If there were no such things as trees

2009-04-02T08:48:00.005+13:00

Our thinking topic this week was

"If there were no such things as trees".

We used the BLACK and the YELLOW thinking hats to examine the negative and positive aspects of this. You can see some of our ideas in the photo below, click on it to be able to see and read it much larger.

Eliza's Special News

2009-03-25T10:57:00.007+13:00

On Monday Eliza and her parents sent an email to Room 9. The email had some photos of something special Eliza did in the weekend. She used the photos to help her talk to the rest of the class about her news.

Here are the pictures and what Eliza said about them:

This is a photo of Louis and I walking up the mountain. The trees were nice and we heard lots of birds.

This is my brother and I standing on the balcony at the hut. We are at the top of the mountain.

This is the hut at the top of Mount Arthur. There were 20 other people staying there. We stayed one night. We slept in our sleeping bags, mine was blue. My brother's was red.

This is Louis and I staring at the view from the top of the mountain. Dad is taking the photo of us.

Here is Eliza's story about her adventure:
On Saturday I walked up a big mountain called Mount Arthur. It was so big. We went because Mum said we had to. I went with Dad and my brother Louis.

Feel free to occasionally email photos to us that your child wants to show at news time. This will help support what they are speaking about.

Thinking Hat Tuesday - If animals could talk!

2009-03-24T13:27:00.004+13:00

Today for Thinking Hat Tuesday our Oral Language Talk topic was:

"If animals could talk!"

We used the Black & Green Thinking Hats to challenge and stretch our thinking.

When you think with the BLACK hat you need to think about the bad points, weaknesses, judgement and bad ideas.

When you think with the GREEN hat you need to think about new ideas, use your imagination and think really creatively.

Here are some of Room 9's best ideas from our discussion today:
(Click on the picture to see/read them bigger)

Swimming Reflections

2009-03-20T11:15:00.004+13:00

Now that swimming is completed Room 9 has been reflecting on the improvements we have made, the skills we have developed and the techniques we have remembered.

Check out the video below to see/hear the reflections of some of Room 9 students.

Our Responsibilities

2009-03-19T15:24:00.008+13:00

Room 9 has been learning about our responsibilities at home and at school. We have explored how important our responsibilities are and what might happen if we don't do things that are our job to do.

Here is some writing by Room 9 showing they know all about their responsibilities at school:

At school my responsibilities are to clean up at the end of the day, to get ready at the start of the day and to try my best at my work. It is important to do these things because if I didn't pack up at the end of the day then I would leave everything at school. It is important to get my things out at the start of the day because if I had any notices then I can't give them to the teacher. If I didn't try my best then I would just give up!
By Eden

My responsibilities are to put my chair up. It is important to put my chair up at the end of the day so that the cleaners can vacuum under the chairs. It is my responsibility to put my pencil on my table. It is important to do that otherwise I wouldn't be ready for learning. It is my responsibility to push my chair in, otherwise somebody will trip over it.
By Charlotte

My responsibilities are to get my pencil sharpened. I have to put my chair up. I have to bring my bookbag to school.
By Sude

At school my responsibilities are to push my chair in and put my drink bottle on my table. I also get my pencil ready for learning.
By Connor

Luke has talent!

2009-03-18T22:14:00.003+13:00

Today Room 9 got an email from Luke's family.

It came with a message "Here is what Luke does when he should be fielding" and a link to a YouTube video.

Room 9 watched it after lunch, we thought it was awesome!

Click play below, to enjoy yourself & feel free to leave a comment for Luke & his family.

Thinking Hat Tuesday - If bees were as big as cats!

2009-03-17T22:28:00.002+13:00

Today's Thinking Hat Tuesday challenge & brain extender topic was:

"If bees were as big as cats"

We focused our thinking by using the Red and the Yellow Thinking Hats.
The red hat is all about our feelings about the topic, while the Yellow hat is all about the strengths and good points/ideas about the topic.

You can see some of the great thinking Room 9 has done on te picture below.
(Click on the photo to view it larger)

Check out our Awesome Swimming!

2009-03-13T10:53:00.000+13:00

Room 9 has been working very hard developing our swimming skills.

Some of the very basics we have been working on are:

entering and exiting the pool safely

floating on our backs and on our fronts

gliding

kicking

It has been quite cold some days recently, so brave Room 9 has also been beating the elements to ensure we get our techniques exactly right.

On Monday afternoon, we are holding a special demonstration for our parents, we hope you'll be able to come!
If not, Rachel filmed these quick clips of us swimming so you wont have to miss out!

Thinking Hat Tuesday - If sheep could fly!

2009-03-10T22:08:00.010+13:00

Every Tuesday for Oral Language in Room 9 is "Thinking Hat Tuesday".

This is a time where we challenge our thinking and apply De Bono's 6 Thinking Hats to problems or situations (imaginary or real). For the past week we have been learning about these different coloured hats and what type of thinking is needed when we 'put them on'.

Today we discussed "If sheep could fly..."

Click on the photo to see it bigger and read some of Room 9's great ideas from our discussion using the black (bad points) and yellow hat (good points).

For parents who want to know more about De Bono's Thinking Hats - check out this information page.

Meet Room 9 2009

2009-02-19T13:11:00.001+13:00

In our first session of eLearning we learned how to used Kidpix to draw a self portrait.

Here is how they turned out!

Welcome

2009-02-04T18:25:00.000+13:00

Welcome to the BRAND NEW blog of Room 9 @ Nelson Central School in New Zealand.

We are a year 2 class of 5 & 6 year olds and our teacher is Rachel Boyd.

On this blog we hope to share and celebrate our learning with you and gain feedback from you our audience and readers!

Feel free to leave us a comment :)

We are just getting started for the school year so stay tuned for more updates!

From Rachel & Room 9