Robots

We have been learning about 2D and 3D objects.
Mrs Nicholson told us to design a 2D robot in our maths books using only squares, rectangles and triangles.  We had to work out the perimeter and area of our robot.

Next we turned our 2D robot into a 3D robot.  We had to decide whether we wanted it to be made from cubes or cuboids.  Most of us decided to make them cuboids.  Then was the challenging part.  We had to create our own nets and make our robot to scale.  We taped our maths paper to the window and drew our nets to scale over the maths grid.  Take a look at some below:

They were lots of fun and we all did so well.

Stop Motion Movies

Oh what fun we have had trying to make our stop motion movies.  We have had to do a lot of problem solving and learn to use new apps.
We have written stories, created characters, painted background and thought about sound effects.  After that we set to work trying to find the right app to make our movies.
Initially we borrowed some tripods and used cameras to take our photographs.  This was so that our photographs would be taken from the same spot each time and the film wouldn't be jumpy.  Also we only have a few ipads and it allowed some people to be photographing while others could make their movie up using the app on the ipad.  However, this was not as simple as we hoped.  Firstly we couldn't just put the photographs onto the ipads so we saved them in dropbox so we could access them.  Unfortunately the stop motion app wouldn't let us import any photographs, we could only take photographs while in the application.  So we tried to make our movies using the imovie app.  There was a lot of problem solving as we learnt how to shorten the photographs so they moved quickly through but we had trouble with the pictures moving around so our movies were a little jumpy.  Take a look at Lucy's movie:

Then we tried to take our photographs on the ipads.  This created another problem of how we could support the ipad so it wouldn't move while we re-positioned our characters around to take our photographs.  We ended up wedging the ipad between the cellotape dispensers and that worked quite well.  The next problem we came across was that our stories were longer than the number of photographs we had.  We had to learn how to make our pictures freeze so our movie would have some still shots as well.  Timing was everything.  We worked at trying to keep everything in time but it was tricky as you will see in Oliver's movie:

We are still problem solving.  And we are so proud of our efforts.  A lot of learning has gone into these movies and we have problem solved all the way.  To see more of our efforts visit our youtube account at:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClso3koG2bwvzv7Moy_U1og

Calendar Art

For our calendar art this year we decided we wanted our artwork to be local.  We chose to say 'hello from North Head'.  We looked at different New Zealand artists and combined some of their techniques. We used water colour chalks for the background and collage to produce our mixed media artworks.  Mrs Nicholson photographed them through the clear files of the book we placed them in and unfortunately the light has effected the quality of the photographs.  Hopefully you will still get some idea of how talented we are when you see our wonderful art.

Audio Plays

We know we need to be expressive with our voices for our stop motion movies so we have been practicing by producing audio videos.  We were only allowed to use our expressive voices and sound effects to achieve an interesting play.

Boring 

Narrator                           Daniel

Characters:

Alex                                 Jamie

Princess                            Zara

Knight                              Oscar

Dragon                             Thomas

Pirate 1                             Daniel

Pirate 2                             Lucy

Alien                                 Thomas

The School Bus Robot

Characters:
Bus Monitor                     Annabelle
Nick                                  Elliot
Zoom                                Tiaki
Zack                                  Harry
Nita                                   Holly
Mrs Vai                             Holly
Bus Kid                             Oliver

Sound Sequence Movies

In preparation for our stop motion movie we made some sound sequence movies.  We were only allowed to use sound to tell our story.  Take a look at these:

Lucy's planning and sound sequence of World War 2

Owen's idea of a 'Bad Day' - I'm glad I'm not this person!

Stealing lunch by Jamie.

Persuasive Speeches

We have all written persuasive speeches and performed them to the class.  We voted on the speeches and choose our top three.  The speeches had to be relevant to an 8 or 9 year old, convince us, hold our attention and entertain us.  We looked at the speech content and delivery.  We were all given marking cards and then put down our scores.  Mrs Nicholson added them up and divided by the number of score cards to get a total.  The top three speeches were then practised over the holidays and performed again for the team.  Mrs Bennett judged those.  Unfortunately none of us got in the top three placings but we are very happy with our efforts.  Here are two of those three top speeches.  To see all the speeches go to our Youtube channel.

Onomatopoeia

This term we are making stop motion movies. We are learning about onomatopoeia and how to use it to add interest to our stories. We are also learning about sound effects and how they can enhance our story, create mood, and add information to the story. Here are some of the stories we wrote after practising for 'ShakeOut Day', where we used the idea of an earthquake for our motivation. You will find more on our Youtube channel.

News in Education Prize Winners

As part of our inquiry into 'flight' we entered the Nie 'design an futurist plane' competition.  We are excited to say that 6 children in our team won major prizes, and 4 came form our class.  The winners received a mystery prize which turned out to be a book.
This week we got the sad news that the Waikato Times is no longer going to produce Nie papers.  We thank them for all the wonderful educational papers and activities they have provided.  We have enjoyed learning with their paper.

Nie Awards on PhotoPeach

National Scout's Scarf Day

Today is National Scout's Scarf Day.  All the Kea, Cubs and Scouts will be wearing their uniform with pride.  We have children in the Kea's and the Cubs in our class.  Look how great the uniform looks.

Our Very Own PUBLISHED ILLUSTRATORS

Yes you heard it correctly, we have our very own published illustrators in Room 14 and Room 15.
Some time ago we all submited illustrations for David Slack's book Bullrush.  Some of our illustrations were so good they were included in the book.   Last night we went to the book launch and today we did our own private signing, signing the pages with our illustrations.
We have also been interviewed and photographed by the North Shore Times.  We are STARS!

Our Proud Illustrators and their Published Drawings on PhotoPeach
Signing on PhotoPeach

The Book launch 

Incredible Science Day

Last term we were lucky to have the Auckland University come and share some wonderful science experiments with us. While we were experimenting a film crew recorded part of the day in the hall. The whole school was involved in the 'Incredible Science Day' but only a few of us feature on the video. See who you can spot that you know.
Incredible Science Day

MOTAT

We had a fantastic day at MOTAT. Take a look at us exploring.

Exploring MOTAT on PhotoPeach

On the tram to the Aviation Hall

Our tram driver

And there we explored a litlle bit more:

Exploring the Aviation Hall on PhotoPeach We went into an education room and Melissa told us about flight and give us some experiences and experiments to do to illustrate the concepts. Here we are experimenting: Experimenting at MOTAT on PhotoPeach

Explanation Writing - Our ideas about flight

Before going to MOTAT we wrote what we think makes things fly.  Here are some of the stories that have been edited.  We have yet to go back and craft them so that they are even more clear and informative.

How Amazing

Take a look at this amazing bird. We are learning about flight and found this wonderful video on Ted Talks showing a man made flying bird.
An Airplane that Flies like a Bird

Matariki Stories

After learning about Matariki we wrote and illustrated our own legends.

Our Ideas About Flight

After watching 'Paper Planes'  at the movies we made our own paper planes to fly.  Here are some hints on flying a paper plane:

Rotocopter - Explanation Writing

We have been learning how to use our plans to help us with our writing.  Take a look at Olivers explanation about his rotocopter:
Oliver's Planning and Writing - Rotocopter

Rotocopter

Our first science experiment on flight was to see if we could make a rotocopter, fly it, and work out the factors that allow it to fly.  Kasra has written an explanation about the rotocopter:

Paper Planes

We are starting to learn about flight.  We used the movie "Paper Planes' as a springboard to kick off our learning.  After watching the movie we decided to write some reviews.   Have a look at Elliot,  Henri, and Holly's reviews.  I'm sure you will want to go and see it after reading these.  To go to the sites Elliot embedded in his review click on the links below it.

By Elliot

Click on Elliots links here to go to the sites he found:
Paper Planes Movie
Best Paper Plane Ever

By Henri

By Holly

How to Make a Paper Plane - Proceedural Writing

Isla used Power Point to tells us how to make a paper plane.  Here is a copy of her slides:

We read a story on about an experiment a mum did to teach her children why it was important to wash your hands.  Click on the link below to take a look at the story and pictures.  Aren't the pictures scary?  A good reminder to wash our hands before we eat.
Bacteria on 8 Year old boy's hand

Here are responses form Lucy and Holly:

By Lucy

By Holly

Science Day

Auckland University came and gave us an incredible science day packed full of interesting experiments. Read about our day:

Henri's Science Day

Holly's Science Day

Isla's Science Day

Kasra's Science Day

Lucy's Science Day

Writing Rosie stories

As part of the Rosie project we all wrote naratives about Rosie. We put our books on publisher and found background illustrations from photographs available on the internet. Then we learnt how to draw cartoon animals which we outlined with black vivid, coloured in and cut out. We printed out our books and glued our pictures onto the pages. Here is the Rosie book we were using as an example:

Here is Nikita's pages, complete with background images, before she glued on her animals drawings.

Artwork

What a lovely surprise I got in my inbox when I opened up my emails. Henri had been working at home on another project, art this time. Take a look at how he has made his name:

Our 3D Cows

Part of our work on Rosie involved learning how to use a 3D sketch programme and design our own 3D cow.   We found the programme very challenging but did our best and made some wonderful models.  We voted for the best 8 and sent them off to get printed on a 3D printer.  Here are our top 8 and two of the 3D printed cows:

Elliot

Henri

Holly

Jamie

Lucy

Nikita

Thomas

Toby

Rosie 3D Cows on PhotoPeach

Homework Excuses

Today we read some of Andy Griffiths book and the excuses he came up with for not handing in his homework - the dog ate it! Here are our ideas of great excuses:

Last night I was in the bath with my bag and all my homework.  It got all soggy, and that is what I wanted to tell you.
Hebe

Last night I went to war.  We just landed and I almost finished my homework, because I did some of it on the boat, and I heard gun shots.  I finally made it to the trenches.  I got out of the trench and I got shot in the pants.  It went right through my homework!  Luckily I didn’t die.
Elliot

I was in bed.  I had finished all of my homework and somehow I was sleepwalking downstairs.  I got my homework.  Meanwhile I was sleep-eating and then I woke up with only one tiny shred.  I had eaten my homework.
Tiaki

I was running up to school when I fell over and my homework slipped out of my bag.  I tried to catch it but I just pushed it.  It slowly drifted down to the drain.  That was it, no way could I get it now.

I was chopping dinner but just then my dad bumped into my homework and I chopped it up.

I was on my way to Rainbow’s End, finishing off my homework.  When we got there I only had one sentence to go so I took it in with me.  We went on the roller coaster.  When we went on the loop-de-loop my homework flew right out and the place it fell you couldn’t go to.
Isla

I ate it because it was made out of chocolate.  Then I pooped it out.  I was not going to touch it.  Then my cat ate it.  I went to have a bath, meanwhile my cat died.
Harry

My Gran died on Friday so I had to go down to Wellington but I forgot to take my homework.  We were supposed to come back on Sunday but the funeral got delayed till all day on Sunday.  The plane came late so we arrived three hours past bedtime.   I slept in and was just in time for school, but didn’t get to get my homework done.  Sorry.
Lucy

On Saturday I came to school to have some peace to do my homework.  I finished my homework and left it on the bottom field, and then I went to the basketball court and played basketball for ten minutes.  Then I went to collect my homework.  Oh!  Someone had trampled all over my homework.  No!  I had no homework.
Jamie

One night my dad was about to go to war with his hand on the trigger.   He accidentally shot my pants with my homework in it.  Meanwhile I was starting my homework again when a U.F.O. shot my house and exploded my homework and hurt my head.  So really I couldn’t finish my homework.
Oliver

Yesterday I was doing my homework on a boat to Rangitoto.  When we got there it was pouring with rain and my homework got really wet.  When we got to the top a murderer came out of the bushes and shot a cookie at my homework.  It came out of my hand and it landed in the volcano.
Kasra

“The Robbo stole it,” I said.
“The paper robber?” shouted Mrs N.
“Haa Haa Haa,” laughed the whole class.
“Umm . . . Mr Robbo stole it.  I thought that Mr Robinson was at the disco.”
“He, um . . .  pick-pocketed me.”
“Why did you have your homework there?”
“I missed the crossing and I didn’t want to get rained on.”
Miller


I just finished my poster than my cat ate my poster.  I started the bath but it overflowed.  I went to a volcano to heat it up but I dropped my poster.  It erupted.  Then my poster turned into a rock.  I cried my eyes out.  Bye, bye homework.
Annabelle


Um . . . it fell down a black hole I guess.  I was walking to school with my homework in my hand.  I looked to the left.  Meanwhile this space freak made a black hole.  My homework got sucked into it.  I tried to save it but it shut down.
Owen

Me and my family went for a walk and a play at the beach.  Meanwhile at home a robber set the house on fire.  But before he did he stole all the money and set himself and my homework on fire.
Thomas

I went camping.  I was roasting marshmallows.  We were really close to the fire and I was doing my homework.  Since I was roasting my marshmallow I accidentally dropped my homework into the fire.  It burned to little pieces.
Oscar

One day I was at home and we decided to go to Clip and Climb.  When we got there I was busting to go to the toilet.  As well as going to the toilet, I had my homework in my hands, so I went into the toilet.  When I went into the toilet I saw a murderer that murdered my homework.  It is true because it was said on One News.
Henri

My U.F.O. flew into space for a week.  When it came back it was huge and had lasers, rockets and actual aliens.  Just then something fell out of the sky.  It was my U.F.O. with my homework.  It hit the real U.F.O. and blew up.  This was real.
Daniel

I was sleepwalking down a pair of stairs.  My homework was on the wooden table.  I sleepwalked to the table and ate my homework.
Toby

On Friday, after school, I was playing with my Wii when it blew up.  A chip caught a crane and the crane fell on my homework.  I tried to pull my homework.  It was superbly stuck.  I pulled and pulled and pulled.  Finally I grabbed it but it was in two pieces.  I glued mine back together but it was too sticky so I put it in the toilet so I could make it not sticky.  But I accidentally flushed it down.
Finn

The Sneetches

Mrs Thompson read one of her favourite books to us this week - The Sneetches. Then we got to have a go at drawing our own Sneetch and putting a star on to show how special we are. Everyone of us is pretty special as you will see form our unedited drawings. Thanks Mrs Thompson, we had a wonderful time :)

Book Week

We were so lucky to have author Maria Gill come to our school for Book Week. We have lots of her books in our library, or at least we would have if they weren't so popular; people are always taking them out. Maria showed us some of the books she has written. It all started as a dream and a belief that she could write. Then she had lots of lessons learning about writing books and talking to other authors. Maria took us through the writing process from the first initial idea, researching and interviewing, writing the first draft, editing it (she edits some of her writing up to 40 times!!!), getting illustrations and the graphic designer to work out the layout, and sending it off to the publisher. We learnt so much. And then Maria read us one of her favourite stories and a few of us were able to act it out. What a great start to Book Week. :) Author Visit - Maria Gill on PhotoPeach

Rugby

Last week Aidan came to our school and took us for some rugby skills.  We had a whale of a time . . . some of us are now planning to join up and have lessons with Aidan at lunchtimes

Rugby Skills on PhotoPeach

Using Place Value

We are learning how to multiply decimals using place value.  We had this problem to work out:

Five children each spent $1.65 on a new maths book.  They gave their money to the teacher to pay for their books.  How much money did the teacher have to pass onto the office for the stationery?

Take a look at how we did it.
Henri

Jamie

Another ANZAC poem

Lucy's ANZAC Poem

The War

I remember my Grandad in the war

He went to save the rich and the poor.

To help the country and make peace

He travelled north and then east.

In the tank with dust and dirt

Sure he got a little hurt.

The war went on for many days.

We won but the enemy still remains.

He died.

I'm sad.

It makes me very mad.

I shall remember him on ANZAC day

and the other men that went to fight so we could happily play.

Written by Lucy

Easter Treats

At the end of term one it was Easter. Mrs Nicholson had a treat for us but before we were allowed it we had to construct our own Easter box to take it home in. Here are some pictures of what we made.

Can you guess what our treat was?

Here are some pictures of us making our Easter boxes.

Easter Boxes on PhotoPeach