"We are all unique and that is what makes us beautiful".

This week Room Sixteen has had the great opportunity to be visited by Harold the Giraffe. We have learnt about reputation and what this means.  We learnt about identity and that it is okay to be yourself. Some of the words that we learnt were: cooperative, loyalty, helpful, fair, trustworthy, polite, responsible, respectful, quiet, kind tidy and how these relate to our personalities.  We also learnt that every person is unique which means that we are all different. We learnt that if we were all the same then the world be boring. We also learnt about resilience and what this means.  Did you know that resilience means picking yourself up when things that heard, stop and start again, give it a go and lastly, be strong from the heart to your mind. We had so much fun learning all these new things and we even learnt more about ourselves. Things we did not know about ourselves. We can wait to see Harold again.

Top left and right  (Children sharing their qualities about themselves).

Bottom pictures  (Children learning about our feelings and emotions and how to know how tell how someone is feeling and how to recogise our own feelings through body language)

TJ taking part in an activity about our body and what it needs. 

 

Jazlyn taking part in an activity about our body and what it needs. 

Rangoli patterns

 In Room 16 for Diwali we have been learning to do Rangoli patterns. Rangoli patterns are created on the floor or the ground using materials such as colored rice, dry flour, colored sand or flower petals. The purpose of rangoli is decoration, and it is thought to bring good luck. Whaea Kaveeta modeled to use how to do a rangoli pattern and we created out own. Check out out Peacock Rangoli designs. Don't they look awesome?

Talia with her Rangoli artwork. 

     

Rangoli Artwork by Zaina 

Celebrating Diwali

            In room 16 this term we have been learning about Diwali and what it entails. We have learnt that Diwali is the Hindu New Year and it is celebrated all over the world not only by Hindus but also by other people from many different cultures.  It it also known as the festival of light where families get together and light lanterns and candles as a way of bringing about good luck and prosperity for the coming new year. In room 16 we learnt how to make paper lanterns. The children really enjoyed making these and they look FANTASTIC! Well done tamariki!.

                                     ( Students: Kahurangi, Talia Te Aroha )

DMIC (Developing mathematical Inquiry Communities)

As part of the 2019 Kelvin Road School Strategic plan, Kelvin Road School has started implementing DMIC (Developing Mathematical Inquiry Communities) as part of their Mathematical programme. 

The purpose behind DMIC is for the teachers to become more culturally responsive towards the tamariki that they teach and their individual needs. Mathematical word problems are created by the teacher that tamariki can relate to in a realistic context based around their culture and Identity. 

Students are learning skills to be able to work collaboratively with others in a group setting and drive their learning (take ownership of their learning)

Students are placed in mixed ability groups which are changed fortnightly. This ensures that students are able to socially interact with students that they do not usually interact with, enhancing their social and communication skills.   Here is an example video of what DMIC is all about.

In room 16 we have been learning about what makes a great mathematician and students work together collaboratively to solve word problems that have been crafted carefully by their teacher. 

Talk moves are used to encourage communication within groups in terms of when they are working together collaboratively.

Below are some examples of the word problems that we have been working on as a class. These problems are personalized and have a realistic context to it so that children are able to make connections with it. They are also culturally responsive questions that children are able to make connections with.

  

Fractions are so much fun!

In room 16 we have been learning all about fractions. We have the difference between the numerator and the denominator. We have looked at where fractions are used, for example, they are used for cooking, baking, time, measuring, to share things such as pieces of pizzas, cakes etc. What have learnt about equivalent fractions which are fractions that are the same. For example, 4/8 is the same as 5/10.

We created visual pizzas showing different fractions. We really enjoyed this activity, it was really fun.  Here are some pictures of our work.

"The more you read the more things you will know. The more that you learn the more places you will go"

 Every Wednesday Room 16 goes to the Library. We love when we visit the Library because we learn so many things. We love reading in our class. Today in the Library we did a few activities. One of the learning activities we did was "My Country Snapshot". This is where the students choose a book about a Country that they are interested in and research more about it. For example, the students learnt about where that country is located on the world map, what the traditional foods are for that country, their popular sports etc. The children really engaged well in this activity and really enjoyed sharing all the new knowledge that they learnt about their chosen country.

Feed our Whanau cooking lesson

                                           

On Thursday the 29th of August 2019 we had SKIDS come visits us and do a feed the whanau cooking lesson with us. They taught us kitchen skills and how to be safe in the kitchen as well as cooking skills. We are privileged to be given goodie bags which had the required ingredients that we needed to cook yummy pasta with our families. We enjoyed working alongside the SKIDS ladies and our classmates and preparing and cooking the yummy pasta dish. The ingredients that we used to make this easy pasta dish were: Broccoli, Garlic, Carrots, cheese, Pasta, coconut cream and black pepper. We really looked forward to sitting down together and eating this yummy meal that we cooked. We look forward cooking this meal at home with our families and sitting down and eating with them and having bonding time with them.  We hope that we get this opportunity to do this again. 

Reading is lots of fun!

Today in Room 16 we had Mrs Tanner our School Principal come and read us a story called "Piggy Book". We used our great active listening skills to listen to her reading to us. It was such an interesting story. The message that we learnt from the text that she read to us was that it is very important to help out around the house. To help out our mum and dad when it comes to the chores around the house such as dishes, vacuuming, cooking, keeping our rooms tidy. We really hope that she comes and visits our classroom again to read to us. Thank you Mrs Tanner.

Haiku Poems

In Room 16 we have been writing to write Haiku poems. 
"Haiku" is a traditional form of Japanese poetry.  Haiku poems consist of 3 lines.  The first and last lines of a Haiku have 5 syllables and the middle line has 7 syllables.  The lines rarely rhyme.
Room 16 children really enjoyed being creative and writing these Haiku poems. The theme related to these Haiku poems were animals since we had recently visited the Auckland Zoo this year. I really hope you enjoy reading them. 

Zoo Trip

This term Room 16 had the great opportunity to explore Education Outside the Classroom.  As part of our Topic learning this term we have been learning about Matauranga Maori. We had so much fun at the zoo. Whaea Kaveeta even had her own scooter to scoot around the room in because she had fractured her ankle so was unable to walk for long distances due to being in a moon boot. In class we have been learning about Maori Myths and Legends, Native birds and Maori Medicine. Below are photos of when we went to the Auckland Zoo. We learnt so much!

Welcome 2019

 It has been a great start to 2019 in terms of being part of a new Kura (school). I have welcomed some new year 3's into my class and have had the privilege of keeping the year 3's from last year who are currently year 4's. We are looking forward to 2019 and all the fantastic learning experiences that this year will bring. We greet 2019 with a open heart and open arms.