Pets Day

On Tuesday 20th Little River School had Pets Day. Almost everyone brought his or her favourite pet to school. There were lots of animals such as cats, dogs, lambs, horses and many more. There was a book fair where people could buy books. Some animals were dressed up and walked around the ring. There was a dog obstacle course where the owners got prizes for how fast they got their dogs round the course. The miscellaneous pets prize giving was away from the other judging so the other animals wouldn’t scare them or hurt them/attack them.

Inside the community hall, which is adjacent to the school and Little River Domain, held the inside competitions such as the sand saucers, vegetable creations and floral arrangements.

HEALTHY EATING JINGLES

This term our topic is HEALTHY EATING, and in our house groups we made up jingles about the 4 C’s-COOK, CLEAN, COVER and CHILL. First we would write the jingle out on paper, then we would record the jingle on garage band. Once we had finished our jingles we would show the class.

Lincolin Zone Athletics

On Friday November 2nd, 19 kids from Little River school went to the Lincoln Zone Athletics. The events we competed in were high jump, long jump, discus, shot put, distance, and sprints. Ethan is going to the Canterbury schools Athletics for the 80 and 50 metre sprint.

Art

Room Two have been doing art with Mrs Wilson and we are designing an underwater scene. The frame on the outside is a Maori design. The underwater creature you have picked has to come out of the frame. I'm going to do a dolphin.

Kapa Haka

On Friday 19th October people from Room 2 and Room1 did their first Kapa Haka lesson. We learnt actions and Maori songs, with a lady called Mawera. We are learning songs for an end of year production.
The boys have also learnt the Haka. We learnt that a Maori, who was about to be killed, made the Haka. He asked a man if he could hide in his kumara pit because he was hiding from another tribe who was trying to kill him. A few days later when the enemy tribe returned he said under his breath, “Ka mate, ka mate, ka ora, ka ora”, which means “tis death, tis death, tis life, tis life.” He eventually escaped and he thought those words gave him strength and saved him.
Some comments from the class:
Amy-It was fun to learn a different culture.
Ethan-We had to practise the haka a lot.
Tessa-We learnt the words and actions quickly.
Megan-It was fun to learn all the actions and the words.
Holly-It was a different experience.

Term Four Art

For art we have finished our puppets and are moving on to a topic called FRAMED. So far for homework we were asked to search for photos of underwater sea creatures, make a list of sea creatures and find our favourite creature to jump out the side of our frame. We also found underwater scenes we liked and finally drew sea creatures from different viewpoints eg front view, back view, left side view, and right side view. Mrs Wilson is planning to have a cardboard frame with Maori or Pacific pattens round the frame. Our 1 or more chosen sea creatures made of paper mache will make a 3D effect popping out of the side RATHER FISHY!!! P.S. here is a photo and background of what Tessa will be using as her background.
By Tessa and Alana

CURRENT EVENTS

This term we have started to work on current events by starting off by two house groups (Awaiti & Okuti). Mrs Patten has picked 2 people from the 2 house groups to share news each day. 1 person had a card telling what type of news they were to write about eg Local News (about Banks Peninsula)- National News( About New Zealand)- International News (About the World)- Sport (Sport in the world)- Free news (Any news you like to do).
You have to tell the class who, what, when, where, why and how about the news event. There will be exciting news every week with these reports.
Logan did his report on Jet boats racing up and down South Island Rivers.

Christchurch Schools' Music Festival

On Friday some students of the senior school participated in the Christchurch Schools' Music Festival. There was a practice at the Christchurch Town Hall and this is also where the performance took place. The practice started at ten o’clock and finished at 12:15. Mr Oswin said that we had concentrated and sung so well and were a wonderful choir. It made us feel really proud of ourselves.
That night was the big night we were very nervous and were warming up when the managers came and told us that we were about to go in to the auditorium and perform our songs. Some of the songs we sang were Sounds of the Singing School, Born Free, Clowns and Ode to Joy. There was a childrens' orchestra and if you were there and closed your eyes you would have thought that it was an adult orchestra. It was amazing how many people were at the festival 1200 people singing and 2000 people in the audience. It was a really fun night and we can’t wait till next year.

Scale Drawing of Our Classroom

This term we are drawing scale drawings of our classroom and we have to get the right size for the map.
#1.We have to get the width of the paper to 75 cm and then the length to 80 cm
#2. We have to sketch the outline of our classroom
#3. We have to make a model on our sketch
So far we have done #1. It was hard getting the measurements right and drawing the lines straight. To do this we put the ruler at the bottom of the page and then drew a little line. Then we drew a long line across the top using a ruler and pencil. Next we cut it out with some scissors.

Maths!

We are learning about symmetry, rotation,translation and reflection.
We are mainly learning about symmetry so far. Finn is learning about making lines of symmetry on shapes and making 1 whole picture look symmetrical on both sides. Eden is learning about how many times a shape can be halved by the number of shapes there are in one shape i.e. finding the lines of symmetry. We also learnt how to make 1 shape into 4 by folding the paper four times and so we created 4 lines of symmetry on the new shape.

Retelling a Greek Legend

Poros of Malia
All reading groups had the goal of rewriting a Greek legend from the point of view of one of the characters in the story. This was to be a different point of view from which the legend was written in.

………..I felt the atmosphere wrap around me like a blanket. I wished there was a breeze. We were all naked, of course, but I noticed the other athletes were sweating. It wasn’t just the heat, we were all nervous.
Just a few minutes ago I’d been fully aware of the drink and food vendors. Gradually I started focusing on my task. Everyone was watching me. I tried to ignore them; I had won at the Olympics four years ago. The other competitors knew I was the one to beat. I knew the other competitors were good as well.
I looked at a special point halfway down the track. I knew it was the crisis point where the pain begins. We moved up to the starting line. The race began. I didn’t think any more about the competitors, I knew I could beat them.
Suddenly, a smile crept upon my lips. I was Poros, the Olympic Champion, I would win again!!
Retold by Holly.
Chosen by Mrs. Patten to be posted on to the blog.

VOLCANOES!!!!

This week we are learning about Volcanoes.
Learning Goal: WALT write a brief and accurate definition of a Volcano.
We’ll know we’ve achieved this because… We have
#1 Read information from at least 2 reference sources e.g. www, books, CD ROM’S.
#2 Gathered the main point and recorded them in a useful way.
#3 Written a brief and accurate description from these notes.
#4 Shared our definition with the class and received feedback from them.
Definition of a Volcano
A Volcano is a mountain that is made by plates that form the earth’s crust. A volcano erupts from natural causes e.g. earthquakes or when the earth’s temperature reaches an incredibly high state. The volcano spews out a jelly like liquid rock or magma. The lava flows like thick oozing mud. It travels a long way crashing through stop signs, houses and roads until it finishes ending its long journey into the ocean.

Jump Rope

Jump Rope Jump Off was on 19th of September. There were 10 skipping tasks that we had to complete. The tasks were a range of activities like long-rope challenge, obstacle course and basic skills, just to name a few. My favourite task was the obstacle course because you had to skip over benches and small hurdles. We were timed I did 42 seconds but I tripped and still got a good time.
I raised $20 for the National Heart Foundation. I thought I did a good job.

The Room 2 Ancient Greek Expo

On the 18th of September Room 2 held an Ancient Greek Expo. Some of the things we shared with the parents are our Inquiry findings. We performed 3 plays for the adults. The first play was called Town Mouse And Country Mouse. The second play was called The Weaving Contest and the third play was called The Clever Farmer. On the day of the Expo everybody had to dress up like an Ancient Greek.
Some of the kid’s favourite part of the expo was:
Megan enjoyed listening to what other people found out about.
Alana liked learning about and presenting her information.
Spike’s favourite things were the plays.
Rebecca loved the Ancient Greek Lunch.
Lily agreed with Megan.
Mrs Patten enjoyed finding out how much the kids had found out.
Mrs Peters liked watching the plays.
Miss Reid loved the whole EXPO!
By Amy & Justin

Pictures of Room 2's Ancient Greece Expo, 18 September 2007

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Ancient Greek Pots

We are doing these pots for our ancient Greek expo on the last week of term [Tuesday 18th September 2007]. At first we started off with a draft copy. We had to use at least 1 picture that tells a Greek story about someone and why they were special e.g. Jason the brave young warrior who had to complete three tasks to get the Golden Fleece. We also had to use lots of zigzags, patterns and shapes. After the draft copy was complete we had to draw the outline of a pot on an A3 piece of paper. Then we coloured the pot in with dark crayons like purple, rust, red and orange. Then we painted the pot in thick black paint. After that we used the end of a paintbrush or something like that to scratch the pattern into the black paint. Also if you can, come to the Ancient Greek expo on the 18th September 2007 at 1:45PM!!!
By Finn Cameron, with some help from Dacre Herlihy.

BIG SIX STEPS OF INQUIRY

Step#1 Task Definition Define your task and write 1, 2, 3 or more helpful questions.
Step#2 Information Seeking Strategies Identify 1, 2, 3 or more sources to help answer your question(s).
Step#3 Locating Information You have used keywords to locate information in 1, 2, 3 or more sources.
Step#4 Using Information You have read all of your information, taken useful notes and/or in your own words.
Step#5Organising And Presenting Information Included detailed information in my own words as well as a bibliography with supporting visuals e.g. pictures, imovie, slideshow.
Step#6 Did I Do The Job Well? My work is finished, it is well set out, I have answered all of my questions, credited all of my sources, worked neatly, checked thoroughly for accuracy and used headings and titles where necessary.
This term we are using the Big Six Steps Of Inquiry to find out about Ancient Greece. Some Examples of what people are finding out about are farming, woman’s clothing, schooling, Ancient Greek art, sports, nature, war and weapons.
I think this is a very good system because it is very easy to stick to and you know what you have to do.
By Amy and Tessa

Ancient Greece

For topic in Room 2, we are learning about Ancient Greece. We have been learning how the ancient Greeks lived about 2300 years ago, right now we are doing an enquiry about the ancient Greek lifestyle, when we are finished we will have an Ancient Greek Expo where we will dress up like ancient Greeks and show our work to others. I am researching ancient Greek trade. We have also been learning about Greek gods, some of these gods include Zeus the king of the gods, Hera the queen of the gods, Athena (Athene) goddess of war and wisdom, Hephastus the god of metal working, Ares the god of war, Apollo the god of light, healing and music, Demeter the goddess of harvest, Aphrodite goddess of love and beauty Artemis the goddess of hunting and the moon, Poseidon god of the sea and Hades the god of the under world. By Dacre

Our oral presentations

The oral presentations that we thought were good. Jack Thought Ethan’s Presentation was good because he had a good presentation and told us a lot about his holiday in Naseby and He told us all how to play Curling. You stand at one end of a ice skating rink, walk quickly then slide your feet into some slots then let go and get the curling stone as close to a round blue circle with a red circle inside it. (Try to get your curling stone into the circles.)
Nicholas did his presentation on his favourite holidays. His favourite ones were in Hohora, Tekapo and Marlborough Sounds. Nicholas went skiing at Tekapo and did the slalom. When he was at Hohora he went fishing and caught lots of fish. He went biscuting behind the boat and sometimes he flipped. He also went water skiing. Up at the Marlborough Sounds Nicholas went on big walks and went hunting for goats and wild pigs. Nicholas was about 5 metres away from a big adult goat and it had big horns that were about 90 centimetres long.
By Nicholas and Jack.

Puppets

In the last 2 terms our class has been concentrating on a very interesting art project… known as making marionette puppets. Here are some instructions on how to make marionette puppets:
Objects needed… a body shaped plastic bottle, newspaper pages, paper machete paste, paint (white paint included), wool/string (for hair & leg and arm joints), masking tape, p.v.a glue, screwy hooks and a pencil for drawing facial features.

*Scrunch up 2 pieces of newspaper into a ball and wrap masking tape around it to hold the ball steady.
*Paper machete around the ball, till about 5 layers have been completed then leave to dry.
*When the ball is dry, paper machete the ball onto the body shaped plastic bottle then again, leave to dry.
*Now add the paper mache facial features like eyebrows, lips, ears and a nose.
*Paint the head and body a thick layer of white paint.
*When the white paint is dry paint the chosen skin colour onto the puppets body and head.
*Now, if wanted, add hair using the wool/string and stick it on using p.v.a glue.
*Now draw with a pencil the eyes for the puppet and then paint them.
*For the legs start by halving the piece of newspaper 3 times long ways then 1 centimetre from the top of the strip of newspaper, use the masking tape to stick a 30-centimetre piece of string on. Now roll the newspaper in a tight cylinder shape then wrap masking tape around it for steadiness.
*To join the legs and arms to the body, screw the screwy hooks to the bottom of the body and then add some more to the place you want the arms to be.
*Paper machete the arms and legs then when they are dry paint them the skin colour you have been using.

“This is as far as I can take you but thankyou for reading it and I hope you try it out.”
By Tessa and Cassie

Skipping
In the last few weeks we have been training for a skipping program called jump rope for heart. We have been learning the bell jump, side straddle, forward straddle, run skip and heel and toe tap and to start the day we have been doing 15minutes of skipping first thing in the morning. Also in PE we have been doing the skips as well as doing one minute skipping. We have our own skipping ropes that have our names on them. The jump off is on the 19th of September.
By Cassie and Rebecca.

Our Topic

Our topic is on Ancient Greece. We are learning about what interests us and are doing a presentation about it. Nicholas is learning about Greece and Greek treasure. Eden is learning about Greek Gods and monsters, legends and myths. Nicholas found out that the Greeks had lots of temples that were their treasure, some of them were called Parthenon, Aphaia, Athens, Agora and Ancient Crete. Eden found out that the Hercules killed his brother. (The hydra is his brother) Poseidon tried to sink Odysseus’s boat, and all the gods have statues.
By Eden and Nicholas.

Skipping

In the next few weeks the school are training for the 2007 Jump off. To get us started we have been jumping for 15 minutes first thing in the morning. Some of the year 8’s are going to be helping Mr Fitch, to help the rest of the school train for the 2007 Jump off on the 19th September. Some of the skips we do are side straddle, criss cross, double under, double Dutch etc.
Some of us are practicing at lunch.
We are all looking forward to the Jump off.
By Rebecca and Alana.

Eden's Puppet

My puppet is supposed to be a mutant ninja with a woolly cape on. He has one bird eye, one red eye and a chainsaw attached just past his elbow. He has a black wooden leg, a green face, a big chin, and has bumps on his head. He is made from a Janola bottle. I had to paper Mache his head then I had to strap masking tape around the head. Then I pushed it into the top of the bottle. Then I had to paint the head and build up the nose and one eye. How did I get the cape? I traded 4 arms and legs to get a cape. I made him a paper and cardboard crossbow to fire arrows at anything he wants. He’s got an orange bloodstain on the right side of his head. He’s got guns instead of hands. The reason why he has a wooden leg is because the other ninja’s didn’t like him so they cut his leg off. There are a small amount of things I still need to do like make feet for him, colour the crossbow and join it on and make it fire. Then I will repaint him and put his cape on.
By Eden

Mrs Patten's Thoughts

School Choir

This term we have been learning the music festival songs. Some of the songs are God of Nations, Let Me Sing And I'm Happy, Born Free, It Don't Mean A Thing, Let There Be A Voice, Yo Vivo Cantando, The New Zealand Song, Clowns and Ode To Joy. On Monday 20th August all the people doing the choir went to Christ's College to have our first practice and it was a lot of fun going through all the songs with the conductor. When we started to sound bad the conductor would stop us and say ''you're sounding like the telly tubbies.'' To stop this happening we had to have a north-south mouth instead of a east-west mouth so our voice would sound better.
by Megan and Andie

ANCIENT GREECE

Greece is near Turkey and Italy in our days. Ancient Greece was way back in the past. One time the Greeks kidnapped a Trojan princess, so the Trojans took a Greek princess called’ Helen’’ to get even. So the Trojan War started, the Greeks went by ships to Troy.
After 10 years of fighting.
The Greeks thought the Trojans weren’t brave, because the Trojans went behind their city’s gates. Soon after the Greeks built a wooden horse. After that the Greeks hid in the wooden horse. Soon the Trojans spotted the horse and took it into the city gates thinking it was a gift. At night the Greeks got out of the wooden horse. Then after a few minutes the Greeks were killing the Trojans in their sleep. Soon Troy was being burnt down to ash. The Trojans who were not warriors took an underground passage to the sea to escape from the Greeks. The warriors of troy were left behind to fight for Troy. Eventually the Greeks probably won! But their hero died called “Achilles” he got shot with a boron arrow into his ankle (his ankle is his weak spot because he got dipped into some magic water except ankle so he could only die if someone stabbed him there).

By Logan! + Guy.

Greek Myths Using Crayon and Dye Art

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Pandora’s Box

This week we have been reading Greek myths. One of the myths we have read is Pandora’s Box. Pandora’s Box is a story about a girl who had a box which she was not allowed to open and because she was curious she opened it. Hate, greed, anger, sickness and lies came out but Hope followed. This tells us that in life there are bad things but hope will always follow.
By Andie and Shyanne.

Fractions

This term we are learning about fractions in maths. We have learnt a heap about fractions. There are many different fractions like ½ and ¼. Fractions are for dividing things up (pizza, apple and cakes). Each piece of the shape has to be the same size if it is to be a fraction! To keep our fractions knowledge going we do Keeping Clever! We sometimes have to put fractions in order. We have groups for fractions in maths (triangles to circles).
By Jade and Logan.

The Kahurangi Maori Dance Company

On Monday the 13th of August we were fortunate enough to have a Maori
Dance Company come to our school. They preformed a show called Maori Myths & Tribal Legends. They used string to tell stories.
They performed shows such as Hatupatu And The Bird Woman.
The whole school watched the show.
Later that day the year 4’s and up participated in a Te Reo Kori Workshop. We did 4 different exercises.
1. Using a Poi
2. Ti Titorea –stick games
3. Hu Ha – Ringaringa-hand games
4. Using Ti rakau or Taiaha and hand stories.
We really enjoyed the show and the workshop, we thought it was a great experience.
By Shyanne and Holly

The Rugby Tournament

Lately we have been practising for the winter tournament (rugby and netball). The winter tournament is held at Akaroa on the 3rd August and the Lincoln tournament is on the 9th August
Mr Stanbury is the coach for the year 4, 5&6 team. Mr Fitch is the coach for the year 7&8 team.

Oral Presentations

This term Room 2 students have been set to find a topic on their choice eg their pets, sports, landmarks and their families or people that they look up to.
We then have 1-2 weeks to finish at a high standard.
We get marked on
• Length of speech
• Content of speech
• Supporting visual information
• Organization of speech
• Use of voice
• Use of gestures
• Looking at the audience
• Audience appeal
We have a minimum of 1 minute in length and a maximum of 4 minutes. We then write a final copy and present it to the class.
So far they have been very well done, we are looking forward to more presentations.
By Alana and Holly.

Here are two posters that go with oral presentations by Alana and Lily.

Comic Strips

We have been learning to tell a story using the rules of comic strips.
We have:-
1.Decided on a short, catchy title for our comic strip.
2.Decided on the 6 pictures that will tell our story.
3.Drawn the draft of our strip.
4.Included thought and speech bubbles, sound words and statements about time and place to help tell our story.
5.Completed a final copy of our comic strip to share.
The whole class did a great job on their comic strip because they put lots of time into it and took good care with it.
Matt wrote a comic about a motorbike jump. It was called “ THE JUMP”. Ethan wrote about Matt coming to his house. It was called “MATT CAME TO MY HOUSE”
By Ethan and Matt

Puppets

During Term 2 and 3 we have been working on some of our own marionette puppets. Our puppets are going very well, with the help of Mrs Wilson. The bodies of our puppets are made of plastic bottles. The heads are made of tightly screwed up newspaper. We had to form the features of our puppets by moulding the shapes we wanted, eg nose, eyes, lips eyebrows and ears etc. The puppets range from people to monsters to animals. 2 more weeks and they may be finished (hopefully!)
By Alana and Lily.

Ancient Greece

Lately we have been learning about Ancient Greece. We have read 4 myths:The judgment of Paris, The Minotaur, Pegasus and Daedalus and Icarus. We have done 4 activities in our topic books. They are Greek gods and Goddesses,A Family Tree, Building a Labyrinth, Names of Magical Creatures and 2 maps.
By Lily and Ethan.

Blackbeard

Our Piratical Reflections

Holly thought the dress up day was fun and to see how everyone else dressed up.
Alana enjoyed the Pirate Quiz, and her team came 2nd.
Shyanne enjoyed the dress up day and taking part in the Quiz.
Guy enjoyed the Pirates and Cannonball games.
Matt enjoyed the taste of the rum (aka L&P) and the Treasure Hunt Computer game. He thought it was easy!!
Lily found it hard to memorise all the instructions in the game "Captain's Coming".
Ethan enjoyed doing the WANTED posters because he was able to use Kid Pix to draw his pirate, Blackbeard.
Rebecca enjoyed having her tot of rum and playing Captain's Coming. Nicholas agreed with Rebecca.
Cassie liked the dressup day because she liked dressing up as Jack Sparrow. She looked great and won first equal prize in the class competition.
Finn enjoyed dressing up and also to see how all the others dressed up. He came first equal with Cassie.

Wanted a Pirate

During pirate week Captain Charity asked us to do this:
While on your pirate adventure you will create a WANTED AD for a pirate you have learned about through your research. The WANTED AD will include a drawing of the pirate chosen (in Kid Pix), with a listing of his crimes and any reward that will be offered, ( word processed with the drawing inserted in it). We will make a movie/powerpoint of all the wanted posters when they are finished.
We toiled away below decks with the help of our daily exercise and tot of rum to produce some fine WANTED posters! We wonder if you have seen any of these piratical criminals in your neighbourhood? We would appreciate knowing their whereabouts if you know.

Pirates, Piratical Pranks and Pandemonium.

The last week of Term 2 brought many secrets out of the decking. There was Admiral Kindness with her wobbly parrot, Captain Cuddles with lots of you know what, Captain Philanthropy (we had to ask what that was - kindness in other words) and Captain Goodwill. Of course our ship the Silver Seeker had its own leader, Captain Charity, and she was seen to be dishing out some gold coins during the week. On board the ship Silver Seeker we had a mixture of pirates with names like Missee Lee, Erish, Crewminator, Blackheart, Blue Bonnie to name a few!!

The Science Fair

Friday afternoon was buzzing with chatter as parents and fellow students were entertained, and informed, about the workings of various complex machines. Displays included the corkscrew, the robot, the digger, the tower crane, the bicycle, the cannon, the power drill, the escalator, and the vacuum cleaner. The displays were assembled carefully and looked stunning. Mrs. Patten was impressed at the depth of explanations provided by the students, showing that students had made big steps in their learning about their complex machine. The working models were interesting and well explained, too. Students should all be very proud with what they have achieved over the past weeks, preparing for this event.

Little River School Science Fair

The action is increasing as the date for this event approaches. Students have chosen a complex machine to investigate. They have researched its history, developments and uses. They are also required to explain the workings of the simple machines in the complex machine using diagrams, models and explanations. Most groups are at the publishing and presentation stage now. There is alot of chatter, collaboration and deep thinking going in the groups, their aim being to achieve excellences on the marking rubric.
On Friday 22 June at 2 pm all will be revealed, we hope you can be there to share in the childrens' learning!!

Room 2’s Assembly 1 June

What a thrill it was to see so many of our parents at our class assembly.
We were very excited about sharing our work completed in the first part of the year. For those of you unable to attend some items we shared were:
1. A movie of our dreams for the future, containing still digital photos taken by the students, stunning photos they were, too!!
2. Movies about our class camp at South Brighton.
3. Raps we had written about ourselves. There was some great rhyme, rhythm and action in those presented.
4. Reflective writing about what it would be like to be a machine. Here is one person’s writing:
If I was a machine
I would be a… computer.
I would love the feel of waking up
from an eternal like sleep.
I would hum soothingly when the
buttons on my keyboard were pressed.
Like being tickled.
I’d be able to search every website
I’d help my owners
I’d have answers to everything.
But after every day I would be
put back to eternal sleep yet again,
after all my hard work
I’d be deserving it.
5. Our thoughts about looking after a fresh egg for a week, as part of the Keeping Ourselves Safe programme. E.g. It was hard to keep track of my egg all the time.
I learnt how hard it is for Mum and Dad to look after me.
6. Each Maths group explained their current learning goal and knowledge gained in the current Multiplication and Division topic. Eg understanding how powers work with numbers; halving and doubling, trebling and thirding numbers to make equations easier to solve; and how the order of the factors doesn’t change the product. Great presentation skills and stunning use of Power Point!
7. We showed paintings and drawings of simple and complex machines.
8. A dance we created, using the actions of simple machines, which we called "Mechanical Moves".
Thanks so much to everyone including the presenters and the Tech Crew for their awesome work. The Assembly went smoothly and was presented professionally!!
☺ ☺ ☺ ☺

Simple Machines

We have been using Lego to learn about some of the simple machines. We have experimented with models to find out how pulleys, levers, gears and wheels and axles work. Gears and pulleys can be followers and drivers. We learnt that with gears the follower goes in the opposite direction to the followers, except if it has a gear (an idler) in between.

The Kids Congress May 2007

I recently had the privilege to be able to attend this “ICT Skills Workshop” for South Island primary school children. More than 200 9-12 yr olds gathered at Ferrymead Historic Park for 2 days of ICT learning. They each chose a workshop to follow for this time. Workshops, of which there were 21, taught skills using i-Movie, Photoshop, Podcasting, Comic Life, Google, Blogging, Digital Stories, Reality Games, Still and moving digital images, iPods, etc; in order to complete a learning task related to the context of the Venue. The finished products included 3D drawings of buildings, Wild West movies, designer t shirts, comics, podcasts of how life has changed over time, Who dunit movies, Newspapers of yesteryear, olden day Ferrymead postage stamps, a time machine and news reports, to name a few!!
The place was buzzing with chat, collaboration, problem solving and laughter amongst students, many of whom, had just met for the first time.
The paradox for me was seeing Ferrymead, the place we perceive as being representative of yesteryear, alive and buzzing with children using the latest in ICT gear to achieve their learning goals……and yes you are right, there certainly was evidence of Web 2.0 assisting learning!! Although in Jocelyn’s case the wireless network was variable-causing problems with her students posting their blogs.
It was an enlightening day of PD for me, and I hope that students and/or teachers from our Cluster schools may be able to attend this Congress in future years. Check out the website for more information. http://www.kidscongress.org.nz/christchurch
In the meantime I have unfinished business with Google tools, Comic Life and Garage band………….to begin with!! ☺ ☺

Welcome to Room 2's New Blog Site

We have successfully set up a blog site as a tool for sharing our work and the steps we are taking in our learning at School.
We aim to regularly share items of our work, our thoughts and comments with you. We hope you will take time to read out postings.