April 1st

Is this real or an April Fool???

Why do you think what you think?

School Garden

The weather has cooled a little and we have had some rain, so before the holidays the Taranaki Garden Club planted some seeds in the school garden.

Who knows what will grow when we are enjoying our Easter break.  It will be exciting to see when we come back.

For those who missed their spelling words this week March 23-27

Term 1 Week 8: Spelling Words

Learning Intention: to recognise and spell words using  - ful words.

Group 1	Group 2	Group 3	Group 4
help	truth	hope	resource
helpful	truthful	hopeful	resourceful
helpfully	truthfully	hopefully	resourcefully
hand	care	grate	power
handful	careful	grateful	powerful
rest	carefully	gratefully	powerfully
restful	hate	wonder	colour
restfully	hateful	wonderful	colourful
cup	hatefully	wonderfully	colourfully
cupful	because	because	because

Hayden's Friday

Mrs Pua is away today as she is not well.  So Hayden is working with some special helpers today.

READING

Thank you Ella and Taimana you are doing a brilliant job!!!

TEN MINUTE RUN WITH A RUGBY BALL.

MATHS WITH TAIMANA

MATHS GAMES

TODAY IS A GOOD DAY!

N is for Narwhal

Today during "Thinking Keys" Ella chose the Alphabet key. We needed to go through the alphabet to find an animal which started with each letter of the alphabet. Some letters were easy, others were much more difficult. 

N is for Narwhal

X is for xray fish

Then we had to find boys names for each letter. That was good fun too. Octopus is NOT a boys name!

Perseverance

Cyclones, Hurricanes and Typhoons

This morning Rooms 10 and 11 are a little apprehensive about the approaching cyclone. We had an interesting discussion about the difference between cyclones, hurricanes and typhoons, we discovered they are all the same, they are just called different names.
We talked about what our parents had done to prepare for the storm and what we were expecting to happen during the day today.

For now we have to wait and see what today brings but below is a link for kids and parents about natural disasters.

What's the plan Stan? A kids and parents guide to natural disasters

The Brainstorming Key

Today during thinking keys we discussed the 'Brainstorming' key. We discussed two main questions today 1. How can we eliminate mosquitoes 2. How can we reduce the amount of junk food we eat?
Mrs Valois showed us some pictures she took in Brunei of mosquito 'foggers' who use a toxic smoke to kill mosquitoes in Asia.
During our discussion about reducing junk food, we looked at how much sugar is in the common foods we eat. We were astonished at the amount of sugar in foods we enjoy.

Inferencing

The Fridge Kids are learning about inferencing during reading sessions. We are developing our understanding of 'reading between the lines' of a text. Being able to inference means we are able to answer questions about a text that are not clearly stated. Inferencing is about making assumptions based on our previous knowledge and finding clues within the text. 

For example: 

The bell rang and the children ran inside. 

We can assume (based on our prior knowledge) that this is happening at a school - although it isn't clearly stated. 

Inferencing is an important reading skill. It helps us to gain an deeper understanding of what we are reading. 

Here are some online games to practise our inferencing skills:

http://www.pspb.org/blueribbon/games/detective/DetectiveGame.html

http://www.quia.com/rr/332704.html

Hammerhead Shark

Here is a photograph Mr. Brock took during the summer holidays.  Comments and questions very welcome.

Words of Wisdom

Mr Brock likes to think he is quite wise.  Well he has been teaching for over 20 years!!!! Here are some of the quotes and sayings you might hear him say if you were in his class.  (Show these to the parents.)

Quotes and Sayings

Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted.

Never miss a good chance to close your mouth and listen to someone else.

A clean desk is a sign of a cluttered desk drawer.

Don’t let yourself get diagonally parked in a parallel universe.

If you speak with a forked tongue, avoid kissing balloons.

If you lend someone $20 and you never see them again, it was probably money well spent.

‘Pushing your Luck’ is not a form of exercise!

If at first you don’t succeed, skydiving is not for you!

A closed mouth gathers no foot.

It is far more impressive when others discover your good qualities without your help.

A conclusion should not be the thing you write just because you got tired of thinking.

All generalisations are false.  Including this one.

Always try to be modest and secretly be proud of it.

If you believe in telekinesis, raise my hand.

Anything worth taking seriously is worth having fun with.

Experience is something you don’t have until just after you need it.

Generally speaking, you aren’t learning very much when your mouth is moving.

Hard work has a future payoff.  Laziness pays off now.

Everyone has a photographic memory although some people don’t have any film.

It is better to understand a little than to misunderstand a lot.

Good judgement comes from bad experience and a lot of that comes from bad judgement.

Ever stop to thing and then forget to start again?

Quantum mechanics: The dreams stuff is made of.

Plan to be spontaneous, tomorrow.

Shin: A device for finding furniture in the dark.

Some days you are the bug, some days you are the windscreen.

Some drink from the fountain of knowledge, others just gargle.

Success always occurs in private and failure in full view.

The early bird may get the worm, but it is the second mouse who gets the cheese!

The shortest distance between two points will sometimes still be under construction.

Time is the best teacher, unfortunately it kills all of its students.

If you sneeze without a handkerchief, you take matters into your own hands.

If you can’t repair the brakes, make the horn louder.

There are three types of people; those who can count and those who can’t.

Never mess up an apology with an excuse.

Time is what stops everything from happening at once.

Timing has an awful lot to do with the outcome of a rain dance.

To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism but to steal from many is research.

Never ask a barber if he thinks you need a haircut.

If you tell the truth you don’t have to remember anything.

War does not determine who is right.  War determines who is left.

No one seems to listen until you make a mistake.

What is a free gift?  Aren’t all gifts free?

Only passengers who have window seats will ever need to use the toilet.

You cannot tell which way the train went by looking at the track.

People who think logically are a nice contrast to the real world.

Never wrestle with a pig; you both get dirty , and the pig like s it.

The trouble with life is you’re halfway through it before you realise it is a ‘do it yourself’ thing.

Superglue is forever!

No matter how much jelly you put into a swimming pool, walking on water is still impossible!

Always be polite especially to people bigger and more important than you are.

Computers are great, but there is no prize for finishing the internet!

Listen and Silent are spelled with the same letters!

If you are not sure what some of these mean, ask someone wiser than you!

Odds and Evens

Mrs Valois' maths class is learning about odd and even numbers. We have discovered some interesting patterns involving odd and even numbers.

We found that:
odd + odd = even
even + even = even
odd + even = odd

Some of us a still a little fuzzy on identifying odd and even numbers quickly. Below are links to some online games to help sharpen our recall.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/starship/maths/games/number_jumbler/big_sound/full.shtml

http://www.learninggamesforkids.com/math_games/random-math/odds-evens-level-two.html

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/mathgames/earlymath/Fruit_shoot_odd_even.htm

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/mathgames/monkeydrive/numbers/MDOddEven.htm

The Prediction Key

Today Kila chose the Prediction Key during our Thinking Key session. We discussed what our future will be like. Transport was an exciting aspect to discuss. Max suggested that we would travel by teleporters in the years to come. We also talked about hover boards and hover cars. We looked at pictures and news reports of the glowing roads in the Netherlands. Mrs Valois showed us the clip below as an inspiring conversation starter.
Thinking keys not only help us to use our own imaginations, they help us to explore what is happening in our world by developing our curiosity and excitement about developing new knowledge and understanding.

Thinking Keys

Most mornings Room 10 and 11 start the day with a 'Thinking Keys' session. Thinking Keys help us to think outside the square. They are brain energizers that are a fun and challenging way to begin the day. This morning Joshua chose the "Reverse" key, This saw us discussing ideas such as things that shouldn't be in our sandwiches, people who wouldn't make good teachers -Kevin suggested Michael Jackson, Conner said his 3 year old sister wouldn't make a great teacher. Mr Brock helps show the students that comedy can complement learning and that a smile and a laugh is always the best way to start the day. 

Room 11 at The Amazing Race

Friday 27 February - The first leg of Room 10's Amazing Race

Puzzle jumble

The pitstop