Ka Kite from Mrs Belt

It is with some sadness that I write my last post for my class blog at Pt England School, as I leave to move closer to family in the Bay of Plenty.  It has been such a privilege to share the past three years with some amazing tamariki and share their learning journey through my class blog.  Though the blog will remain as an archive of their 'amazingness', there will be no new posts and commenting will shortly close.

Thank you for sharing this incredible journey with me via the blog.  It has been a pleasure to share just a small snapshot into my classroom and just a small selection of the thousands of memories I take away with me today.  A huge thank you to all the teachers, children and whanau who have made me SO welcome during my amazing three years at Pt England School - I will miss you all.

Merry Christmas from Room 15

Its been a very busy year with lots of amazing learning happening in Room 15.  We've really enjoyed sharing it with you via our blogs and some of our learners plan to continue blogging over the Christmas period - check out their links on the right hand side of this post.

From all of us in Room 15, we wish you a very happy and healthy holiday season.

Our amazing prizegiving item

Last Thursday during the Junior Prizegiving, Room 15 performed with Room 14.  All our learners worked really hard to learn our item over the preceding weeks and I was totally proud of them all.  For anyone that may have missed our item, check it out below:

Team 3 shared reading and lunch

Today Room 15 joined with the other classes in Term 3 to have a great day.  We started by doing a reading rotation with some invited guests.  Teachers in Team 3 were joined by Mr Burt, Mrs Nua, Mrs Garden, Mrs Clarke and the lovely office ladies to share our favourite books with small groups.  Each group heard from five different teachers and then we returned to our class to share our experiences and blog about it.

After morning tea, we had a Team 3 shared lunch.  A HUGE thanks to all the whanau who provided plates of amazing food which we all really enjoyed sharing.  What an amazing day as we count down to the end of term.

Our Year in Room 15

This week Room 15 have created a book showcasing our Year in Room 15.   We are sharing our book as a movie below or you can view and download from here.

We hope you enjoy reading about the highlights of our year.

Animation Fun

Today Room 15 were using I Can Animate to create some animations.  We had Lego, blocks, animals and plastic people to help us create.

Our finished movies will be posted to our blogs later this week, but check out the creativity as we work on our animations.

Screen Minions

For the last few weeks, Zoe and Precious from Room 15 have been joining a few other learners from Team 3 and doing some screen printing with Mr Vogt.

They have really enjoyed the experience and their creations are amazing!  Check out some photos from their experience.

Coding with Scratch

Today Room 15 were exploring coding using the app ScratchJr.  We had written stories yesterday so were using these to help us with characters and background.  We had to draw our own backgrounds and characters (rather than using the figures that come with the app).  A huge thanks to +Fiona Grant who came along and helped us with our coding.  It was a really engaging two hours.

Here are some of the wonderful creations from three of our learners - check out all our creations on our individual blogs!

ZOE

Once upon a time there was to people that were in New York. Their names were Abigail and john. They were both at the market because there were going to buy something. Then they saw each other. John and Abigail were best cousins when they were little they also play on the park. They were jumping and jumping. Then they were both older and they played played on the park all day. John and Abigail played on the park when it was night time then they had to do all the dishes it take them to the dishes a minute and 1 hour to do it. Then it was the morning they do not wake up again because they done the dishes when it was nighttime. 

DEVANTE

This is my coded scratch animation:

LEAH

Once upon a time there was a fish called dory and a shark called Sam. They were in an ocean and they were best friends. They saw something moving and it was big and it was  Sam’s  dad called Parker and Dory’s mom called Rachel. When Rachel met Parker they become friends like Sam and Dory. Rachel said to Parker, do you want to come in my hotel and have a hot cup of coffee? and Parker said yes and dory and Sam went inside to play with the toys. When Sam got there with Dory, Sam said where is your toys and dory said it's in my cupboard and Sam said do you have any pets? Dory said no because Sam likes playing with pets and because they are so cute. When it was night Sam and his dad went back home to have dinner and have some sleep because they were tired.  When they got home they went upstairs and went in their room and Sam was playing his games because he wasn't tired but his dad was.

Fun with Bubbles and Slime

Over the last few weeks, Room 15 have been enjoying making bubble wands and slime during our Makerspace time.  Check out some of the images from our sessions:

Chromebook Excitement

With only three weeks of the 2016 school year left, Room 15 are looking ahead to Year 4.  Next year, after 2/3 years with iPads, our learners are moving to Chromebooks.  Everyone is getting really excited about that thought!

Parents that sign their children up for a Chromebook by November 30th go in a draw to win their Chromebook for free!!  To sign up, pop into the office and see the lovely Leigh.  You just need $40 and your bank account details.

Late last week after visiting the Pavilion, we made some cards to remind parents about signing up for our Chromebook!

Athletics Day

On Friday the whole school had an Athletics Day.  We all really enjoyed the different rotations and Room 15 wrote about our experiences in class this week.  Check out some of our amazing stories:

Leah

On Friday it was athletics and my group did the high jump and the parachute. When the athletics were finished we went to lunch to eat. When lunch was over we went to the court because we were going to watch the relays. When we watched the relays we saw Mia's uncle race in the blue team and we cheered for him. When the relay was finished we went back to class to pack up the class. After we packed up we went back home to have some rest because we were tired.

Jerry

On Friday it was amazing pt England did the Athletes and we did the 75 metres stations it was a lost of power but the 50 meters stations it was amazing because we were doing the best as we did the best as we can I love the Shotput it was amazing game the boys did not like the 75 metres it was the old game from 991 the 75 metres sprint.

Precious

On Friday at school we did athletics. We did lots of different stations and then it was the time to have a race battle with our class.  There was one girl and she came first in all the races and she never gave up. When it was time to see the kids vs teachers my friends uncle came and he signed up and after lunch the kids vs teachers started and the whole school made some rows to watch the races. After the race finished they went in a line and they were walking like a champion because champions never give up.

Just Another Day

Room 15 all contributed ideas for our Film Festival movie this year. We really enjoyed dressing up and becoming characters. We hope you enjoy watching our movie:

 

Learning our Mihi with Whaea Saf

Today during our Te Reo session with Whaea Saf we were working on our mihi.  Whaea Saf helped us with our pronunciation and drew some great images to help us remember.

Mrs Belt also captured some of our beautiful waiata that we sang to start our session today.

Making Chocolate Cake

As part of our science inquiry topic this term, we are looking at the changes in matter.  After reading "The Chocolate Cake" the Crunchies reading group followed the recipe in the book to combine ingredients and create a chocolate cake.  Importantly, we discussed how the ingredients changed and that once they had changed, they could not be changed back again!

Once we'd created our cake, we ate it with ice cream and bananas - the same way they did in the book!

Mask Magic

During our time in Makerspace each week, Room 15 was last term creating masks.  Some of the designs was really intricate and took additional time.  These have been finished this term.  Last week we went to Makerspace and collected our terrific masks and took some photos.  Check out what some of us created.

Sharing on PENN

Room 15 are sharing something a little different today.  For the last few months we’ve been enjoying the adventures of Piggie and an elephant named Gerald thanks to the books of Mo Willems.  Over the last few weeks we’ve been creating our own Piggie and Gerald stories.  Check out our blogs later this week for even more Piggie and Elephant creations.

Narrative Writing: Caves

At the end of last week, Room 15 were doing some narrative writing about caves.  All our writing is on our individual blogs and Mrs Belt has chosen a few to share on our class blog.

Patience

A long time ago there was a huge cave.On winter the 22 there was a group of glad tigers.They were looking for a home so they looked and they that cave.They moved into the cave and they liked it.It was a bet cold but they still liked it.Some of them went to get the rest of the pack they said ok.When they went back they loved it they said it a was cool.They were all happy then a few weeks later there was a flud they stared to run.But one of the tigers were sleeping they tried to wack him to get him up then he got up.They were lucky after the flud they walked  meny miles to see if there was any were to live. After a few days they found another cave and they loved it. 

Brendon

They were a little boy who went into a wicked cave they were bats he walked and it was night lad down he woke up he saw the. Little boy he saw a caveman he was very very afraid he thought a rock at the caveman. He ran away very fast and he said that was so close one and he ran back home.

Ozzy 

Once upon a time there was a cave it was scary and spooky in the cave there was a dragon was in the cave and the dragon was a sleeping in the cave. When the dragon woken up and the dragon was a boy his name was tj. Tj was jumping up and down. When tj a sew a never dragon and tj was in love with her. When she went past him she came back to tj and she said hi tj said what is your name she said my name… My name is cj I like your name it a cool name. When they met they saw fifteen grizzly bears tj and cj don't got kill some of the bear don't got kill they ran for the dragon bets TJ and Ci had bat in the cave.

Exploring Capacity

On Friday, Room 15 used water to measure capacity in a number of different jars and containers.  We worked in small groups and Mrs Belt was really impressed at how well we collaborated and shared with our peers.  Here are a few photos from they day.

All learners posted their learning on their blogs - Mrs Belt has chosen a few to share on the class blog here:

PRECIOUS:

JULIA: