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We are a year 5/6 (9-10 year olds) class from Bairds Mainfreight Primary School in Auckland, NZ.

You can see some of our learning that took place in Room 12 in 2010 and 2011.

NB: I have moved to a new school now so this blog is no longer active. You are still welcome to comment and look at the great fun we had over the past two years.

Thank you for all the lovely comments :)
Tara T-J
Contact : (@taratj on Twitter)


Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Songs for Blake



We have learned that Blake likes singing and to look at our faces. So we made him this movie :)

Monday, March 29, 2010

Roots of Empathy

It was so lovely to see Baby Blake today. He is getting very strong and Miss B said that he is starting to roll!



Tanya tried to distract him from our beautiful faces by giving him a wrist bracelet - but guess what? He still preferred to look at US!





We made Blake a DVD of us singing some songs for him.




He will be able to look at our faces at home now!

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Maisy Fights for her Egg - By Mele Latu



I was sitting on my nest waiting for someone to rescue me. Day after day, night after night, waiting and waiting until.......... one morning an elephant came by, it was Horton the elephant.
I said to him
"could you sit on my nest I'm awfully ready to take a good rest.
Horton answered
"yes".
So I flew off ready for my holiday. Laying down somewhere on the beach, I said,
"AAHH THIS IS ALL COULD EVER IMAGINED".
What a wonderful day I sang. I went over to the mall, I saw some of my friends and we went over to buy some ice-cream.
I flew off looking for some shade.
There I saw a little tent. There is some shade over there I said.
I dropped my ice-cream on someone’s head. PLOP! I looked into the tent and saw the elephant Horton and my white dotted egg. I said to him,
"I'm back from my rest now I'm ready to get back onto my nest.
Horton said
"no".
We were arguing over the egg. Just then we heard a cracking noise-it was my egg. It continued to crack and then........... out came an flying elephant [baby elephant]. Every body in the tent gasped. I shouted
"YOU STOLE MY EGG"
Everybody in the tent was starting to stare at us fighting. Horton said,
"this my egg now and I didn’t steal it-you left it."
I was beaming furious. The baby elephant flew to Horton and hugged him and called him mummy. They ran off together and I followed them everywhere they went, including the toilet.
One time I saw them playing hide and seek and I saw the baby elephant running away to its hiding place. I followed him and then I caught him just like that. I flew off with him far, far away and we were never to be seen ever again.








Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Ula making with Mareatai Beach School



Today we made Ula with a school called Maraetai beach school. The day began with a Whakatau. We sang Haere Mai and then Maraetai sang Ngā Tae.
We came back to our classroom with 11 Maraetai girls where we talked about our cultural festival and different kinds of Ula. Then we designed our own Ula.


Then we made our Ula.



Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Fun Tennis!

We were so lucky to be coached by professional tennis coaches today! They were very fun and played cool games with us!

We laughed and laughed when we watched these videos! We hope you do too!


The Girls



The Boys


Monday, March 22, 2010

Never Shake a baby

Today in Roots of Empathy we learned to Never Shake a Baby. Tanya showed us why by shaking an egg in a jar. We learned that a baby's brain is like the egg yolk. If you shake it, it gets damaged. By Emma












Saturday, March 20, 2010

Horton Draft Writing


We have been learning about the Habits of Mind. Last week we looked at persistence through the story Horton Hatches the Egg.
We have identified that Horton was very persistent and Maisy was not.

We are now re-writing Horton from Maisy's Point of View. This is a good way to think about another Habit of Mind - Thinking Flexibly.

Our stories are not finished yet. Here is an example of how they sound:

LI: WALT draft a narrative from Maisy's Point of View. SC: The story must: be told from Maisy's point of view have a problem and a solution descriptive language.


Zanitha

On a very hot day in the jungle I laid my first egg. It was a beautiful white and red dotted egg. I felt very tired and I felt like I needed a good vacation. Suddenly the ground started to shake. I thought I was going to fall off the tree and then it stopped. It was an elephant. A pink one. It was Horton. When I saw him I had an idea. I said to him, "I'm standing on this nest and I need a good rest, may you please stand on my nest?"
He accepted. So I left for my vacation with happiness. First I went to the beach and had a very long rest. Then I bought a big scoop of ice-cream.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

More Shark News

Here is our response to this story
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10632909


Today we are focusing on Reading, Summarising and Presenting the story. This is the exact same thing that News Producers do.





Reflections

Mele - I think that my reading has improved because i spoke louder and clearer. I would like work on looking straight at the camera.

Monday, March 15, 2010

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Times tables buddies



What do you think?
Are they cheating?
These buddies are learning different things at the same time - what are they?

Persistence in Action

Can we Change Liquid Water into Water Vapour in our Classroom?

You will need:
Tin foil
Wooden sticks
Clothes pegs
candles
cellotape







Persistence


By Nelson

By Rionne

By Jayden

Horton Hatches the Egg!

Horton is our symbol for persistence because:

When he was cold in the winter he stayed on the egg.
He stood up for himself when his friends teased him and he kept going
He looked after the egg and kept his promise
Even when he felt sea-sick he never gave up
He refused to run away even when he was feeling scared
He made it his mission to keep the egg warm
When he saw his egg hatch he felt proud, special and happy.



Maisy is our symbol for what is NOT persistent because

Said she needed a rest and she gave up
She played in the sun
She ate ice-cream instead of doing her job
She went to the circus
She wanted the egg back after someone else had done the hard work

Monday, March 8, 2010

Roots of Empathy Baby Visit





We were so excitied to see baby Blake! He taught us so much in just 30 minutes!!!

We learned
  • That he makes sounds for words
  • He loves his mum
  • He was more interested in our beautiful faces than toys
  • He was RELAXED when he first met us. This means that his 'First Impressions' TEMPERAMENT is a relaxed one


Sunday, March 7, 2010

What's happening this week...


This week we are going to investigate the story Horton Hatches The Egg! By Dr. Suess.

We are going to use this story to develop our comprehension skills and our Habits of Mind. This week we are focusing on Persistence.

In Maths we are continuing to focus on Times Tables and Telling the time.

For learning pathways we are heating up our water investigations.

"I meant what I said, and I said what I meant. An elephant's faithful one-hundred percent..."



Thursday, March 4, 2010

Happy weekend everyone

Ohhhh you guys ;)

Maths Progess


Here is a picture of my maths book. It shows that my strength in times-tables are my 10s and my 7s. I need to work on my 6s. The first time I did my 10s I got 36 right then i got 38. This means I am getting better! That makes me feel great! - Tuseilda

If you want to try and beat my score check out www.tutpup.com

Week 5 Reflections

Phoenix: I was shy and didn't like talking to the camera and now I like doing webcam stuff. I feel more confident and now I speak louder to the camera.

Michelle: I am getting a little bit good. The first time I couldn't speak because I was too shy and now I'm getting heaps better.

Siaga: When I first talked to the camera I was a little bit scared now I'm feeling good.

Nelson: I felt happy and was excited because i was going to be famous when i first heard about the webcam. When I saw myself i thought that i could improve by looking at the camera and not looking down. Now when i see myself I am looking at the camera and talking to it better.

Tupou: I felt shy at first and now I feel happy that it's finished and I feel cool and popular.

Mrs Jorgensen says: I agree with all of your reflections here! You have made amazing progress in just two weeks. KA PAI! Now that you are confident clear speakers you are ready to work on your expression and delivery of your news stories.






Mrs Jorgensen says: What a sad story you saw on the news, girls.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Why is rain not salty?

We were talking about the water cycle and how the sun evaporates water from the ocean. Then we wondered why the rain wasn't salty. Mrs Jorgensen showed us how to figure it out by doing an experiment.

We dissolved some salt in some water and put it out in the sun to see if it would evaporate.



After lunch we had a look at our plates and look what we found!



The sun evaporated the water but not the salt...

Monday, March 1, 2010

Roots Of Empathy

We have started Roots of Empathy!


Here are some photos of our first session with Tanya...


Shannon practicing his baby hold


The Green Blanket that Blake and Miss B will sit on.

After Tanya left we were so excited that Miss B and Blake would be coming to visit us next week. We made some videos especially for Miss B...






Mele and Siaga





Sarah and Jade




Wiremu, Logan and Shannon

For more information on the Roots of Empathy programme click here: http://www.rootsofempathy.org/Intl.html