Blogs Away!

Today in Room 21 we updated our learning logs/blogs with our four goals for Term 1. Our goals had to be SMART goals which means they are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and have a Timeframe.

We wrote our draft goals straight onto our learning logs/blogs and then working in groups we had to comment on other students goals giving feedforward to help them have four quality SMART goals. We then re-Published our final goals for all to see. ------>

Inquiring about Parihaka

"Parihaka? Whats that?" and "What happened there?" were a couple of the questions that the students of room 21 tackled while they were creating a timeline of the events that occurred before, during and after the worlds first recorded campaign of passive resistance took place at Parihaka.



Over the coming weeks, the students will be exploring many of the different aspects surrounding what happened at Parihaka and exploring how it fits into our Big Idea; Standing up for what you believe in through integrity and empathy.

Little People Ahoy!

On Friday Room 21 went and met their buddy class for the first time this year. Room 9 was really keen to show us their monsters that they had created. Then they shared their favourite book. We hope to do lots of fantastic things with our buddies and show them some of the things we get up to on the senior side of the school as the year goes on.

First day back!

Today was a day packed full of exciting opportunities and activities. We held a powhiri to welcome the new staff and board of trustees members to the school and the year 7/8 students led the way. It was great to see the Kapa Haka students being able to perform to a high standard after having had only one practice earlier today.

We also explored what the students wanted to get out of 2010. We started with a big discussion and brainstorm about what opportunities for achieving would be available. The students then had to work in a group to create statements Here are some of their responses:

In 2010 we want to learn to try new things and make good decisions. We want to be able to try a whole lot of new sports and other activities. We will do this by not being afraid to take risks.

In order to make the most of 2010 we are going to try new things like sports, music and art. We will do this by accepting new challenges.

In order to make the most of this year we are going to try our best in EVERYTHING. We will try new things, aim to not give up and take new opportunities when given.

2010 is going to be our best year ever because we will join groups such as Enviroschools, participate in sports etc, and aim for year 8 leadership roles. In order to make the most of 2010 we are going to learn and have fun.

Ko te Raapa 9, o Mahuru

Today 40 senior school students spent a highly enjoyable day at Walter Nash Stadium participating in a basketball blitz competition with Te Kura Kaupapa Maori o Te Ara Whanui. It was an awesome opportunity for the students involved to be active and to get to know students from another school. It was a big learning curve for many of the students with some never having played basketball before. The improvement in skills and the ability to work in a team was clearly visible as the day progressed. I look forward to further events where the senior school students can participate with such a positive attitude.

~ Mr Chadwick

Ko te Rahina 24, o Here-turi-koka

One day down, another one and a half to go. Today we had our first of our finishing days in which the students of the senior school worked on their costumes for the upcoming Wearable Arts show. It was great to see all the students being as creative and inventive as possible. There are many fantastic art works being created and I can't wait to see the finished products being displayed on the cat walk.

Ko te Raapa 12, o Here-turi-koka

Today the Year 7/8 Muritai waterpolo team had their last game of the season. It has been difficult, but enjoyable, playing against some very strong teams in the hardest grade. Despite this the students have continued to persevere and have been constantly improving individually and as a team. Thank you for all your help and support and I look forward to next season.
~ Raihania Chadwick

Ko te Ramere 7, o Here-turi-koka

Today we had a fantastic morning at the action indoor sports centre. The students were split into teams and then competed against the other teams in a range of different sporting activities. The drawn winners of the day were teams 1 and 9 however everyone should be pleased with the commitment that was shown by all. It was also great to see the positive support and good will of all the students who competed in this event. Some of the photos taken today can be found below.

Ko te Rapare, 30 o Hongongoi

On Tuesday as part of our inquiry unit about 'what contributes to making us into who we are today' the teachers each created a speech/presentation depicting a small part of their lives. Each class spent 10-15 minutes with the teachers and were able to ask questions relating to the content and discuss the different approaches to writing speeches. We were all amazed at how engaged the children were and how much there is to talk about when you are sharing what makes you 'you'.

Mr Eames shared an old intermediate photo and talked with the children about how small he was and yet what a positive experience he had during those years. Ms Berry shared a series of incidences in her life that effected her and explored the many roles and jobs she has experienced which lead her to teaching today. I shared family photos, a personal mihi and talked about the importance of family in my life. You can see the family photos below.

In all presentations there was reference to the importance of having a supportive family, being allowed to be who you are and explore the different aspects of your passions. This was a hugely positive experience for the staff and children and was an excellent was to model how to create a worthwhile and meaningful presentation that has the ability to make others feel good about themselves too.

We look forward to hearing the children's presentations which are due in week4.

Tuesday 21st of July

Today we explored some of the key inquiry questions:

• How do others influence who we are?
• How do we influence others?
• How are we perceived?
• Do we make a conscious choice about who we are?
• Is our image who we really are?
• Can we really be ourselves? Be the best we can be?
• How do we have different roles?
  
• Are we always true to ourselves? (Integrity)
• How do we stay true to ourselves in different situations?

We had a big discussion and then wrote down our thoughts on these questions. What are your thoughts?

Monday 20th July

Big Idea: Who am I and what do I want to be seen as?
Mana Tangata - The power of the person.

Key Concept:
• Making a difference by being ourselves (positive influence) and letting others be themselves.
• Making sure people view us in a positive light.
• Mana Tangata – is the power acquired by an individual according to his or her ability and effort to develop skills and to gain knowledge in particular areas (Self Pride)

Other Focus Areas
Literacy: Narrative and Speeches
Maths: Fractions, decimals and percentages
PE: Gymnastics and Jump Rope
Art: Masks and Wearable Arts
Te Reo: Mihi & Mana Tangata

As well as developing essential skills in handwriting, basic facts, accuracy for writing (spelling, grammar and punctuation).

Also there will be a range of other sporting and academic opportunities including: Otago Problem Solving, ICAS tests, netball, rugby, basketball and indoor sports events.

Friday 3rd July

Miss Postma's leaving video

Monday 20th June

Today the year 7 and 8's went to Wellesley School to view an opera produced by Class Act. The opera had the usual tragic love story where boy longs for girl and is rejected. Girl then meets other boy who doesn't work out being such a great match. Only for the girl to realise in the end that the original boy is the one for her...(I hope that made sense :) ) The opera was enjoyed by all especially when Mrs Mills-Smith was serranaded by one of the singers (as seen below).

Monday 8th June

Today room 21 went on its Take Action for Water explore day. We spent our day testing two very different streams and exploring what creates a healthy stream. Catchpool Stream in the Rimutaka Park was very healthy with lots of mayflies and stoneflies to be found. It also had lots of big rocks in the stream bed and trees to provide bank stability, shelter and food for the aquatic animals. Black Creek in the middle of Wainuiomata was very different with lots of human impacts to be seen.

Tuesday 2nd June

Today the class had to plan an explanation on a wacky machine from a book (Castles by Colin Thompson.) We got into groups and then came up with our own ideas for what the machine was for. Then we split up individually and wrote what we thought it was and how we thought it worked and so on.

Thursday 28th May

Today was for many students a very tiring day. Firstly we started with the school cross-country in which the year 7/8's ran around twice around the Williams Park track. Then a group of year 7 and 8's left to compete in another cross-country. This time we were competing against a number of other schools in the interzone cross-country competition at Trentham Memorial Park. It was amazing to see that although many of the students were already tired they were able to dig deep and compete to the best of their abilities. Congratulations to all the students who competed especially Lucy, Kenzy, Georgia and Natalie who placed 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 8th in their respective races.

BubbleShare: Share photos - Easy Photo Sharing

Tuesday 5th May

Today we did a tsunami drill. We did this in case a tsunami hit the Wellington area. After we lined up on the courts and took the roll we all made our way up the Mackenzie track where we were 20 metres above sea level . We now know where we need to meet should a tsunami come.

Thursday 30th April

This Thursday was the start of the Arts Rotation in which the students of room 21 were learning about movies and movie making. The students are off to a great start with scripting and concept boarding their movie ideas. And in a couple of weeks they will be able to start filming and then editing their short movies.

Monday 27th April

On Saturday 25th April, ANZAC day, many people from the Eastbourne community turned up to support and remember those who had died. This year was especially important as a number of people from Eastbourne who paid the supreme sacrifice were finally honoured with an update to the memorial.



Some of the year 7/8 students from the schools Kapa Haka group were asked to show their support by performing a stirring opening haka and closing waiata. This is a fantastic achievement for the group and continues the trend of consistently successful performances. Keep it up guys.

Monday 6th April

Today some of the year 7/8 students competed in the Hutt Regional Swimming Sports Competition. It was a great day and some of the students had highly successful results.

The below video shows the year 7 and 8 girls racing towards their fantastic second placing.


The photo evidence:

Thursday 26th March

This morning Room 21 did Te Reo Maori, we learnt how to say how we felt in Maori.
In Room 23 maths we are figuring out how to multiply long equations and in Room 21 we were learning about using bus and train timetables with the 24 hour clock.
In literacy we are designing our own islands. We have to draw them up and describe it in the report we are currently writing.
After that we worked on the laptops, some of us finished our Alien Invasion report and the others had the opportunity to work on our wiki pages.
This afternoon we had Kapa-Haka and went out for a game.

By Josie and Angelique

Wednesday 25th March

Today some of the year 7 and 8 students were able to participate in the Southern Zone Swimming Sports. It was a great day with many of the students having successful results. Many of the students had a fantastic time as they were able to socialise with a range of students from other schools and were able to partake in a range of swimming strokes that they may not have previously been confident in.

Monday 16th March

Today is our first day without swimming so we are sadly back to a normal timetable. Many of us are currently editing and publishing our alien reports. Here are a couple of brief examples:

When Aliens Attack

Today on the 9th of September 2598, aliens arrived on planet Earth. Local residents say that they saw a large flying saucer heading straight for Paris.
The saucer landed and within seconds mutant wasps flew out and started feeding on the brains of the living. Despite efforts from local police and army, the people of Paris were forced into the many safe zones around the city...

Troublesome Terror for Town

On Monday 16th of March 2009 aliens landed in the small town of Roswell, a small town millions of miles away from civilization. It is still unknown why aliens only land in America.

The aliens first arrived by a U.F.O that came from Planet X from the Solana galaxy. Planet X is hidden millions of miles away from Earth it has only recently been discovered but astronomers describe it as a useless dusty rock, like Mars, except it’s green with an asteroid belt surrounding it. The planets diameter is 1,602, 083,201 kilometres wide and 1,602, 083, 200 kilometres wide. It is believed that more life forms live on this planet...

Monday 2nd March

Today room 21 edited our wikis. We put in them lots of stuff like our hobbies, stuff we liked, stuff we disliked and any other stuff you can think of. We also put in photos and videos (from youtube). Later on in the year we will use our wiki pages to share and publish our work.

Here are some great wikis so far:

Sam's wiki
Josie's wiki

Friday 27th February

Today some of the students played cricket against St. Bernards (Boys) or Naenae Intermediate (Girls). The girls played their second Milo Cricket game at Naenae Int. and while they didn't win they should all be proud of their efforts. Player of the match was Lucy Stotter scoring an impressive 8 runs with the bat.

The boys played their first Milo Cricket game at Te Whiti Park and had a very successful game winning by 49 runs with 4 wickets in hand. Player of the match was Sam Brandwood scoring a healthy 39 runs.

Congratulations to both teams for participating fully and on being the best that you can be.
~ Mr Chadwick

Tuesday 24th February

Today in room 21 we did artwork in the style of Henri Matisse's painting 'Green Stripe' which he did of his wife.

We first took photos of ourselves then we painted over them. We were not allowed to use the real colour of our hair and we had to use other colours to make the colour of our hair. Then we used pastel on the background.

Friday 20th February

On Friday we saw the Monet Exhibition at Te Papa. It was very interesting. Monet is a fantastic impressionist artist, which means that the painting is like an impression not realistic like a photo. Verity liked the painting he did off his wife.

At Te Papa we also went and saw the Blood, Earth, Fire exhibit and the glass Treaty where we had lots of discussions about the impacts both these exhibits had on New Zealand.

Monday 16th February

Today after our library time we met our buddy class! It was really good. They were all really cute. We went through thier spelling test with them. This morning we went swimming and we all had to swim 30 lengths of our choice. Then we had free time.

Thursday 12th February

Today in the morning we walked down to the Eastbourne swimming pool and got put into our ability groups. They are the most confident swimmers, the confident swimmers that just need to work on specific swimming styles and the not so confident swimmers that need to work on swimming styles such as freestyle, breathstroke and backstroke. At this time of the year we go to the swimming pool to train for the swimming sports.

Monday 9th February

Today in our ICT lesson we created our class wiki pages. Most of us created vokis and we all had to choose our passwords. It was funny to see what every one thought of. We also watched a short film about the Treaty of Waitangi and we took notes in our inquiry books. One of the main things we talked about were the whalers. The whalers were people who traveled to places where no one had been before, they came to New Zealand and they went fishing for whales so that they could use their blubber to burn things but they often took more than they needed.

We also went down to the pool and had to do some lengths to find out what swimming group we are in and then some of us played in the small pool and played a bad version of water polo. It was fun while we played water polo but it got a bit rough. It's going to be good when we finding out what group we are in.

Phoebe and Grace

Wednesday 4th February

It's the first day back!

Room 21 is up and going with the new students and the new year. We started today by going through the rules on the senior side of muritai school and playing a couple of cooperation games. Then we discussed the new school curriculum. We talked about the key competencies; thinking, managing self, relating to others, participating and contributing and using language, symbols and text. We then did an exercise and afterward discussed what the exercise might have to do with these competencies and how they ft in the classroom. After morning tea we had a syndicate meeting. Mr Eames, Mrs Berry and Mr Chadwick talked to us about the opportunities that will show up in the term and most of the year. Some of the opportunities that we brainstormed are as follows:

Tuesday 11th November

On Tuesday the 11th of November the Kapa Haka group performed to the war veterans by the war memorial to remember all the soldiers who fought and died in World War One. We remember the soldiers on this day because it was on this day the treaty to end the war was signed. It is called Armistice day. Our Kapa Haka group performed the haka and a prayer song, here they are:

Monday 20th October

Today Mr Chadwick is back! After a week of relievers teaching, Mr Chadwick is back from his trip. First, in the morning Mr Chadwick told us about his trip around Asia. Then we did the roll and then it was time for maths. After morning tea we did acrostic poems about Term 3. Then we went to the ICT lab and printed our acrostic poems off. After lunch we created Rube Goldberg machines. The idea of a Rube Goldberg machine is that you use a certain amount of items to create or make something happen. We had to make a piece of rubbish go into the rubbish bin. After that it was home time.

By Jazz and James

Some of the Rube Goldberg machines in action:

Trial and Error


Trial and Error 2


Success!!!

Tuesday 22 September

Today, in Room 21, after calling the roll we worked on our portfolios until 9:30, then we went for Maths. After morning tea, Ms Berry was taking us for Literacy to help us with our Shaun Tan statements. For a better understanding about our task, we were required to act a short scene based on a single picture from Shaun Tan's book The Arrival. Everyone had a fantastic act to preform after the 10 minutes we were given. Room 21 then re-worked and edited our statements, making them better every way possible. At 12:00 Mr Chadwick took us over to the library to issue some new books before luch at 12:30. Silent reading was after lunch before continuing with our Inquiry project: Innovation. Today we thought up some inquiry questions to investigate, such as "Why do people invent?" and "What would the world be like with no inventing?" And luckily, by the end of the lesson, it was time to go home!

Monday 22 September

For 3 action-packed nights the Muritai School stage was alive presenting our school production, The Lorax. Endless varities of costumes were sewn together and lines were repeated over and over for practice. The Year 7 & 8's played the Oncelers, the Thneed Machine dancers and some were our main characters. The Thneed machine dancers were great, and the drummers drummed away fantastically! Our Oncelers danced awesomely to the Industry dance, but the Grand Finale of Where's Your Head At blew the crowd away! Numerous comments from the parents and teachers said "That was amazing!" or "Incredible work guys!" We were absolutely exhausted by the end of the week, but we knew that the Year 7 & 8's dominated the stage!

Monday 1st September

This morning we paired up with a friend and practised our speeches. After that some of us went to the hall to practise production and some of us stayed over the road and played games and did stacking cups. Then we went to morning tea after that some of the class presented their speeches . Then we went to the I.C.T. lab and published our short stories. We had lunch then came into the class and silent read for 15 minutes. Then the rest of the class presented their speeches. At the end of the day Mr. C read us bootleg.

By Liam

Friday 29th August

Today we did diary writing, it was fun. Then we started cup stacking it was awesome. Then we had morning tea. After that we did literacy and some more cup stacking and then we had lunch. After lunch we silent read then some of us did the garden and after that we played a game. We played build up ball tag. Then we put the chairs away. While we did all that others were practicing the production.

Wednesday 27th August

Today Room 21 split into groups; The groups were kapa haka and the rest went to another class to muck around.

After morning tea we went to technicraft, in technicraft there are five groups sewing, cooking, art, ICT, and woodwork. We then came back to the senior side of school for lunch because it was wet and some of us went to the table tennis tournament in the hall.

After lunch we did some more work on the production and then went home for a fun filled afternoon.

Monday 25th August

Firstly Mr. Chadwick called the roll. After we then had a garden discussion about how we are going to make our path, then we walked over the road to the school hall where we did production practice on our school production ‘The Lorax’. Then it was interval.

After interval we did speech prep for our three week inquiry: ‘The Power Of One’. Soon after we went to the ICT lab. Then it was lunch and our first day with the new P.E. equipment. Straight after lunch we did silent reading and I wrote this. After we did inquiry for the last activity of the day. Finally it was home time.

By Tim McCafferty

Monday 18th August

Today in Room 21...
We started off by doing our class garden project. Next we went to maths, in Room 23s maths class we learnt about adding fractions and we all learnt a lot. Next we went off to a sunny but cold morning tea.

After morning tea we had spelling testing. Next we had literacy which was interesting. We were looking at how to setting the scene for our writing. Next we had ICT and we published our 50 word story peer comments there. Then we had a fun filled lunch.

After that we worked and shared our peer pressure stories. Our story was about friendship groups and being peer pressured into certain ones. Finally we tidied up the class and left for home.

By Austin S

Thursday 14th August

Today our Kapa Haka group welcomed the teachers of Cowley Street school with a powhiri.
Lulu and Olivia who performed the karanga (call) sounded great! They had lots of fun and were very glad they did it. We then sang "He Honore". After that Mr Bird gave a welcoming speech. We supported Mr Birds speech with the Kapa Haka group singing "Kua Rongo Mai Koe" and "Toia Mai" with their awesome voices and actions. Cowley Street school were so impressed with us for the amazing performance! Finally a man from Cowley Street School spoke back to us. The girls in the front row were lucky enough to hongi with the Cowley Street school team!

Tuesday 12th August

Today we had the roll then we went straight on to our narratives. When we had written 50 words we wrote down our spelling words for this week, then we had maths. After morning tea we wrote comments about each others 50 word stories and discussed the writers next steps. We then went to our school library. After lunch we did silent reading and then Inquiry, where we worked on our support kits.

By James

Monday 11th August

Today Room 21 worked on the garden. We shifted rocks and raked weeds and the class discussed what will be happening next. Lulu's dad has kindly donated a boat, which will be a seating area, for the garden.
After morning tea we did Literacy. We wrote another, 50 word story. It had to be about the Olympics. Our aim is to get rid of all the waffle we write in our writing. We then went to the I.C.T Lab. We had to do Seb's survey for his Inquiry. Then we published our best 50 word story. If we had enough time, we could do some of our inquiry. After Lunch we discussed the video we had watched on Friday and then made a play about peer pressure.

By Kirsten

Thursday 7th August

Today room 21 started the day off with naratives. Next the syndicate swapped around for maths, our topics for maths is fractions, decimals and percentages.

After morning tea we had literacy, we are doing short stories and we had to write a fifty word shortv story. Soon after, our class went outside to play dodgeball with some room 22 members.

Right after lunch we had production. All the dancers went into the hall with Ms Berry and Mr Chadwick to work on the industry dance. Then we came back and showed the dance to the entire syndicate.

Tuesday 5th August

We started off the day with the roll. Then we did our inquiry surveys. Some people went to other classes to ask people from different classes. Then we did maths. In room 23's maths class we played loopy. After morning tea in literacy we discussed the success criteria for the conflict and resolution in short stories. After, we went to the Eastbourne library and got out some new books. After lunch we did silent reading then we agreed or dis-agreed with some things about bullying where we arranged ourselves along a continuum. Then we played build up ball tag with room 24. Then we left for home.

Monday 4th August

Today in room 21 we started the day off with accuracy. We each got a sheet, we had to underline the waffle in the sentences. Next we all went to maths, at the moment we're doing fractions, decimals and percentages. After that all the year 8s had a meeting in Room 23 about Abel Tasman.

After the bell rang we went inside, soon after it began to pitter patter with a light drizzle. We did literacy writing it was quite fun because they gave us the start of a story and we had to finish it. Then we checked out some blogs and a few quick games.

After lunch people carried on with their surveys and asking people questions with a variety of different topics such as bullying, drugs and peer pressure. We did the surveys for our help/support kit for the three week inquiry homework. Then we left for home.

Wednesday 11th June

Today in wonderful Room 21, we had the roll call then we did a bit of silent reading before the kapa-haka people left and the science-fair people went to Room 23. The remaining people were split into either Room 24 or Room 22 to do a quiet activity such as drawing. They, and the returned Kapa-Haka / Science fair children then went to morning tea.

After morning tea we all left for our techni-craft in Wainuiamata. The Arts group bus smelled horrible! This was our first session with our new craft classes and we all got introduced to the workshops. In art we did self portraits and quick drawing. Once we got back to Muritai we all enjoyed our lunch on the junior side of school. After lunch we went to our usual syndicate sports with Volleyball, Soccer, Rippa-rugby and Netball.

Lastly we did our class duties and left to go home!

By Austin Sutherland.

Tuesday 10th June

Today room 21 started off the day with talking about the day because today was going to be a mucky day all the maths class were jumbled up because there were not enough teachers. But the main aspect of the day was that a few year eights chose some year sevens and went down to the Eastbourne dunes and planted about 50 odd plants and we all thought it would of taken 2 hours but we managed to complete it in half a hour which blow away the adult helpers who started this thing up it was a great experience for the enviro- schools we learnt how to plant plants for a good cause and learnt about the blue penguins that the planting was for and luckily we got to see two in the rocks a bit earlier then usual and they were beautiful. Then it was interval.

After interval we again talked about our machines that can do homework and spent a little time on our next paragraph the parts. Then after doing that we went to the school library and brought our work if not finished which was most people. Then it was time for lunch time.

We did silent reading for a long time. Then the class had a chose if they could read there book or listen to Mr Chadwick read the current book its called “Bootleg” its about chocolate being band from the world by the “Good for you party”. Then we had a game we started off playing a game that room23 taught us then room22 came out for a game we played “King dodge ball” after awhile of playing that room23 came out and because room21 was winning of course the whole of room23 got sent into room22’s side and in the end room23 and 22 won because they hit the bin! Then it was time to go home and before we did finish of the day with our class duties.

By Harriet Walton

Tuesday 3rd June

Today in the morning we did the spelling test. After that we did our accuracy check, which is where we choose 50 words from our narrative book (which we did on Thursday) and check for any mistakes, grammatical errors or spelling errors. We then fill in the bar graph in the back of our literacy book. The aim of this is to see our progress and help us improve our accuracy. This has helped me because now I know what I’m getting wrong and how to fix it.

We then went to maths and room 23 had to stay in for a while because we were too noisy! The current subject is geometry/measurement

After morning tea we finished off our homework cheating drawings and now we’re nearly ready to write our explanation on it. We then went to the library and the librarian talked to us about constellations.

After Lunch (and we had 10 minutes extra) we looked at the three states of matter and what the changes have to do with energy. Then we did all our duties and went home!! Today was a day full of new and interesting facts and learning.
by Rupert O'Brien

Wednesday 28th May

Today room 21 did Kapa Haka and then we had morning tea. After that we got on the bus and went to technicraft in Wainuiomata. There we had sewing, woodwork, computers, cooking and art.

We went across the road for lunch but it was raining so we stayed on our side of the school and had lunch, we played pirates in the hall. After this we had silent reading for ten minutes and then we did our term 2 cover pages for our portfolio.

- Ben Hollands

Tuesday 27th May

Today in room 21 we did the roll first and soon after we did accuracy. Next we swapped classes for maths where we focused on how to measure the area of a triangle. After that we warmed up for cross-country practice and ran the practise track once. After morning tea we did a handwriting sample and then we walked to the library. Next it was lunchtime. After lunch we did 30mins of silent reading then we did an energy quiz for inquiry. It was finally home time.

- Tim McCafferty

Monday 26th May

Today room 21 had accuracy, we wrote 50 words and then we spell checked them. Then we swapped our books with a partner and they checked our work for any spelling and grammar mistakes. We then swapped it with another partner to make sure that the first partner didn’t leave anything else out. After accuracy we had to split up into our maths groups. In room 21 we did the Quick 24 clock and we made some houses out of paper (using lots of cm2 and stuff.)

After morning tea we had literacy for the whole of the morning, in literacy we had to write out our spelling words and then we drew or read for 20 mins.

After lunch we had inquiry, in inquiry we had to go to room 22 where we shared our sheets on energy.

- Stacey Dalziel

Tuesday 13th May

Today room 21 started the day off with accuracy. We all had to write out the sentences of a full paragraph and we took out the words we didn't need. After that we all separated into our math classes. In maths we did area, volume and perimeter of all the differant shapes, then room 21 maths class did a quick 10.After maths we all did cross country practice, we have started to do two laps, we are making sure that the year 7 and 8's are prepared for the zone so we can win that. Then after morning tea we had inquiry, we got into groups of three and desinged a poster for how energy is made. We all had a topic and we had to find information and pictures on the topic that we had. Next we went to the school library and we worked on the inquirys while also getting books out. Then a while after lunch after silent reading we continued on our inquirys and started to make the final product. We then went over the road to play a game with our buddies from room 8. then we packed up the class and went home.

Monday 12th May

This morning room 21 started the morning off with accuracy, we got into groups of three, each group got a paragraph and we had to sort out where the commas went. After that we split into our maths classes, we had to find the perimeter, area and volume of certain shapes. We also had to find the radius of circuls, which was a little bit harder. Then we had to do our usual thing of 100 questions of basic facts.The the syndicate set out to do our cross country training, this time we all did two laps and on wednesday we will be running the actual cross country track.

Next after morning tea we had literacy, we all continued from our exlpanations last week, we all made it better and shared them to the class. Then we went to the i.c.t lab to finish off our class wikis.

Then after lunch we had silent reading. Then we had inquriy, for this term we are concentrating on take action for energy, so we determined what we could do to save energy and how it's used. Then the class packed up the class and left school for a fun filled afternoon.

By Stacey Dalziel and Kate Robinson

Friday 9th May

Today room 21 started the day with narratives. We each started to write one, on what ever we wanted to. After that we had maths everyone is concentrating on perimeters and areas. We have all been doing sheets on perimeters, we had to then work out the area of shapes. Next the whole syndicate went out for our daily run. We have started to do runs up Rona street practicing for the cross country. Then after morning tea we had our weekly spelling which we did in buddy partners. A while after that we had literacy and we had to write an exlpanantion on a picture we saw, discribing what it was and how it worked. Next after lunch we had silent reading then we went out for a game with Mr Skilton. After that we packed up the class and left school for a fun filled weekend.

Tuesday 6th May

Today room 21 started off the morning with accuracy. We were learning how to put commas in the right place and what to use them for. We got into groups and each had a sheet of paper, we had to edit the paper together and put the commas in the right place and take out the unwanted words. Then we had maths, in maths we are learning perimeters, areas and volume.

After morning tea we started to do literacy, in this term for literacy we are learning how to right an explanation. We looked at two samples of writing and looked at what the good points were and what the bad points were of an explanation, then we had to rate that peice if work from one to five.

Next we had inquiry after lunch. In this term we are learing about take action for energy. We are learning about how it's used, what it's used for, how its made and the qualitys about it. As a class we started to group ideas about where energy was used in the classroom and what it was used for.Then the class grouped ideas about what we had just said and thought what was powered by other things, other than electricity. After that we looked round the school for items that used power and how often they were used. We had to go round and take pictures of the things. After, we packed up the class, did our duties and went home.

Tuesday 8th April

Today we shared some of our diversity inquires and they were really good. Then we did our self assessments and then started sharing again. That took ages, but it was entertaining and then we all had maths I had to learn about exponents and square roots and I did, and after we did some fast facts and then had morning tea.

After morning tea we went and saw our buddies and we had a maori lesson with our buddies and then went to lunch.

After lunch we went out for a game with room22 and room23 it was a really great game. Then we did our duties, handed out the care certificates and went home.

Monday 7th April

Today many of room 21's students were out of the class, along with other Muritai year 7 and 8 students at the Zone Swimming Sports held at Naenae Pools. The standard of swimmers this year was very high and we are all waiting for confirmation of the final results of how we swam. It was a fantastic day as it was great to see so many students achieving, even if they had to be pushed a little. All students who participated should be proud of their efforts. ~ Mr Chadwick

Monday 9th March


Today we started of with some accuracy, we learnt about past, present and future tenses. As a class we had to decide whether the words displayed were past, present and future tense. We then had to copy out a paragraph about the rugby, which we had to change to past tense. I think it has helped a lot of us realize were we’re making our mistakes and how to fix them, it has helped me a lot because I often make the same mistake.

We then had maths. I am in Mr. Chadwick’s math’s class were we are learning about the perimeters, areas, radiuses and diameters of a circle. Today we had a particularly hard sheet, but in the end I think all of us understood it. I used to not understand measuring a circle but after today I learnt lots about it.

After morning tea we had literacy were we did another sheet on accuracy were we had to circle the present tenses and fill in the gaps by changing the words from present to past. We then had to think about the start of our latest explanation about a machine that does our homework for us. We then got into groups to do a many inquiry on energy. We went to the lab to research our topic. The point of this activity is to give us an awareness on our three week inquiry think this was a very good idea because almost everyone is having trouble with their inquiry.

After lunch we had to do silent reading. After that we had to discuss our inquiry and how to gain levels. It has helped lots of people get a better understanding of what they have to do and how to do it.

We then went out for a game of dodge ball with room 22 and 23we played year 8s vs. year 7s. this taught us many things including sportsmanship and ball skills.

Finally we did our duties and went home.

Tuesday 1st April

Today after the roll we did a writing sample about what we did before school from the moment we woke up to when we started writing. The catch was we only had five minutes. Then after maths and morning tea we got into groups of three and started writing a report about our Swimming Sports. After that we went to the Eastbourne library. After lunch We finished watching Bend it like Beckham. Fantastic day!
Rupert

Monday 31st March

Today we finished off some work in the morning. Then after maths and morning tea we finished off our crime scene reports, then we went to the lab to continue work on our Wikis. after lunch we watched Bend it like Beckham because it relates to our current topic 'diversity'. Today was fantastic and the movie was great.

Thursday 27th March

Today before maths we worked some more on the class garden. Then after morning tea we found out more about our crime scene report. After lunch we looked at our inquiry and when we had to hand it in. Today was a great day and the garden is looking better already despite the "enthusiasim" yesterday

Wednesday 26 March

After a fantastic easter weekend the years 5 to 8 went to swimming sports and had a great time. We all tried our best, Room 21 won the class relay, graciously beating the other year 7 and 8 classes. After the swimming sports our class started to design and clear out the space that we will be using for our classroom garden project. We wanted to create a space behind the school where we can have quiet spaces where we can go to reflect.