"Over the fence" competition success

During term one many students in Room 15 entered a competition called the Top Outdoor Spot competition, The competition encouraged students to send in photos, drawings and descriptions of their favourite outdoor places...and guess what...we had some winners!! Check out the above: Lauren came third in the "best photo" category, while Laura came first in the 'best description' category. They are currently waiting in anticipation to receive their prizes!

Dulce et Decorum Est: Guided writing

What amazing pieces of writing produced in Room 15 today! 
We had a go at a guided writing exercise. 
Using the poem by Wilfred Owen, "Dulce et Decorum Est", we created our own original pieces of writing on the theme of World War One.
We are so proud of what we were able to produce. I've borrowed Lucy's effort to share on the class page..and to entice you to click the links to individual blogs.

A Soldiers Tale

My chest heaved as my legs trudged through the knee deep sludge, arms hanging off my mates shoulders as we walk.

For many months we walk, famished, completely drained of energy.

The flares of fiery shells burst behind us, heating our backs as we go further and further from the death disaster behind us. Safety, safety, chanting in our heads.

Sores on our feet, limping without boots.

A few crawl, too tired to stand, occasionally drooping to the ground, faces deep in mud, never resurfacing.

I walk with a heavy heart, not hearing or seeing anything, blocking memories and thoughts out, only focusing ahead, on the sinking sun along the horizon. An occasional thunk hits the ground behind us, no one cares.

A mustard colour flashes in front of my eyes, my mind only takes a second to register it. ‘GAS!’ I hoarsely try to whisper.

Mustering all the energy we have, we fumble our numb fingers around in our backpacks, searching for that all important mask. Most find them in time, taking deep breaths of the stale oxygen, relief flooding many faces.  

One man is not as lucky, stumbling around, clutching his throat, everyone watching in horror..

The gas encases us, burning our skin like acid. Reaching my hand out in front me, I only see the shadow of my hand waving slowly through the air. My comrades stumble, reaching out for a friend to hold as the thick green stench swirls around us.

I will never forget watching figure reaches out to me, his hand clasping my bare foot, his eyes pleading me to do something. He coughs, terrible hacking coughs that turn into to a fit as he still clings to me, I felt helpless, only watching him as the gas gets into his lungs, enveloping him.

You could never imagine what this felt like, grabbing his feet, dragging him atop a wagon, making some form of a sick stage, knowing as you watch that there is no cure other than death.

His eyes were popping out of his sockets now, mouth open, heaving with agony.

The figure still scrambles for air, the noise unimaginably disgusting as he hurls, his bile slowly turning a different colour, red. His body bumping up and down in the wagon as 2 men drag him over the hill.

Blood gushes out of his mouth filling up his lungs, no longer coughing, just lying there limply, letting the inevitable happen, waiting for his vile death to come.

If you had experienced what I felt, If you smelt, Heard, watched, what happened out there, you too would slowly shivel inside when people talk of war. It was never glorious to die for your country, it was agonising.

There is a saying: Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori, and it translates roughly to "It is sweet and right to die for your country". It will never be sweet, therefore never right, just heroic and heart breaking.

ANZAC sculpture art

 

After completing a 'thing link' through which students shared their concepts of war, students were each given a matchbox (empty!). The instruction was to create a miniature sculpture which reflected a specific understanding of war from their research or prior knowledge, using both the interior and exterior of the matchbox. What resulted was a very interesting and clever array of different sculptures...which created a fair amount of additional discussion! Above are just a few images of the sculptures created in Room 15...each student should have their own shared on individual blogs-check them out!

ANZAC commemorations @ the Village Domain

This afternoon we all walked down to the Village Domain to be a part of a Havelock North School ANZAC day commemoration. It was a very special event to have been a part of. Each school from the Havelock North area presented a piece  related to the events of WW1 , 100 years on, that we had gathered to remember as a community.
HNI, in particular, Room 15 were very proud of Niamh and Eva, who represented us all with a poem reading. Niamh, Eva and Timothy were among a group from HNI who were then given the honour of laying the wreath at the Village cenotaph.

ANZAC Thinglink

We have begun inquiry in Term 2 by building on our understanding of ANZAC day. After exploring what knowledge we already had, we undertook some research to increase our understanding. In groups of three we put together a 'thinglink' as a way of presenting information that we felt was important. The 'Thinglink's' have been posted on individual blogs...check them out as instructions have been interpreted in a variety of ways. Below is the Thinglink created by Oscar.M, Geordie and Noah. Thanks for allowing me to share yours on the class blog boys- a wonderful effort! (Hover your cursor over the image to prompt the link cues)

Turangawaewae Timelines

To complete our Inquiry focus this term, students in Room 15 formed groups and created their own timelines of significant events since the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, that they believe have had a hand in shaping New Zealand into what it is today. Each event selected had to be justified through an oral presentation to the class. It was very interesting comparing each groups ideas and understandings, in addition to discovering those events that were common across the groups. Students used their own judgement to decide which presentation tool was the best to share their information, there was a great selection. Thanks Maddie and group for sharing your wonderful effort on the class blog - check out more awesome creations on individual blogs.

Geometry: position and location

We've been learning to communicate and interpret locations and directions in maths this week. We applied our grid reference skills to a quick game of battleships today...maths can be fun!

Salute the Army

Today we had an opportunity to 'hang' with the army. It was really hard to wait until after lunch, especially once we had seen the very authentic army camp setup on the school field. We rotated in two groups looking at and having explained different aspects of Army life- vehicles, fitness training, arms, and routines. It also provided an opportunity for some great action photos!

Orienteering in Keirunga Gardens

Over the past three weeks Room 15 has had two opportunities (ducking the weather and fitting in camp!) to take part in, and experience some orienteering. This has taken place both at school and at the Keirunga Gardens.  Our sessions have been organised and run by Jane Herries of KiwiOrienteering. Thanks very much Jane! It has been a great chance for many in Room 15 to experience what is for them, a new sport. Thankfully we didn't loose any and returned back to school all in good time! Phew!

Winning pumpkins!

Check out these pumpkins! Congratulations Maddie and Niamh, who have nurtured pumpkin seeds over months and months to eventually take out the first prize.

Weka Point Camp: Awesome fun!

We returned from camp on Friday- exhausted but having had a great time! The weather was beautiful (mornings were chilly though), food eatable (even on student cook night) and parent helpers were awesome. The students from Room 15 are busy writing exciting recounts about their favourite part of camp  so keep an eye out for blog posts. Thanks Lucy for sharing your photo slide. Check out blogs as everyone has made their own...out of 100's of photos!

Geometry: Position and orientation

We have begun a new maths unit in class this week: Today we focused on identifying angles and measuring them. Check out this youtube clip...a catchy tune may help the memory! (Thanks Clay for the suggestion!)

Pepeha and Whakapapa

In Room 15 over the past couple of weeks, we have been building on our knowledge of 'Turangawaewae- a place to stand'. Creating our own Pepeha and Whakapapa has been a part of this process.Check out Amy's awesome effort, and others on individual blogs! As we become more confident with our pronunciation we will be adding a vocaroo (a recording of our reciting).We have written our Pepeha in a form that we would expect to say it, or hear it being said, on a Marae.
Check out my Maori  pepeha and whakapapa.

The Bug Man promotes Treemendous

Ruud Kleinpaste (aka the bug man), together with Caroline Wallace from Project Crimson spoke to us at assembly today. 

We now have a real appreciation for bugs! I don't think any of us will look at bugs in quite the same way again.

Our visitors were promoting our school Tremendous project, drawing our attention to the amazing opportunity this is for HNI. There may just be future possibilities to analysis the bugs in our own garden wilderness.

Announcing Room 15 leaders

Congratulations to Ella and Flynn who have been awarded the TK House captain roles for 2015.

Mark and Amber have been given the role of 2015 sports captains for Room 15. Well done to all four of you as all positions were very hotly contested!

Room 15-out in the community

Room 15 headed off this morning on a trip to the Havelock North library.

We now feel super confident about visiting the library and finding the resources we need- thanks to the library staff who shared their tips. Many students took advantage of the great book selection to set up their next step in the 'outside the box' challenge.

What is means to be a New Zealander

As part of our inquiry this term-'Turangawaewae, a place to stand' students created a visual presentation after discussing the characteristics of a New Zealander. 

We read newspaper and magazine articles and watched a TV news article before conducting our own investigation. 

Thanks Niamh for sharing your wonderful effort. Check out more fantastic creations by clicking on the blog links.

Technology has started!

Technology rotations have begun, with half of Room 15 in science and the other in Electronics. In Science, rockets are the name of the game...Josh's covered a mighty 31 meters! Thanks Mrs Hawtin for the blog entry.

Room 15 and Te Kanawa house at the Swimming sports

HNI swimming sports- GO TK! on PhotoPeach

Turangawaewae: where to next?

Created with Padlet

Today we decided to explore what else there was about our Turangawaewae we still were curious about. As you can see...we have a lot of questions! Keep you eyes on our blogs to see how we go about answering them.

Micrographic Art

Check out our amazing self portraits- they are beginning to appear on the wall of Room 15, and will make it to blogs as they are completed. The stunning examples below are from Oscar and Willow.

Where I am from poetry

As part of our 'get to know one another' week, we have composed original poems entitled 'I am from..'. We used the poem of the same title written by George Ella Lyons as a model. As we finish, poems are being posted onto individual blogs- check them out, they are amazing!

Amber has kindly allowed me to share her efforts on the class blog.

I am from:

I am from the sun shining through the window,

I am from looking out the window to Te Mata Peak,

I am from the smell of BBQs and the sizzling sausages,

I am from the world of pictures and selfies,

I am from Site 44,

I am from long family car trips to the beach,

I am from the boiling hot sand in between my toes,

I am from my continues giggles,

I am from my blankie and Baby Alive,

I am from our nicknames Squirt and Minnie Mouse,

I am from my trampoline and twisting, turning and flipping in the air,

I am from making video stars and seeing the world upside down in a handstand ,

I am from capturing every moment,

I am from ….

And the challenge is set!

READING OUTSIDE THE BOX CHALLENGE

READ A CHUNKSTER (must be at least 450 pages)	LOVED BY OTHERS	RELIVE THE MAGIC (reread a book you loved)	ONE OF A SERIES
READ BY EAR (listen to an audio book)	TRY A CLASSIC	READ A LOCAL (read a book written by a New Zealander)	POETRY
SCIENCE FICTION	AWARD WINNERS	SECOND CHANCE	MYSTERY
PICTURE BOOK	LOST IN TRANSLATION ( a book originally written in another language)	ACCIDENTALLY WATCHED THE MOVIE FIRST	BIOGRAPHY OR NON FICTION

The goal of this challenge is to broaden reading habits by exploring a range of genres, including types of literature that students may not normally choose to read. The challenge comes in two parts...students can opt into the '8 box challenge' or the penultimate '16 box challenge'.

As each box of the challenge is completed students are tasked with completing a review to place on their individual blogs. Keep an eye on blogs for ideas on what you may want to read next!

Welcome to Room 15, 2015

The start of school nerves are over...classes are announced! 

Introducing the fabulous  Room 15!

Literacy websites

Maths Websites

Here is a handy link to some of the maths sites we use in class. A great resource to use if practice or clarification is what you are after.

Beach Education Day

Room 15 headed out to Westshore Beach on Monday. After a morning of surf education and beach safety we headed for the sea. Luckily the sun came out and everyone was keen for a splash...maybe parents and teachers were not so keen!

Line, angle, line...triangles

In maths for the past couple of weeks, we have been covering Geometry. We spent some time at the end of our unit learning to construct triangles using a compass, ruler and protractor. We were good enough at it that explaining and demonstrating was a natural next step...check out this film made by Finn and Tyrin, or otherwise check out individual blogs.

Ki-O- Rahi, Our new favourite PE game!

Check out our first attempt at Ki-o-Rahi. We had so much fun learning a totally new game...Thanks so much to Taurean and Marcus (Room 9) for sharing their skill!
Ki o Rahi is a traditional Maori ball game which is fast moving and played on a circular field, involving swift passing and manovering of a 'ki' (ball). We have all increased our te reo vocabulary and have been exposed to maori concepts of mauri - the interconnections between everything.
Looking forward to having another go tomorrow...I am having to sharpen up my refereeing and scoring skills too!

Understanding Sustainability

Our inquiry topic this term is SUSTAINABILITY. In groups the class created a presentation to demonstrate their understanding of the sustainability concept. Check out Taurean's fantastic efforts and others on individual blogs. Thanks Taurean for sharing!

We have a winner!

Jasmine has completed the 'reading outside the box' challenge!!! A fantastic accomplishment. Check out Jasmine's blog to read up on reviews of the books she has read. Who will be next?

Smarties Party....maths can be fun!

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Investigating probability was fun today. After creating a table to show the fraction and percentage of each colour in a packet of smarties. We determined the probability of finding certain colours...it was pretty tricky determining the probability of selecting the same colour, if given the opportunity to blind select twice...but we did it. Ratios are also more fun when you get to eat the materials!

How to multiply: Maths fun

Just had to post this interesting method of working out multiplication equations...we had fun in maths today exploring this approach. Very clever!

Change inquirymakers- Beach clean up

The beach clean-up crew had their 'action day' on Friday. Equipped with plastic bags, gloves and gumboots we were all set to leave our mark on Clifton Beach.
Kahori from the Cape Kidnappers Sanctuary met us at the start point to explain to us the connections between the our beach action and the sanctuary up on the cliffs- it help reinforce the purpose and relevance of our 'action'.
The next step for this group is to analyse the rubbish we collected and inform others.
A great day out of the classroom!

Spring fair and Candy Floss!

All keen and ready to go on the 'CANDY FLOSS' stand at the Spring fair!
We went through cloudy, rainy, windy and, sunny weather..but barely noticed- that busy were we!
Thanks to all the helpers and wig wearers...a truly hectic day.

Social dancing in full swing!

Our PE focus has switched from cross country to social dancing for the remainder of the term. We are getting right into the swing of things...with some fancy moves! 

Change makers...endless possibilities!

Room 15 is full steam ahead on our 'Changemakers' inquiry. 

Vicky Butterworth from BikeNZ met with the bike safety action group to discuss possible actions they could take in the community on Wednesday. 

The 'liven up your life' mural group have been busy securing support from the local business community to create a fantastic mural for the community dental clinic.

The 'Mercy ship' group are making awesome progress with their fundraising plans, while the 'Environment group' has made contact with a number of conservationists and are busy formulating their  action plan.

We have been most impressed by the enthusiasm and support shown to us by the businesses and individuals we have approached. It is very affirming and empowering for us all. Keep posted for more updates on our progress!

ABC: Electives style

The students involved in the Sign language elective created this video today to illustrate their learning of the NZ sign language alphabet! Check it out and join us by becoming sign language suave.

Youth expo

Room 15, along with all Year 8's at HNI, travelled to Napier to attend the youth expo on Wednesday. We learnt about the effects of drugs and alcohol on people and the possible consequences of the choices we make. Comedian Mike King and Musician Tipene kept us all entertained and engaged in the presentations...while students from HNHS did a wonderful job of opening the expo with a real life scenario skit. We are left with much to consider and discuss in class and hopefully will remember some of the lessons we learnt when faced with making our own choices!

How to change the world.

Found this video...while it fizzes out at the end, it does give us something to think about! Our 'Change makers' inquiry topic is moving forward- check out our word clouds as we prepare to demonstrate some Change maker qualities of our own!

He aha te wā?/ E hia ō pakeke?

For Te reo Māori in Room 15, we have been exploring numbers so far this term. We have begun to apply this knowledge to telling the time and responding to questions about age.
Each student has created a presentation that shares this learning- Below is Carys's fabulous effort! Check out others on individual blogs! 

1.Time

He aha te wā?
(What is the time?)

Tekau meneti ki te rua karaka te wā.
(Ten minutes to two o'clock.)

Record and upload voice >> 
2.Age
E hia ō pakeke?
(How old are you?)

E rua tekau ma rima ōku pakeke.
(I am twenty five years old.)

Online recording software >>

Applying algebraic formulae to real life

In maths at the moment we are working on algebra, we applied the use of algebra into a daily life situation. We used the scenario of running a cafe to produce these spreadsheets. Big thanks to the two students from Room 13 who shared their knowledge with us. We will be extending this tomorrow with a mini project. 

Here is Charlotte's... 

Name...	Soup...	Meal...	Dessert...	Drink...	Total...
Bob	4	6	4	3	$77.00
Greg	2	4	6	7	$77.00
Bella	12	30	16	7	$313.00
Caitlin	7	20	13	6	$218.00
Chloe	30	50	20	10	$530.00
Ally	3	7	3	2	$72.00
Jack	34	23	5	3	$303.00
Finn	12	27	9	9	$273.00
Emma	19	33	11	11	$351.00
Teddy	9	11	12	13	$189.00
Adam	5	8	18	7.5	$162.50
Willow	17	37	17	2.5	$365.50
Mia	16	34	26	3.333	$382.00
Sophie	1	2	7	5	$59.00
Total	171	292	167	89.333	$3,372.00

Algebra equations

Following on from our Algebra lessons of last week we are exploring algebraic expressions. Found this youtube clip as a backup reminder...remember methodical steps, one at a time!

Class novel for term 3

The 10pm question by Kate De Goldi.

This novel is gearing up to be a good one! Written by a New Zealand author, we are introduced to Frankie Parsons, a talented year 8 boy with a quirky family, a best friend Gigs, and a voice of anxiety constantly nibbling in his head. When a bold, inquisitive new girl arrives at school, Frankie's carefully guarded world begins to unravel, leading him to a painful confrontation with the ultimate 10pm question.

We are finding it easy to relate to the characters...especially when the opening chapters have included references to completing a science fair investigation! Keep an eye out for student reviews later on in the term!

An overview of Room 15's Science investigation entries

Tyrin put together this awesome presentation using Thinglink- hover your cursor over the picture and then click on the links that appear. Well done Room 15 and congratulations to the six students representing the school at the Hawkes Bay competition!