Advertising and 'cool'

We used this song by Macklemore, called 'Wings' in reading last week. Firstly we listened to the music and lyrics, recording impressions and key words or phrases that we could hear. We then studied the lyrics themselves, seeing if we could identify the authors purpose, the theme or message. This tied in really well with the discussions we've had this past week regarding the influence the media has on us as consumers and our ideas on what makes you 'cool'.

The Anatomy of Cool

As an extension of our inquiry focus this term 'Healthy Bodies, Strong Minds', we explored the role that the media plays in determining how we see ourselves and others. We discussed stereotypes, the concept of 'coolness' and the messages we receive via the media that influence our understanding of appearance, personality and gender roles.

Above are our composite 'ideal' man and woman as they are predominately portrayed in the media! There were quite a few giggles during this task, but it did generate some lively discussion around body image and self esteem, as well as internal and external 'coolness'.

We also wrote a report describing  'Earthlings' as they appeared in magazines. There was much discussion around how realistic magazines are and how such a small section of global society is portrayed.Here is Eva's insightful report - Thanks for sharing Eva! 

Hello Fellow People

As I was wondering around the East side of our planet today, Discovering why the East side is forbidden, I stumbled across a large white tube looking thing, that is known as a space ship. Of Course with me being adventurous and determined to find out what on earth is going on. I climb aboard the tube and discover what these strange looking earthlings stay in. They have houses in these tubes so I went in and had a look at one of them. Sitting on a table was a whole stack of these magazine/ book looking things. I pick one up and start flicking through.

The earthlings planet is beautiful and so are the people, not one single person there is ugly they are all perfect from what I saw in the magazine. They all have beautiful smiles and are never not smiling, Their hair is never messy and they are all so nicely groomed. Their planet looks so magical, Not in one picture is it raining, the sun is out so they are all lounging around and sunbathing on the beach in bikinis and board shorts.

The scenery is amazing, they have these wonderful things called trees and they stick up tall out of the ground. They are all pale and tan, they aren't multi coloured like us. The feminine ones pack there face up with these chemicals that make them look outstanding. The masculine ones  all have muscly stomachs and forearms. They wear clothes that are colorful and really well fitted, they would never wear rags. Their homes are so big and stylish, every single house has a pool, a TV and a kitchen, they even have their own houses they don't have to share. They never stink because there is so many deodorants and chemical things you can put on your body to smell nice.

Humans all have so much money so everyone will be able to afford anything they want. In their houses they have these things called showers that shower water all over your body to clean yourself, no one has to wash up in the one river like we all have to. They even have these products to make there hair look stunning, Shampoo, conditioner, hair brushes, combs, hair spray, mousse, hair ties and even these cool little hair clips called bobby pins. They all have their very own hairdresser that does their hair every day. Life on Earth looks amazing, maybe we should ask to visit some time?

Love Rigfu

Mean, median and mode

We are spending the remainder of the term exploring statistics..this video might help as we learn to use Mean, Median, Mode and Range to make sense of data. It's very catchy!!

Real life challenges: Probability

LI: To apply our understanding of scales, charts and timetables to find possible outcomes/combinations.

We have been approached by the Havelock North Rugby Club to organise a round robin tournament for the six 7th grade teams that they have competing.

The six teams are called:

Anacondas

Bears

Cats

Dingos

Eagles

Falcons

The instructions we have been given are that;

• Each team plays each other team only once.
• There are two fields available for the games. North and South Fields.
• There is to be a half hour break for lunch to rest the referees.
• Each game is played for 30 minutes, with a 10 minute break between games.
• No team will play more than two consecutive games.
• Kick off is 9am.

Check out our individual blog posts- students used either tables, list diagrams or network diagrams to determine that there needed to be 15 games in total, before applying themselves to creating a timetable. We have a whole new appreciation for the people who organise round robins for our own sports events!

Mathletics at HNI

We all competed in a Year 8 Mathletics competition this morning- Lots of fantastic maths talk and collaboration and problem solving.

The 'reading outside the box' challenge is still going strong!

Curtis has just posted this review on his blog to build up his tally of texts read for his 'reading outside the box' challenge. This has been quietly buzzing along in the background of our in class reading program...I have a sneaking suspicion that there will be an announcement of a first challenge completer in the very near future. 

Check out individual student blogs for reviews, there are quite a few interesting and varied new books being recommended!

Book Review 

Maui And The Sun. Retold and Illustrated by Gavin Bishop

“Maui and the sun” is a children's book (originally written in Maori) about why the sun moves slowly, In this book it states that apparently the sun moved too fast and someone brave enough should try and slow it down.

I think that this book is a great read and has magnificent illustrations. It is a book for any age and a great bedtime story if you're like four or something, but do read.
(If you like the pictures as much as Curtis did, Gavin Bishop is a well known New Zealand author and illustrator- He wrote the book "The House that Jack Built" which Room 15 read and discussed as part of our 'Treaty of Waitangi' inquiry focus.)