Matariki creations and explanations

We have been investigating what Matariki means to New Zealand Maori...and us. Discovering 10 facts and writing our opinion as to whether Queens Birthday celebrations should be replaced with a Maori New Year (Matariki) celebration. Check out individual blogs! Well done Maddie and Madison for your creative spin on Matariki.

Ki o Rahi fever has caught on in Room 15!

Buzz Bees- planting for Treemendous

With a photo to prove it! We braved the mud and chill this morning to plant a tree for the school Treemendous project. There were a number of distractions, worm hunting and analysis being a major draw card, along with digging experts within Room 15 coming to the fore as they commented on the techniques of classmates. A very entertaining break to our normal classroom program.

Art for Treemendous

It's finished...our art installation for the school Treemendous is complete.

Well done Milou, Noah, Niamh and Kayla- It looks fabulous! 

Innovation in industry

We visited Arataki Honey Ltd today as part of our inquiry into innovation, invention and creativity today. We learnt a great deal about the changes to the honey industry since the time of the Egyptians, when the commercial production of honey was first recorded. There have been a number of changes to the way honey is collected and processed to met the needs of commercial demand. From the hives themselves, to the equipment used to collect honey and care for bees and to the processing of honey for us..consumers. I think we now have an appreciation for the need for continuous innovation and creativity in industry to meet demands and needs. We also had time to explore and learn about the key component of honey production...Honey bees!! We headed back to school with a container of honey....all we could think about after all this honey talk!

Treemendous makeover persuasive writing

We had a go at creating persuasive pieces of writing to convince others to help out at the huge school TREEMENDOUS makeover. Very convincing I think! Thanks Amber and Laura for sharing your efforts!

Dear Family

Do you want to feel that fulfilling sense of achievement? Do you want to help you child’s education and others in the future? Then we need you! Over the next 5 weekends you must help our Treemendous makeover come alive in a once in a lifetime opportunity. The process has been started but needs your help! Whether it’s for an hour in between those winter sports or the whole day, no matter how busy you are you can help!

Over Saturday and Sunday each weekend we will be planning, constructing and planting. But on Queens birthday you can have a relaxing break. Your hunger needs will be satisfied with morning/afternoon tea provided. This is a great experience for you to be part of in the community. Every time you walk past the treemendous site you can feel that you played a part in the spectacular transformation. Nobody minds how many weekends you come, you can even come to all of them! Planting Day will on the 6th of June and will be the conclusion of the Treemendous site.

We are looking forward to seeing you down at the “ditch” but soon no more. Thanks for your time. Just think about achieving the great accomplishment and feat. See you in the days of Treemendous construction.

Sincerely,

Laura and Amber

Innovations: Making a difference

In Room 15 we have been exploring the concept that innovation is an idea turned into a working solution that meets a real need. We identified a product currently in existence and went about either improving it, or in some cases, creating a completely new gadget. We needed to identify a target user group and meet a need. Wow- some interesting and creative ideas resulted! Check out Oscar, Zethan and Curtis's effort- Awesome effort!

Hockey skills

This week it was Amber and Amy turn to share their hockey skills in P.E. They did a fantastic job of showing their leadership skills as well. Well done girls: here are a few photos of our P.E lessons this week.

PE: Students take the lead

This term in Room 15, we are developing our large ball skills. This week Clay, Josh, Mark, Oscar.S and Flynn have been sharing their rugby skills- running a class skills session on Monday, followed by a Rippa Rugby game. See our developing passing and kicking skills in action!

Lunchtime sport champions!

Room 15 was awarded the sports shield for top Year 8 team in the non-stop cricket rotation...GO ROOM 15!!

"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!