The Blog Challenge

As August draws to an end we'd like to thank all the visitors we've had in August. We are very pleased with our visitor tally. We hope y'all keep visiting and seeing what we're up to here in Room Sixteen.
Watch this space to see who won the Blog Challenge for August.
By the way... WELCOME SPRING!

Daffodil Day

St Albans School was an even brighter spot on the Christchurch map on Friday.
We raised over $700 to offer Hope to those whose lives are effected by cancer.

Part Two As Promised

Here at last is the second installment of the calendar art. Enjoy...

... and don't forget to order a calendar, cards and a diary featuring the fabulous art work of your nearest and dearest!

Reading and all that Jazz

We had new National Library books in the library corner today. That always makes us all happy.


These children taught us a game they had learned about in their reading book called "Hit the Kangaroo". It is a traditional Aboriginal game which provided spear throwing practice for children. We made a kangaroo out of a cardboard box and some spears from newspaper.
We have some keen warriors in Room 16, pity help any stray kangaroos they come across. Here are some action shots of the hunt.

Calendars, Cards and Diaries

You should have received an order form for the PTA Calendar fundraiser. The original art works are in a clearfile in the office so you can have a close up look at the work. We copied the style of art from Lauren Child. In the meantime we hope you enjoy the movie we've made using them. The children wrote and performed their own voiceovers.


Part two available now. Go to post of Friday 27th August.

Geometry

Today we looked at patterns and decided whether they were examples of translation, reflection, rotation or none of these. Next we created our own examples of these operations.

The Commonwealth

We are going to be learning about the Commonwealth.
This is what we think we know now:
An Englishman found New Zealand and that is why we have a Queen.
Every four years we have the Commonwealth games.
Queen Elizabeth the Second(QEII) is the Queen of the Commonwealth.
Commonwealth countries joined together in the War and they fought together against other countries and won.
The USA isn’t in the Commonwealth.
Western Samoa is in the Commonwealth.
France is in the Commonwealth.
Australia is in the Commonwealth.
England is in the Commonwealth.
The Commonwealth Games this year are in India so they must be in the Commonwealth.

What we want to find out:

What countries are in the Commonwealth? Is Fiji, or Japan?
Why aren’t the USA in the Commonwealth? Were they ever in it? Will they ever be in it?
Will we always be in the Commonwealth?
What are the Commonwealth Games?
What is the Commonwealth?Why does it exist?
Does the Commonwealth ever end?
Why are we in the commonwealth?
How does the Queen lead us? She’s never here. What does she do for us?
How did the Queen get the job?
What is going to happen when the Queen dies?

Click here to find the list of Commonwealth Countires

Salut d'amour, Op.12

Room Sixteen Cello Artistes perform Salut d'amour, Op.12 (composed by Edward Elgar in 1888) with help from Julian Lloyd Webber, James Judd and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

The Final Countdown

This is cello playing the likes of which I'd never seen before.

Click here for a good laugh.
(I particularly like the looks on the faces of the women playing the cello behind the young blokes!)

Folk Dancing - with a twist or two.

What an energetic way to finish up a week!
Nice moves Room 16!

Musical Instruments

Today we spent time listening to , playing and drawing a cello.
Keep checking this blog for the movie of the budding Room 16 cellists.
You can find out about other musical instruments at this website

What's Correct Term for the Mirror Line?

Isn't this a fascinating photo? I hope this jogs your memory to find out what the proper term for the mirror line is.

Thinking about Thinking

We have talked about what thinking is today. It's the talking you do inside your head.
Do you know a good thinker?
What does that person do that makes him or her a good thinker?
For example I know a good thinker who looks for examples that prove what she thinks is true BUT she also notices things that don't fit with her ideas.
Mrs Glasson thinks that a good thinker takes her time before making any decisions.

I'm looking forward to reading your idea about what good do - bring it to school tomorrow (or post it as a comment)

Arohanui Ms Ashby

Good Guessing - That's What Estimation's All About

Hooray for our estimating, now we have a jar of 730 jellybeans to enjoy.

This how we made our Good Guess

1. We looked at the bottom of the glass jar and counted the number of jellybeans on the bottom layer.
2. We measured (using a bendy ruler) the height of the jar.
3. We measured the amount of space the bottom layer took up.
4. We worked out how many layers there were in the jar by dividing the height by the height of one layer.
5. We multiplied the number of jellybeans in the bottom layer by the number of layers we estimated there were.

We were only 14 out!

Olivia

I love Olivia the pig. She "speaks" to me.
Imagine how pleased I was to find this website.

Haere Ra Sunhui

Room Sixteen have had a South Korean teacher for the last two weeks. Today is Sunhui's last day in Room Sixteen. The children in the class are making her a Goodbye card.
On the card the children are drawing something to do with South Korea and most are drawing a picture of themselves.
All the kids are sad that Sunhui is going back to South Korea, and most want to go with her.

by Sam

Triangle Song

Here is a YouTube movie of James Blunt singing about a triangle on Sesame Street.
Click here.

Maths Week

This week is Maths Week.
We are learning about Geometry. I've discovered this website that answers all those tricky questions about parallelograms, quadrilaterals and the like.

Online in Room 16

If only you could have witnessed the buzz of excitement in Room Sixteen this afternoon as we used the laptop pod to crop and edit the silhouette photos taken last week.
The children worked in threes to download and edit their pictures then upload them onto the intranet again. When there was no "expert" support available to them they worked cooperatively on learning tools and games to keep themselves occupied.
I'd be lying if I said everything went to plan - but hey - whenever has it in teaching? You know what they say about never work with animals or children (and they came up with that expression before computers were invented!).
Once again the St Albans Values shone through with Fun, Creativity and Manaakitanga taking the lead.

Special Visitors

Room Sixteen have been welcoming and celebrating the arrival of three korean student teachers to St Albans School.
Children and teachers from Rooms Three, Sixteen, Eleven and Twenty four gathered in Room Eleven to have a powhiri for the visitors.
Whaea Livi and two kotiro from Room 11 called to the visitors. All the children joined in with the Haka Powhiri as the visitors entered the room. Next e Pa spoke and then we all stood and sang the new school waiata, Anei Ra te Kura. It was the first time the new waiata has been used in a powhiri ever! The children and teachers felt proud but a bit nervous about sharing the new song. After e Pa finished off his speech, Mike Davy spoke for the visitors. Everyone was most impressed next when the korean students sang Pokarekare Ana in Korean. Everyone gave them a big pakipaki when they finished. Finally Mike finished off his speech and the two groups of people had a hongi.
Mrs Warren spoke to everyone and explained which classes the students would be going to. Sunhui went back to Room Sixteen where all the children introduced themselves and told her something about their lives.
Click here to see a movie of the powhiri.(Thanks to Team 23 Blog)

A Great Poetry Blog

We noticed that most of the children who won their section of the poetry competition were reciting Kenn Nesbitt poems. They made us laugh. Today I found his website. It's full of funny poems and hints about writing your own funny poems.
Click here to have a look.