Independent Thinkers and Learners...a home challenge

Let's start tuning in to dates in history at the time Ouruhia School opened. And how are you going with your personal goals? Are you improving? How do you know?

This week there are two things to do: 

1.  Record how fit and strong you are (same as earlier this year). This will be baseline data to see if you improve in your fitness by the end of the term. To do this, there are two parts...

• See how far and how fast you can run non-stop (up to 3km).  Can you run for 5 minutes? 8 minutes? 12 minutes? More? How far do you go in that time? (Our running track at school is about 180m, or 3 laps of the school are about 1km.)
• How many of the fitness circuit activities can you do? Keep a log each day, including how many times you repeat, and how long it takes you. e.g.
• 20 step - ups (each side)
• Planks (prone hold) front, side, front, side ...20 seconds each
•  10 squats (3 seconds down, 3 seconds up)
• 10 push ups
• 10 knee-touches with elbow (like a sit-up)
• 20 calf-raises
• 20 leg lifts each side (kneeling position, one leg extended, raised & lowered)
• 2 lap run
• REPEAT 2-3 times 

 2. Make a poster showing interesting and important events in history 1914-1919. Choose something from here: 1914, 1915, 1916, 1917, 1918, 1919, or do your own search...using  kidrex, gogooligans,  kidzsearch,  Kids.Net.Au (Use key words, like 1919, kids history, important dates, New Zealand, world, sport, music, movies, science...)

Remember, your poster needs to have a large title (e.g. What Happened in 1914?), 3-4 key pieces of information easy to read from a distance; and pictures, maps or diagrams to add interest. Make a plan to do something each day...and be finished by this Friday 12th (or see me if you need the weekend to finish).

Let's see how your skills have progressed since Term 1.

Llew Summers visit (2)

Visit to see Llew Summers, sculptor

Last Thursday, 7th August, 10 of us visited Llew Summers at his home to see his sculptures and find out how he makes them.


















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Poetry Shared at Assembly Today

Today some of our class shared poetry they had written over the past week.

What do you think? (Please leave your comments below.)

Haiku poems (5 syllables/ 7 syllables/ 5 syllables)

Cat

Lounging lazily

Sleeping on a bed of warmth

Like a furry king

Creeping, prowling through

the night. Slinking, stalking prey,

crouching quietly

An arrogant king

Sleeping on a throne of warmth

While ruling the house

An Egyptian god

A household king

Superior to others

- Ben B

Frozen

I hear the frost crunching under my shoes,
leaving my footprints behind me,
just missing the ice-cold water
that might numb my feet

Arriving at school,
the crisp, bitter concrete slips beneath my feet.
I run inside before I freeze,
I grab a drink but the tap is defrosting.
When it comes, the water is fresh.

Before my eyes
the world defrosts
like a gigantic ice cream.
It's not so bitter any more.

- Neo M

Winter

Winter is that time of year

when the sparkly ice takes over puddles.

Winter is the fresh start to the days,

when the glistening frost covers the grass.

Winter has the specialty of freshness, coldness

and bitter mornings.

Winter has the numbing touch 

that freezes my hands.

- Charlie C

Frost

 







White, crunchy grass.
Crispy, bitter air.
Icy roads that are slippery -
A frost is here.

- Jordan T

A Skyful of Grey

A skyful of grey,

While snowflakes glisten

Drifting, dancing till they fall.

As they settle on the ground

They melt and disappear

And all the fun has gone.

I stand upon the crunchy ice

That enveloped the field;

The trees above are naked and cold,

Encrusted all over with ice.

My nose is red

And my fingers deep blue.

No circulation of blood at all.

Embracing, the crispy, fresh air 

Is shaking my body to the bone.

- Caitlin H

The Webs of Cold

Shiny

crispy glass

grass

Webs of 

silver and

bracing ice-wind

The silentness

of the world

and the freezing cold.

And all the spiders,

frozen in time,

make me wonder why, oh why,

do they build 

webs of cold?

- Jazz R

 

Science, Music and Artistic Pursuits...

Recently we have been finding out about insects and spiders, and using this website for research.

Today we found lots of fungi growing on trees at school, and in sheltered garden areas. Find out more about fungi here or here.

This week's home activity is to produce an A4 work of art on one of these subjects:

• An insect
• A spider, or
• A plant you have seen at home, at school, or on holiday.

Be sure to give your drawing impact. Think about...

• Point of View
• Colour
• Size of main subject
• Careful attention to detail
• Background

Have fun...looking forward to seeing the fruits of your creativity on Friday!

 Also... since we are going to hear the Symphony Orchestra on Friday, how about visiting this website

to find out all you can about instruments of the orchestra, and some popular classical music.

Wonderful work, Room 5

Look at these attractive and informative posters...





















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Home Learning task - Week 6

Well done last week with the Maths and Technology investigations...great to see the paper plane designs, the kites and the tables about the Olympics.

This week there are two things to do: 

1.  Record how fit and strong you are. This will be baseline data to see if you improve in your fitness by the end of the term. To do this, there are two parts...

• See how far and how fast you can run non-stop (up to 3km).  Can you run for 5 minutes? 8 minutes? 12 minutes? More? How far do you go in that time? (Our running track at school is about 180m, or 3 laps of the school are about 1km.)
• How many of the fitness circuit activities can you do? Keep a log each day, including how many times you repeat, and how long it takes you. e.g.
• 20 step - ups (each side)
• Planks (prone hold) front, side, front, side ...20 seconds each
•  10 squats (3 seconds down, 3 seconds up)
• 10 push ups
• 10 knee-touches with elbow (like a sit-up)
• 20 calf-raises
• 20 leg lifts each side (kneeling position, one leg extended, raised & lowered)
• 2 lap run
• REPEAT 2-3 times 

 2. Make a poster showing an aspect of Japanese culture. Choose something from here, or for some recipes, try here, or browse books in libraries for your own ideas. Some ideas are... Traditional Japanese sports (karate, sumoo, juudoo); Modern day sports (baseball, soccer); Japanese food; Japanese festivals; School life in Japan; Family life in Japan; Tokyo - the capital city; Kyoto - the ancient capital; The Bullet Train; Traditional Japanese dress; Manga - Japanese comics...

Earthquake Memories

Last weekend was the third anniversary of the February 22nd 2011 Christchurch earthquake.

What do you remember about the earthquake? Did you do anything to remember that day in 2011?

This week's home learning task is to capture your thoughts and memories for others to read. You may like to read articles from The Press here or use these prompts to guide you...

 February 22nd 2011

• Memories/ where was I?

• I saw...
• I heard...
• I felt...
• I thought...
• Other people...(what did you see them doing?)

• Looking back... (what have you learnt about yourself, about dealing with disasters, about people?)

Find some photos and include them in your booklet of memories (at least 2 pages, and a title).

Nicola Coles' visit

Nicola Coles spoke to us today about her experiences rowing, and the disappointments she faced before she got to the top of her sport.

What did she say that impressed you? (Share your comments below.)

Olympian Visits Our Class

On Tuesday (18th) Olympic Ambassador Nicola Coles is visiting us in Room 5.

Nicola attended two Olympic Games and won 4 world titles rowing in the coxless pair.

This week's home learning task is to find out about the Olympic Games, famous Olympians, or the sport of rowing. Start by setting yourself some questions to guide your research. e.g. you might find out who your friends and family think are our most inspiring Olympians. What did they do?
You might start here, but don't forget to do your own searches.

Or you might find out what the different rowing events look like, how people train, and who are our best rowers. (There are some great clips on You Tube).

Think of how you will present your information...a blog; a talk to the class; a poster; a podcast; i-Movie; or a folder of photos, comments from other people and key facts.

I look forward to sharing your findings on Friday.

Comment here, if you wish to share your favourite Olympic moments...

Should we change our flag?

The Prime Minister suggested recently that we should think about changing our flag. See here for some of his reasons. And here for some possible options.

 

 

 

 

Home learning task:

• What do you think?

• What is symbolised in our current flag? 

• Do people confuse our flag with Australia's? Draw NZ's flag and Australia's to show the differences.

• What other flag designs could we use? Copy 3 of your favourites. What do they symbolise?

• Ask friends and family what they think, or read letters to the editor, and summarise 2-3 views. Do they make a good point? Do you agree?

To manage this task you will need to be a Thinker, you will need to independently find information from a range of places,  organise your time so you are finished by Friday, and present your work in an attractive and easy-to-follow way.


You may even choose to add comments to this blog!


 Good luck!

Friday 14th: Here we are looking at some newspaper articles to see what others think...