Cross Country Day

What a great day Room 16 had today. The sun was shining and Room 16 were all doing their best running in the Cross Country Race.

Some of us got top five placing! 

Year 3 boys ready to go

Year 3 girls are off!

Up the road for the Year 3 students

Keep running!

Back in class we brainstormed all the emotions we felt during the Cross Country Race. We then put the emotions into three groups; before the race, during the race and after the race (this is a good way to plan writing by grouping ideas!). 

We used this to help us write our own Cross Country poem, what do you think?

Big Exhausting Day

By Room 16

Waiting, excited yet nervous and scared.

Snap!

Running fast, can’t breathe, boiling.

Am I going to win?

Dehydrated I cross the line.

Tired, exhausted yet happy and proud.

On Monday the Totara Team got to experience a Taste of Te Kauri Lodge right here at Hamilton East School. 

When we went up to see the trees and tree bark, there were magnifying glasses. We had to use our senses, smelling and touching. We had to swap with the boys. It was looking at the tree things. At the end of the block we went down to Putikitiki and we planted our class tree. It is a kahikatea tree. 

Quartez

We all went down to Putikitiki . We went up the steps and we watched Catherine digging a hole then she put the treein the hole. We sang a song. Our tree is called a kahikatea.
Kayden

 

When we were getting ready we were in a group. The girls were looking at the bark and the flowers too. When we swapped over I was looking through a magnifying glass carefully when I saw a lady bug in a rotting leaf. 

Caylee

Robyn told us about nature, trees and stuff that grows on them. She told us that money doesn't grow on trees. We needed magnifying glasses to look closer and we saw some pretty flowers. Our tree was called a kahitatea and we had to plant it down on Putikitiki. Catherine dug a hole in the ground. Then we sang a song about it. I am surprised that Room 16 has a tree.
Sophia

I saw a tree that had spiky leaves, the leaves looked like a chainsaw tree. Then we walked slowly down Putikitiki and we saw someone plant a kahikatea. 

Darryl

 

We looked through the magnifying glass. It was funny because it was like a giant. We smelt the leaves. It smelt like green apple. Some of the leaves were brown and some were green. At last the women gave us a tree. It was called a kahiketea. We planted it down on Putikitiki on the bank.
Tulasi

Shape sorting - Geometry

GROUP A

We sorted our shapes into groups of shapes. So there was a group of triangles, squares, circles, ovals, hexagons and rectangles.

GROUP B

We sorted our shapes into groups of colour. So we had a yellow group, a blue group and a red group.

GROUP C

We sorted our shapes into groups of colours and shapes. We had lots of groups.

GROUP D

We sorted our shapes into groups with the same number of edges. So we had a group with three edges (triangles), four edges (squares, rectangles and diamond / kite).

GROUP E

We sorted our shapes into groups of colours and shapes. All the purple triangles into one group, blue triangles into another etc.

Our thinking into how to spend our class money

Last term Room 16 did a Sponsored Walk to raise money to pay for the visit from the author Talia Evered. It was a huge success and we raised much more money than we needed. This term we have been talking about what to spend the rest of the money on. We decided that the money had to be spent on our learning as that was why people sponsored us in the first place. 

 

We decided to spend our money on a service (an experience for us all) rather than goods (things for the class). We came up with a few ideas and did a secret vote. Rock Climbing got the most votes but after we talked it through, we decided it was not worth spending our money on. Our thinking went like this: 

2 kids can climb at one time. There are 26 kids in Room 16. Say it takes 5mins to climb and 5mins to get in / out of the climbing gear, that means it takes: 
1hour for 12kids to climb 
2hours for 24 kids to climb 
2hours 10mins for all kids to climb 
That is a lot of waiting for only two climbing sessions each. 

We also considered going to Leap, the new indoor trampoline park in Hamilton. But when we looked at the cost, it would cost more than the money we had just for one hour of jumping. 

That is when we decided that we wanted to do something that would be a whole day experience for everyone. We decided on a trip into nature and now had to decide on going to the bush or the beach. 

Arguments for going to the bush… 
I think we should spend out money on going to the bush because we can sketch there and learn about bugs. We can sketch the river and the beetles there too. We can see birds in their nests and sketch the baby birds. Everybody has been to the beach. 
Sophia 

It will be funny if we went to the bush. We can sketch the trees. We can learn all about bugs like ladybugs and bumblebees too. 
Caylee 

I do not want to go to the beach because everyone has been to the beach. At the bush you can learn about the birds. 
Aryan 

I think we should go to the bush. There are redwood trees to sketch. Everyone has been to the beach. 
Darryl 

I think we should spend our money on going to the bush because we can learn about nature. We can play Hide and go Seek in the bush. 
Subair 

I think we should go to the bush. We have all seen a beach. We all should go to the bush because we will see different bees and trees. It is going to be fun going to the bush. 
Tulasi 

I think we should spend out money on going to the BUSH! We can learn about more bugs than we have ever saw before. Who needs to go to the beach in the middle of winter? It’s too cold. The water will touch you and you will feel frozen. It is just too cold. 
Katelyn 

I want to go to the bush because we can sketch trees. We can climb on the mountains. There might be snow on the mountain. I haven’t felt snow before. 
Anika C 

Arguments for going to the beach… 

I think we should spend our money on going to the beach because we might see starfish. I like starfish. I like the beach. 

Ahmed 

I think we should spend out money on going to the beach because we can sketch all of the things that we can learn. I love crabs because crabs snap. 

Kayden 

I think we should spend out money on the beach because you can play in the sand. We might see some crabs. They might be red. The might be under rocks. 

Quartez 

We can see turtles. We can make sandcastles. We can see fish. We can see sharks. We can swim in the sea. We can play hide and seek. 

Nirmal 

I would like to go to the beach because we can play on the beach. We can play ball. I like playing ball. 

Zahaad 

I think we should spend out money on going to the beach because we could dig up the sand and find gold from pirates. We could even find diamonds. 

Cruz 

We should go to the beach because the bush is not fun. People will not like the bush. People will like the beach. The people will have fun at the beach. 

Xzavier 

I think we should have a class trip to the beach and sketch the crabs. I like sharks. They go snap! 

Tyler 

I think we should spend our money on going to the beach because we can sketch sharks. We can draw in the sand. Who wants to go to the bush? There are puddles in the bush. 

Ryan 

I think we should spend our money on going to the beach because we could pick up beautiful shells and see all the crabs underneath the rocks. Also Raglan is not very far away. The bush is a little bit scary because if we walk up the hill we could slip and hurt ourselves. 

Kaya 

I think we should go to the beach because we can sketch beautiful shells. Who wants to go to the bush? There will be very very scary spiders. Some spiders bite. 

Mia 

I think we should spend our money on going to Raglan Beach because we can find pretty shells. Raglan Beach is not so far and we can find crabs. We will discover new things about the beach. If we climb up a hill we could fall down and hurt ourselves and it will be scary. 

Xuan 

I want to go to the beach. The bush is boring. The beach is cool because you can find crabs. I like crabs because they go snap! 

Elias 

I think that we should go to the beach because there will be crabs. The crabs might have shells on their backs. 

David 

Jack had a different idea on what to do with the money and decided to write his argument to try and persuade the class to vote for his idea. 

I think we should spend our money on making a small store to sell things and pay Whaea Eve to bag the things we sell. Whaea Eve can also buy things like clay so we can make things to sell. Then we could use the money we earnt to go to the beach, then after a month we could do the bush too. 

Jack 

He persuaded six people to change their votes and join him – getting more votes that going to the bush. Good try Jack! So it is decided, Room 16 are off to the beach!

Room 16 signing the New Zealand National Anthem

In Room 16 we love singing and signing songs. For the last couple of weeks we have been practising Individuality (keep checking the blog to see us signing that song) and the New Zealand National Anthem. We have been singing the National Anthem in assembly recently as many New Zealanders have been performing really well at the Commonwealth Games and winning lots of medals.

This week as we walked into assembly, Whaea Eve asked if we could show the school how much we have been practising by going onto the stage and signing it for the school. So it came as a surprise for Room 16 when we were asked to come to the stage. Everyone did amazingly well, especially with no warning!


Thank you Alexus from Room 14 for filming us. 

The video below shows us practising earlier in the week.


Below is the link to youtube where we learnt  how to sign the New Zealand National Anthem. Why don't you give it a go at home too!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbDf0YG2xnA