Good Luck for 2016!

It's our last Monday morning for the year and there are so many things left to say. As your teacher I would like to thank you all for your amazing effort, beautiful work and huge smiles that we've seen in Room 6 this year - you are all excellent and I hope that next year you keep learning more and more, find what interests you and work hard to achieve what you want from 2016!

I also want to thank you for the giggles and good times we've had in 2015 and for you to know that I will miss Ruapotaka School and Room 6 a lot! There hasn't been too much growling from me and I am very proud of the progress you have made in your work. Together we have been swimming, learnt to play golf with Shannon and touch with Trevor, read hundreds of books, made some awesome movies, produced some great writing and beautiful art work, problem solved in maths, played songs and rhythms in music, had a class Christmas, a visit from Santa, 'elf-ed' ourselves and even made ourselves into Storybots! Phew... And that's only some of the list!

As you all know, I will be leaving Ruapotaka to move to a new school closer to home for 2016 and I will miss you all! I wish you lots of luck, laughter and lovely teachers to inspire you and help you become all that you can be. I remember my favourite teacher at school when I was 5 and she inspired me to become a teacher! I hope that you have a teacher who helps you discover what you want to achieve and encourages you to work hard to get there!

Let's make our last week count and have an amazing time! I hope you have a wonderful Christmas, a safe summer break with lots of sunscreen and you don't forget all the things that you've learnt this year!

Stay amazing, Room 6!

Miss Walters

:)

Important Dates!

It's almost time to completely empty the desks, put away the pencils and start saying goodbye for another year!

Don't forget to come and pick up your reports this week from Monday to Thursday in the mornings from 8.30am to 9.15am or after school from 2.45pm to 3.30pm.

We also have prize giving on Wednesday at Tamaki College Hall at 10.30am and our culture day on Thursday, which is also at Tamaki College Hall at 10.30am!

We have our last day on Friday and we will be finishing school at 12 noon for the summer!

Check the notice for anything you missed and we hope you are able to come down and watch the many different things going on in our last week together!

Santa Surprise and a Christmas Miracle!

Guess who came to town last night?! SANTA CLAUS!! He must have visited very late last night and he ate our cookie and drank our lemonade! He even performed a Christmas miracle because he managed to fix our Christmas lights on the tree! Until Miss Walters broke them again... Whoops!





He left us replies to our letters in special Christmas envelopes and left presents in our stockings! They were wrapped up in Santa wrapping paper. We were crazy and surprised and he left us a note.

We were really happy and excited that Santa came! We are feeling very Christmassy! We have the Christmas spirit in Room 6!

Happy Christmas from Room 6!

HAHAHAHAHAHA!

Go and Elf Yourself!

We had a few minutes spare time before lunch so we decided to try ElfYourself! We laughed so so much and we hope you enjoyed it too!

Celebrating Christmas Cheer!

On Monday Room 6 decorated the Christmas tree!

We started with a white tree and added some decorations. We put on the lights first and then each person hung a decoration up that they chose. We put on gold and red baubles, red and white tinsel, silvery beads and some red and white candy canes, We put an angel on the very top.

All the time we were singing Christmas songs from Miss Walters' laptop! It made us cheerful and happy and excited for Christmas. Can you hear Frank singing loudly in the background of our video?

Have a look at our Christmas stockings that we hung up in class! We hope that when Santa visits us he might bring us a little present! We will have to wait and see!

Here is a photo of our completed Christmas tree!

We wish you a merry Christmas and a happy new year! We hope you have a safe and happy summer break and come back ready and healthy in 2016!

Santa Speaks!

On Monday we looked at Miss Walters' email and we found that Sugarplum Mary (one of Santa Claus' elves) and Santa Claus had emailed us. Santa had emailed us from the North Pole! We felt excited and cheerful. 

We read the email from Sugarplum Mary and she told us that she was going to try and get Santa to come to our classroom one night. We had to write an email back to Santa and Sugarplum Mary to persuade Santa to come and visit us before Christmas!

Here is what we wrote:

Dear Santa,

How are you, Mrs Claus, the elves and the reindeer doing? 

Please can you come to Room Six at Ruapotaka School in New Zealand? Sugarplum Mary told us that you are free on Tuesday night. When you come can you please bring a photo of Sugarplum Mary and the Reindeers, (especially Rudolf)?

If you and Sugarplum Mary come to Ruapotaka School to Room Six there will be a surprise for both of you on Tuesday night. We will leave you chocolate chip cookies because we know they are your favourite! We will also leave you a can of lemonade.

Santa, when you come to Room 6 look out for our present for you under the tree! We want you to come so that you can see our decorations. We've made a paper chain, Christmas stockings, decorated a tree and some snowflakes. We've also written Christmas poems and letters and they are on the wall. 

You should visit us on Tuesday night because most of the children in Room Six have been very good all year! It would make us feel very happy and special if you visited us. You should also practice flying the sleigh before Christmas Eve so that you are prepared!

Pretty pretty please with cream and cherries on top come and visit us!

Merry Christmas from Room Six and Miss Walters

:)

And this is the reply we got!

Dear Room Six and Miss Walters,

Hohoho! Merry Christmas! Thank you for your lovely email! I see you've been having a good chat with Sugarplum Mary? I actually have dinner plans with Mrs Claus for her birthday on Tuesday night so I can't come and visit you on Tuesday, but how about Wednesday night? I will try my best to get a photo of everyone for you, but remember I am very busy this time of year!

OOOOOH! Chocolate chip cookies? My favourite! It's been quite a few days since I've eaten a cookie and that makes me sad! Sugarplum Mary told me that there are none left in the whole of the North Pole! But a chocolate chip cookie is worth the trip! I look forward to seeing your Christmas decorations! I hope that you are feeling excited and festive but still being good and working hard!

I shall visit you on Wednesday night all being well, how about that? 

Let me know! Ho ho ho!

Santa

Today we have to organise a little present from us and the cookies and lemonade! We're going to make a card and photo frame with a lovely picture of us!

Culture Day Sneak Peek!

Culture Day is in the last week of school - it's being held on Thursday 17th of December. We have to go to Tamaki College because our school is too big! We need to be there ready to go at 10.30am.

We have been learning Maori and Samoan songs for a few weeks now ready for Culture Day. We also have to learn a Cook Island drum dance and songs from Tonga.

Here is the Junior syndicate singing one of the Samoan songs  called Le Aute. It's all about the Hibiscus flower and how they wear them in hair on their ear and around their necks. See if you can spot the actions!


We feel proud of ourselves because we learnt a new song and we sang well with the actions too! Some of us are Samoan and we feel extra proud to show off our culture!

By Room 6

Starry, Starry Night!

While we have been learning about Space and the different planets, Room 6 also wanted to find out about the different stars in the sky. 

We also used the internet and our class Google Drive to record our findings about stars. We went off in partners and found out interesting information and used our computer skills to put them into a class presentation by using Google slides.

Have a read of our slides and see if you can learn any new facts!

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas...

The other day we wrote letters to Santa! We have been learning to write letters in class and we had to remember all the things letters need!

They have to have your address so the person getting your letter knows where to send it, then it has to have the date and then say who your letter is to! Then you write what you want to say and maybe ask some questions. Then you have to make sure that you sign the bottom with your name so the person getting the letter knows who it is from.

Miss Walters asked us to write a letter to Santa to wish him a Merry Christmas (even though it's November still), ask him some questions we might have and let him know what we might like for Christmas. Hopefully we'll have been good enough this year to get some presents! 

We had to write them early so they had enough time to get all the way to the North Pole, be read and replied to and then sent back before school finishes for the year. Hopefully we will get some letters back from Santa soon!

Riveting Robots!

The Lions reading group in Room 6 have practiced a play in their reading lesson and did so well that Room 6 videoed them to share on our blog.

Have a listen to them performing Robot Wars from their school journal for the week! Their expression sounds great - we thought they sounded like great robots!

The Mammoth Moon!

The past few weeks Room 6 has been learning about space for our inquiry topic. We have looked at the different planets in the solar system and have found out lots of new facts about each one. We've got some great pieces of writing about each planet on our inquiry wall in class - come and visit us and have a read!

Now we're looking at the moon and we've learnt about the different phases. We made some moons out of paper plates, silver paint and labelled them correctly on our wall. We learnt a heap by listening and singing along with a rap Miss Walters found on Youtube that was really catchy! Here it is in case you want to learn more like us!




Check out our awesome art work on the wall - we had fun making the moons and tried our best to make the shapes of each phase accurate!

Go, Go, GoNoodle!

GoNoodle is really exciting and fun. It's extra exercise and we get stronger and fitter and lots of energy from following GoNoodle videos. 

GoNoodle is a website and our Champ is called Tangy Bodangy. We make him grow by doing all the exercises, When we've done 10 he grows bigger and bigger!

Some of the exercises are stretching, dancing, breathing exercises and brain gym!

Today the Year 4's are having Chromebook training ready for next year and all the lovely Year 3's came to Room 6. We had fun doing the Indian Moonshine dance on GoNoodle. 

Check out our video of Room 6 and 7's year 3's dancing along! If you want to try GoNoodle in your class or at home you can make an account on www.gonoodle.com and get your heart going!




By Year 3's from Room 6 and Room 7

Skoolbo Surprise

In assembly today Mrs Vickers had a special surprise! She had been sent a giant blow up trophy to celebrate some people at our school answering over 10,000 questions on Skoolbo!

Jazer was the only junior student - all the others came from Room 11, but we got to keep the trophy for this week!

Well done, Jazer!

Poem Recital Finalists!

Today we had our school poem recital and Room 6's poets did so well! We are all very proud of them. They were brilliant, used lots of expression and had some great gestures! We were all giggling in the audience. Well done Peni, Leanah and Jessica! 

Peni recited the poem 'I Have a Stegosaurus...'
Leanah recited the poem 'I'm Being Eaten By A Boa Constrictor'
Jessica recited the poem 'If Only I had an Octopus'

Congratulations to our lovely poets! They all received certificates to celebrate.

Firework Frenzy

Fireworks are very dangerous and also they cause damage.

Fireworks can be yellow, green, read, gold, silver, orange, white, bronze, pink, purple and blue.

When the fireworks blow up they shoot up like a shooting star, then they sparkle up in the night sky and they blow up like sprinkles!

Fireworks can be any size like Cascades, little, round, square, big, long, skinny, fat and an octagon.

The fireworks you can see are a squiggle in the air, Bad Boy fireworks and also Cascades. My favourite firework it the Cascades because they are not as dangerous as the others.

Guy Fawkes Safety:
1. When you're doing fireworks, make sure you have an adult lighting up the firework.
2. You're not allowed to buy fireworks unless you are 18 or over.
3. After your firework has blown up, you have to put them in a bucket of water or put water on them with a hose.
4. Remember to put your pet inside. 


Be safe with fireworks!






By Limiteti

Terrific Tyra!

On Wednesday Tyra completed her first independent Prezi task using the text to help her. She is still learning how to use the online activity and was able to show her knowledge after reading the book in our guided reading lesson. 

The rest of her group was away and so she had to navigate on the laptop to find and open the right prezi, then answer the questions by herself!

Well done, Tyra! Take a look at her work below

:)

Testing!

We're having a few tests this week and next week ready for the end of year, so here's a few tips to help you ace them!

• Make sure you have a drink and go to the toilet before the test starts.
• Have a good breakfast in the morning (or morning tea/lunch).
• Have two sharp pencils with you.
• Listen to all the instructions the teacher gives you and read the instructions and questions on the test carefully.
• Breathe! Take a few moments to relax!
• Remember that the test isn't trying to trick you, it's trying to help you show your teacher what you can do!
• It's YOUR work, no one else's.
• If you finish early then CHECK, CHECK, CHECK! You never know what you might think the second (or even third) time round.
• Stay nice and quiet so it's fair to everyone - there's nothing worse than trying to think about your answer and having noise around you to distract you 

Don't stress about the test! You'll be fine - just do your best! 

Miss Walters

:)

Remarkable Recital

On Monday, Room 6 had their mini poem competition in class. We decided our finalists were Jessica, Peni and Leanah, on Friday. They will be competing in the Poem Recital on Friday 6th November at 1pm.

Then we had a mini competition in our class today and Tristan, Taniela, Riiana and Alicia were our favourites! They spoke clearly, loudly, looked at their audience, spoke slowly and stood still - They followed CLASS. We even had a little giggle at some of the content of the poems and how they were recited.

Check out the video below of our favourite four!

Poem Ponderers

This week Room 6 have been learning a poem off by heart ready for our poem recital next week on Friday 6th November. We are going to choose the three best speakers to stand up and say their poem at the finals next week.

We remembered our acronym of CLASS from when we did speeches. Everyone needs to....

Speak CLEARLY
Speak Loudly
Look at the Audience
Speak Slowly
Stand Still

Our poems are pretty funny - lots of people liked our poem about the boa constrictor! Perhaps they can try and add some actions to it to make it even more interesting to watch!

Everyone needs to be practicing hard for our class competition on Monday morning! 

Sun Safe Super Stars

This week we have to make sure we are wearing shorts not long pants and sun hats because the weather is hotter. A good sun hat keeps your face, ears and neck covered - they're called bucket hats.

Nowar has a lovely bucket hat to keep himself sun safe!

It's a good idea to wear sunblock to stop your skin burning and put it on before you go out in the sun. You should think about the clothes you are wearing before you come to school - there are lots of people wearing too many layers and overheating.

We also need to keep hydrated by drinking water before the bell rings at morning tea and lunch. If you have a water bottle you might be allowed to keep it in class and have a drink.

Next week if you have long pants or no hat, then you can't play! You need to be SUN SAFE!!!

By Room 6

Beautiful Book Week

Last week we were learning about J. K Rowling and Harry Potter for our book week. 

We started by listening to Miss Walters read us some of Harry Potter and the Philosophers' Stone. Then we drew pictures of Harry Potter and we labeled them with key words. Some our key words were scar, Voldemort, Hogwarts, Hedwig, wizard and Chosen One. We chose these words because they were important words in the books.

After we drew the pictures we took a Harry Potter quiz to see which Hogwarts house we would fit in. We were sorted into Ravenclaw! That meant that we were really clever, because that is what they are known for.

then looked at facts about J K Rowling. She's 50 years old, has three children and lives in Scotland. She is the author of Harry Potter and she started writing with a napkin and a pen in a cafe.. She was born in 1965 and her first book was published in 1997. J K Rowling had decided to give Harry Potter the same birthday as her, which is the 31st of July. She wrote 7 Harry Potter books and they've been so popular that they have been turned into movies.



After our research we made Harry Potter models of the symbols in the books.  We made a wand, a sorting hat, a broomstick, his glasses, his scar and his owl, Hedwig. We made them out of Jovi clay and we had to squash the clay to make it softer. We used techniques like rolling the clay into a sausage, blending the joins, pinching it and bending the clay.

By Room 6

Super Shake Out

DROP COVER HOLD!!

Today we practiced what to do in an earthquake. There were three bells and we had to pretend like there was an earthquake and make like a turtle. We had to keep our heads under the desk to keep us safe. 

Miss Walters had to turtle with her bottom facing the window because she couldn't get to a desk in time and she needed to keep her head protected from glass.

We had to keep quiet and still. and stay there until it stopped shaking - or in our case when the next bell rang!

Have a look at our video, practice what to do and leave us a comment about what you did!



By Room 6

Reacting to Rhythm!

Yesterday afternoon we watched a rhythm lesson on Youtube. It taught us what each note meant.

A whole note is a circle and it has 4 beats. A half note looks like a d, the round part is empty and it means 2 beats. Next is a quarter note and it looks like a d with the middle filled in. A quarter note is only 1 beat. Then there is the eighth note which looks like 4 quarter notes all lined up together and one of those means 1/2 a beat!

We followed along with the people on the video to learn a song all about the beats of different notes.

See if you can watch the video and try it out! Good luck!




By Room 6

NZ Shake Out

On Thursday 15th October the whole of New Zealand is going to stop what they are doing and practice what to do if there was ever an earthquake!

We know that Christchurch in the South Island has been very unlucky and has had lots of big earthquakes in the past, so we think it's a good idea to practice what we should do to keep safe - just like we have fire drills!

We know that we have to drop to the ground, take cover under a table or desk and cover up our neck, then hold onto the table and stay there if there is ever an earthquake and we are indoors. If we are outside we should try and move as far away from buildings and trees as possible to keep safe.

We should have an emergency kit at home in case there is an earthquake, flood, big storm, hurricane or tsunami. We need at least enough canned food for each person for 3 days (and don't forget the can opener!), bottled water, a first aid kit, radio, torch and batteries, gas cooker and some spare clothes and blankets. These items can make a big difference to your survival in an emergency, so it's super important to have it ready and in a safe place so you can find it easily!

Remember where ever you are on October 15th, at 9.15am to DROP, COVER, HOLD!