How The Tiger Got His Stripes

In Room 12 this week we have been looking at myths and how the Ancient Greeks used them to explain why things are the way they are, here is Ashley's myth about how the tiger got his stripes:

The first tiger was walking along then saw Zeus the god of the skies.The tiger stoped and Zeus started to paint black stripes on him,then he looked like he was full of anger and rage.So Zeus came to another tiger and spray painted the tiger and decided it looked better than painting stripes on a tiger.So he spray painted all the the tigers he could find to spray paint them.But,One tiger was hiding Zeus could sent him and then he shot down a tree with a lightning bolt but he wasn,t there then he shot every tree there was and finally he found him having a nap behind a bush and sprayed him.

Alliteration Ally

http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/acrostic/

You spin me right round...

Here is another great link you can use to test your rotational
symmetry knowledge:

http://nz.ixl.com/math/year-6/rotational-symmetry

Transformers...more than meets the eye!

No I'm not talking about Miss Logan's favourite cartoon from the early 90's....
I'm talking about transforming shapes!
Here are some games from our favourite maths site Woodlands Maths
that will help us to practice and explore our knowledge of transformation
and symmetry.

http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/maths/shapes/tangrams.html#Tessellations

There's also an online quiz you can take to test your knowledge at this link:
http://nz.ixl.com/math/year-6/lines-of-symmetry

DPS Folding Superstars Make the News!

Lotus and the other keen Room 12 paper crane folders have made the
times-age with their efforts for Japan. Check out the article at the
link below!

http://www.times-age.co.nz/news/cranes-carry-best-wishes/1171291/

Reminder!

Tomorrow is the annual DPS Food Fair....make sure to come and sample some of Room 12's delectable ambrosia! Oh and maybe some of the other scrumptious food on offer :)
P.S Thanks to everyone for their donations of ingredients for the ambrosia!

Writers Block?

Here is the link to the scholastic story spinner we use to inspire us when we're stuck for ideas!

http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/storystarters/storystarter1.htm

carnival clown discovers new planet

In Room 12 we have been using the scholastic story spinner to help us
with inspiration for our free choice writing. We never know what is going to come up....the other day the topic for the Percy Jackson writing group was 'Come up with a to do list for a carnival clown who explores a newly discovered planet'. Here is Tahlia and Hollie's to do list for that craaaaaaazy clown!

to do list
1.00:have clown coo coo pops
1.30:get ready for clown school
2.00:drive to clown school in ufo
2.30:in clown school for being late
3.00:in coo coo class writing a to do list for carnival clown who explores a newly discovered planet
3.30:the bell rings for lunch time
4.00:he eats his coo coo crazy chips for lunch
4.30:he goes to his part time job at the carnival
5.00:he goes home in his ufo and rides his coo coo elephants
5.30:he sits down on his lazy clown and drinks his coo coo crazy coke
6.00:he eats his crazy dinner while watching the news
6.30:he has a splash in his elephant poo bath
7.00:he decided to miss shortland street and get into his superman suit
7.30:hes on a mission to explore a planet
8.00:123 blast off in his ufo
8.30:nek minute see a big orange thing
9.00:Pasted the moon
9.30:he got hit by a meteor
10.00:he goes in the space ambulance
10.30:he goes to coo coo space hospital
11.00:he got fixed
11.30:he continues his adventure
12.00:nearly there
12.30:WE FOUND THE NEWLY DISCOVERED PLANET!

Help!

Room 12 still needs some parent helpers for the Food Fair. It would
be great to have some helping hands to serve our delicious ambrosia
during the Food Fair and help run our 'Guess the Amount of Lollies?'
Competition. Please email/ring Miss Logan if you can help out!
Look forward to seeing everyone on Friday for a great night of
culinary creations (We know Miss Logan already has some
pre-orders in!)

Inspired by the AB's?

Last week in Room 12 we talked about pushing ourselves to succeed. This week two students in Room 12 have already shown this by moving a whole maths stage! Ezekiel and Owen started the year at Stage 4 and are now both beginning to learn 6A strategies! Keep up the fantastic work boys! (A big thanks goes to Lacey their maths teacher too!)

Some 'Orsome' Oragami!

Today The Total Was Hit 1000 Paper Cranes Since The End Of Term 2 Mrs Kearney Set Us A Challenge To Make 1000 Paper Cranes For Japan

1000 Paper Cranes Is Giving Hope To The Japanese In There Time Of Need.

The story of 1000 paper cranes started with a small girl named Sadako: You can read her story here:

http://gimundo.com/news/article/one-thousand-paper-cranes-for-peace-the-story-of-sadako-sasaki/

The Coral Amulet... A Room 12 original by Liam

Once upon a time there was a boy he lived with his Mum and is Dad and his big Sister.

He was going to pick up his Sister from her friends with his parents.They were traveling on a Windy hill called Windy Wall.It had a little snow on the hill so we had to go slow and careful.On the way a Opossom scampered onto the road we swerved but it was to late smack! we slid off the road over a toad and in to a pile of snow.Me and Mum got out.The car was just about to go over then bang the car went do we were looking for Dad but we could not see him then we heard a little voice it was Dad we went and helped him up and then called an ambulance to help Dad...

chapter two the hospital

It was dark quite and scary I was shivering.Mum was holding my hand. We were going to get Dad he was all right just a few cuts and bruises.Later we were all walking out when my sister jade meet us.When we were at the new car we saw glowing lights coming out of the nearest man hole so we went and investigated.We climbed in and then in the corner of my I saw it was the famous coral amulet.I had been learning about it at school.I went and put it on.I hid it from Mum and Dad my Sister saw me put it on and ran over i told her to be quite and not to tell anyone.We cared on down the tunnel.Then all of a sudden I saw a shadow lurking in the water it jumped out at me then more the giant crocodiles with razor sharp teeth as sharp as a knife with blood stans all over them just like a vampires teeth after a good night then it lashed at me again i ducked...
Grrrr we ran they were swaming like mad the necklass must have been doing something because it was huming and glowing.Then boom the necklass sprung out of my shirt and let out a massave glowing light



TO BE CONTINUED.

Food Glorious Food!

Friday Week 3 is the Food Fair! This year we are buddying up with Room 15 to make one of New Zealand's favourite sweet treats.....Ambrosia! We have all got notices letting you, our fantastic caregivers know which ingredients we can help out with. Also if you would like to help make or sell our culinary sensation please let Miss Logan know! Look forward to seeing you there :)

Nek Minute.....Term 4!

Tuesday started with a lot of tired but happy kids (And a teacher who was feeling similar!) sharing about our holidays and a certain game of rugby! Everyone in Room 12 was super excited about our World Cup win after 24 long years (Miss Logan was 2 last time the All Blacks had the World Cup!) The lesson Room 12 can take from this is no matter how long it takes, no matter how many times we stumble, if we keep trying and learning from our mistakes we will get there in the end! Term 4 is a super short term so it's time to focus and push ourselves over that last hurdle so we can achieve the success we deserve in our learning. We can do it Room 12!

Wind Farm Trip Photos!

Wind Farm Trip - Part 1 on PhotoPeach

Room 12 takes a trip to Argentina!

Hola blog readers! Our current Inquiry topic is 'How can we show respect to visitors during the RWC?'. We decided that one of the best ways you can show respect to someone from another country is gaining an understanding of who they are and where they are from. The country we have been given to investigate is....... Argentina! For the last two weeks we have been researching furiously to get an understanding of what life is like in Argentina. So far we have discovered some fun facts (Argentina has a similar climate to NZ, the Puma is their National Animal and nearly everyone knows how to Tango!), learnt how to play 'Captains Coming' in Spanish and gathered plenty of fantastic Argentinian recipes ... Yum!

Getting our hands dirty for Conservation Week

This week some keen volunteers from Room 12 (Helped by Casper's Mum Kirsten) headed down to the Makoura Stream to help out with some planting. They came back happy, tired and COVERED in dirt! Ezekiel, Shawni, Beth, Jayden, Liam, Owen, Lachie, Marshall and Kodi got their hands dirty for the environment. Here are some pictures of our keen tree planters:

Natural Resources

Our new inquiry topic is 'Natural Resources'. At the minute we have been discussing what a natural resource is and differentiating between natural and man-made resources. This is a GREAT topic to talk about home as most everyday objects started off as a natural resource. Today we were interested to find out that clothes and material can start off as plants, animals and even plastic drink bottles! Next week we are going to start investigating renewable natural resources and how we can use these to reduce the impact humans have on the environment. In Week 4 we are planning to visit a wind farm to see how this happens in real life!

Word Games

In Room 12 we have been working on our blends and ends so we can figure out those tricky words when we are reading. Here is a great site to use to practice these at home:

http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/interactive/literacy.html#5

Some next learning steps:

Ironman/Spiderman: Word blends and cluster games

Batman/Superman: Synonyms, prefix/suffix games

Technology Challenge

I need scissors! Just a bit more of that tape....perfect!
For Golden Time today we took on a technology challenge. Our brief was to design a slingshot that could shoot a crayon at least 3 metres, sounds simple but all we had to work with was newspaper, sellotape, 1m of string and some popsicle sticks! The challenge tested our team work and creative skills to the max (And also Miss Logans' nerves as crayons were flying around the room!) In the end it was the team that worked together the best that won.

Design a Cookie!

For Golden Time last week we decided to combine two of our favorite things in life...
art and eating, for our 'design a cookie' competition. We used sprinkles, chocolate fish, lollies and FIVE different colors of icing to create our edible masterpieces. Our creations looked so fantastic we were tempted to keep them, however the lure the sweet treats was too much and most disappeared not long after they were created! (Photos of the few lucky ones that survived longer than 2 minutes to come!)

Learning Conferences

"Hi Mum and Dad, welcome to my learning conference" ....
This Tuesday and Wednesday we have finally had the chance to share all our hard work with our whanau.Over the last few weeks we have been working hard on our learning conference scripts - writing, practicing, highlighting aaaaaaaand more practicing.
Some of us find it a bit scary coming to school after dark (We don't THINK
the cloak bay is haunted but who knows....) but it has been great to see so
many Room 12 members showing independence in their learning conferences
(Miss Logan doesn't know what to do for herself).

Stage 5b Maths Games

From Week 1 of Term 2 Room 12 will be full of Stage 5b learners! The Kahikatea Syndicate is trialing a new shared maths teaching programme for number so 5b learners will be coming from far and wide to share their learning with Miss Logan. These games are for our new Stage 5b learners to practice the knowledge they need to move up to the next step!

Wish Ball: Whole Numbers (You will need the digi store password for this one). Use your addition, subtraction and place value knowledge to reach your target number in less than 20 steps

http://digistore.tki.org.nz/ec/viewMetadata.action?id=L867

The World Cup Comes to DPS!

We were lucky enough to get a visit from the one and only Web Ellis Cup
last week .... let's hope we get it back for a victory tour later this year!
We got to ask questions and found out that the cup was made nearly
100 years before the World Cup started, it was brought to be used
for the World Cup when the organizers forgot to get a trophy
specially designed - the designs on it have nothing to do with rugby
and it even has a pineapple on top! We thought it was pretty special
anyway!

3D Shapes Are All Around Us!

For Geometry we have been learning to identify and name
different types of 3D shapes. We got out there with the
camera and found some around the school....can you name

them all?

Connectives Games

Our focus for writing this week is connectives (Or conjunctions) - the word 'then' is banned in Room 12!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks1bitesize/literacy/conjunctions/index.shtml

We have being learning to do read analogue clock

Geometry Games

Combine your artistic skills and geometry knowledge to help
paint these faces (Shape faces that is!):
http://digistore.tki.org.nz/ec/viewMetadata.action?id=L1068

Journey Planner

Use this learning object to help you practice your measurement skills: (Remember you
will need to type in the Douglas Park username and password).

http://digistore.tki.org.nz/ec/viewMetadata.action?id=L765

Measurement Games

If you're anything like Miss Logan you need a LOT of practice to help you
with telling the time - here are some handy websites to help you out:

http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/maths/measures.htm

School Day: Analogue and Digital (Remember you will need to use the password for this one).
http://digistore.tki.org.nz/ec/viewMetadata.action?id=L7789

After School: Analogue and Digital
http://digistore.tki.org.nz/ec/viewMetadata.action?id=L7796

Marshall's Great Story

My Best Holiday Ever Would Be When.......

I am a teenager I will go to a deserted island with my girlfriend, my mum and my dad.

I will go hunting with my dad and swimming with my mum and girlfriend and all of us will build a house. We will have a 5 story house with 5 king-sized beds.

We will go fishing and we will catch a hundred fish and live happily ever after.

by Marshall.

room 12 algebra learning

Room 12 has ben learning to do algebra in math this week.

Algebra Games

Our maths focus for week six is.........ALGEBRA! Here are some games you
can play at home to practice your newly acquired skills :)

Kakapo/Kereru:

Solve the equation to figure out the value of x
http://www.aaamath.com/g725-equation1.html#section2

Watch the numbers roll by and work out the rule e.g. + 1
http://pbskids.org/cyberchase/games/functions/functions.html

Use your problem solving skills to work out these algebra problems:
http://www.mathplayground.com/algebraic_reasoning.html

Try and figure out the pattern to beat the computer:
http://pbskids.org/cyberchase/games/data/

Tui/Kiwi:

Help to create then complete the pattern
http://digistore.tki.org.nz/ec/viewMetadata.action?id=L1057 (Remember for this one you will have to login)

Great New Basic Facts Game

This game not only helps us practice our basic facts it also has some really cool options like printing out a table that shows you which facts you know and which ones you need to practice. Once you have the played the game once you are then able to just practice the facts you don't know - what a great idea! You need to create a username and password to use this - you can ask an adult at home to help you out or wait until next week when we will be creating these in class.

Addition and Subtraction
http://www2.nzmaths.co.nz/LearningObjects/BF/AdditionBF.htm

Multiplication and Division
http://www2.nzmaths.co.nz/LearningObjects/BF/MultiplicationBF.htm

Literacy Games

Definitions Game (Hard)

http://www.eastoftheweb.com/games/DefineTime1.html

Synonyms Game (Hard)

http://www.wordcentral.com/games/bigbot.html

Parts of Speech

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks2bitesize/english/spelling_grammar/word_types/play.shtml

Make a Word (Ironman)

http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/construct/

Silent Letters Game

http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/words/spelling/soundandspell/silentletters/game.shtml

Adverbs Games

http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/words/grammar/interestsentences/adverbs/quiz.shtml

Amazing Writing

Last week it was Room 12's turn to host Celebration Time. This meant we also got to showcase one of our amazing writers to the whole school (And parents) through the newsletter. The winning entry in our writing competition was Beth. Beth is a new member of DPS and has already blown us away with her vivid imagination and extensive vocabulary - We think we have a mini J K Rowling in the making! Below is Beth's winning piece 'Trapped!'.

Trapped! by Beth

Jordan huddled up in a ball against the school gate shivering. Why had he fooled around in the classroom? Now he was stuck, trapped, you might call it. Trapped - on a Friday - inside the school area! Maybe he could get some food from the shut-down school cafeteria. No, the doors would surely be locked. Oh, how he wished he was back home! He thought of his caring mother, wondering and worrying why he hadn't come home from school. His eyes brimmed with tears "Stop it!" he thought to himself. "Stop it right now or you'll go into full on bawling!". He stood up and set off towards the cafeteria. Yep he was right, the cafeteria doors were locked. "Oh!" Jordan exclaimed, why didn't I think of that before!" the school had an apple tree which the students could pick apples off. "Good" Jordan murmured to himself, "That'' help me get my strength up".

He had been there for two hours. " Wait, once I get my strength up I can climb the school gate!". Jordan walked off towards the apple tree. Oh! The apples were too high for him to reach. He would just have to climb it. Ow! The tree had angry looking thorns on it. He climbed higher "Ouch. Ahhhh. Ohhhh!" The last ouch was because a wasp stung him. Then a bee! "Ow!". The light evening breeze puffed his hair, nearby an owl hooted.

Jordan's skin crawled. Finally, he jumped down. He hobbled over to the gate and began climbing, when he was at the top he jumped. Bruised, scratched, bitten and bleeding Jordan landed on the ground. He got up and limped home.

When he got there he opened the door and stumbled in, trying to casually hide his injuries. His mother looked up from her knitting and asked "Where have you been?". "Oh nowhere" mumbled Jordan as he fell into bed exhausted.

Numeracy Websites

These are some of the websites we use for our numeracy learning in Room 12:

Rounding to the nearest 1000:
http://www.wmnet.org.uk/resources/gordon/Dart%20Board%20-%20rounding.swf

http://www.free-training-tutorial.com/rounding/rounding-spaceships.html

Identifying Fractions:
http://www.fuelthebrain.com/Game/play.php?ID=215

Place Value:
http://www.free-training-tutorial.com/place-value/collecttheships.html

Division:
http://www.arcademicskillbuilders.com/games/demolition/demolition.html

Identifying Patterns:
http://www.fuelthebrain.com/Game/play.php?ID=15

Ordering Numbers:
http://www.free-training-tutorial.com/ordering-numbers-games.html

Doubles:
http://www.ictgames.com/dinosaurDentist/index.html