Well, well they have arrived again. Congratulations to everyone one in Room L for a great term. We have worked tremendously hard to use our time the best we could to get the best learning opportunities. So I looked through my library of treats and I thought that I would post this a little early. I was planning to introduce it when we got back to school, but if some are looking for something to do then this is it. Some may be familiar with the game "Sing Star" on the PlayStation. Well this is a free internet version of it called Karaoke Party. If you want to use then click here and waalaa you will appear there. If you want to save your scores then sign in using our blogger username and password. Have a good break everyone and thank you for another wonderful term.
On Google Documents I found that you could have a form that allowed you ask questions in various ways. I have used this format to get the children to do their self assessment of the Fabric and Fibre Unit that we did. I have posted this on their individual blogs so that you can see the results of their self assessment. I will evaluate this tool to see if it meets the children's learning needs.
All the children have completed their self assessments of the 'Fabric and Fibre Unit'. I have posted a link here, so that you can see what the results look like for a teacher. I think that there are still some improvements that I need to make to be able to use this tool more effectively. I think that this is a good step for the children moving on from circling smiley faces to a more formal type of form.
This young man was diagnosed with a type of autism, which was a fear of people. However he developed a passion for singing and from that he has channeled all his power to follow his dream. His dream is to sing in front of large audiences.
Today the most amazing thing happened. Not one but TWO bands from Feilding Intermediate came to our school to perform. They were brought over by Mr and Mrs Samuela who just happened to be their tutors as well.
I was very impressed from the outset as they looked very sharp with their outfits and the equipment that they had. From the first chord you could hear how hard they had worked and how much effort had been put into making an awesome band. They opened with a classic from the Doobie Brothers "Long train running". There were some groovy rifts and extra sweat melodies going on with the keyboard and bass. The lead guitarist showed he could rock it out with a kiwi classic and the drummer summed up enough attitude to keep everyone in rhythm. The closing song ended with an extra large smile on the face of the kids as it was a song written by the 'King of Pop' Michael Jackson. His song 'Billie Jean' was a great hit and massive success.
Another delight for the Staff at Manchester Street School was seeing the former Manchester Street Students who had graduated from the school were going on and spreading their wings into the music world. They all looked so confident and truly enjoyed performing to a crowd.
I was amazed at how the group was able to be so good in such a short amount of time. It is not an easy task putting together so many people with so many instruments into one single sound that was so great.
I was spell-bound and I think the rest of the school were too and therefore take a bow Mr and Mrs Samuela you have truly done a magnificent job!
On Friday I went home with Thomas and we climbed the tree,played on the trampoline and rode on the motor bike. on Saturday Thomas went to Jamie's birthday and then we watched the All Black's beat Astralia 33-6!!!!!!!!!.On Sunday we went to pamlmy and had mcdee's with tom's cousin Portia when we got home we jumped off the bunk's and played fetch with Jessie the dog I had fun.
We all got to have another Enviro Day this term. We wanted to spread our wings this term and go outside of the school grounds to help the community. The middle team got the opportunity to go down to the Uenuku Walkway (which is the part of the Makino stream between Manchester Street and Warwick Street) to paint a very tatty old fence. We knew that if we painted the fence it would lift the environment down there and make the walkway a lot more pleasant for people to walk down.
The Feilding council helped us out by donating the paint and a whole lot of paint brushes. When the children saw all the new gear they were revving to go. We saw that we needed to do a little preparation so we weeded out the greenery that was growing around the fence and lay out some drop sheets to stop the paint from spilling. Then our excellent parent helpers poured the paint into little containers for everyone to get started on their work.
As soon as the first brush touched the corrugated fence it made a difference. We could see how the fresh colour would make the fence look like new. No one wanted to stand and watch and therefore there was a hive of activity as the children hummed away painting and laughing and enjoying caring for their community.
Although the children do not confess to being professional painters they worked hard and did a fine job with a pleasing result. Apart from the occasional drop of paint that went astray we thought that we didn't do too bad at keeping the paint on the fence.
All in all 'Kia mau te wehi nga tauira' awesome job on the fence and we can't wait until the next Enviro action day.
(We copied the whole story and put it into wordle and this is what it created)
It was the most exciting day ever. Today was the day that we were going to go to the hall for a fabric and fibre surprise. As soon as we all walked we were amazed with all the interesting displays of fabric and fibres. We saw red stitching, cross stitching, weaving, knitting, felt rolling, spinning and teddy bear making.We stood at the door and we didn't know where to go first. Some people went left, some people went right, and some people went straight ahead. But me I was standing still because I was soooo confused. I felt a little tug on my sleave it was my friend saying "com'on lets go!" My friend Stevie has light blue eyes and shiny brown hair that reaches down to her shoulders. She is quite tall for her age she's almost as tall as our teacher and she is really pretty. We started heading for the Teddy Bear making stall. When we got there we saw lots and lots of cute teddy bears. They had some patterns and cut out material that they were going to use to make a teddy bear. That reminded me about how Q Bear was made. Our next stop was the Needlework by Mrs Monteith. She had pretty little baby booties and a creamy coloured baby dress. I thought how it would be nice one day to have a baby sister of my own.We walked over to where everyone was standing and saw that people we making felt balls. To make a felt ball you need hot soapy water, felt, and little bit of magic (magic fingers). First we dipped a bit of felt into the hot soapy water and then rolled it in our hands so that it became a little ball. When we finished we saw that you could thread them together to make a necklace.We headed over to the patch work section and saw a lady with amazing work. She had a blanket that had a picture of Santa flying over some houses, it could have been Feilding? The sack with thepresents were 3 Dimensional, which means theystood out of the picture.Another lady had a weaving machine. She spoke to us about how you make a jersey and the process you need to go through to make it. It was actually quite easy. We could go on and on but there is so much to tell and so little time. We will be back to update you on the rest of it.
Here is an update on the Youtube front. We have a teacher in the UK showing how talented teachers are. Have a listen and see how he could be an inspiration to the children in his classroom. It is one thing to show kids the path on which they should walk, but it is another thing for you to walk it first and led others along the way. For all those budding singers out there his name is Daryl Johnson.
On Friday I went to Thomas's house. Thomas and I packed our bages and started to head off to Hawkes Bay for Go- Karting. We stoped to get Mc Donlds in Dannevirke yumm! By the time we got to Hawkes Bay it was dark so we brushed our teeth and went to bed. On Saturday Thomas was practicing for racing for Sunday. On Sunday we got up and went to the Go Karting track. Thomas got ready for the first race. Thomas crashed so he ended up finishing fourth. In the second race Thomas got third, he was happy about that. In the third race Thomas got second he was really happy about that. In the fourth race YAHOO second again. Then in the Gran Prix Thomas was winning but Tray passed him so in the end Thomas came second. Thomas and I came back to Feilding and went to bed.
At the moment we have looking at the various types of fibres and fabrics. We have been inspired by reading the story "Roimata's Cloak" to make our own cloak. Mr Lowe brought in two korowai (cloak) that belong to his family. One korowai is a traditional cloak that was made by his great grandmother. It is composed of kiwi feathers and have a traditional Te Arawa pattern on it. He also brought a korowai his wife made that she wore on her wedding day. It is a more modern type of korowai that was made of organza and feathers. Now we are working hard to make our own korowai. We made material from paper, crayon, dye, paint and recycled material. We hope that through this experience we will appreciate the significance of the garment and its meaning, as well as the effort that goes into making one.
well I would like to thank the parents for coming to the children's learning conferences this week. Although the evening got a little chilly it was still wonderful that parents braved the cold with their children to come.
One of the things of that came up was 'Recommended Reading' for middle school children. I have found that the National Library have a fantastic blog where they host book reviews about novels they have read. If you visit their site you will see that there are a whole range of books, in all types of genres that will suit a wide range of ages. So I just encourage you if you are looking for a gift for birthdays or Christmas, to go to this site and find a good book. Click here to go to the National Library Blog.
In regards to homework I have written an earlier post. It contains all the spelling words that the children need to learn and what is expected of the children. Every night the children are expected to read either a browser book from school or a book from home. If there is a book that the children are interested in, but the reading level is too high, then it is acceptable that the parents can read to their children. I am now encouraging children to write stories at home on their blog. However I ask if parents could review what their children have written, and help them to fix up bits and pieces, so that their writing reads smoothly. This will aid the children's interest in writing and show them that this is not an exercise confined to school.
Also some parents were impressed with our work we did with our comics. If you would like to download 'Comic life' and use it on your home computer to make your own comics you can download the file from here. Just look in the box below and click on comic life. When it asks you if you want to save it click 'ok'. It should start downloading straight away. All these programs are hosted by me so they are completely safe and virus free. You will have to pay for a subscription to comic life but you do have a 30 day trial period. If you would like to change your digital photos into a comic 'look', you can go to this site 'Befunky'. Your children know the logon and passwords so that you can use our account. You can upload your pictures there and change them and then download them onto your hard drive. Then import them into comic life. Waalaa! You have a comic!
If you would like to use 'Tux Paint', which is a painting type of program you can download it as well. It is a free program and you do not need to pay a subscription fee.
Last but not least. If you would like to have a free typing program available on your home computer you can download 'Tux Type'. It is the same program that the kids are using on our school computers.
This term we are conducting a scientific investigation of fibres and fabric. We have done investigations that are around sorting, classifying and measuring. We have seen that fabrics have different weaves for different purposes. A cotton material has a simple 'over one under one' type of weave. While satin has an over 'four under one' weave. This means that satin silk is very smooth to the touch and hard to wrinkle.
We not only looking at the fabric but we are also looking at how certain garments mean different things to us. (This is in accordance with the red part of the rainbow where we respect others differences and similarities). We got to bring garments of clothing from home and then we got an opportunity to explain to the class why the garment was so significant and what types of occasions allow us to wear them.
Shayla brought along two lava lava. Lava lava are a traditional type of garments worn in the Islands (e.g Niue, Samoa, Fiji). The smaller lava lava (black) belongs to her brother and was worn to a wedding. This is a formal type of lava lava. The other lava lava can be worn in a more casual setting such as around home or down at the beach.
Calvin brought along a shirt that has Optimus Prime on the front. Optimus Prime is the leader of the Autobots. (They are the good guys). He wears this shirt to parties.
Madison was given a special dress when she was four years old. Her parents bought it for her birthday from Auckland. She likes to wear it and
pretend that she is a fairy.
Eamon brought along his swimming shorts and and t-shirt. He wears these when he goes swimming.
Matthew brought along his Weet-Bix triathlon t-shirt. He got this when he competed in the Weet-Bix challenge. He did really well and earned himself a medal. His shirt was signed by a famous Triathlete.
Taine brought along his Harry Potter cloak. He got this garment when he was very young and he likes to wear it when he watches Harry Potter Movies.
Thomas brought his shirt and jeans with him to show everyone. These garments are special because his parents bought these when they were on holiday in the U.S.A. Thomas wears these when he goes to parties.
This very sparkly garment was brought in by Samantha. She wears this when she is dancing. It is very special to her.
Taran brought his hooded sweater along and he felt that this is a very special garment to him because it was given to him as a birthday present.
Amanda and Blair brought their scout uniforms to school. They wear this special vest and scarf to show which group they belong to. They also work toward badges and they get embroided onto the vest.
this is just a reminder that I will be away from school until Monday next week. We will not be having our learning conferences this week but we will have them next week.
I hope you all have a good week with Mrs Horsfield and Ms Whalen.
Congratulations to all of the people that participated in the Culture Festival on Wednesday and Thursday night. Everyone performed extremely well and you all did our school proud. Although Mr Lowe got a little bit mixed up with some minor details it all worked out in the end.
On Wednesday we are going to attend the choir performance at the Civic centre in Feilding. We will not perform on that evening but it will be good to attend to support the other schools. On Thursday night we will be performing and so it will be good for all your parents to be there.
We should try and be there by 6:15 no later so that we can find our seats together. The show will go for about 2 hours.
So practise your words and get your vocal chords ready it's time to sing!
Below is the presentation from Thursday night. You can use the arrow buttons at the bottom right to go through the presentation, or you can use your mouse to go anywhere in the presentation. You can click on the links in the presentation and it will open up the website in a new window. You can then save the links to your favourites.
If you wanted to post a story or a picture on Google earth this is a video that will show you how to do it. It doesn't have a commentary but if you watch the video a couple of times you'll see how he gets the marker and puts it down and then adds text. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqp-plXYvDo
Just to elaborate a little on making a comic using Microsoft Word. Insert Autoshapes onto a page (insert six to a page). Then you click on a shape, go to the Fill can, choose Fill Effects, click on the Picture Tab, click on Choose Picture, select a photo and click Insert. I got this idea and a whole lot of others from this blog site. http://sharpjacqui.blogspot.com/
If you want to download the outline you can get it from the "Box" below.
I went home after school with Gypsy.That night we went to Palmerston to get tickets for the circus for Saturday night.We Played with the Barbie dolls and house. Gypsy has a lot of dolls to play with. Her cousins came on Saturday to play with us and that was fun. Gypsy's cousin Pria stayed Saturday night too and she went to the Circus with us.The circus was a lot of fun. When we got home it was late so we had to go to bed.We played outside on Sunday it was a real nice day.
On Saturday we watched TV. Q bear liked "Activate" because it was all about cooking. Then we went to the library it was fun. Then we went to a ceramic place in Palmerston North. Amanda chose a plate and she put Q bear on her plate. Then we went to Sub Way. On Sunday we played in Amanda's house it was cool. We played tag. Then we played on the computer. I had fun Q bear I hope you come back.
Wow!! Mr Wheeler was blown away by the power, effort and performance by the Middle Team after they performed "Ka Mate". He thought that is was absolutely fantastic and that he was really proud.
The other teachers who were present thought that it was really wonderful as well. So from Mr Lowe to you all "Ka mau te wehi nga tauira! He pai rawe o mahi!" Fantastic job everyone!
Well this term we want to go on and add to our 'kete'(basket) of goodies. So we will be learning a welcome waiata (song) called 'Haere mai'. Here are the words.
(Maori)
Haere mai, haere mai E ngā iwi e haere mai Ki runga o te marae Hui mai tātou katoa E hine mā, e tama mā Hapainga to mana Māori e Kia rewa runga rawa I a ha hā E ngā iwi e Haere mai, haere mai.
(English)
Welcome, welcome all the tribes welcome onto the courtyard all of us gathered here. Young women, young men uplift your Maori prestige to float on high I a ha ha All the tribes
Here is a new reading site that people can go to read. This story is about 'Inanimate Alice' she is a young girl growing up in the first half of the 21st century, and her imaginary digital friend, Brad.
Over ten episodes, each a self contained story, we see Alice grow from an eight year old living with her parents in a remote region of Northern China to a talented mid-twenties animator and designer with the biggest games company in the world.
This term we will be doing procedural writing. That means we will be looking at writing texts that explain how to do things. This will help to clarify why authors write things the way they do and also how we should read that particular text in a certain way.
Soon everyone will have their own comic strips on their own blogs. So stay tuned!
This term we will be looking at music. We will look at traditional Maori instruments as well as modern day instruments. We will also look at how people are making music with people they have never met before. This all ties in with our Kia Kaha unit of being able to work co-operatively together. Click here and have a look at how it all works.
In Room L we are learning how to make Mosaics in Picassa. Picassa is a google program that allows you to store and manipulate photos. We have used Picassa to make mosaics of our class for the art component of our Kia Kaha Unit. We thought it would be a good thing to do so we are reminded of the people who we need to respect and care for. The children have written their personal goals for this term underneath their pictures. This is to remind them how they need to work constantly to make a safe learning environment. They will try and give regular updates and reflections about how they are reaching these goals. So go and look at the kids blogs and see how they are doing.
On Saturday I went to soccer with Jonny and he scored three goals! That was real fun. The final score was 5 - 1 goals to Jonnys team. On Monday Jonny went to soccer school for four days. When he came home he showed me his new cool t-shirt. During the hollidays Jonny's friend max came to stay and on another day Matthew and Conner came to play with us all. We all had lots of fun together.
On Tuesday night my wife, Christall, was on Maori Television. Her life and work was on display and she showed her appreciation of natural resources and the sustainability of harakeke. I'm sure that some of you may have seen the programme, but for those who missed it here it is. KETE ARONUI
Kia ora everyone just a notice to tell you that a travelling Minstrel is coming to school to entertain the children. We would like everyone to attend so please bring the money in quickly.
Time: 4th August, 9:15 - 10:15 Place: School Hall Cost: $3.00
the day that we were going to go to the hall for a fabric and fibre surprise. As soon as we all walked we were amazed with all the interesting displays of fabric and fibres. We saw red stitching, cross stitching, weaving, knitting, felt rolling, spinning and teddy bear making.We stood at the door and we didn't know where to go first. Some people went left, some people went right, and some people went straight ahead. But me I was standing still because I was soooo confused. I felt a little tug on my sleave it was my friend saying "com'on lets go!"
