Room11

Last week of school 2011

2011-12-10T20:16:00.001-08:00

Monday 12 December
Thursday is the last day of school this week and school finishes at 12:00 (noon)
The class is given the last week off homework and spelling.
Tomorrow on Tuesday 13th December we will have a shared lunch to have an end of year celebration and also to say farewell to three students who are leaving Kenakena School – Ethan Tether, Todd Bishop and Jay Atkinson. Please send along something for the shared lunch.
Tuesday afternoon at 2:15 is the service award assembly for the whole school.
Wednesday afternoon is the Kahikatea Fun afternoon at Otaihanga Domain. Your child will have already brought a notice home relating to this event. Your child will need to bring their togs and towel , their lunch and anything they want to squirt water out of. Thank you to the couple of parents who have volunteered to assist on this trip. We still need some more parents as we need to have a low student to adult ratio as the students will be swimming in the river.
Clearfiles will be coming home this week – you can return them before the end of this week or to your child’s class teacher at the beginning of next year. Class stationery lists and your child’s class for next year will come home on the last day of school.
Cheers
Janine McDonald

Teapots 2011

2011-12-08T01:01:00.001-08:00

This free photo slideshow made with Smilebox

Homework for end of Term 4

2011-11-30T19:43:00.000-08:00

28 November
Homework for the next two weeks will only be spelling only and getting prepared for your presentation next week. We will do the presentations on Monday 5th December, Tuesday the 6th December and Friday 9th December. Look at your last homework sheet or on the class blog for success criteria. Remember you can choose to do your presentation on whatever you like!

El Rancho 2011

2011-11-26T20:10:00.001-08:00

Customize your own digital slideshow

Calendar Art

2011-11-05T15:15:00.000-07:00

Don't forget to order your calendars/cards/diaries featuring your child's art. Orders to be made at the office this week please. You were shown your child's choice of artwork for their calendar at parent teacher interviews at the end of term 3.

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Update for Week 3 7th - 11th November

2011-11-05T15:07:00.000-07:00

4 November 2011
We have made pottery ornamental teapots at school, and I am in the process of getting them fired. We are going to paint the pots when they are fired. House paint would be far superior to our school paint, so I was hoping that if you have any bright coloured test pots at home that you no longer need that you could send them along to school so we can complete this project. If you could send the paints to school next week would be fantastic. The children were very engaged during the clay making sessions and enjoyed the experience.
As you know, the children have been preparing for their group plays. You should have received an invitation to attend the plays on November 17th at 1:30pm in the school hall. The children have asked for a gold coin donation if you attend so they can plan a class end of year treat. The children have been asked to source or make their costume at home and they need to bring their costumes to school for dress rehearsals this coming Monday 7th November. The costumes don’t need to be elaborate – if they are a pig – just wear a plain t shirt and pants in the same colour – make a curly tail and a cardboard headband with pig ears attached.
Cheers
Janine McDonald

Term Four 2011

2011-10-23T18:40:00.000-07:00

Welcome back to term 4. What a fabulous result for the Rugby World Cup! Well done the All Blacks.
We have a short term of only eight weeks. We have our syndicate camp in week 5, we go on Wednesday 23 November and stay for two nights. More details will be sent home closer to the time. It is teacher only day on 18th November.
We are continuing with our Quirky Murky Melodramas for the first few weeks of the term and are focusing on drama techniques and conventions. We will also being doing plays for reading with a focus on using voice and expression to get into character. We performed our journal plays to our buddy class at the end of term 3 and will perform our next lot of plays to them as well. We are hoping to perform our Murky Quirky Melodrama plays to parents - these plays have been written by the kids based on a fairytale and they have had set criteria they need to meet for their performances. The presentation of these plays is likely to be on Thursday 17th November at 1.30pm.

Trash Fashion

2011-09-01T20:59:00.000-07:00

Trash Fashion

2011-09-01T20:52:00.000-07:00

The girls in the syndicate had a fantastic afternoon making wearable art creations. Each group had a model while the others made the costumes. The success criteria was to make a costume with the WOW factor that would withstand the catwalk,pose and twirl. Each group had the same materials, tinfoil, chocolate wrappers, newspaper, tape, and shopping bags.

Oral Language Presentations

2011-08-24T19:31:00.000-07:00

Just a reminder that oral language presentations are on next week. Your child knows what day they are to do their presentation. Your child has had two weeks to prepare for this presentation and has had no other homework so that they have plenty of time to get prepared and practice.
If you need details relating to the task look on the right hand side of this blog under oral language.

Tournament of Minds Improvisations

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Improvisation

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Tournament of the Minds

2011-07-29T22:17:00.000-07:00

Designing and Making Musical Instruments

2011-07-01T01:44:00.000-07:00

Room 11 have been designing and making musical instruments. They have set criteria to guide them in what their instrument needs to be able to do and what they are able to make it out of. Exploring sounds that junk materials make, and making soundscapes earlier this term, has meant that most of us already know what works and what is most likely to make a clear sound and how to make different pitches. The next step is to be able to modify instruments and then play them in small groups to play a recognisable tune. Good luck with that!

Todd the drummer

2011-07-01T01:42:00.000-07:00

Jacob and Dante create their instruments

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What have you made Connor?

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Camryn and Hannah's unique instruments

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Jay and Jayden with their blowing instruments

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Kate and Lily with their musical creations

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Connor making an instrument

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Caitlin and Mikayla making instruments

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Todd testing out his musical instrument design

2011-07-01T01:14:00.000-07:00

H for Hydro day

2011-06-11T21:44:00.000-07:00

H Day

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Mikayla soundscape

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Aaliyah soundscape

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Connor soundscape

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Kate soundscape

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Alyssa with her instruments

2011-06-05T17:00:00.000-07:00

Ethan with his instruments

2011-06-05T16:52:00.000-07:00

Andrew with his unique instrument

2011-06-05T16:42:00.001-07:00

Lily and her Ukelily

2011-06-05T16:40:00.000-07:00

Camryn Soundscape

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Liam Soundscape

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Jade soundscape

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Cheydon soundscape

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Maddison soundscape

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Kaleb Soundscape

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Alyssa Soundscape

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Jacob and Flynn Soundscape

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Jay Soundscape

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Ethan soundscape

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Hannah Soundscape

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Soundscape

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Homework due next Monday 30th May.
Make a soundscape using recycled materials from home
Success Criteria
• will include high and low pitch
• will have one or more unique sounds
• will use the rhythm of a nursery rhyme
• will last between 20 seconds and one minute

What you need to do
Use boxes, rubberbands, different sized tins or jars ( whatever you like to create your own music) How will you get high or low sounds from the junk material?
If you play twinkle twinkle little star
it may be
one tap on a medium size tin, one tap on a big tin repeated three times and one bang on a tissue box for the first line and so on.

You will need to have practised this at home. Bring your junk to play your music next week OR you could get someone to video you playing it at home and we can watch it at school.

Oral Language

2011-05-06T21:03:00.000-07:00

This term the oral language task is about an inventor. You should have a sheet at home that was given to you in the first week of this term. If you don't have a sheet look on the right hand side of this blog under Oral language for the details and the success criteria. Everyone is expected to do their presentation in week 5 which is the Tuesday 7th June to Friday 10th of June.
Your child will have the date of their presentation during this week in their communication book. It is essential that your child is ready to do their presentation on their allocated day.

Term 2 notice

2011-04-29T02:03:00.000-07:00

2 May 2011
This term in a nut shell
• multiplication and division strategies for Maths
• focus on inference and questioning strategies in Reading
• biographies and explanations for writing
• Technology Design/Science topic – inventors / sound/designing and making own musical instrument
• Arts – visual art style of Hundertwasser, Drama games
• Physical Education – Winter sports / throwing, striking, catching skills
• Oral language – NZ inventor of your choice

Mrs Elvidge who teaches in Room 16 with Mrs Buchanan, will be teaching in Room 11 this term each Thursday while Mrs McDonald takes groups for Philosophy and
Tournament of the Minds.

For our topic we need your junk!• clean plastic milk or water bottles
• cardboard rolls ( glad wrap inner)
• empty tin cans (also tins like golden syrup or milo)
• empty fizzy drink cans • nails
• empty plastic icecream containers
• small cardboard boxes ( tissue boxes)
• clean small glass jars

See syndicate newsletter on right hand side of the blog for a more detailed overview.

Air guitar technology challenges

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Air guitar technology challenges

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Air guitar technology Challenges

2011-04-13T05:04:00.000-07:00

We had great fun doing the air guitar technology challenges today. The main aim of the challenge was to work cooperatively in groups of 6 to produce a costume for one member of the group to wear for a 30 second performance to music, without the costume falling apart. We had limited materials of 2 meters of tin foil, 4 meters of masking tape and 20 sheets of newspaper. After the first performance the team had to help the model get into a second costume within two minutes. The teams are judged on their cooperation, all members taking part, the costume meeting the criteria.

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Air guitar technology challenges

2011-04-13T04:29:00.000-07:00

Dream Bedrooms

2011-04-08T01:38:00.000-07:00

Creative Thinking

2011-03-29T19:51:00.000-07:00

We are focussing on thinking divergently with creative starters. This week we looked at thinking of as many unusual uses as we could for golden syrup. However we really wanted our group to get an original idea. To be original it can't be connected to anyone else's idea in any way. If we get a similar idea to another group we can get more points by having a more elaborate explanation or more detail than them. The main concepts people had for uses were connected to BEAUTY FOOD GLUE MIXING INGREDIENTS SMELL KILLING CATCHING SMOTHERING JEWELLERY TO DRY AND MAKE THINGS.
The most original ideas were - for putting out fires and to make stained glass windows.
Each group has 5 minutes to think of their ideas and to think and work cooperatively.

Unusual uses for Golden Syrup

2011-03-29T19:47:00.000-07:00

Whose idea is it anyway!

2011-03-29T17:12:00.000-07:00

Creative Thinking - thinking of original ideas

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Creative Thinking

2011-03-29T17:02:00.001-07:00

Basketball

2011-03-10T01:31:00.001-08:00

Basketball

2011-03-10T01:22:00.000-08:00

Kahikatea syndicate had basketball skills and mini games today. Alex McDonald who goes to Kapiti College had a work day and decided to share his basketball skills at Kenakena School. He took each class in the syndicate for dribbling, passing and lay up skills and briefly explained the rules. The kids enjoyed playing the game and everyone gave it a go. Have a look at the mini videos below.

Basketball skills

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Basketball

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Football skills

2011-03-10T01:02:00.000-08:00

Logan, Bradley, Dante and Flynn taught football skills to their classmates today. They decided to take this activity by themselves after we talked about how we all have talents and skills and how students can teach other students skills. The boys did very well setting up the skills activities and refereeing a game. We will do a PMI (Plus Minus Improve) on the activity and make any improvements before the next lesson.

Football Skills

2011-03-10T00:56:00.000-08:00

Teaching Football Skills

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Football Skills

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Manners - showing respect

2011-03-09T01:38:00.000-08:00

What not to do! Manners

2011-03-09T01:34:00.000-08:00

Manners Role Play - helping an old lady

2011-03-09T01:30:00.000-08:00

Red and Black Day for Christchurch Fundraiser

2011-03-09T01:29:00.001-08:00

Talent showcases

2011-03-09T01:07:00.000-08:00

Part of the children's homework this term has been to prepare for a talent showcase. We have had a variety of talents showcased. There have been a couple of cooking shows done by Camryn and Kate and another by Caitlin and Mikayla and one by Alyssa. The shows have been videoed at home and the baking was brought along to school for the class to sample. Ethan and Laura played guitar and short excerpts of their presentations are below. Andrew and Kaleb did a rap with speed and precision which had us in awe as to their skill and their ability to memorise it so well. Hannah was inspiring with a powerpoint about her athletics achievements and she had memorised her speech and it was delivered perfectly. Jay did a powerpoint on his bmx riding and had great photos of himself in action. Logan and Bradley gave us a display of their football skills and added some humour such as when Logan missed a shot at goal and calmly stated it was called an over shot. Lily blew us all away with her presentation of her singing talent which was told through her creative writing talent with recordings of her singing at the age of two and then now with a song she composed about Christmas and sang beautifully. We have more to come!

Ethan's talent showcase

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Laura's talent showcase

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Camryn and Kate's Showcase

2011-03-09T00:47:00.000-08:00

El Rancho Camp Meeting

2011-03-03T12:27:00.001-08:00

Kahikatea Camp Information Evening
A reminder that this meeting is being held on Tuesday March 8th at 7pm
Please RSVP to your child’s teacher by Monday by email jmcdonald@kenakena.school.nz
or via your child’s communication book.

Swimming

2011-02-25T21:05:00.000-08:00

We have been swimming twice a week for the last three weeks. The focus for these lessons is practice for the accomplished swimmers and improving breathing and stroke technique for many in the class.

Swimming 2011

2011-02-25T21:03:00.001-08:00

Canterbury Earthquake Gold Coin Trail

2011-02-25T19:33:00.000-08:00

GOLD COIN TRAIL FOR CHRISTCHURCH
Many of us are feeling that we would like to help some of the children in Christchurch in some small way. The School Council has decided to hold a gold coin trail next Wednesday, 2nd March and send the money raised to Waimairi School. It would be great if we could all help out by bringing a gold coin to school on this day.

2011-02-24T01:03:00.000-08:00

Gymnastics

2011-02-23T15:45:00.001-08:00

Gymnastics

2011-02-23T15:34:00.000-08:00

Hey! Do a flip,” someone said in the line behind me. There goes one person… SPLAT! Second person… Weee! Third one…SUPERMAN!! Now it was my turn. I carefully stepped on the tramp and looked down at what you would call a soft bouncy landing. I visualized furry little bunnies bouncing round and round all day, but then I thought of me jumping in all happy and breaking my arm or leg or even breaking into a million pieces! I shook that thought out my head. Here it goes…and I jumped! Not only jumped but flipped like chocolates fly in to someone’s mouth! And… BOING! Landed all safe no harm done!
By Sophia Pope Room 11

Gymnastics

2011-02-23T15:19:00.000-08:00

Art workshop

2011-02-19T21:47:00.000-08:00

On the 15th of February we had an art workshop at school. Jane Lloyd who is an artist working for Graham Braddock Art Workshops took our class and two other classes in the syndicate for a lesson on how to do pencil portraits. We looked at how to position features on a face and how to observe a photo carefully to gain accuracy in our drawing of a face. Jane taught the skills of shading and how to draw each feature of a face. Most students were very pleased with their drawings and there was a good likeness to the Phoenix player Mark Paston. We have developed our skills further by sketching our own faces using large black and white photocopies of photos of ourselves. Click on view all images below to see some photos of this work.

Art workshop

2011-02-19T21:46:00.000-08:00

Picasso Style Portraits

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Picasso Style Portraits

2011-01-27T20:00:00.001-08:00

Term One 2011

2011-01-27T19:46:00.001-08:00

Welcome to the new students in Room 11. Welcome back to the year sixes. There is a class newsletter with lots of information about what is happening at the start of this year on the right hand side of this blog under newsletters. Check out the homework for week two and the oral language presentation which is also on the right hand side of the blog. Start preparing for your oral language presentation - these will be presented in week 5 and 6 of this term. You will be given your date to present your talent/oral language on your homework sheet. Look through the blog. The spelling and math websites are useful and also look through the older posts
to see some of the sorts of activities you could be doing in Room 11. In the first week we will be doing Picasso portraits. These are lots of fun to draw.

Warren Pohatu Paintings

2010-11-23T23:00:00.000-08:00