Specialist Classes

Twice a week our class heads off to our specialist classes. We have already completed one rotation and are currently onto our second - Dance & Drama with Miss Robinson and Food Technology with Mrs Mountford. One tech group has also completed a cycle learning about ICT with Mr Stewart.

The Witches: Book vs Film

As you know, we have been reading The Witches by Roald Dahl in class for the last 6 weeks.
We finally completed the story last Friday and followed it up by watching the 1990 film with the same name.
There were a few differences between the book and the movie, and we found that one third of the class preferred the book and the other two thirds preferred the movie.

                                     

 Watch the trailer above!

Artwork

Over the past week, we have been putting our energy into creating some colourful artwork.

We had a success criteria to follow.

To achieve this artwork we needed:

• At least five sections
• 1 Maori design
• 2 with Pacific flowers
• 1 koru that was repeated
• Our name or self-portrait
• Reflective colours

They have now been displayed around the classroom and has definitely made our learning environment bold and colourful!

The Witches

In class, we have been reading the book The Witches by Roald Dahl.
To showcase our listening skills and creativity, we have each created a catalogue selling products to either children or witches from the information we have gotten from the book.
We have made sure that we use persuasive language to encourage customers to buy, have a catchy title, a price and pictures to support our descriptions.



Casey Hall and Stephanie Gillard have already completed theirs and have done a fabulous job!

Casey's 5 Must Have Items!

Stephanie's Which Witch Catalogue!

Survival Island

Room 25 began their Survival Island adventure in the first three weeks of this term.
We had to imagine that we had been stranded on an island with only the clothes on our back and three other people.
Each day we rolled the dice to determine our weather, picked a flotsam that washed up ashore and figured innovative ways to use it, and pulled a problem from a box to solve.
We also had to describe what we ate each day, what we used as shelter (or how we improved it) and what we used as weapons.

The winning group went to Pebble Island, who not only solved their problems in very interesting ways, but kept everything up to date and at a high standard. 
They were awarded with two coconuts!!

Chey, Tom P, Keenan, Tom L and their Long Lost Island.

The Matthews and their Redemption Island.

Mikayley, Amyliah, Cade, Tom and the Land of the Lost.

Pavanpreet, Briaana, Olivia, Paula and The Undiscovered Island.

Ella-Xanthe, Casey, Dion, Stephanie and their Luxury Death Island.

Elle, Chloe, Genesis and Lauren with their Sunset Island.

The Winners!

Nicole, Jodie, Tara, Alice, Pebble Island and coconuts!

Triathalon

On the 18th of February, we participated in the school's triathalon!

This involved a run to the Otumoetai Pools, run back to school and a bike ride around the field.

Room 25 had some awesome results, and very tired students at the end of the day!

You should be very proud of your efforts!

(Photos are to come - Miss Puke cannot find the camera cord!)

In the meantime, check out some photos on the Otumoetai Intermediate Facebook page!

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.402899699727465.115025.148719545145483&type=1

Home Learning Grid

What do I need to do for each section of the Home Learning Grid?

Read or be read to:

Reading is an essential skill that translates to every facet of life. Reading, here, includes reading for pleasure, reading fiction, newspapers, magazines, textbooks and assigned reading of texts set by teachers as classwork.

Being read to is an essential part of developing the desire to read and bonding with parents. It enables children to imagine and form thoughts in their heads.

Shopping:

This is an active pastime and a very valuable one in gaining a number of life kills including budgeting, selecting, discerning, totalling, money handling, reading item labels and discovering what things cost and value for money.

Physical Activity:

This is a crucial parat of the grid and should be a daily part of every student's home life and work.

This can include sport's training, riding a bicycle, bushwalking, fishing, walking the dog, walking home and can be activities done with your parents. Any kind of indoor or outdoor active pursuits.

Housework:

This is absolutely compulsory and must be a daily part of the grid. Students are often opting out of family life and not doing chores, which places a lot of stress on parents, particularly where both parents work or in the case of single parents who are very busy doing the job of two parents. Children must not make parents their servants. At the very least they need to pick up after themselves and assist with activities for their benefit such as chopping wood, helping prepare meals, tidying their rooms and other parts of the house, cleaning the house and keeping it clean and tidy both inside and outside. Outdoor work could include weeding, gardening, raking and sweeping, painting and decorating. Many handyperson skills are necessary for them to be able to manage their own dwellings in later years. Again when housework is done with parents or siblings, it becomes a bonding activity and should enhance family life.

Teach your family:

One of the best ways of consolidating what one has learnt is to teach the concept to another. This can be set for class work or happen spontaneously to enable students to brief parents about work covered, but go a step further and try to explain and teach particular topics learnt that day or that week.

Cultural Activities:

These could include any after school dance, music, drama, kapa haka, art or other classes. They would also include any family cultural activities such as visits to museums, places of historical interest and live theatre performance.