Room 9 Einsteins

Where in the world are you? How do you get to school?

We are absolutely loving all our visitors this week and your helpful comments.

Could you help us with our statistics investigation by answering the questions below?

What do teachers do on a Saturday? Well, sometimes they have to work… reflect on the week that was and get things ready for the coming week. Today, I have been busy looking through the Neinstein’s books, blogs and comments and just wanted to announce to the world what a privilege it is to be working in Room 9 and learning with these students!

Readers will be aware of a recent Writing Project that Eleana and Joanna participated in last week. On Friday, the Kahurangi literacy group read the story from start to finish and gave the writers feedback by leaving comments on the All Saint’s post.

Feedback and Feed forward in our room. This is what fuels our learning. We have been learning how to give, and how to act on, helpful feedback since the beginning of the year.

While I worked with Kakariki and Whero literacy groups, Kahurangi independently read the story and then posted what I think are the makings of quality comments without any scaffolding from me! Ka pai, Kahurangi!

However, a bit of feedback about our feedback would be very useful… Please leave them a comment here…

Samantha acts as Ako – a learner and a teacher helping her junior buddy to unpack her mihi! Top Job, Sam!
Voice Recorder >>

Over several weeks, children from our Senior Learning Team have worked with the guidance of Camilla Cox (Ella’s mum) to create a very special gift for Shania. Shania was hit by a car just before Christmas during the summer holiday and has been receiving specialist care since that time, firstly in Dunedin Hospital, and more recently in Auckland at Starship Hospital and The Wilson Centre.

We miss Shania but also wanted her to know that we have been thinking of her…

The Quilt and The Quilters (Picture courtesy of the ODT)

Oscar is my junior buddy. This time I am helping him to learn how to present his mihi.  A mihi is a way to introduce ourselves to people, to share who our family is and the places we feel a belonging to…. Oscar was a bit nervous about recording his mihi but he took the challenge! Here it is.

Voice Recorder >>

We have been so excited about writing recently! We love having a real audience on our blog and being able to find other real reasons, purposes and audience to write for.

Eleana and Joana have just completed a collaborative writing piece with the All Saints from England…

They would love your feedback!

The Moving Swamp

  Once upon a time in Spain there was a pretty little girl who lived on her own in a thatched cottage. When she was young her mum and dad died in a car crash, luckily she survived but she now has to live on her own although she was only eight.  Her name was Ruby.

One sunny morning Ruby skipped into the forest for some firewood to heat her tea. The forest was deep, dark and damp but had some kind of magical atmosphere as if something weird but wonderful lived there. All that could be heard was the rustling of leaves and the woodpeckers pecking on the tall trees. Ruby skipped merrily through the wood looking for some perfect firewood. Suddenly she heard something or someone crying.  She walked round the corner………

     ‘ AAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH ‘, she screamed.

“Hello”, a deep called out voice.  “My name is Tim and as you’ve probably found out already that I am an ogre. This is my swamp.  I get really upset all the time because a witch cast a spell on my swamp so that every week it moves to a different place. I make friends and then I have to leave them ever Sunday afternoon. The witch said that the only way to break the spell was to find the ugly Princess Ogre, who lives in a very tall tower in Murcia. If she kisses me, my swamp will not move anymore. Please come on a quest with me to find her”, explained Tim.

“Sure. I would love to help you,’’ answered Ruby. So they set off into the wood to find Princess Ogre. They trampled over fallen trees, jumped over streams, and scrambled up rocky slopes until they were both exhausted.

“How much further is it to the castle?” asked Ruby in a tired voice. “I think it’s just around the bend”, the Ogre replied in a low voice. They walked around the bend and then saw the castle. It was an amazing sight. It looked like it was out of a fairytale. There were three turrets that rose up into the sky like huge pine trees.  It was made out of white stone, which looked like it had been polished. There was a huge front door with a big golden knocker on it and there upon the balcony stood Princess Ogre and the king. She smiled down at Tim with her clean white teeth showing happiness, suddenly, Ruby and Tim saw a hard mentally shaped leg in front of them, it was a guard!

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE? THIS IS PRIVATE PROPERTY!!!!!!!!!”, the guard boomed in a angry voice. When the king saw Ruby and Tim, he told the guard to throw them in the dungeon. They got dragged into the Dark, horrid dungeon, the doors slammed behind them. It was cold and damp in the dungeons. They were just letting their eyes adjust to the dark when they heard someone crying. They turned around and saw a little boy in the corner.

“Hello, who are you?, asked Ruby in a sweet voice.

“I’m Freddy”, he whispered in a little voice.

“How did you get here?’’, Tim asked.

“Well I was walking through the woods when I fell into a big swamp that moved’, said Freddy. Tim gasped.

“That was my swamp!”

 “Well, the swamp moved to the back of the castle the guards saw me and took me into the dungeons,’’ Said Freddie.

A tall looking man walked through the dungeon door. He had all the keys to all the cages in the dungeon. Ruby, being very clever, sneaked a key saying E 1. That was the name of the cage she was in. When the man had walked past, Ruby quietly unlocked the door. They all sneaked out of the dungeons, without getting caught because the guards were on a coffee break. Then they all came to a long corridor. It was a very dark corridor. At the end of the corridor was a very pink door. Tim opened it very slowly, thinking it could be the princess’s room. Tim opened the door slowly.  The King and the princess were standing on the pretty balcony. The princess turned round. Tim and the princess stared into each others eyes. The King turned round to look at the princess.” Who are you staring at?”, he said. Then he turned round and saw Tim. “AAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH”, the king screamed. “I thought my darling daughter was the only ogre in this world. Of course I’m not an ogre said the king. The princess ran to kiss Tim. “My name is Fiona Tim feeling very embarrassed, ran out of the room where the princess was standing and back to his swamp and it never moved again, thanks to the kiss.

                                   THE END 

Today a friend of Tyler’s came to visit Room 9. He brought in a few rocks to share with us. We found what he had to say very interesting.

• Meteorites have Nickel, Iron and Colebolte- Tom W
• Igneous rocks start at a seed and turn into crystals over billions of years.
• Fossils are sedimentary rocks and are from the sea
• fossils take a couple of hundred million years to form
• rocks can be made out of crystal and a seed can turn into a crystal in millions of years .
• A meteorite can destroy a whole race.

• Only a little amount of people have been hit by a Meteor but none have ever died.
• When a meteorite falls to earth the lightest rocks fall off until it hits the land and separates.-George
• Quartz has materials that are used to make window glass.-Keely
• Rocks are most likely to land in the ocean.-Nina
• There are three types of rock- Sedimentary, Metamorphic and Igneous.-Caleb
• Meteorites break when falling to earth at high speeds.-Rohan
• when you drop a crystal some do not brake – DevonO
• Meteors travel through space very fast and as they enter a planet the atmosphere turn them up- Jacob