A Poem for Room 12 by Mr Smith

Some of you asked for a copy of the poem that I wrote for Room 12.  I've copied it into this blog post for you, so that it's always available for you to read.  Thank you once again for the wonderful time that we shared together and for being such an amazing class. It was an absolute privilege to share the classroom with you and to get to know you all.

A Poem for Room 12, by Mr Smith

Room 12 has been a truly incredible place to be

It’s full of learning, friendship, and true camaraderie

I’ve had such fun with you all I never would have guessed

I hope you don’t remember me as a terrible, awful, nasty pest.

There’s, Molly, Hannah, and Chloe, but wait here comes Lucy too

Peter, Hunter, Pearse, Anna, and Athena with no shoe

Arabella, Caitlin, Millie, and Sophie make a four,

If you add in CC and Isabella, there’ll be a whole lot more.

Reilly has his cello and Charlie’s got his football dream

Fred, Hayden, and Leo, they make such a great team

Robbie, Henry and Archie I cannot leave them out

Because if I do there’s Zach and Alex who’ll surely give a shout.

It must be morning, Ollie’s got some news to share

And over in the corner, is Noa putting out the chair

Jack was here but now he’s gone to wherever he may stay

So that just leaves Mr McIntosh, to mention right away.

Remember at the beginning and we made a juggling ball?

I think we had a lot of fun; at least that’s what I recall

Balloons, rice and a little bag, colours and designs were made

Together we ventured out with them and in the playground we played.

We read a book by Roald Dahl called the BFG

About dreams and giants and a girl whose name was Sophie

We thought about the dreams we have and whether they could come true

In our books, we wrote them down and shared our point of view.

What imaginations you really have to see such wondrous stuff

A golden boot, vampire bats, and unicorns that are full of fluff

Some were likely, some were certain and some that just could not be

I thought all were amazing and brilliant, and explored some probability.

When you see yourself in the mirror, there’s a reflection looking back at you

And down the centre, right in between, there’s a line that divides the two

We used contrasting colours and paper folded in two or four

To show our lines of symmetry so they showed up even more 

Cut out a circle of paper and then you fold it one, two, three

Take a piece of pizza pie and trace your design so you see

Rotate around, rotate around, rotate around that’s the key

If you fit in more times than one, you've got rotational symmetry.

Now, how to find your way around I wonder if you know?

East, south, west, north, please tell me it’s not so

The compass needle always points to the north and after that it’s east

Never Eat Soggy Weetbix always remember that at least!

What shapes we found and placed them together with no gaps in between

To make some wonderful patterns, the best that I’d ever seen

Now what do we call it?  What name could it be?

Why it was tessellation of course! Oh silly, silly me.

How do you write instructions, please tell me what you need

Begin with a title that says it all and sows a little seed

Next you add a description and maybe a picture or two

Follow the steps you find below and you’ll know just what to do.  

In the mornings after a little maths we took ourselves under the sea

With a special room 12 brain break created just for you, by me

We looked around, we saw such fish, and wonders of the deep

And after we had finished, there was not a sign of sleep!

We learned about cause and effect on the oceans you recall?

How pollution, over fishing, and climate change are problems for us all

We need to act, we need to think about what it is we do

So in the future this planet of ours will still have seas of blue

And in those seas the fish will swim and the whales will blow and dive

All of the life below the surface will multiply and thrive

We need the krill, we need the sharks, we need the tuna and wahoo

Because without those last two fishy types, what’s the cookie cutter shark to do?

Now here we are it’s come at last, the end of my short stay

Room 12 you’re the most wonderful people, and I know you’ll always be that way

And even though I’ll be gone, the memories shall never fade

Because you have created for me, the most brilliant dream that was ever made.

                                                                           Mr Smith

                                                                            25 September 2015

Cartoon Animal Artwork

This afternoon, we learned how to create pictures of animals using simple shapes like circles, ovals and lines to help us draw cartoon animals.  We learned how to draw a koala bear and a lion, and some of us experimented with other animals like dogs.  Here are some photographs of the amazing cartoon animals that we drew.

 

Term 3 Assembly

*Apologies for the poor lighting!

Today we had our last assembly for the term. We were able to share some of the symmetry based art. We explained line symmetry and rotational symmetry.

We said goodbye to Mrs Pilcher. Mrs Pilcher is off to another school. We are very grateful for all the hard work she has put in over the last three years.

These wonderful people received principals certificates - well done!

Wizen world

Wizen world is an online game which allows children to complete quests and missions all in the name of mathematics. 

Wizenworld

Some of the levels are quite difficult so start off easy and make sure you read the instructions.

Our class login is: 589pp

Select your name and create a username (make it really simple e.g. MrMcintosh123). If you forget your password - email Mr Mcintosh, he can reset it for you.

Google Classroom

Google classroom is (hopefully) going to become a big part of Room 12 in term 4.

We are going to use it in a variety of ways. We will be completing work, interacting and commenting, receiving feedback and sharing our learning.

For some information, and to see what it will look like, have a watch of the short video below

How does it work?
Each child has a login. Your login looks like an email address (it isn't) and will need to be typed into the login page along with your password. Every child has a password, but as the teacher I can view and change passwords, so don't worry if you lose yours! You'll also have a class code which you need to login through.

Once you have logged in, you will be able to post, respond, create (using google drive) and share their learning.

As a teacher, I will be creating tasks which you can complete at school or, if you want, at home as well.

We will be going over how to use this in class over the next few weeks. If you have any questions then feel free to ask.

Seesaw

Seesaw is the a new app that we'll be using in Room 12 during term 4.

What is it?

It's an online learning journal. We'll be using this to document our learning and share it with you at home.

How does it work?

Easy. At school we can take a picture of our learning with an ipad. We double tap the screen if we want to add our voice or text over the top. We click on our name and the picture is uploaded to our profile.

Then what?

A notification is sent to our parents phone or mobile device. You can click on the notification and you'll be able to see what your child has wanted to share with you 

Have a watch of the video below to see how it works

Just some more information:

- although we would love you to, there is no requirement to sign up and you can always turn notifications off if you'd like. 

- You can only see your child's work so there are no privacy concerns.

- Mr Mcintosh has to approve all the pictures before notifications get sent home so they will all be learning based.

- We'll be aiming to use this once or twice a week.

Coming soon....

Next term we are going to use Googleclassroom and Seesaw....

Don't know anything about them? Not to worry - both are online/apps that help us share, learn and collaborate. We'll be using them next term and would love you to check them out and help us when it all starts next term.

Maps and directions

Over the past week, the we have been investigating and learning about maps and directions. Today we made a virtual visit to Wellington Zoo and navigated our way around using a map.  In the photographs below, you can see the students working on this class activity.

We've been learning about the cardinal points of the compass (north, east, south, and west also known as never eat soggy Weetbix), found out how to locate places on a map using co-ordinates, created our own games based on the idea of Battleships and written instructions on how to play them, we've been learning how to orientate ourselves on a map, and we've learned how to write a set of directions.  One of our current projects is to write the directions from the school office to room 12, so that any visitor to the school could find their way to our classroom.

Multiplication Racing

Here's a quick multiplication game for you to play. Answer the questions correctly and you'll keep your car moving faster.

(Click to play "offline" when you first enter the game)

Racing Game

More maths games!

These maths games all reinforce some of the things we've been learning in our class over the term.

Railroad Repair

Fix the railroad before the train comes along. Be prepared to look at a map and use addition and decimals to figure out the pieces of track that are needed to help repair the train track.

Space Shoot

Find the shapes that have lines of symmetry. Click on the correct shape to score points.

Symmetry & Shapes

Use the the star to click on the shapes that have line symmetry.

Area Shooter

This game looks at the area of shapes. Use the star to click on the shape that has the area displayed before. 

Space Robot Builder

Build a robot and use symmetry while you build!

Celebration Meetings

I just wanted to say a big thank you to all the parents who took the time to come down and celebrate their child's learning and achievements with them.

I also need to to thank all the children in Room 12 - you all did a wonderful job of hosting your parents. It was so nice to see you all leading these and showing your parents all the amazing things you've done this year. Well done!