Week 1 Highlights

Here are some highlights from this week.
Our Senior Team has started to measure our heart rates during exercise. This is 15 minutes of fast paced action! Can you see the determination to get fit?
Our maths unit this week is all about weight and capacity. In teams of three the students have to make a measuring device to weigh grams and measure volume. Next week we will be mixing some salt dough to make Koru necklaces. Stephanie is weighing some sand to create her own weight device. Her team found out that 1 litre weighs the same as 1 kg!
Samuel's team have created this weighing machine after many trial and errors! Their next step is to create some weights.
Zain is continuing with his 'Piece of Riverdale' picture. Our Connected 'big idea' is about symbols and how they represent ideas and concepts. We are creating some art that represents our Suburb by designing some symbols - birds, the river, the mountains, bushes - that symbolise Riverdale. Below you can see some of his sketch ideas that he got from researching other designs in a Maori 'style' on the Internet.


I'm looking forward to seeing the finished product - watch this space!

Classroom changes!

Hi all Room 12ers.

I hope you're enjoying your last few days of holidays! It's great to see some sunny weather.

You can see in the picture below that I've been making a few changes around the classroom. Why all the desks you may ask? You could choose any of the answers below -

- We needed more desk surface space for the art we'll be doing over the next few weeks.
- We'll be working more closely as class teams this term - earn climbing points to reach the top of the mountain.
- I may have 'caved' to the mounting pressure to have your own desks?... - (with these desks come extra responsibilities!)
- A new term / new half the year deserves a change of routine and layout of the room.

You can click on the picture to make the image enlarge.

You'll also notice that the desks have been allocated some names - yours (yes, you can even keep your books and other things in them). These will be your class teams. I'll be explaining how they work when we start next week.

It also looks, in the photo, like the computers have disappeared but, no, they just out of the shot (No, Mrs Peck, I haven't sold them on Trademe).

I hope you enjoy having a little warning before you arrive next week and make sure you spend as much time outside (in the sun) as possible.

See you next week!

Te Manawa and Town!

The Senior Team made a day trip into town last week to investigate the symbolism in art. We saw the artwork in the square, Te Manawa, the Art Gallery and even the Library! Did you know how much rich art work our city has within the C.B.D?
Ask you student to explain a highlight for them!

Personal Investigations

We have been presenting some of Term 2's P.I's over the last few days. Some students will also be presenting their projects on Monday and Tuesday of next term.
We have had exploding volcanos, guitar solos, 'How engines work' and the science behind roting fruit! (To name just a few of the varied and colourful presentations)



I hope you all had a lot of enjoyment at home with these projects and I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone investigates next time.

Thinking Boards

We're coming to the end of our time with Multiplication and Division. These pictures show us using a 'Thinking Board' to show our understanding of all the different ways a mult question can be thought of.

Have your student's mult / div skills improved this term?

Class Updates 20 June

Here are a couple of highlights from Week 7!
We say goodbye to Robert this week. His family are spending some time in Sydney and he will be back nex term. We hope to hear all about your adventures, Robert. Watch out for spiders and snakes!
Our connected topic for the next while is within the Maori Arts context and is called 'Nga Toi'. We have spent some time learning about symbols and how we use them to represent ideas.
We've started with a 'global' focus and our art this week was based on the 'Kuna' Indians of an Island near Panama. Their traditional 'Mola' designs usea lot of rich symbolism that's based on the physical environment - snakes, houses, boats, fish and trees.

We've pretended we were 'Kuna' Indians and made a design based on a symbol that would be important to us.
What do you think? You can post some feedback by clicking on 'feedback' below!
We're also looking forward to the winter sports tournament coming up at the end of this term. I hope everyone is practising and getting prepared!

Have a great week!

Homework Expectations!

We have been having some great discussions in class about our homework expectations and our views and opinions. It has also been 'enlightening' to hear some feedback from a few parents that their child seems vague or confused.
To help you bypass any confusion (whether genuine or contrived) we have created the following responsibilities of the students and me, as the teacher, for their learning at home. You can also see the photo of our list created this morning during our oral language time.
Students Responsibilities
- Basic Facts Ladder - as soon as a student has learnt their step I can test them and they can progress to the next one.
- Free Choice Reading - 20 minutes a day / evening. Books read to be written into their reading log.
- Self Reflection Answer - to be drafted into their Homework books and typed up onto template at school.
- Personal Investigation - as BIG or small as they want it to be. This is a self interest project with their choice of presentation.
- Spelling. Each student has a list (whether the rocket levels or essential list) they are learning and activities to complete.

Teacher's Responsibilities
- Posting the Self reflection question on Knowledge Net (in the future this will also be written on the white board at school) and reading these on Monday.
- Allowing 2x 20minute slots for spelling setup / checking / marking each week.
- Testing basic facts ladder steps when requested
- Giving time for P.I presentation / sharing and some feedback.

I hope this is clear for you and your student. I've also added links where these processes have been explained before; KnowledgeNet ,
Basic facts Ladder
Homework expectations

Please email me any questions you might have - mherring@riverdale.school.nz

Remember - it's JUST as important to have some play as well - adults and children!

Mr Herring