Room 3, Kauri Park School, 2009

Term 3

2009-07-07T09:32:00.001+12:00

We start this term with Mr Mathieson as our teacher. He is here up until the end of week 5.

Coming up...

Maths:

Multiplication and division strategies

Reading:

Inference - 'reading between the lines'. Gaining meaning when there is more to what we see directly on the page.

Writing:

Letters, emails, messages

Topic Scenario:

'Home Sweet Home' You have a decision to make about whether to live in the city or the country

PE:

Locomotive skills and designing your own fitness programme

Wild Weather

2009-05-20T21:05:00.000+12:00

We've been looking at aspects of weather we are currently working towards getting our 'Meteorologist Licence'. Having the licence allows us to become part of Room 3's 'Studio 3' weather team and record our own weather report!

Soon we will be moving from a science perspective to a social science perspective. We will be looking at gaining some specific knowledge about roles people have taken on when responding to a disaster such as a flood, storm, tornado, and how they have managed resources to prepare in advance.

From this knowledge we hope to gain an understanding of how ordinary citizens can take on important roles in difficult times such as a disaster, and how we can use resources we have to prepare for possible future events.

Google sets up new Kid-safe search site

2009-03-19T17:42:00.002+13:00

Go to http://kidrex.org

Mangroves - must they go?

2009-03-11T19:44:00.005+13:00

UPDATE: Look at a snippet of our class presentations we did to communicate our findings and final decisions about the issue of mangroves in our local area. Go to our youtube site at youtube.com/room3kps and look for 'Mangrove Presentations' parts 1 and 2.

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We are studying the eco-system of estuaries through our topic scenario.

In New Zealand many people live close to estuary areas. They often enjoy the views and recreational activities in and around them. Over the years, our local estuary area, Oruamo (Hellyers Creek), has been used for water activities such as swimming, rowing, and sailing. More recently it has seen a large increase in mangroves, filling in what used to be a clear and open waterway.

A local long-time resident Marjorie Mumme has requested the council remove a large amount of mangroves from the surrounding estuary area to restore it to its former beauty. The North Shore City Council is requesting that you prepare an environmental report about the eco-system of the estuary to help inform a decision on whether they should or should not remove the mangroves. Include your recommendation with your report.

Fun with plurals

2009-02-19T08:51:00.001+13:00

Here's a great site with some games and more information about
plurals. CHECK IT OUT!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/words/spelling/plurals/pluralrules/index.shtml

Mr Ashcroft

Why the 'easy' multiplication focus?

2009-02-16T09:00:00.003+13:00

Soon we'll being coming to the end of our specific focus on statistics and focussing on our 'number knowledge'. When we talk about knowledge we mean things that you just 'know' and don't need to work out. The more we just 'know' the less numbers we need to keep in our head when working out bigger number problems. Our times tables are one of those things we should just know without needing to spend a long time working out.

Sometimes we're so keen to get to the 'big' multiplication facts like the 9x, we leave a few gaps behind us. This showed up when we did some tests in week one. We want to remove these gaps, and in some cases, this means starting at the easy ones and moving on from there.

The order of learning times tables from easy to hard is this:

1, 2, 5, 10, 3, 4, 6, 8, 7, 9

So you can see, if you're focussing on the 3s, you're more than half-way there! In fact, the photo shows that for each times table you learn, the next one has one less to learn.

Mr Ashcroft

2009 here we come!

2009-01-01T09:00:00.002+13:00

Welcome to our class blog. In 2009 we hope to use this page for a few different things, such as...

Personal comments and reflections on our learning
Examples of our writing
Links to our photos and videos

It's so exciting, I can't wait to get started. :-)

Mr Ashcroft.

Leaving a comment

2009-01-01T08:59:00.008+13:00

Occasionally a message left on our blog will give you the option to leave a comment. To do so, you need to follow some simple steps.

A. Click on the title of the message above, or the comments link below.

B. Look at the example picture below, which explains how you need to fill out the comment form using just your first name.

Happy commenting. Why not try leaving a comment now?

Write about one personal learning goal you have for this year.

Mr Ashcroft