Thursday, 3 March 2016

Swimming Sports

Xantaux and the swimming cowboys.

Yeehah!  Annalise about to do the cowgirl / cowboy relay

Olivia about to race among the icebergs.

"I won all the races mate!" exclaimed Zander.

Annalise showing her swimming skills.

Xantaux again in the brilliant backstroke bonanza. 

Tuesday, 1 March 2016

Radical Rain Recounts!

Early this week, Mr Clark made us run up and down the school stairs in the rain for four minutes! We then completed a hamburger brainstorm before writing these amazing recounts:


Week 4 most improved writers awards go to.......


Trot trouble by Zachary Congden  (with the kind use of Annie's brainstorm)


"GO GO GO" yelled Mr Clark as I trotted up the damp stairs like a sad gloomy chicken.   I could see puddles on the cold wet steps and hear the groan of classmates.  Time felt slow as the pain pulsed through my muscles. It felt like I was stuck to the ground!

My hands gripped the handles while rain dropped from the sky and I could smell the water soaked into the steps.  "Ahhhhh" I screamed as I fell to the ground.  "That hurts" I whispered to myself.  Mr Clark then blew the whistle and we finally finished.  I was exhausted and wanted to die, but it was great fun.

Raining Stairs by Grace Deng


"Ttttttttt" went the rain hammering constantly on the tin roof. I was pacing up and down the slippery stairs with the rest of Room 20.  There was basically no reason we were doing this apart from our recount writing.

I was sprinting up and down the stairs while thinking to myself "When will this be over?"  I grabbed the cold, wet, metal bar on the stairs for support because I was so exhausted.

I could hear a squeaking noise on the damp concrete every time I went up and down.  The rain was pouring heavily now and I was trying not to fall.  I could feel a few drops of rain on my head like it was the sky crying tears on my hair.

Panting heavily, I waited for Mr Clark to blow the whistle to stop.  "One more minute!" Mr Clark shouted.  Had we only been doing this for three minutes?  It felt like we had been doing it forever!  Then suddenly Mr Clark blew the whistle and I was so relieved.  I slowly stepped down the slippery stairs breathing heavily.  I was so glad it was over.


Week 4 Homework

Just a quick note.  Homework for this week is your country travel brochure.  Some of you may want to do some more work on your Mihi and find out your mountain, water and land.  Enjoy learning more about your Turangawaewae.

Thursday, 25 February 2016

February Fractions Frenzy

After completing our number knowledge tests, we realised we needed to do some work with fractions, so we had a February Fractions Frenzy!  We started with reading and writing fractions, then moved to representing fractions (drawing them using chocolate bars), then we looked at improper and equivalent fractions, and finally we have been adding fractions.....whew!


Here are Leanne, Flynn, Ricci and part of Madison learning about equivalent fractions by folding paper.  Nice work guys!

Tuesday, 16 February 2016

Week 3 already!

Its all go in Room 20!  Here's what we are up to:

Maths: fractions and improper fractions, equivalent fractions, adding fractions
Reading and writing: How to train a dragon
Inquiry: Turangawaewae
Writing: Similes, alliteration, and planning a recount.

Here is our homework for this week:
2016 Room 20 Homework


Week 3 - due Friday 19 February


Turangawaewae -  A place to stand.


  1. Research the meaning behind your surname or where it came from (2-3 sentences).
  2. Write why your ancestors originally came to New Zealand (2-3 sentences)
  3. Research a country or a place not in New Zealand that is your Turangawaewae.  You know you have succeeded in this task when you find out three new things about your Turangawaewae (6 sentences, no more than one page.  You can include drawings and maps if you want to).

Wednesday, 10 February 2016

Green eggs and Ham using SOLO thinking!

Today we used Solo thinking to rewrite Green eggs and Ham.  First we made a list to describe Sam. Then we explained why Sam had those features.  After that we rewrote Green eggs and Ham!

Would you could you in a hat? Would you could you with a cat?
You could eat them in the sea, you could come eat them with me.

Would you could you in a plane? Would you could you in a crane?
You could eat them on the moon. You could eat them with a spoon!

Would you could you in a pool? Would you could you while in school?
Would you like them on a rock, or with a lock, or in a sock?

You could eat them here by me, try and eat them with a key!
You could eat them with a Narwhale, you could eat them on his large tail.

Would you could you in the sky? Would you could you with some pie?
You could eat them on the phone, squash them down into a cone.

Would you could you on a bus? You can eat them with no fuss!
You could eat them while you fly, you could eat them way up high.

Could you eat them with a flag? Wrap them in a shopping bag.
You could eat them while you walk, you can eat them while we talk.

Would you could you in a train, come with me I wont be a pain.
You could eat them in the dark. We might not see and need a spark.

Would you eat them with a cow? You will like them I dont know how!
Would you could you with a moth?  If you dribble you will need a  cloth.

You could eat them on a plane or sitting down in the domain.
You could eat them with your master, they go really well with pasta.

You could eat them on the street, they have no sugar and are not sweet.
You could eat them while you juggle, you could eat them while you snuggle.

You could eat them in a tree, its way up high, you will be free.
You eat them by a lake, with a snake and with some cake.

We could eat them while we play, come with me what do you say?


Tuesday, 9 February 2016

WELCOME TO ROOM 20 FOR 2016!

Room 20 will be using this blog to let you know what great activities we have been up to, what amazing new concepts we are learning in class, and also what our homework activities are for the week.

Let's get started!

Term 1 - Week 2
Great activities: Week 1 and 2 have all been about getting to know other people in our class and community.  We have also been learning about our Turangawaewae (just ask someone from Room 20 what this means).
New concepts: We have been learning about SOLO thinking and how to use it to improve our learning in all subjects.  Our maths learning has already begun and we are focussing on knowledge areas such as rounding and converting.  Writing will be covering recount writing, and in reading we are doing a class novel: How to train a Dragon.
Homework for the week:

Week 2 - due Friday 12 February
Turangawaewae

  1. Define Turangawaewae
  2. List 2 of your Turangewaewae and explain why these places are important
  3. Talk to your family and write about their Turangawaewae.  You will know you have succeeded in this task when you have explained two or more of your families Turangawaewae that you didn’t previously know about.

This needs to be no less than 5 sentences and no more than one page.  You can include pictures, a family tree, and careful drawings if you want.  This should take no longer than an hour.  Good luck and have fun learning about your family and their history!


Apologies for the lack of pictures. Check back in a couple of days for some pictures of what we have been up to. Thanks for visiting!
Room 20