Thursday, July 31, 2014

If...

We read a book called 'If...'
Each page was something imaginative like
If...fish were leaves
If...spiders read braille 

The last page of the book said...
If this is the end then dream up some more...

So we did...
Created by Henrietta
If gargoyles were alive
Created by Bailey
If flowers were lollies
Created by Caitlyn
If trees had eyes
Created by Zane
If sharks could breathe in space
Created by George
If poos were roses
Created by Jacob
If bombs were tomatoes
Created by Bowen
If apples were heads
Created by Emma
If dogs had wings
Created by Max
If toes were snotballs



Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Mixed Animals

We have been working on things authors do to create a great piece of writing

Room 8 decided they needed
*Great vocabulary
*To begin sentences in different ways
*Have detail for the reader to paint a picture
*To have different kinds of sentences, short and long
*To use punctuation to show the reader how to read our writing

The challenge was to create a piece of writing with all of these.

The Kidd-li-winks had pictures of mixed up animals to inspire their writing. 

In the distance I saw a weird object. I ran to it. My Dad came too. My Dad stood next to it and it ate him! "Noooo!!!!! Daaaaaaad!!!!" I ran and ran to the dock and called "Mum". I was gasping, I was out of breath. I tried to tell Mum but I had to calm down. "Hhh hh Mum I saw a shark horse! I know it sounds wrong but they are real! It had white skin and it's twenty feet tall and its prey are humans! Aghhh!" "Hop in the car." Vroommmm. When we got home we barricaded the house. Mum got her handgun. Nay Nay Arrghh! we heard. "It lives on the murky swamp down the road! We took out the nails and went down the road. "I can see it." Baaang!!! Mum shot it in the tummy and the neck. Next in its eyes. It stood solid and then it exploded like dynamite and Dad was alive. "Dad I thought you were dead". "Why would I be dead?" "Because you got eaten by the stupid shark horse." "Oh let's go home said Mum. 
One News, a shark horse is invading the town. "Oh no not gain". 
Written by George

In the distance I saw a strange looking animal. The strange looking animal looked like it was a shark attached to a horses legs and tail. 
Often sharks look like they're in the water. This ones crazy and ridiculous because it is on land and sharks live under water. Strangely it lived in a paddock. I think it lives there because its got a special water breathing tube with drips of water that never ends. 
The weird animal is called Shorse. The colours are metal grey on the top and cream white on the bottom. The teeth are as sharp as a chainsaw. When it jumps in the water the bandy hind legs float up to be a motor. 
It sounds like this na na na. It dives like a penguin and runs like Usain Bolt. Its food is frogodile and sea dogs. The shorse's predators are blue whales because blue whales are way bigger than them and need mpre food than it. This shows Shorse's are very dangerous and scary. Would you play with one?  
Written by Bowen

I was ambling on the beach and found a hut. I decided to go in. In the corner of my eye I saw a ludicrous cat. It looked like it had stuck a roosters head on a cats body. The creepy thing about it was it had bright green eyes but the weirdest thing why would a rooster have a long tail? But who would want a cat that looked like a rooster? It scuttles over the ground. It jumps up on two feet and jumps down on four feet. It walks strangely two four two four. Prrrcluck Prrrcluck what is that noise it sounds like a rooster and a cat. It's a Koosta. Do you want to know what koostas eat, gain. I kooosta is a funny looking animal because it has a red chin and a funny looking mow-hawk. Instead of a mouth it has a beak. It uses its beak to peck the ground to get the left over grain. I decided to keep it and have it as an inside cat rooster. 
Written by Ruby H

One day I got to go and get a per for pet day. My teacher wanted my class to grab a funny looking pet. I spotted a doubled up duck bunny. I called it Buncky. It had wind up ears with tiny fur on its little body and slim legs with three combined toes on each leg. 
Splitter Splatter Buncky was checking my house to know how it looked for his living years. I gave him soggy bread to eat for food. It will be a boy like me. I bought him a cage, a blanket, a water bowl and a bed. I loved him with all my heart. The next day I won pet day at school. I came first. Would you like to have this pet that is adorable? 
Written By Teague

Slowly I was padding on the beach when I saw something in the distance. I scooted over to it to see what it was. It sort of looked like a seal and dog combined into one. I think it was called a Seadog. 

The Seadog  is a dog head and a seal body. The head looked like it had been smashed on a boulder. Its flippers are rubbery like a flat tyre because it has no bones. It is chubby because it has layers of blubber.
It lives on land and sea. It's on soft sand during the day and its in the frosty water at night. It needs to stay near the water because if it has dry skin it has to go in the water.

The Seadog has never left the sand because it doesn't want to dry out. It doesn't go far because it is useless and blubbery. Have you ever seen a Seadog bark before? 
Written By Bella

Monday, July 28, 2014

Probability and Drama


Together we worked out the order of chance vocabulary from the lowest chance to the highest chance.

With a buddy we chose something to act out. It was kind of like charades. We weren't allowed to speak. As a class we had to guess what our peers had acted out and work out the chance of it happening. 


Chance from tracey hill on Vimeo.


Thursday, July 24, 2014

Roman Numerals

We were looking at the logo for the Commonwealth Games and a great question came up. 
What do those X's mean?

So we learnt about Roman numerals.

I=1    V=5    X=10   L=50   C=100    D=500    M=1,000

There were some rules we had to follow

*When a symbol appears after a larger symbol it is added.
*When a symbol appears before a larger symbol it is subtracted.
*You are not allowed to use the same symbol more than 3 times in a row. 

With buddies we worked out how to write numbers in roman numerals and challenged each other to write tricky numbers.

 Isabella and Rana thinking together
Teague solving the problem of 104
Toby's challenge for Henrietta
Max and Jacob working out how to write our year
We finished off by working together to make the number 8 with our bodies. We had to work out how many people we needed and how to create the number 8. 
5+3=8
And we worked out it is the 20th Commomwealth Games. 

Thank you Mrs McFadyen for the inspiration for our maths learning. We had lots of fun and learnt heaps. 

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Elements of Drama

We are learning about the elements of drama. We read a book called Night of the Gargoyles and acted out the story using the elements of drama. 
At the beginning of the book the gargoyles are stone and show no emotion.
The Kidd-li-winks are in role- being the gargoyles showing no emotion.




"Till night comes... then there is movement in the shadowy corners". 
The gargoyles...
Talk of the torrent rain and leaves
that choke them
Look for their friends ready to share
the adventures of the day
Play with each other
Crawl along the buildings ledges
ready to find their friends
Scorn at the humans who made them gargoyles




Can you see the emotions the children are showing in their role as gargoyles?

The gargoyles go back to their places...
showing no more emotions until night comes again.
Emma has thought about how to position her body
to look like a gargoyle
Zane has turned himself into a flying gargoyle
still like a statue
Together we came up with a success criteria for creating tension (showing emotions)
*Change our facial expressions
*Change the way we hold our body
*Change the way we move our body
*Change our voice

Beginning a new unit of drama I have been so excited about all the children taking risks and pushing themselves outside their comfort zone. It has made drama lots of fun :)

Skyping Scotland

The Commonwealth Games are about to begin and Room 8 had the amazing opportunity to Skype Scotland and talk to sports scientist helping our cycling team (Thomas' Uncle Craig). He was staying in the village and showed us the athletes village out the window. It was night time in Scotland and 9 in the morning at Parkvale. 
Room 6 and 8 organised some questions and Craig answered lots of questions about the Commonwealth Games and our cycling team.  

We all waved good morning from New Zealand to Scotland
but it was night time.
Craig answering our questions all the way from
Scotland.

Mya ready to ask her question

Some of our questions
Here is the movie Mr Moriarty and Elijah made of our experience.

Commonwealth Skype from Kieren Moriarty on Vimeo.
A huge thank you to Thomas, Cameron and Mrs Potts for organising such an amazing experience for us. We were so lucky!

We had some questions about the mascot of the Glasgow Games. Here is a video to explain why Clyde is the mascot.



Saturday, July 05, 2014

Hovercrafts

We worked with buddies to make hovercrafts to end our unit on forces.
To make a hover craft you need
-An old CD
-A sipper bottle lid
-A balloon
and a 
-Hot glue gun
Bowen filling the gaps with the
glue gun so no air escapes
Rana gluing his lid onto the CD

 To begin with the hovercrafts were not working. We figured out together that air was escaping so we needed to make sure our hot gluing sealed the lid onto the CD completely.
Bailey filling the gaps

Faith carefully using the hot glue gun
George and Bailey working together to
attach the balloon to their hovercraft.

Ruby trying to lift the lid to let the air escape

Gemma blowing up her balloon
Thomas blowing up the balloon ready to attach
to his hovercraft

Hover Craft from tracey hill on Vimeo.

The hovercraft works because the air from the balloon lifts the CD up a little bit and reduces the friction. We tried the hovercrafts out on the carpet but no one liked that because it didn't work as well. We figured out there was more friction on the carpet.

Even though we can't see the forces we know they are there because things move. 
I wonder what other forces you will use throughout the holidays?

Friday, July 04, 2014

Thinking Creatively

We had a cylinder shape. The challenge was to change the cylinder shape into something different. We have to think outside the square and be unique. 
Thinking creatively makes our brains work in different ways.
Look at some of the creative thinking.

Cast on a broken arm
By Jacob
Vase of flowers
By Caitlyn


Rocket launching into space
By Rana

Person climbing through a tunnel
By Henrietta
Turned on lamp on a table
By Jeevanjot


Panda puppet
By Bella
Great connections to our learning

Space rover
By Zane

Stinky rubbish bin
By Teague
Toilet paper on a toilet roll
By Czar



Chameleon
By Gemma

People having an outdoor party
By Neesha
Marmite
By Faith


Horse eating a bale of hay
By Ruby H
Loom bands
By Logan


Penguin
By Emma