Fractions

We made a piece of bread with our favourite spread ready to learn about fractions.

1/2 + 1/2 = 1 whole

We are learning to add and subtract fractions.

Jacob and Teague checking it is exactly in half

1/8+1/8+1/8+1/8+1/8+1/8+1/8+1/8=1 whole

When you cut 1/4 into half it makes 1/8

We ate eighths of our bread and subtracted to
work out how much bread we had left.

Some people made visual poets to show their thinking

We cut up apples and worked out how many halves.

We have 10 halves of apples. It was tricky to work out how to write it as a fraction.

We worked out together we write it like this.

Bailey had 1 whole apple and 1/4 of an apple.
We worked out how to write this together
1 1/4 

Dioramas

Some of us made a diorama about a part of the BFG. It made us think about our reading and go back to the book to to create.

When making our diorama we had to choose a part of the story and think about what the setting was. We had to re-read part of the story to check we had the details in our setting. After that we created the characters. Making them stand up was a bit tricky.  

We wrote down the part of the story we had created. Our last job was to find sentences from the story that helped us create our diorama.

Mrs H is so proud of all the children who created dioramas. The Kidd-li-winks all took their time and made sure their diorama was their personal best.

Created by Ruby

Created by Gemma

Created by Faith

Created by Isabella

Some of the quotes from the book that Isabella found

Created by Ayman

Created by Bailey

Created by Bella

Created by Ruby
Isn't that BFG head clever?

Created by Henrietta

Adding tens and ones

The Ovals maths group are learning to count in tens and ones to solve addition problems. They have been learning when to count in tens and when to count on in ones. They are also learning about directions.

The group created a path they would follow around a zoo to visit all the animals. To find out the direction, how far they were going and if they would count in tens or ones was decided by rolling dice.

Jacob counting the tens and the ones
395,405,415,416,417,418,419,420

Neesha recording the total of tens and ones

Isabella thinking carefully about the problem

Adding the final tens to the path

The Ovals Zoo
Some lucky dice rolling to get a spread out zoo.

We ended up creating the model of a 468m path. We visited many animals like monkeys, polar bears and crocodiles.

The Ovals worked well together adding up their path and using the compass to work out the direction of their path. 

Our kowhai seeds have grown

We are very excited to announce all our kowhai seeds are growing. They have all sprouted and we now have seedlings. It is tricky to grow native trees so we thought we would share how we did it just in case anyone wants to grow their own kowhai.

What is a kowhai tree? A kowhai tree is native to New Zealand. What is native? Native means is grows in New Zealand and was first to grow in New Zealand. Why is it called a kowhai? Because in Maori kowhai is yellow and the flower in a kowhai tree is yellow! Kowhai flowers are smooth and delicate with different shades of yellow. What does the trunk of a kowhai feel like? The trunk is the part that holds the tree up and the bit where the branches come off. It feels firm and rough.

Instructions
1. Scrape the kowhai seed against the sandpaper until there's a crack in the seed.
2. Place the cracked seed in a jar of warm water.
3. Wait until 2 days and then the seed should grow fat.
4. Take the seed out and place the seed in a garden container full with dry soil.
5. Poke your finger in half way down the dirt and place the seed in there and then bury it in the dirt.
6. Pour half a cup of water on it until it is damp.
7. Wait patiently for two weeks and your kowhai seed will sprout because of sun, water and care.
Instructions written by Neesha

A kowhai tree has leaves and flowers and pods and Room 8 was planting kowhai seeds.
1. Crack open the pod.
2. Make a hole in the soil.
3. Put the seed in the soil.
4. Water the seed and just a little bit of water.
5. Put the plant in the sun.
Instructions written by Gemma

What's a kowhai tree? A kowhai tree is a tree that has big yellow flowers and that is native to New Zealand. This tree is a deciduous tree because in autumn the leaves fall off.

1. Peel the pod until there is a little seed.
2. Sand it until you see a tiny yellow bit.
3. Plop the seed into a jar with warm water for two days.
4. Wait patiently until it grows twice the size.
5. Bury the seed in soil and put in some water and after that place it in the sunshine. It will grow bit by bit but it takes a long time.
6.Remove the plant outside to water each day and keep it in the fresh air.
7. Bring the plant inside over night because its too little to survive in the cold night air.
Instructions written by Henrietta

What is a kowhai tree? Well let me think. Oh yeah I remember it is a native tree to New Zealand. Ok I will tell you the steps to grow your own kowhai tree.

1. Break the pod and take the coating off.
2. Pick up the seed and put it in a safe place and put the soil in a pot.
3. Drill a hole in the soil with your finger and get your seed.
4. Plop the seed in the soil and spread the soil over the hole.
5. Sprinkle a little bit of water on it every day.
6. Take the pot inside when it is night and when it is day bring it outside.

Instructions written by Teague

Our success criteria for instructions was to have our steps in order so the reader can follow them, number each step and begin each step with a verb (a word where you a doing something). 

Our awesome buddy class

We have been having lots of fun being buddies with Room 2. We are working hard to be the role models for our buddy class. We spent some time in the library enjoying and sharing books together.

Showing respect for others

Compromising

We talked about what working together well looks like and sounds like. Room 8 and Room 2 used newspaper to dress up someone as a book character.

Taking turns

Encouraging others

Supporting each other

Sharing

Can you guess who some of the characters are?

Buddy Time from tracey hill on Vimeo.
Rana and Jeevanjot created this trailer about our buddy time.

Oh yes, here are the big kids that couldn't resist having a turn themselves.

Character writing

We have been learning to create a picture in the readers head by adding detail to our writing. We wrote about characters from the BFG. When reading can you get a picture in your head about what the character looks like, how they move and what they sound like?

We connected this to our reading. When we read we make a picture in our head to help us understand what we are reading. We made pictures in our head the whole time we read the BFG. 

No one has ever see this person in their life. Who is it? He wears an enormous cloak with heaps of pockets. I think he was prehistoric. He is the only one who travels a lot in the world and he brings a suitcase and a trumpet with him. He has big ears the size of two elephants. His legs were long and thin legs and he could do massive leaps. He wears raggy and old shoes, a flower on his belt and he has rolled up sleeves. His face is all wrinkly. His nose is all cracked and bent. He is the BFG. "You are swizzfiggling me" he said to Sophie.
Author Thomas

Nobody has seen this man or is it a girl? Do you know? He is very very old and wrinkly. THe wrinkles are all over his head neck and face. He is as tall as a tower. He is thin like a pencil. Is he the BFG? Hmmm? He has rotten nails. When he walks his footprints are the size of me. His clothing is a black coat and raggety pants and budget shoes. His nose it pointy as. He could cut a sandwich with his nose. His favourite drink is frobscottle. "Frobscottle is the best" he said.
Author Bailey

The person or is it a person? is prehistoric and towers above ordinary life. He can hear better than us. He can hear a flap of a butterflies wing two meadows away. He has never been seen even though he is gigantic. Weirdly he is the runt of the family. Whenever he goes out he wears a long black smooth cloak and when he is at home he wears old raggity clothes and old raggity sneakers. Magical dreams is something he likes to catch. Sometimes he shares them with people. He is the only healthy one in his whole family. This man has skin pealing off his face because he is always in the burning hot sun of giant country. He says "Sophie Sophie where are you Sophie? He's gone now." Next Sophie climbs out of her hiding place to meet her friend the BFG.
Author Bella

If you had a look at this girl you'd think that she is an ordinary girl but have a close look and you will see that she has lovely blonde hair that touches her straight back. Her bright shiny black and white eyes are oval shaped with black spectacles in front of them. You still think she's an ordinary girl but listen to this, she understands giant language! How amazing is that? But also did you know she was the first human to drink frobscottle and whizzpop. This girls treats others politely except the nine nasty giants. What she wears most of the time is her white nighty which is made out of silk. She mostly walks normally like other humans. She is very curious about giants. "Where is this dark place?" she wondered.
Author Ayman

 He is ancient. How old is he? Nobody knows. He is very king-size because he is taller than a tower. His footprints are as big as a seven year old child. He is very weather-beaten. He has a rotting nose and rotting teeth and his breath is stinky. He has very curly woolly dark red hair. He has squinty eyes. He wears a piece of old cloth tied around his hips. He kills the animals and uses their animal skin like giraffes and monkeys to put on as his cloth. When he is stomping with anger he swings his arms like monkeys. When he runs he looks like he is flying in the sky and is clumsy. He treats others like cold blooded dragons. Every night he will gobble at least ten children from their bed. "BFG who are you chiddling to?" he growled. 
Author Logan

Finishing the BFG

We finished reading the BFG. What an amazing ending! Did you know the BFG actually wrote the story?
To celebrate Henrietta turning 7 and us finishing the BFG we had some delicious cake. Even the snozzcumbers on the cake tasted delicious.

 A big thank you to Henrietta's mum for the gorgeous BFG cake.

Read the BFG

One of things on the can do list over the last few weeks has been to create something to convince people to read the BFG. Here are some of the creations.

Pic Collage  created by Faith

Big F... Giant from tracey hill on Vimeo.

A Bella production

The BFG from tracey hill on Vimeo.
A Zane and Rana Production
The BFG from tracey hill on Vimeo.
A Ruby L Production
The BFG from tracey hill on Vimeo.
A Mya Production
The BFG from tracey hill on Vimeo.
A Henrietta Production

A huge thank you to Ruby L who learnt how to make a movie trailer and taught others in Room 8 when they were stuck. We really appreciate your patience and skills in explaining new learning.

More movie trailers are coming...

Room 8 hopes their creations get you to read the BFG.