Happy Holidays

Wishing everyone a safe, happy holiday and new year from everyone in Room 9!

The End of 2015

Today was the last day of school for 2015 and the last day at Ruapotaka School for the year 8's and Miss Ginders.  It was a day of fun, smiles (and a few tears).  

A big thank you and see you later, I will miss you all!

The Cultural Performances of 2015

The cultural performances mark the end of another year.  Well done to all those who performed on the day.  You made your families, school and friends proud.

End of Year Achievements

Prize giving was held today and we celebrate the achievements of all students, their effort and progress during the past year.
Awards were presented to Sylvia, Athens, Sione, Azahar and Meana from Room 9.  We are all very proud of them and the achievements of all students in Room 9.  

These were very tricky decisions to make as you have all worked extremely hard this year and I am proud of you all!

(Apologies that there was not a photo of Meana.)

Our Athletic Stars

Wednesday was the day for our school athletics.  The rain kept away, the temperature kept rising and our athletes ran as hard as they could.  Everyone tried hard and did their best.  Congratulations to our finalists, some of which who will be off to the inter-schools competition next week. 

Timote Junior 3rd place 75m and 100m

Dakbai 2nd 75m and 400m - 1st 100m

James 3rd 400m

Athens 2nd 75m and 100m

Meaalofa 1st 75m and 100m

Sione 1st 75m 400m - 2nd 100m

Meana 3rd 75m and 100m

This video shares only a small sample of our afternoon.  

Sharing our Smarts... Cybersmart Room 9

An exciting experience took place in Room 9 today.  Learners got the chance to run their own meeting with their family to share their cybersmart knowledge.  They had created a Wevideo (which you can view on their individual blogs) to share all they have learnt during the year in a digital immersion classroom.  And what a lot of learning they had to share...

An Afternoon of Poems

Room Nine spent time learning, writing and reciting poetry to take part in the 2015 poetry recital.  Here are our three finalists preforming their poems.  Ka pai!

The Journey

Planning, rehearsal, filming and editing - just some of the things that Room 9 had to organise to participate in the Manaiakalani Film Festival of 2015.  We don't blame you for mistaking our stars for professional actors!

Music Credit: Dum Dee Dum by Keys and Krates

Ready to Share New Learning

Room 9 have been creating videos to share their digital learning journey.  I was so excited to see these on individual Room 9 blogs that I had to share them on our class blog also.
Check back in, Room 9 will be posting more of these incredible videos to their blogs soon.  Thank you Sylvia and Faye, you can view these on their blogs by following the links.

Sylvia

Hi guys and girls it's me again back with my third video. This video includes what I have learnt to do throughout the year, we had to learn how to make a WeVideo in order to take our Chromebooks home.

Faye



I have created this video to share how we learn in Room 9. This is the first video I have ever created.

Where's Sione?

On Wednesday Sione got to take part in an amazing experience.  He was lucky enough to go with his rugby team to the All Blacks homecoming in Auckland.  

You might just be able to spot him in this video.  Find out more about this exciting event on his blog post: My Big Adventure.

World Champions Back to Back

Room 9 followed the 2015 Rugby World Cup with great interest as they watched and followed teams, learnt about players, the host country and the history of the William Webb Ellis Cup.  

We are excited to share our congratulations with our champions, the All Blacks! 

Coming Soon!

Room 9 are excited to present their directorial debut.  

Coming Soon!

What Inspires You?

Yesterday afternoon Tyrone, a year 10 student from Tamaki College came to sing us a song.

Why? He writes and performs his own music and has shared this on Homai Te Pakipaki.  This Friday he will perform once again and you can vote to support him.  What inspires him to chase his dream?  A love of music and the chance to be famous one day!

What is your dream? 

Back into Action!

The first week of Term 4 was always going to be busy, Room 9 were up for the challenge and it was an awesome week!

This Term we finish off our Rugby World Cup learning as we cheer for our favourite teams until the end.  We will be investigating how plants grow by replanting the garden outside our classroom. As well as all this we will be having a 'Book Week' and creating a library display about Paul Jennings, having a school poetry recital and finding time for all the other learning and fun that needs to happen.  

Term 3 Speeches

At the end of term three the speech finals were held.  Three finalists from Room 9 were chosen who had all put a huge amount of effort into their speech.  They came up with interesting topics, great ideas and practiced to remember them.  We are all very proud of them, great work you three! 

Celebrating Success at the End of Term 3

We have reached the end of Term 3.  Room 9 have all worked hard and we celebrate some of their achievements.

Inter-schools Cross Country

Four exhausted runners at the end of races at Bailey Road School!  After weeks of training, they made it to the inter-schools cross country and represented our school well.  

Congratulations Meana, Lupe, Dakbai and Sione.

Homework A Grades

It takes consistent effort to complete your homework to a high standard every week.

In Room 9 these four have achieved A grades for the entire term by completing all tasks to their best standard each week.  

Well done Sione, Thanush, Meana and Min Zin.

Cross Country Stars

On Wednesday our school cross country was held.  Everyone in Room 9 showed great stamina!  A special congratulations to our finalists: Sione, Lupe, Dakbai, Meana, Azahar and Isabell.  (Unfortunately not everyone was at school on Friday to get their certificate.) 

The Mad Scientists of Room 9!

On Wednesday Room 9 was taken over by scientists investigating: 'How clouds make rain'.

They discovered that when a cloud has collected enough water droplets it gets heavier and heavier until water droplets fall to earth as rain.

 

Symmetrical Style

Symmetry + paper folding = amazing artworks

By learning two simple origami folds Room 9 learners were able to create these stunning symmetrical artworks. Arranging their folded pieces into different patterns, keeping in mind lines of reflective symmetry.

Feedback and Sharing

We have been sharing our narrative writing with others so that we can give and receive feedback. We have been using two medals and a mission and have been really trying to focus on specific narrative features when giving feedback.

Here is some of the feedback Sylvia received from Alicia and Athens.  

Great work you three!

Dear Dairy

So I woke up this morning to get ready for school until I went for a shower, and guess what came out of the shower gummy bears at first I was like” you're just wasting my time” then I was like “mmmm gummy bears!” So I thought I’ll skip the shower and brush my teeth until I turned on the tap and coins started to come out and I started think how am I  going to get to school if I can’t get ready. After that I was like forget it I’ll just brush my hair, put on my uniform and eat breakfast. As soon as I got to school people started to stare, point and talk about me because I looked ugly!

Story By Sylvia

Some of Our Rainforest Learning So Far

In Room 9 we are currently learning about the special characteristics of rainforests.  Each one of us is working on our own unique presentation, this is a small sample of some of the learning we have completed so far.

Blog Commenting

Room 9's Rainforest

As we begin our learning about rainforests Room 9 are turning their classroom into a tropical jungle, complete with rainforest creatures.  Can you spot them among the vines?

Madd Messenger

The Madd Messenger visited our school once more.  Today's message encouraged us to make good choices for ourselves.  

We all have choices and it's up to us to make sure they are positive ones!

We were all excited to see the superhero speed art creation once more!

Another Successful Assembly for Room 9

Room 9 hosted the first syndicate assembly of Term 3.  A play to the story of Harry's Hair by Jane Buxton was the main event.

Sharing About Ourselves

As we begin Term 3 Room 9 decided to start up class reporters once again. 

Joseph, Sylvia and Isabell brought some items from home to share with Room 9.  Family photos were common throughout.  Joseph also had some creative art work for us to look at, Sylvia had her camera which takes and prints photos instantly and Isabell who had recently been to Rainbows End also had her log flume snapshot!

Demonstrations and Endurance

The last day of term 2, the dark rain clouds waited behind Mt Wellington while Ruapotaka students were out on the court showing off their skipping skills.  

Both the juniors and the seniors displayed their endurance during their skip-offs, and the seniors displayed some of the more difficult moves they have been working on.  

Awesome work everyone!

Term 2 Achievements

Room 9 have all worked to improve their skipping skills during term 2.  Dakbai showed perseverance and hard work as he practiced his double-unders.  Well done Dakbai and all of Room 9 for increasing your fitness and skipping skills!

Term 2 Achievements

Who do these lucky feet belong to?

Mika was awarded these lucky red socks on the last Friday of term 2.  Red Sock day represents spirit and leadership and Mika does his best to display these qualities.  

Well done! 

Blog Commenting

As part of our cybersmart journey we are learning to create quality blog comments.  

We have been discussing what a quality comment should include and with the help of Mrs Grant have come up with some criteria to help us.  Using our criteria, we are practicing writing quality comments and are publishing them onto interesting blog posts we find together.

You can find the tips Room 9 and Mrs Grant created together here.

A Grade Homework Certificates

Congratulations to these students who have been consistent in the completion and quality of their homework during term 2!

Keep up the great work.

Madd Messenger

Today we had a visit from the Madd Messenger with U-talk.  They came with positive messages and encouraged us to...

• Believe in ourselves.
• Stay positive when others can be negative.
• Never give up, keep working towards your goals.
• Support others.
• Challenge ourselves to be the best that we can be!

We really enjoyed our session and were so impressed with the AMAZING superhero art that was created, reminding us that we can all be our own superhero!

Watching the superhero art come alive in front of our eyes.

Talking with others about positive messages and what they mean to us.

Badminton

We are having badminton lessons for four weeks. So far we have practiced badminton steps, hand grips and control of the shuttlecock using the racket.

A Forest Full of Trees

As part of our learning about environmental issues, using only black crayon and dye, Room 9 created these imaginative trees.

Batik Style Art

After looking at the brightly coloured artwork of Rex Ray we designed these crayon and dye masterpieces.  

First we coloured our design with solid crayon, we then scrunched this so that small crack lines appeared in our work.  After this we added a layer of dye which coloured the cracks.

Term 2 Syndicate Assembly

Today was the day...

Room 9 hosted their second syndicate assembly of the year.  With only a bit of time to practice and a very compact setting they pulled off a great show!

Cybersmart digital learners by Joseph

We have been learning keyboard shortcuts on our Chromebooks. We want to become smart users so we can be Cybersmart digital learners.

Miss You All

Image by James

Dear Mum

I hope we meet again it’s been hard to live here and it’s very hard to get food here but I hope you are doing good. How is dad doing? Is he still staying healthy? .I miss you all. How are the girls I heard that Lily just got a degree in school. Tell her I said keep it up but tell them that I love them and I miss them so badly.

I’ve  been shaking for past few days because I've been seeing stuff, you won’t believe what I’ve been seeing but lets not get into that let's talk about happy stuff. Hopefully I’ll see you guys again.

From Mike

Letter by Sylvia

Anzac Learning

Soccer!

On Wednesday two soccer teams participated at the interschools soccer compitition.  We are very proud of both teams, the year 5/6 team came in 5th and the year 7/8 team came in 2nd.  

They all had an awesome day!

The year 5/6 team

The Opening of Te Oro

Today we received information about the opening of Te Oro, the new music and arts centre for the young people of our community.  The open day is Saturday the 9th of May from 11am to 4pm.  It sounds amazing, so if you can, go and explore all it has to offer!

Find out more here

Poppies

Room Nine have created a beautiful poppy memorial.

Anzac School Service

In commemoration of the 100th Anniversary of Anzac Day, Ruapotaka School held an Anzac service.  The last post was played, national anthem sung, there was a minutes silence, a wreath was laid and students spoke.  

It was a special occasion.

Museum Trip

On Thursday of last week Rooms 9 and 10 travelled to the Auckland Museum to learn more about the First World War and ANZAC day.  

Anzac Day

This year is the 100th anniversary of Anzac Day.  As we learn about this we will be documenting what we find out by creating Anzac Learning Journals which we will share as complete.  

Here are some resources about Anzac Day and the First World War that you may find helpful when completing your journal.

Pictures That Tell a Story

Maniakalani schools had an amazing experience yesterday when they travelled to Pt England beach to witness the landing of Hokule'a and Hikianalia.

To watch the live stream click here.

Room Nine - Top Tips

Chrome Book Roll Out Room 9

Today was the day for these lucky students to get their very own Chrome Books!

Smart Digital Users

Room 9 are learning to be smart users of their digital devices as we move towards digital immersion.  With the help of Mrs Grant they are learning to use Google tools effectively in their learning.  Keep up the great work Room 9!

Modigliani Inspired Artwork

We looked at the art of Amedeo Modigliani as inspiration for these long necked self portraits. 

James and Min Zin's Observations

We have noticed a few things about our plants.  

"I left my plant in the sun for the first weekend.  On Monday I found it was short and was darker and thicker than the others."  James

"My one was trying to catch the sun that's why it grew taller."  Min Zin

"The plants that don't get enough water look sad."

We did some research about how plants grow and found out:

• Plants take energy from the sun to complete a process called photosynthesis.
• Plants need different things to grow like sunlight, water, soil (or something to grow in like cotton wool for ours).
• Some plants need more sun than others to grow.

What a sight!

We were amazed this morning to find our plants had been so busy over the weekend growing.  One of them however, was left on the windowsill and we did notice some differences.  Can you spot them?

Watching and Waiting

We have begun to look into how we keep ourselves and our environments healthy.  

As part of this learning Room 9 are looking after, and keeping healthy their own cress seeds.  We were amazed to find that after only one day our seeds were already sprouting.

We will keep watching and share our observations as our plants grow.

Swimming Begins

Swimming has begun and Room 9 are learning from tutors that come to our school pool.  They are listening, practising and getting better every day, ready to be safe in the water.

Welcome Back!

What a great start to the new school year.  Room 9 were back and ready for action!