Remember when ... And Farewells

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Audit of Our Blog

This is an audit of our blog since the beginning of 2015.

• How many posts did we write?       43
• How many comments did you receive from classmates, teachers or overseas students?    392
• Which post received the most comments?Why do you think that happened?
  Heroes Assembly by Room 12
  Because it had a image of all of our class in our costumes with great big smiles on our faces also a video when it has all of us singing fight song and doing fantastic awesome actions to match the song. So that is why that one has the most comments.
• Which post do you think was the best of the year and why?    The best one probably had to be our Movember because there were lots of men and teachers growing also wearing fake mustaches which everyone thought was really funny and it is really kind for people to grow them because it raised money for men with cancer.
• How many widgets do you have? Do you think this is too many or not enough? 10
• Which web tools did you use to show creativity on your blog?
  Google slides, images, Google Forms, Animoto, Toondo, Wordle, PuppetPals, Screenr (screencasting), Jing (screenshots), Pic Collage

• How many visitors did we have viewing our blog? Where did they come from?
  2,400: they came from New Zealand, United states, Australia, Philippines, Canada, Serbia, Germany, United Kingdom, Europe, Georgia, Zimbabwe, Oman, Poland, South Africa, Russian Federation, India.

By Jasmine and Ella-Joe

Movember

This November some of the males staff at Otonga Road Primary School decided to grown mustaches to support Movember. The aim was to raise money and awareness of men's health. We exceeded our goal of $200 and made $300. Students also got a chance to show off their mo's on our school Mo Day; you can see the photos of the growing mo's and the class photos below.

Thank you to everyone who contributed. 
Slideshow and photos by Corey-James and Olivia.

Monsters of the Creek

Athletics Day

I was so excited for athletics day my favourite activity is running so I could get some exercise and I also think it’s healthy for the body.  After we did the attendance form everyone went out, we put our hat on and apply sunblock to our skin so we wouldn’t have any sunburn.  Our first activity was the 200m race I was so nervous and scared that I might come last.  The teacher who was incharge for that activity separated us into 6 groups because we were a big group of 10 year old girls. Once they called my name to go on one of the lanes my heart was beating really fast and I also had butterflies in my tummy.  When I got to my lane I was excited and nervous at the same time. The teacher got the whistle and said “Ready,” I was ready to run as fast as I can “Get Set,” I got to my position “Go! Phheeeeew!” he blew the whistle. I ran and ran as fast as I can but when I saw somebody was catching up I said to myself “ I need to come first,” so I sprinted faster and when I saw the finish line I was so happy because I could see no one in front of me. I spread my arms out and put a smile on my face. “Well done you came first and you have also passed the semi finals let’s see if you get to got to interschool,” said one of the teachers and they gave me a green stick that meant I came first. I was so happy but also worn out I was so nervous because the girls who I’m gonna race next are really fast. Luckily they gave us a few minutes to race. But when the time was over to rest we got to our lanes and once the teacher blew the whistle we all zoomed off to race to the finish line. “Yes i passed the finish line’” I told myself but when I looked over my shoulder the teacher was already giving out the sticks and i wasn’t one of the people who got given. But i didn’t feel unhappy at all because I told myself that there are more races that you’ll ever experience in your whole life and maybe you might win one of them. I also thought the day is not over yet there are 2 more races that I haven’t been to. I smiled to myself and said “I will run and run as fast as I can.

By Asyannah

Hangi: a New Zealand Maori Food

Heroes Assembly by Room 12

Room 12 planned and ran the school assembly this week; which had a strong anti-bullying message. 

Well done Room 12, awesome teamwork.

Student Challenge - Week 5 - Food

This weeks challenge is about food. In New Zealand we have some unique foods like hangi, and other foods we think of as Kiwi like: vegemite and pies (are there others?).

Please enter our food survey.
Room 12 Responses
 

Halloween - Student Challenge week 4

This week we all did our own posts on Halloween, we could express our thoughts and feeling about Halloween in any way. Here are some of this weeks best Room 12 blog posts.

By Jamie

Halloween Poem

Monster, stalking through the night,
Halloween is the night of fright.
Fear is what this night brings,
Along with many other things.

Are you sure you are prepared?
Tonight is not for the easily scared.
Creatures from hell roam on this night,
For tonight is the Night of Fright.

By Jasmine

By Max


By Ashleigh

By Carys

Imagine dressing up as a witch or vampire or a ghost. Collecting candy and being scared. This is how 4/5 people celebrate, but not me. I prefer to just hang out with my friends (maybe eat candy?) watch a scary episode of the longest running science fiction series Doctor Who and just stay up late if it’s a Friday night or Saturday night. Or I might dress up for fun. But I don’t like trick or treating.

By Lulu

I don’t trick or treat often. But I love going to Halloween parties! I just love the excitement of dressing up for parties. This year I’m going to another party and I am dressing up like a black cat this year!

Student Challenge Week 3: Native Language

Ella-Joe, wrote a post in Māori for the Student Challenge Week 3.

 
Pinky
Pinky ko te rorirori ruru. Te ia kanapa mawhero ki puru kanohi. Te ia e kore e kai kiore he utu te ia kai kanapa tae hua.te ia moe i po a te tere haere i roto i te ra. te ia he kahore whanau no te mea te ia ko rereke.
By Ella-Joe

What makes a quality blog comment? - Student Blogging Challenge 2

In Room 12 we practise giving quality comments every week. Sometimes we comment on other classes blogs, or on other students blogs. This term we are commenting on blogs outside our school too.

A good blog comment is:

Helpful: You say something helpful that adds more information about their post, or end with a question?

Positive: Say something positive and specific about what they have written.

Thoughtful: Make your own connection with what they wrote. Is there something they wrote that reminds you of something similar?

Image from <http://www.allgraphics123.com/graphics/>

By Carys and Olivia

We Are - Student Blogging Challenge 1

We are a class who loves blogging and sharing, as we were taking part in a collaborative blog for #Connected Educators Month we thought the post was worth repeating as our first Student Blogging Challenge. This is a bit about who we are.

1. What school do you go to?

Otonga Road School.

2. What is something special about your school?

Lulu: ll the teachers are really kind, respectful and inspirational.

Isobel: Everyone at Otonga School are really kind.

Nicolas: The best part was that the teacher inspired me.

Connor: We have awesome teachers that are respectful, helpful, and inspiring.

Ashleigh:we have really helpfull teachers , kind.

Devin: We have lots of play time and get taught well in school  

Kyra: everyone is kind, we don’t have uniforms and all the teachers are very helpful to the rest of your school life (they teach you a lot of stuff you need to know at intermediate and high school.  

Cameron: Our school is important because it is fun we do lots of fun things.

Olivia: All the teacher’s care about the school.

Harry:we do not have uniforms

Jasmine: We all learn something awesome with our fantastic teachers, and we all get better at something after a while.

Angela: We have amazing Teachers, and Students at our school. We all so have fun thing throughout the year.

Tearynce: the teachers are inspiring to us kids and very determined at there jobs we don't have to wear uniforms gladly.  

3. What is something you have enjoyed learning about this year?

Max: I have enjoyed learning about how to use Scratch to help us learn coding.

Lulu: I enjoyed everything because I know I improved in most things at least up 1 stage.

Isobel: I enjoyed Coding because you can do heaps of stuff on it and it's really because you can also make games.

Nicolas: I enjoyed computer tools.

Boston: I enjoyed learning about computers and lots of other tools like scratch

Tearynce: Everything  because ive improve 100% in everything.  

Harry:we get to use different Programs

Dylan: coding on scratch. Art and reciprocal reading.

Jasmine: I just love learning about art it is so awesome doing art with Mr Wood.

Ashleigh: the  different types of art we can do.

Devin: writing fairytales  

Connor: I enjoyed learning about computer tricks and stuff like scratch  

Kyra: I have loved  to learn about how to use the wiki and all of that stuff because i am new to this school.

4. What do you most like about living in Rotorua?

Jamie: I like living in Rotorua because of all the Maori culture influence.

Max:I love living in Rotorua because of the amazing hot pools

Corey: I like how our city is small because it is easy to get round.

Tearynce: I like the history in rotorua and the scenes and amusements.

Kyra: I like living in rotorua because we have lots of sports places that we can get access to  in the weekends and at any time and all the culture/ speaking maori doing kapahaka eating hangi and that's it.

Jasmine: I love meeting lots of new people and  though it smells weird but my mum always says it is just the way it is supposed to.

Nicolas: I like about  all the extreme sports and how the children how they get to learn the home language and chinese.

Devin: Super good schools and good learning

Isobel: I like that we have heaps of geothermal.

Harry: I like the mountain biking trails.

Connor : The thing i like about living in rotorua because we have thermal pools. The pool name is called polynesian spa’s.

Ashleigh: I like the culture and the geothermal places

Dylan: I like all the rugby clubs and all the rugby league clubs.

5. What do you most like doing on your computers/iPads/devices at school to help your learning?

Tearynce: I love learning maths on Ixl and making new games on scratch.

Dylan:I like doing all of the learning games on the ipads.And maths whizz

Cullen: I like doing Maths Whizz.

Ashleigh: homework

Lilly I like that  maths whizz

Connor: I like how we have now got online math homework. The website name is Mathwhizz

Isobel: I like going on the ipads and computers because it's better to do some work on the computer and by hand.

6. Is there anything else you'd like to share about your learning, your class or your school?

Corey: We learnt how to do show not tell sentences in writing which was fun.

Harry:Best teacher in the school.

Cameron: my teacher helps me with my learning.

Ashleigh: the teacher in the world is Mr Wood and he is so  inspiring to me

Connor: The thing  i dislike is that we can’t play tackle rugby at school

Kyra: I like that my teacher is so inspiring to me when I am trying to think of something to write about for our narrative

Maori Feelings

In room 12 we have been learning some feelings in Maori. It has been great. We have learnt some basic sentences and have recorded ourselves to help us remember and to help teach others!

Student Blogging Challenge 2015

Twice a year Edublogs runs an international student blogging challenge. Every week for 10 weeks you will be given a blogging task to do. The aim is to develop your blogging and commenting skills. You will connect with students around the world and gain an international audience for your blog.

Room 12 will be entering as a class with our class blog. However you may also enter on your own using your school blog. You will need permission from your teacher and COMMITMENT to complete all the tasks in the challenge. Students in Room 12 taking up the individual challenges will have no extra homework (except for daily reading) and get extra class computer blogging time.

If you are interested in taking part in the student challenge leave a comment below; include your blog url, why you want to enter and give a promise of commitment to complete all 10 tasks.

The Most Inspiring Teacher Award

The most inspiring teacher competition run by The Warehouse Stationery is a competition to find the most in inspiring teachers in New Zealand. This award is to show who is the most inspiring teacher for that year. Children can nominate and vote for any teacher of their choice for the most inspiring teacher award of the year, how cool is that!

Mr Wood was nominated by Cameron in his class. Cameron’s mother saw the advertisement for the competition then she told Cameron. So Cameron entered his teacher Mr Wood in the most inspiring teacher award for 2015 to see if he could win some amazing prizes for Mr Wood; and because he believed Mr Wood was a special teacher who had helped him.

Most of the class practically helped vote for Mr Wood. Cameron showed his skill at persuasion and was always encouraging others to vote for Mr Wood and to leave  reasons why. Within the first day three quarters of our class had voted for Mr Wood.

We got near about 101 votes! It was really cool when Mr Wood told us that he had won second place. Cameron as well as the whole class was so happy when we found out. It was a proud day for Room 12 at Otonga Primary School Rotorua. Mr Wood and the school won lots of prizes and classroom stationery from The Warehouse Stationery.

Congratulations Mr Wood!

Written by:  Cameron, Lulu, Max, Cullen and Carys.



ROTORUA Daily Post

Teacher recognised for dedication

By stephanie.worsop@dailypost.co.nz, Stephanie Arthur-Worsop

Harry's Moth

A Wallaby Visited our Classroom

Wet Weather Games

Each classroom has been given money to buy wet weather games. Read Room 15's blog post about Wet Weather Games. 
What games should we get?

Science Roadshow Sparks

Yesterday room 12 went to the science roadshow at Rotorua Intermediate. My favourite activity was the bed of nails, when I was lying on the bed of nails it felt like a massage on my back.  The reason the nails don’t dagger into your back is because there's so many nails that it can hold you body weight & not hurt, that’s why if you touch a nail it’s sharp.
By Connor

The nails pricked my skin as I lay on the bed of nails.It burnt like fire on my back.Filled with nerves the first time I did it , as soon as I did it my nerves eased . But the question is how come you can do it and it does not hurt? Because on nail will but a bunch won’t it spreads your weight.
By Jack

How to be a champion in school and in life

Yesterday we met NED and Kristy. Who taught us how to be a champion in life and school. Kristy went over to NED's house to pick him up and take him to our school. NED didn't want to come instead he went to walk his dog.

Suddenly out of nowhere came a big green spaceship then out of that came little ugly green aliens. The aliens started chasing NED.

So NED jumped on a jet and flew around the world. NED landed in Paris, France. He went up the eiffel tower and saw that there was a restaurant. He ordered his favourite thing in the whole wide world: spaghetti. NED was so hungry that he ate it instantly.

Suddenly the aliens appeared and started chasing him. The aliens caught him and took him to their spaceship. They were going to  blast him off into outer space but then NED told them that he was sorry for not going with Kristy, so the aliens blasted him to Rotorua.

By Jamie

Kirsty taught us amazing yoyo tricks such as the AWESOME Eiffel Tower, the slurping meat balls, the police star and many more wonderful tricks. Then she told us the yoyo rules, they are never swing a yoyo around other people, never play with a yoyo in a non yoyo zone.

To be a champion in life you have to: Never give up, Encourage others and, Do your best. And you might go far in life.
By Isobel


If  I had to tell someone how to be a champion I would say, "Be yourself and always try your best." 
By Cullen


If I were up there with all those kids watching me I would say: "Follow your dreams, don't let any one stop them, it's okay if your not good at something like maths you will improve over time, so don't let any one squash your dreams."
By Carys


What advice would you give someone who wants to be a champion?

Slope Science

Today we were practising being scientists by using "The Scientific Method" to test the affect angle of a slope has on distance traveled. We worked in groups and everyone showed how awesome they were at participating and relating to others: great teamwork!


What is important about following the scientific method?

Why do scientists need to be able to work well in a team?

The Mango Gorilla

Cameron, Cullen and Wati used PuppetPal to recreate a play "Too Many Mangoes" by Giselle Fortune from JJ 38. They changed the characters and altered the script to suit the new characters.

What did you enjoy about this play?

The Scienctific Method

This week we learned about THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD. It is how scientists solve problems and do their research. Mr Wood likes to eat apples but found that they go brown quickly when he sliced them. So we used THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD to try find a solution to the problem.

What other problems could would solve?

School Jingle

This term Room 12 have been using what they learned in music to create their own Otonga Road School jingles. The recording below is of all the students playing theirs in turn. The order is as shown on the whiteboard.

Should we sing along to them too?
What could we do to improve our jingles? 

Screencasting

We have been learning how to teach others by writing and then recording instructions on the computer. Screencasting is when you record what is happening on your computer screen as well as your voice. Room 12 have been practicing screencasting by teaching others how to create animations in Google Slides. 

Do you think you could learn to animate from our screencasts? 
What other screencasts could we make?

Making Animations

We have been learning how to make animations in Google Slides. An animation is when objects move around on the screen on their own. Any shape or text can be animated in Google Slides. We have been using our knowledge of how volcanoes erupt to create animated volcanoes. Look through our slideshow below to see some made by our class members. You must click on each slide to start the animation.

Coke Volcano

What we did: an experiment that room 12 did to see a similar reaction to a real volcano that is erupting and what it could be like.

Why we did it: to see a similar result of what a volcano would do if you were in one.

How to do the experiment: you need a 1.5 or 2 litre of coke and mint flavoured mentos. First make sure the coke bottle is secure. Then get the mentos ready so it falls into the bottle fast. When you're ready put the mentos in you will probably need 8 of the mentos out of the packet  Once you put the mentos in the bottle stand about 3 feet back.After a few seconds the coke volcano will erupt.

How it worked: when you put mentos in the coke it the makes the carbon dioxide rise

from the coke to make an explosion with a chemical reaction. The coke and gas in the bottle were like the magma in the magma chamber, and the neck of the bottle was like a volcano vent which is narrow. It exploded like a geyser.

How it was similar to a volcano: when you put mentos in the coke it's like the pressure from the volcano then the fizzy makes it erupt. The smaller the valve or vent, the bigger the explosion

We learnt what a volcano could look like when it erupts. The smaller the vent the bigger and higher the eruption.

Written by: Ella-Joe, Boston and Jack.