MATAPU SCHOOL – Room 1 Talkback

You may have noticed something different about our blog…namely the header picture is gone.  That was last year, this is 2010, so we need your ideas for a new header for Room 1 – 2010.  It really needs to be something that is significant to our school and classroom and it must contain you!!!

Email me your pictures and the winning picture will win huge amounts of house points.

I have been adding some new pages recently, specifically to do with our spelling, theme and writing. 

One of our spelling groups is working on developing their vocabulary with learning a new word a week, then finding out synonyms and antonyms for that word, as well as using them in sentences. 

Our new theme page will keep you up to date with our Inquiry Learning projects as they happen.  Look forward to some new videos up there in the next few weeks about our heritage. 

Also, I will be selecting some great pieces of writing to showcase on our writing page, where we are looking at writing for a purpose, specifically to set the scene at the moment by using the five senses. 

We are also going to look at a library report where the students chose a book they are reading to write about.  So if you are bored with the books you are reading at home you can check out that page to get some great ideas of books to read!

At the moment we are focusing on having a purpose for our writing, which means ensuring that we have a clear idea that we want to develop throughout the story. We have started a few of these stories in class using this planning template. I am going to post some cool examples as the students finish them, I might even make up a new page for these pieces of writing…

I know that this isn’t your classical dive into the pool, but something like this takes a lot of guts!!

Check this out everyone!!!  Register your own name and post your results on your blog, even email me how you are getting on.  Some of the activities are GREAT!!  See who gets the high scores!

Well, the votes are in.  It seems that everyone thought that there was more to being a “Councillor” than just “counselling”, which is what a “counsellor” does.  I think that this is a fair enough call, as most “Counsellors” will not be expected to do many of the things our “Councillors” will be doing this year.

Anyhoo, here are your voting results!!!

We are voting for our school leaders and there is some debate over the spelling of councillor/counsellor. They both have similar meanings, but which one is most appropriate for our school leaders? Vote here!!!

Feel free to comment as to why you chose “councillor” (a member of a council) or “counsellor” (someone who gives professional guidance on personal problems) in the thread below!

Welcome back everyone!!!  Hope you had a GREAT holiday and are well rested for 2010!  We have a great year planned and it has been a great start to the year.
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We have just finished our Inquiry on different careers, where the students in Room 1 had to find out about how to get a job in different industries.  They found out information like the skills involved, subjects in High School to take and courses in University that they would need to take.  We had directions about how to get jobs as farmers, nurses, meteorologists, photographers and all sorts!!!

Now that we have finished our projects, we need to evaluate how well we did.  Follow this link and answer these questions as best you can…
Careers Self Assessment

Hi everyone!!  These poems HAVE to have a mention!  We are doing poetry in class at the moment and we had to choose a colour and then create a poem that describes some unusual objects of that colour.   I think these turned out great!  Well done everyone with your bizarre objects you included in your poems!

Post your answers here.  Make sure you include whether it is the Elf or the Snowman you are answering!!!

We have just had a very busy camp for the Year 7 & 8’s in Wellington.  Needless to say, I spent a lot of time in the following weekend sleeping.  Here are some comments we have made about camp.  Thanks to the huge help of the parents who came and I hope it was all worth it!!!!

Here is the link to have a look at our favourite things on camp.

http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AUpTy9V7hlCGZHMzejI1cl8zN2Q5cXQyeGZ6&hl=en_GB

We have had recently had a spelling test that included the word appreciation.  This sparked some conversation which ended in a homework assignment for Room 1 students to say to their parents and caregivers

“I appreciate everything you do for me.”

What was the result???

This is our new maths activity website that you can log in under your math groups.  Make sure to complete the activities I have chosen for your FIRST before you tackle other activities.

www.smartkiddies.co.nz