Many Stars are Born!

Room 12 have been reading lots of "The Value of...." stories, and today's one was The Value of Humour. We learned about Will Rogers of America who loved to make people laugh, especially in hard times. 

This linked nicely into the plays that some of the reading groups have been doing this week. 

The Sam-I-Am's presented a play called "Shhhh, We're Watching Tv". Tell your family what it was about and what you enjoyed the most. 

It was so lovely to see the audience laughing and enjoying the play so much. 

Then the Sneetches performed "Three Billy Goats Gruff" outside the classroom. It was another humorous play that we all enjoyed!

The last play we watched was by the Loraxes who performed "Don't Forget Grandma" and they did a marvellous performance, too. 

Nikita had taught some of the class the haka she learned at Kapahaka and we had a mini performance of that, too. It was a busy afternoon of performing arts!

Fraction Friday

As we have been learning a lot about fractions and equal sharing, today we got given a handful of equipment, and we had to figure out what fraction it could be split into.

Some numbers like 12 could be split into halves, quarters and thirds. 

We could also make links to our times tables that we are learning as well!

Connor learned that 13 could be split into 4 groups if each group had 3 and 1/4! 

Justin found that that number 30 could be split into 10ths.

Nicole could tell me that 3/4's of 20 is 15.

And Lily found out that 96 could be split into 1/4's as there would be 24 in each group!

We are pretty smart and inquisitive in Room 12. 

Our class teachers

A few Fridays ago Manasa was our Art Teacher. He is an expert at drawing his trademark ninja's.

He was an excellent, patient teacher who broke down each step as he taught. We all drew amazing ninja's ourselves under his training. 

We showed great team work and perseverance while having fun!

It inspired a few other artists to teach their peers in small groups, too. 

Adelka borrowed a book from Miss Eyre's library, and she brought it back the next day - because she had read it all in one night! She gave us an excellent review of the book in her own words, and I have a feeling this book will now be read by a few of Room 12. It sounded like it was pretty funny.

Miss Eyre actually did some of her own teaching, as well (which can be hard to do when your class are expert teachers themselves!). We talked a lot about fractions. Room 12 are pretty awesome at knowing that fractions must be equal.

Our problem to end the day was "If Miss Eyre gave everyone 1/4 of an apple as a snack, how many apples would she need if there were 21 students at school that day?"

Being the smart cookies we are, we worked it out together. Tell your whanau how many apples we needed and how you figured it out. 

NZ Sign Language Week

Next week it is Te Kupu o Te Reo Turi - New Zealand Sign Language Week. We have been having fun in Room 12 learning a few new signs. Check out the website below to learn more. There is also a daily challenge next week to learn one new sign a day.

New Zealand Sign Language Week Website

Here is a recent photo of Room 12 in front of our tree. We are watching the tree go through the seasons. So here we are in Autumn! 

Beautiful Soldier in Whanau Time

Room 12 & 25 singing Beautiful Soldier

Here is the link to our performance today of a song written by Marian Burns. We wanted to sing it to honour ANZAC Day tomorrow. We learned it in sign language in only 4 days - we made our teachers so proud! And a few parents who were able to watch it said they might need to start bringing tissues to assembly!

We hope you enjoy it.

ANZAC Whanau Time

This Friday we are performing a special ANZAC song in English and sign language. Come along to see our talent and our tribute to the ANZAC soldiers. Whanau Time starts at 9:45.

Here are the links so that you can practise at home. You can teach your families the new sign language you know!

Beautiful Soldier in Sign Language

Beautiful Soldier by Marian Burns

The Science Continues....

Miss Eyre decided it was about time she did some science with the class too, even though she hasn't been the science teacher this year yet, as all of the students are covering it. Amazing!

But she brought in a hard boiled egg and we have put it in vinegar for the last 3 days. What is your hypothesis on what will happen? Why do you think the egg was hard boiled?

What happened to the egg on the first day?

Then today Nikita brought in her cool magnets and showed us some of her tricks. 

She held one and spun the other one around without even touching it. 

How did the magnet stay on the paper?

What other trick did you like?

Han made the connection to other magnets in the class - great Blue Hat thinking, Han. You are thinking about thinking!

Then Manasa did 2 experiments. The first one used the equipment: a plastic container, water, pepper and a tiny bit of soap on his finger. Tell your whanau what happened.

Then we had a noisy one, with a balloon filled with air, and a balloon filled with water, and we held them both over a tiny tea light candle that had been lit. 

What happened to both of the balloons?

Finally, our Dr Seuss photo booth is almost finished. We just need the faces to be jigsawed out, then we are good to take lots of photos!

Have a great Easter Holiday with your families, and stay safe.