Merry Christmas from Matt

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Waterwise This Week

Hi team,

This week is our final session! Hopefully the weather is great so we can all have an awesome time.

Make sure that your togs are organised and you don't forget to bring them....Heeni:-P

That's all for now. Lets have a great week!!

Matthew

Languages Assessment.... Hints:-)

Hi team,

So this Friday is your end of year assessment for languages.
I hope that you have been revising over the past two weeks and made some notes after our warm up test the other day. Anyway I thought I would give you a few hints....

Maori, Japanese and French:

Greetings, numbers, self introduction, brief customs, flags, general knowledge.

Good luck with the study!!

Matt

It's All About Me!!!

Hi team,

This week we are going to continue our poetry focus and write a Bio Poem about ourselves, someone we know really well. The goal is to challenge the reader so that they have to try to guess who the poem is about based on the information you share. Try to think of interesting, thoughtful statements about yourself. Perhaps things from when you were really young up until now. The more creative, the better!

Below are the sentence starters. You must follow them in exactly this order and complete sentences for each starter.
I am …
My life is …
I believe …
I have touched …
I have heard …
I have smelt …
I have seen …
I don’t understand …
I detest …
I used to …
I love …
I used to love …
I have lost …
I am looking forward to …
I am a …
My name is…

Here is an example of some ideas:

I am … an educator.
My life is … wonderful!!

I believe … that you can do anything you put your mind to.

I have touched … the pristine white sands of an Okinawa beach.

I have heard … my favourite band, The Foo Fighters - live!

I have smelt … some of NZ's purest air in Milford Sound.

I have seen … the sun reflect off the Golden Pavillion in Kyoto, Japan.

I don’t understand … why people go to war...

I detest … lazy people!!

I used to … be shy.

I love … watching my students succeed:-)

I used to love … making fortresses and pretending I was in the army when I was a child

I have lost … touch with some of my old friends

I am looking forward to … my friend's wedding in Tokyo in 2013!

I am a … hard worker

My name is… Matthew Chong

Learning Languages

This year we have looked at the languages of Maori, Japanese and French. It is important to begin learning languages at Intermediate School so that when you get to high school you have some idea about what language you want to learn.

As part of being a New Zealander you need to embrace the Maori language and culture and as part of being a Balmoral student you need to learn the school Karakia.

You will be assessed for your report during this week and next week so make sure you do plenty of revision.

May the force be with you!

Haiku Poems From Hiroshima

Hi team,

As I said today we need more Haiku's for our awesome book!! Keep them coming and first in first served. It might be nice to write some poems about the beauty of Hiroshima before the bomb and also after the bomb when the city was rebuilt.

Happy writing:-)

Water Water Everywhere!!

What an awesome day today at our first Waterwise Session!
Here are a few photos from the action....

Spelling Check

Round round round we go!!!!

Hello master rounders!!!

Complete the following... remember where to chop:-)

1. 1 decimal place

a. 3.45
b. 4.65
c. 7.62
d. 1.47
e. 6.95
f. 3.34

2. 2 decimal places

a. 4.765
b. 7.456
c. 8.418
d. 2.223
e. 7.999
f. 0.368

3. OMG 3 decimal places

a. 7.2347
b. 9.1734
c. 8.9912
d. 1.9876
e. 9.2319
f. 3.9728

Once you can do all these then you have mastered "rounding"
Copy and paste into the comment section to save time:-)

Poetry In Term 4

Hi team,

I hope that you enjoyed and learnt a bit about the events that happened in Hiroshima during World War 2. This term we will look at poetry so as an introduction I thought we would write a Haiku Poem (Japanese style poetry) about Hiroshima and the dropping of the atomic bomb.

Continuing with our writing goal of "painting a picture in the reader's mind" begin to brainstorm some ideas for your haiku poem. We will finish crafting them tomorrow and then use our wonderful creative skills to publish them.

Finally we will put all of our poems together and make a book of poetry.

Use ideas from the book I read you today to generate some feelings and emotions to help with your draft.

Term 4 - Week 2

Hello awesome people!
This week is a short week but we have lots to do before we go to athletics on Friday! Make sure you have your togs with you every day for our regular swimming plus any other spots that we might sneak in to!
Also you have all had a weeks grace with homework so I expect 100% effort from everyone otherwise you will miss out on fun activities.
Also make sure you have something to read every day! No more random drawing and writing our names:-P
Ok enjoy your labour day!
Matt

One Size Does Not Fit All...

Today we read an article about a student from Christchurch who has a learning difference call Dyspraxia that affects the planning of his movements and coordination. 
As a result of this he finds it difficult working within the National Standards Testing System which labels him as Below even though in his words he is "not dumb."

Address a letter to - The Minister of Education - expressing your feelings on this issue with links to your own learning. Sign it at the bottom (first name only).

We will discuss this further in Philosophy this week.

Here is the link to the article
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/7818865/National-standards-belittle-people-like-me

Term 4 - Swimming

Hi team!

Tomorrow is the first day of Term 4 and also the first day we have swimming!!!
So bring your togs, towel and goggles and let's enjoy the sun:-)

See you tomorrow,
Matt

The Chonginator Is Back!!

Hey team,

Thanks for the nice messages on the whiteboard! I see we have 5 new class members... Sounds exciting:-P

From what Jules has said it sounds like you were all awesome last week... All of you huh??!! Hmmmm

Well, have a great holiday and I look forward to catching up next term. Be prepared for a great last term of 2012!

Matt:-)

MmmmmmmATHS

After all that talk about what we need to/should know... here's a pitstop:-)

1. What shape has 5 sides, 6 sides, 7 sides, 8 sides and 9 sides?

2. How many degrees in a half-turn of a circle?

3. What is 3/4 of 48?

4. What are the factors of 36?

5. What is the simplest fraction for 8/20?

6. What is 25% of 150?

7. How many minutes in 3days?

8. What is the formula for finding the area of a rectangle?

9. How many kilograms in 4560g?

10. What are 5 equivalent (the same) fractions for 5/12?

Anyone for ice blocks???

I wonder who will check the blog even though I said there was no homework tonight:-P

Do you know much about computers??

Just hilarious from start to finish:-)

Room 4 Remembers 9/11

It has been 11 years since the World Trade Centre, also known as the Twin Towers, were destroyed by terrorists……

How it makes you feel?

What has changed since the attack?

My thoughts on the war on terror.

Post a comment on this day of remembrance for all the people that lost their lives.

Our Amazing Artwork!

Hey team!
Don't forget to check the Artwork page.... It's looking awesome:-) 

Improving Our Maths Vocab

Who knew how many words there were in Maths.... A lot more than just numbers!!
In the comment section write as many Maths related words as you can think of starting with the first letter of your name!! 

Then we will blow up the words (not literally) and put them on the ceiling:-)
The only letter I think could be difficult is Y for Yonas so use H for Habtemariam ok Yonas.

It doesn't matter if you have the same letter as anyone else.

May the "Four"ce be with you:-)  

How Well Do We Know Our Birds, Cheeses and Trees??

Birds, Cheeses and Trees..... Can you match them??

Under the above headings can you place these into the correct category:
vulture, parmesan, banyan, eucalyptus, albatross, cedar, cheddar, oak, beech, camembert, galah, cormorant, cottage, mozzarella, raven  

Post your answers in the usual spot. Good luck:-)

The Magic M and the Interesting Object

This weekend I would like to make something (no food) that starts with the letter M... Be as creative as possible.

The second part is I would like you to bring in a small object that we can put in a mystery bag. You guys will put your hand in, without looking, and try to guess what it is:-)

Once you've done that... Have a nice weekend!!!!

Olympic T Shirts

BRING YOUR OLYMPIC T SHIRTS!!!!!!

Shared Lunch for Tanmayee

We will be having a shared lunch tomorrow to say farewell to Tanmayee as she moves to Perth to be with her family and tackle new challenges.

What's wrong with Harry??

Someone has cast a Confundus Charm on the text below.... use your excellent proofreading skills to correct it. Copy and paste the text into the comment box and then correct it. Good luck:-) 

harry potter is a series of seven fatsy novels written by the british orther J. K. Rowling the books chronicle the adventures of a wizard harry potter and his frends ronald weasley and hermione granger all of whom are students at hogwarts school of witches and wizards the main story arc concerns harrys kwest to overcome the dark wizard lord voldepants, whose aims is to come immortal conquer the wizarding world subjugate non-magical people and destroy allthose who stand on his way espeshially harry potter

To Have or Not to Have??

During our class community of inquiry today we started to discuss whether the Police should carry guns or not? There are always stories in the news about Police and guns and gun control laws so what are your thoughts? Should they or shouldn't they?

Exploring Australia

As we start to explore our closest neighbour - Australia - here is the list of towns and cities that you need to be able to locate on a map.

- Sydney

- Melbourne

- Canberra

- Brisbane

- Adelaide

- Darwin

- Perth

- Hobart

- Surfers Paradise

- Cairns

- Alice Springs

You also need to know which ones are the State Capitals of NSW, Queensland, ACT, Victoria, South Australia, Northern Territory, Western Australia and Tasmania.

Recrafting Activity - Homework

No that we are becoming more confident writers we need to continue working on our Recrafting and making sure we have enough detail to keep the reader hooked into your writing from start to finish.

Here is a pretty average piece of writing:

....Jimmy lived in an old house on Main Street. He was a short, not very smart boy, who liked to ride his bicycle up and down the street. His bicycle was quite old. The old woman who lived next to Jimmy liked to sit on her front balcony all day and watch the neighbourhood children play. All except Jimmy. This is because one day, a long time ago, Jimmy had broken her favourite garden ornament with his soccer ball.....

Your task is to take this average piece of writing and recraft/add more detail to it to make it more exciting for the reader. It doesn't have to be a lot of writing but it needs to be quality writing:-)

Do your best and we will look at your work on Monday.
Post your work in the comment section. Remember you can maximise the comment window and press "ctrl +" to make the text bigger and easier to read while you are publishing.

I'm looking forward to reading your work!  

The 25minutes Challenge - Round 2

Hi team,

Thought we could give it another go! Very nice work by some of you last week but would be great to get more of you into it! 

Here is the task again - Read it!!!

You complete a piece of homework, any work, about anything, that takes you a minimum of 25minutes. Of course you can spend longer if you wish, but the purpose of this task is that you put in 100% effort for 25minutes and produce something creative.

I look forward to seeing what you come up with. Do your best!!

DUE MONDAY:-)

The Parts of the World to go in your book

To help you with organising your book.

(in no particular order)

Australia, China, Southern Asia, Japan, South Eastern Asia, The Middle East, South America, Mexico and Central America, United States and Canada, Northern Eurasia, Africa, Central and Eastern Europe, Italy, Spain and Portugal, Germany, Austria and Switzerland, Scandinavia, Belgium, The Netherlands and Luxembourg, France, The British Isles, The Antarctic, The Arctic, New Zealand (1page)

Story Writing Term 3

Hi team,

Please publish your writing here. We will go through your work as a class and give each other feedback. Please refer to your writing goal check list in your book.
Happy publishing.

A teacher's day off:-)

Watching the AB's smash the Aussie's!!!!!!!

The 25minute Challenge

Hi team,

This weekend I would like to introduce the 25minute homework to you.
This is how it works: 

You complete a piece of homework, any work, about anything, that takes you a minimum of 25minutes. Of course you can spend longer if you wish, but the purpose of this task is that you put in 100% effort for 25minutes and produce something creative.

Last year I had some great, unique, creative pieces of work that the class were proud to present.

I look forward to seeing what you come up with. Do your best!!

DUE MONDAY:-)

Speeches

Speeches on Monday guys!!!!!!

Life Education

Hi guys!
What an awesome session it was today. Please post your comments on what interesting information you learned today so we can build up a resource of all the information.
Happy posting:-)

The London Olympics so far...

The London Olympics are well under way and there has been a lot of triumph and disappointment so far for many of the athletes.  Overall the games have been running smoothly and have been very entertaining to watch. This post is an open forum for you to write anything you like about the London Olympics so far. Obviously you need to sensible with your comments but let us know your thoughts.

Sculptris 3D Modelling

Yo!
Here is the link to download sculptris:-)
Enjoy!!
http://www.pixologic.com/sculptris/

Turanga Mini Olympics

This term in the Turanga Syndicate we are holding our own Mini Olympics in the spirit of the London Olympics.

Students have been split into two teams - The Icebreakers and The Phoenix - and have been busy designing banners, logos, tshirts and trophies.

Here are some shots of the Fantastic Room 4 in action!

Outdoor Maths

Recently we have taken maths outside the classroom to see where we would need to measure perimeter and area in real life contexts.


With our rulers and maths brains at the ready we calculated the perimeter and area of different objects in the playground.


Here are some pics of the action:-)