our+classroom

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 * [[image:logo.jpg width="229" height="111"]] || ** Term 1 **
 * ** Term 1 Week 10 ** || [[image:my_classroom.014.jpg width="560" height="420"]]
 * ** Term 1 Week 10 **

Wow! We have come to the end of a busy and rewarding term. We are finishing off our webs about being responsible learners that can identify our personal learning distractions and offer solutions to them. Here are the first 2 completed. Its difficult to make out the detail at this size but you can see they have put a lot of work into it.

There is a detail zoom below.

We have also reworked our I Am poems and are almost finished publishing these too. Here are a couple to enjoy. || || Sustained Silent Reading time (SSR) takes place straight after morning tea. Students bring in their chapter books or non-fiction material of choice and engage with text for about 10min. They are also being treasure hunters, seeking out and recording strong language and imagery used by authors that can inform their own writing.
 * ** Term 1 Week 9 **

Some students choose to learn in an 'office' space where they are able to focus on their tasks with minimal distractions. Headphones and personal 'learning music' has also been used successfully as a focusing strategy by some, to block out peripheral noise.

After Book club (reading groups), we end reading with 10min of Feed & Read. Students have a good snack before their writing block begins. Whilst I started with the shared novel at the beginning of term, now they want to self roster for reading to the class. Such a talented bunch! || || https://nikauy4.wikispaces.com/EOTC+Photos
 * ** Term 1 Week 8 ** || This was our EOTC week. Click on this link to look at some cool pictures of Y4's in action at MERC and for their Egg-drop Technology challenge. It will take you to the Y4 team wiki.

We also had some writing fun with personification - writing from someone else's point of view. These 3 items were published in our school newsletter.

This is the story of how my life had ended. It had all started when I was being carried up to the highest place of my life and being put in a parachute. I was put up in the wind then dropped. I was holding on for dear life. Oops! I accidentally let go and fell to the ground. The second I touched the ground, I was dead. The medic came running and put me in a bucket. Even though I was dead, my eyes were still alive so I stayed in there watching the other eggs surviving from death. By Harry

By the time it was egg drop day, I though I would crack and die. I was petrified! Luckily I wasn't the first one because the first egg went CRACK! I was so sad, but then again “PHEW!” The second egg was very lucky because he didn't die. Then...it was finally my turn.Everyone was shouting: 3! 2! 1! Then I got dropped. I was trying not to fall out of the bucket. How lucky that I didn't fall off. Nobody cracked me or ate me and I lived happily ever after. By Rickey

Wow! Now I can fly! Anyway - this might turn out as a nightmare grab. “Oh its so dark in here.” My yolk was trembling inside, I was so frightened. I!m in a parachute drop!! Bang!! It is the end of my fantastic egg life. NO! Some one help me. By Bogdan || Teams had great fun and discussions around matching attributes to a given 'SMART'. On the whole they pretty much nailed it! Great stuff! || || Other students in our class enjoyed the reader response shared by the Cheetahs and they had a go at it as well. Here are some more Cheetahs ...
 * ** Term 1 Week 7 **
 * ** Term 1 Week 7 **

some Lions...

and also some Tigers sharing their reader responses to the class. Well done everybody - great independent action! || ||
 * ** Term 1 Week 6 **

These boys are discussing their recount writing. They were very excited about what they had created and wanted to share their success with each other.

The Cheetahs reading group shared their reader response with the class. They decided to research the life-cycle of the Monarch butterfly and shared this to the class. They used Keynote Slideshow and the class Data Projector. Well done! || ||
 * ** Term 1 Week 5 **

These are some of our students being smart in different || ||
 * ** Term 1 Week 4 **

This week we looked at the school's Learner Profiles. We discussed what it looked, sounded and felt like to be in a classroom where students used these profiles. We used this to build our class treaty. || ||
 * ** Term 1 Week 4 **

We have also been developing our drawing skills. We studied Nikau trees in pairs and had a go at sketching them. Aren't they great? || This is a video m4v. Please wait for it to load. media type="file" key="Sketching Nikau-Mobile.m4v" width="300" height="300" || Blue trees? Yes! On a sweltering afternoon, we started work on our final piece. || This is a video m4v. Please wait for it to load. media type="file" key="Blue Nikau-Mobile.m4v" width="300" height="300" ||
 * ** Term 1 Week 4 **
 * ** Term 1 Week 3 **


 * Helping Hands **
 * Homework **

Thank you to everyone that has sent in photos ||

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 * ** Term 1 Week 1 ** || [[image:our_classroom_W1.001.jpg width="480" height="360" caption="Developing our team working skills while designing our class calendar - Kia Kaha"]]