End of the year!

A busy, interesting year is fast drawing to a close.  Wishing all in room 8 a fab Christmas break and a relaxing holiday!

The artwork of Yvonne Coomber

This week we have been working on a piece of art inspired by Yvonne Coomber.  this has involved numerous steps of building up colours and patterns to create a field of flowers.
They are looking pretty impressive!!

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Science Ponderings!

Persuasive Writing

For the next few weeks we will be focusing on persuasive writing......'to cause someone to accept a point of view or undertake a course of action by means of argument or reasoning'.
We shall be pondering such things as:
Do you think all primary school students should wear a uniform?
Should we continue to celebrate Guy Fawkes?
Continuing with the flag debate (the referendums are fast approaching!)
The use of devices (ipads, computers, phones) should be limited due to the negative impact on health.

Camp!

Gosh, camp has come around quickly!!  A fun filled few days await 2 of the senior classes.  Kayaking, rock climbing, archery, raft building, bush skills, the speed slide, flying fox and orienteering are some of the things we will be participating in.  Fingers crossed for decent weather!
This saying is very apt for the week ahead!

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Science

Room 8 have been enjoying plenty of Science over the past week.  We have been working on observing, measuring, predicting, hypothesising .........plus many more important things that scientists do.
The range and scope of scientific endeavours has expanded hugely so practically any scientific field of study has a name associated with it from the common (biology) to the what?!! (acrotology – study of teddy bears).  The following are Science disciplines, what do you think they mean????

kinesiology

odontology

vermeology

rhinology

sigillography

microphytology

agrobiology

aerodonetics

meteorology

aerodynamics

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Exhibition Photos

Art Exhibition - Vikings

Our Claes Oldenburg inspired art exhibition was yesterday and looked fab!  (There will be photos to follow).
Next up, keeping with the Scandinavian theme, will be a quick look at the Vikings.  Questions such as - Were they really as cut throat and violent as made out to be?  How skilful were they to navigate through uncharted waters to discover new lands?  What were the characteristics of Viking culture? How did their physical environment shape their culture? - should all be answered!  (Did they have horns on their helmets?)

 

An arty time!

Room 8 are preparing for an art exhibition of our sculptures in the style of Claes Oldenburg (a Swedish born sculptor)....although they aren't quite as massive!

This is BIG!

We enjoyed our time at the public art gallery producing 'pop art' inspired paintings of chip packets.
Oldenburg's sculptures feature many items associated with the throwaway society that pop artists focus on so it was great to use another medium to produce some great visually appealing pieces.

Story Writing

We have been looking at NARRATIVE writing, reading Shaun Tan books, what great stories!  His illustrations are amazing!

'The Great Flag Debate'

Room 8 have been pondering the flag debate.  Is there really a need to change?  What about the cost? are people really that bothered?!  Our initial class survey (August 12th)  'Should We Change the new Zealand Flag?'......showed 9% thought yes we should, 91% no we shouldn't.  The same survey was done on the 18th August and opinions had changed slightly.....23% now think the flag should change, 77% against a change.
We decided to write to John Key highlighting our thoughts.
The upcoming referendum sure will be interesting!

Which one do you fancy?

All things Scandinavian

We have started to look at the work of Claes Oldenburg, a Swedish born sculptor.  We are going to recreate some of his work (but on a much smaller scale!).
We have been impressed with how massive his original sculptures are!

Scandinavian Culinary Storm!

Today we were involved in making food typical of Scandinavian countries.  In groups we chose a recipe and noted down the ingredients.....making sure there would be enough for us all!
We made Copenhagen Potatoes, Swedish pancakes, Danish Cherry Bonbons and Rosenmunnar (a type of shortbread biscuit).  We were developing our kitchen skills.....cutting, accurately measuring (cooking is a Science after all!), cleaning up!
The end results were very tasty.

We are sure the Swedish Chef would agree!

Welcome to Term 3!

Room 8 are looking at Scandinavia.  Here are some interesting facts we have found out:

• The highest peak in Denmark is a mere 170m!
• The Danish flag has been in use since 1219 (it is the oldest National flag in the world).
• The Danes eat more pasta than any other nation.
• The Swedish invented the zip, the fridge, the pacemaker and the computer mouse.
• The Norwegian government purchases 1000 copies of every book published and distributes them to libraries.
• The Norwegians introduced salmon sushi to the Japanese in the 1980's. 

End of the Term

A busy 11 week term is drawing to a close, have a great holiday!

Although, possibly the weather in Dunedin may not be this fab!  PS Keep revising your times tables!

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Jump Rope for Heart

A busy week with plenty of things going on!  Room 8 participated in the 30th Anniversary of 'Jump Rope for Heart' a great afternoon spent skipping....certainly a great way to warm up!
Some impressive skills from all participants.  Funds raised will go towards heart related initiatives.

Although a little more practice required before tricky Double Dutch moves attempted!

Leonardo Da Vinci

More about Leonardo……(a great thinker outside the box)!

“There are three classes of people: those who see.

Those who see when they are shown.

Those who do not see.”

~ Leonardo da Vinci ~

Leonardo was a vegetarian and because of his vegetarianism, Leonardo had a habit of purchasing caged birds and then releasing them into the wild.

Leonardo was a technological genius. He drew designs for a helicopter, calculator, tank, solar power and a double hull.  Although his designs, except for a few, were not constructed during his lifetime, some of them, like the automated bobbin winder and a machine for testing the tensile strength of wire, were huge successes.

Leonardo completed over 13,000 pages of notes and drawings, only a few of these pages remain.

'Thinking outside the Square' (T.O.T.S)

In room 8 we have been thinking about different ways to think about problems....not going for the obvious but T.O.T.S.
'Lateral thinkers are the round pegs in the square holes.  The ones that see things differently......  about the only thing you you can't do is ignore them because they change things, they push the human race forward.  The people who think they are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do'.  Apple Inc.

Have a go at these puzzles:
1.  A farmer owns a beautiful pear tree.  He supplies the fruit to a nearby grocery shop.  The shop owner has called the farmer to see how much fruit is available for him to purchase.  The farmer knows that the main trunk has 24 branches, each branch has exactly 12 boughs and each bough has exactly 6 twigs.  Since each twig bears one piece of fruit, how many plums will the farmer be able to deliver?
2.  How many times can you subtract the number 2 from 32?
3.  One day 2 mothers and 2 daughters went shopping for shoes.  They each bought a pair of shoes and ended up with 3 pairs, how is this possible?
4.  2 students are sitting on opposite sides of the same desk.  There is nothing in between them but the desk.  Why can't they see each other?

One of the greatest Thinkers.O.T.S was Leonardo da Vinci.  A man of immense talent.  We will look at his works in more detail over the next few weeks.

Cooking in the 'Treehouse'

A lovely batch of biscuits on the way to the oven.......'Masterchef', watch out!

Poetry

We have been focusing on poetry over the past week.  This poem 'Rain' by Hone Tuwhare has been voted the nation's most favourite. 

Book Week

Great to see all the book characters parading in the special assembly today!  Books sure do take you places.  Which books are your favourites?

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