Maps and Keys

In Maths we have been learning 'Position and Orientation' for Geometry. 

We are learning:

• left and right
• clockwise and anticlockwise
• compass directions - north, south, east and west
• to use fractions - 1/4 a turn, 1/2 a turn
• co-ordinates in a grid.

We have been having lots of fun creating pathways and giving our buddies directions!

Today we incorporated our Maths and Reading to learn about maps.

Through our literacy focus of 'Language, Symbols and Text' we are learning about a key on a map and what the symbols mean.

We can play this game to teach us about keys on a map:

http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/multimedia/interactive/maps-tools-adventure-island/kd/?ar_a=3

Taking Action

After a lot of learning about the drought in term 1, we spent a lot of term 2 learning how we can take action about the problems we learnt about.  We discussed that we knew about the importance of saving water, but the younger children at our school probably didn't.  

As a class, and after a lot of discussion, we decided we can teach the young children of our school through a video.  It took a couple of weeks for us to put the video together.  Mrs Hastings was not involved in the making of the video, we did it all on our own.  We choose the topic we wanted to work on, we researched on the topic, we planned our own videos and recorded them ourselves.  Mrs Hastings just pieced all the videos together.  We are very proud of what we have achieved!

Omni Gym - Day 3

Here are some photos of our third day at the Omni Gym!

Omni Gym - Day 2

Here are some photos of our second day at the Omni Gym!

Omni Gym - Day 1

Here are some photos of our first day at the Omni Gym!

Camp Posters

We made posters to advertise Stoney Creek Camp. We used the IPad app 'Pic Collage'. You can click on our posters to enlarge them.

Measurement - Length

We are learning about length in Maths this week. Mrs Hastings gave us some challenges:

1. Mrs Hastings gave us a big long piece of string. "Make a one metre tape measure using your string. Make one for you and one for your buddy". The trick was - we only had our 30cm rulers!

Brandon came up with a very clever idea - "if I measure one metre, I only need to fold it and measure the next piece off that. I'm doubling it"

2. The next day Mrs Hastings said
         "Using your tape measure what can you find that is:
                 *one metre long               *1/2 a metre long
                 *1/4 a metre long             *more than a metre long"

Thanks to Brandon and Jim we quickly learnt how to find half and quarter of a metre using our piece of string!

Here are some photos of us measuring in our classroom and outside:

We have changed our room!

On Friday we decided it was time for a change. We talked about how we could change our classroom's seating plan. Some of us like working with others and were using the wooden table together. We decided to put this in the middle of the room! Our desks now sit around it. We are in a big square 'U'.

We like this set up. We can have whole class discussions while sitting in our desks. If our learning allows working with others, some of us choose to sit at the wooden table. Some of us prefer to sit at our own desks and work independently.

In these pictures we are working in our inquiry booklets. We are starting a KWL chart about 'droughts'.

Have a look at the video these children made

Click on the link below to view this video that was shown on Campbell Live on Wednesday 13th March.

http://www.3news.co.nz/Kids-explain-how-the-drought-affects-them/tabid/367/articleID/290158/Default.aspx

Well done Hudson!

Congratulations Hudson! You took control of your own learning this week. After learning about the water cycle this week, you chose the best way to present your new learning in your inquiry booklet. Beautifully presented too!