What do you see out of the window?

The other day we looked out of a window...well not so much one at school but watch this video and you'll see what we mean.

We then had to describe what we saw out of the window. We were fascinated by the changes we saw and why they happened. Here is a piece that Baxter wrote after watching the video. We all agreed there were some great upgraded words and descriptive writing in it:

The ground is disappearing from view as we rise up. Buildings are following us as the city grows bigger. A towering building, bigger than the rest, crashes down to our feet as a plane destroys it all.
By Baxter

*Side note: this week our school focus value is Inspirational Learning. We were very inspired by this video and our curiosity about why that particular building appeared and then disappeared was piqued. Perhaps you could talk to us about that parents?

Some THRILLING Dancing...

Our Inquiry Learning is taking off! This term we have a few plans (that we won't share with you just yet) but they do revolve around Dance.

We started today by looking at the work of artist Candice Breitz
“Candice Breitz (born 1972, Johannesburg) is a South African artist who works primarily in video and photography. She currently lives in Berlin, and has been a professor at the Braunschweig University of Art since 2007. Breitz uses found video footage, appropriating video from popular culture.” (Wikipedia)

We watched her piece titled 'King: A Portrait of Michael Jackson'

It was interesting watching all of the different people's reactions and responses to the music. We wondered why the lady in the pink and the one in the white looked so nervous.

We also watched this video which was at the end of the movie 'Boy'. If you haven't seen the movie, then it's helpful to know that a love of Michael Jackson features highly in it. 
"This is a mash-up of Thriller and Poi E, a New Zealand hit song which was originally created with the intention of teaching young Maori to be proud of being Maori in a format that they were comfortable with." (City Gallery)

There are heaps of remakes of Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' music video. I wonder why it has been remade so many times? Maybe you could put your answer in the comments.

Here is another remake:

Which remake was your favourite?

Donating rice through good maths

This is the best thing in the world. Just today we donated over 25,000 grains of rice to hungry people around the world (and we hope some of it goes to Nepal) just by using our maths knowledge. We are feeling pretty amazing about helping people AND we were totally engaged in using our maths strategies to solve problems. You might like to give it a go too. Go to Free Rice by clicking on the name.

We used the maths tab (subject) but you might like to choose another subject to help donate rice.

Homework and query

Kia ora Room 3,

Your homework this week is to watch the music video below and come up with a couple of dance moves you think would suit particular parts of the waiata/song. This waiata (which we all know pretty well by now) is talking about this precious country we live in and how we are its caretakers. How we are a community and we should think about how we can all take care of it and draw strength from it. 

Your challenge is to think about these ideas when you create your moves. Even better - when you show us your moves can you explain how the move fits with some of the ideas in the song?

Furthermore to this, a note to parents: could you please email or make contact with me if you have any concerns with your student watching Michael Jackson's Thriller music video as part of their learning in Dance this term.

SMART Goals

We are learning about S.M.A.R.T goals. 

First we learned that SMART is an acronym. We weren't too sure what this meant until Sophie pointed out that OMG was an acronym too and then we could all think of one we knew, LOL!

Then we had a look at our goals from last term and decided which ones we had achieved. 

After that we watched this video to get some inspiration from Kid President and think about being inspiring, inspired and not boring.

We then watched a video about SMART goals and what they are. Some of the language in the videos was a bit confusing for us, but we were starting to understand what SMART stands for.

Next we went back to our goals from last term and decided if they were SMART goals or not.

Finally we started setting our own SMART goals for this term.

SMART goals are:
Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Realistic
Timely

Parents - could you look at our SMART goals with us and talk about whether they are SMART or not. You might have some suggestions for us. Our goal sheets are on our Google Docs (although some of us had to start them on paper, we can probably still talk about them).

A grandparent goes to war

When we looked through Summer's Great-Grandfather's book today we noticed there was a list of the clothing he was issued...right down to how many pairs of drawers (a new piece of vocabulary for many students).
Click on this link to look at this interactive soldier and dress him in his gear.

We also used the interactive information reports about Gallipoli from the Stuff website to help us understand what happened. Check it out here and discuss it with your children.  
Today we used the image from this link that has the soldiers with bayonet's (another new piece of vocabulary for many) charging forward, to write a description from our senses or of what was happening. Here is a piece from Asha:

SOLDIERS ATTENTION! I heard Colonel shouting commands to us but I was too busy thinking ‘will I die? will they shoot me?’.

I had butterflies flying around in my stomach. We started... Colonel shouted more stuff but I went for it.

The mud went through my shoes and was sloshing around. I thought maybe if I shoot at one of the opponents I might feel a little less scared. So I shot but it completely missed and the bullet kept going and going till I heard a poof... and that is when I knew where the bullet landed. I wondered will I ever get back to my kids??

The hook...

Kia ora koutou!

You may have been wondering what we have been up to over the past few days in Room 3. We've really hit the ground running with our learning, and while we have attempted to update our blog we keep getting waylaid and only half finishing it (we promise we'll get faster at typing over the year). 

So we thought for today we might share a few hooks with you. We've been doing some great writing and here are a few of the best first lines or 'hooks' in some of the stories from yesterday and today. Read them and let us know which lines make you want to read more...have we hooked you in?

All I was doing was walking up to the house and then I tripped.

Today is bad news for a cat like me and my owner Violet.

Pip and her mother and father were playing a game of cards.

In a dark, spooky house there was a zombie who could ride a motorbike.

I slunk along the kitchen bench 'crash', I looked down and saw the cup broken on the ground.

In a dark, spooky house, in a dark, spooky street, there was an evil scientist.