Room 18's Class Blog 2020 : June 2020

Principal's Award

Mrs Bigwood came to Room 18 on Friday afternoon to award Eillie with the Principal's Award. This was awarded to Eillie for displaying a quiet diligence in all she does, both in her school work and in her own personal projects.

Eillie is a very capable student who ALWAYS hands in her best school work. She is always asking herself, "Is this really my best work? What could I do to improve it?" and never, "Well, that's done OK, I can do something else now."

Sometimes, it is easy to think that your good work is not noticed when there are 26 people in the class with lots of workshops going on . . . BUT (and parents will tell you this too) we always notice, even if we do not tell you all the time.

Eillie also makes her own books and comics which she displays in the class library for other people to read and get ideas from.

After Mrs Bigwood had gone, we had a photo shoot. Eillie decided this photo with our class bears (some of whom helped us through lockdown) was the best photo to display on the class blog. Great choice, Eillie and well done!

EPIC rules OK?

Room 18 students have read an incredible 3,000 books on EPIC this year - some of them at school and some of them at home.

EPIC is an North American company and it, very generously, decided to make EPIC free for home use during lock down (it is always free at school). This, sadly, is due to end in July when American schools start their long Summer holidays. However, it has been awesome to see how much reading has been going on at home while we have had this extra free access to the EPIC library at home. (Parents can elect to pay a monthly fee to continue this home access, if they wish).

Habitats

In Year 3, our theme this term has been about Habitats.

First we looked at Ocean Habitats - it was interesting to find out that the ocean is actually divided into three different habitats - the Sunlight Zone near the surface where light penetrates so seaweed can grow and visibility is good; then deeper down, the Twilight Zone which is darker and colder and then finally, the Midnight Zone so deep that there is no light or no plants growing - only creatures that can hunt in the dark and withstand the terrible water pressure on their bodies.

Next, we looked at Rainforest Habitats. It was interesting to see that you could divide them into layers similar to the Ocean in terms of light. There is an Emergent Layer at the top of the tallest trees where tree tops get the most sun and wind; then a Canopy Layer made up of smaller trees which are somewhat shaded by the taller ones; and finally a Shrub Layer near the ground which is darker and moist. Creatures can move between layers in the Rainforest, but tend to spend most of their time in the layer to which they are most suited.

After that, we read books on EPIC about Desert Habitats and Polar Habitats and did some note taking about each - it was interesting to see what was the same and what was different between two very different habitats.

Finally, to finish this theme, we will be choosing one animal to writing an information report about it. WATCH THIS SPACE!

Playing with playdough

We made playdough in Room 18. It started off warm and white, but after after lots of kneading (and food colouring) it was rainbow coloured, perfect for work with fractions or spelling . . . or just making biscuits!

Out and About

Abbey and Charlotte had some special news this week.

Abbey has been on the set for Shortland Street and played a patient admitted to hospital who was not very well . . . in fact (spoiler alert) she died!

Charlotte completed her first race in the Auckland Run series. She was placed 7th - this was excellent practice for the Cockle Bay Cross Country!

Comic Making 101

After we had drawn our pictures for each of our comic frames, it was time to colour in the black line masters. We modelled our comics on the class favourite, 'Dog Man'. We drew the same simple pictures, wrote big speech bubbles and added an onomatopoeic word to each frame.

Because our pictures were quite small, we used cotton buds to spread the dye, instead of using paint and brushes.

When they were finished, we spread the comics out to make a gallery and read them before the morning bell. You can read them all on the WRITING PAGE, but here is small preview:

The Low Down on Lock Down Comics

We are now up to publishing our lock down comics. We looked at the Dog Man books and used their art ideas for our comics: simple, black line drawings with speech bubbles and onomatopoeic words.

Pajama Party

On Friday, it was CBS PJ Day when everyone could come to school in their pajamas. After we finished our school work in the morning, we had a Pajama Party in the afternoon, after lunch.

People could make a card for someone special: make a construction using Mobilo, Lego or Klicko: read a book from the class library or on EPIC or play Chinese checkers. Everyone had a hot chocolate and toasted a marshmallow as well.

Wallace set up his Grandad's Chinese chess game.

Sam and LJ dismantled a computer key board on the Science table.

Wilson enjoyed the Mobilo station.

The card making station was very popular.

Abbey and Eillie looked after the hot chocolate.

Adam and Otis had a go at coding.

It was nice hanging out with friends drinking hot chocolate.

Everyone had a go at toasting marshmallows.

As always, there were a lot of people interested in LEGO.

Support Staff Day

Wednesday, 10th June was Support Staff Day. Room 18 made a special card for Mr Wang who helps us with all our IT devices and networks. There was also a special morning tea for the support staff. Teachers did their playground duties so they could go to the staffroom and feast on Dunkin' Donuts.