Sports this term

This term is going to be fun filled with plenty of sports and physical activity. 
We have our dance fever coaches. We are learning hip hop, the samba, and the waltz. Dancing is a great source of fitness, and we get really puffed keeping up with the beat. 
We also practice Just Dance clips on rainy days instead of doing fitness outside. You can view these on our class site.
In kiwi sports we are learning hockey skills. It's pretty tricky moving the small ball around with a hooked stick, but as always we are learning quickly thanks to our great coaches. 

We'll also be practicing our athletics skills as the inter-school athletics tournament is coming up. Last year Glenbrae school competed and did really well in sprinting, shot put, and discus... This year we might even have some champion jumpers. 

Meet Jerome ...

This week Room 7 has a new member. Jerome has just moved to Glen Innes and joined us with his little sister, who is in the Junior School. Jerome and his sister have some of their cousins here at Glenbrae school and are already making lots of new friends. 
Jerome, loves rugby, reading and banana ice cream. 
Welcome Jerome, we look forward to learning with you. 

Addition Strategies.

Today we were going over our addition strategies. We learned how to move counters from one pile to the other, to make it a tidy number. Watch the strategy video below. 

Try these examples for yourself. 

37 + 18 = 

45 + 19 = 

129 + 54 = 

Show your working and email me the solution! 

Vincent van Gogh inspired

This term our art focus is developing ideas. We looked at the world famous artist van Gogh and are attempting to make our own "Sunflowers" creations.


We watched this video which helped us to plan our artworks

First we ruled our page up into 6 x 8 squares. This meant we all had to practice measuring and ruling lines as well. Next we had to enlarge the examples we had, and roughly sketched the outline before beginning the painting....

Stay tuned to see what our final artworks look like. 

What do we know

Today in Room 7 we were activating our prior knowledge sharing our ideas on some of the big ideas about our Solar System. 
We had a chance to share what we know, share our misconceptions, and ask lots of questions about our wonders. From here we are going to learn more about these big ideas, uncover misconceptions and get the bottom of all those wondering questions. 

Some great learning discussions happening. 

September Blogger of the Month... Litia

Congratulations to the September Blogger of the Month: Litia.
Litia managed to blog all of her work in September and update it all on our class blog log.
Putting work on the blog log is a great way to monitor our learning, and make sure that we are up to date. It also helps others locate our work, which is great if they need ideas of how to finish a certain task.

Well done Litia, you can read her bog here: gbslitial.blogspot.co.nz

Coaching with the Silver Ferns

Today 10 Glenbrae Girls were lucky enough to be selected to go to St Kentigern's College in Pakuranga to train with New Zealand's best. The Silver Ferns. Not only them, but the premier team from St Kentigerns' College, who placed second in the nationals this year. 

It was a stellar day and we all learned a lot of great netball (and dance) skills from our coaches. Watch out on their personal blogs for the full story. 
Luisa, Ma'ara, Aaliyanah, Mary, Newsam, Cherise, Davarni, Setaita, Litia, & Telesia. 

Back Row (from left) Litia, Ma'ara, Aaliyanah, Mary. Front Row (from left) Cherise, Newsam, Telesia, Luisa, Davarni, Setaita.

Davarni and Cherise getting autographs

Blog Challenge 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1! My 100th Blogpost

The past 10 days I have been busy blogging about all sorts of things, and today, the final blogpost is to be a picture of myself. It also happens to be my 100th blog post this year! Yay me! And congratulations to everyone else who has participated in the blog challenge. If you've missed a day, that's ok, just pick up where you left off and remember - keep blogging! 

Blog Challenge 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2... Songs

Two favourite songs??? Well this year Room 7 has had the opportunity to present two assemblies, and for each we performed a dance. These songs are good fun, and Room 7 performed them magnificently.

1. Just Dance: Calling all the Monsters
2. Just Dance: Ghostbusters. This one we performed flash mob style! 

Blog Challenge 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3... Films.

My three favourite films... 

1. Well, I would be lying if I didn't say that the Zombie Apocalypse wasn't my favourite! We made this last year as part of our film club, it was great fun, and we learned a lot about being prepared for a disaster. 
2. I also loved Inside Out, a great way to talk and learn about our emotions. We've been learning a lot about our emotions in Room 7 and have written some great poetry about them too. 
3. The Lego Movie - awesome animation and surprisingly cool story. I couldn't get that song out of my head for days though... "everything is awesome!!!"

Blog Challenge 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4... Books

Holidays are a great time for reading. Whether it be a cold day tucked up inside, or a warm summers day lying on the grass, anytime is a good time to read a book. 

Some of my favourite books are as follows: 

1. Goodnight Mr Tom - By Michelle Magorian. Set in war times a young boy is sent from London to live with a grumpy elderly man. Together a wonderful friendship forms between unlikely characters. 
   
2. Pheobe and the night creatures - By Jenny Hessell. Jenny Hessell, a New Zealand author, is well known for her Grandma McGarvey books. Pheobe and the night creatures is a story about a young girl who is too scared to go the bathroom in the middle of the night because there is a wolf under her bed. A charming story, with a confident and courageous female protagonist. It's also been translated to te reo Māori, Ko Pipi me ngā Kīrehe o te Pō, which makes a great text for reading and teaching of te reo
   
   
   
   
   
3. The peace tree from Hiroshima - by Sandra Moore. A great story for learning and talking about the devastation of Hiroshima after the atomic bomb during WWII. Room 7 read this book earlier this year, on the 70 year anniversary of the bombing. It told a great tale of forgiveness and peace, plus we got to learn about Japanese culture, and it allowed me to share my stories from visiting Hiroshima in 2009. 

   
4. The hunger games trilogy - by Suzanne Collins. We read this in Room 10 last year, well the first one at least. Filled with lots of vocabulary it opened up for great discussion about some of the themes also. 
   

Blog Challenge 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5... Foods!

Who doesn't love food? Everyone does. It's our life force, so we may as well make it tasty while we are at it. Some of my favourite foods are: 

1. Kiwifruit - the green ones only. They are tangy, and delicious, and really really good for us. 
   
2. Pasta - Originating in Italy, pasta is super versatile, you can make tonnes of different sauces, pestos, or dressings, to make a filling and healthy meal. Best of all, my husband knows how to make fresh pasta. What a treat. 
   
3. Carrots - this vegetable is cheap, versatile and tasty cooked or raw. I make a delicious Moroccan Carrot Salad too. People say that eating carrots helps you see in the dark too. I'm not so sure about that, but either way, I eat them almost every day. They also taste pretty good in a carrot cake! 
   
4. Mussels - one of my favourite types of seafood and a great source of protein. My favourite way to eat them is steamed in a tomato and herb broth.
   
5. Peanut Butter - So so delicious, and every now and then I eat it straight from the jar with a spoon.