Monoprints of interesting Lawrence buildings

Take a look at the results of our first try at making monoprints for art.  

Luckily we had great inspiration - our fabulous Lawrence buildings!

Student Blogging Challenge Week 3: A week in the life of... US

All about us

As we have been studying how to collect and display data for statistics we decided to present our challenge for this week mostly in graphic form.

See if you can answer our quiz questions in this Photo Peach

As you can see from this graph, we are early risers in Room 4.  Many of us are up between 6am-6.30am with quarter of our class getting up at 7.30am.  As many of us catch the bus to school we HAVE to be out of bed by 7.30am at the latest!

Max found out that 2/3 of our class bus to school as we live outside of the Lawrence township.  The remaining students get dropped off at school by parents.  However, this may change as we move into the warmer summer months, with some students biking or walking.

Alesana investigated our lunch boxes and was surprised to find out how healthy we all were.  Fruit was the most common lunchbox item, followed by biscuits.   Because he did his survey on a Wednesday, several students had a lunch order, however these are only available on Wednesdays.

Samara discovered that the most common amount of weekly pocket money for Room 4 students was $5, followed closely by no pocket money.  Mrs O was very surprised to see that a small number of students received $10 per week (or more!)

Alyssa  compared Room 1 (our 5 year olds) and Room 4's bedtimes.  As you can see from her graph there are not as many students in our New Entrant class, but we were all pleased to find out that they generally all are in bed before us.  The most common bedtime for our class was between 8pm-8.30pm.

Paris investigated how Room 4 students celebrate their birthday and found out that it was most common to have a party or to get friends over.  The least common way for Room 4 children to celebrate their birthday is to go out for tea.

Toby was very interested about the types of TV that students had at home.  He discovered that SKY TV was the most popular, followed by Freeview.

Kate investigated the whole school Wednesday lunch orders and was surprised to find out how popular chicken tenders and chips are!  We think that the corner shop in Lawrence must have to order in lots of these for Wednesdays.

Lanie tallied the number of students in each year group in the junior part of our school.  She found out that the Year 2, 4, 6, 7 and 8 classes all had similar numbers of students.  Interestingly, the Year 3 group (of which she is part of) is one of the smallest in our school.  We wonder why?

Listen to some of our poetry

Click on the coloured triangle play button or onto the published poems below to hear us read some of our own poetry.

A Blast from the Past - Junior School Production

 This term the whole junior school have been very busy preparing a school production called 'A Blast from the Past.' The play takes a comical look at the changes in education over the past 150 years and looks at things such as uniform, photo day, punishment, drinking milk and reading books.

 Room 4 were repsonsible for the 'photographer scene'. We auditioned for roles and then set about learning our lines. Rubie was the photographer and Kate was the classroom teacher. Blake, Venessa, Josie, Lucie, Alesana, Jenaya, Toby and Abby were pupils in the class who all had speaking parts.

 Not only did the students have lines to learn, but they also had to learn three songs. The whole school sang the opening and closing songs, and Room 4 had a song of our own to go with our scene.

 It was so much fun out the back getting ready. People were getting make-up on and people were getting their hair done. It was VERY busy, there were kids and adults everywhere, but everyone knew exactly what they were doing, and what had to be done.

 It was heaps of fun to have characters and to wear costumes, although most of us were in our school uniform.

 While we waited out the back it was important to stay quiet so we were allowed to bring iPods and books and games to keep us busy.

 Finally - it was 'SHOW TIME!'

We got to head out onto stage and put all of our hard work on display.

It was so much fun!! We all did our very best. Our lines were all perfect, our voices were the loudest they had been, the audience laughed when our lines were funny, and we sang our song beautifully. Mrs May and Mrs O were super proud, and they thought we definitely gave our best performance ever! Well done Room 4 - you are an awesome bunch!!!!

Student of the week - Abby

Abby could receive Student of the Week almost EVERY week.  She works so studiously and is always keen and ready to learn.  However, she absolutely shone during our whole school production of 'A Blast From The Past'.  It was wonderful Abby to see you step outside of your comfort zone, and take on a speaking role with so much enthusiasm and expression.  FANTASTIC effort!  We are very proud of you.

 

Question for parents and blog viewers - what was school like for you?

We are learning about how school has changed over the years... Mrs O and Mrs May have seen lots of changes in school since they first began learning (and teaching). Mrs O started primary school in 1978. She didn’t have any computers in the classroom until high school and there wasn't much to do on those early computers. When Mrs O was at school there was no Skype, interactive whiteboards, digital cameras, internet, blogs, or email.  Even when Mrs O first starting teaching she had no computers in her classroom, let alone the internet! If you wanted to find out any information you had to go to the library and look up an encyclopaedia. Many families had their own set of encyclopaedia books. Funny to think how outdated these are now and how quickly information changes and gets updated via the internet.

When Mrs O was at school, she didn’t get to work in groups much and there was a lot of copying off the board! Some things about Mrs O's time at school are the same as what Room 4 do at school. She had classes like Music, P.E. and Art. She did lessons like Reading, Writing and Maths. She had Integrated Studies topics like Dinosaurs and Under the Sea. However, a lot has changed! Back then we had three terms, not four, which made each term seem really long, especially the middle winter term.

One of Mrs O's most vivid memories of primary school is having to swim in an outdoor swimming pool. It was not covered or heated and she always dreaded that first dip into the freezing water! Students used to get the strap if they were naughty and Mrs O remembers when the cane and the strap were banned from schools. Her teacher at the time gave his strap to the last boy that he ever hit with it. The children all thought that was funny at the time. And NO Mrs O never got the strap at school! (just in case you were wondering).


Parents (and anyone else), please leave us a comment! 

How is school today different to when YOU went to school? 
Is there anything the same? 
Do you think school is better now or in the past? 
What do you think school will be like in the future?
What are some of your fondest school memories?

Gymfest 2013

 On Tuesday 19th September we took a team of 24 gymnasts to the South Otago Gymfest competition at the South Otago Recreation Centre.

 Four teams competed in the women's artistic event and one team competed in the group display event.

 All teams competed exceptionally well, accumulating scores in the beam, floor and vault routines. Scores were then averaged for the team and certificates were awarded.

 We were very proud of everyone who competed, as many long hours had been spent practising in the weeks leading up, and these efforts were rewarded when Lawrence won the Conduct Cup for the event.

 We would like to thank Maria Jopp and Sally Benington for all of their help with the preparation for the event.

Poetry

Room 4 have been enjoying experimenting with a variety of different poetry styles and elements.  Today we all chose one poem that we wanted published on the blog.  These are all poems that are special to us.  Happy reading!

Love
Love is getting hugs from your mum and dad and Kelly.
Love is playing with your sisters and brothers.
Love is snuggling with your pets.
Love is watching the sunset.
Love is the best feeling in the world.
Venessa

Anger
Anger is when my Mum tells me off.
Anger is getting growled at, at school.
Anger is getting woken up in the morning.
Anger is when someone breaks my arm.
Anger is when someone tells me to do something.
Hamish

Lucie
Lucie is a really good gymnast.
Who feels sad when she hurts herself when she falls off the beam.
Who needs to learn handsprings and land in the bridge.
Who wants to take gym more seriously.
Who fears gym competitions when the judges stare at her.
Who would like to keep on doing gym.
Lucie

Mum
Mum is a nice lady.
Who feels happy when it's her birthday.
Who needs her children around her.
Who wants her kids.
Who fears rats.
Who would like to win lotto.
Lucy

Blake
Blake is an amazing rugby player.
Who needs to be a great rugby player at every game.
Who wants to become an All Black.
Who feels sad when he doesn't make it into the All Blacks.
Who would like to be a flanker in rugby.
Blake

Happiness
Happiness is the hydroslide.
Happiness is fighting with my sister.
Happiness is Christmas morning.
Happiness is my ponies.
Happiness is missing school.
Happiness is going farming.
Happiness is my birthday.
Happiness is gymnastics.
Happiness is dancing.
Rubie

Dion
Dion Bell is a good farmer.
Who feels annoyed when the stock get out.
Who needs a day off.
Who wants to have a boy.
Who fears when dogs run away.
Who would like to win Lotto Powerball.
Lanie

Mossburn
Mossburn
Big stag
Lovely sunny weather
Nice holiday camping ground
Warm
Jessica

Happiness
Happiness is going on my motorbike.
Happiness is Christmas morning.
Happiness is getting a pet.
Happiness is winning a race.
Happiness is hugging my dog.
Happiness is sleeping in bed.
Happiness is scoring a goal.
Happiness is LOVE!
Max

Dad
Dad is an awesome farmer.
Who feels happy when his dogs do what he says.
Who needs to fix his fences
Who wants to have a break.
Who fears nothing.
Who would like to be a billionaire.
Connie

Sadness
Sadness is being alone.
Sadness is getting my name under the sad face.
Sadness is losing a family member.
Sadness is failing a test.
Sadness is breaking up with someone.
Sadness is losing a favourite toy.
Sadness is what I'd rather forget!
Toby

Spoodles
Spoodles
Fluffy, energetic
Fast, floppy ears
Dances like a maniac
Puppy
Abby

Josie
Josie is an active kid.
Who feels proud when she has just run a race.
Who needs to be on the go all the time.
Who wants to learn the guitar.
Who fears being left alone.
Who would like to be a nice girl for her whole life.
Josie

Jenaya
Jenaya is a good athlete.
Who feels excited on Christmas Day.
Who needs a part for her motorbike.
Who wants a pony or horse.
Who fears spiders.
Who would like to be a hose riding teacher.
Jenaya

Student of the Week - Max

A very well-deserved 'Student of the Week'.  Most of the Room 4 children thought that it would be Max as he has been working really hard in the last couple of weeks.  Keep up the great effort Max!  We look forward to seeing more achievements from you in Term 4.

Lolly Maths

 

Today we had the BEST maths session ever!!!! We wanted to investigate if Pascall Lolly Scramble packs had the same number of each type of lolly in them and also if each pack had the same number of lollies altogether.  Mrs O doesn't like the Milk Shakes so always finds it a waste of money when she buys a pack and it has lots of these type of lolly.  She wonders if it is lucky dip depending on which packet she picks up off the shelf or if ALL packets have the same number of milk bottles.

 

 We began by sorting and tallying the number and type of lollies.

 After we had tallied all of the data, we had to present the data in either a bar graph, pictograph or dot plot graph.  Once our graphs were complete we had to come make some statements about our investigation.

Connie's bar graph

Toby's dot plot

Jessica's pictograph

Lastly we got to share out the lollies amongst our group.  Yummo!  Before we could eat them we had the challenge of working out how to share the lollies equally amongst our group members.  One group worked out that each child should get 5.6 lollies, then figured that it would be tricky to have 0.6 of a lolly so decided that 5 lollies each with 3 left over was the best option.

So what did we find out?

• All Pascall Lolly Scramble packs have the same number of lollies - 28
• All three groups found that Milk Shakes were the most common lolly found - we are still not sure if this would be the case for every packet of Lolly Scramble lollies.  They suggest that Mrs O should perhaps buy a different sort of lollies as there were 6 or 7 Milk Shakes in each packet.
• There were different numbers of each of the other types of lollies so we predict that a machine sorts 28 random lollies into each packet.

About Us

Check out our new page in the top bar called ABOUT US. This was completed today by the class as part of our first blogging challenge, to tell YOU all about our class, our school and our community.  
Happy reading!

Alliteration poetry

The students in Room 4 have had great fun in the last two days creating tongue twisters and alliteration poems about animals.  It has been especially fun to read them aloud to our classmates.  Here are a few snippets from our poems - you will have to wait to see the final published poems.

Limping lamb likes licking lovely lollipops. (Alyssa)

Freaky fish frighten friendly fishermen. (Lucy)

Humungous hippopotamus hugs Harold.  (Blake)

Wobbly wombats wander about for walnuts.  (Emma)

Terrible tigers tore a turtle like a toy.  (Connie)

Wildlife wide weka does the wiggle waddles walk.  (Rubie)

Lions like licking lollipos in the sun.  (Lanie)

Cruel crocs crawl quite quickly.  (Alesana)

Magnificent monkeys munch mosquitos and get malaria measles.  (Jessica)

Giraffes are jerky giants.  (Max)

Tigers tip-toe to town.  (Venessa)

Gigantic giraffes greedily grill grapefruit.  (Kate)

Pandas proudly prance to Paris.  (Toby)

Sneaky spiders snatch snails silently.  (Jenaya)

Each elephant eats earrings for Easter.  (Josie)

Lazy lion drinks lumpy lemonade.  (Ryan)

Flashy fish float flowers and flick flies. (Hamish)

Awkward orcas obey odd octopus.  (Lucie)

Baby birds balance bouncy balls on their beaks.  (Abby)

Printmaking (including student voice)

Welcome to our first attempts at print making using a foam block and also our first go at using 'fotobabble' as a class to record our thoughts about our art works.  We have chosen our favourite prints and framed them in a way that we think best shows these off.  We then recorded some of our thoughts about our print making process and products.  Click on the photos to hear some of our self-assessments.  

Gymfest cheerleading routine

Here is a the video for the cheerleading chant and routine so that cheerleaders can practise over the weekend and leading up to the competition in Balclutha on the 17th of September.

It looks great so far, so keep up the good work!!!

Cheerleading chant and routine

Chant:
We are the kids from LAS
We're here to show you we're the best.
We jump! We spring ! We roll, we fly,
We set our goals to reach the sky!
We are the kids from LAS
And we are better than the rest!!

Shining Star

                                   

Blake - you are a shining example to the rest of the school! It is great to see someone showing compassion and kindness to his classmates and knowing what the 'right thing to do' is. We love having you in Room 4 Blake!

Student of the Week - Lucie

What a delight Lucie is to have in the classroom.  Mrs May and Mrs O love how she focuses on her work and perseveres with her learning.  She is a great role model to others.  Lucie is also always so helpful in the classroom.  Today, like many other days, she put herself forward to help out when we had a situation that required maturity and someone sensible to take on a role to help out.  You are thoroughly deserving of 'Student of the Week' Lucie.  Top job!