Student of the week - Hamish

This is the second time this year that Hamish has been awarded 'Student of the week' in Room 4.  Hamish listened to the print making instructions carefully and produced some stunning prints.  You will have to wait until next week to get a sneak peek at the finished products.  Top job Hamish!

Great Apps Page

Hi Parents and Visitors to our site.

We have added a new page to our blog today called 'Great Apps'. We are aware that many of our students have iPads, iPods and Tablets in their homes so we thought it might be useful to have a page that lists a number of terrific apps that your children can be playing to support their learning at home.

If you know of any other great apps that are not listed on this page please feel free to add them by making a comment on the page or on this post. Thank you.

Quick Write - Our 'old school' experience

On Tuesday we had a very special morning in Room 4 where the students experienced a little taste of what it would have been like to attend a school in the late 1800's or early 1900's. It was very strict and the work was quite different. Students were given 5 minutes to write their thoughts about how they found the experience. This is what they thought....

 

I came into the classroom to hang my bag up then Mum said

"Once you’ve hung your bag up then you have to go straight back outside. When the bell rings you have to go round the back of the class and line up, one boys line and one girls." When we came in we had to sit at our desks which were put in rows. We got given a slate for handwriting. For handwriting we had to copy off the blackboard. It was all in cursive which was really hard. - Alyssa

“Get outside now!" That's all I heard when I walked in the door. All I thought was 'Who was that? Why were our desks in rows like that?' When I walked in the door guess who it was? My usual teacher, Mrs May. I went outside to line up. Our uniform had to be tidy and our nails had to be clean. Then we got sent inside. Now I see what we are doing. As we sat down we talked. Well we would have got the cane  back then. One thing I hated was no compters and no lights. - Lucie

Wow. That’s fancy words, desks moved, lights off, Janet and John books for reading but the worst was handwriting. Our little f’s looked like a’s, big  g’s looked like a boat, big q’s looked like 2’s, but it gets worse… - Alesana

I wake up in the morning, just a normal day, well I thought it was.When I got to the school gates I realise that everyone that's here is outside. I saw Jessica and Alyssa in the playground. They said I had to quickly go inside and hang my bag up and come straight back out. When the bell rang we had to line up but with a girls line and a boys line. I felt like I had gone through a time machine.   - Samara

“Hang your bag up then go outside.”

“WOW there is an old granny teaching us today”. When the bell rang we all lined up outside and the boys pulled their socks up. Girls stand up straight and boys. When we go inside we did dictation and it is a lot of writing then p.e. It was boring old stretches. When it was morning tea and lunch we were not allowed to come inside so we had to stay outside for the whole lunch and it was so hot I almost died with thirst and I had a sore leg so I could not walk at all and if we did go inside we would get told off.   - Paris

"As I walk into our classroom I look around. This is way different than usual. Why are the desks separated? What did Mrs May say about school yesterday? Oh yes, I remember. She said that it was going to be different. I looked up at the board, there was fancy writing on the board and the lights were turned off. I don’t understand what is Dictation and Arithmetic. I don’t know what it is. Mrs May spoke to me sharply,

"Didn’t you see all of the children lining up?"

"No," I answered.

"Shoo back outside and line up outside. Line up with the other children." She paused for a second,

"Now!"

"This is going to be a long day."

"I heard that!" - Abby

Ding, ding, ding went the bell. ‘Time to go and line up’ I said to myself. As the teacher then  said,

“You can come inside.” I started to think of what the day was going to be like, really horrible or kind of nice? As I walked  to my desk  I scanned my eyes through the list of things that we were doing today. I mumbled to one of my friends

“It looks like it’s going to be a fun day NOT!” - Kate

I walk in the door and see Mrs May and wonder who it is but then I realise that it is the olden day thing for the whole morning and then the bell went. We line up by the door and

"Pull up your socks boys," said Mrs May.We get inside and find our seats and sit up straight. - Hamish

I was like “WHAT?” Why do we have to put our bags away then go straight outside? Then Max told me why. He said that it was olden day school today. Then I saw Mrs May and I laughed really hard, so hard that I couldn’t laugh at all. Then when the bell rang we had to line up and then we could go inside. Straight away we had to do handwriting and it was really hard. After that we did dictation and that was the easiest thing of all. I needed to use three pages though. - Ryan

As I walk in the classroom door I see Mrs May dressed up.

“Go hang your bags up then go outside,” Mrs May said so the class played outside. Then the bell rang and we lined up and the teacher let us inside. She told us to do fancy handwriting, start with a-z, but the tricky part was the writing. Then we did dictation, we wrote 1-2-3 pages and we had to write what Mrs May said, like she would say “150 years ago classes were massive.” For P.E you would just reach up to the sky then touch your toes. Then came reading. We read Janet and John. It was called ‘Here we go’, Then the hardest one was arithmetic, very hard questions. The rules were NO TALKING, NO leaving your seats and NO sniffing. SO BORING I wish this never happens again. - Emma

I walk into my classroom. OMG Mrs May is an old granny. Ring goes the bell. What do I do now? I line up at the door. I walk inside and did handwriting, dictation, PE, reading, arithmetic and technology challenge. - Max

On Tuesday we did handwriting. We had to do the alphabet. It took ages because we had to do it as neat as we could. I hate old school days. It just took too long. Mrs May said to do this and that. Man it was boring. Then we had to do dictation. We had to write what Mrs May said. Then we had to spell ‘because’, we had to spell it B.E.C.A.U.S.E and then we had P.E. We lined up outside and then we went to the tennis court. We did stretches (look below) and then we did reading. We had to read Janet and John. Man I am going to hate this day. I hated that… - Venessa

“Fold arms, backs up straight” bellowed Mrs May. “Here are your handwriting slates for today.” No, please don’t be… CURSIVE. In the end I didn’t get it finished because it was so hard. - Rubie

‘Ahah,’ I say to myself. ‘Mrs May looks different, the power’s out, desks are in rows.’ I would have hated it if I went to school 150 years ago doing all the hard stuff. One thing I didn’t like is that you were not allowed in the classroom after lunch or during morning tea. You have to line up outside. I do not want to experience the olden days again! - Josie

As we walk in the classroom I find my desk. Mrs may tells us the rules. I start to freak out. Handwriting was boring, dictation was silly and P.E was useless. In fact from morning to lunch was B.O.R.I.N.G! I was relieved when it was over. - Toby

On Tuesday we had an olden day school. We had to do hard handwriting and dictation. Mrs May looked funny because she had to wear a funny outfit. I felt like we were old people. I did not like our school. The learning bits were hard too. It was like she was not our teacher. The P.E was boring. I hated old school. - Lanie

As I walked into the classroom it was going to be an ordinary school day but the class was soooo different. The desks were in rows, the lights were and something was different about Mrs May...she was dressed as a nanny!!

“Hang your bags up and the get outside. When the bell rings line up at the door,” Mrs May shouted in a croaky voice. So I went outside with Alyssa and max and as people came into the class we warned them. Then the bell rang. We rushed into lines and then the cranky teacher came out and said,

“Right. Pull your collar out Alesana. Socks up Blake. Ok. You may go into the classroom.” I was sooo nervous when we got into the class. We had to do a nail check!! How weird!!! Lucie and i got told off because we had nail polish. OMG!! We had to go to Mrs Holgate to get remover! - Jessica

“Sit up straight, arms folded, no leaning.” Strict, strict and even more strict. We had to try the morning pretending that it was 150 years ago, not fun. For handwriting in olden days you had to do cursive. For P.E. it was boring old stretches. When we do maths we had to do times-tables and say them out loud three times. OMG I would not stand a chance in the olden days. - Connie

As I was walking into the class I was confused. Mrs May was dressed up. Our desks were different and the lights were all off. Mrs May said,

“Hang up your bag and get outside.” I think to myself ‘Today is going to be a special day.’ Then the bell rings. We had to line up and Mrs May said,

“Have you collar right and pull up your socks.” P.E was cool and easy to do.   - Jenaya

I walk into the classroom and see Mrs May. She looked really old. We had to do P.E and that was boring. All we did was do stretches. All the things that we did were handwriting, dictation, P.E, then we had morning tea. Such a relief. We had reading for 45 minutes, arithmetic and then it was lunch. What a great relief. We finished the day off with technology challenge and that was stressing. - Blake

I  walked into the classroom. Mrs May said,

“Hang up your bag and go outside.” Then when the bell rang we had to line up outside the door. P.E was so boring  because all we got to do was stretch our arms out and reach to our toes.  - Lucy

A Trip to the Lawrence Museum

The Old School Room At The Lawrence Museum on PhotoPeach

 

Today we went to visit the Lawrence Museum. They have an old school-room set up which has furniture from the late 1800's. Mrs Goodlet talked to us about the number of small schools that there used to be in the Tuapeka District. She explained that there needed to be a lot of schools because the only way to get to school was walking or by pony, so there needed to be a lot of schools so that children didn't have to walk too far. It was a great opportunity to sit at some of the old desks, look at the old map, once used for Geography, see the slates children wrote on and see an old headmaster's strap.

Print Making

Printmaking on PhotoPeach

Check out our slideshow of photos taken on Friday.  We spent some time examining pictures of native NZ plants and flowers, then created our own design and transferred this with pencil or pen onto a foam block.  This was our first session of using this block to then create multiple prints.  Keep following our blog for the finished framed products.

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Basketball with Mitch

Basketball with Mitch on PhotoPeach

Check out the fabulous time we had playing basketball with Mitch on Monday morning. This was our last basketball session for the season so we spent a lot of time refining our skills and then playing in teams. It was awesome fun - check out all the cool photos!!!

Happy Birthday Jessica

Happy Birthday to Jessica who turned 9 on Monday! It was lovely to be able to spend your birthday with you and we hope you had a very special day!!!

Birthday cupcakes

Samara's mum made the scrummiest cupcakes so that Room 4 could help Samara to celebrate her birthday. For some of us it was a difficult choice as they all looked terrific. 

We hope you have a fabulous birthday on Sunday Samara and we look forward to hearing all about it. 

Shining Star - Rubie

Congratulations to Rubie who was awarded the Shining Star award for her courageous efforts at South Otago Cross Country in Clinton yesterday. Rubie had a bad fall near the start of the course but picked herself up and completed the course. Terrific attitude and effort Rubie. Room 4 are all super proud of you!!!!

Student of the week - Emma

All of the students in Room 4 know that 'Student of the Week' has to be earned.  Emma thoroughly deserves the award this week.  Both teachers have noticed and commented on Emma's fantastic effort and neatness in her homework EVERY WEEK.  Emma does more than the bare minimum, actually completing EVERY spelling activity that is set, every week.  You are a great role model to others Emma.  We hope you inspire your classmates to take pride in their homework too.

South Otago Cross Country Team

The annual South Otago Cross Country was held at Clinton today and ten students from Room 4 were selected to represent Lawrence.They all ran their very best race, including poor Rubie who fell at the beginning and continued to run the entire race despite have a very sore ankle. Competition was tough, between schools and rivals....and between cousins!

We are very proud of you all for your amazing efforts and we love seeing you all as you 'Strive to Excel'.

Special congratulations to Blake who won his race and retains his title as South Otago Champion for the second year in a row.

Room 4 Speech Finalists

The Junior Speech Recital was held last Thursday in the school library. We had six finalists entered into this years competition.

Year 3

Toby - If I could meet anybody from history it would be Eric Liddell

Josie - Sport is better than music.

Year 4

Abby - Books are better than TV

Connie - It is better to be a kid than an adult

Blake - Sport is better than music

Jessica - Grandparents are better than parents

We were exceptionally proud of all of our speech finalists. It takes a great deal of courage to stand before such a large audience and present a speech and you all did a fabulous job.

Congratulations to Toby and Jessica who won their year group section.

BP Technology Challenge

 This afternoon the junior school had a very special BP Technology Challenge in the gym.

Mrs Hughes and Mrs Kenny had organised us all into teams of 4 or 5. The years 0-4 students were in the juniors section and the year 5-8 students made up the senior section.

 Each team was given a bag full of materials, which contained newspaper, sticky tape, string, paper and a red crayon. The materials had to last the team for all three challenges.

 We had three tasks to complete. The first task was to create a hurdle for a running track. It had to be 50cm tall, 60 cm wide and be able to stand on it's own. The hurdle also had to fall forward when knocked with a foot. This was a tricky challenge and it took us all quite a while to get it done, but eventually we were able to test-drive our hurdle.

 Challenge number two was to create an ANZAC poppy. It had to be at least 1.5metres tall and stand unsupported. A lot of thought had to go into the base of the stem to ensure that our poppy could stand up by itself, and we also had to make sure our stem was strong so that it didn't bend under the weight of the poppy.

The final task was to create a bird scarer. There were no requirements fo this task so we could be as creative as we liked. Some teams created contraptions while other teams turned team members into scare-crows.

Each task required a lot of team work. People in the team had to take turns at being the leader and encouraging others to take an active role in the group. The groups that worked together as a team had the most success.

 Mrs Taylor came down to announce the winners for each section.

The winning team for the year0-4 section was William, Shannon, Max, Connie and Luca.

Congratulations - great teamwork and creativity guys!!!

Thanks to Mrs Hughes and Mrs Kenny for organising such an awesome event - we all loved it!!!

Going 'Old School' in Room 4

 We all got quite a shock when we arrived at school this morning. We were met in the classroom by Mrs. May, who sternly told us to hang up our bags and go outside until the bell rang. She was dressed up as a teacher from 100 years ago and she was being very strict.

When the bell rang all of the classes had to to line up outside their classroom in two straight lines. You had to have your hands at your sides, your eyes forward and you were not allowed to talk. The teachers came passed and they made children pull up their socks, straighten their collar and take their hands out of their pockets. When everyone was standing correctly we filed silently into our classrooms, where all of the desks had been set up in straight rows. The boys sat on one side of the room and the girls sat on the other. Mrs May made us all put our hands out flat on our desks and she came around and inspected everyones finger nails. Anyone with dirty finger nails had to go out and clean them quickly, and two girls with nail polish were sent to Mrs Holgate to remove it 'at once'

 After Mrs May had called the roll we had to take out a sharp pencil and we began to do our handwriting. We didn't use the whiteboard or Activ board or the computer. All of our lessons today were written up on the blackboard (that we hardly ever use!). We didn't put the lights on in Room 4 today either - because 100 years ago there would have been no electricity for lights. 

 Our handwriting today was harder than usual, it was all done in 'copperplate cursive' - which was even quite hard to read. We all had to do our very best work even though we didn't really know how.

 We took time and care as we copied.

 When we were finished we had to sit silently at our desks and wait for everyone else in the class to finish. We had to keep our arms folded and our mouths closed. It was a VERY quiet day in Room 4.

 After Handwriting we did Dictation, which we had never done before. Mrs May read out a lot of information about what school was like in the olden days and we had to write it down as neatly as we could. We had to try to spell the tricky words and add in the correct punctuation without leaving out any words. It was very tricky! If you didn't hear it or couldn't remember it, then you were in trouble because we were not allowed to ask for help or talk.

 Finally it was time to get outside for PE - although even that was very different. We didn't need to get changed or put on sneakers (and we weren't allowed to.) We had to stand outside in our rows and we stretched, up, down, across. Then we ran on the spot, then we marched on the spot, then we lined up in our lines and we went back inside. That was it! That was PE over!

 When we got back inside we learned about 'there', 'their' and they're'. We had to recite the spelling of each word and then put it into a sentence correctly, using the correct word and then also spell it correctly. It was weird all reciting the same spelling words and it was bit scary being put on the spot be Mrs May because you were scared you might get it wrong.

 After morning tea it was reading time. Each person in the class was given a 'Janet and John' reading book from the 1930's. We read the whole book together as a class, all reciting the words out loud at the same time. When we were finished reading it we made word families for some of the words that were in the book, like 'look', 'come', 'down' and 'at.'

Then it was time for arithmetic. We had to copy and complete some sums from the board. They started off easy, but then they got very hard very fast. We had to solve them in our heads.

After we marked out sums we learned our times tables. We had to write down our 2, 5, 10 and 11 times tables and then we recited them over and over again. Some of us actually got really good at not needing our paper to help us remember them all.

It was very hard work sitting still and being quiet all morning. It was strange to stay in our desks the whole time without moving around for anything. Mrs May was VERY strict, which she didn't like very much, she was pleased to be able to be kind again at lunch time.

Tomorrow we are going to be writing quick writes about our morning, so we will publish them to the blog and you can see what we all thought of our 'old school' experience.

Student of the week - Kate

Congratulations Kate - you could be our student of the week every week. You always work so hard at everything you do and you are a terrific leader and role model in our class. Well done.

Ski trip

On Friday and Saturday several Room 4 students (and their teachers) were lucky enough to take part in Lawrence Area School's annual ski trip to Cardrona ski field. The weather was not so kind to us but we all made the most of our time up the mountain and had a fabulous time skiing. A special thank you to Mrs Benington for a great job in organising the trip. 

We all began Friday with a lesson before heading off to explore the mountain with friends and family. 

Unfortunately it was VERY foggy on both days which made it difficult to see where we were skiing for much of the time. This certainly proved a challenge as we tried to explore new places to ski. 

These two epitomise the smiles that were evident during both days skiing. 

Apologies from Mrs O for the lack of photos. She's blaming her phone battery for dying on both days before getting snaps of all of Room 4 skiers. 

We look forward to more fun skiing adventures next year!!!

Cross Country 2013

Today was the Lawrence Area School Annual Cross Country event, held up Gabriel's Gully.

We were very lucky to have a terrific day for competition, not too hot, not too cold, no wind and no rain. The track was soft and dry underfoot so it was perfect conditions for optimum racing and the parents and friends of the school who came to cheer us on were not to be disappointed.

 Abby & Alyssa

 Alesana & Blake. Blake came first in the year 3&4 boys race.

 Connie & Emma. Emma came second in the year 3&4 girls race.

 Hamish & Jenaya. Jenaya came first in the year 3&4 girls race.

 Josie & Kate.

 Lanie & Venessa. Lanie came third in the Year 3&4 girls race.

 Lucie & Max.

 Paris & Rubie.

 Ryan & Samara. Ryan came third in the year 3&4 boys race.

Toby came second in the Year 3&4 boys race.

All of the Room 4 students gave the event their very best effort and some of the positions were highly contested. We are very proud of all of our class and congratulate them on their fantastic efforts.

You make us proud every day - Mrs May and Mrs O

Student of the week - Alesana

We love it when we see students working really hard towards achieving their goals.  This week both teachers noticed and commented on Alesana's efforts with his learning.  Top work Alesana and we look forward to seeing more of this.

WARNING: Holidays Ahead!

Prior to the July school holidays the Room 4 students were given the title 'WARNING: HOLIDAYS AHEAD' and the challenge to record their holidays happenings in any way they choose.  Not all students chose to take on this challenge but for the majority of the class who did, they absolutely astounded Mrs May and Mrs O with their individual efforts!  The students thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to be creative and choose to present their holidays in the way that they preferred.  Students produced posters (with items stuck on to remind the students of experiences), boxes full of memorabilia, photos, power points and booklets.  Included were items such as: movie tickets, pieces of hair from a haircut, bullet cases, 3D glasses, wrist bands from swimming and Kidzone, menu from a meal out, pamphlet from holiday experience, cake crumbs, photos, lolly wrappers, pictures drawn of events..... and many more!  Even though we had many posters made, every single one was different and interesting.  

THANK YOU Room 4 for your AMAZING efforts.

Kate and Lucy's posters

Hamish's box of memories and Alyssa's poster

Toby and Abby's posters

Jenaya and Samara's posters

Emma's booklet and Josie's poster

Jessica's booklet

Lanie's amazing double sided poster FULL of photos

Lucie's box of memories and Rubie's power point

Rubie: Warning Holidays Ahead from daverach

Any teachers out there who follow our blog - we would absolutely recommend trying out this challenge with your class.  This activity ensured the BEST news sharing of the year!