Working as a team - by Solomone

I loved the movie because Julianne, Tyron, Pupuke, Katrina and I made a cake! Mrs Buchanan was recording us. When we started we put the cake on the table and Pupuke put the icing on the sides to stick the Kit Kat on. After that we stuck the Kit Kat on and Katrina and I put the M&Ms on top. Then Julianne,Tyron and Pupuke helped us. When we were done we finished recording.  I felt great because we got to make a cake! When it was lunch time, Julianne cut the cake and we got 1 piece of cake and 1 Kit Kat each.

We worked well together to make our movie. I used Panzoid to make the introduction about teamwork. Katrina used button base to make the beat for the background.

And That's What We Did For Our Movie! It was fun!

Goodbye, Kuini!

Many tears were shed today as Room 10 farewelled Kuini who is moving to another area of Auckland. Julianne, Mary and Tupouseini managed to sing a farewell through their tears. Kuini's kind and friendly nature, confident speaking and amazing athletic skills will be missed very much. We all wish you the best of luck at your new school next term, Kuini.

Olympics: Finding out about Turkey - by Julianne

We have been working together to find about Turkey and the Olympics.

Reading at home

Now that everyone is able to take their Chromebook home, we are able to do different activities when we are learning at home. Here Julianne reads the story "Mele's Money Dance" to show that she is practising her reading at home.

Let's talk!

Term 2 ended today with whole school speech finals at which Zion, Katrina and Saluselo represented Room 10. Zion loves learning about space and the planets and shared some amazing facts, while Saluselo told us all about the WWE wrestler, Joseph Ano'ai aka Roman Reigns. Congratulations to Katrina who came second in the Year 4-6 category with her information-packed speech about Steven Adams. Fantastic!

When it was time for first-language speeches, Julianne, Kuini and Tupouseini looked and sounded so proud to share some personal and family history with the audience.

Frosted curls and a golden star

Despite today being the shortest day of 2016, we finally replanted our Room 10 garden! We read the information labels, planned our plot and measured the distance between each plant. Lots of digging, lots of earth and lots of smiles as we watched our garden take shape. We will water and watch to see how our native grasses and other plants grow. The coprosma, Golden Star, reminds us of Matariki.

Is healthy eating a challenge?

This week, Kuini, Julianne, Tupouseini and Zion worked together to discover how much energy, fat and sugar are in some foods by reading the nutrition information labels.  Kuini shared what they found out in a table.

Based on 4 grams being equivalent to 1 teaspoon of sugar, everyone in Room 10 was amazed when they worked out that one 250ml glass of Coca Cola has about 7 teaspoonfuls of sugar.  Jamie Oliver says that 10-11 year old learners should only eat about 6-7 teaspoonfuls of sugar a day, unless it is the natural sugar in fruit and milk.  Our conclusion is that eating healthily every day is a challenge for all of us.

What is your choice for the New Zealand flag?

Should we keep the New Zealand flag as it is?  Or, should we replace it with Kyle Lockwood's Silver Fern? Room 10 held a 2nd Referendum to make an informed choice.

The ballot box was opened and the papers counted. The result:

               3/4 (75%) of the students in Room 10 voted to keep the current flag
               1/4 (25%) of the students in Room 10 voted to change the flag

Duffy kids are reading round the world!

You can do it ...  Nothing to it ...

Duffy brought his friend Ruby to Ruapotaka yesterday to share his love for reading.  He took us back in time in his home-made Tardis time machine because he wanted to change what had happened in the past.  He thought Ruby should have the chance to go to school and learn to read.

Katrina's favourite part was when Duffy was supposed to go to Greece but he actually went to Japan in the time machine.  When he was in Japan he saw a ninja. The part where Tevita pretended to be a baby was Julianne's favourite bit. The baby turned out to be Duffy because he went back in time. Mary thought the characters were so creative. Saluselo enjoyed when the actors were falling down in slow-motion, even the nurse.

Of course, we were all reminded that our imaginations can take us to all sorts of places and on all sorts of adventures when we are reading.

A colourful start

To begin our new year in Room 10, we are thinking about ourselves, our learning and our goals.  We are each creating bright and inventive self-portraits in the style of the Spanish artist, Pablo Picasso, as we make a colourful start to 2016.  What do you notice about our pictures?

Down the back of the chair!

This afternoon Room 10 were excited to host senior syndicate assembly to share what we learnt and created during our Book Week.  Did you know that the New Zealand author, Margaret Mahy, had over 200 books published for children and young adults?  As well as sharing this and other interesting facts in a quiz, we read her hilarious poem, Down The Back Of The Chair.  Our artwork will be displayed in the library once we have pulled out everything that hides down the back of the chair!

Representing Ruapotaka

Julianne and Solomone were the Year 5 representatives from Ruapotaka at the inter-schools cross-country competition this week. They both thoroughly enjoyed the challenge of running around the course at Bailey Road.  Julianne showed grit and determination to come 6th in the girls event. Solomone stumbled and fell in the muddy area but picked himself up and felt proud to finish the event with runners still behind him. Ka mau te wehi!

Just keep running!