ANZAC DAY

On the 25th April each year we celebrate Anzac Day - a day where we take the time to remember the brave soldiers who have fought for our country.

We have spent a lot of time reading about WW1 and all the brave New Zealand men and women that risked their lives for our country.

Throughout our learning we learnt that 10% of the New Zealand population went away to war, and from this over 50% were casualties war. We worked this out that if the 24 of us in Room 10 went to war, 12 of us would have been injured or killed. This made us really think about how lucky we are to live in such a safe country, where we are able to experience all the wonderful opportunities that we have here in New Zealand. We are proud of the men and women that fought for us, and what they have achieved for our country, and for their efforts we will continue to remember them.

At the going down of the sun,
And in the morning
We will remember them

Check out our amazing Anzac Art

Room 10 was extremely fortunate to have Stan "Pop" (Ashley's Granddad) come and share his knowledge and stories about ANZAC with us. We had a great time looking at all the different objects the soldiers had in the wars.

Here are some of the pictures from our visit with "Pop". Who can remember what each of these items are? Put your answers in the comments.

                                          1).

2).

3).

4).

5).

6).

7).

Persuasive Writing

The last couple of weeks we have been learning a lot about persuasive writing. We have learnt that a persuasive piece of writings purpose is to try and persuade someone to agree with your opinion.

It has been a lot of fun reading everyone's opinions on topics that include: the sense we could best live without, a pet in room 10, changing the flag and what the picture is. Everyone has worked hard to establish arguments that support their opinion, and structure their writing so that it is easy to read.

To help us correctly structure our writing we have been thinking about putting our writing into a BURGER! The top bun is our introduction, all the fillings are our arguments, and the bottom bun is the conclusion. We have spoken about the idea that it is extremely hard to eat a burger without both buns, and how this is the same with our writing.

Take a look at some of our amazing persuasive writing pieces. I am sure we will have you all converted to our opinions in no time!

Parrot

Dear Mrs Knyvett,

You told us that we couldn't have a pet for the class. But my problems are that room 6 get’s a pet fish and I bet that we should have a parrot.

I reckon that room 10 should have a parrot. It will be good for learning for everyone in the class. If a new kid comes to Stanley Ave School and he or she doesn't  no english he or she can go to the parrot.

And talk to it and learn english too. Someone can take the parrot home for the night.They can cheer you up if our sad and the parrot can teach you responsibility.

The class should have an opportunity to have a parrot to learn more.

Sincerely from Harry.

Dear Mrs Knyvett

It would be a great idea if  we could have a pet dog in our classroom. It would be a good friend if your being bullied  or if you are bleeding the dog would lick it clean  and  make it feel better. If you let us have the dog as the award we would to spend  10 minutes with the dog. The dog would love to run around so if we  behave  we could run with the dog. The dog would guide  kids that can’t see. Also it would be a bright star in room 10 and we would take so much care of the dog and we will brush it and stroke it. If one of us is being bad they would be on poo duty and pee duty. Or the boys do poo duty and the bad girls do pee duty  and that is my reasons why we need  a dog in room 10 .

If you are reading this a dog would help us with our fitness and a good starter pet  and we will look after it in room 10.

Sincerely,

Zak

Dear Fairy God Mother,

I have been deciding what sense I want to lose and it is my sight. I know that if I lose my sight then I wouldn’t see violent scenes and scary movies so I wouldn’t be scared.I wouldn’t be attracked to sweet stuff on the bench like mac and  cheese.I would still taste broccoli and gravy, and would  feel hayleys warm hand,I would smell sausages on the bbq,and I would hear the crackling fire. I think I could live without sight.

Yours sincerely,

Tabitha

Week 5

Week 5 has flown by and in Room 10 we have had another full on week of learning.

Our word of the week has been Responsibility, and we have all been working hard to make sure we are responsible for our own actions and learning. This has seen us all producing work that we are proud of, and achieving the best of our abilities.

On Monday we were extremely lucky to have Northern Districts Cricket representatives come and take us for a cricket session. Unfortunately the weather wasn't on our side, with the rain coming down too heavy for us to be outside. Instead we relocated to the Recreation Centre and had a blast playing Indoor Cricket. We have some very talented budding cricketers amongst the class, and some great leaders and team players.

Here are some images of us enjoying our cricket session.

There will be Cricket Training Sessions for all age groups beginning on Friday afternoons. We will have more information on these sessions soon, so if you are interested in these keep an eye out.

In the Classroom

These past four weeks has seen Room 10 transform from an empty shell into a bursting learning environment full of colour.

We are all busy learning new things, acting on advice and pushing ourselves to create things we are extremely proud of. In this past week alone we have been learning about recounts, abstract art, our powerful voice, as well as focussing on our reading, maths and swimming.

Here is a picture of all our colourful self-portrait abstract art up on the walls - we look forward to seeing you come through and having a good look at them.

Here is a wee snippet of our sensational recount writing.

On Monday the 22nd we played a game of hide and go seek. 

We started tumbling back and forth like a swaying yoyo. Finally I found a spot under the cupboard. It smelt of dry paint and vivid.

Thundering foot steps were coming closer and closer, I felt Mrs Knyvett tower over me, like a tree in the red woods. I held my breath until my cheeks turned bright red. "Zak" she laughed.

"Oh", Zak mumbled.

I let out my breath with a relief. She looked over the side of the couch. I lay on my side to blend in with the couch. "Bradley, Charlie" I heard her saying. I put my finger to my lips. 

By Lyla

Make sure to check back in next week to see even more of our great pieces of work.

Week 2

Wow what a week it has been! We have been extremely fortunate in Room 10 this week with lots of exciting activities happening.

On Friday we were lucky to have Dr Lawrence and Mr Nelson come and present the Year 4's of Stanley Avenue School with a new dictionary each on behalf of the Rotary Club. We are very grateful for these exciting new tools to aid our learning, and are already busy using them! It is very exciting to find new words and use them in our learning.

It was lovely to see so many of our students and parents/caregivers at the Meet the Teacher evening on Wednesday. Room 10 was a hive of activity after the formal welcome, with lots of students and parents/caregivers coming through to see what is happening in our wonderful classroom. It was especially pleasing to chat with so many parents/caregivers, and seeing all the students so excited to be sharing their learning with their families.

With the warm weather we have been experiencing, it has been fabulous to have so many students enjoying the school pool. Everyone is trying their best throughout our swimming lessons and I have been impressed with the progress each child is making. Lunch time swims have been well utilised by Room 10 students, who are enjoying the opportunity to freshen up before afternoon learning! Remember that the Swimming Sports are this Thursday and will begin at 9.30am. All of Room 10 will be expected to participate in at least one event, so please if you are available to it would be lovely to see you there cheering them on.

Here is some photos of us receiving our new dictionaries and our wonderful swimming.

Welcome back to 2016

Kia ora koutou katoa and welcome to 2016 in Room 10.

Wow - what a first day we have had in Room 10 today. It was wonderful to meet all the amazing students and get to know each other a little bit.

We did a lot of 'TEAM' focussed learning today, and this is really important as we look to creating a classroom environment that we can all succeed in. I was impressed with the way that everyone got involved in all the activities we did today, and worked cooperatively with all their team mates.

I look forward to spending more time learning a bit more about everyone and getting more exciting learning happening within the class over the next few days.

Please check back on here on Friday to see some photos from our awesome first week back at school this year!

We have been learning to join our class blog and wikispace:

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Riley