Room12 Blog

End of 2011

2011-12-10T16:22:00.000-08:00

Well another year has come to an end and what fun we have had in Room 12. I will miss each and every one of you. Good luck for the rest of your school days at St Francis Xavier Catholic School. Merry Christmas and God Bless to you and your families.

The Minstrel's show at SFX

2011-12-10T16:17:00.000-08:00

The Minstrel

2011-12-10T16:11:00.000-08:00

The Minstrel

2011-12-10T16:03:00.001-08:00

Imagine - ans outdoor concert with The Minstrel. We had so much fun singing and dancing on Thursday.

Wacky Hair Day

2011-11-02T04:12:00.001-07:00

IMAGINE coming to school with any hair style that you want.
What do you think of our hairstyles?

IMAGINE

2011-10-27T19:11:00.000-07:00

Our concept for the term is............. I M A G I N E .
Try this fun site at home
http://www.drawastickman.com/

We had fun at school today!

Cricket

2011-10-26T17:43:00.001-07:00

Imagine coming to school and playing cricket. Well that is what Room 12 did today. There were 5 cricket coaches and we learnt how to bowl correctly and then played a game of speed cricket. It was so much fun.

Heritage Park

2011-10-01T01:13:00.000-07:00

Visiting the museum, the Kiwi House, the Clarke Homestead, the chapel and the ladies jail was something we all thoroughly enjoyed. We found out about all the treasures that are stored there: old things, dead things as well as living treasures!

Make your own digital scrapbook

Art

2011-09-30T22:34:00.001-07:00

A few busy children concentrating on their artwork. They are drawing Pounamu necklaces.

Art

2011-09-30T21:51:00.001-07:00

Dominoes

2011-09-30T21:48:00.000-07:00

Look what we made when we were playing with the dominoes!

Michael's Treasure

2011-09-27T21:08:00.000-07:00

We had another visitor to Room 12 showing a treasure that has been around for a few generations. Click on the picture to make it bigger and read all about Michael's dad's painting.

World Cup Rugby

2011-09-22T23:28:00.001-07:00

What an amazing day was had today as our school held it's own World Cup Rugby event.
Children were put into teams and dressed up in their teams colours. And guess who won............Ireland!
Although we had a fun day and cheered Ireland as the winner, we REALLY want the All Blacks to win the real Webb Ellis trophy!

World Cup Rugby

Tangaroa's Gift

2011-09-15T00:05:00.000-07:00

We read the book Tangaroa's Gift and were inspired by the colours of the paua shell. We used pastels to draw these Paua shells.

Paua shell art

Max's treasure.

2011-09-11T23:50:00.000-07:00

Another treasure was shared in Room 12. Max has a small handmade book. Click on the page to enlarge the image.

Ruggerland

2011-09-07T17:44:00.001-07:00

This is a maths site set up for the World Cup. It involves answering maths questions to get the treasure. You have to go to locations around New Zealand and answer 3 levels of maths problems to get all the treasure you need. We have registered in class.

Ruggerland

http://www.ruggerland.co.nz/maths/

AFL (Aussie Rules)

2011-09-07T00:33:00.000-07:00

We are loving Thursdays learning all about Aussie Rules. We were practising how to drop kick the ball towards a buddy.

Customize a free slideshow design

Lucy's treasures from her Great Grandad

2011-09-04T12:57:00.000-07:00

Aria's Treasure.

2011-08-28T20:20:00.001-07:00

Family Treasures

2011-08-25T18:34:00.000-07:00

A Family Treasure.

2011-08-25T18:17:00.001-07:00

Family Treasures

2011-08-19T01:31:00.001-07:00

Treasures in the Church

2011-08-16T20:14:00.000-07:00

Catholic Churches contain many objects that play an important part in our worship or help increase our worship.
Can you find these treasures in the slide show?

Altar, Lecturn, Chalice, Paten, Tabernacle, Stations of the Cross, Statue of Mary, Statue of St Francis Xavier, Holy water Font, Baptisimal Font, Monstrance, Organ and Paschal candle.

Taonga / Our Treasures

2011-08-10T20:42:00.000-07:00

Taonga / Our Treasures

2011-07-31T20:28:00.001-07:00

Our school wide topic is Taonga / Our Treasures. If your family has something that is special to you, and you are able to share it with the children of Room 12, please contact the teacher to make a time to share it. We would love to hear what treasures your family has.

2011-07-31T20:21:00.000-07:00

Planning and making pencil holders.

2011-07-09T02:24:00.000-07:00

Designing and planning. on PhotoPeach

Pencil Holders.

2011-07-09T01:43:00.000-07:00

We worked with Anna from Eco-Solutions, revisiting the 3 R's - recycle, reuse, reduce.
We made pencil holders out of a tin can and recycled materials. Anne thought we were very creative!
Here are the end products...............What do you think?

Angels

2011-07-04T20:09:00.001-07:00

Angels are God's unseen servants. We all have angels in our lives and we painted some angels for Room 12. We only used the three primary colours and white. The we added a bit of gold or silver for detail. What do you think of our angels?

Angels on PhotoPeach

The Lorax By Dr.Seuss

2011-06-28T18:34:00.001-07:00

Today we watched the Lorax and talked about one rule we could make to take care of the Earth. In RE we also spoke about what we could do to look after God's creation.

Science Rotations

2011-06-28T18:19:00.000-07:00

CHANGE! As part of our Change concept the Year 3's and 4's explored and observed various changes when making popcorn, butter, sherbet and lava lamps.
Lava Lamps on PhotoPeach

Making butter

2011-06-27T21:20:00.000-07:00

How can cream change to butter? We tried this in Room 11 with our science rotations.
Making butter on PhotoPeach

Making Popcorn

2011-06-27T21:02:00.000-07:00

Inside a kernel of corn is starch. The water in the starch turns to steam when it is headed and it explodes causing the corn to POP!

Popcorn on PhotoPeach

Science Rotations

2011-06-27T18:50:00.000-07:00

Making jelly on PhotoPeach

Hockey Skills

2011-05-31T23:43:00.000-07:00

Some more butterfly stories.

2011-05-30T18:34:00.000-07:00

Butterflies on PhotoPeach

Life Cycle of a butterfly.

2011-05-28T17:26:00.000-07:00

We have been observing the changes in the life cycle of Monarch butterflies that are in the garden at school. We used the Comic Life programme to write about the changes. Here are the first 16 from Room 12

2011-05-19T19:20:00.000-07:00

Healthy Lunch

2011-04-12T19:01:00.000-07:00

Today we made delicious lunches at school.

Making lunch. on PhotoPeach

Harold from Life Education

2011-04-07T17:35:00.000-07:00

What fun we had in the caravan with Nadine and Harold teaching us about healthy choices about food for lasting energy.

Internet Safety

2011-03-29T18:55:00.000-07:00

As part of our "Healthy Me" concept, we are looking at ways of staying safe while on the computer. Today we looked at Hector's World.
Have a look at the links at the side of the blog, or GOOGLE Hector's World.
Today we watched:
http://hectorsworld.com/island/main/episode_theatre_interior_01/index.html

Confident Kids

2011-03-12T14:25:00.000-08:00

Constable Marnie taught us to say "STOP" to touching we don't like.

Mufti Day

2011-03-10T19:14:00.000-08:00

Today we showed our support for all those in Christchurch after the earthquake. We raised $1318.40 with our mufti day fundraiser. Christchurch, you are always in our thoughts and prayers.

Jumping from the tower.

2011-03-03T23:10:00.000-08:00

Well, after seeing you wonderful children giving things a go this morning, Mrs Batchelor went to the pools tonight and gave the top diving board a go! After standing at the top for about 20 minutes she eventually jumped! WOW - so scary but so proud that I did it! Sorry no photos!!

Last swimming lesson.

2011-03-03T19:00:00.001-08:00

What fun we had at our last swimming lesson today. Some of us went outside...........look at what we did!

Sun Smart

2011-03-02T15:36:00.000-08:00

Our NZ sun is very fierce. We need to protect our selves because we will get sunburnt. If I’m in the sun I will slip under a tree. I will slop on some sunblock to protect my body. I will slap on a hat to get the sun off myself. I will wrap on sun glasses to keep the sun off my eyes.

By Harrison.

Healthy Picnic

2011-03-01T18:54:00.001-08:00

Healthy Picnic on PhotoPeach

2011-03-01T17:39:00.000-08:00

Our healthy picnic today was lots of fun. Our Kauri Whanau group had only 19 pieces of rubbish! There were lots of delicious lunches. Look at these children in Room 12 who had no rubbish today.

Swimming Lessons

2011-03-01T00:32:00.000-08:00

We have learnt so much at swimming and we are so confident now. Look at the fun we are having!
Splish Splash on PhotoPeach

School Interviews

2011-02-24T19:02:00.000-08:00

PARENT INTERVIEWS: Parent
interviews are planned for week 6 of this
term. Last year, we trialled the internet
booking system and it was so successful,
we are going to do it again this year.
Please log onto
www.schoolinterviews.co.nz and follow the
prompts. Our code is HGFYZ. If you don't
have access to the internet, pop in and
see Mrs J or phone her and she will be
happy to help you out. Interviews are on
Thursday 10th March.

Tai Chi

2011-02-22T19:17:00.000-08:00

Tai Chi is a Chinese Martial Art. Today Mrs Douglas organised Master Tim to come and give us a demonstration. A healthy mind and body is important and we found out that all ages can do Tai Chi.

ASB Get Wise!

2011-02-22T19:14:00.000-08:00

"SAVE OUR MONEY"

ASB Get Wise!

2011-02-22T19:01:00.000-08:00

We had fun traveling back in time to see how cave-men and pirates traded things. Listen to the sound of our time-machine!

ASB Get Wise!

2011-02-20T19:11:00.000-08:00

WOW - what an exciting afternoon we had in Room 12 today when Julian visited us from the ASB bank. Through interesting story-telling we learnt about saving, trading, and how eftpos cards work. Thanks so much ASB bank.

National Bike Day

2011-02-15T18:32:00.000-08:00

As part of our staying healthy concept this term we embraced National Bike Day. Each syndicate had an hour to ride and do cycling skills. We found that riding on the grass is much harder than on the paths. We aim to do lots of cycling to stay fit.
(Click on a photo to stop the slide show.)

Bike Day at School

Bubble Day!

2011-02-15T16:44:00.001-08:00

Staying healthy at lunch time was lots of fun as we blew bubbles or chased bubbles.

Meet Room 12

2011-02-08T23:04:00.000-08:00

Meet Room 12

2011-02-08T22:11:00.000-08:00

2011. A new year has begun and we are excited about what this year has to offer.

Reotahi Beach Trip

2010-12-07T15:17:00.000-08:00

Beach Trip on PhotoPeach

Athletics

2010-11-23T16:11:00.000-08:00

We have been to the new Athletics Track. It is awesome and some things were challenging!
Read about what we did and what we liked.

Athletics on PhotoPeach

Re-Use

2010-11-16T21:40:00.000-08:00

Our challenge: to make something useful from an item being thrown away or recycled. We used empty steel cans and made pencil holders. We had so much fun designing them and sticking the things on. Thanks to Liam's parents who helped us with the glue-guns.

Fireworks!

2010-11-04T00:31:00.000-07:00

We looked at some You-Tube clips and at images of Fireworks to inspire us with our artwork. We used bright crayons to cover the page and then painted over it with black paint. Using the back of a paintbrush we scraped firework patterns into our art. Aren't they great?

Fireworks! on PhotoPeach

Wearable Arts Challenge

2010-10-27T18:36:00.000-07:00

Today at lunchtime Mrs Pene and Mrs Ferguson organised a Wearable Arts Challenge. Look at some of the wonderful creations!

Louis!

2010-10-26T17:38:00.000-07:00

Imagine juggling while riding a unicycle! We had Louis visit us showing us what he could do on his high unicycle. It must have been a real challenge. He needed courage and persistence to succeed.

ZERO WASTE

2010-10-25T21:07:00.000-07:00

Last week Anna from Zero Waste came to teach us how to reduce the amount of rubbish we throw out. We are trying hard to reuse things and recycle others. On Tuesday Room 12 had 51 things to throw in the bin from our lunch boxes. Then on Wednesday with careful planning we only had 15 things to throw away. We rose to the challenge, and Anna was pleased with us. Keep up the great work, Room 12!

Mary MacKillop Day

2010-10-20T14:06:00.000-07:00

On Friday it was Mary Mackillop day and our whanau groups were split into 3 teams. I was on the back field my team was Team 2.
My favourite game was shark attack, you had to have two people to be the shark and have cones and big balls, and a bit of people. When the game started you had to try to protect the balls and try not to let the sharks kick the ball out of the cones. Soon it was the end of it and we got ice-blocks they were yum.
It was fun.

By Cassidy

Challenges

2010-10-12T15:03:00.000-07:00

This morning our teacher had a challenge for us. First it was arm wrestling and my buddy was Charmaine and the strongest was me. My second buddy was Hannah. She won out of me and her and my last buddy was Natalia and I couldn't really beat her. The next challenge was pushing your partners hands down. My first partner was Esther and we were even. My next partner was Tori and she won out of her and me. It was AWSOME!

By Miriama

Rosie Boom's new book

2010-09-22T18:35:00.000-07:00

We have just finished reading Rosie Boom's book "Where Lion's Roar At Night". The sequel, "Where Arrows Fly" is about to be launched. There will be a book signing and an opportunity to meet the Boom family on Saturday 2nd October at 3:00pm at the Heritage Park, Vintage Car Club Hall. There will be an archery demonstration and you can even have a go at shooting a bow.

OUCH!

2010-09-15T17:47:00.000-07:00

Poor Natalia was knocked over by her sister's horse last week and broke her collar bone. Can you see the broken bone? She is back at school with her arm in a sling. She's so brave!

More Kiwiana art pictures

2010-09-15T17:24:00.000-07:00

Kiwiana Art

2010-09-15T00:07:00.000-07:00

Kiwiana Art on PhotoPeach

Father's Day

2010-09-11T02:22:00.000-07:00

To honour all our fathers, grandfathers and father figures in our lives.

Canadian Culture

2010-09-01T00:49:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Eireland's family came to talk to the children in Room 12 about life in Canada as that is where they all came from. They presented a fabulous slide show with pictures. We learnt that there are some similarities about both countries. We found out about the Canadian flag, their mounted police, school life, their national sport (ice hockey) and we even got to sample some delicious rice crispies squares. Did you know that when they get to school in the morning, they have to take off their 'outside shoes' and then put on their 'inside shoes'? Eireland's dad and brother came dressed in their ice hockey gear. Thank you so much for coming to share your culture with us.

Culture

2010-08-17T20:34:00.000-07:00

New Zealand has many volcanoes, and today in Room 12 we made our own volcano. We followed a procedure and this is what it looked like.

Public Health Nurse

2010-08-12T20:19:00.000-07:00

This week some Public health nurses have been visiting each class in our school. We have learnt how to wash and dry our hands correctly. We need to keep those germs away if we are to stay healthy this winter. Today we had Alison visiting Room 12 showing us how to stay healthy.

Culture Day

2010-08-10T02:08:00.000-07:00

When we went to Room 9 for the next rotation we learnt how Maori children from long ago used to play string games. We are getting really good at it too!

Culture Day

2010-08-10T01:57:00.000-07:00

What an awesome day we had for Culture Day. We made a waka with each person writing on their paddle what they think they bring to our class.

Titi Torea Stick Games

2010-08-08T20:22:00.000-07:00

Today was Culture Day. We had rotations learning things about what games the Early Maori played. Watch this video about Room 12's Titi Torea. We had so much fun!

Constable Marnie

2010-08-05T12:39:00.000-07:00

Last week Constable Marnie visited each class at S.F.X. We were looking forward to her visiting us. She told us about respecting others and their property. We tried on her stab-proof vest. It is heavy!

Term 3, 2010

2010-07-18T01:18:00.000-07:00

Well the holidays are over and a new term is upon us. Our concept (topic) this term is CULTURE.
Our learning is: 1. Culture is kept alive in the traditions and beliefs of a group a people.
2. God's grace is alive in the world when people show respect for all cultures.
The questions we will ask are: Why keep cultures alive and how is culture significant in communities.

Wheels and Cogs Art.

2010-06-30T14:51:00.000-07:00

We drew wheels and cogs as part of our Movement Concept, using warm and cold colours.

Making Sandwiches

2010-06-29T18:35:00.000-07:00

In our class we learnt how Jesus shared bread with His disciples. We wrote a procedure about how to make and sandwich, and today we made our own sandwiches. As we were making them we wrote down the verbs of what we were doing.

Interesting sites.

2010-06-26T19:50:00.001-07:00

On the right of our Blog site, you will find some interesting and educational web sites suitable for children.
Give them a go in the holidays, and leave a comment about what you think of them.
Happy Holidays everyone.

Dance

2010-06-09T16:08:00.000-07:00

As part of our MOVEMENT concept this term, we invited Kate (a parent from our school) to do some dance moves with us. We had FUN!

Awesome story writers.

2010-06-08T21:25:00.000-07:00

We are loving writing this year as we are using adjectives and adverbs to make our writing more interesting for the audience. We wrote about dinosaurs, and each child chose their favourite line. Then putting them all together, this is what we have got.

Small raptor sleeping gently.
Fierce claws ripping crazily.
Dangerous tyrannosaurus rex hunting hungrily.
Stripy dinosaur drinking crazily.
Sly eyes chasing sneakily.
Sharp teeth ripping crazily.
Fierce T-Rex killing noisily.
Super tyrannosaurus killing crazily.
Fast T-rex chasing wildly.
Sharp teeth eating sloppily.
Tall feet creeping sneakily.
Lazy T-rex walking lazily.
Big T-rex chases dangerously.
Speedy feet chasing crazily.
Big T-rex sleeping quietly.
Angry T-rex chasing crazily.
Small bones snapping noisily.
Dangerous T-rex chasing wildly.
Furious teeth crunching hungrily.
Stripy veloceraptor running crazily.
large dinosaur sleeping quietly.
Big tail swishing noisily.
Sharp claws ripping quickly.

Gymnastics

2010-05-27T23:58:00.000-07:00

We had so much fun being gymnasts. Ben, our instructor, showed us 3 levels of difficulty for each exercise.

Gymnastics

2010-05-11T16:56:00.000-07:00

What excitement there was in Room 12 today. We are learning how our bodies move. We went to Gymnastics. We learnt how to straddle, pike, tuck, and how to do a back support and front support. Our instructors are Ben and Paul. We will do this twice a week for the next three weeks.

The Wonkey Donkey

2010-04-29T16:16:00.000-07:00

Today we watched this clip about The Wonkey Donkey. We also have this book in our school library. Can you say all the descriptive words about the donkey?

Click on this site below to see the sing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-uQu7uZlFs

New pupil!

2010-04-26T02:06:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Stevin, a new boy to Room 12. We hope you are going to be happy and that you makes lots of new friends.

Get well soon!

2010-04-26T02:02:00.000-07:00

Briar had a big operation last Tuesday and has been in Starship Hospital. We are praying for her and hope she is home soon. Get well soon, Briar - we miss you.

Term 2

2010-04-19T01:34:00.001-07:00

Welcome back after the Easter holidays. This term our study is MOVEMENT. Today we brainstormed ideas and these are a few things we came up with:
Cars, bicycles, scooters all move because they have wheels.
Our muscles make our bodies move.
Animals move / fly / slither / walk / crawl.
Some animals even move to other countries (migration).
The earth moves: volcanoes, earthquakes, tornadoes.

Pretty impressive for day one, Room 12! keep up this great work.

Visitors to Room 12

2010-04-14T00:02:00.000-07:00

In Week 7 we were lucky to have 2 visitors telling s about themselves. Diane brought numerous brass instruments and each child had an opportunity to play at least one. Rosie Boom is a well known author who lives in Whangarei and she showed us slides, sang a few songs and told us her 'story'. Thank you both so much. We used a programme called Comic Life to write about our visitors. Here are a few of them.

More Story writing.

2010-03-31T16:54:00.000-07:00

Try these story writing sites to create exciting stories.
http://www.eduplace.com/tales/

http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/Games/MoreGames/funnyfillinluckoftheirish

http://www.britishcouncil.org/kids-writing-storymaking.htm

2010-03-31T16:28:00.000-07:00

We have had fun creating stories on this site. Hold the cursor over a story to pause it. Perhaps you can try some more at home.
http://britishcouncil.org/kids-writing-storymaker/htm

Rosie Boom

2010-03-29T00:08:00.000-07:00

Last Wednesday we were really lucky to have Rosie Boom visit the Year 3's. She is a local author (and illustrator). She lives with her husband and 6 children here in Whangarei......in a 90 year old barn. Her book, Where Lions Roar At Night, is a story about her family's adventures. It is a fabulous family book, which appeals to all ages.

Swimming Reflections

2010-03-10T20:53:00.000-08:00

Our swimming lessons are complete. Read about how each one of us has improved.

Bishop Pat visits St Francis Xavier Catholic School

2010-03-05T00:00:00.000-08:00

Today Bishop Patrick Dunn came to our school. To view his Lenten message go to:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8aij5EOgKo

Swimming Lessons

2010-03-03T17:08:00.000-08:00

Our swimming lessons are over for the year. We had so much fun and improved each week.

Illustrator: Ross Kinnaird

2010-02-28T00:03:00.000-08:00

WOW.....a well known children's illustrator came to visit our school on Thursday 25 February. Ross Kinnaird entertained us with his wit and fabulous sketches.

Meet Room 12 class members.

2010-02-22T00:37:00.000-08:00