SHARE! Whanau netbook training

As part of Manaiakalani Education Trust, Glenbrae school supports tamariki and whānau to learn how to use their chromebooks in the best possible way. We call this our Kawa of Care and includes everything from Looking after the device, being Cybersmart, and home learning. 

Last night we invited whānau to join us to learn about the Kawa of Care so that our new chromebook learners can begin to take their devices home. By taking their device home they can continue their learning journeys, anywhere and anytime! 

It was an absolute delight to see our talented tamariki, showing their whānau through our learning site, this class blog and their own personal blogs. Mothers, fathers, grandfathers all took part in using their children's chromebooks and got to practicing writing thoughtful, positive and helpful comments on their blogs. 

It was awesome for our fantastic Room 7 learners to share their learning with their families. They were very proud of their work and I was very proud of them for leading the learning in the way that they were sharing with their whānau!

Well done tamariki, and thank you to the wonderful family members who came along. We couldn't do this without you! 

Baking for ANZACs

Today in room 7 we were learning about procedural texts. 

A procedural text tells us how to do something. We were writing about how to make Anzac cookies. 

So, we did just that.
As the recipe was being made, we had to take notes about what to do, step by step. 

WALT: write a step by step instruction 

SC: Write an ANZAC cookie recipe. 

Once we had finished writing the steps, presto! The cookies were baked and we all got to taste them! How delicious. 

We also incorporated lots of maths into making these biscuits. 

The recipe we had made only 20 biscuits, but we have 30 people in our class. So, we had to work out how much of each ingredient we needed. 

First we worked out that we needed one whole batch of the recipe, plus half a batch. 

It was easy to work out that we needed 1 & 1/2 cups of flour instead of just 1 cup. 

But, it got really tricky when we were trying to work out half of 1/2 a cup of sugar! It turns out it was a quarter of a cup of sugar. So altogether we needed 3/4 (1/2 + 1/4) of a cup of sugar. Tough stuff! But we got there. 

About our Brains

Alex Danny and Salesi wanted to know where our thoughts and creativity come from... this led them to learn all about the parts of the brain... check out their creative rap! 

A bit about tastebuds

 Amelia and Angel learned about tastebuds as their inquiry into the human body. 
Did you know that chocolate, or cocoa is actually bitter? We add sugar to make it taste sweet!

Why do we Sleep?

Shannon Nirvana and Mary made a song about sleep and why we need it. They learned many interesting things about sleep which they put into a poster and used to create a venn diagram comparing being asleep and being awake. 

The Digestive System

Trent, Loto and Penitoa wondered what happened to the food we eat and learned about the digestive system. 
This is their rap they created about their learning. They also drew a diagram of the digestive system to show at our roadshow. Well done boys, a great display of your learn, create and share. 

Hic, Hic, Hiccup!

What are hiccups? Honey, Whitney and Davarni wondered the same thing so they went about learning more.
They created a poem to share their learning and recorded it in their own news show. I look forward to seeing more from their news show (If you have trouble viewing this video please follow this link). 
They also created some posters to share their learning which is proudly displayed around our classroom! Well done girls.

What causes hiccups?

• We hiccup because we eat too fast, or too much.
• Also hiccup become an diaphragm that gets annoyed .
• Sometimes people get really annoyed with the ways they do hiccup
• Sometimes you can do a hiccup that sounds like a burp
• When you hiccup the result is involuntary, the diaphragm follows by the closing of the throat.
• Drinking too much alcohol
• Swallowing too much air
• Smoking

Ways to stop hiccuping?

• Hold your breath  10 seconds then breathe out slowly. Repeat about 3-4 times
• Somebody could give you a fright unexpectedly.
• Drink entire glass of water with a straw and block your ears
• Putting sugar under your tongue
• Try to burb
• Put your tongue out
• Get a massage.

How long can hiccup last for ?

Hiccups can last for a couple of minutes, sometimes it can even last for 48 hours.

It can also last for weeks and months, if it does last for this long then you might most likely have a medical condition.

Here is a link for a site, go visit it if you want more information

Information about the hiccup

Why do we get get scabs?

Litia, Fasi and Setaita were interested in learning more about our skin, and why we get scabs when we cut ourselves. Listen to their poem and see their diagram below.

What are fingerprints?

McKenzie, Sean and Charlie learned about fingerprints. Then they practiced taking peoples fingerprints during the roadshow on Friday, they were able to see how each person's fingerprint is different. 

Discovery Roadshow

This years inquiry topics are around the theme of Discovery: Past, Present and Future. 
Last term we learned all about ourselves and the human body. We explored themes that interested us and created posters, raps, songs, and diagrams to share our learning. 

As a class we were able to share with each other and the other school members the amazing things that we learned about the human body. Well done Room 7!

Fields of Remembrance

On Thursday morning we got the opportunity to honour some of the fallen soldiers from WW1 and hosted a fields of remembrance ceremony on our school's front lawn.
Children assembled the crosses and placed them in the ground.
We were also able to have Q&A with an esteemed Lieutenant.
This was an honourable day as the nation commemorates the 100th anniversary of the great battle of Gallipoli

Celebrating Success

See Room 7's fabulous readers. 
Over the school holidays we have a reading challenge, where learners are asked to keep a reading log of everything they read over the 2 week break. 
See all the wonderful Room 7 readers who got a Principal prize for their holiday efforts. 

Today we also celebrated how well we have been working together as a class. We all got to enjoy chocolate ice creams for an afternoon snack. Lucky it was a warm day! 

MultiMedia Learning

This week we are publishing last weeks learning as short movies. Our movies are songs/ raps/ news broadcasts and poems. 

Here we are using our creative thinking to combine Jovi drawings, iPad filming, netbook research and planning to create our final product. 

On Friday we have our school inquiry roadshow where we will present our learning to whānau and other ākonga. 

March Blogger of the month: Luisa

During the month of March, we were learning to make our blogs superb by using the blog rubric to check that we had all the necessary information. 

This month Luisa has used the rubric to explain what she learned in each activity and what she found difficult. 

Using the rubric has also helped her to make her blog posts more aesthetically appealing.
Well done Luisa. View this and other blogs by Luisa here