Earthquake Poems

This week we have been learning about earthquakes. We all feel very sorry for the people up in Kaikoura and in other places that have been damaged by the earthquakes this week. As a class we have been keeping an eye on the news and discussing all the important facts.
We had lots of questions about earthquake and have begun some research around this topic. Part of our learning was also to create word lists of words we associate with earthquakes. We created see/feel/hear charts, a verb chart and an onomatopoeia chart. During writing we used these charts to help inspire and support our poetry writing.

Here are some of our earthquake poems:

Midnight Earthquake
Babies moaning,
people crawling to safety - it's hell in the city.
Glass is exploding, sirens are calling.
People run out of their houses,
many tripping, many falling - no where to run.
All trapped, all silent like rats being cornered by a cat.
Bash!
The houses shatter - there will be no city anymore.

By Tessa

Earthquake
Boom, crash!
In fright I stare at my home city falling in front of me.
Buildings collapse and go down as fast as lightning.
I'm on my knees now, barely able to stand.
Watching buildings falling and hear the frightening screams
of the young and the old.
Shattering glass - its like a war.
I feel pain in my legs and hands,
only to see blood gushing out.
I yell for help but no one can hear me.
All of a sudden the ground starts to crack - it gets wider and wider.
I run for help.
In the morning people come out and ask if you are alright.

By Angus

DK Site

As part of our inquiry learning we have been exploring a website that is linked to the book we are using. There is so much great information on this site that many students have asked that I put the link on the class blog. So here it is! I think that it is fantastic that so many students continue on their learning at home - its great to have a curious mind!!

DK Find Out!!

A Busy Start to the Term!

We can hardly believe that it is already the end of week 3! We have had a very busy few weeks. Presenting our 'Gangsta Granny' assembly item was a highlight for students. Everyone enjoyed sharing their performances.
We have also started a new inquiry unit called 'A Street in Time' which is centred around a book that looks at the same scene over a long period of time - from the Stone Age right through to Modern Day. It has been really interesting going back and exploring what life would have been like and what challenges people would have faced. We have been noting how the early people had to adapt to their surroundings and be creative and inventive to solve problems and improve their lives.
As part of our learning we made clay pots using a coiling method. It was great fun working with the clay but also challenging.

Some of our clay pots - note the decorative marks around them.

More pots ...

All the pots were different sizes and shapes - all unique!

This week we have been looking at how to find the area and perimeter of shapes. In particular we have been using our multiplication knowledge to find the area and perimeter of rectangles. A problem was given to us that was an irregular shape and we had to think carefully about how we could split the shape into rectangles to make it easier. 

Today Mrs Jackson gave us a problem to work through. We were given a sheet that had a rectangle and a triangle on it. We had to work out which shape covered the most paper. Both shapes looked quite similar in size. As usual we couldn't just guess - we had to prove it! Working in pairs we explored different ways of working this problem out. Thinking about what we know about area and geometry was very useful. 

Mrs Jackson was impressed with the great maths conversations that were taking place and the different maths knowledge that was being used. She was also pleased with the perseverance shown by all students - not one student said 'this is too hard' or 'I give up!'. In Room 7 we accept challenges and always try our best! 

Reef and Liam Barron showing great focus and concentration!

Angus and Reuben trying out a different idea...

Hannah and Ava testing their ideas

Some great thinking going on here from Sophia and Laura

We are looking forward to Athletics Day next Wednesday. We have all been practicing our skills in jumping, throwing and running. Lets hope this rain stops!!

Commotion in the Ocean

Last term in the Allen Centre Mrs B worked with the students creating puppet shows based on children's story books. Room 7's book was 'Commotion in the Ocean' by Giles Andreae. Everyone had a great time creating their puppets and the end result looked amazing!

Today they had the opportunity to perform their play to the junior school and to Room 6.

Gangsta Granny!

This term our class book has been 'Gangsta Granny' by David Walliams. We have really enjoyed this story. It is about a young boy called Ben and his old granny. In the beginning Ben doesn't like visiting Granny or spending any time with her because he thinks she is boring. But little does he know! Granny ends up telling Ben that she is actually a jewel thief who has pulled off lots of heists and had plenty of amazing adventures. Ben and Granny hatch a plan to break into the Tower of London to steal the crown jewels but it doesn't quite go to plan.
We have enjoyed exploring the amazing characters in this book and how the author has developed them.
As an end of term activity Mrs Jackson tried very hard to find a copy of the BBC movie version of this book but she had no luck! So she came up with another idea - we were going to recreate some of the scenes from the book ourselves using drama!
We started off the morning with a quick quiz about the book. Several groups got all 8 answers correct. Then it was off to the hall.
To recreate the scenes from the book we had to think very carefully about what the characters were doing and what our audience would like to see. We weren't allowed to use voice (so no talking) so our gestures and expressions had to tell the story. We did have a narrator who read the passage from the book out loud though. Mrs Jackson also said - no props! So we had to think carefully about how we could use to our bodies to create any props or scenery that might be needed.
Here are the final videos from our performances. One group had a tricky scene - Granny giving the cake to the Beefeaters. This scene is not actually detailed in the book so it was up to this group to write a script and come up with the ideas of what happened.

Polyfest 2016

On Thursday the Outram Kapa Haka group performed at the Otago Polyfest. The students really enjoyed their moment on stage and our leaders did a fantastic job! All students can be so very proud of their performance. The video below shows part of our performance - thanks to Mrs Grace for videoing it for us.

Our Week in Room 7

We have had another very busy week here in Room 7, we've had a netball tournament and Hui Ako. What amazing opportunities our students at Outram School get! As a class we have been working on creating a class newspaper as a way of writing about all of our experiences. We have looked at other newspapers and identified the layout and language features that they have used. We've practiced creating interesting headlines and have begun developing the first drafts of our articles. Working in a group can be challenging and learning to work together effectively is a focus for us this term. We are learning to listen to each other and consider new ideas, compromising and co-operating.
Keep an eye out for 'The Outram Weekly' newspaper coming out soon!

An updated class photo - what an awesome bunch we are! (Hannah absent)