Talent Show

On Friday the 28th of September Mrs Donnelly hosted the Senior Talent Assembly. There were quite a lot of amazing performances including dance, instrumental performances and other. For example Amber and Nikitia performed aerobics along with Ella Fry and Ella Flynn. Emma Mclean did jazz. And wait don't forget about Madison and Gabby with their amazing performance of rock'n' roll. It was a great afternoon filled with lots of laughs and claps great work to everyone who performed you were awesome.  Also if looking for a dance school /teacher go to Mersey Street and go to Jazz Time it is a fantastic place, most of our performers go to Jazz Time and look what they are like now, fantastic.

The diving fear

It is so nerve-wracking to jump, I don't know how people do it? As I got into the pool it steamed me up like a potato. That's why I hate summer. My friends dared me to jump off the high  jumping board, I didn't want to at first.  But I needed to face my fear! As I got to the death trap I shuffled anxiously to the end, I peered over the water, sharply I took a breath then plunged down to my prey.

A Day Outside

The sun gleaming with a gentle breeze. I spotted a ditch, poised to jump but then moving along spotting a small furry ball scampering into a hole,a cotton ball-like tail. Running along the disappearing round the corner,getting pulled along by a little 4-legged critter. A loud bark was heard from the distance walking ahead a vibrating feel creeped up my arm while pitter patting of little feet was heard. Almost home walking, running ahead stones hard against the sole of my shoes, a bird flying above my head, making it inside to the warm summer paradise.

Drama with Evelyn

On Thursday Room 6 had an afternoon full of action and fun with Evelyn teaching us drama. We were acting out a book called Outlanders but we weren't following it, we were going back into the past of the story. We had to act like we were packing a small carry bag and also act like we were on a bus leaving everyone and everything behind. Everyone had a good time and we are ready for next week for another afternoon full of action and fun.

Holly Leitch Future Olympian

One weekend I, Holly Leitch had a gymnastics competition and very fortunately won a gold medel, two trophies (plus there was only three trophies and the last one was for a club) four certificates for 1st on vault 1st team (four in a team) 1st= on floor with a gym friend my age and first overall (over nine year olds). That night I could eat as much ice cream as I liked but sadly couldnt eat much (one trophy I get to keep, the small one but the big has to be returned in a year).

Gymnastic Gem

In the weekend I had a gym competition. I was against 9 girls. On the bar I got 4th, floor 3rd, vault 2nd and beam 1st. My overall was so exciting, I got 2nd.

Hockey Heroes

Hi I'm Jack and I trialled for the Hatch Cup. They ran out of places for me. One week later I trialled for the A Team and got in. I am already a Southland Rep. The A and B teams will be going to the West Coast not Timaru like last year. I have been playing for 8 years. I started when at assembly Mrs Healey asked for a hockey team, I brought a notice home and mum and dad paid the turf fee. When I started getting older I played for Central and got hit in the ankle at a PC [penalty corner], if I was not wearing shin guards I would have broken my ankle. Hi I'm Kya, Jack's friend. I trialled for the Southland U13 Hatch Cup Team, I've got a practice coming up and if I don't do very well I'll get dropped into the A Team which is another type of hockey academy. I've played hockey for about 7 years, I used to play in the old army hall. My injuries, well I've had a black eye, bleeding nose and broken a finger luckily they were minor injuries.

Tapa Maths

Room 6 have been learning about Tapa at maths time. Rotational and reflective symmetry and translation are all in Tapa cloths. Today we made our own paint for our tapa cloths out of traditional pigments - rust, charcoal, brick, onions skins and turmeric powder. The pigments needed to be mixed with mordants to make it stick to the material. We tried salt, vinegar and baking soda for mordants and found salt to be the best. Binders make the paint the right consistency. We have been making our own and they look great! The pattern is based on nature, flowers, trees and plants. On Monday we are going to use our paint to create a Tapa for Room 6. We have been enjoying this learning and we hope that the tapa will look great when it's done.

Volleyball Day One

Today we went to the hall and played volley ball with Troy. Troy is coaching us for 8 weeks this term. Warm Up For our warm up we ran,jumped and sprinted around the hall. Lots of people took their shoes off, so Troy made it into a game. He made us run up and try and grab two shoes, people who didn't get two shoes were out. Skills We learnt the dig and the spike and practised these with a partner. Game We finished up by playing a game of Nuke Em. Each team had six players and they had to throw the ball over the net to the other players. They had to try and catch the ball then throw it to other people in their team before throwing it over the net again. I wonder what we are going to do next week.

Week Six Term 2

Room 6 have been enjoying the challenge of working on reading contracts independently when not with me at reading time.  The contract includes a selection of activities that are each worth points.  They must accumulate at least 180 points by the end of the term.  One activity that they are particularly enjoying is recording a review or plot summary of a book on the computer.  We may post some of these on the blog for the world to enjoy!

A lot of you will know that we have been working on some writing that describes someone in our life who isn't typical.  Many of these are very funny and I wish that they had been ready for you at Student Led Conferences.  With a little more conferencing and editing they will be ready though and we will make sure they are shared.

Student Led Conferences were a highlight for me, a lot of work and a couple of late nights but worth it to see the students capably discuss their goals and learning journey.  

We had a nice surprise from Judy, our cleaner.  She has been so happy with how the classroom is being left each day that she gave everyone a lollipop.  Judy does a terrific job and we are always happy to help out by doing our part.

On Friday we had a go at another experiment.  We tried making flubber but unfortunately didn't have much luck.  I will experiment at home and make sure it is going to work before we have another go.

We're looking forward to the cross country this week with fingers crossed that this weather improves, even a little!

Sadly we bade farewell to Miss Nieborg last week who has gone on maternity leave.  Many students from Room 6 have come to know her through Kapa Haka and will miss her.  I was extremely proud of Kya for spontaneously summoning the rest of the boys from Kapa Haka in assembly to perform for her, way to go Kya. 

Miss Tempelman and Miss Hoogeveen

This week and all of next week we have had two brilliant student teachers called Miss Hoogeveen and Miss Tempelman. They are learning to be teachers like Mrs Donnelly and are getting some ideas and advice on how to be the best they can be.  They have also been teaching us reading, writing, world mapping, maths and spelling. Thanks Miss Tempelman and Miss Hoogeveen.

Anzacs

We have been learning, in Room 6, about Anzac.  We have been doing reading activities, we also have been learning about Anne Frank 'lest we forget' and who survived in the war.  A lot of people have connections with people from the war.

Our Street

Room 6 have been doing some amazing writing about our street.  We were given 6 minutes to write non-stop about where we live!  We published them, cut them out and glued them onto neat little cut out mailboxes!  After stencilling our street number on the mailbox, we stuck them on the wall.  They look fantastic!!!  I really enjoyed writing about our street and writing for 6 MINUTES NON-STOP!!!

Jacks First Post

Mrs Webster is not teaching in Room 6 but taking writing and maths classes instead. The dawn parade was great the cannon made a cacophony of sound.  Room6 are making Anzac biscuits.  Hopefully no-one gets burnt or hurt which is most likely to be me.

Camp Evening

Last night we had a Year 5 and 6 camp evening to show our Mums and Dads what we did on camp. The teachers had put together a slide show of the Year 5 and 6 camp. I can not wait until next year because Year 6 camp looks a lot of fun.

MULTICOLOURED MAYHEM

Feeling confused?
Well this Friday we had an amazing  day when the whole school dreased up in a random clothes.  WOW you should have seen Mrs Mac, Azra and Saraya CRAZY!  Everyone had to pay $1 gold coin donation to go towards Autism.

Southland Athletics

On the 31st some people will be going to the Southland Athletics. It will be held at Surrey Park. At Surrey Park there will be shot put, long jump, discus, 100m 800m and 1500m,high jump and relays.  Otatara, Donavon, Makarewa and many other schools will be competing against each other, it will be challenging.

New Names for Classes

This week in Room 6 we have discovered our new class name which is Manuka and on Monday we are having a blessing for our new classroom, Pokaka Room  13.  We are happy for the students entering this wonderful new classroom.

Manuka

The classes have all been named after trees that grow in the bush near school.

Visiting Artist Surprise

This week we had a guest she was a artist her name was Emma Coppen.  She lives in Riverton she has very good tips,one of them was sketch before paint and don't waste money on supplies. It's really good to get a sketch book or a sketch pad.  She sold a potrait of her sister for $700!!!  I reckon thats a lot of money but Emma said that it's not alot of money but I think its quite a lot.  She also said time is the best tool and to use it wisely.

Good Luck Athletes

Hi over the last few weeks Otatara kids have been training for the Southlands.  Well done, hope you have fun and good luck.

Manuka

This week Mrs Rodway made up names for all the classes instead of boring old Room 6 we are now called Manuka!!!!!  Manuka is one of our very speical trees in our bush.  All the classes are named after trees in our native bush.  We are very lucky to have Manuka as our class name none of us know much about the tree but maybe we could look into this more.

Social Studies

Well this week in Room 6 we did some social studies, it was my first time, it was really fun.  We named all the continents and we did a work sheet. There were names of the biggest cities in the world up to 20 and under it was a map.  There were numbers we used an atlas and found the right map and named them all!

We also learned about a problem that's going around right now about a tunnel that is going to be built in round by Milford Sound and Queenstown!

Dart Tunnel

This week in Room 6 we did some maths in our maths groups Fibonacci, Archimedes, Descartes and Pythagorus.  We have been working on addition and subtraction strategies.

In reading we are reading to find the main idea and use comprehension strategies to do this.

On Thursday afternoon in Room 6 we had a reliever and she was telling us about how the tourists have
to travel six and a half hours from Queenstown to Milford Sound so they want to put a tunnel through the nice mountains.

Goals and Groups

We have all set our goals, for maths, reading and writing.  I'm so glad that's over and done with!!!

We have also got names for our maths groups Pythagoras, Archimedes, Fibonacci and Descartes.  They are all very odd names the teacher has put paper up on the wall to stick information about the names.

We have names for the table groups too, Smurfs, Muppet's, Angry Birds, Unos, Four Leaved Clover and Cyber Puppies.

This week its been so awesome! I think Mrs Donnelly would have to be pretty organised to organise these groups.

Discover Room 6

This year in Room 6 we have been discovering our room 6 students and what they are like and our different personalities.  We have been making our school a better place by working on what the sport shed should be like and states it should be in.  We have made sport shed cards that have our name class number and even a photo on it .  The back has our library bar code.  We have now got our barriers at the sport shed so its not so crowded.  This week a lot of students from Otatara School competed in the Zone Athletics on Wednesday the 21st.   We got very good marks will have a lot of students competing in the Southlands as well.

Amazing Learning

Three weeks ago Year 5 people went to do outdoor ed. First we went to the estuary and found some amazing things like crabs and snails. Then we went mountain biking.  We have all completed writing our goals and today we have been making a cannon that only uses air.  We had a go at using some cups.  This is last day to finish independent reading activities. We have had an amazing week of learning!!

Vortex Cannon

Hi everyone today we were watching the kid should see this and we saw two people making a homemade vortex cannon... AWESOME!  So we gave it a go. We had a large box and cut a hole, then someone went to the office and asked if we could borrow some wide tape. Soon the only thing that air could go through was the hole. Then we had some plastic bags and BOOOOOOOM! Incredible, it shot right off the table some more people had a go then Mrs Donnelly got some paper cups BBBBBBBOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!! Amazing.   Many more people had go and now we are making our own!

Week 7 Term One

Kia ora

Room 6 was buzzing on Monday when the Year 5 and Year 6 students were reunited after a week apart for camp and outdoor education.  Everyone had a blast, strengthening connections with peers and challenging themselves while practising their key competency goals set in class.  Miss Casey, Mr Williams and I are looking forward to planning an evening where the students can share their experiences, keep an eye out for an email with details on this soon.

Not surprisingly writing is centred around the adventures had last week.  The students have examined some memoir writing and are using this as a basis to share their ideas.  There is some really wonderful writing happening, we hope to share some at our camp celebration evening.

In Maths we are working on addition and subtraction strategies and identifying our knowledge goal with help from special guest Mrs Livingstone.   Please ask your child what their number knowledge goal is and how they plan to achieve it.  They will be able to show you some great online games via our intranet page http://intranet.otatara.school.nz/

Our big focus for the week has been preparing for athletics day which was held yesterday.  We had fabulous weather and even better sportsmanship with our students supporting each other and striving for excellence.

Wishing everyone a fun safe happy weekend

Mrs D

Lost Dog

The Sport Shed is coming along really nicely and Room 6 have been really been enjoying the week. A lost dog was found wandering on Dunns Road. She loved the kids, and the kids loved her. It has been great and hopefully the rest of the year is like that too.

Tots to Teens Magazine

Today I learned that Tots to Teens is not just for tots, there are things in there for adults and older kids like choc-blueberry smoothie recipes.

Sports Shed Solutions

Since the start of the year we have been learning about "The Sport Shed". Finally we have found a solution and are going to present it in assembly. We hope that we are going to get a good message across to the school. We know that our solution is working when the school is using the sport shed as we said.

Another Great Week in Room 6

It has been a great week of learning and I've really enjoyed it. I've enjoyed role playing and I'm happy with my part. We have also been leaning some new Jump Jam songs!

Sports Shed Inquiry

Today my group have been practising for assembly because we have to do the 'sport shed gone bad' and 'the sport shed not chaos!' This is part of our Inquiry to upgrade the sport shed because the equipment was getting lost or damaged. We are showing the school a role play so they see that first it was crazy and now we hope it will be better.

Future blogger

I would like to learn how to put movies, drawings and stories on the blog.

This week in maths

This week, in maths we have been thinking of questions to gather data about favourite local destinations and Jump Jam so we can create bar and pie graphs. This is so we can learn to handle data and present it in a graph format.

Term One Week 3

Welcome to Room 6. We welcome Kiri Hogan to our Senior Team and our classes and teachers are as follows: Room 6; Gillian Donnelly/Kate Webster (will return in term 2), Room 8; Matt Williams, Room 9: Raylene Burgess-Heald and Room 10: Alice Casey. Kate Webster and Trudy Brand will be working with groups of students supporting their numeracy and writing skills.

As usual our term starts with a unit of work designed to enable students to understand themselves as learners and develop their work habits in order to get the best they can from their learning. This will involve exploring the three principles of the Treaty of Waitangi (Protection, Participation and Partnership) and how we can apply these to our learning and relationships in our classroom and the wider school community.

Athletics has begun in preparation for the school athletics, zone athletics and the Southland Athletics which are later in the term. Students will have instruction and practice in running, jumping and throwing. Please make sure they have suitable footwear.

Outdoor Education:

The Year 6 students attend Camp Columba from Feb 28-Mar 2 and the Year 5 students also have an Outdoor Education programme on March 1st and 2nd.

Literacy:

Our reading programme is designed to assist students to use the comprehension strategies to make sense of and respond to texts.  We have started  writing about family treasures with instruction into the skills of writing. As part of our writing programme all students will have a ‘jotting’ notebook that will be used to record ideas they can use to inspire their writing. For example: observations in real life, feelings, personal or shared experiences or a phrase or sentence that appeals to them from their reading or new vocabulary. The notebook, may at times be taken home to record family experiences but IT DOES NEED TO BE AT SCHOOL EVERY DAY. Please encourage your child to use their notebook and make some suggestions for them to record.

Our spelling focus is to reinforce the Sounds Alive tooling strategies to enable students to develop their understanding of spelling patterns and rules they can apply to words they are not sure how to spell. Learning of lists without understanding of the spelling patterns and sounds does not help students to apply known spelling rules to unknown words. We are holding a Sounds Alive evening on Wednesday 29 February at 7pm where you will learn some ways to help with spelling at home.

Mathematics:

We have started the year with Statistics.  The students are learning about the process of statistical enquiry and how to handle and interpret the data they collect.

Parent Support Group - Numeracy Knowledge:

If there are any parents who are able to help run a knowledge support group in mathematics for the senior syndicate children we would love to hear from you.  This involves 1 hour of your time once a week to help children practice their basic facts and place value knowledge.  This programme ran very successfully last year, it is all set up with resources, equipment and has an easy to follow structure.   It was great to see how students’ confidence in their mathematical abilities grew through this programme. If you are interested please let Raylene in Room 9 know and she will explain the programme further.

Homework:

Reading:

All students are expected to read every day.  Regular reading followed by discussion is really important to help maintain student’s reading levels and understanding. We visit the school library once a week where each student is expected to select a book they can read for a sustained period.  Here are some questions starters that may help you in your reading discussions with your child:

·      From what you have read so far what can you predict about the story/article?

·      What is the main point the author is making?

·      What is the story/article is about?

·      How has your thinking changed after reading this text?

·      What else have you read that seems similar to this text?

·      What has reading this text made you wonder about?

·      If you had to explain this story/article to someone else, what would you say?

If you are unsure of the type of strategies students should be using to interpret texts take look at this link:

reading.ecb.org

Writing:

The importance of practicing writing is often over looked, encourage your child to spend 5 or 10 minutes to write about an event, their feelings and opinions.  Look for real opportunities for your child to write - emails to relatives, lists or invitations.  It is also important for your child to see you as a writer - you might like to talk about your ideas and share some of your writing.

Numeracy:

Ensure regular practice of student’s knowledge goals and basic facts using games or activities sent home, alien basic facts sheets or sumdog.com will consolidate student’s learning.

Spelling:

Using the Sounds Alive tooling strategies with the Sounds Alive spelling levels or words students use in their writing will reinforce spelling awareness and using a website like spellingcity.com to generate games for practice will consolidate their learning.

Sunhats:

All students are required to wear a school sunhat when outside at morning tea and lunch time in Terms 1 & 4 regardless of the weather. 

School Bell Times

8.45 am: This bell is for students to get organized to start their learning i.e. bags away, move into the

classroom

8.50 am: All students to be in class and attendance is taken. Please note if students are late they need to report to the office as they will have been marked as absent.

Interval 10.00-10.20 am, Lunch 12.30 – 1.15 pm

2.50 pm School ends

Students need to be at school at least 5 minutes before class starts in order to be organised for their learning.

Jump Jam: Every Friday from 9.00 am to 9.15 am, please come and join us, we are an active school and seeing their parents join in is a powerful model for the students.

Contact:

The best way to contact me is via email gillian@otatara.school.nz

Please visit often as there will be links to what we have been learning on there as well as news.  The blog is open to anyone to view and comment on so let the wider family know.  I screen all comments that come to me before I publish them.  Students are identified by first name only.

I have really enjoyed working with the Room 6 Team so far and can see we are going to have a great year.  Thank you in advance for your support.

Gillian