Making a traditional Hangi

As part of our globalisation unit, rooms 11 and 22 made a traditional Maori Hangi. We used an "Earth Oven" method of cooking our Hangi. Please feel free to comment on what you see and my students will answer any of your questions.

The Hangi

It was the week before, and Matua Haami had told us that room’s 22 and 11 were having a Hangi as part of our globalisation unit of celebrating another culture. He gave us a newsletter to take home to tell our parents that we were having a Hangi. It had a list of food items that we could donate towards the feast. We were all very excited to see a traditional Maori meal being prepared and cooked under the ground

Preparation of the Hangi
It was the day before the day of our Hangi and both classes helped to prepare the food. We all helped with the following jobs.
• Chopping onions
• Cut Pumpkin into pieces
• Peel Kumara
• Prepare the meats (Chicken and Pork)
• Peel potatoes
• Breaking bread into pieces, no bigger than your little fingernail for stuffing.

I was in the latter. We were breaking bread into pieces and we enjoying each others company. Some students were sneaking bits of the bread into their mouths. But then, quite a few of us were hungry. After I ripped a good two loaves into shreds, I wandered off to see what other people are doing.

Matua Haami was busy digging the hole, which is an important process of making the Hangi. They dug a hole which was about 3 feet deep and which was the same dimension of the Hangi baskets. They then scrunched newspapers and threw this into the hole. They carefully placed pallets on top of each other and put all the Hangi rocks (Volcanic or river rocks) on top of the pallets. This would be ready to light tomorrow at 5am. That’s right 5am! We even had some students and their parents come down to help Matua Haami with lighting and watching the fire.

The Day of the Hangi
We were all very excited. The food was ready to eat. It was ready before lunch. There was chicken, pork, stuffing, pumpkin, potato, kumara and heaps of fizzy drink. We lined up to get the food. I took some chicken, pork, stuffing, potatoes and a cup of L&P. I then dumped a big blob of tomato sauce on top, it was delicious.
I had a cup of grape juice, and another cup of L&P. I had two platefuls of Hangi. My friend only had one. He was ranting about plastic knives and potatoes. I was busy eating and drinking. I picked out the onion in the stuffing and ate it. It tastes better cooked. No bad aftertaste. Most of us were tucking in with gusto. If the Hangi had been longer, I guarantee I would have eaten another plate and had another cup of drink. Okay, maybe just another drink. We finished off the rest of the food and left. I was still drinking my L&P. The Hangi was a huge success. Matua Haami is even planning on celebrating another culture. Maybe something with Pizza. YUM! Can’t Wait

Piki Bengal
(Room 11: Blog Editor)

Note:

Hey people, it's me, Piki. The above post was edited by Matua Haami and therefore has lost some of my trademark quirkiness. It has a few grammar errors which I'm going to pointedly ignore. And no, the grammar errors were not made by me. If it had been, I would of changed it.

Catch ya later!

Piki Bengal.

Waikato Kapahaka Regional Winners

Homework

Science Fair Photography Competition

Theme: Reflections of life

Aim: Is to take photos that show reflections of life. E.g. Mirror, Water, Windows etc

Step 1: Take a photo using the above theme

Step 2: Describe how you took the photos (Camera, Film, image altering techniques)

Step 3:Explain each photograph with a small caption card or by a written section that tells about the theme

All photos must be taken by the students.

Photography Competition

Theme: Celebrate or From paddock to plate

Use your digital camera to take images of the above theme. Be creative and be willing to explain your photo(s) to members of our class.

The highlights of my holidays

The following is a collection of recounts that students from room 11 did during their 2 week holiday break.

Adam Rafferty

Yeah I know I should just get over Michael Jackson, but I'm still mourning his death. Anyway looking at some old MJ video's on youtube and came across this awesome as guitarist called Adam Rafferty. He is tha man! Ladies and gentleman, I give you, Adam Rafferty's version of "Rock with You" by Michael Jackson. (He's got soul as well as facials...But he's still the man!)

What's coming up in Term 3

What's up room 11. Thought i'd give you all a heads up on what we will be learning this term. Your thoughts on this would be much appreciated. Have a safe holiday break and don't forget to buckle your seat belts.

Theatre Sports Club

Like the show "Whose line is it anyway" Theatre Sports is one of the many curricular activities that we have here at Peachgrove Intermediate. Everything is completely improv as 4 students embark on a journey of going to the supermarket. Students have been trained by our drama teacher, Mrs Julie Christy.

Doctor

This is a game called Doctor which was created by students from one of our contributing schools, Knighton Normal School.

Pacifica

At Peachgrove Intermediate school we pride ourselves by celebrating a diverse range of cultures. The Pacifica cultural group is lead by three passionate teachers, Ms Jamison, Mr James and Whaea Prem. These teachers have helped students to share and showcase part of their cultural heritage with their peers through dance and performance.

Algorithm: Working Form

This is a really good website for students who are wanting to improve their basic facts through this type of working form

WALT: Complete Unfinished Work

Shopping Cart

• All mathsmate sheets for terms 1 & 2 need to be completed and signed by your parents.
• Spelling LSCWC needs to be completed.
• All reading activities need to be completed.
• Inquiry Projects need to be fully completed by Thursday.
• Maori Motif's need to be completed, laminated and recorded for the blog.
• i-movies: Advertising Peachgrove (This needs to have your garage band music and photo's from the what's been happening folder)
• Observational Drawing
• Portraits (Optional)

Michael Jackson Dies at 50

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Shared via AddThis

Shuffle Dance Off WInners

As part of our Mufti Day, Whaea Christine and I ran a "Shuffle Off" in hall. This was hugely supported by students who voted these 6 boys as winnes of the 2009 "Shuffle Off."

Karioi Sports Class Rotation

Students from the sports class (room 9) used their skills and passion of their chosen sport to teach others students from Karioi. Before teaching their sessions, students must submit a lesson plan to their teacher, Mr Blair Cocks for approval. Students have four lessons to teach a group of 10 students. Each session needs to have a warm up, skill builder and a game based on the skills being taught. At the completion of the fourth lesson, a game is played against another group of who are learning the same skills.

Sports codes and skills that are being coached include, Rugby, Netball, Hockey, Soccer and Tennis.

Students are then assessed by their peers by what they liked, disliked and what they could do to imptove next time.

Thank you very much sports coaches. You were all very professional in your approach to teaching other students from Karioi. Tumeke!

Caged Soccer

Caged soccer was one of the sports that students were involved in during camp.

Glen Eden's Chant

Meville Intermediate's Chant

Personally, I think that this was the best chant on the night.

Peachgove Intermediate's Chant

Sports Camp Chants

This is a collection of some of the sports camp chants.
SENZ are part of a development programme that helps young people who are looking for a career in sports and leisure. As part of their training, they refereed most of the game.

Sports Camp 2009

This is a selection of some of our elite sporting students who were chosen to represent our school at sports camp. They competed against other elite students from other schools such as Glen Eden, Takapuna, Melville, Otumoetai, Matamata, Northcross and Blockhouse Bay. (I think this is right, Aroha Mai if it ain't!)

BIG WEDNESDAY WRITING

Today's BIG WEDNESDAY DRAW is worth $30, 000,000. So what would you do with all this money if you won? Will I see you at school? or, are you taking a long as break? Would you use this to help other people? or, just spend it on yourself?

You need 6 numbers with heads or tails. What would your numbers be and would it heads, or will it be tails?

NOTE: This is not to encourage gambling, but rather to allow students to creatively write about they would do if they, or their family had won the BIG WEDNESDAY LOTTO DRAW.

SWINE FLU INQUIRY RESOURCES

Please link any swine flu resources to this post that maybe useful for other students in our class.

Matariki: The Maori New Year

What is Matariki?
Matariki is the Maori name for the group of stars also known as the Pleiades star cluster or The Seven Sisters; and what is referred to as the traditional Maori New Year.

When is the Maori New Year?
The Maori new year is marked by the rise of Matariki and the sighting of the next new moon. The pre-dawn rise of Matariki can be seen in the last few days of May every year and the new year is marked at the sighting of the next new moon which occurs during June. This next occurs on 5 June 2008.

What does Matariki mean?
Matariki has two meanings, both referring to a tiny constellation of stars; Mata Riki (Tiny Eyes) and Mata Ariki (Eyes of God).

Why is Matariki important?
Traditionally, depending on the visibility of Matariki, the coming season's crop was thought to be determined. The brighter the stars indicated the warmer the season would be and thus a more productive crop. It was also seen as an important time for family to gather and reflect on the past and the future.

Why do we celebrate Matariki today?
Today Matariki means celebrating the unique place in which we live and giving respect to the land we live on.

How is Matariki celebrated?
Matariki is celebrated with education, remembrance and the planting of new trees and crops signalling new beginnings. Matariki was the optimum time for new harvests, and ceremonial offerings to the land-based gods Rongo, Uenuku and Whiro to ensure good crops for the coming year. It was also seen as a perfect time to learn about the land we live on and to remember whakapapa (ancestry) who have passed from this world to the next and the legacy they left behind.

How long do celebrations last?
Traditionally celebrations lasted up to 3 days after the new moon had risen following Matariki becoming visible

Who celebrates Matariki?
Anyone who wishes to participate

Calling all Pokemon Users

One of my students is an expert with Pokemon. Seriously, her whole world revolves around this Pokemon thing. The words "NO BALANCE" are coming to my mind for some reason. Anyway, I've decided to take a positive approach to this and would like to know if there are any unbalanced Pokemon students, teachers and enthusiast out there who would like discuss and share topics of interests. I'm sure her blogging name is from Pokeman. Click HERE to correspond. Good luck! and may the force be with you.

SWINE FLU INQUIRY PROJECT

What a great list of questions room 11. When I get back we will categorise these into groups and look at ways that you can use our researching skills to answer some of your questions.

Swine Flu inquiry questions
•Who was the first person to get swine flu?
•Why haven’t scientists found a cure yet?
•What happens to the dead bodies of people who have had s/f?
•When will s/f mutate?
•How fast will it spread?
•Why is it spreading so fast?
•How do you know if people have swine flu?
•What's going to happen if s/f turns to code red? (At the moment we are sitting at a code yellow)
•What would happen if hospitals run out of space to treat people with s/f?
•What would the ministry of education do if one student at Peachgrove Int had s/f?
•What was the first school to close down in the world due to s/f?
•How will s/f affect the school, our families our community and jobs?
•Why is s/f such a big issue?
•What is a pandemic?
•What makes s/f a pandemic?
•How does swine flu infect people?
•Are there people out there trying to spread it? How is it spread?
•What are swine flu parties?
•What does quarantine mean?
•What forms of hygiene should we follow to avoid catching s/f? i.e. face masks.
•Will a surgical mask protect me from swine flu?
•Which businesses would be most at risk?
•What can do if your family is quarantined?
•Is swine flu from pigs?
•Can animals die from s/f?
•Can people be immune from s/f?
•Could public facilities/parks /supermarkets/public transport be closed because of swine flu?
•What can you do to prepare yourself to not get s/f
•What are the basic precautions of s/f

Decimal Squares

CLICK HERE

Kia ora room 11 students,

I'm not feeling very well and must have eaten too much greasy fish n chips. The next shared lunch will be a healthy one. Please listen to your teachers and follow instrcuctions the first time. Abdullahi and Corban, please do not get your names on the board. Or else, Dictionary!

Here is a fun maths activity to do in pairs. It involves 8 interactive maths games around place value. Have a go and comment your thoughts to this post, saying which activity you liked or disliked the most and why.

Te iti Kahurangi

This is a performance by one of the best Kapa Haka groups in New Zealand, Te Iti Kahurangi. I love listening to this waiata (song) because it has one of our teachers in it, Whaea Mana who is one of our bi-lingual teachers at Peachgrove Intermediate. At the moment she is very ill and won't be back until term 3. Room 11 and the Karioi team wish you a speedy recovery whaea and I look forward to jamming with you at lunch times on the guitar. CHUR MY MATE!

Bull-rush at School

Today at lunch time we had a hard out game of Bull-Rush. Two teachers, Matua Haami and Matua Darryn thought that running around a few kids would be easy peezy stuff. Little did they know that some of these kids eat 10 weetbix a day with steroids. "Players of the Day" were Ariana and John for their outstanding up the guts and fearless running through the middle.

Penicillin Pie

The students from Whero reading group have been analysing a story called Freaky Fridge by Bev Wood. This story explores some of the over expired food that people store in their fridges. In this particular story, Dad decides to reuse the left-overs by taking off the old hairy bits (MOULD) and make penicillin pie. After reading this story students wanted to see who could make the most disgusting penicillian pie.
WARNING! DO NOT READ ON A FULL STOMACH!!

Post PD Session

Doing a professional development on ICT technology in front of your peers is never easy. You have to try and convince the skeptics and then you have to try and extend the converted. Thought I'd share some of the questions that were raised from today's session,

• Will this create more work for me?
• What about privacy issues?
• What's a "NING"?
• How can Technology (Specialist) staff be involved with blogging?
• How can having 50,000 hits to your classroom blog help improve your students academically?

As you can see, I had some interesting conversations with fellow colleagues and at the end of the session, I could sense that some teachers were skeptical about this whole blogging business. I kindly re-iterated to everyone that blogging isn't everyone's cup of tea and that's alright. One thing I didn't want to do was force my colleagues to create a classroom blog but rather, to offer them an insight into how they could use this as an engaged learning tool in their classroom.

A teacher suggested that we trial mountain group (Syndicate, etc) blogging. Our principal supports this idea and suggests that we trial this and report back to the rest of the staff at the end of the term.

The Plan for MOUNTAIN GROUP BLOGGING
Here at Peachgrove Intermediate, we operate by mountain groups which consists of 5-6 classrooms. Each class already has "ICT Consultants". They are trained to photocopy work for teachers, set up data projectors, turn on computers etc.

The plan is to have each classroom provide 2 responsible students - an ICT consultant and a blog editor. I will train these students to create, update and upload content to their MOUNTAIN GROUP BLOG. This could be quality work that they are doing in class or within their mountain group. After they have completed their blog post, it is to be saved as a draft copy. The classroom teacher will then do a final edit and inspection before the blog post is published.
What do you think of this idea - any suggestions?

The objective of this PD was to share my journey with others and to educate teachers that blogging can be a resourceful tool within and beyond classroom walls.

I would like to give a BIG shout out to Blogging GURU Allanah King. Thank you for giving up your time and sharing your blogging experiences. Teachers were buzzing when you came up on the screen. It was just a pity that there was a long delay - it was like watching a kung fu movie with no sub-titles!

Thanks everyone for commenting.

Blogging Professional Development

Kia ora (Greetings) my fellow teachers,

This coming Wednesday I have been asked to do professional development for all the staff at Peachgrove Intermediate and was wondering if you could help me by posting your thoughts to any of the following questions.

1. In what ways have you discovered that blogging can be of value for teachers?
2. Will blogging create more work for teachers?
3. How have you helped other teachers to promote blogging in their classrooms?

Your time of commenting on this post is very much appreciated.

Please invite your students to post their thoughts on the
"Why students blog?"posts

2009 Girls Rugby Winners

Check out these impressive results
Vs Te Awamutu WON 60-0
Vs Melville Intermediate WON 64-0
Vs Maeroa Intermediate WON 37-0
Vs Morrinsville Intermediate WON 34-7
Vs Fairfield Intermediate WON 39-5
Vs Tokoroa Intermediate WON 32-0
Semi-Final Vs Maeroa WON 48-0
Final score WON 46 - 0 against Tokoroa Intermediate

Multiplication Activity

Tell me what you think of this activity people?

Iphone Painting

Check this out, Artist Jorge Colombo took about an hour to fingerpaint an intricate Times Square scene on his iPhone using Brushes, a $4.99 iPhone drawing app. Now, it's the June 1st cover for The New Yorker. What do yu think of this design?

Shuffling

I must be old skool because I have never heard of shuffling before. So today in class we had an impromptu dance lesson on shuffling. To me this whole shuffle thing looks a bit like "The Running Man" So check out the room 11 SHUFFLERS!

Basketball training with the Waikato Pistons

WOW! What an awesome afternoon our students had with the "Mighty Waikato Pistons" Our top basketball team, "The Tiatans were invited by Marion School to train with their students and with the "Mighty Waikato Pistons".

Lead by all time great, Mr Sean Pero Cameron. Pero is currently the captain for the NZ tall blacks and has used his talent of playing b/ball all around the world. He was assisted by 4 of the boys who also helped to coach us today and when I get their names, I will have this posted immediaetly. (Sorry brothers)

Podcast

Room 11 have been using there ICT time to create musical beats using Garage Band. Later, we will extend this further by using Garage Band to create jingles. What do you think? Please comment on B & D's podcast



Download a copy from here and save it to your computer

Ko te aroha

Here is a Maori Waiata (song) from some of the teachers at Peachgrove Intermediate School. As part of our Maori unit we will be using this video as a music tutorial for students to learn their kupu (words). This is a good way of learning a maori waiata because students can learn at school and at home. Lyrics and translation will be added soon.

Ko Te Aroha

Ko te aroha ano he wai
E pupu ake ana
He awa e mapuna mai ana
i roto i te whatu manawa

Ko tona matapuna he hohonu
a ina ia ka rere ano (x2)

He tai timu
He tai pari
He tai ope
He tairoa

He Tainui Repeat Waiata (Song)

Room 19's Art

While I was on duty at lunch time I came across these awesome art pieces in room 19. It's the type of art that just "leaps out" at you. I'm told that each student had to create a mask. This art lesson was taught to room 19 by their student teacher Ms ?. What do you think of them? Post your comments here so I can let room 19 know.

Quality time

Having fun using Picasa. We will explore the uses of this as a learning tool in our classroom programmes.

The Code

hkapoorqlb664

Hero Factory

As part of our creative writing unit, students are asked to create a hero using a website called HERO FACTORY.
Students then use adjectives to describe their superhero.

ROOM 11 STUDENTS
Please make a comment to this post and have a link to your blog showcasing your superhero and their super-powers.

Edmodo

Room 11 students will be trying out a new tool that will aid and support their learning towards their Sustainability Inquiry unit

Edmodo is a private commuincation platforom that is built for both teachers and students.

How to create a "EDMODO"
Step 1: Make sure that you have the code
Step 2: Create your edmodo
Step 3: Personalise your edmodo with a picture etc
Step 4: Use your blogger name, gmail address only. Don't use private information.

Have a tutu around and send me a message once your activated. Click here to go to the EDMODO WEBSITE

Subway feel good comp

Some of our students have taken up the challenge to be part of the "SUBWAY: Feel Good moves." Eight year 8 students choreographed this awesome dance routine. We need your help and we need your votes. Please click here to vote for the boys. Please get other family and friends to vote as well.

Term 2 Basketball

Last term our team the Titans won their divison in pool B's YMCA basketball comp. This term we are very privileged to have the expertise of Albie Ellis who is a sports acdemy coach for basketball at Hamilton Boys High School. Here is video footage of our first basketball training with Albie.

Peachgrove Sports Class Karate Training

Here at Peachgrove Intermediate we are very fortuate to have a year 8 sports class. As well as doing the usual curriculum subjects, room 9 are involved in a 12 month Karate development led by "Davies Karate" instructors, Shihan Duayne Davies and Sensei Penita Davies. This husband and wife duo are both qualified and highly respected by other dojo's around the world.

If you have a question that you would like to ask Shihan, Sensei or any of the sports class students about Karate or sports programmes please comment to this blog post.

Pt England School: MEAN AS!

This is Pt England school in Auckland people. The school is practically famous for for it's innovative use of ICT in the classroom. Check out the awesome work that room 18 have done. It's MEAN AS!

CLICK HERE TO GO Pt ENGLAND: Rm 18

DARE

PLEASE COMMENT ON THE OTHER POSTS

Today we were privileged to have constable Jo visit our class and talk about the DARE programme. DARE stands for Drugs Alcohol Resistance Education. DARE has been around for many years and is a programme that develops skills in decision-making, assertiveness and responsibility to esteem and enable children to make informed and supported choices for a powerful life.

Todays DARE question is, "A student at school offers you a cigarette. Make up an excuse to say NO! to that person."

5TB's Cyber Gallery

Give positive comments on room 5TB's artwork please room 11. Click here to go to their classroom blog.

International Dance day

Today our school celebrated "International Dance Day" Students danced for 1 minute at 12:29 and amazed me with their krumping, breakdancing, bottam slidding and Lady Gaga's moves. The most truely inspirational 1 minute of my life. You guys crack me up.

Term 2: Persausive Writing

It was interesting to view room 11 students opinions of where they sit with homework. Naturally they all agrued against the idea of having homework. Todays topic was taken from an asttle test paper which was to write an article for a paper arguging AGAINST the amount of homework students have to do.

I could tell that room 11 students were very passionate about this particular topic because they were writing quietly for 15 minutes. I will enjoy reading your asttle papers tonight people.

Don't for get at 12:29 tomorrow it is international dance day. So be ready to bust out your moves tomorrow.


Click here to go to Bingo's post
Click here to go to Whaea Christine's blog

Sir Ken Robinson

Karioi Team Singing Post

In this post students can submit songs that we can learn during team time. All music needs to be screened by me before posting. No music with swearing, gang signs, naked booties etc. I only want music with lyrics appearing.



Jason Mraz: I'm Yours

Mr C's blog. Mean As!

This is one of the best blog's I've ever come acroos. Check it out room 11 and show some respect by commenting to a post. We will definately hook up with Mr C's class this term. Click here to connect to Mr C's classroom blog. Check out their "Live Broadcast" MEAN AS!

5TB's Blog

Check room 5TB's blog room 11, click here to go to their classroom blog. My son asked me, What does 5TB mean?......Um maybe year 5 TB is the first and surname of the teacher???

Mr Lamshed's Classroom

A bigshout to our aussie cuzzies. Room 11 check out Mr Lamshed's blog and please leave a comment. We look forward to expanding our learning network with you guys later this term.
Click here to go to Mr Lamshed's classroom blog

Suzie Vesper: Sharing the love

Thanks to Suzie Vesper for creating this comprehensive presentation of fantastic ICT examples to use in the class and beyond. WICKED AS!

Ict Examples Presentation

View more presentations from Suzie Vesper.

Gappy Teeth Boy

I used this happy chappy photo of my son and used http://www.befunky.com/ to create awesome effects with it. Very easy to use, have a try!

Toni Twiss

This is one of the greatest teachers on the planet. Ladies and gentleman I present ICT guru, extraordinaire, educator, philosopher and future minister of education Ms Toni Twiss. CHUR!

Whaea Mana in da house

Last term our class educated our school on using the PRS (Personal Response System) Room 1 is a bi-lingual class that incorporates the use of two languages, Maori (which is New Zealand's indigenous language)and English. The teacher in room 1 is whaea Manawaroa who is the composer of this beautiful waiata (song). This is their gift to our class for teaching them how to use the PRS system. Thank you room 1.

I'm back People!

Thought I'd better get back into our blogs. My intention is to start blogging everyday and update you on things of interest. Either from term 1 or things that are coming up in term 2 or just things in general. Here's a video clip of Maeroa students doing their thang. Hiphop in da house!

What does easter mean to you?

I hope you all have had a good Easter Friday. My wife was asking me, "when shall we give the boys their easter eggs,Friday or Sunday?" Looks like it's gonna be Sunday. What do you do with your family during easter weekend? I did some cleaning (stop laughing now people!) which took nearly a whole day to organise and clean 3 book shelves. My boys just sat around and watched the ad free movies all day, what a waste of a day.

We couldn't go down town or buy anything from the shops, because the government has placed a legislation for shop owners not to sell goods on good Friday. What do think of this action? Should shop owners be fined for having their businesses open or do you think that they should sacrifice this one day out of the year for spiritual observance during easter? What do you think? Comment on this post people and above all, have a nice break.

Twitter Tutorial

If you haven't already heard about Twitter then, "Shame on you." In term 2 room 11 we will be looking at some of the positives and negatives of using twitter.
Twizza Handbook

Publish at Scribd or explore others: How-to-Guides & Manu human twitter

Check this Wordle out!

Twenty Five Interesting Ways To Use Wordle In

View more presentations from rjensen.

We will look at this in more depth next term

Thought for the Week

Evaluation of Term 1

It's been an awesome term people. You have completed some amazing tasks. Well done!

I would like you now to do some personal reflection of term 1. Please tell me...





1. What liked about term 1
2. What you disliked about term 1
3. What would like to learn about next term

Again room 11 and room 2

This is room 11 and room 2

PRS/BLOG School Wide PD

This week Room 11 have been involved with showcasing the PRS system to 8 classes. All sessions have been great. Room 11 students have been awesome tutors and have truely embraced the school's motto of, "First Learn to Serve." Our aim is to educate and inspire students and teachers with exsisting technologies at our school.

This term we have explored the use of the PRS system as a learning tool in the classroom. This device makes learning fun as students are able to see their results instantly. These results can be collated for teacher assessment or for individual student achievement profiles.

We have also looked at the validity of blogging in the classroom and have found this to be a great support to students learning. Students have created their own blogs, uploaded photos, created and uploaded ppt presentations about responsibility (One of our 5 school values) and collaborated and have made connections with other students within room 11 and around NZ.

Next term's school wide PD room 11 students will be learning and teaching the school about MARVIN and how they can use this tool for creating digital stories. I've been thinking about how we can extend our aim of educating and extending our knowledge through SKYPE. If you're interested, post me a comment and we'll hook up.

We will be setting up a bloggers corner, where students can come at lunch times to blog on particular topics being discussed in class or to collaborate with other students on educational topics. This is not a gaming cafe, it's a bloggers corner. We'll see well this works

PRS'ing with room 16

Thanks Miss Jamieson for bringing your class into room 11 and learning how to use the PRS device.

A blurry room 10

Cheers room 10 for coming to our PD session on the PRS. We hope you learnt something new.

Mobile Blogging Test

Here are some of the cool dudes from room 11...Oops and P from room 8.

Room 11's Recounts

Students are to do a recount of their weekend into their draft writing books. Then have this published on the classroom blog. Check out room 11's recounts (comments)

First Learn to Serve

As you can see Whaea Christine and I were very busy in Flaxmere. We presented two sessions on the PRS clickers. We had a good group of teachers who made a lot of noise and who were intrigued about how the clicker could help their students learn better in the class. As a result of our presentation, Whaea Christine and I would like to "Share the love" to all classes at Peachgrove intermediate. So rooms 11 and 22 will be doing a school wide PD on the PRS and blogging. We have taken our approach from our school motto which is, "FIRST LEARN TO SERVE." We will give both classes more information tomorrow.

Funny as!

Raed Tihs

fi yuo cna raed tihs, yuo hvae a sgtrane mnid too

Cna yuo raed tihs? Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can.

I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt! if you can raed tihs forwrad it

Power Typing

If you want to increase your speed in typing, try this online program called Power Typing." It's really cool and will help you get your work done faster

http://www.powertyping.com/
http://www.typingtutor.com/

PRS 101 Resources

In this post I will include all material and resources based on the PRS 101 presentation. If you find any, please share your knowledege with other teachers.

This is a youtube video of a University teacher who uses the PRS in her class.

PRS (Personal Response System) Video Tutorials
Step 1: Software Installation. Click here
Step 2: How to create a class. Click here
Step 3: How to create lessons. Click here
Step 4: How to create a session. Click here

Congratulations B

The Winner of the Responsibility presentation assignment is BP. Well done. I will get Mrs
Barham, (our school principal) to present you with your award on Monday.

A picture of a thousand words!

Click on a students name and it will take you to their poster based on another of our school's values, "QUALITY" Student interview each other share their veiws as to what inspired the artist within.

Corban

MARVIN VALUES ASSIGNMENT

Your next assignment will be to choose one of our 5 school values and make a short MARVIN animation presentation of how you use your particular value at school, home, on the sports field or, wherever.
The assignment will be assessed in 6 parts and will be for the duration of term 1, which is 3 weeks.

1. Your storyboard: 10%


2. Your MARVIN presentation 30%


3. Your contribution to the "MARVIN help & tips" area. (located in the classroom blog). Every time you use MARVIN I would like you to share with the rest of the class what worked for you and what didn't. What you liked and what you found difficult. Your comments are very important, as this may help a student who is struggling with a certain problem using MARVIN that you found easy to do. 20%


4. Uploading your MARVIN presentation to your own blog and the classroom blog 10%


5. Teaching another student how to use MARVIN during the school wide PD 20%


6. A personal reflection of your journey using MARVIN. What you liked? What you didn't like? and what you would do differently next time? (This will need to be written in your draft books and then published on your own blog. "Word count is 100 words"). 10%

Total 100%
Assignment is due 3:10 on Tuesday 7th April 2009
All final grades will be sent to your Gmail account by Thursday 9th April 2009.
(I will send a test email to make sure that your account is still active)

If you have any problems, just Hola!

Responsibility Power Point Assignment

This has taken a few go's and some tweeking to get things right, but it's finally all here room 11, your anticipated and long over due power point presentations.

I have decided that this assessment task will be a competition. Please rank each slide from 1 to 5 along with your constructive feedback.

E.g.

Rank 3
Positives: All headings were bold, good use of colour
Improvements: The spelling of your words need to be carefully checked before it gets published on the blog.

The Competition will finish at 3:10 on Friday the 20th March. The winner(s) will be posted on the blog before 4pm that same day

The Prize pack will include the following,
* Your very own MARVIN disc, Thanks to inchain http://www.marvin.com.au
(Retail value $80)
* A cold juicy from the canteen
* half an hour on the blog to thank all your fans for voting for you (during class time)

You will also be ranked and receive constructive feedback from other schools in Hamilton.

SO GET VOTING!

B's Presentation

Uploaded on authorSTREAM by hkapoor

F's Presentation

Uploaded on authorSTREAM by hkapoor

L & K's Presentation

Uploaded on authorSTREAM by hkapoor

M & C's Presentation

Uploaded on authorSTREAM by hkapoor

R's Presentaion

Uploaded on authorSTREAM by hkapoor

R & K's Presentation

Uploaded on authorSTREAM by hkapoor

Y & A's Presentation

Uploaded on authorSTREAM by hkapoor

A, J & T's Presentation

Uploaded on authorSTREAM by hkapoor

B & D's Presentation

Uploaded on authorSTREAM by hkapoor

B & N's Presentation

Uploaded on authorSTREAM by hkapoor

B & B's Presentation

Uploaded on authorSTREAM by hkapoor

C & A's Presentation

Uploaded on authorSTREAM by hkapoor

P & D's Presentation

Uploaded on authorSTREAM by hkapoor

C & D's Presentation

Uploaded on authorSTREAM by hkapoor

Principal visit to room 11

Room 11 had a special visit from our school Principal, Mrs Louisa Barham. This is a formal meeting that Mrs Barham has with all classroom teachers and students about our schools exxpectations. She spoke about our school's values which are: Respect, Resposibility, Quality, Fairness and Passion.

She gave examples of what each value looks and feels like when a student is learning at Peachgrove. She also said that, "Peachgrove is a place of learners" Teachers, office staff, cleaners, caretaker, teacher aide etc are all part of a collaborative team that makes our school an awesome place to learn.

Mrs Barham concluded with a question and answer time which can sometimes be dangerous for any principal. The students asked questions like, "How old are you?" and how long have you been at peachgrove? cheeky little monkeys!

I won't say how old Mrs Barham is, but I will say that she is a very experienced eductor with 29 years of teaching. Farout, I was ony 5 when she first started teaching! "Kaumatua Status"

Something that I didn't know, was that she taught Mr Blair Cocks when he was at intermediate. I bet you he was a little rat-bag and had lots of detentions.

Thank you for visiting our class Mrs Barham and we'll hope to see you soon when we showcase some of our awesome projects this year.