Goods and Services

Today we discussed what goods and services are. We brainstormed ideas and added them to our class poster. 

We used an app on our iPads to create our own pizza business. We had to work together to see which group could earn the most money in half an hour. 

When we were finished playing we compared our profits and discussed what we had learnt about running our own business. 

Tessellation

I shared this google doc with the class on which they found  the link to the Blendspace lesson on Tessellation.  The children worked independently through the lesson, watching videos and completing activities.

One of the activities was to create their own tessellation pattern using Google Draw.

The second activity was to watch a YouTube movie on making their own tessellation template by following instructions.  Most of the children were highly successful and everyone reflected on if their pattern worked or not.

Fractions and Movies

Today we learnt how to make stop motion movies while demonstrating a fact about fractions.  Here are some photos of us at work. Finished movies to follow below.

Link to YouTube Stop Motion Fractions movie

The Stop Motion app we used is available for free on your iphone or ipad.  It's super easy to use!

New app

Today Mrs Gundesen taught a new ipad app to many children from different classes.  MacKenzie, Emily, Jordan and Liam went from our class to learn the new app and share it with us.  The app is called iReadWrite and it helps us find the correct words for our writing and then it reads our writing back to us.  It's a fantastic app that can really help us with our writing.  The children who went had fun teaching us and posting their stories to their individual blogs.

Booktrack Classroom

Today a year 3 student from Room 2 next door came into our year 5 class to teach us how to use a new programme on the computer. Oliver taught the children how to publish one of their stories into Booktrack Classroom and add music and sound effects. Our stories can now be read and shared with Oliver's class and others in our class.  Thanks Oliver!  You're a fantastic teacher!

Artist Research

This week as part of our two week Art focus, we have each chosen one of five artists to research and create a slide show about.  The final step of our research project was to recreate a piece of the artist's work.  Then we had to figure out how to get a picture of us with our art work into our slide show using our Chromebooks.  We think we are pretty clever to have figured it out!

A busy week in review

Another week has flown past!  Here are a few highlights from the week.

FITNESS

For fitness this week our focus has been 'games', so we made up one.  The children named it 'Hide and Guide'.  All of the children found a hiding spot in the nature walk behind our class.  Two children were 'it' and they had to close their eyes and be guided by a friend who gave them instructions to find the children who were hiding.  A lot of fun was had by all!

  

ART
Another layer of paper mache and newspaper went onto our letters.  This coming Wednesday will be the final day of paper mache when we add our last layer of plain newsprint.  Thank you so much to the parents who have been able to help us out!  This is the last week that we really need parent help for completing our paper mache.  If you are able to join us between 1.30 and 3 on Wednesday, it would be greatly appreciated!

MATHS
We have learnt a new game on our iPads.  It is called Maths Slide and can be played with 1 to 4 players.  It can be played using multiplication, division, addition, subtraction or place value.  Here are Juliet and Liam playing a game together.

THEME & BLOGGING
We have been busy posting to our blogs this week, as well.  The children have all completed a Google Slide show in which they researched a country and its culture and created their own slideshow.  Some chose to work independently and some chose to work with 1 or 2 friends.  Their slideshows, along with their Learning Intention, Success Criteria and Self-Assessment, have been posted to their blogs. Please be sure to stop by their blog and have a look and leave your own comment.  Here is one of the slideshows made by the students.

Blogs and QR Codes

Next time you come into our class, bring your smart phone with the QR reader app to scan our QR code to be linked to our personal blogs.

Science Research

This week is Science Week at our school.  Today we did some research of science facts and collaborated by sharing them in a class Google Presentation.  We were so engaged in searching the www.sciencekids.co.nz website to find our facts.

Click HERE to view our presentation.

Sharing what we know

Today Room 17 came to our class and we helped them log into their google accounts for the first time. We also showed them how to bookmark websites and personalise their accounts. Mrs Nichol showed Ms Williams how to use the Hapara teacher's dashboard to share a smart copy with everyone in the class that will have their name on it and how to open the same browser tab on everyone's Chromebook. We also saw how the teachers can see everyone's screen to view our work with the click of a button.  We had a great afternoon learning together!

Research

We are learning how to research a topic using a variety of resources including School Journals, library books and the Internet. Today we are researching the kakapo, our team bird.  We looked on two websites to find some facts to add to our research chart.  We looked at www.kids.nationalgeographic.com and www.kakaporecovery.org.nz .  We were even able to listen to recordings of the kakapo's booming.  

Math Whizz

Today we got to use our brand new Chromebooks to begin Math Whizz. First we did an assessment that took us through all the maths topics. When we finished it set our individual programme ready for us to begin using. Juliet was one of a small group of students who trialed Math Whizz last year so she gave us some tips and tricks for using the website. We are excited to get started on our own tutor lessons to earn credits. 

They're here!

Today our class received our Chromebooks. We are very excited to start using them. Chloe was the first to receive hers and put it in the Chromecart to charge. Exciting day in Room 3!!