Robertson Rd School: Room 2

Welcome!
This page has some  photos, videos and student work examples from my classroom, Room 2 at Robertson Rd School.

I am now teaching at Mt Roskill Intermediate School, but continue to think of RRS students and the time I had with them. If for no other reason, this archive reminds me of some of the rich learning experiences we had together.

If the embedded videos run too slowly then pause them, let them ‘buffer’ and then play them.

2016 Summary
In Term 1 our focus was Whenua / Land. We visited the Mangere Mountain Education Centre. Photos and a trip description to come!
In Term 2 we focused on Rangi / Air, experimented with things that fly and made kites. We also had swimming lessons!
In Term 3 we looked at Ahi / Fire. We visited the Stardome Planetarium and looked at the volcano (Maungakiekie / One Tree Hill) that it is built on.

In Term 4 we explored our history over the last 50 years, and thought about Awa/ Water.

We started the year by thinking, talking and writing about what we wanted our class to be like, and what we needed to help us learn better. We started getting better at making sure that our class is a safe place that everyone can enjoy and work well in.

Here are some snapshots of some of the rich learning we did:

We have been comparing our food with what other countries in the world eat. Here we are showing what WE eat:

Our garden has been giving us some nice tomatoes and there are some other plants that are ready for us to eat. Here’s a little video clip of us looking at what we have there:

We have also been learning how to measure things, including our room. Here we are measuring some fabric so that we can make curtains for our windows. The reason that we are doing this is that sometimes there is too much light in our classroom, and we can’t see our screen properly.

 

2015 – End of Year Newsletter
A brief summary of the year was given to our students as a newsletter on Thursday 10 December, and a notice that there will be a shared lunch this Friday (11 December) and that reports will be coming home with the students on the same day. You can download a copy of the newsletter by clicking here.

Term 4: Garden Cover Update 
After a long and slow building process, we have finally finished our garden cover! Here is Paea’s video of us testing it:

Term 4: Number Pictures 
We’ve been turning numbers into pictures of animals, furniture and other things. Here are some examples:

Fino’s number – can you see it hidden in there?

Nathanael’s No. 11, and the steps he took to make it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Term 4: School Athletics Day 
Our School Athletics Day was sunny and had a lot of different events to keep us cheering. Congratulations to Kowhai House for taking out overall winner, despite some strong competition from Kauri (yay!). Some of Room 2’s students did especially well in their races, including Shontae and Paea, who each won their obstacle races. If you want to re-live their moment of fame, watch the videos below:

 

Term 4: Ice Skating! 
Look what we did today, in our own school hall!

Tammy Rose shows how it’s done

Who enjoyed that?

With thanks to Ms Ma for the photos and for helping us to avoid injuries!

Terms 3 & 4: What a Waste!
Our main topic focus for Term 3 was Materials, including those we make everyday objects (such as balls) with, and those we build with. Towards the end of the term we started to think about the materials that get thrown away, or ‘Waste’. We learned about ways to recycle and reuse as much as possible, so that we end up with hardly any waste if we can. This also usually costs less! We have had three main hands-on activities to help us understand this:

1. Waste Wise visits.
Christine from the organisation Waste Wise has visited us twice, firstly to introduce the idea of sorting our waste and secondly to run a whole-school waste audit, where the school bins were emptied onto a big sheet in the hall and then sorted into different piles and weighed. Here we are watching the Enviro Warriors (including our very own Ofa Taufui!) help her with this. Good on you Ofa – it’s not a job that everyone likes, but it’s an important one!

Ofa and the other Enviro Warriors sorting a bag of rubbish

The Enviro Warriors found a lot of good food that had been thrown away, including unopened packets of food and containers of drink, which they showed us:

2. Waitakere Transfer Station visit.

Raynesha inspecting the worm farm. “Looks like an old bathtub to me!”

Terisa shows us her pet tiger worms. ‘Can you see their eggs?’

Organised by Mrs Webber, this trip was a great opportunity to see for ourselves how rubbish from a whole city gets sorted then packaged and sent away to different places for recycling. The staff at the Transfer Station showed us around and told us what can be recycled, as well as how to make good decisions about the things we buy. Thanks to Fiza’s Dad, Mohammed Ahmed, and Teivanui’s Mum, Inano Tararo, who came along to help and made it possible for us to go.

Dressed in protective gear but as silly as ever!

3. Garden Cover Design & Build.
We have been collecting old materials that were thrown away (including on the side of the road, near our school!) to use in building a cover for our garden. The aim has been to protect our plants from the balls that are used in the front courtyard. After thinking hard about the design criteria, each group sketched out their ideas then made a small model to help work out the right materials to use, as well as a way of supporting the cover and making sure we could still water and weed the garden. Here are some videos of students explaining their model, and others testing their ideas using the materials we had collected.

 

Here you can see some of the ideas taking shape. We’ll post an update when it’s finished!

Some of the materials laid out in front of the garden to give us an idea of how we can use them

Term 3: Mapping our room
As part of learning about measurements, we started Term 3 by making a map of our room. First we needed to find how long and wide it was. Here you can see some of the students marking off each metre using rulers and pens as markers. This worked well until someone accidentally kicked them, and after some annoyed words we had to start again, this time keeping count in our heads. We found our room was about 9m long and 7m wide.


Term 3: Animals & Plants
In Term 3 we also studied birds and other animals, and plants. Here are some thumbnail photos of posters we have made, and presentations we have given to the class, along with the presentation script. Click on each to download a copy.

Teivanui – The Sea World

Paea – Kea

Theresa – Pukeko

Terisa – Pohutukawa

Shontae – Kakapo

Tammy Rose – Kea

Raynesha – Beaks/Feathers

Katarina – Shorebirds

Faauila – Black Robin

Pio – Parrots

Mafi – White heron

Seter – Gemsbok

Molisa – Penguins

Katarina & Shontae – Kiwi Comparisons

Azriel – presentation – Australian Magpie
Fiza – script – Parrots
Helen – presentation – Pukeko
Helen – script – Pukeko
Hunter – presentation – Kingfisher
Hunter – script – kingfisher