An icosahedron has 20 faces 

Room 13 have been very busy bees making 3D shapes out of brightly coloured paper and attaching thread to put on the class Christmas tree. The official name of a 3D shape is polyhedron which means a shape with many faces - and the diamonds we've been creating have 8 faces - an octahedron is the correct name.

We've also been making 3D shapes out of play dough and toothpicks. We counted the edges, vertices and faces of each of the shapes we made and recorded our results in a chart in our maths book. Someone in our class figured out that the vertices are the number of play dough blobs in your shape and the edges are the number of toothpicks in your shape (but you still have to count out your shape's faces). It was really fun to make the shapes, especially an icosahedron (picture on left).

Here's what some students thought bout making the shapes:

"I liked making the play dough creations because you could make up your own shapes and be inventive" - Max

"Making the shapes was quite fun" - Sasha

Our Christmas tree isn't completely decorated but some of our diamonds are on the tree (as pictured). Everyone loves the bright colours on the tree and hope to make more decorations so our tree looks great. Do you have any ideas for decorations?

By Georgie

Dance, dance, dance!

Dean with the Junior Syndicate
teaching them the "DJ" dance move.

Who doesn't like to "Shake it off" after a big day of working? Room 13 do, and that's why we loved it when Dean and Ezra from "Stepping Out" dance troupe came to give the students a 40 minute hip-hop lesson. Dance isn't something we usually do at school so it was also a great opportunity to learn something new that we could carry on with later on as a career. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves and were proud of what they achieved.

We learnt a routine to the song "Treasure" by Bruno Mars (the music video is below) and if there were some moves that were difficult, we went over them a bit with Dean and Ezra before trying it to the music.

The boys hope to come back, have another 40 minute lesson with us and then do a show with us to showcase our hip hop skills. I think this is a great idea because not only will it be super fun; it also boosts confidence and self esteem for those who don't like being in front of a big audience.

"It was so enjoyable; I still remember all of the moves. It was great fun," said Zak of Room 13, who was resting from practising the moves on the court when I interviewed him. "This is the first time I've done proper dancing, and it was really cool to try something new." 

After the class, it was lunchtime and everyone was chattering excitedly to their friends about the workshop. Once we had eaten we practiced the dance moves, humming the music and making our moves precise and strong. What an exciting afternoon!

By Georgie 

  

A vote of thanks to our parents

From left - Brydie (Rm 13), Ms Mckenzie,
Amelia and Milly (both of Rm 12) jump off a wall
at Kaiteriteri beach.  

Hello everyone! You may have noticed we haven't published anything on the blog for a while - that's because we have been very busy preparing for camp. We went on camp with Room 12, meaning there were 36 students on camp - that required a lot of organising!

We went on camp last week - and it went on for 5 days and 4 nights (two spent at Whenua Iti Outdoors, one night at Appletree Bay on the Abel Tasman Coastal Track, and one night up Takaka Hill at the Caving Club Hut). During the week many of us faced our fears, achieved life long goals and made stronger relationships with the members of our group - including the  Whenua Iti Outdoors instructors.

We owe a big vote of thanks to the instructors but also to our parents for their amazing support. Without our parents, we wouldn't have been able to pay for our camp, and we wouldn't have had all the right gear either. They also made sure that we were happy, healthy and feeling ok about camp before we left.

The beautiful Appletree Bay, where each of the 3 camp
groups spent a night after a 2 hour hike.

This year's camp was different to other camps in that there were no parent helpers needed apart from Alfie's mother - a BIG thank you to Jane for staying on the whole time and supporting Alfie and the other students when they needed it. Some students were a little nervous about going away for 5 days without their parents. This was a big ask - but again, no one worried about this factor of the camp, so thank you parents for going over this with us
and telling us to chill - which everyone (especially Sean of Rm 13) managed to do.

Everyone in Room 12 and 13 enjoyed themselves immensely, and a lot of the students not only did things they never thought they could do, but actually liked it:

"My biggest challenge was sleeping under a fly at Appletree Bay, but in the end I actually found it really fun and it was my favourite part of camp" - Johanna, age 11

"Coasteering was pretty scary (especially jumping from rock to rock) but it was really fun as well" - Jade, age 11

The parents must've been supportive when reading the programme and realising that their child(ren) might struggle with some activities on it. So thanks again parents for being really supportive and encouraging when reading the programme with us. As you can see readers, the Room 12 and 13 students' parents were amazing and us kids wouldn't have gone on camp without them. So, for the third and final time:

From the very appreciative Year 7 students and Room 13 blog team

Storytime!!!

Mrs Hosie reading Underground
to Canada at story time

Despite the fact that we're nearly 12, we still love to "chillax" and listen to a story with the class. Even better - you can choose from two stories to go listen to (in Room 12 it's Harry Potter, and in Room 13 it's Underground to Canada). If you don't feel like a story, you can go into the breakout space and read another book or draw. What could be a better way to spend twenty minutes after lunch?

While the stories are being read, the teachers ask questions for the students to answer about the story to get the students involved. Sometimes students have questions about the story which the teachers are happy to answer. There's always a competition to see who gets the beanbag, but sometimes the winners share with their friends. It's a great opportunity to share a story with your best buddies, regardless of which Year 7 classroom they come from.

I spoke to Room 13 student Shaelyn about story time:

"I don't really know which part I like best; I like everything about it." 

Wouldn't it be great if anyone could come in and listen to such cool stories?

By Georgie

Sumdog

Here is a computer screen shot of the
most popular game amongst Room 13 - Dress Down

Room 13 have started using an interactive internet site called Sumdog.  Sumdog has lots of different maths games and problem solving tasks on it. You can also create an avatar and make virtual friends with people in your class or school. You have a home page that changes depending on the games you play. You can play games with your virtual friends as well as people from around the world who are online. There are different stages (which are named after animals) depending on how many games you have played. I asked some Room 13 students about their Sumdog experience:

"It's really cool and really fun. I have lots of virtual friends" - Zak

"It's a really fun game. I like it a lot" - Brydie

When the teacher signed Room 13 up for Sumdog there was a NZ competition running for all NZ Sumdog users. Sadly Room 13 didn't have enough people going onto Sumdog on a regular basis, so we weren't shown on the scoreboard. However, Room 13's Sumdog accounts still exist, so you're likely to find a few of the class laptops in use!!! Good luck with the next competition (if there are enough players to enter)!!!

By Georgie

A maths game we tried

Rhea from Room 12 in action

On Tuesday the Room 13 maths class (which combines some of the students from Room 12) played a game on the Interactive Whiteboard to help the students with their subtracting. The problems were written on the board and the students had to "fill in the blanks" on the board using the Interactive Whiteboard marker. Most of the students hadn't used the whiteboard before so it was quite an exciting experience. I spoke to Olivia (one of the Room 12 students who comes through to Room 13 for maths) about the game:

"The game was fun but it was quite a challenge" she told us. "I didn't get to use the Interactive Whiteboard but it was fun seeing my friend Lucy have a go with it."

I also spoke to Room 13 student Zak:

"The game was quite fun - and I got to use the Interactive Whiteboard pen which was fun too."

Connor of Room 13 tries out the
Interactive Whiteboard

The game not only helped the students with their subtracting; it helped them with their "tidy number"
knowledge too. The game sounds pretty fun, yet at the same time you're learning about subtracting tidy numbers! Sounds like this game was a success!!!

By Georgie

Google Apps

In Room 13, all the students have a login on something called Google Apps. That's its official name but some people call it other things (for example: I call it Google Drive).
Instead of using the shared folder to save our computer work, we save it onto our Google Drive, which is a thing where you can create word documents, spreadsheets and slideshows. You can create folders to keep your work in, too.

I (Georgina) asked some of the Room 13 students for their opinion on Google Apps. Here's what they had to say:

"Google Apps is really easy to use and I can get work done on it" - Max
"You can share and edit work with other people, which is really cool"- Jade
"Google Apps a good thing to use if you want to get work done" - Zak
"You can save work without it getting lost" - Brydie

On the whole, I think Google Apps is a success. If you have any cool websites you want to talk about, please comment!!! I (and the rest of the class) love hearing all your ideas.

By Georgina

Maths Rotations in Room 13

In Room 13, we have a maths interchange with Room 12. This means that some students from Room 12 come into our class, and some students from our class go into Room 12. The maths sessions are a lot of fun.

Before we get on with our work, we see which rotations each group are going to do. Each group has different tasks on each rotation. My group (the Equals group - that is the group name) began with Study Time, then Mastering Maths Facts, and lastly, "Mathletics". Our group didn't do Teacher Time or Hands On today.

Study Time is when you are given a topic (for example - investments) and you have to learn about it and record it on the computer. My groups topic is the Share Market, so we are studying that at the moment (don't worry - we don't have to finish all our work in a day - we get several weeks to finish it!).

Mastering Maths Facts is (for most groups) an activity where one person flicks up some basic facts cards. Everyone else in that group has to answer the questions. After the card person has gone through all the cards, another person in that group flips the cards until its time to change rotations. The other groups go on the computer and create a document about divisibility rules.

Mathletics is a computer programme where you can play maths games, connect with friends (and do maths activities together), and you can complete maths tasks set by your teacher! Everyone loves this rotation.

I'm sure you can guess what teacher time is! You catch up with the teacher on your rotations, and the teacher asks how you're going with it.  It is also the time we get to learn new things such as integers and how to add and subtract negative and positive numbers.  Hands On is where you do your bookwork and activity sheets.

So, now you know what we do in our awesome maths rotations, do you want to join in?

By Georgina

Wow!!!

 In our class, we have a special wall, where everyone in our class can share quotes, projects or cool pictures they have taken or seen on the Internet. Everyone is allowed to put up something small whenever they want, but each week, a student in the class has to put up something that interests them, and they can put it in the "Wow!" frame.

Even up close, its hard to see him. Can you spot the man,
in amongst all those cellphones?

 Last week, it was Max's turn to put up something on the Wow wall. He found some images of a man who camouflages himself by PAINTING himself!!! We all went over to the wall, trying to find the man. It was quite easy to see him up close, but if you stood about two metres back, you honestly couldn't see him! We were amazed.

 This week, Connor has put up some pictures of funny - shaped letterboxes. Some look like animals. Some look like people. Others are things that we don't know!!!

 If you want to come and have a look at our "Wow" wall, you're more than welcome. All of the displays that have been in the frame are still up there. Come and have a look!!!
                                                                               
  By Georgina 

Ready... Set... Blow!!!

This probably gets you thinking, "What do you mean, ready, set, blow?"

Brydie's monsters have lots of colour.

In Room 13, we made some fabulous "blow ink" monsters. Each one is unique, and we are very proud of them. They are up on our class wall. Whenever I look at them, I always feel happy and unique, because their expressions and features make me smile.

This is how we made them:

• First, we watched Stefan Bucher (the person who invented the ink monsters) videos on his website, and we got lots of inspiration PLUS the videos made us laugh (A LOT)!!! 
• We got out some newspaper (to protect our desks) then we got a sheet of A3 paper, ink, an art pen, a pencil, a straw and a paintbrush.
• Then we painted some ink onto our paper.
• After this we blew through our straw and our boring ink puddles turned into unique ink blobs!!! This was my favourite part.
• To make them look like monsters, we added on arms, legs and facial features with our ink art pens. 



Gus's monster has lots of sharp teeth!!!








• Some of us added in colour to make our monsters exciting!

They were a lot of fun to make, and the process was very exciting (and very messy!). Everybody loves their monsters, and I'm sure you'll love them too!!!

By Georgina 



   

MoTEC

Every Thursday at 10:20 am, Rooms 11, 12 and 13 go to MoTEC (Motueka Technology Education Centre). We get to go out to morning tea earlier than everybody else. But do you know what happens once we are off the bus? If not, read on!

We all sit down in a big hall and the MoTEC teachers tell us about what is going to happen. Then we go in our groups to our workrooms.

Sophie (centre) and Selena on the bus.

While the Year 8 students go to the hard materials, the Year 7 students get into groups of about 12 people. Last week, one of the groups made pizza. Another group did some paper work. The third group were bending plastic to make iPod and cellphone stands. My group are in the computer room recording interviews with a partner on Garageband (a computer programme) We get to use microphones of all shapes and sizes. It is very new and exciting.

Students at work in the Computer Suite.

One time, two students (Max and Zak) were working together and their voices went all
high - pitched when they put their Garageband recording on replay! Everybody giggled.

Before we leave, everybody thanks their teacher, and we walk in single file to the bus. We talk about our day at MoTEC on the way back to school, and we all feel very happy and excited about going again next week.

I wonder what will happen next Thursday at MoTEC?

By Georgina