Geometry

In geometry, we have been learning about the properties of 2-D and 3-D shapes. We have learnt that the flat surfaces on a 3-D shape are called faces, and the pointy bits are called vertices. We have learnt the names of some 3-D shapes and how to recognise them from flat representations of themselves called nets. There are a lot of new words to learn in like parallel, perpendicular and congruent. We have been learning to use the language of geometry to describe 3-D shapes like the ones you can see in this photo.

Athletic Sports

On Wednesday the 20th of February it was the Milton Schools Athletics day. St Marys and Tokoiti came to participate with us. All of the events started at 9.30am and went to around 2.00pm. Lots of parents and caregivers came to cheer their children along as well as their school. These were all of the events: high jump, long jump, mini hurdles, 100 metre sprints, 200 metres, 800 metres, shot put and discus. Each child put in a one hundred and one percent effort. At the end of the day children went home with a red face and a smile with tomato sauce over it from the delicious sausage sizzle at lunchtime provided by Home and School helpers. The 800 metre run was the longest and made us puff and slow down a little bit more at the end of the race. Everyone tried their hardest and our best wishes go to the children who qualified for the South Otago sports in Balclutha. It was a great day but everyone’s bones would have been very stiff and sore the next day!!

Family Fun Night

On Wednesday 13 February we had family fun night. This event was combined with a Meet the Teacher evening. There was a shared dinner of finger food at 6.30 and before and after that, parents visited teachers classrooms to talk about things like how to help your child at home. Meanwhile, there were some fun games happening outside. There were people playing various games and others playing cricket. There were also moonhoppers to bounce around on, sack races, and the always popular water activities. It was a fabulous evening of community fun and a great way to start the school year.

Swimming

We were all delighted to be able to get straight into swimming instruction right from the first day of the school year. We were also fortunate that the weather stayed fine for us! In this block of swimming, we focus on practising the basic swimming strokes eg freestyle and backstroke. We use equipment such as floatboards to work on our leg action and once we have mastered that we go on to work on arm action and breathing. Many children have made tremendous progress since last year. We will be off to the pool again at the end of the year when the focus will be on water safety.

2019

It's great to be back for what promises to be another exciting year for the students in Room 8. The children have settled into their work very quickly and our classroom routines are already well established. There will be regular updates to our class blog throughout the year including samples of the children's work and photos of the children participating in a variety of different events and activities. You are encouraged to make regular visits to the blog to check out any updates and leave a comment if you would like to.

Year 6 Camp

On 19 November the Year 6’s went off to Camp Tirohanga which is near Mosgiel.We arrived at camp and got our stuff unpacked then we set off to Dive Otago. The scuba diving and snorkeling was lots of  fun.The scuba divers enjoyed diving down to the bottom of the pool. Then we made our way to the Portobello Aqauriam where we went on a tour around the place looking at the different types of sea creatures. On Tuesday it was beach day.We went to the St Kilda Life Saving Club to learn about water safety and sun safety but unfortunately it was too cold and wet to have a swim in the sea. On Wednesday we did some activites around camp like rifle shooting, archery and orienteering and we also had a man from the Red Cross do a first aid course with us.The next day we built bivouacs which was hard work.We went on a bush walk and compared the pine forest to the native bush. You can really see the contrast.We did an obstacle course, a blindfolded activity called Nightline, some old fashioned indoor games, and bounced on the camp’s new trampolines. After that we had a go at the water slide. It was probably one of the most fun activities. On Thursday night we had camp graduation and we each stood up and talked about our achievements at camp. On Friday the man from Red Cross came back to do the second half of the first aid course and present us with certificates. We did some sketching of the camp, played a couple of final games, and then it was time to go home. We all had a great week at camp despite the atrocious weather.

Christmas Market

On 14 November the Year 5 and 6 children held a Christmas Market in and around the school hall. They were selling a wide variety of Christmas themed goods such as Christmas decorations, ornaments and many different types of Christmas sweet treats.

The purpose of this exercise was to explore with the children the concept of “Enterprise”. They had to do the maths to find out the actual cost of making their items and determine a reasonable selling price so that they could make the maximum amount of profit. Their incentive was that they got to keep whatever profit they made. There were some very high quality goods for sale and some children displayed considerable entrepreneurial skills.

It really was a very interesting and worthwhile project and we would like to thank all the parents who contributed to making the market such a successful venture for our students.