Hola!

Today in spanish Senora Carrasco taught us the numbers 21 - 31 and then the months of the year, so we could say our birthdate in spanish. So far we have been learning greetings, the alphabet and numbers 0 -21. Today, as a reward for good work, some of us recieved a Chilean coin.

Hasta la Vista
Beth and Natalie

Victorious Designers!

Yeeha ... well done girls for your first and second place (each judge chose their own placings) in today's Rebuilding Beckenham Finals. GO ROOM 19! Thanks for bringing Scooby back home to our room where he belongs, (that is after spending a week in Room 16, who did just as well as us).

High Jump Style

High Jump on PhotoPeach



Yes ... we got sun today so athletics practice was on. At high jump we are aiming for a tall body, arms driving up to provide extra lift, a straight leg scissor over the bar and an upright landing on the feet, avoiding body twist. Some nice styles are developing. Click on the photos to get a better view.

Innocent Victims

This term we are focusing on information reports in writing. Today we started research for our first report about how global warming is affecting the polar bear. We learnt that by 2050 the number of polar bears is predicted to be 2/3 less than the current population. We need to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions so that the summer ice stops disappearing in the Arctic. Our next step is to research further using books and the Internet and then we will write our reports in Word or Publisher.

What are we doing to our planet?

Today we started talking about Climate Change / Global Warming ... mmmmm, are they the same thing?? We looked at our nine Big Questions and thought about what we know already about this topic. Most of us were at the pre-structural or uni-structural level with our thinking, though there was a bit of relational thinking happening in places. One thing that had us stumped was what the 'Kyoto Protocol' was all about?? If you have any thoughts or gems of knowledge on Global Warming or Climate Change, please let us know by leaving a comment.

Ask your children what these terms mean... it's all to do with Solo Taxonomy.

The Ultimate Test

Today the wheelchair experience went beyond the school gate as we took it for a bus test drive. We learnt quite a bit about maneuvering in tight places. The Red Buses passed our test with flying colours.

Have a wonderful holiday everyone; see you all refreshed, energised and ready to go on October 25th.

We took up the challenge...

Ms Hastings liked our skipping video from two weeks ago and challenged us to try skipping with 4 ropes, in a square formation. Well today we gave it a go and it worked, well almost ... we haven't perfected it quite yet.

Superb Speeches in Room 19

Speech Finalists on PhotoPeach


Over the past two days I have been blown away by the high standard of speeches presented by the Room 19ers. Not only were many of the speeches confidently presented, but the quality of the content was much higher than I have struck before. We chatted about the reasons for this. While some talked about how applying the hamburger method really helped, the overwhelming reason given was the use of the laptops as a research and writing tool. Being able to easily revise what had been written, using a highlighter to identify main points from internet research and then put these into their own words and how easy it was to create the cue cards, so more time could be spent on the content of the speech - were factors that the class all agreed on. Needless to say choosing the finalists was a very hard job. We wish our final three all the best for a smooth and enthusiastic speech delivery tomorrow.
GO ROOM 19!

Presentation Day

Presenting Our Beckenham Rebuild Plans on PhotoPeach


It's been a great day of oral language in Room 19. We listened to fabulous speeches in the morning, but there will be more about that in tomorrow's post. This afternoon we presented our plans for Rebuilding Beckenham. Well done guys, you did a superb job of sharing your great ideas with the class. Special mention goes out to Sam and Ties for their fabulous plan of 'Maple Tree Village', they were nearly finalists. Congratulations to Micaela and Natalie, Baylie and Katie for their confident presentations of detailed and creative plans ... you are our Room 19 finalists.

Our Wheelchair Experiences

Over half of the class have now had their 'three hours in a wheelchair' experience. Today we shared how we are finding the experience. Several children explained how they were treated differently by others when in the wheelchair. This included having people offer to do lots for you, when really you just wanted to get on and do things for yourself, i.e. be independent. We have noted what it's like to push on different surfaces; smooth concrete rated the highest, followed by our well compacted gravel path. Our adventure playground is not a wheelchair friendly space. The bark chips need to be replaced with an artifical rubbery surface and it needs a wider and not so steep entry point. We also are now very aware of the lips by doorways, these proved a challenge when we were starting out, but after three hours we were pretty good at pushing over the 'door bumps'.