Robots

This term the students have been busy thinking about the future.  We have investigated jobs in the future thinking about how different jobs might change, and whether some jobs will even still exist in 20 years time.  As part of our learning we looked at the ways robots have influenced jobs, and what roles are now being done by robots instead of humans.  The students then set about designing their own robots.  The brief was to design a robot to do a particular job.  Once they had completed their design we set about making models of our robots using cardboard boxes, bottles, straws, lids, plates and anything else we could get our hands on.  Today the Kawau team displayed their robots in class and we all went around the different rooms to see the amazing creations.

Here is a little taster of our amazing robots:
Room 19's Amazing Robots on PhotoPeach
Well done to all the students for your creativity and hard work building your robots, and especially to Marcus and Sean who received Principal Awards from Mrs Sandifer.  Ka pai Room 19.

Blackout Day

Tomorrow (Friday) the school is holding a black out day where students are invited to wear all black to show their support for the All Blacks in the Rugby World Cup final.

The school is going to do a Haka tomorrow and send it to the team to watch so we have been busy practicing today.  Here's some of our rehearsals.

Warm Fuzzies

Last Friday we borrowed an idea from the lovely Mrs Ye and Room 18 and wrote some warm fuzzies.  Each student was given an envelope with their name on which we set out on the floor.  They were then asked to write a sentence about each of the students in the class saying something positive about about them.  This comment could be something such as "you've got a lovely smile" to "I think you're really good at reading".  The students became really engaged with the task frantically writing away and then coming up to put their message into the appropriate envelope.  At the end of the day each student got to take their envelope home and read all the comments from their classmates.

 

Sports Stars

Over the last week the Room 19 students have been continuing the sporting theme with further tennis sessions and also the first of our athletics sessions.

For athletics the students from the whole of the Kawau team were split into groups and then they rotated around different stations.  The stations included hurdles, sprints and relays, sack races, high jump and different throwing activities.

Lots of fun was had and there was a little bit of competition too!

 

In our tennis lessons this week we have progressed to learning the correct techniques for hitting forehand shots to each other across a net.  The students are really enjoying these tennis sessions and it's great to see them developing their skills.

 

Home Learning Due in 29th October

This weeks Home Learning - sheets and books will be sent home on Tuesday, apologies for them not being sent home on Friday.  

Wimbledon here we come!

Today the students in Room 19 had their first of five tennis lessons provided by Brown's Bay tennis.  Several of the students have tennis lessons at Browns Bay so were familiar with coach Matt who is taking the sessions.

He started by getting the students bouncing and catching the tennis balls on the ground and on the racquets.  The students then paired up to complete a range of other activities.

We have 2 more lessons next week and another 2 lessons in week 4.  I'm pretty sure we'll have some students rivaling Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams by the time we've finished!

Design Challenge

Today I set the students a design and build challenge.  I told them that they had to work together in groups to design and build a boat that would float on water.  The students were enthusiastic about the task, and then I told them that the only thing they could use to make their boats was blue tack.  Amid cries of, "Blue tack doesn't float!" and "Blue tack is too heavy!" I explained that they had to try lots of different designs to see if they could find one that would work.  There was also a second part to the challenge.  Once they had been able to make a floating boat they then had to add paper clips one at a time to see how many their boats would hold before sinking.  To add some incentive the winning group would each get a prize.

First the students set about drawing designs they thought might work.  Then they started building their boats.  Some groups divided the blue tack and each made a design to see which would float before then putting all their blue tack together to be able to build a bigger version of the working design.  Other students made one design together.

After about 15 minutes and several failed attempts, the first cries went up of, "It's floating" and then, "It sank!".  A little bit of industrial espionage occurred with floating designs being spied on and copied by other groups (or maybe it was a good use of initiative!), and soon there were a few floating boats.

Next the "passengers" were added, at first the boats didn't hold many - 10 and 16 being the highest numbers, but at this stage the competition was fierce.  Boats were remodelled and students realised that making sure the paperclips were spaced out across the boats and not all on one side, that making ripples, and even how gently you placed the paperclips and the boats into the water all had an effect on how soon the boats sank.

It wasn't long before suddenly boats were holding 30, 40, 50 plus passengers before sinking.  Finally we all gathered around each group and watched one final attempt at beating their own best scores.  Tiara, Saria, Mackenzie and Ellie's group was the winner with their boat holding 72 paperclips before finally sinking.

Great job Room 19 - a fantastic effort.