Wallets - our designers are hard at work!

The wallets have to house at least three plastic cards

Rulers and scissors a must.  Those without creative and critical thinking need not apply

Joseph shares a prototype.  Happy, he's ready to move on

Skylar and Cailan - the road to success is paved with 'nearly theres'

Nadia works alongside her plan and prototype.  She's nearly there!

ANZAC Day - unlocking the secrets of my family history

I learned a lot today, so a huge thank you to all the kids in Room 2.  

             The memorial plaque my great great grandmother received is colloquially known as the 'death penny', and was sent out after World War I. It was given to the next of kin of deceased servicemen and women.   Thanks for providing that interesting information, Fiona, Carol and Nadia.

 BaiLin, Jake, Jacob and Nicholas explained some of the symbolism. I thought the most interesting part was that there is a lion (the symbol of England), tearing apart an eagle (the symbol of Germany).  The anger the allies felt must've run deep after the war.  I also learned the design was chosen after a competition, and that the winning designer was named Carter Preston.  Thank you boys for your thorough research.

My great grandfather's hat caused great excitement.  Lots of my boys wanted to have their photo taken wearing it.  Naturally, I obliged.  The hat is known as a 'lemon squeezer'.  This was news to me.

Courtesy of Tandia, Jasmine and Ruby, I learned my great grandfather, David Honore was a rifleman and trained in Wellington

David's brother Fritz was killed in action on 26 October, 1918.  He was also a rifleman, was in the New Zealand Rifle Brigade, and fought in the 4th Battalion.  Thank you to Ruby, Jasmine and Tandia for researching this.  It was sad to consider he was so young when he died, and also that the war ended only weeks after he had made the ultimate sacrifice. 

Remembering the fallen

A more sombre mood prevails today in Room 2.  I have brought in a family taonga.  The children are now deep in an inquiry on what this treasure can possibly be.  They have touched it, but absolutely no information has been provided.  Not a word.  Nothing. Not even that it relates to events in World War I.

The children are having to use effective key-wording and research to unlock its secrets. I am looking forward to their presentations (later on today) as they educate me on my own history.

Update - we have been busy making pom poms (as part of our enviro-week)  with Room 22, so the kids will present their slide shows on Monday or Tuesday.  Can't wait!

Which 5 items should Room 2 take to a deserted island?

There were 4 points of position set up around the room (at north, south, east and west).  The four positions were Agree, Disagree, Maybe agree and Maybe disagree. Mrs Wallace explained the rules of the debate (not debate in the purist sense of the word), and the kids moved to that position that reflected their point of view.  The kids changed position as their views were shifted as a consequence of compelling arguments.

   

Jacob asserted that water purifying tablets were a must.

Jake refuted the claim, explaining that water could be boiled, but the class sided with Jacob.

Cailan was certain that a fishing net was an essential item; eating is essential in your bid to stay alive he explained.  Nadia agreed that a fishing net was important but also felt that it didn't deserve a top five position.  In the end, the fishing net didn't make the grade. 

A steel bucket was an absolute must.  As Jake pointed out, it has multiple uses; like carrying things, boiling water, cooking food and, that fact upped its value.  Who could argue with such strong reasoning? The whole class agreed.

Samuel wanted to bring medical bandages, but Ruby pointed out that there were natural alternatives for bandages, and that many plants also had additional medicinal purposes. The bandages didn't make the cut. (The cut. Get it?)

Karthiga wanted to see insect repellent take the final place on the top five list. Brayden didn't believe that insect repellent deserved such a high ranking.  He argued that Bear Grylls didn't use it, instead preferring to opt for long sleeves and tramping pants.  Fiona retorted that you were likely to end up with heat stroke if you wore that in the tropics.   Kees added that mosquitoes were mostly likely to feast on you at night, and that the smoke from the fire (you'd started using your steel and flint) would keep them away.  The kids who didn't believe insect repellent was essential put up a strong fight, but in the end it was decided by the majority that repellent had to be there.  

Top debaters in Room 2?

Jacob, Fiona and Jake - all passionate, logical and articulate.

Well done!

Items in our Top 5 (as decided by members of Room 2)

Machete

Metal bucket

Flint and steel

Water purifying tablets

Insect repellent

Just Sayin'

You guys rock!

Is there a doctor on board?

Yes, there's 27!   Sadly, they're not medical doctors.

Samuel is now Dr. Samuel.
Allie is now Dr. Allie.
Jake is now Dr. Jake.

The kids in Room 2 have all been awarded (imaginary) doctorates in the field of Zoology - with first class honours, I suspect.

The Brief: As zoologists with a global conscience, we are focused on developing captive breeding programmes to help identified threatened species.  We need to choose five animals that are vulnerable; research their breeding habits (recording the number of babies they are likely to have with each pregnancy), and then create a spreadsheet that shows the projected number of births (and therefore benefit of the programme) after seven, twelve and thirty three years.

This learning experience incorporates many skills and is complex in its demands.  Mrs Wallace calls this sort of learning Thinking Skills.  Mrs Wallace loves Thinking Skills.  Mrs Wallace loves pizza, but loves Thinking Skills more.

So what are the kids learning?

1. The kids are being encouraged to see that can be agents of change in the world.
2. The kids are learning to think critically, e.g. that some animals are endangered as a consequence of their sluggish breeding habits. This fact will affect the success of their breeding programme.  Another threatened animal could be significantly boosted by human intervention because the birth rate is affected by conditions that can be altered and controlled.  The children need to think carefully about the animals they include in their breeding programme.
3.  The children are being asked to use mathematical reasoning, e.g. BaiLin asked how to record data on an animal that has between 1 - 4 babies per breeding season.  Mrs Wallace suggested BaiLin (strong in mathematics) put 2.5 per year, and then asked him to consider how this was possible.  Mrs Wallace talked to BaiLin about using the average, calculated over a two year period.  BaiLin loved the fact Mrs Wallace challenged his existing belief that it's impossible to have a half baby.
4.  The children are learning to use technology; more importantly they are learning that they can tell computers how to think, and that they can do work for us, e.g. when inputting formulas into Google Sheets.  The kids loved it when Mrs Wallace changed one number on her sheet, and then by simply pushing 'enter' the spreadsheet data completely changed.  Mrs Wallace pointed out she was not a magician, but had simply made the computer her slave.


Here is Mrs Wallace's spreadsheet.  As you can see it's incomplete.  Can anyone remind me about the formula I need to use?!  Email me your answer.

Btw, the dictzy dog is SERIOUSLY on the brink of extinction! ;-)

Who am I?

I am considered the greatest poet of all time.  I was born a long time ago (well before anyone even conceived of the idea of a camera), in a place called Stratford-upon-Avon.  I wrote the plays Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth and King Lear.  They call me The Bard because, seriously, I am that good at writing.  Just sayin'.

If you think you know who I am, please email your answers through to Mrs Wallace by Monday morning.

By the way, we are going to be working on writing good poetry this term.  We will learn about tone and tension.  We will also practise using simile and metaphor effectively.

Here is a poem I wrote to help people understand about poetry and poets.

About the Poet

she had an artist's mind

but not an artist's hand,

and as a consequence,

it's true,

she often
wrote

but never drew.

(Yes, the lower case 's' is on purpose!)  (Yes, I know it's not that good, but it only took a couple of minutes!)