Code.org is Awesome.

We have been using code.org all year as an introduction to learning how to write code. These are some examples of what we are able to create.

Rohit

http://learn.code.org/sh/47545918

Liam 

http://studio.code.org/sh/47545937

http://learn.code.org/sh/47545902

Milano

http://learn.code.org/sh/47545598

Jemma and Kayden

http://learn.code.org/sh/47545672

Ashton, Jayden and Regan

http://learn.code.org/sh/47545598

Jayden, Ashton and Regan

http://learn.code.org/sh/47545598

Tyler

http://learn.code.org/sh/47545313

Kayden

http://learn.code.org/sh/47545082

Harry

http://learn.code.org/sh/47545037

Liam

http://learn.code.org/sh/47544334

Milano

http://learn.code.org/sh/47544755

Reading Trailers

Room 23 had to retell a story they had read during reading time by using pictures. They had to plan a storyboard, using a template for a trailer found on imovie and then find or create their own images. They have really embraced this concept and have done a fantastic job. Please feel free to leave some positive comments.

Speeches

At the end of term 3, Room 23 wrote and delivered a speech of their own topic. They were expected to complete the whole process, from brainstorming ideas, to planning, to writing and practising the speech with minimal help from the teacher.

I was very impressed as every child was able to stand up and deliver their speech to the class. This is no mean feat as there are some children in the class who at the start of the year really lacked to confidence to share their ideas in a small group setting, let alone in front of the whole class.

Room 23's Haka

The boys of room 23 were lucky enough to be given the opportunity to learn the Haka. They started by learning the basics from Whaea Trish and she guided them right through to their final performance for the Education Review Office when they visited us during the earlier part of this term. They worked extremely hard to raise their confidence levels and as you can see they delivered an extremely passionate Haka in the end. Well done boys.

Museum Visit

Room 23 visited the Auckland Museum recently to partake in a cultural performance and to learn more about the Maori Culture. Whaea Trish organised this awesome trip for us and we all had an awesome time.

Balloon Powered Rocket Cars

Last Friday we decided to do something different for the last block. We watched a video clip on how to make rocket powered balloon cars and then in pairs proceeded to construct them.  The materials we used were a paper plate, 5 straws, 2 wooden bbq skewers, a balloon, cardboard and sellotape.

This was heaps of fun and we had to use our problem solving skills to complete this task.  It was pleasing to see everyone work together to complete the car while having an awesome time.

 Once we had completed them we had a race outside on the courts.

Coding

We have been coding. According to the code.org website “Computer science is the art of blending human ideas and digital tools to increase our power. Computer scientists work in so many different areas: writing apps for phones, curing diseases, creating animated movies, working on social media, building robots that explore other planets and so much more."



We have been learning how to use computational thinking to help us solve problems and write algorithms that enable us to write lines of code which in turn is the basics of computer programming.  As you can see we are learning to do this with activities involving paper and then taking these skills and applying them to the course we are taking on code.org. 

Persuasive Writing

This term we are learning how to write strong arguments that will persuade people to see out point of view. We follow a process that includes brainstorming and grouping ideas. We then formulate a plan which we use to inform our writing. Below are some of the examples that we have come up with so far. Please leave us some feedback as we love reading what people think of our work.

Regan's Homework from last term.

Regan went to a Jason Derulo and Titanium concert and decided to document it using video. This is what he came up with.

Commonwealth Games & Minecraft Blocks

When it was our turn to investigate the Glasgow Commonwealth Games in our ICT day Room 23 had heard about it from other classes. The goal to create a Minecraft 3D model to show off our research and observations skills, was more about our Minecraft skills... or so we thought!

After getting into teams the groups chose three or four sports events for variety. Next we all researched the facilities, equipment and designs of the venues. We spent a little bit of time getting search words that would give us the best images out of google.

We discussed the details we were looking for in each photo we found. The hard part was skimming and scanning lots of photos to find the best ones with good detail to include in our Minecraft world. Then we all saved the photos to our camera rolls for later.

Mr. McLay learnt that Skitch was a good app to use for putting arrows and words on pictures. Mr. Baker has been using it for ages.  That was one of the ideas our class gave him.  Go to the bottom of this post to check out and fly around the Minecraft worlds we're going to finish in a few weeks time.

This class is totally focused.

Fly through

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Happy Birthday Taupua

Basketball Tournament

Last Monday Western Heights competed in the Henderson Cluster basketball tournament. We entered 2 teams, one in the A and B grade. Both teams tried their hearts out and were a credit to the school. Unfortunately the B team missed out on making the finals by 1 measly point but were voted by the umpires to be the best fairplay side. This was due to the spirit in which they played the game, never giving up and always giving their all. The A team made it through to the semifinals where they defeated Henderson South, the same team they had lost to 20 minutes earlier. This was an action packed game and the A team definitely showed a huge improvement to take the win. The final game of the day, a playoff for third and fourth, was a real nail biter. At one point I was nearly jumping out of my skin. Sunnyvale were a good team but our team was better taking third place. This was a an awesome end to a great day.

Tough Guy and Gal Challenge

What an awesome event. 40 of our kids from Western Heights participated in the inaugural tough guy and gal challenge. They braved the mud and the cold and as you will see in the slideshow above, they all had a ball. Every single one of our kids completed the course and were an absolute credit to the school and themselves. Listening to how excited they all were afterwards definitely made the trip worthwhile. A special thanks must go to all the parents who turned up and supported the kids as well.

League for Libraries Warriors Competition

Earlier this year room 23 entered a writing competition. We had to create unique stories that included the Warriors rugby league team. Fortunately for us we placed in the top eight out of 40 other schools a great effort! Our prize consisted of being driven to the Henderson Library in a flash coach and then meeting three of the Warriors, Ben Henry, Albert Vete and Jerome Ropati. The Warriors took the time to complete some reading activities with us and also signed autographs for every single person in our class. When we were leaving the Warriors gave us all a prize pack that had two books, a beeping bookmark (that our teacher is already sick of) and some other goodies. All in all it was an awesome day.

ICT Video Project.

Last Friday room 23 had access to the ipads. They were assigned the task of creating a video that was at least one minute long and no longer than three minutes. They also had to plan out each scene detailing what was to happen and who was in each role before they were able to start filming. They only had one day to achieve this feat and I think they have done an awesome job. Please watch these videos and let us know what you think.

Mr Baker

Agam, Cameron & Milano

Sarah, Harry, Hayley & D'Qwan.

Noah, Liam, Ashton & Tyler

Chanel, Prisha, Ruby & Esa.

Tiany, Faith & Bianca

Jesse, McKenzie, Jemma & Regan.

Isireli, Jamahl, Kayden & Jayden

Room 23's Tribute to our Mums

France Video

Australian Video

Ancient Greece Presentation

Ancient Egypt Presentation

England Presentation

Brazil Presentation

Roman Empire Presentation

Room 23's first Inquiry projects for the year.

These are the first examples of the Inquiry work we have done this term. The children started with learning the Inquiry process, including how to ask open ended questions to ensure that they were able to provide as much relevant information as possible on their chosen topics. The children then had to research their topics and present their findings to the rest of the class.  

Maori Presentation

Homework Slideshow

http://vimeo.com/91997286

This is a quick slideshow of the children in Room 23 who completed their homework challenges for this term. The challenge for next term will be to try and improve on what were some already high quality pieces of homework. Some people displayed more effort than others but overall it was pleasing to see so many people complete their homework challenges.

Chopper Challenge

This is a video of the children in the senior school who earned a ride on the Westpac Rescue Helicopter today. The criteria for earning a ride was either to be one of the top 5 fundraisers or to be one of the top 5 people who gave their all everyday during fitness over an 8 week period. The reward was awesome but I think that all the children who were chosen thoroughly deserved it.

We left from Mechanics Bay and took a scenic route back to school via the Waitemata Harbour.  It was particularly awesome to see the whole school out on the field to greet us as we flew in. The pilot and crewman were very friendly and made sure that the children and I had a great time.

Jayden reading his cameo writing

Sarah sharing her cameo writing.

Jemma sharing her cameo writing

Kayden sharing his cameo writing.

McKenzie sharing her cameo writing.

Cameron sharing his cameo writing

Agams Character Description

Jesse's Character Description

Bobby Mushroom

Bobby Mushroom is no ordinary cowny (cow/bunny). He has a sunset red cape, with two huge purple horns. Bobby has got massive, bright green eyes that have red lasers. He’s got a square body with four massive blobs of blue on it. He has a fluffy bunny tail and its bright pink. Bobby has got four muscly legs with black hooves .Booby has got pig pink udders. B. Mushroom has a large bottom.

Bobby Mushroom has a colourful personality he’s a happy, positive, brave cowny, Bobby eats grass and hay in his spear time. Bobby behaves very weirdly he farts a lot and he thinks it’s funny when they faint because of the wretched smell; he isn’t a very exciting cow until you get to know him he’s a super cow. Bobby is a very loving cow that tries to make everyone happy.

Bobby Mushroom likes pretty ridiculous things like turtles, farts and glue. Now to get to the amazing stuff he likes saving the world from Pro.Crazy Piganator. Bobby likes saving the people from his home town Bagar Mushroomtopia.

Bobby Mushroom dislikes a lot of things but especially dislikes Pro.Crazy piganator he captures pigs and turns them evil to destroy Bobby mushroom once and for all! The other things that he dislikes are books, rabbits, pigs and other villains like: Doom Dog and Black sheep.

Bobby Mushroom is a pretty ridiculous cowny but remember he will always save the day.   

Jemma's Character Description

Avery Laura Williams

Avery is what looks like a normal fifteen year old girl. She is the same height as most people in her class, not popping out. Her hair is black as night and is wavy then ends underneath her shoulder blades. Standing out from her face (not really) is a pair of ocean blue eyes shining brightly. Under Avery’s eyes there is a small nose, not pointy but not really round which is surrounded by an army of brown freckles. Avery has tan skin, black thin eyebrows and her head is shaped like an egg. There is only one major thing quite different that no one except her family knows about Avery, she can turn into a fox. Yes a sunset orangey red fox, with a point black muzzle and sharp looking triangle ears! In her fox body, Avery’s eyes are a beautiful gleaming hazelnut colour.

Avery is outgoing, fit and a brave girl. She doesn’t like to tell on people instead she tries to help other people when they are in trouble. So really Avery is a kind, caring, and happy and she is definitely is not a bully. One thing Avery is kind of is a nerd. Avery is loyal to her friends and family.in team situations she works really well and she is reliable and has respect for each other.

Avery loves her family very much, her sister Harriet the trouble maker and her marvellous mum and dad. She especially loves her Husky (dog) named Wolf who she rescued from the SPCA. Her favourite animals (that she loves) are foxes and wolves. Reading is what Avery loves, also chocolate and drinking iced chocolates. She really loves to play sport (soccer) and swim in the ocean. Also in the ocean Avery loves to fell the waves wash over her.

One of Avery’s dislikes is Leila the towns darkest bully and Leila’s minions. She hugely despises the taste of coffee drowned in hot boiling water and milk. There are two foods that Avery doesn’t  like, they are roasted peanuts and gummy/chewy lollies.

Avery is a fit, caring and loyal fifteen year old girl who has the ability to turn into a fox. She is beautiful, reliable and is always willing to help.