Autumn poetry

This week we came back to school to find that autumn had arrived. Some of our trees had turned from green to gold and the temperature had dropped too. On Monday we spent some time out in the grounds looking at the trees and writing poems about the things we could see, hear and feel.

Here are some of our beautiful autumn poems.

Autumn leaves- By Marina L
Autumn leaves falling from naked trees.
Sand yellow leaves falling onto soft fresh grass
Bony old trees bending in the wind
Rustling from withered claw-like leaves
The out of place tree has leaves with diseases
The smell of cinnamon comes from the shrivelled up leaves
Behind me stands the lush green everlasting trees
Autumn, autumn has come to stay
And leaves fall to the ground
Autumn, autumn has come to stay.

Autumn- By Dan T
Falling yellow leaves from fishing rod trees
The tree is feeling alone from inside to the bone
It is sad and scared
It's friends are gone
But it has to wait until spring is here.

The autumn leaf - By Millie C
The wind lifts me from my feet
My favourite friend has gone
My crispy shell and scaly patterns are so cold
Although the sun gazes at me still
I fall onto the lazy green pieces of grass
Suddenly I see a foot and then I know a beast was upon me
Autumn.

Autumn leaves- By Tamzin H
The autumn sun shines down on me
Burning my shell to a crisp
I let go of the branch I stand on,
and dance down to my old friends
The wind lifts us off the forest floor
The bees fly past humming to their nests,
A drop of rain comes hurtling down towards me
and throws me to the ground.

Hiwi the Kiwi- the minstrel teaches us about sustainability

Today at Upper Harbour we had a special treat. "The minstrel" came to school and through songs and stories taught us about sustainable fishing. 

It was a really entertaining concert, and we enjoyed participating in fun songs and learning about how we need to look after our fish for the future, and how to be safe when fishing. It was a good introduction to the term's concept: Sustainability.

Room 13 Statistics Surveys

In Room 13, we have been learning how to conduct a Statistical enquiry. First we brainstormed as a class questions for our enquiry projects. Once we had a big question, we had to come up with 6 options to make a survey. We surveyed 8 people from each class in the Skyscrapers community.
We had to use at least 3 graphs to show our findings. Finally we analysed our graphs and wrote statements about our results and also thought about why people chose each options. 
Everyone did a great job with their enquiries. Here are photos of our survey result charts.

Term 1 is nearly over!

We're reaching the end of our first term in Room 13. At the end of the term it's good to reflect back on what we have learned and think about our highlights and next steps in our learning. 
Today we used writing prompts to think about and reflect on our learning this term. Here are a few of our reflections.

TERM ONE 2014- By Neha C

I really liked:  My statistics survey that is about what clubs we would like in the Skyscrapers community.

I wish I had: done twice as much art as we did and we did a lot!    

I still need to work on: Building my vocabulary and correcting my spelling words.

Something I learnt and now understand: My statistics - creating and interpreting graphs.

I'm most proud of: My writing about the pink panther jewel, (most things didn't even happen it was all in my mind.)

A tricky part was: Working with fractions- that’s what I probably need to work on.

Next term I need to: work on my fractions

I could teach others about: Art.

Reflecting on term 1

- By Saahil C

I really liked: doing my statistics survey and my poetry.

I wish I had learnt: about technology this term or next term.

I still need to work on: recalling my basic facts faster and my division faster.

Something I learnt/now understand: was not to cut something and leave it on the floor. I now understand not to do it because it leaves a mess on the floor.

I am most proud of: my statistics survey, my poetry, my self portrait and my nature trail writing and Teach me Tuesday.

A tricky part was: trying to complete the 5 minute frenzy in under five minutes.

Next term I need to: work on getting my work done faster.

I could teach others: about .P.E.

Teach me Tuesday Week 10!

It was "Teach me Tuesday" again today. 

Wow what a treat we had! 

Maia and Emily were today's teachers. 

Maia taught us a Hip hop routine, it was pretty hard, but she did a great job. 

Next, Emily showed us how to sew felt Easter eggs. 

Thanks to our teachers today, we were very impressed again! 

Life Education 2014- "It's great to be me!"

It's Life Eduction time again. This year our unit is titled:

"It's Great to be Me!"
The Key understandings for this unit are:

• We are all unique

• We all make decisions and need to be responsible for decisions that we make

• Conforming is where we follow what other people are doing, there are times when we need to conform and times when we don't.

It's great fun learning in the Life Education caravan!

Mission Impossible in Room 13

On Monday we headed back to class after assembly to find that our class was a web of red lasers. Spy music was booming from the speakers, and it was our mission to negotiate the laser field. Here are some people's thoughts about the event.

Evil Mrs Millett. By Gina L


"Shhh.." I whispered to the other spies. I was freaking out. All of a sudden...
"You touched the laser!" someone whispered. 
"The evil villain, Mrs. Millett must have set up this up," I thought. 

Agent Marina and I were partners and we were doing pretty well until...'ZAP!' went a laser as I touched it with my head. Stuck, screaming and shouting spies. I'm sure that if I was the villain I would have heard us.
There were determined spies everywhere. More and more gaining on the evil Mrs. Millett. I could taste the anticipation. Mission Impossible really was impossible. The lasers were as red as fire. 
Finally we were finished. "Wow!" I'm pretty sure I'm not going to be nagged into being a spy.

The Laser Beams. 
By Alvin L

My spine was chilling not wanting to touch the web of laser beams. I felt my heart beat very fast when I saw people rolling and dodging but still not managing to get out!

Finally it was my turn. Caiden was my partner and he was way more confident that I was. I was sure that I would not get out, but I still tried.

"Woah!" I almost touched a laser, and I would have to start over. The distracting music some how made me do better. "Yes!" I whispered to myself as I crawled over the finish line. A few minutes later Caiden finished and we were the first team to cross over the finish line. 

My hardest mission yet. 
By Xavier R

It was time. It was time for my hardest mission yet. I had to go through a field filled with highly undeadly string! I was talking to my agent friend with the code name, 'I die a lot.'
We were last, and our mission was actually quite easy because we were the lowest agent rank, and they didn't trust us with real lasers.

We jumped around all the obstacles that were ahead of us. Finally we got to the end and so we went back for more. 

It was the second time and I hoped it would be easier for me. Sadly, I went a bit to intensely. I ran. "Oh, I'm lucky those lasers were just string, or half my body would be gone!" I ran a bit more. "Uh oh, my head touched it. That would have been rough!" 

Finally we finished and I thought of all the pain I could have had if those were real lasers!