Room 13 Honours Badge students 2015

Back row:  Sophie, Cassia, Lily P-B, Eva;
Front row:  Rebecca, Mankaran, Lily W.

These six students have met the school's expectations across all areas- cultural, sport, service, academic and technology.  Their Honours badges were well-deserved and reflect on them as engaged students who look for challenges. Sophie and Mankaran represented HNI at the regional Science Fair, with Sophie winning an award for her project on the most effective dilution of 'Worm Wee' as a fertiliser.  Rebecca won the national under 16 category for writing in the Rangitawa Publishing short story competition.

Forensic's and the police

Te Kanawa House had a special treat this week with Detective Constable Kate Hyde and Senior Constable Gavin Cross visiting as part of our Inquiry- 'Exploring the Unexplained'.  They were here to talk about the role of forensic science in their jobs and how new technologies are making crime-solving more accurate and faster.  Constable Kate took us through a burglary scenario with Constable Gavin going into the crime scene investigation itself, and the role DNA, fingerprinting and footprint lifters would have in determining a likely suspect.  The role of neighbours was covered, as in this scenario a neighbour had seen a local person acting suspiciously at the time of the burglary.

TK looking at evidence of a crime

Linda dressed in a containment suit

One thing many students found fascinating was the shape of their own fingerprints- arches, loops or whorls.  Overall, a fascinating insight into the various roles forensics plays in crime solving.

HNI Inter-House athletics day

The day got off to a cool start although we weren't shrouded in fog like last year.
However, as the day wore on the sun came out and we ended up with warm, pleasant weather.  The Houses assembled and moved through their rotations of 100m, 200m, shotput, discus, high jump, vortex throw, long jump and the much-needed rest area.
The day ended with the much-anticipated 32x100m relay race.  Houses were organised into teams of 16 girls and 16 boys, running along the 100m track and exchanging the baton.  The lead changed several times as fast runners overtook slower ones or, as happened all to frequently, a baton was dropped.  The cries from the teams made clear the anguish they felt as valuable seconds were lost.  Fortunately, T.K. showed it's true mettle and ran out worthy winners.
Now we just have to wait for the final individual and House results as assembly.
A school team has been chosen to compete at the SuperSix event at the Hastings Sports Park on 25thNovember.

Art: tile carving and screen-printing

We have been trying out tile carving in class.  First, we draw a design we like on paper (if it has words we need to write these backwards) and then use this to make an impression on the tile.

The lines are drawn in using a Vivid and this gives us a clear line to follow (and avoid with the carving chisel). We want to leave the line raised above the rest of the tile, by carving out everything else, so when we print the lines will make an impression on the paper.

Next, we place the tile on a carving board so we can safely carve the design as shown here by Jake and Hayden.

.Here are some photos of printed work.  We discovered more material had to be removed from the tile to ensure a 'clean' backround without paint streaks.

Planetarium visit- Napier's Holt Planetarium

Yeasterday Rooms 13 and 17 visited the Holt Planetarium as part of this term's 'Explaining the Unknown' Inquiry topic.  Mr Gary Sparks led a discussion on the night sky, explaining the history of constellations; using stars for navigation; and the history and future of the universe.  He said Antares, a red super-giant star in the constellation of Scorpio, was big enough to enclose Earth if it was in the same place as the sun!   Lucky it's not.  Also, if we travelled as fast as the fastest man-made object, something which can orbit the Earth in an hour, it would still take 75,000 years to reach Alpha Centauri, the closest star to Earth other than our own sun.  Light from Alpha Centauri takes four years to reach us, travelling at a fraction under 300,000km/second.  So humans have a long way to catch up to that!

Eva, Sahmara, Rebecca: in-class Media Studies video

My 'Lost Thing' story- Cassia

For writing Room 13 watched “The Lost Thing” movie (based on the picture book by Shaun Tan). Mr Birnie gave us a task to make up our own Lost Thing story. This is my story.... 

The lost thing

Let’s just face it, i’m lost. Nobody wants me. I just get ignored like i'm nothing. Humans just walk past me as if i'm invisible. I feel like I don’t belong here in this city.

I start to cry. A little girl picks me up. She pats my head and says, “it’s okay you will be alright”. I ask her what her name is but I don’t think she understands my language. We are playing ball now, it’s really fun. We spend hours playing but then it starts to get dark and she leaves me.

I felt so lonely once she left. A garbage truck drove by and a piece of paper glided out and stuck to my face. I peel it off and start to read it. It says ‘walk to the left’ and has an arrow that points that way. I decide to walk to the left because I have nothing better to do. I walk through the night.

In the morning I come up to a huge building. and the arrow points to a door. I knock politely because I don’t know what’s going to happen. A little colourful mechanical mouse peeps his head out. He goes back in. I start to walk away, but then I hear loud clicks. I look behind myself.

The door opens and all I see are lost things just like me. I walk in. All the lost things are playing and having fun. All of a sudden I feel like I belong.

Tijuana's observational writing.

We have been dissecting lamb hearts as part of our 'Healthy Bodies, Strong Minds' Inquiry unit. Then we had to write our observations as we cut into the heart and explored the interior.

Tijuana:

General description:

Size- 13.5 cm / Clenched Fist

Shape- Big Slug

Colour- Maroon with white patches

Texture- Surface is slimy and smooth

Some parts look rough

Smell- Meat

The heart is just the size of a clenched fist, but I also measured it and it was 13.5 centimeters. Inside is basically just red and white patches, the red parts are just muscles and the white patches are fat. If you go close to it, it only smells like meat.

As you are cutting open the heart you are cutting a thick muscular wall of the heart. When you touch the inside of the lambs heart the major blood vessels are strong but smooth and have a creamy colour.  

If you cut open the lamb heart inside are ligaments inside the ventricles that look like spider webs.  They look really thin but they are really strong and hard to break, and it helps contract the muscles during heart beat.Their colour is white.

Observational writing- Rebecca (a little bit melodramatic, maybe?)

Observational Writing

The Heart

Become keen observers of your world!  You should learn to see things not in isolation, but in relation to other things. How do things affect each other? How are they connected? This piece of writing requires you to use your senses – seeing, touching, smelling, to write an accurate description of a prescribed object (that means it is chosen for you).

Assessment Criteria:  

You are to write an accurate description of an object based on careful observation.

Success criteria:

• you note the colour, texture, and shape of the object
• you use adjectives to describe these features in greater detail
• you have a clear order in your finished writing- an introduction, the more detailed information, and a conclusion

General description:

Size- The size of a grown mans clenched hand

Shape-  There is no particular shape of the object. It is blob like. It is like a oval gone wrong. A lumpy egg
Colour-  It is a very pale pink with splashes of light brown and patches of dark red blood sitting on the edges.
Texture- It is slimey. It looks almost rubber like. Shiny, it looks almost wet. It looks rotten.
Smell- It smells like old gone off ham

Detailed description:

What’s it like inside?-  gooey, slimy, soft, smooth, hard, tough, fat was like bone, bloody,

The oval gone wrong shaped heart lay as dead as a statue on the blue table. It would be the size of a fully grown clenched fist. At first look you would think it was wet. But it isn’t. A slimy substance wrapped around it like an outer shell. It’s blood vessels poked out of it. The hard lumps of fat blanketed the object. It’s pale pink skin had splashes of rotten brown and dots of blood covering it almost completely.

Blood drops sat on the outer edges of the heart but as you opened it up it was like a dried river of blood was sitting inside. Tree branch-like muscles hid beneath the fat and blood. If you stuck your finger through the aorta you would be able to find the end of it if you kept trying and cutting through. Blood splashes covered your fingers as you keep on cutting deeper.

If you get close enough the smell of rotten meat will fill your nose, staying in there until you move back.

Observational Writing- week 10's writing task (this is Eva's)

Observational Writing

Become keen observers of your world!  You should learn to see things not in isolation, but in relation to other things. How do things affect each other? How are they connected? This piece of writing requires you to use your senses – seeing, touching, smelling, to write an accurate description of a prescribed object (that means it is chosen for you).

Assessment Criteria:  

You are to write an accurate description of an object based on careful observation.

Success criteria:

• you note the colour, texture, and shape of the object
• you use adjectives to describe these features in greater detail
• you have a clear order in your finished writing- an introduction, the more detailed information, and a conclusion

This is Eva's planning and writing (she is very descriptive)

General description:

Size- You could say it is the size of a grown man's clenched hand.

shape- There is no particular shape to this object it is more like a blob. There is a mixture of a rectangle, circle and oval. gone wrong, egg shaped

colour- It has a very pale pink lines separating  Dark red, and a grey almost white brown. There is a big blob of the pale pink with a reder pink down the bottom. shiny,

texture- Slimey, gooey, blobbery. shiny , looks almost wet. creases where blood vessels were.
smell- I can’t smell it

Detailed description:

What’s it like inside?- Gooey, slimy, smooth, hard, tough, fat was like bone, bloody.

Three paragraphs:

Sitting in front of me is a blob of gooey meat. You really can’t tell what the exact shape of it is but it is kind of like a rectangle, circle and an oval mixed together and  gone wrong. In another way you could say it looked like a red, pink, grey and brown large smooshy egg.

Like the shape of it, you can’t really tell how big it is but if you want to describe it in some way you could say that it is the size of a grown adults clenched hand. It is about that size in length, width and depth. It isn’t something particularly nice to say have in your room and if you are squeamish you won’t want to look at it. The outside is like what I just described but the inside is a whole new story.

When you cut it open it is blood and more blood everywhere. It is gooey, slimy, smooth and tough all at the same time. The fat is like bone. Tree branch like muscles fill in the inside.

Statistics

Our Statistics programme is covering Mean, Median and Mode averages.  As these terms can be confusing, one way to lern the differences is through Rap!  Here's one from the internet,

Sophie Jackson- Room 13's winner at the HB Regional Science Fair

Last term, students had an opportunity to plan a scientific investigation as part of a Science Fair project.  This term, Room 13 had three entries, from Mankaran Kooner, Eva Collier, Sophie Jackson progress through to the HB Regional Science Fair at EIT.  A morning was spent being interviewed, presenting their investigations and demonstrating their scientific thinking in front of scientists from many different fields. 
Sophie's project, 'Worm Wee-  How Much is too Much of a Good Thing?' advanced to the final judging stage, winning the NZ Society of Soil Science Prize and receiving a Highly Commended in the Year 8 category.  Sophie's prize was a book on NZ soils and $150.  Sterling effort, Sophie.

Mathletics class competition- Year 8's

A short video of today's Year 8 Mathletics competition in the Hall.  The questions came fast and furiously as the many teams of three from each class battled to find solutions- here are some tasters:

1)  Emma is a teenager.  Her age is divisible by 3.  This time next year her age will be divisible by 4. How old is Emma now?

2)  Mr Lenz has 5 children.  Last week he took photos of them, with 3 in each photo.  If he took one photo of each possible choice of 3 children, how many photos did he take?

3)  Cinema tickets for one adult and one child cost a total of $18.  An adult's ticket is one-and a half times the price of a child's ticket.  How much does each ticket cost?


(Answers-  1-  15years old;      2-  10;      3-  child $7.20,  adult $10.80)

Social Dance practice

Here's T.K. at their first social dance practice for 2015, taken by Mr Fullwood.  Great to have everyone joining in and showing off their signature moves and styles!

'Faceplant' rockband, featuring Lochlin (vocalist and lead guitar) and Max (on bass) from Room 13

Unfortunately this clip is cut short due to storage limitations on the ipad.  However, it's a great taster of a truly talented group of musicians, two of whom, Lochlin and Max, are Room 13 students.  At the recent Bandquest 'Faceplant' were second overall, with Ben (on rhythm guitar) winning Rock Star Styles, and Lochlin being awarded the Killer Guitarist and the Musicianship awards.  This group has worked really hard over the last term and a half and are all (except for Ben) in Te Kanawa House.

Inter-House Cross-country

On a cold, overcast day the students of HNI took on the annual cross-country, and it was very pleasing to see the students competing so enthusiastically in this challenge.  Obviously some pride was at stake and this was most noticeable when the year 8 boys set off.  Quick surges to the front were soon gobbled up be the more accomplished runners.  After 9m14s the first boy crossed the line- full credit to Will from Nepia House, but close behind was Room 13's own Max, bettering his pre-race expectations to run in second.  Edward was 5th- another great run. So, two Room 13 boys in the first five places- outstanding!
The girls race followed shortly after and again it was great to see such enthusiasm.  The field ended up being quite spread out, especially among the quicker girls, and Rebecca was the first Room 13 girl back in 12th place and Chloe B and Eva coming in the top 20.
A super afternoon and appropriate finale to the hours spent running and recording our efforts.

The stampede starts- pride is on the line!

Max storming home in 2nd

Time to take it easy.

Go girls- Hannah beat the gun!

Chloe B and Eva doing TK proud

Sophie running right to the rope.

70th anniversary of Hiroshima and Nagasaki- informative writing

In class we have watched, read and reviewed items about the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. An outcome has been to write news reports on these events as if we were there shortly after. Here are Courtney's and Lily P-B's:

BOMB DROPPED ON HIROSHIMA- KILLS THOUSANDS

Yesterday the 6th of August a new type of bomb was dropped from an american B-29 bomber, the ‘Enola Gay’ over the Japanese city of Hiroshima, leaving tens of thousands dead and almost everyone one else injured.

The President of the United States Harry S. Truman confirmed that there was only one bomb dropped on Hiroshima, also stating that it was an atomic bomb costing more than two billion dollars. Truman made it very clear that they were willing to destroy every productive enterprise the Japanese have in any city.

A survivor of the bomb mentioned as soon as the bomb was dropped the city was engulfed in flame. The fire burned almost everything to the ground, leaving the city covered in rubble and smelling terribly of burned skin and rotting bodies. A black rain fell later that day and shadows that have been left burnt into concrete. (Courtney)

Bombing Of Hiroshima Kills Thousands

On the 6 of August 1945 an atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. This was dropped from an American Plane named Enola Gay, piloted by colonel Paul Tibbets. The Americans dropped the bomb because they wanted the Japanese to surrender.

The new type of bomb had more power than 20,000 tons of TNT. It completely wiped out Hiroshima, killing 70,000 people instantly, and left peoples shadows burnt on staircases and walls. After that, fires spread quickly which killed many more and leaving a terrible smell of burning fires and bodies.

The survivors were badly injured and burnt. Most of these survivors ended up with radiation sickness 10-20 days after it had happened. Not long after Hiroshima had been wiped out black rain started to appear,

Three days after the bomb hit Hiroshima the U.S decided to drop another one on Nagasaki, making the Japanese surrender which meant an end to World War II.
Lily P-B

The Mountain biking elective term 2- waiting for the downhill run off Te Mata Peak

Inquiry term 2- 'Movers and Shakers'

Last term’s inquiry topic was 'Movers and Shakers', the inventions and discoveries which have had a significant impact on society and possibly transformed civilisation. The group of Chloe B, Rebecca, Eva, Lily W, Sophie and Cassia decided the abacus had revolutionised our ability to count or subtract increasingly complex amounts and, therefore, simplified the mathematical process for greater numbers in society. It was our first calculator, able to be used by anyone.  

In the group's own words, "We decided to create a giant abacus because the abacus was one of the first forms of calculators ever invented. To make this we used ten thin wooden poles, four blocks of wood and one hundred foam balls. Once we had the resources we had to paint the foam balls in four different colours. We chose red, black, green and yellow. We then had to make the frame for the abacus by drilling ten holes in one of the wooden blocks for the side of the frame. After that we then put the thin wooden poles which have the the foam balls on them into the holes. Then we finished putting the rest of the frame together by nailing the rest of the wooden blocks  around it. Along with our invention we had to make a video. This is our video that we made for our giant abacus."

Year 8 visit to Matahiwi Marae for Kotahitanga Week

The first image is of the karanga as we, the manuhire, entered the marae. After the powhiri, with Clive School as tangata whenua, we split into three groups, first going into the wharekai with Whaea Edwards.  Whaea talked about the meaning of the mural painted across three of the walls and how it represents the recent history of the marae and the surrounding local area. Tukutuku panels tell of the importance of flounder, tuna (eel), and horticultural crops to the local community.

The wharenui or whare tupuna was built in 1980 after fire destroyed the previous meeting house.   Carved figures or poupou (the 'ribs' of the building) are of Kahungunu, his ancestors and his relatives. Matua Uhani told us of the life of Kahungunu and how he travelled from Kaitaia, his birthplace, around the East Cape before settling in Heretaunga. Interior ceiling panels represent the three local rivers- the Tukituki, Tutaekuri and Ngaruroro. A sperm whale's jaws stand in front of Maui's net.

A tekoteko (carved figure) of Maui is on and adorns the roof of the wharenui. This shows how important Maui is held in maori culture and tradition. 

Finally, the marae's kaumatua, Matua Mulligan, spoke of the atea, the area in front of the wharenui. The atea is where only men can talk.  This helps protect women as the atea is the area on a marae where fierce debate and argument may occur. At Matahiwi there are carvings of Maui's five brothers and a carving of a woman. This figure represents  the sacredness of women on the marae and their role in welcoming all visitors with the karanga. 

We finished our visit with a karakia. It was a very informative and interesting day.

This is part of our recount writing planning following the visit.

Short clip of the class planting for Treemendous

Digging in for Treemendous- 5th June 2015 (World Environment Day and Arbor Day)

Innovative Pizza Competition- Eva and Rebecca

 Late last term Eva and Rebecca, along with other HNI students, were offered an opportunity to enter an Innovative pizza competition. They practiced over the school holidays then had a cook off to see who  would go into the competition as only 10 from HNI could enter.  Eva and Rebecca were both chosen.  
The competition was held at the E.I.T on Sunday the 25th of May.  They had 45 minutes to cook the pizza's before judging began.  Nine HNI students won medals, with Eva gaining a Gold (yay, go Eva!!) and Rebecca being judged the overall winner (awesome!!), receiving a $50 voucher from Pipi's.  Her pizza recipe was roast vegetables and roast lamb with feta and basil.  I can vouch for how yummy these pizzas were!!

Mobius Strips- How many sides does a strip of paper have?

Mobius strips are made by taking a length of paper, putting a twist in it, then joining the ends.  After looking at these strips, and having to answer some questions, the class began to question everything they thought we knew about a strip of paper. You see, Mobius strips have only one side!  If you follow the curve of the strip with your finger you end up on the other side of the strip from where you started from, which, mathematically, means you are still on the same plane (side).

They get even more interesting if you attempt to cut them in half (along the red line in the photo).  You would expect to end up with two separate, distinct loops but no!  Instead, you get one stip with two twists in it!  Try and follow a side with your eyes back to the start.

However, if you cut the strip close to one side and follow this around the Mobius strip, an even more curious thing happens- you end up with two strips linked together, one loop inside the other.

Repeat the process and, did you guess? Three loops, two as above and the third looped through the first two.  We stopped there but the process can continue for quite some time.

There's an algorithm which explains all of this mathematically.  I'm leaving that to the experts.

The Invention of Hugo Cabret

I have started reading this fascinating novel about Hugo Cabret, an orphaned boy who lives in the Paris Railway Station, to the class.  Admittedly, the class was a bit taken aback when I told them Part 2 of the story started at page 257 (how long would it take to read the novel?) but at the end of day one we had reached page 80 because of how the book is constructed- lots of illustrations and some pages have very few words.




Each morning we build on our knowledge of the story, the characters and the plot by expanding our concept web.  This is to help students understand how they can improve their own writing by determining all the myriad details, and the connections between the details, at the beginning of the writing process.  Over the next few weeks watch the web grow as I add new connections.

Some illustrations from the book: