Friday, May 31, 2013

Our World, Our Numbers - the finale!

This is a cross-post from Our World, Our Numbers

(Thanks to Kathleen Morris of 4KM and 4KJ)


Since 25th February, the seven classes participating in Our World, Our Numbers have enjoyed:
  • learning about different areas of mathematics from their friends in other countries
  • making comparisons and contrasts between their lives and the lives of their blogging buddies
  • sharing mathematical knowledge and skills
  • using a range of tools to create posts
  • engaging in rich conversations through commenting
It is now time to finish up the Our World, Our Numbers project. To conclude this wonderful learning experience, all of the classes have been working collaboratively on a collection of mathematical poems.
Watch the Sliderocket below to see the classes perform:
  • The Skip Counting Song (B4, New Zealand)
  • Aussie Doubling Ditty (4KM and 4KJ, Australia)
  • What is a Million? (Room with a View, England)
  • Triangle Trouble (Mr Avery's Class, Massachusetts, USA)
  • Smart (Mrs Yollis' Class, California, USA)
  • Shapes, Shapes, Shapes (Mrs Watson's Class, Canada)

Why don't you head over to the 

Our World, Our Numbers blog 

and leave a final comment?

Friday, May 24, 2013

What If ..... ?

What if this article was in your newspaper?
What would you think?
Could it be true?
How might it affect our world?

Newspaper article made here.

B4 children are thinking about questions like these!
They had some wonderings, such as 
'How long had the eggs been there?
Will the eggs hatch into meat-eaters or plant-eaters?
Will they eat us?

What questions would you ask if you read this article in your newspaper?


Sunday, May 19, 2013

Cross-country 2013

We had our school cross-country during the week. 
Primary students ran courses around the school 
while secondary students ran a longer course around town.
 B4 student, Hamish, took these photos of the 
Year 1-6 students for us.

Make a video
of your own at Animoto.

We made some maps of the cross-country course.
by Zaria

by JiaXuan

by Billy

by Lachy

by Aubrey

Do you like cross-country running?
Where is your favourite place to run?

Monday, May 13, 2013

Our World, Our Numbers: Topic 7 Seasons and Temperature


We've reached the seventh and final topic 
It's been a lot of fun sharing our mathematical lives with the other classes.

This week we’re talking seasons and temperatures.

In our inland town on the west coast of the South Island of New Zealand we get quite distinctive seasonal changes.

 Summers are usually hot and dry; spring is often wet; and winter brings frost, fog and sometimes (if the children are really lucky) some snow.

Right now in the southern hemisphere it is autumn. 
The weather is getting cooler and the colours of the trees are changing.
One of the oak trees at our school.

This year many areas of New Zealand suffered drought over the summer and for the first time ever drought was declared on the South Island’s west coast!
Here is some temperature and rainfall information for our town over the past few months:
Can you see which months we were in drought?

We searched out some information about 

Can you share some weather data about the place where you live?

All of the classes are keeping track of this week’s midday temperatures on this   Voicethread.

Are there seasonal changes where you live? 

Which season is your favourite? Why?

Why don't you head on over to Our World, Our Numbers to check out the other posts and the comments.



Wednesday, May 8, 2013

A Visit to the Weather Station

Have you ever wondered where the official temperature reading for the weather report comes from each day?
It comes from a weather station.
The weather station for our town is right across the road from the school, so we went for a visit.

Zaria, Jia Xuan and Emily have written the rest of this post 
about the visit.


There are lots of measuring instruments at 
the weather station.

This one  tells you how hard the wind is blowing.





The solar panel charges the battery so the 
weather station runs.



This is the grass thermometer that tells you how hot or cold the ground is.


This one is the thermometer that tells how hot or cold 
the weather is. 
Today at 9.30am it was11˚C.






This is the rain gauge that tells you how much rain has been falling.


Do you like hot weather or cold weather?
Have you been to a weather station?
Do you want to work at a weather station?


Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Using Action Words to Bring Our Writing to Life

We're learning that strong action words can bring 
our writing to life. 
Action words are verbs. 
They tell what someone or something is doing.
We've written about our favourite seasons and tried to think about our action words.


How do you think we did?
Which words did you enjoy the most?