Swim for Life

The Year 3's are having a series of 10 swimming lessons in a special program 

called 'Swim for Life'.

They are all trying new things in the pool and we talked about how some activities take a lot of courage if you haven't done it before.

Watch out later in the week for some student writing about  courageous moments! 

Tell us about your courageous moment!

Our World, Our Numbers -Topic 2: Landmarks

Our global project 'Our World, Our Numbers' got off to a great start last week with lots of conversations about currency.

The latest topic is landmarks and monuments,

 along with their statistics.

In B4 we made a list of New Zealand landmarks 
that we knew of. 

Jordan suggested the Sky Tower in Auckland (our tallest tower at 328 metres / 1,076 feet).

Jia Xuan suggested Mt Cook (our tallest mountain at 3,754 metres / 12,316 feet).

In our region we have the Pancake Rocks at Punakaiki.

By Christian Michel [CC-BY-2.0], By Christian Michel [CC-BY-2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

These rocks began forming 30,000,000 years ago!

Can you see how the Pancake Rocks got their name?
Have you ever visited the Pancake Rocks?
What other New Zealand landmarks would you add 
to the list?

Problem Solver, Thinker .... or Vandal?

In art this term we are looking at birds.

We've already looked closely at the pukeko and now we're looking at keas.

Our class mascot Quicksilver is VERY happy about that. 

He's been busy preening his feathers to make 

himself look beautiful. 

Can you see a little flash of orange under his wing?

Quicksilver would like to show you this video about keas.

The video shows how clever keas are. 

(Quicksilver is a little embarrassed about the destruction his family can cause, but he is proud that keas are such great problem solvers and thinkers!)

Did you think the keas were clever?

How do you go about solving problems?

Money, Money, Money!

This week in the Our World, Our Numbers project the classes are talking about currencies, led by 4KM&4KJ. 

Here are the notes and coins we have in New Zealand:

The $100 note features New Zealander Sir Ernest Rutherford who first split the atom; and the mohua bird.

The $50 features a famous Maori leader Sir Apirana Ngata; and the kokako bird.

On the $20 is Queen Elizabeth II; and the karearea bird.

The $10 has a well-known New Zealand writer Katherine Mansfield; and the   whio bird.

Our last note is the $5 which features Sir Edmund Hillary who was first to reach the summit of Mount Everest; and the hoiho (little blue penguin).

Our coins all feature Queen Elizabeth II plus:

$2 has a kotuku (white heron)

$1 has a kiwi bird

50c has ‘The Endeavour’ -the ship sailed by Captain James Cook

20c has a carving of a Maori chief  -Pukaki

10c has a Maori koruru (carved head).

Play some games to learn about New Zealand money.

Do you collect currency from other countries?

What countries do you have currency from?

Our World, Our Numbers: A new Global Project

In B4, we love to connect and learn with our friends around the world.

Today we are launching a new global project 

called Our World, Our Numbers.

We have a blog http://ourworldournumbers.edublogs.org where we'll meet up with our blogging buddies to learn together for the next five weeks.

In late 2011, many of us worked on an award winning global project called Our World, Our Stories. 
This latest project is based on a similar format with a mathematical focus.

Classes involved

The students are all from primary (elementary) classes and are from three different continents and five countries.

Mr Avery's sixth grade class from Massachusetts, USA

Mrs Monaghan's 3/4 class, Room with a View, from England

Mrs Morris and Miss Jordan's grade four class, 4KM and 4KJ, from Victoria, Australia

Mrs McKenzie's 2/3 class, B4, from New Zealand

Mrs Yollis' 2/3 class from California, USA

Mr Salsich's third grade class from Connecticut, USA

Mrs Watson's K/1/2/3 class from Canada

View Our World, Our Numbers in a larger map

How will it work?

Students from all classes will connect and collaborate by sharing their mathematical lives. 
This will happen through the blog and involve a variety of media.

A different class will lead a mathematical topic every four days or so, publishing posts and replying to comments. The other classes will read the posts, possibly publish their own posts, and leave blog comments.

We will share topics such as currency, seasons, time zones, population data etc.

The learning

Through blog posts, the students will teach each other about different aspects of mathematics based on aspects of their own culture.

The learning will continue in the commenting section where students, teachers and parents will engage in conversations to explore mathematical and cultural topics further.

Students will gain an understanding of mathematics through the eyes of children in different countries and cultures. They will make comparisons and contrasts between their lives and other students' lives.

If you want to keep up to date with how the fun and learning unfolds, there is a "subscribe via email" box on the right hand side of the Our World, Our Numbers blog.

Get Involved

We encourage all members of the B4 community to get involved!

B4 will lead the 6th post about seasons and temperatures.

Head over to the Our World, Our Numbers blog now to check out the first post by 4KM and 4KJ about currency, and leave a comment.

What do you think about our new global project?

Friendly Attributes

We've been talking with Mrs Wistrand about what makes a good friend.

After brainstorming lots of words describing the attributes of a good friend, our classmates chose some words that 

suited each of us.

We glued our words onto the self-potraits we made.


Why do you like your friends? 
What makes them a good friend?
Can you describe your friend without saying their name?

CRASH!

Emily's dad has been training on his bicycle because he and a friend are going to be riding their bikes in Tibet soon.

He has been building his stamina for bike-riding, just as we build our Daily 5 stamina for reading!

But last week he came off his bike while training.

Look what happened!

Just as well he was wearing a helmet or his head would have got smashed!

Do you have a sport that you build stamina for?

What else do you build stamina for?

Have you ever had a big crash off your bike?