Everyday Leadership

As we head into the last few weeks of the year the topic of leadership is coming up a lot in out class.

Room 15 has been lucky to have some fantastic leaders this year from our Year 8s. Some of the students have had formal roles like student councillor or sports committee but there have also been a lot of students who have stepped in the class making sure that our class runs smoothly.

 Year 7s you have big shoes to fill next year.



I had a lollypop moment regularly on the train. The train conductors in the morning are always so happy and crack a few jokes. It always makes me smile even on a cold, rainy day.

Have you had a lollypop moment? Did you the tell the person that the effect of their kindness or goofiness had on you?

How can you give people the lollypop moment that Drew talks about in the movie?

Words of Wisdom for Year 6s

My room
In my house
Somewhere in Wellington
New Zealand

Room 15
Tawa Intermediate School
Tawa
Wellington

25/11/2012

Dear Room 15 Students

In case you haven't guessed already this week we are practicing the art of formal letter writing. Although most business is conducted via email these days it is still important to know how to write a formal letter for job applications or perhaps in support of an application.

Your task for the week is to write a letter imparting your words of wisdom for the Year 6s coming to Tawa Intermediate School.

Because we haven't posted on our blogs in a couple of weeks I think it is important to go over good posting. Your letter should make a positive connection with the reader (and a reminder anyone can read your work). Don't give out too much information (notice how I used my room, in my house, somewhere in Wellington and sign off using only my first name).  You also need to show that you have used all the key elements of a formal letter.

Formal letters have key elements that must appear in order.

• Your address.
• The recipient’s address (who you’re sending the letter to).
• The date
• The salutation (Dear so and so)
• The opening paragraph (why you are writing)
• A couple of main points
• A closing paragraph
• The closing greeting (your sincerely if you know the person, yours faithfully if you do not)
• Your signature/name.

So a reminder you are writing a letter to the incoming year 6s about your words of wisdom on how to make the most of intermediate school. I hope you enjoy this weeks task and I look forward to reading your letters.

Yours sincerely

Stephanie

Buy nothing day?

I heard on the radio that Saturday was International Buy Nothing Day. I didn't do so well as I needed to buy ingredients for my sister's wedding cake. I bought a lot of stuff but then I baked the cake with my sister so that was fun as we don't see that much of each other.

Did you or your family go shopping on Saturday?

Did you stop to think about what you might be doing if the shops weren't open?

When I was your age, the shops were closed every Sunday and didn't stay open late at night. Since 1990 shops were allowed to open 24 hours a day except on Christmas day, Easter Friday and Sunday, as well as half of ANZAC. Day

Who do you think benefited from the shops being shut once a week?

Who might not be so happy with the shops being shut once a week?

What would happen if the government announced that shops were forced to shut once a week?

Death by powerpoint

Have you seen some terrible PowerPoint presentations?

Have you created some terrible ones too?

What are the main messages in this video?

How can you improve your communication skills?

Our Milk bottle igloo opening

After many, many weeks our milk bottle igloo is finally complete. So room 15 decided it was time to celebrate with a shared lunch. First, Britt and Nikita gave a speech to welcome everybody.

 

Then we asked Mr Buncks, the technology teacher, to cut the ribbons.

 

 Then it was time to feast.
 

The students did a stellar job of organizing the ceremony. They planned and executed the lunch except for the Rainbow Cake.




Now we have something fun and fuctional in our class made out of recycled objects.

From Trash to Fab - Middle Earth style

One of our home learning tasks for this term was called from Trash to Fab. The brief was to take an item that would otherwise be thrown away and make it into something awesome. Here our resident Tolkien  fan Sammiiee has taken an old piece of carpet and some egg cartons and turned it into a map of West Middle Earth.  Awesome work Sammiiee!

Power of intorverts

Mrs Moran found an interesting speech (and book) about the power of introverts. Introverts are people who tend to quiet and enjoy doing activities by themselves rather than in big groups.

In contrast, extroverts tend to enjoy social activities and are a bit louder.

We can all sometimes be introverts and extroverts.

Susan Cain, the speaker, thinks that schools aren't very welcoming to introverts.

Are you more of an introvert or an extrovert?

How do you think schools could be a more welcoming place to introverts?

Celebrating the Solar Eclipse

We were lucky in Room 15 to have a cracker of a day for the total eclipse. Although Wellington is a bit far South to enjoy the full effect, we had some fun using old and new technology to help us enjoy the event. 

Nate is enjoying the skyview view app on the ipad.

 
 Skyview is an augmented reality app which overlays graphics onto the scene in front of us.

 After morning tea, we ventured up to Tawa college for some more viewing.  Tawa college had some filters to view the eclipse.

Tawa College also had some proper telescopes for the students to look at the eclipse.

This is the most complete eclipse New Zealand will see until July 22, 2028. Hard to believe that the students will be almost into their 30s by then!

How we start our day in Room 15

Our day in Room 15 usually starts with 'stuff to do.' Sometimes there might be chores or projects to work on. We take a break for roll and notices and then head off to work.

How do you start your morning in your school?

Algebra problem posing

This morning room 15 had a go at problem posing.  The class broke into groups and then had to clear  five levels maths problems to be declared the winner.

There was a twist. In order to clear the level, the group had to ask the right questions to unlock some key information for the problem.

• What were some things you found easy?
• What are some things you found difficult?
• What would you do differently next time?
• How did you work as a team? How could you improve your team work?
• What did you enjoy about the activity?
• Do you think we should try problem posing again?