Tamaki College Year 8 Open Day

Today was an exciting day for Room 10's Year 8 students.
They enjoyed a full day at Tamaki College, partaking in 5 classes throughout the day. 

We were split up into 10 tutor classes with Year 8 students from other schools and followed the college timetable to different subjects. Some of our favourite subjects included Social Studies, Food Technology, Science and Mathematics. 

The teachers at Tamaki College enjoyed having Glenbrae School and said that we all participated really well. So well in fact that Anamanu and Jezebel were awarded some funky new netbook cases. Eseki also won some chocolates for answering some questions. 

Congratulations Year 8 students. I'm sure you are all excited to do well in Year 8 in preparation for Year 9 at College next year! 

Well done on having such a positive and rewarding day! 

Anamanu and Jezebel showing off their prizes!

Basketball

This morning we had a change from our normal morning programme and went out onto the basketball court for some lessons from Auckland Basketball Coach Steph. She also coaches the U18 NZ girls development team so we were very lucky to have her sharing her skills with us. 

Here we are frozen in a jump stop.

This week we played some games that had us moving across the court and practicing stopping quickly in 'freeze' mode. We also had to practice jump stops in the same game.

After this we worked on our dribbling skills, practicing with both hands and high and low dribbling. We learned that if you take more than two steps with the ball this is called 'travelling' and is not allowed.

  

Coach Steph also showed us a cool trick called 'going fishing'. We are all really looking forward to what we will learn next Tuesday.  

WALT: Write an explanation to give directions.

Success Criteria: To explain how to get to school, so the reader can follow the directions.

Topic: How to get to school from my house every morning

Everyday I walk to school. I walk with my brothers and sisters to school. It takes us at least 10 minutes to walk to school. These are the directions from my house to school. You go out the driveway of my house, turn left and walk past the alley way. You keep walking until you get to the corner of the street. Then you have to turn left again until you get to the crossing, then you cross the road. Next, you go through the reserve. You know you’re there when you can see the park. After that, turn right when you're on Leybourne circle. Turn right again and walk straight up until you get to the next crossing. Finally  you cross the road and you’re at Glenbrae school.

By Alex

What Fun on Water Fun Day!

The water fun day was on Friday the 7th of February. It went on from 9am to 11am. We got into our four house groups, Rata (red), Kauri (green), kowhai (yellow) & Nikau (blue). Students represented their houses by wearing the same coloured clothes.

On this cloudy and beautiful day, we participated in water related activities. The first activity room 10 was involved in was the obstacle course. Each house had to line up in separate lines. The aim of the game was to get a cup full of water and crawl under a set of chairs. It was hard because water was dripping out of the cup.

The next activity we did was the water slide activity. We filled up milk cartons and slid down the soapy. slippery slide. Two people went on the water slide at a time. The next activity we did was Zig Zag. We had to fill up a milk carton and run down the slope in a zig zag motion.

After that we had the sponge activity. We had to soak the sponge in a bucket full of water we had to run to the main house buckets quickly because the water was dripping out of the sponge.The next activity we did involved passing a sponge under our legs. Soon after, we had the three hands race. We got into pairs, looped our arms and ran with cups of water to the house bucket to tip the water in. This was difficult as the two of us had to work as a team for this activity.

The final activity we did was walk the plank. We had to fill up a milk carton and walk over the wet and slippery plank. We then raced to the house bins to tip the water in. 

By the end of the water fun day everybody was soaking wet. Rata and Kauri houses won fair and square. Kowhai and Nikau weren’t far behind. A truly ‘Water Fun Day!

By Alex

An Explanation - Socially Responsible People

My explanation of what it takes to be a socially responsible person in our community.

It takes a lot more than one thing to become a socially responsible person. One needs to have the confidence, leadership, kindness, friendliness, and the support of others to be the most socially responsible person EVER!

To be a socially responsible person, it is important to work with others. Everyone is a member of the big family - the community. Fai tatou mea fa’atasi. O tatou o le fanau o le Atua. In our community, we’re a family and always a family. In our community, we don’t only say hi and give each other kisses on the cheek. We also help each other, support each other and love one another. All of this sort of stuff is what is needed to be a socially responsible person. We need to start putting it together. No more fights, swearing, bullying. For goodness sake, we’re children of God! We were sent here to follow Him, do the right things and be socially responsible.

If you want to be a socially responsible person, you need to have the respect, honesty, self direction, responsibility and most importantly, self management skills. Disagreements or fights are not answers to problems we face. Socially responsible persons treat others the way they want to be treated.

Just manage yourself. Do the right thing. Be a role model, be a socially responsible person. Influence others to do the same.

By Hannah

Friday Flash - Week three in Glenbrae's Room 10

It's been an absolute heatwave this week, with our temperature chart reaching highs of 27 and overnight lows ranging from 14 to 20 degrees. Thank goodness for our midday swims to help us keep cool!

We have been learning a lot about responsibilities and being good role model this week. We had two peer mediator sessions, learning about how help our classmates and younger school members to resolve tensions and play fairly.

Original Picture (left)
Our puzzle enlargement (right)

We also did some amazing explanation writing on How to be a Socially Responsible Person. Please check our individual blogs to read what we learnt about and shared. 


We started some pencil sketching this week. Our focus was enlarging an image, and using shading. We were each given a small piece of a puzzle. We had to enlarge this onto a bigger piece of green paper. So far it is looking good, we will finish these pieces off next week. 







This week our wonder hoop winners were Baden, Nganga, Anthony, Hannah & Ilalio. WELL DONE! And congratulations to everyone else who was in the running. We also talked about the probability of our name being drawn depending on how many entries we had. 

Socially Responsible People - by Eseki.

Socially responsible people

A socially responsible person is someone who not only cares for their community but also the people in it. A socially responsible person is also someone who helps out their community by fundraising for community events, donating things they don’t use or need to those who really need it and other helpful things as well.

Socially responsible people have to be able to work with others to achieve the same goal like if two people have an argument they still have to be able to work with each other for the sake of the community. Be honest and make good choices, admit your mistakes and make up for it like if you stole from the community you have to be able to tell them what you've done wrong and be able to accept your consequences.Socially responsible people also have to take leadership not only when they get the chance, but also when they need to. Socially responsible people also should make their community feel safe like how my Uncle is part of an organization called Tamaki Community Patrols (TCP). TCP go around the community checking on people and making sure they are safe. Many people are involved in the TCP programme including the police and other people who volunteer to take care of their community. Socially responsible people never do good things to get noticed or get an award from the community, but they do good things because it makes them feel good inside and people respect them better.

By Eseki,
Follow more of Eseki's work here

Virtual Bike Wars

Virtual bike wars

One of my reading tasks was to create a new sport or game which would require the use of bicycles. 
I created a virtual game called Virtual Bike Wars.

Virtual bike Wars. 
In this game people are required to wear simulation goggles while riding down a straight path, 500m long. They must go through lots of simulations such as zombies, jousting and a lot more. There is even multiplayer, where you and your friends can battle it out. If you are knocked off your bike at any time in the simulation then you lose.

I love virtual games. I wonder if this could be made a real life game. It would take a lot of effort now that I think about it.

By Jerome. Follow Jerome' s blog here

How do I get to school. - Writing an Explanation

I live in Otahuhu and my aunt lives in Papatoetoe. I have to wake up at 7:00 a.m. to get ready to come to school. It take about 20 minutes for my aunt to come and pick me up. She comes with my little cousin in the car.

It is about 16km to get to Glenbrae. It takes 40 minutes to get to school. You have to go through Panmure shopping centre and into Saint Patricks. There is heavy traffic sometimes when we come to school.

After we drop off my little cousin we have to go through Point England and then from the roundabout, past Tamaki College. You have to make a left turn into where the dairy is and you go straight, and there you are at Glenbrae school.   

By Anthony

Water Fun Day - By Jezebel

Water fun day

On an overcast day, Glenbrae school had water fun day. We all had to bring our house colour T-shirt to school. After we got changed we all walked to the netball courts and waited for the classes to come. After all the classes were all there, then Mrs Ripata mentioned the 6 activities we were to participate in. The activities were the zigzag, water slide, obstacle race, 3 hand race, walk the plank, through the leg, sponge race. We first went to the obstacle race where Ms Elia was along with Miss D. We all lined up into our house colour teams. Then Mrs Elia showed us an example of the activities, what you did was you took a cup of water and crawled under the chair and then ran to the house colour bin to pour the water in. We all cheered  for each other. Next we went to the slippery soapy slide where Mrs Parker was. We lined up into our house colour teams and first Mrs Parker explained what we had to do. We had to grab a cup of water and slide down the slide and then run all the way to our house colour bin and tip the water in and run back to the slide and stand at the back of the line.
All activities involved water, lots of running, getting wet, keeping cool and filling in the big house buckets with water. Rata and Kauri houses won on the day. Every student participated and enjoyed them selves.

I HAD FUN:)

By Jezebel

Friday Flash... this week in Room 10

Another exciting week in Room 10. 
We started with our explanation writing and have been developing our statistical thinking. We've also been learning about Hellison's model and been having fun practicing our freestyle and backstroke in the pool. 

Today we were given our Rangitoto Challenge - Homework assignment for the term. We were all excited to be able to take responsibility for our own learning and choose what tasks we want to complete this term. 

We introduced the WONDER HOOP this week too. Every time we do something wonderful we get a ticket to slam dunk in the hoop. There were a whopping amount of tickets in the hoop this week, with some wonderful people getting multiple entries. Before lunch we drew 8 names from the basket to select a prize. 

This weeks wonderful recipients were: Alex, Anthony, Wairua, Te Puawai, Nikita, Nunia, Edwina and Eseki

Congratulations - Tu Meke 

At the end of week assembly Room 10 had the privilege of leading the school in karakia!


During assembly four of our team also received certificates:

Alex for developing his leadership skills.
Lennyx for taking responsibility for his own learning.
Wairua for active listening and contributing to class discussions  
and Siosifa for making a great contribution to all Room 10 activities in his first week at Glenbrae School - Welcome Siosifa!

Next week we have our Softball Tournament, some of the Room 10 team are participating, we wish them well!

Kei te pai whanau

Water Fun Day

There were six activities planned for us all - the water slide, the hurdles, through the leg, walk the plank, zig-zag and the three arm races.  We had to complete each race and then fill the house colour bins that were in the centre of the court, with the water we had either in a sponge, cup or milk bottle. We all had a lot of fun. We got wet, we competed fairly and did our best for our houses. After the last whistle we gathered ourselves on the court and waited for our results. Stressing moments passed, we finally found out that Rata (red) House and Kauri (green) house came first. It was a tie. Kowhai (yellow) and Nikau (blue) houses did not do as well as the houses that came first. Better luck next time.

Danielle & Hannah

Room 10

Are you a Data Detective?

Are you a Data Detective?

In Room 10 we are learning to be Data Detectives. We have learnt about the statistical cycle, and are looking forward to practicing our detective skills over the next couple of weeks. 

After analysing some sample data, we will develop our own questions, then plan our investigation. Once we gather the data, we will analyse it and come up with some exciting conclusions. 

Stay tuned for our results. 

In week 1 of this term we have been learning how to draw and use Venn Diagrams. My group with James, Joseph and myself used information from our people scavenger hunt activity to create a Venn Diagram. We all found out what was unique to each one of us and what we had in common. We all worked as a team. Finally it was done! It was a great time working together.

Edwina
Room 10

First week successes

We finished off the first week of 2014 with the annual Water Fun Day. It was great to all who participated in the activities, and competed for our House Teams. 
The winner of the competition was a tie between Rata and Kauri teams in first equal, with Nikau in second and Kowhai in third place. 

Check the class site for the full album of photos

In learning this week, we focussed on getting to know each other. First we completed a class scavenger hunt, learning about different skills and interests that people have and then we made Venn Diagrams to show things we have in common and things that are unique to us. Check out our personal blogs for the findings. 

Ka pai te mahi Room 10 and keep up the good work, we are off to a great start. 

Room 10's Class Treaty

Today was the first day back at school for Room 10 after the summer break. 
What a great day to have all our smiling faces back at school.

In build up to Waitangi day we decided to review our own School Treaty and discussed what is important to us in our Class Treaty.

It was great to share all of our ideas about what we want for Room 10 and we all agreed that we wanted Room 10 to be a respectful, safe, helpful learning community. As a result we created a Classroom Treaty which we will proudly display and refer to.