Kristy's Genius Hour - How to be the best baker

Kristy's Genius Hour - How to be the best baker

Moksha's Genius Hour

Moksha's Genius Hour - How to Write a Song

Harrison and Nikhil Genius Hour

Harrison and Nikhil's Genius Hour - How to make a Fidget Toy

Mizuki's Genius Hour

Here is Mizuki's fantastic Genius Hour - How to paint a Masterpiece.

Genius Hour - What are Volcanoes?

This term students in Room 3 have been working on Genius Hour projects. Here is Suyash and Jacky's project 'What are Volcanoes?'

Globalisation 1 Minute Movies

To conclude our inquiry into Globalisation we produced 1 minute movies focussing on one area of our inquiry.

The United Nations by Jacky and Joshua

Refugees by Sam, Mizuki, Nikhil and Tariq

A Migrant's Story by Liam, Boston, Connor and Suyash

The Evolution of Communication by Kristy, Sativa and Alexus

Fair Trade by Arav, Shreyas, Harrison and Rayan

Box Fit Fitness Routine

For health we created our own fitness routine. Give it a go Champ!

Financial Literacy

Comic Art

After studying the British pop artist Peter Blake we created our own collages using comic books.

Globalisation Poetry

We wrote a range of poems related to our inquiry topic of Globalisation. See more fabulous examples on our individual student blogs.

Warhorse

The Justice League used SOLO three layers of learning to complete a novel study of Michael Morpurgo's Warhorse

Malaria Outbreak!

After reading 'Fever' by Rupert Alchin the X-Men used information in the article to create a radio                                                                        news broadcast.

Street Sellers of India

After reading 'Street Sellers of India' by Andrew Crowe the Guardians of the Galaxy collaborated on a compare and contrast map and summary.

People connect with others across the world through imports, exports, migration and through travel. Andrew Crowe a New Zealander travelled to India and experienced street sellers. We are comparing India street sellers and New Zealand street sellers.

Goods and Services Outside - Tariq and Kyza

In India and New Zealand goods and services are sold outside. In New Zealand goods and services are usually sold outside at markets in car parks or fields. Whereas in India they sell their goods and services on the streets on the side of roads or pavements. We think India should have designated market places so pedestrians don’t have to walk on the road to get passed the vendors.

Stalls - Jacky and Sheena

In New Zealand they sell their goods from tables under gazebos. But in India they sell their goods on the floor on a mat. New Zealand stalls are more hygienic because the goods are off the dusty, dirty floor and are covered from rain and any fallen dust and dirt.

Drinks - Boston and Mizuki

Both street sellers sell drinks. In India they sell sugar cane because of the hot weather. In New Zealand they sell different types of drinks such as  freshly squeezed fruit juice, soft drinks and coffee and tea because New Zealand is colder. We think New Zealand market places are better because they have different type of drinks so when you are hot you can drink cold freshly squeezed fruit juice or soft drinks and when you are cold you can drink nice, warm coffee or tea.

Flowers - Rayan and Suyash

Both India and New Zealand street sellers sell flowers. In New Zealand they sell flowers in bunches for everyday occasions but however in India they sell flowers in garlands and bouquets for special occasions such as weddings. We think New Zealand flowers stalls are better because they have more variety of flowers.

Conclusion

Overall we believe New Zealand markets are better because the goods are kept cleaner and more hygienic as they are off the floor, there is a wider variety of drinks available and they are safer because people don’t have to walk on the busy roads.

Fever

After reading 'Fever' by Rupert Alchin the X-Men sequenced what happens to you if you contract Malaria.

Taiwan Vs New Zealand

After reading 'Going to School in Taiwan' by Megan Williams the Avengers compared a Taiwanese school with a New Zealand school.

Many people migrate to New Zealand for a better education for themselves or their children. However different cultures from around the world have their own ideas about what makes a good education. This means that children’s experience of school can be very different. Two cultures with different perspectives of what makes a good education are New Zealand and Taiwan.

                    

Languages - Harrison and Aadi

Like many countries Taiwan and New Zealand students both learn languages. Taiwanese students learn languages by doing lessons in Chinese for half of the day and the same lessons in English for the other half of the day. All lessons in New Zealand are taught in English and we also have a Te Reo Maori lesson once a week.

School Times - Moksha and Brianna S

Schools in both countries begin in the morning and finish in the afternoon. In Taiwan their school starts at 8:30am and finishes at 4:10pm. Whereas Auckland school’s start at 8:55am and finish at 3:00pm. This means Taiwanese students have to wake up at 7:00am to reach school on time. In Taiwan they have 7 hrs and 40mins at school and in Auckland students have 6 hrs and 5mins. In Taiwan they have 1 hour and 35mins more than Auckland.

Furniture - Jack and Nikhil

Another similarity between New Zealand and Taiwan is that they both use desks. However in Taiwan desks are set into rows that face the front and the teacher. Whereas students in Auckland can sit around round tables, jelly bean shaped tables and even beanbags. Taiwan’s students work individually on their own desks, conversely New Zealand students are encouraged to collaborate.

Jobs/Responsibilities - Brianna

Students in Taiwan and in New Zealand both have jobs and responsibilities in their classrooms. In Taiwan their classrooms are very dusty so the students have to bring a cloth to school and regularly dust down all the surfaces, they also have to sweep and mop the floor. On the other hand in New Zealand we only have to take out recycling, tidy books in the library and close windows.

Conclusion

Overall we believe students in Taiwan have a harder time in school than New Zealand students because they have a longer day, have more responsibilities, have to sit quietly in rows and have lessons in two languages. We prefer the classrooms and system in New Zealand as we believe it better prepares us for a future of working collaboratively. Also finishing earlier allows New Zealand students to have a balanced life where they can mix homework, sport, play and relaxation rather than just homework. This helps develop good physical and mental health for now and the future.

Half the World Away

Inspired by the advert below we wrote narratives with a message of kindness. Check out our fabulous narratives on our individual blogs.

Half the World Away!

Staring through her telescope Ruby gazed out upon the heavens. Beyond the silhouettes of the trees sat a great luminous pearl in the vast sea of space. A glimmer of light drew Ruby’s attention, focusing her gaze more intently to the surface. Sitting in a crater sat a rather unusual sight, a dilapidated wooden cottage, with a rust tinged roof and a motionless rocking chair. From inside of the cottage ambled the man on the moon.

The man on the moon had a shock of white hair around his balding, mottled scalp. He had a wizened face with wrinkles that bore deeply into his skin. With each movement there was the creak of old bones. He had the resigned look of one who knew that at his age life has stopped giving and only took away.

On seeing the man’s anguish and solitude Ruby decided to make contact to let him know he was not alone. She wrapped a message in an arrow before climbing to the uppermost bedroom window. Fixing the arrow against the bow she pulled back hard before releasing. Nothing. The arrow sprung from the bow but landed limply on the ground only a few feet away from the house.

Ruby tried again to reach the man on the moon, this time though with a paper plane. Disappointedly the plane only managed a single loop de loop before plummeting to earth, along with her hopes.

The man on the moon sat forlornly on his bench when suddenly from out of the corner of his eye he saw a bunch of balloons the colour of summer blooms approaching. Carried by the balloons was a box carefully wrapped in scarlet and silver paper. The gift gently touched down on the surface of the moon before rebounding gently into his waiting arms. Lifting the lid from the box the man saw a beautiful telescope staring back at him. Bringing the telescope up to his eye the man focussed his gaze on the world below. The man’s attention was drawn to a village draped in a blanket of snow and illuminated with blinking lights. He gazed past an enormous tree adorned with glistening ornaments and glowing fairy lights to the upstairs window of a terraced house. Staring back at him was a small bright eyed girl waving enthusiastically. A tear of joy came to his eye as he realised, through that one small act of kindness, that he was no longer alone.

Maori Language Week

To celebrate Maori Language Week we created flash cards to help us remember our Maori vocabulary.

How many languages are spoken at the U.N?

After reading "How many languages are spoken at the U.N?" on Wonderopolis the X-Men collaborated on an evaluation of the claim the U.N should have just one official language.

Collage Art

We created collages to represent our interests, hobbies, likes and identity.

How Big Is Your Footprint?

After reading How Big Is Your Footprint by Norman Bilbrough the Avengers used information from the text to create a special broadcast.

How big is your footprint?

After reading 'How Big Is Your Footprint?' by Norman Bilbrough the Avengers collaborated on a Cause and Effect map and Summary.

The greenhouse effect is a natural process that’s needed for life on Earth. Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere (such as water vapour, carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide) are useful because they trap heat, keeping our planet warm. While our planet needs to be warm enough to allow life to exist, there is such a thing as too warm. In recent years, large amounts of greenhouse gases have been released into the atmosphere and this has upset a delicate balance.

The greenhouse effect has been linked to climate change. Currently both Texas in the USA and Bangladesh have suffered from Hurricane Harvey and extreme rainfall causing floods. These events are thought to be linked to climate change and the effect of greenhouse gas emissions.

One possible cause of greenhouse gases is deforestation. In places such as Brazil and Indonesia, thousands of hectares of rainforest are disappearing every day. As a result of the deforestation forests no longer absorb extra carbon dioxide, helping to keep our atmosphere in balance.

As a result of burning fossil fuels, such as burning coal to produce electricity and making petrol for cars from oil, the temperature of Earth has risen, which in turn will cause countries to turn to desert and crops will not be able to be produced.

Evidence suggests that cows produce half of New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions in the form of methane and nitrous oxide. Extra methane and nitrous oxide in the atmosphere traps heat and is a known cause of melting the Polar Ice Caps. If the ice caps melt the sea level will rise causing floods, as seen in India and Bangladesh.

Your carbon footprint is the amount of greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere from the things that you do. To reduce our carbon footprints we can walk or bike to school, learn to cook and eat less meat. These are all small things we can do everyday to have a big impact on our future.