Board Mania

Board Mania from Kieren Moriarty on Vimeo.

Today we had a board games day. It was fun. The students really played well together. Saw some awesome maths skills in a couple of the games too! Charlotte created this trailer with assistance from Natasha to showcase the day. Enjoy the view and please comment :)

 Tomorrow is Wacky Sports Day!

Rock n' Roll Social 2012

Here is a glimpse of some of the fun had by our year sixes at the rock n' roll dance. They are a great bunch!



Rock n Roll 2012 from Kieren Moriarty on Vimeo.

Volleyball Champions!

The Parkvale Moriarty volleyball team won their final to come first in the Hastings Y5/6 competition. They won all their games this year through great teamwork which gave them an amazing number of bonus points. The final versus Mayfair was close, with Parkvale winning 265 - 255. Well done to Parris, Joshua, Stefan, Brody, Natasha and Amy!

Guest blogger Parris gives us this short report:

"Last Thursday Parkvale Moriarty competed in the finals for Volleyball they faced Mayfair. It was a really tough game and everyone used personal best. We were hoping to keep our undefeated title! When it was half time we drew and then we had to step up the game. The team was so nervous and Stefan was getting a bit fired up.

But then the hooter went we were very excited and then Mr. Severinson said 265 to Parkvale and 255 to Mayfair!"

The Champs!

Photos by Seth

Update: Check out Parris's Volleyball Interview video!

Triathlon!

Today we had the senior triathlon. It was amazing! I feel lucky to have witnessed such determination and effort in our students. Well done to Casey for winning the Year 6 girls competitive race and Parris for winning the Year 5 girls! What tough races! We quickly posted our feelings about the triathlon on the Wall above. Add to it if you like.

Kids for Kids Concert Tonight!

Kids 4 Kids! from Kieren Moriarty on Vimeo.

Today, Team 5 rehearsed with Chris from the Funky Monkeys and Suzanne Prentice for the Kids for Kids show. They were awesome! Tonight, they are performing to raise money for World Vision.

I feel lucky to be taking my daughters to watch. I know they're going to love it (just like I will!).

Year 6's Road Adventure!

Year 6's Road Adventure from Kieren Moriarty on Vimeo.

Today's guest blogger is Felicity!

Today the year 6's went out on a biking road adventure. Above you can see a trailer that I made on the Ipad while the other year 6's were biking on the road. Since I hurt my back at school the other day I sadly had to sit out on biking. I was in a bit of a rush with choosing the theme because there were people coming and I had to film them. It shows them signalling and stopping at a give way sign. I hope that you will ENJOY:)

Have you seen Zeb's bike?

Zeb's bike is missing. We are looking for it. If you have any information, please contact Parkvale School and ask for Mr Moriarty in Room 20.

Zeb created this poster with help from his friends. We hope it works.

Safe Cycling Adventures

Safe Cycling Adventures from Kieren Moriarty on Vimeo.

We have been learning how to cycle safely in the last few weeks. The year sixes started to practice it on the road on Friday. Tyler, a year five student, created this trailer to promote our learning!

Rock n' Roll by Stefan

Rock N' Roll from Kieren Moriarty on Vimeo.

Today we have a guest blogger Stefan:

Today I created an Imovie on the Ipad for Rock n' Roll. The Super Hero like theme really summed up Rock n' Roll. Saving us from boredom! At Rock n' Roll we learnt the Gay Gordon, Rock n' Roll tap, The Red Hot Salsa, The Bus-stop and the Bunny Hop. My favourite is the Rock n' Roll tap!

Letters!

Letters! from Kieren Moriarty on Vimeo.

Today, we sent our second letters to Room 121 in the USA!

Meanwhile, Felicity created this awesome video capturing the moments when our first letters arrived from Room 121. She even created the music (apart from the Charlie & Lola bit) on Ujam.
The Brody in slow motion part is classic!

Safe Cycling Song

Bike Remix!! from Kieren Moriarty on Vimeo.

Casey, Felicity and Natasha created and sang this entertaining song about cycle safety. Then they created a remix music video with Stefan providing quality camera work on the iPad. Check it out!

Learning to Bowl

Today we were lucky to have bowling lessons with Hawke's Bay cricket. We learned tips on how to bowl, practised and then had a little game. I created a trailer with the iPad as we were learning.

 
Learning To Bowl from Kieren Moriarty on Vimeo.

Our Pen Pal Letters Arrived!

The anticipation...

Casey is bursting at the seams!

Today we got our pen pal letters from Room 121 in Missouri, U.S.A. It was so exciting! Check out our Wallwisher! You can even add to it. Photos / videos to come!

It's like Christmas for Brody!

We Love Comments!

Earlier in the year, Room 20 created a post on quality comments. We sure have progressed to be experts at making quality comments since then. These are comments from Natasha's The Bracelet, Chapter One (which she published in the weekend). Quality comments really encourage us to learn more and create more!

WALT use our senses effectively to create a story

Success Criteria:

• Really use the senses so the reader can visualise
• Correct sentences 
• Short, sharp sentences to build tension (in parts) 
• Paragraphing groups of sentences
• Beginning, middle and end
• Problem and resolution

Here is our writing prompt, including words that we visualised from the prompt using our senses. I wonder how well we will achieve the criteria of the story.

We are off to a good start! These voice recordings are from various students' first steps to create a story generated from the visual prompt. 

Casey reading from "Branches"

Alexandra reading from "Once Upon A Time"

Parris reading from "Mysterious Tunnel"

Jacob reading from "The Forest Of Gold"

Kharn reading from "Little Blue Riding Hood"

Bianca reading from "The Four Friends"

Jake reading from "The Peaceful Path"

Hannah reading from "The Thing That Is Following Me"

Lost Property Heroes

Lost property Heros from Kieren Moriarty on Vimeo.

With the changing season, there is a lot of lost property at Parkvale School. Don't worry, Amy, Hannah and Tyler, the Lost Property Heroes are on the job! Natasha created a trailer with the heroes to showcase their super work!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Restaurant Wars

Restaurant Wars from Kieren Moriarty on Vimeo.

Today, we were very lucky to go to Room 7 and work with them on their restaurant menus. Mrs Roil has decided it is going to be a competition. Who will win?

Telephone Talk

Telephone Talk from Kieren Moriarty on Vimeo.

Check out this play, recorded by Charlotte on the iPad and edited by Rhys and Charlotte using iMovie. Great team work by all the cast involved!

The Restaurant

The Restaurant from Kieren Moriarty on Vimeo.

On Tuesday, Room 20 were lucky enough to work with Room 7 on their restaurant project. Natasha captured some of the action on the iPad and emailed it to me. She also recorded an MP3 to describe what is happening. I put it all together into a little video. Room 7 are so clever!

Helicopter Invasion In Room 20!

Helicopter Invasion from Kieren Moriarty on Vimeo.

Jake flew his helicopter around the class at the end of school today. Rhys captured it brilliantly on the iPad. I added a couple of visual effects and some guitar music. I wonder what will happen tomorrow.

Paul Jennings (Reading Rules!)

A while ago, the amazing author Paul Jennings made a great comment on Felicity's blog when she created her own ending for his story Licked. Recently, Felicity and Joshua both decided to use a Paul Jennings story for our homework reading challenge. I sent Paul Jennings their links and he responded with another great comment!

Here are the links to Joshua and Felicity's blog posts:

• Joshua's VoiceThread
• Felicity's video

Here is Sami's post which features a book by Paul Jennings and Morris Gletzman:

• Sami's Vocaroo

Natasha also received a comment from an author for her very popular holiday reading post:

• Natasha's post with a comment from Barbara Else

While you are here, you also better check out Katherine's amazing news report, featuring 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone', Reuben's reading of 'Time For A Spell' and Katrina's VoiceThread about our class book, Wonder.

Update: Brody's post on The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

Reading rules!

Correct Punctuation?

Today our literacy starter was about punctuation. How did we do?

http://literacystarter.wordpress.com/2012/10/19/punctuation/
Copy the sentence below, adding the correct punctuation.


“What did you say?” the teacher asked in astonishment. “How dare you say that in my room, go to the head teacher’s office now!” Fred left the class without saying another word.

Drawing a 10cm Square

Drawing a 10cm Square from Kieren Moriarty on Vimeo.

WALT create mathematical patterns. Here is a small but very important step along the way: measuring accurately.

Can We Save The World?

Room 20 has been given a challenge to save the world from a hypothetical asteroid attack. It was given to us by Kevin Honeycutt.

Impact Zone

Mr M's IWB Sketch

World Savers (Groups)

This is the link to the Doomsday-1 Project. It has many resources to help us research information. We are trying to be as accurate as we can with our maths and science.

Wish us luck!

Wonder is a very special book

We had a bit of a break from our class book Wonder by R.J. Palacio. Now, with our Production long gone and the holidays finished, we are getting back into it. It is a very special book. Today, we talked about the book before we started to read it again. This picture which shows some words which remind us of Wonder was created on the iPad app Whiteboard as we talked.

Pen Pal Letters Arrive in the USA!

Room 121 showing off our letters to them!

Room 121, our pen pals from Mrs Allen's class in the USA recently got our letters. They were so excited! Click on the link to check it out.

Some Room 121 students also tweeted from their class twitter account awesome tweets about their letters. I wonder if Room 20 should have a class Twitter account?

We can't wait to receive our letters!

Paradise Valley

In the holidays, my girls were very lucky to be taken to Paradise Valley in Rotorua by their Nana Chris and Poppa Pete. So was I! We got to pat lion cubs! Here is a trailer to share some of the fun :)




Paradise Valley from Kieren Moriarty on Vimeo.

Tree Of Life Artwork

This is a slideshow / video of Room 20's art based on the Tree of Life by Klimt. Many of Room 20 named their artworks the Tree of PRIDE. Explore the student blogs (BRANCHES) on the side of this blog to see posts on what their artwork represents, including QR codes.

Klimt's Tree of Life

Steps to create your own Tree of Life from Art Projects for Kids

PRIDE is what Parkvale School is all about.

PRIDE =

Personal Best

Respect and Responsibility

Integrity

Determination

Enjoyment

Here is a trailer created by Jacob, Teva and Tyler for Pass the Blog that promotes Parkvale PRIDE. The boys did an inspiring job!

The wall from Kieren Moriarty on Vimeo.

Number Patterns

Can you what is happening in this pattern? What is happening with the blue blocks? What is happening with the yellow blocks?

If the pattern continues, how many blue and yellow blocks would be in the next (fourth) pattern?

Pass The Blog

This week (our last week of Term 3) we are the classroom that posts on Pass The Blog. This blog has been travelling around the world and has great posts from many different classrooms. Go check them out! 

Now it is our turn! Here is a link to our first super-fun  post.

Our Musicians!

Tree of PRIDE Musicians from Kieren Moriarty on Vimeo.

On Friday! Kharn, Teva and Bianca all shared what they have been learning with Mrs Holden in their musical instrument lessons. Tyler captured it on the iPad.

Enjoy and leave a comment of encouragement!

Multiplication Strategies

Using Two Strategies

Today in Maths we tried to use two strategies for each problem we solved. We then put a STAR to choose which strategy worked best for these numbers. Many of us learnt to use Rounding and Compensating as a strategy. Here is some of our work from the interactive whiteboard.

The Disappearing Island Of Dr Xu

The Disappearing Island Of Dr Xu from Kieren Moriarty on Vimeo.

The Stormtroopers have created a superb trailer to promote their old reading book, The Disappearing Island Of Dr Xu. Are you persuaded and want to read this book?

Parkvale Live Posters

We created these posters to promote the upcoming DVD of our production on this website. Check them out on the slideshow below! Also be sure to check the student blogs on the right for loads of great posts on our production.





Parkvale Live Posters from Kieren Moriarty on Vimeo.

Magpie ICT Cluster Expo

Felicity, Hannah and Joshua are presenting at the Magpie ICT Cluster Expo today. Here is the presentation they created!

Extra: Here is a trailer that Natasha, Felicity and co quickly created on the iPad during downtime in the expo. Natasha and Parris were also at the expo representing the Magpie ICT Digi-kids.
Digi Love from Kieren Moriarty on Vimeo.

Two Problems Involving Fractions

We are so busy with the Production at the moment but here is a maths post especially for you. Add a comment (text, voice or drawing) to our Voice Thread!

Our Koru Art

Koru 2012 from Kieren Moriarty on Vimeo.

How are we learning?

How are we learning? from Kieren Moriarty on Vimeo.


Here is a video sharing some of our thoughts about being in a classroom with one to one computers. A big thank you to everyone who contributed, including Thea from Room 19. I hope you enjoy watching it and that it informs you about some of the ways we are learning.

Dinosaur Mayhem In The Library Part 2

Dinosaur Mayhem In The Library Part 2 from Kieren Moriarty on Vimeo.

The girls (Amy, Casey, Natasha and Felicity) have created a sequel to Dinosaur Mayhem In The Library. It stars a new dinosaur (thanks Josh). Watch it if you dare! Enter with an open mind :)

He aha te taima?

Today Whae Harata came into class. She taught us how to tell the time using te Reo and an awesome waiata to sing. Felicity edited the video of us singing the waiata using iMovie on the iPad.

Whakarongo Ki Te Karaka from Kieren Moriarty on Vimeo.

Pen Pals!

Wordle of our document!

Today we created a Google document to share with our new pen pals in the USA! Click on the link if you want to check it out. They start their school year on Wednesday because they are just finishing their summer holidays. We are pretty excited that we get a pen pal to share stuff with! We can't wait, most of us have never had a pen pal, none of us have had one from America. It will be like getting a new friend that we have never had before!

Dinosaur Mayhem In The Library

Dinosaur Mayhem In The Library from Kieren Moriarty on Vimeo.

We are having fun with our new iPad!

Olympic Opening Ceremony

We are really getting into our Olympics topic. It is just a pity that it is too wet to continue the Room 20 Olympics at the moment!

Here are some highlights from the opening ceremony, as written by the Room 20 Kiwi Kids News reporters!

The Queen jumped off the plane with James Bond.

But she came down safely, don't worry she's fine. Alexandra

Olympic games have started with a dazzling opening ceremony with amazing fireworks, the best in the world. What a way to start the Olympics with a bang. Amy

Last night the queen parachuted into the stadium and it was awesome. Bianca

When the display is over the Olympic rings float in the sky like clouds. Brody

Isn’t it spectacular? All the fireworks are booming all around us. Casey

Australia is a very determined country and tries their best at everything. Charlotte

The fireworks are dazzling. Courtney

The billion fans are yelling out we love you James Bond. Daniel

I personally think the highlight of ceremony were the neon lights on the boat. Eden

After a nice start of lovely families, it all turns into work, work and even more work. With all of the men hard at work and the ladies washing the clothes. Felicity

Wow! The crowd is going louder and louder, they are all looking up. My, oh my, that is a really big parachute coming down into the stadium. It is Queen Elizabeth, and coming down after her is, who is it? Oh it is James Bond. Hannah

Hi my name is Mr Burns and finally the Olympics has opened. Jacob

It's mayhem in the crowd with billions of people from all over world screaming, laughing, oohing and ahing. Jake

Here comes New Zealand. Nick Willis is holding the New Zealand flag, every one from NZ cheers. Joshua

The industrial revolution turning from green pastures to big chimneys and factories. Katherine

With the funny scenes, Mr Bean playing the keyboard, the Queen and James Bond parachuting out of a helicopter, yes a helicopter. Would you do that if you were the Queen? Katrina

Now the orchestra is playing. Who is that playing on the keyboard? It’s Mr Bean! Haha he just swapped hands to look at his watch! Now he is pulling a face at the piano player. Ooh, heaps of snot is running down his face! Now he is reaching for the tissues but he can’t without stop playing the keyboard. Then he sees an umbrella and grabs and uses it to play the piano. Kharn

There is so much excitement all the energy could light up the world. Lachlan

The cheering is getting higher and higher as I speak. What do you know? James Bond and the Queen have just arrived but not just from anywhere, it looks like they are parachuting down. It's incredible. Natasha

And now the moment you have been waiting for, let's give a huge round of applause for Great Britain! Parris

The lava rings are now entering the stadium. They start to go together and are forming the Olympic rings the start sparking, “What a sensation to watch this right on top of me!” I said to myself. Rhys

The show has been watched all over the world, as a Kiwi kids news reporter from NZ, I am blown away by the performances. Samuel

It took 150 hours to practice in the run up show. There was James Bond and the Queen, with James Bond jumping out of the Helicopter with a parachute and awesome explosions, dazzling fireworks coming out of the stadium and Mr Bean being a dag on the piano. Seth

Wow! We have molten lava being poured into a trail that finds its way to one of the Olympic rings representing the five continents Asia, Europe, Oceania, Africa and America coming together in these games. We can now see the five rings floating in the arena slowly joining together. Stefan

The Queen takes the stand. “I declare that the Olympic games start. When the flame goes out the games shall be over.” The giant rings are now connecting together. Wow! The crowd goes wild as the sparks rain down from the rings. Tyler
What is this? It looks like a play an old time play. All the characters look so real and I heard that the characters clothes could not be washed until the opening ceremony is over. Zeb

Wordle of our sentences

 

Jump Jam Trailer

Jump Jam from Kieren Moriarty on Vimeo.

I created this trailer playing around on the iPad. It is really easy to create a trailer on iMovie. Such fun! I hope you enjoy it.

Pakeke Mai O Matimati

PAKEKE MAI O MATIMATI from Kieren Moriarty on Vimeo.
Great way to the end the day: waiata!

Making Inferences

WALT: Infer
Making inferences is about "reading between the lines" and finding the hidden or deeper meanings in the text. This is a huge part of understanding what we read. Good writers give clues to help the reader infer. By thinking about what we know (prior knowledge) as we read, we see these clues and combine them with our prior knowledge to infer. We are detectives searching for and making meaning.

The Jedi Knights reading group gave us the model above from the excellent story Teamwork by Maria Samuela. Notice how they combine clues in the text with their prior knowledge to infer.

Kapa Haka Sharing

Kapa Haka Sharing from Kieren Moriarty on Vimeo.

At the end of the day, members of our Kapa Haka proudly share their learning with the class.

In other news, this week is Maori Language Week, 

Te Wiki o te Reo Māori.

"Arohatia te Reo is the theme for Māori Language Week, which means to cherish the language. We encourage you, no matter who you are, where you come from, or what you do, to find a way to express how you can use, honour, speak and show your love for the language of our country."

We are making sure we celebrate and cherish te Reo during Māori Language Week in Room 20.

Wonder Book Trailer

Here is the book trailer for our new class book Wonder by R.J. Palacio.

What do you like about the book Wonder so far?

I love the idea of creating trailers to advertise books. It persuades people to read them. I think it would be a great reading and ICT activity. What do you think?

The Great White Man-Eating Shark

Margaret Mahy is one of my favourite authors ever. It is sad to hear that she passed away yesterday but I know that her words and stories will continue to thrill, entertain and inspire people through the years. I imagine her influence will actually grow.

Image from Penguin

Today we watched the first part of the movie for the super story The Great White Man-Eating Shark. We are writing our own endings as a fun tribute to Margaret Mahy. Already, they are awesome!