Senior Learning Team, Pine Hill School, Dunedin

Message in a Bottle, Concert and Marooning at Quarantine Treasure Island 08

2008-04-11T13:27:00.002+12:00

Message in a Bottle

Wednesday the 5th of March was the 3rd day of camp. Room 5 put a letter in a glass bottle and sent it out to sea to see if anybody would find it. The oldest person in Room 5 at camp was Kent and the youngest person was Caitlyn. They got to throw the bottle over the end of the jetty to see if anybody will find it.

Concert

On Wednesday the 5th of March Room 5 also had a concert. Simone, Latesha and Jasmine did a dance. M and M (that was the teachers) did a song and dance and they wet us with their water bottles. Harry, Kent and Dylan O did a skeleton dance. Patricia and Caitlyn and Sarah sang nursery rhymes. Nicola, Ellen, Briana and Dione did a play and the adults performed a comedy boat race.

Marooning

That night we had a camp vote off for fun and the adults voted off Debbie. Debbie insisted on seeing the votes and then the adults said that Mel (Mrs Jewiss) needed to go to the chapel. She went to the chapel and she said it was scary.

by Simone, Harry and Mia

Quarantine Island 2008

2008-04-11T13:18:00.002+12:00

On the 3rd of March Room 5, Pine Hill School, Dunedin went to camp at Quarantine Island. Our theme at camp was Quarantine Treasure Island. Quarantine Island is really called St Martins Island. We did a lot of stuff on the 2nd day. Just after lunch we went for an island walk and there was a good view. The crew names were Black Pearl Pirates, The Mean Spotty Crew, The Royal Puppies and the last crew was Golden Skulls. Each crew got a bandanna. I was in the Black Pearl Pirates. On the walk first we went past the Chapel. The Chapel is like a little church. You go up a hill and then go along on the flat. Room 5 went to try to find a geocache because Mrs Jewiss has a GPS which can help you find the geocache. We found the geocache and we traded a bandanna for a beanie and we gave the beanie to Maisy our mascot. We went around through the little paths and you could see a good view. Some of us were taking photos. We saw heaps of different types of trees. We stopped where we saw a good view and Mrs Jewiss gave everyone an apple and some adults took a photo. Then we kept walking. We went to the cemetery where there are 72 people buried. There was a family that died of diseases. After that we went to a place where we had a good view and we drew a picture and painted it. Then we waited for it to dry. Some people went back with some adults and the others stayed with Ms Taylor and Mrs Jewiss, our teachers. We went back after the paintings were dried and we played 123 home. We got to the island on a boat. This year’s camp was awesome. I had so much fun.

By Latesha

Room 5 2008

2008-04-11T13:11:00.002+12:00

This year the Room 5 thinking team comprises 22 Year 5 and 6 students, Teacher Aides Adie Watkins and Debbie Pettinger and Teachers Mel Jewiss and Margaret-Anne Taylor. We have spent time this term developing a positive classroom environment where we can learn to our potential. In Week 5 of this term we spent 5 days on school camp at Quarantine Treasure Island. This time together was an opportunity to make new friends, learn to work together and experience new things. After camp everyone in Room 5 spent time creating a piece of work to share our camp experience with others. These works can be found in our classroom, at our podcast site and on this blog. We look forward to sharing our learning with you this year.

Pirate Limericks - made at Quarantine Treasure Island Camp

2008-04-10T17:56:00.002+12:00

There once was a pirate named Small
Although he was really quite tall
He loved to romp
And liked to stomp
That very loud pirate called Small

There once was a pirate called Lady
Who had a guard dog called Matey
He guarded the loot
And helped Lady shoot
That lucky pirate called Lady

There once was a pirate named Bob
Who had a responsible job
He captained the boat
Made it stay a float
That wonderful captain named Bob

There was a sneaky pirate named Laurie
Who told a great pirate story
She stayed up til late
And stole off the plate
That sneaky old pirate named Laurie

There was a nasty pirate named Wayne
His hair was as long as a mane
He drank rum all day
And lost his ship’s way
That silly old pirated named Wayne

There was a pirate named Debbie
Who walked way down to the jetty
She climbed on a wreck
Nearly broke her neck
That clumsy pirate named Debbie

There once was a pirate named Mel
Who stole a very old ship’s bell
She rang it at night
Gave Adie a fright
That naughty old pirate named Mel

There was a pirate called Bob
Who liked to find things he could rob
His first mate was Wayne
Bob thought him a pain
That thieving old pirate named Bob

There was a cheeky pirate named Sonia
Who always said “Good on yer”
She made Adie scream
And ruined her dream
That rascally pirated named Sonia

There once was a pirate named Adie
Who went to a place that was shady
She sat on a rat
Freaked out about that
That scared old pirate named Adie

There once was a pirate named Mel
Who was bossy when ringing the bell
She writes on the board
And sings the right chord
That clever old pirate named Mel

Goodbye

2008-01-26T22:49:00.001+13:00

I am sad to say that this will be my last post on the Room 5 blog. I am very sad to leave Pine Hill School and I will miss all the smiling faces of our wonderful children. I have a treasured memory of each and every child I have taught. I have had a great time teaching at such an exciting school and we have had lots of opportunities. I have been on school camps to Quarantine Island, Taieri Beach, Waihola and slept over at the museum (that was scary!). We have put on a radio show at Hills AM, started our own podcast site and won second place in the Netguide Webchallenge competition. Teaching in Room 5 has been one of my greatest experiences and I hope for the students in Room 5 it has meant a lot to them as well. I wish all the staff and students the best for the years to come and will be keeping an eye on this blog, the podcast site and the school website for all the wonderful and challenging activities you get up to in the future.

Habits of the MInd

2007-10-10T15:59:00.000+13:00

In Room 5 we have been using the Habits of the MInd to help us figure out and solve problems successfully. We have been using the Habits of the Mind to persist, stop and think and use our past knowledge. We also use the six hats. The colours are yellow, black, white, green, blue and red. We also use them to reflect on our work during the day.

By Nikita and Simone

More alliterations by Jasmine

2007-08-30T19:44:00.000+12:00

Jasmine drank juicy jelly.
Dad dug up doggy doo.
Kimberly's kangaroo cooked crabs.
Latesha likes lemons.
Simone swam and sang.
Mum made muscle muffins.
Ellen eats eggs on elephants.
Karen kicked Kimberly's kangaroo.
Catelyn cooked carrots.
Mum made muffins in Mornington.
Mum made micy muffins.
Nikita nailed nails near naughty nuts.
Anita ate an apple.
Brianna biked beside bananas.
Hope had hats hanging on hooks.
Anita ate ants at Antarctica.

From Jasmine

Alliterations

2007-08-30T15:55:00.000+12:00

Five fat fish flipping and flopping.

Simone swam in slippery slimy sauce.

Mum made mini marmalade muffins.

Nathan nicked Nick's knickers.

Jasmine jumped into juicy jelly.

Mum made mini mayonnaise and marmalade muffins.

Dad drank doggy doo.

Briana brought brown bananas.

Mummy made marmalade muffins on Monday morning for Mummy and Molly.

Latesha loved little lions.

Latesha licked her little lollipop.

Latesha likes lemons.

Alliteration challenge

2007-08-09T13:33:00.000+12:00

Wow! What a busy week we have had.

I am really thrilled with the language work we have produced this week. What a lot of descriptive words we came up with. This should really help with our writing!

Didn't you all do well with your alliterative sentences. I wonder who can make a comment with the longest alliterative sentence. It must make sense, though.

The Battle of the Mountains

2007-08-03T09:57:00.000+12:00

My blog is about a Tongariro Legend. Pine Hill School has been learning about the volcanoes in the Tongariro area of New Zealand and I did my blog about a legend because I wanted to learn more about legends and the volcanoes. It is part of the Inquiry process called going further with my learning.

The Battle of the Mountains

The Battle of the Mountains is about Tongariro, Tauhara and Pautuaki and lovely Pihanga. Pihanga was the girl they all loved. The war began when the two youngest went to the east. Tauhara looked back to see the lovely Pihanga. He went to Lake Taupo. Tongariro always let out a blood scream to his brother Tauhara. Tauhara felt so sad when he remembered the childhood time they played every day. Now they stand side by side.

by Mikayla

How cool is this!!!

2007-06-13T17:03:00.000+12:00

Today over on our podcast page from last year, http://room5.podomatic.com we received a comment on one of our book reviews. Now this is nothing new, we get lots of comments on our book reviews but this one was special... It was from the author herself! Click on the image above to make it bigger. Check it out!

Fear Factor Challenge

2007-03-30T14:50:00.000+12:00

On Monday 5th of March Room 5 at Pine Hill School went to Camp Sutton. We did lots of challenges at Camp Sutton.

The fear factor challenge had 5 different challenges. One was a team challenge. In this challenge teams had to fill up the bucket of water with cups full of water. The winning group depended on how much water was in the bucket. In our group we passed the water into the other persons cup and they had to keep on going until they reached the bucket. Each group had to fill up the bucket until the pot of water was gone and then sit down at the end.

Another part of the Fear Factor challenge was the Quiz Challenge. One member from each team had to answer questions from a quiz to earn more points to win immunity. When you won immunity you got to wear a necklace and you could give someone your chores or ask them do something for you.

People from each team also did the Food Challenge.Each person had to eat or drink a special meal that had a horrible name. One was pineapple, weet-bix and tomato sauce. It was really disgusting!

In the Rip Challenge you had to pick a person from your team to rip a mintie wrapper from the outside to make a paper chain. Dione and Jasmine were really close and the other people did very but Jasmine won this challenge.

The last part of the Fear Factor challenge was the Art Challenge. You had to pick a person from your group to draw someone. The class then voted on the drawing that looked the most like the person. Nikita won this Fear Factor challenge.

The Hound Dogs won fear factor immunity.

We thought going on Camp Sutton was fun and the Fear Factor challenge was really challenging.
By Nikita and Jasmine

Survivor Sutton Tribal Council and Camp Concert

2007-03-23T13:39:00.000+12:00

On Monday the 5th of March 2007 Room 5 of Pine Hill School, Dunedin New Zealand went on school camp.
We went to Camp Sutton for school camp, near Middlemarch in Central Otago. The theme for our camp was Survivor Sutton 07.

On Thursday night a tribal council meeting was held. A tribal council meeting is when the camp adults vote someone off the camp. Most adult’s voted Adrian off because he burnt the toast and had smelly feet. Debbie didn’t like his legs. Mrs Ritchie voted for Mrs Jewiss to go away from Camp Sutton. Adrian was voted off and he was really sad when he left.

On Thursday night we also had a concert. Mrs Jewiss gave Mrs Ritchie a make over because Mrs Ritchie voted for Mrs Jewiss to go away from Camp Sutton, so Mrs Jewiss was doing pay back. Mrs Jewiss put mousse and gel in Mrs Ritchie’s hair and dark eye shadow on her eyes and brushed her hair with a hearth brush and brushed her teeth. She looked funny. At the concert there was also acting, singing, dancing, mirror miming and puppets. It was really fun that night.

By Mikayla and Karen

Survivor Sutton Salt Lake Experience

2007-03-23T10:54:00.000+12:00

On March 5, 2007 Pine Hill School went to Camp Sutton. On Wednesday we walked to the Sutton Salt Lake where we found a geocache. A geocache is a container hidden in a secret place. These are all around the world. You put things in them so you can take other things out. The Salt Lake is the only Saline Salt Lake in the Southern Hemisphere. We walked across the Salt Lake because it had no water in it but when it is full it is less than 1 metre deep. When we got to the other side we sat down and ate rice crackers and then we painted the view. We painted mountains, the Salt Lake and the sky with watercolor paints. After that we wrote our names on the bottom of the salt lake with sticks then we walked the long walk back to the car park. On the way we saw lizards and we caught some. We looked under a big rock and found two lizards but we only caught one of them. Then we got our class photo taken on a big rock. We rode our bikes back to camp. After that we saw a cyclist from San Francisco and he took a photo of us.
It was a really fun and tiring day.

By Jesse and Warren

Web Wonders win 2nd Place

2006-10-18T09:52:00.000+13:00

On Thursday evening Sarah, Leishan, Kimberly, Mrs Nicholls and Mrs Jewiss all flew to Auckland to attend the TVNZ NetGuide WebChallenge awards on Friday. For some of us it was our first flight and was very exciting. We stayed in a hotel in Central Auckland and Mrs Jewiss brought us breakfast in bed in the morning!

On Friday we started the day with a trip up the Sky Tower - WOW! It was scary walking on the glass floor and seeing all the buildings below. We then went to the TVNZ Atrium building ready for the presentation. All the other schools were there and it was exciting seeing Matt and Dana from Studio 2. We sat right down the front and got a big clap for coming all the way from Dunedin. We were really nervous, butterflies fluttering in our tummies. They started with our category, third place goes to ... It wasn't us!! Second place goes to ... Us!

Breaking News!!!

2006-10-12T18:48:00.000+13:00

Leishan, Kimberly and Sarah have made it as finalists in the TVNZ Netguide Webchallenge competition!! You can view their website at http://www.pinehill.schoolzone.net.nz/rmfive
Click on the Web Challenge link and have a look at the Endangered Animals site.

We are so excited, we are on our way to Auckland tonight to attend the prize giving ceremony tomorrow at the TVNZ Atrium. The girls will be podcasting the event, so head over to our podcast page to hear all the exciting news.

Pine Hill School really is Cool!

Web Challenge

2006-08-31T20:02:00.000+12:00

We in Room 5 have been working really hard this term to build some web pages for the TVNZ Web Challenge competition. Our pages are now uploaded to the site and you can have a sneak preview of them by visiting our class website and clicking on the Web Challenge link.

www.pinehill.schoolzone.net.nz/rmfive.html

School Ski Trip

2006-08-22T12:08:00.000+12:00

On the weekend of 19th / 20th August some families from Pine Hill School went on a ski trip to Treble Cone. Mrs Jewiss's family and Mrs Nicholls' family were joined by the Pitt family and the Lee family. It was a fantastic weekend with great weather, impressive skiing skills :-) and a few impressive skiing crashes, mostly by Mr Nicholls :-). A big thanks has to go to Mrs Jewiss for organising such a wonderful weekend and organising the good weather. We knew she could run the school, but the weather... ?

Survivor - Quarantine Island

2006-03-05T14:07:00.000+13:00

The children from Room 5 were in for a surprise on Camp this week. Not only did we have a jam packed week, but they found out that they were on SURVIVOR - QUARANTINE ISLAND. Activities included designing a tribe flag and chant, 'fear factor' which meant eating and drinking strange substances, as well as proving physical and mental strength. It was a fierce and close competition and the winners of SURVIVOR - QUARANTINE ISLAND 2006 were The Titans!

Back at School for 2006!

2006-02-15T17:52:00.000+13:00

We have started 2006 with a bang! We are all glad to be back after such a long break. We have had some exciting things happen already and have some exciting things to look forward to. We have started the term looking at how our brain works and how we can help it to do its best work in Room 5 as we think for ourselves. We have also had a visit from two Highlanders, dressed in red to support the Heart Foundation and we are going to be doing Jump Rope for Heart for this term.

The big thing we are all looking forward to is CAMP!!! We are leaving in a week's time and Mrs Nicholls and Mrs Jewiss have some surprises in store for us.

So that is the beginning of our term at Pine Hill School. Hope your year is starting off well too.

The children of Room 5.

Room 5 News 11th September 2005

2005-11-11T17:30:00.000+13:00

Hi and welcome to the Room 5 news report

HEADLINES
This week we have met Mr Noyse our student teacher, lost a touch game, enjoyed the family fun night and the great race.

PENPALS
We have received letters from our penpals at Fendalton School in Christchurch. We are very excited to write back to them. Jade found a story in the newspaper which was written by her penpal. We are also quite excited about being able to make a podcast with our penpals.

MR NOYSE
We have a second year student teacher from Otago University with us for two weeks. Mr Noyse is good at music and likes to skateboard.

NEW SERVER
In two weeks we will be getting a new server at our school so we can all have our own passwords.

SPORTS
We played touch rugby against Concord on Thursday but sadly we lost 11 to 4.
On Tuesday Kristian, Nathan, Clay, Sam G and Alice represented Pine Hill School at the North Zone Sports. The rest of the children went to Chingford park to take part in fun events.
Pine Hill School held its first Cross Country also on Thursday. Je Gyong from Room 5 beat all the girls and boys. We ran around the block and at the finish we got a treat.
Also on Thursday we had a family fun night after school to celebrate the end of Push Play. There were T-ball, cricket, netball and touch rugby. It was kids versus adults. Kids won!

News report compiled by all children in room 5.

news Report, Week 5, Term 4, 2005

2005-11-04T14:33:00.000+13:00

Welcome to Room 5 news for Friday 4th November 2005

BOOK NEWS SURPRISE!
The whole of room 5 was shocked when there were two book news book winners. It was a room 5 record!

PEN PAL PHOTOS ARRIVED!
We now have photos of our Pen Pals. They are displayed in our Keva.

DIGITAL KIDS ELECTED
We now have three Digital Kids who are all year 6. They have badges and the areas for this term are digital cameras, Powerpoint and Garage Band.

TOUCH RUGBY
On Tuesday a professional Touch Rugby coach came and taught the touch team. On Thursday they had a game. We lost 2 nil but it was a challenging game and everyone played really well.

PUSH PLAY ALMOST OVER
The push play family challenge is finished, the cards were due today. The final certificates were handed out at assembly.

Farewell from Room 5, Pine Hill School.
Reported by Jade, Je Gyong, Telii and Shane

News Report, Week 4, Term 4, 2005

2005-10-31T13:43:00.001+13:00

Rock Study
In Room 5 we have finished our rock studies which built us up to a greater height of understanding. We shared our projects and the teachers and other students enjoyed them.

DARE
The DARE programme has been cancelled until further notice as Constable Voice is on leave.

Digital Storybooks
Most digital storybooks have been completed and they are awesome! We wrote the stories, made plasticine models, painted the backgrounds, photographed the scenes and built the storybooks in powerpoint. Ben states, “children use the computers much more effectively lately and a lot of electricity is being used.”

Book news
Every Friday we have been sharing our favourite books. Everyone should read. We have a vote and put our favourite books on our Recommended Reading wall.

Sports
Push Play
We have been taking part in the Push Play programme at Pine Hill School and we have all managed to do at least 30 minutes a day. We go on a whole school run each day training for the great cross country. Push Play has taken over and we just can’t stop moving!

Touch Rugby
We had a touch rugby game again Tainui and we won 4 to 2. We are enjoying learning how to play Touch.

Today is Halloween, don’t eat too much candy, stay safe and have a spooky day.

News report compiled by the children of Room 5

We nearly got home!

2005-10-21T21:34:00.000+13:00

Hi Guys

Well, we nearly got home! Mrs Jewiss and I spent a great day learning how to use Garageband properly and how to take really awesome digital photos. We are so excited about sharing this with you. We then went down to Christchurch airport to get on our plane home and guess what ... our plane had been cancelled! Due to technical difficulties the plane wasn't going to be flying back to DUnedin. So we now get to spend another night in our hotel and fly home in the morning. It is funny but not really funny as we really wanted to come home. I hope you guys have a great weekend. CU on Tuesday

Mrs N

Wow! I am so tired!

2005-10-20T16:55:00.000+13:00

Hi guys

Well we went to another awesome school today and we saw some children making movies using a green screen. Just like how you put your plasticine models onto a background, they filmed themselves and put in a fake background. There is a new plug in for iMovie that I have to get but then we will have a go at it!

I also learnt from some children how to use photoshop elements and this is an awesome programme that we need to get. I have also set us up with some email buddies from Fendalton school in Christchurch so when I get back we will start emailing them. And if we can get an iSite camera we could have some virtual chats with them over the internet! Cool.

Keep working hard!

Mrs N

Day 2

2005-10-19T16:19:00.000+13:00

Hi Guys

Today we went to two schools, one of the schools had a laptop for every kid! They have set up a recording studio off one of the classrooms and i thought we could do that in the room 5 resource room. I also saw an animation station set up in the corner of the room where kids were doing all sorts of animation, I will definitely set that up when I get back. We saw two Kapa Haka groups which was awesome and we have even more great ideas.

Why are you all asking me for more homework? You are all so amazing. Why don't you draft a homework sheet for me while I'm away and I will put them all together for you and you can take each other's homework sheets home. I hope you are having a good time with Miss Gray and making me proud.

Blog U 2morrow
Mrs Nicholls

I have lots of great ideas to use in room one with cameras and computers. I met some really nice kids and one little girl said, "Hi Mel" when i met her. I am pleased you are doing lots of push play Tamatea, well done for looking after Amber Caitlyn and great colouring in Mia.

Talk to you tomorrow
Mrs Jewiss

Having Fun visiting other schools

2005-10-18T16:51:00.000+13:00

Hi Guys

Today Mrs Jewiss and I went to visit a primary school in Christchurch called Fendalton Open Air School. We saw some great ideas for using technology in the classroom and we are excited to share this learning with you when we get back. Keep an eye on this blog and we will send you photos from our week each day. We know you are doing your best for Mrs Lawson and Miss Gray while we are away.

Our new site

2005-09-30T14:59:00.000+12:00

It is nice to be having the time to catch up on a few things at home and school. The men have been working on the heat-pumps in the hall and Office area this week and Ray, the new caretaker, has had his first day 'on the job'.
For anyone with a PC have a look at earth.google.com and moon.google.com. Both are very cool.... in the 'earth' one you can measure things and I have just been looking at how big the pyramids are compared to our school grounds - WOW!!
I hope everyone has a good holiday!!

I'm not really a computer geek ...

2005-09-25T08:04:00.000+12:00

On the first day of the holidays Miss Sutherland and I went to an ICT conference and I am very excited about the new things I can bring back to our classroom! I have set up a Web Note page where we can post messages for each other and I am now looking into how we can use blogging to record all the great things that happen in our classroom and keep our site up to date.

I also looked at Podcasting. So very soon we will be making some radio shows to be hosted on our website for friends and family to listen too. I am very excited about the possibilities!!

I also taught some teachers how to use Inspiration at this conference. It is great to see the enthusiasm of teachers around Dunedin!