Hour of Code

This week, the Marvellous Meerkats are participating in the Hour of Code. It is a global event where anyone (from ages 6-106) can start learning to computer program. Any of the adults reading this can join us.

The link for our class is:

http://studio.code.org/sections/SRKGYM

Don't forget your password from Mr Davidson

A New Friend

This morning when we came to school, we discovered a new student in our class:

We didn't know where he or she came from, but he or she was sitting on one of our tables. We wanted to make sure that our new friend was safe. Soon, our visitor jumped onto the floor and started walking. But he or she was walking away from the door.

Mr Davidson got a paper and Rags (as we have now named him or her) walked on to it.

Next, Mr Davidson brought Rags outside and left him or her by the tree.

When we got back to class, we wanted to find out what Rags was. So we used our computer skills to look for pictures to see what matched. We found out that Rags is a cicada. It's a good thing we put him or her back by a tree!

Google Expeditions!

Today, the Meerkats went to Africa, India, Cambodia, Canada, Mars, under the ocean, and a television studio. All in one day! Can you guess how we did all of that?

No, we didn't have a super fast jet airplane. We used Google Cardboard and went on a Google Expedition.

Google Cardboard is like a set of special goggles that you put a phone in. It makes everything look real, or 3D. You can turn your head and see up and down and all around. You can even zoom in to have a closer look.

Google Expeditions are pictures that people (or robots) have taken in all sorts of cool places, like Australia, the Moon, Mars and lots of other places.

We had so much fun we didn't want to stop. Even after we got dizzy from looking too much.

Please like this post (on Facebook) or write a comment so that we can win a Google Cardboard for our classroom! We want to see lots of other places!

Musical Meerkats

Today the Marvellous Meerkats had a musical performance in the hall. All of the IAs and High Flyers and lots of parents were watching us.

A few weeks ago, we started practicing. We had to keep trying and trying.

Our performance started with Dash. Dash played his xylophone in front of the whole school. They loved hearing and watching him play. Azlyn helped Dash out because Dash was scared.

Then J-Lynn started to play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and the rest of us sang along. We used a special thing called a Makey Makey that turned Bradley, George, Natalia, Alex, Paris and Sunday into a musical instrument. All J-Lynn had to do was touch them on their hands.

Next Dakshesh played the Alphabet Song and Ryley played a special song Mr Davidson wrote. They both used the same instrument made out of the children.

When we were performing, we made mistakes but we continued. Mr Davidson didn't even help us one bit. He took this video:

We want to do this in front of the whole school again because we had so much fun. Some of us got scared, but we still tried our best and were very brave.

Indian Treats (Diwali)

Today Dakshesh and his Mum made some yummy, spicy treats. Yesterday was Diwali and they wanted to share some wonderful things with us. We want to say thank you to both of them for sharing. Some of us have never had these treats before. It was a great, new experience.

"The food was really yummy and spicy" - Natalia

Thank You For the Delicious Pizza!

Today we were given a free pizza lunch because we brought in lots and lots of our forms. It was delicious. We got to eat pepperoni, Hawaiian, ham & cheese, and cheese pizza.

Thank you to everyone who paid, ordered and delivered it to our classroom! Have a look at us enjoying our yummy lunch.

From The Marvellous Meerkats

Global Math Task Twitter Challenge - Week 1

Today we participated in the Global Math Task Twitter Challenge  (GMTTC). The problem we had was this one:

Here are some of the answers that we came up with. We used lots of different materials to solve this and got lots and lots of answers.

Our Trip to MOTAT

Yesterday the Marvellous Meerkats went to MOTAT to explore and learn about flight.

First we went to look at the exhibits. We got to play around in a room full of fun things. We also got to learn about some video games from New Zealand.

Then we took a train to the second part of MOTAT. We saw lots of big airplanes in a massive room.

Later, we got to learn about flight from Abby. We did lots of fun activities. Flight has four forces: Lift, Drag, Thrust and Weight.

We had lots of fun at MOTAT. I can't wait to go back!

Our First Kiva Loan

This term we have been learning about Kiva. They are a group that helps people who are starting their own businesses. We can lend money to help these people. When Mr Davidson went to America, he was given some free loans. After learning about things like money, sharing and making a business, we looked at some loans on Kiva. We decided to give to someone who needed money for school, so we loaned to Conchita from the Phillipines. Check out her Kiva profile here, and lend some money if you can. Since it's a loan, you'll get your money back at the end!

You can read more about Kiva at http://www.kiva.org/.

Duffy Books!

This morning the whole school went to an assembly in the hall. A special guest came to talk to us. He was a wrestler, an artist and he writes comic books. He was pretending to be a superhero and he had a mask.

We also got our Duffy Books. We each got 2 very good books that we are going to read at home. Here is how we decorated our box:

It is a polar bear inside of an igloo. Check out our blogs to see the books that we got!

Park and Walk Day

On Thursday, many of the Meerkats participated in the Travelwise Park and Walk Day. Many of us met at the park down the road and a few more met at the church, near the BP. We walked in a big group and even though it was raining we had a great walk together. We even got some hot chocolate for all of our work. Have a look at all the Meerkats who participated:

Shared Writing

This week we did some shared writing in partners. We looked at a picture of two teachers at our school and we wrote a description about them. Here is an example of one, written by Asafo, Dakshesh and Soileti.

The Marvellous Meerkats are Going to Mars!

Today we signed up to have our names go to Mars. Here is a look at our boarding pass:

We all got our own boarding passes. Maybe you can see them on our own blogs. You can sign up yourself right HERE.

Puppet Pals Retelling of The Prince and the Lion

On Friday, Han, Natalia and William used Puppet Pals to retell the story they have been reading this week. They worked together and have made an interesting video. They have improved so much on the last time they did this. I can't wait to see their next Puppet Pals video! (You may even be able to see some of their other work on their blogs!)

Weekly Certificates

Congratulations to Alex and Dakshesh, the winners of our class and Duffy certificates respectively. Both have been amazing helpers all week long. Great work boys!

Tongan Language Week

This week is Tongan Language Week. We each made a pattern so we could make a Tapa cloth as a class. First we traced over a line with a black crayon. Then we coloured it in with each colour. We could choose from black, yellow, red and brown.

Today in class we will be putting pictures of our patterns on our own blogs. Check out who made each square soon...

Blogs, Blogs and More Blogs

Over the past few weeks, we've been slowly setting up blogs for everyone in the class. We've got most of them setup now, and if you want to look at some of the work we've been doing, you can check them out on the left. Feel free to leave any comments, but remember they should be: Kind, Helpful and Specific. Most of the children have uploaded one of their fluency videos. Have a look at how well we can read!

Goodbye Hazelnut and Lunar!

Hazelnut and Lunar had a great time with us, but it was time for them to move on to the next school. Before they left, they got to meet some of the other staff at Rowandale:

With Mr Vasau

With Mrs Tofilau

They also got to see a powhiri for our new teachers. Do you know what a powhiri is?

They are now on there way to Denmark. Here is a map of everywhere they've been and the next school they're going to. Can you name all of the places they've been to so far? They have travelled quite a long way.

We wish them luck on their journey. Thanks for visiting us!

Counting by Threes

Today the Parrots were counting by threes using the beans and the lids. They worked really hard together and managed to get all the way up to 99. Have a look at some pictures of our work.

Making One With Fractions

For the last two days we've been learning how to make one with different fractions. We used the iPads to take pictures of our work. Have a look at what two of our groups did today:

Go Noodle!

We've been doing Go Noodle for so much, we got a certificate! Do you use Go Noodle? Check it out HERE.

We like to do Maximo and Zumba. Maximo is a guy that's blue and he teaches us how to do moves (Pua). Zumba is a dance that teaches you how to dance when you go to the disco. When you go to the disco you can make the moves when the song plays (Han).

A Great Big Thank You!

When Mr Davidson went back home to Canada, he saw his family friend, Helen. She was always very good at knitting. When Mr Davidson was little, she made him many things: sweaters, mittens, socks, hat and other things. She knew Mr Davidson had a class of children back in New Zealand and she knew that it was winter time there (even though it was summer time in Canada). So she decided to knit hats for every single Meerkat (including Ngeru). Mr Davidson brought them back in his suitcase.

We even learned a new word from Canada: toque. It means the warm hats you wear in the winter time. 

We decided that it would be nice to send some thank you letters. A few weeks ago, we wrote our letters and Mr Davidson sent them in the mail. Now that they've arrived in Canada (on Helen's birthday!) we can share the surprise. Here are some of the letters that we wrote:

From Paris

Thank you Helen! We really enjoy the warm gloves and toques you sent us! It's really cold right now and they are coming in very handy.