Kahikatea Tree at Papakura South School

Kahikatea Tree at Papakura South School
Martha-Lee and Madeline

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Fears & Phobias Recount by Jayden

Two years ago I had a visitor in Australia, it was a snake! I did not know what attracted it to come into my house. I was terrified to have a snake inside.
So I got a broom and tried to get it out but it was no use. It just kept on biting the broom. So I woke my nanny up and she called our neighbour. When he arrived at our house, he had a dustbrush and a bag. He used the dustbrush to put the snake into the bag. Then we took the snake to the animal control and they told us why it came into our house. It was very hungry and it was pregnant.
Being face to face with a snake has made me overcome my fear of snakes.

By Jayden
Year 4
Room 12

Sunday, October 07, 2007

Mrs. Raman's Reflections on Ulearn07 Conference

Hi,
Hope you have all had a good break and are feeling refreshed for the 4th and final term – only 79 days to Christmas J
I spent the first week of my holidays entertaining visitors from South Africa – it was wonderful catching up with two of my neighbours from Durban, who I have known since the age of four. The second week kept me busy with spring-cleaning and the last three days I was fortunate to attend the Ulearn07 conference at Sky City. What a fabulous conference it was with three inspiring keynote-speakers and some amazing NZ teacher/presenters.
I have learned so much and by the last day I was on overload. The biggest message for me was about networking, collaborating and connecting with others in order to prepare our students as lifelong learners of the 21st century. I have learned that one of the aims of teaching is to develop and extend students' thinking and learning by catering for pupils’ individual learning styles, multiple intelligences and providing meaningful assessment which informs learning. Computers and the Internet has revolutionized the world we live, learn and teach in. There are numerous exciting programmes, tools and software for teachers and students that can make learning fun. ‘Many computer applications have been developed explicitly to engage learners in critical thinking.’ ‘…computers should be used as tools to help learners build knowledge…’ If teachers have an attitude of: ‘Please don’t give me any more information; I already know what I think!’ (Longworth, 2003) then I believe today’s classroom is not the place for them because learning is a lifelong process and it is forever changing. According to Tony Ryan, in this Information Age of the 21st century, computers are rapidly overtaking many of our analytical functions. Occupations for future generations will probably require a strong imaginative and personal component that computers are not capable of doing. It is therefore important to integrate a variety of creative teaching strategies into our classroom practice in order to prepare students for success in their learning as well as in their uncertain future.

Below are some links that you may find useful:

Keynote speakers
http://blog.core-ed.net/derek/

Conference Photos
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ulearn/

Kree’s Ulearn Pics
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kreeraman/

Kree’s twitter
http://twitter.com/kree4sai


Kree’s favourites/bookmarks
http://del.icio.us/kree12

Ewan McIntosh’s Blog
http://edu.blogs.com/

http://newzealand.takingitglobal.org/

Tonnes of valuable resourceshttp://www.tki.org.nz/e/tki/

Evolution of Communication
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/evolution_of_communication.php

http://aucklandregion.takingitglobal.org/connections/stories/story.html?MemberID=25064

Free Books on the Internet
http://users.erols.com/jonwill/freebooks.htm

http://www.linkedin.com/home?trk=tab_h

Have a great term y’all.

Kree Raman
Room 12 Teacher
Kelvin Road School
Auckland NZ

Friday, September 14, 2007

Developmental - Building Blocks

Trinity & Willamina

Trinity


Chase

Trinity


Destiny

Poem by Douglas


Did you ever

go on stage

to say a speech?

Legs shaking!

Heart racing!

Audience staring.

It's frightening.

Go the All Blacks!


Haiku Poem by Room 12
Shared Writing

Birthday Party


2007 Senior School Speech Winner 3rd Position

Birthday Party

Shavanah Raumati Room 12


Have you been to a birthday party?
I have been to a birthday party one Saturday.
I had to be there at lunch time. I went to the birthday party by car.
My little cousin invited me to his party. I went there with my Mum, my Dad, my sister and brothers. The party was at Kelvin Road. There were so many people. Sometimes I carry my cousin. His name is Jeffrey. He is 12 months old. He can say Nan and mum. There were balloons and races, pin the tail on the donkey and musical chairs. All the treats came pouring out of the kangaroo piñata when we hit it. While we were eating at the table we were talking but we are not allowed to talk while eating. We had pizza, drinks, chips, lollies cake and all the other delicious food. My cousin was not well when it was his birthday. Some mean person picked him up and sneezed so he caught a cold. We sang the happy birthday song. We enjoyed the birthday cake.


Geometric Patterns - Shania, Ariana, Kereama


First time at the Dentist

2007 Senior School Speech Winner 2nd Position
First Time at the Dentist
Ngaio Tamiana Room 12

Do you remember your first visit to the dentist? When I first went to the dentist I was in a panic. The dentist told me to lie down on the seat. Then I had to put some glasses on. At first I was calm but when I saw the needle I started to panic. When I am afraid I always believe that I am not. I tried to be brave and strong. But I cried when the dentist put the needle into my mouth.
It was bleeding when she pulled the needle out so she put a cotton bud to stop the bleeding in my gums. It was scary. When I got off the dentist chair she showed me my tooth. It was kind of yucky and small. I saw a little bit of blood on my tooth. It looked strange to me. The dentist put my tooth in a plastic bag and wrapped it up in tissue. When I went back to class my teacher told me to show the children my tooth. I will never forget that first visit to the dentist but next time I will be prepared.