Chinese Gardens Visit

What did everyone think of the visit today? I was really impressed with the Chinese Gardens and I am really looking forward to going back one weekend and taking another look at the intricacies of the magical garden!

Remember you are representing both Room 7 and Balmacewen Intermediate, so it is vital to keep a check on your behaviour and realize what is and is not appropriate during outside visits. I hope you take on board what I am saying.

Remember I have that yummy Chinese Gardens choccie up for grabs for the person with the most correct answers...you do not need to answer on the blog but you must hand in your answers to me by Friday! But you must comment on the blog!

Here we go

1. How old was the design for the little bridge?
2. How many roof tiles are there?
3. When did the CG open?
4. How many artisans came from China to build the gardens?
5. What are the four elements of any Chinese Garden?
6. What were the two reasons for the water being green?
7. What was special about the roofs?
   
8. What Chinese city is Dunedin's "Sister City" ?
9. What were 4 items that were not bought from China to create the CG?
10. Write your own question based on the visit

See you tomorrow!
Ms D

Sunday!

Hello everyone!

We're in Wellington and are about to leave for Dunedin, Phew! What a mammoth trip home...our flight took us From Rome to Helisinki in Finland then to Hong Kong where we had the day and went up the Peak and over on the Star ferry...then ate the best chinese meal of our life on Nathan Road :-)..then we flew to Brisbane then to Sydney and to Wellington where we stayed the night and now off to Dunedin...all in all it took us around 2 days to get home! ..

Well done Macca on being the first one to answer how many steps does the Duomo have, you were correct in saying 469...there is a wee something in my luggage for you :-)

Really looking forward to seeing you all tomorrow!

seeya!
Ms D

ROMA

hey you guys!!

Well according to my guide book there is more than that many steps...so competition is still OPEN!!

We are in Roma at the moment, that,s Rome....the Colleseo is totally AMAZING! and today we have hung out in St Peter,s square,

Sorry the key board in a slightly different and so it,s dodgy....

almost NZ time & can,t wait.

more blogging soon

Ms D

ITALY!!!

Hello my lovies from Florence!

Have been in Venice for a few nights, truely an amazing & quite spectacular place, we are in Florence now and have been for the last 2 nights and later on this morning we are taking a fast train to Rome where we're based for 4 nights!

Italy is wicked, the food is AWESOME!!! The ice creams, gelato are superb, I am averaging 3 a day...haha, the flavours I love best are tiramisu and panna cotta...oooooh..making me hungry!

Yesterday we walked up the Duomo (I'll try to add a photo but it might be tricky) competition time: How many steps up to the top ? Well done Jacob on winning the previous competition, I have a special something stashed away in my luggage for you!

Florence is full of lovely leather goods and stunning shoes, it is a shame my big kiwi feet wont fit the beautiful little Italian shoes!

I'm excited about Rome, and the prospect of more good food too! 2nd competition time, tell me the top 5 things I should do in Rome?

OK, I'll try to add piccs now, sorry if they don't work...any way I hear the weather has been rubbish, sorry about that but I do hope you're managing to do some cool family stuff anyway...today we are forecast for 27deg...niceone!

ciao!!

Ms D

London!!!

I'm here!!! We had a great flight over:Dunedin- Chch -Sydney-Singapore - London, just under36hours...!!! we flew on the new Qantas Airbus, the biggest plane in the world, the first person to tellme how many passengers it hold will receive a special London prize!

Tomorrow we a going to a Tottenham Hot Spur football match and on Sunday we're going on the London Eye! Can't wait.

It is super sunny, shorts & teeshirts weather! It's fabulous!

Anyway, better go, will write more soon!!

Ms D

Week 10

Here is a pic of me at the 'Cake Tin' in Wellington on Saturday cheering on the ALL BLACKS!

Where has the term gone?! It sure has gone quickly!

A few neat things are happening this week

• Visit to Otago Girls Tuesday 1pm for their Junior Production
• Futsal Vikings taking Room 7 for a Futsal training session on Wednesday 2pm
• I fly to London on Thursday!
• Miss Hudson finishes her teaching on Friday and becomes a qualified teacher!
  

Also, a B*I*G* Room 7 welcome to Sam Timmins and Paden Kennedy who are new to Room 7, we hope they both enjoy all the neat things about our class and Balmacewen Intermediate! Welcome guys!

Have a great week
Ms D

Week 9

How deliciously warm was the weekend? What signs of Spring have you seen around the place? The first person to let me know will receive a **PRIZE** and the second competition on the blog today...whose farm do you think these lovely creatures are from?

Well done to Miss Hudson who ran the half marathon yesterday, she ran a great time...who can tell us what her time was?

Lastly, a H*U*G*E* congrats to Sydney, Mike, Jacob C, and Bailey who ran in the Otago Cross Country champs on Friday! you were all AWESOME!

What are all your holiday plans?

Ms D :-)

Week 8!

Well Miss Hudson is teaching you for the next three weeks, which will be fabulous for you as she has great ideas and strengths in the classroom. In the mean time I get the chance to update the blog and catch up on some assessments and the like!

It was fabulous to see Mike and Jamie representing their rugby club yesterday at Carisbrook during the "Junior March Past the 'Brook", it was a lovely sunny day so I hope you all were outside enjoying the weather!

Sam C is back today after having two weeks off recovering from his OP, he is going to bring in the plate that was removed from his leg!! Great to see you back Sam!

Have a great week!
Ms D

Week 7

How windy is it at the moment? I laughed at Daniel's comment about the recycling bins! I was sure our BBQ was going to zooooooom off the deck in the gusts!

Did you know Jessica M is off to London too? Imagine if we bumped into each other! Now that would be weird!!

Pubertal change is going well, you guys have learned lots about periods, wet dreams and erections...our focus is changing into hygiene issues, liking ourselves and standing up for ourselves!

Your inquiry should be beginning to take shape, especially after Miss Hudson's lesson this afternoon!

Remember to BLOG BLOG BLOG

Week 6

It is Week 6, do you know there is only 24 school days left until the end of term? wow! (and only 31 sleeps until I fly to London and Italy for the holidays!!...but that is another story!)

How great were all of you doing the Cross Country? The training certainly paid off! We had some fantastic results with 6 of you in the top 12! wow that is awesome, but all of you that ran on the day have something to be proud of! Why don't you maintain the training and try to get out for a run now that the weather is good in the evening? Go on!

Sam C is in hospital tomorrow having the plate removed from his leg, we wish you well for the operation Sammy!

Good luck to all netballers who are in their final on Thursday! Go the Purple team!

Don't forget your spelling words to be memorized this week and your body assignment is due on Friday too!

See you tomorrow :-)

Well done...

To the Room 7 mathletes! Looks like you're a working up a sweat there boys!! A great effort to be proud of!

What do you think of the pubertal change lessons so far? Remember to have a chat to your folks about their experience of puberty lessons in their day, how similar is it to your experiences so far?

The Cross country is on Friday don't forget!! (as if you would!) , and parents , of course you can come and cheer your darling on! The top twelve runners from each year group will go through to the Otago Champs on September the 11th, I have a feeling 1/4 of those will come from Room 7, what do you think?

As always, leave a comment :-)
Ms D

Rock climbing

BubbleShare: Share photos - Play some Online Games.

What a fab Friday!

It's Week 4 already Room 7!

How fabulous was Friday? I'm so proud of all of you for conquering 'The Rock', it was a really fantastic day and we were super fortunate with the sunny weather!
I made a really neat slide show using 'bubbleshare' , what do you think?


Miss Hudson has 3 days left of control to do, this means she is teaching full time for the next 3 days.

Our Pubertal Change lessons begin next week, for any parents that were unable to attend the meeting but would like a run down of the lessons please email me & I can give you a copy of them.

Also, we had hundreds (literally) of photos from Long beach, if your parents would like a copy you can bring a USB stick, CD or I can email them to you, let me know.

Well done again Room 7 for great behaviour and plenty of smiles and laughter on Friday! I thoroughly enjoyed my day out of the classroom!

Competition time - Write a funny caption for the photos, just say what number photo it is (number 1, 2 etc) and write a funny caption! have fun!!

Rock Climbing

IS .............ON! I have just confirmed with the instructor and we are all go! See you soon! :-)

New Competition

Here is a new competition for the next week or so...I'll leave a quiz question, when you answer it you have to leave the next question for the next person to answer, and so on....let's see how many quiz questions we can get on the blog...

Let's start here: Why do we have a skeleton??

Our Assembly

Our assembly is 2pm this Friday, please tell your folks they are WELCOME to come and watch you **stars** perform! I'm really pleased with the progress you have all made! We need to keep on practising the dance and we will be fabulous!!

Don't forget you can wear your CORRECT PE gear to school on Friday if you are swimming!

Competition - What are the largest and smallest bones in your body? First 5 people to answer will receive a raffle ticket !!

School tomorrow?

No, we are on holiday! I hope you are all having a terrific break, I know I am, my Mum is visiting from Japan and my sister from Wellington and we are all enjoying that fact that we are on holiday!

What are all your plans for the break? there are a lot of events for the Cadbury Chocolate Carnival, check out the website http://www.chocolatecarnival.co.nz/

I hope you found your reports useful and agreed with my next learning steps.

Here are some dates for Term 2
Week 1 Parent Interviews
Week 2 Monday: Pubertal Change talk with parents
Week 3 Friday (7th Aug) Rockclimbing

Comment if you've read this,
Happy Hols
Ms D

Last Week of Term!!

Where has the Term gone?

A Huge congratulations to all of you for putting together your first ever science fair projects. I think it would be fair to say that you all have thought about how you would do things differently for next year, what do you think?
A special "congrats" to Mackenzie, Sydney, Bailey, Taylor, who were Prize Winners and to Ben King, Jacob Dickson and Liam who were all Highly Commended!

Home learning for the week, learn your spelling words, maths crossword puzzle, and check out the moon over the next 3 nights, draw it and work out what phase it is in.

The parent interviews notice went home tonight, email me your preferred time bdownie@balmacewen.school.nz or return the slip at the bottom.

Have a great week, keep an eye on the blog for what our class reward will be on Friday.
Ms D

Stars on Stage by Sydney

Student Voice - Sydney Evans-Tobata

On the 22 June 2009 Balmacewen were involved in Stars on Stage, a fun night to show other schools a performance that we have been working on for 8 weeks with about 120 kids . On the Monday night we all gathered outside the Regent Theatre waiting to perform for the audience that sat in the theater. We all rushed in side eager to get on the stage, down the hall way and into our changing room we were the first ones on so we wanted to make a good impression. After 20mins of nervous waiting and putting the final touches of make up and and face paint we were ready to perform. Slowly we made our way up the stairs to where the stage was; with the curtains pulled we quickly made our way to our places . The curtains raised, the music started and so did we. The curtains came down and we rushed out the back to see the other performances. It was so much fun and every one enjoyed it and according to the teachers we were the highlight of the night. By Sydney Evans-Tobata

Phew!

Wow guys!

At this stage I have heard almost all of your science fair presentations...I am so proud of you and all you have achieved! A lot of you learned from your Term1 inquiry where your next steps should be and have really stepped up and improved on your ASPIRE skills...any comments?!

Don't forget to give your folks the invitation to view the amazing science fair boards!

Hopefully you know there is no set home learning this week...only your spelling words!

How many of you plan to view constellation Matariki tomorrow morning? Also, have you seen on the news about Matariki and how people are lobbying for a public holiday to celebrate? check out this link
http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/call-public-holiday-matariki-2796128

Leave a comment
Ms D

A Quick Quiz

Do you remember what our WALTs were for today's lesson about Constellations? The first person to tell me what they were will receive 3 raffles, one for each WALT! Go on, I know you can do it Also, what is this constellation?
How does it link to a Japanese car brand?! Hmmm....

Tomorrow we are continuing with our drama, using our MIME skills to perform the legend of how Matariki came to be!

And speaking of S*T*A*R*S*, I am sure the wonderful performers in Stars on Stage tonight were fantastic and did yourselves and our school VERY proud! Kia Kaha!

Ms D

Disco dancers on the dance floor!!

How great were all your dance moves on Friday night? I was dutifully selling chips and H20 from the little room but still managed to catch a glimpse of some moves being thrown around the dance floor!! What did you guys think of the first disco of 09? let me know!!

Well done to Daniel Wilden who received a certificate in Friday's assembly for a great & thorough science fair logbook and having a really super understanding of the science behind his experiment. Great work!

We have more science fairs being shown tomorrow, I can't wait to see your work, so far everyone has been fantastic with their presentations.

See you tomorrow!
Ms D

It's a snow day!!

Good morning from my house!! We are snowed in, Thom's daycare is closed as well as most places around Dunedin!! I am spending the day writing your reports and I imagine plenty of you are finishing off your science fair projects!
I'm looking forward to stomping around in the snow with Thomas later on, which is as much of a novelty for him as it is me! What do you plan to do? baking? playing cards? science fair? Sleeping in?!

I hope to see you tomorrow as long as the roads are not too icy!!

Keep warm! Photos please!

PS: This is the view from my lounge!! Brrr

The Addictive Cube

About a month ago I was searching through a cuboard and I came across my dads old rubiks cube.I wasn't very interested in the cube but the odd time I would pick it up and try to complete one side.One night my dad completed the rubiks cube and said it was all algrithems but he cheated so I wasn't so impressed. Mrs Miller started to teach me the basic moves and now I can complete the rubiks cube under 2:30. I am now teaching my little brother.

By Jacob Dickson

Week 7's home learning

Home learning for the week beginning 8th June

• Spelling - learn your words as you normally do, activity: List the root word and all the variations of your word.
• Mega maths month visit these website www.mathsisfun.com www.multiplication.com http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/maths/timestable/index.html and spend 15 minutes each night (or during school time if you don't have the net at home) practising your multiplication facts
  
• Science fair - You are presenting your projects to the class on Monday...yes that's right,that is 7 sleeps away....so focus this week on getting your board looking fabulous!

Have a fab week!

Week 6 is almost here!

Making Hokey Pokey! Yum!

Swirling Milk.. why did this happen?

It is almost Week 6 which means your science fair projects should almost be wrapping up! The majority of the work is to be completed at home. I am teaching you the skills behind putting together a science fair inquiry but you are to do the experiementing and creating at home.

We have had a great week completing some DISCOVERY experiments, check out the photos. The competition this week is ...

What does surface tension mean?

Winter Pics from you guys!

Can you see what Marie is pointing at?

Can you see who this snow angel is?
Brrrrrr!

Famous Room 7 kids!

Week 5!

Thanks guys for a fantastic shared lunch on Friday, I was super impressed with not only the delicious cooking but the awesome recipes that came with the food! Not only were they yummy recipes but some had photographs attached, little bits of writing about why the food was fun to make etc! Well done Room 7 and parents for helping bring our learning alive!

Did you see the three handsome models in Saturday's newspaper? Sydney, Ashleigh and Daniel were modelling the new sports teeshirts which are made out of.....be the first to answer below and you'll win a prize!

Emma, Marie and Sam will all have photos published on the blog of them experiencing Winter...so well done to them for winning a prize!

How are those flashcards going? I would love to hear what you (or your parents) think of them! Do you think they are working to help you learn your tricky tables?

I hope you had a great weekend, I went to the cinema and saw "Night at the museum 2" has anyone seen it and would like to write a review?

I will see you tomorrow.

Ms D

Snow Snow Snow!

Here is a photo that Jess S' mum sent us this morning of the view from their house! Luckily Jess got to school eventually!

Email me your Winter snaps and if they make it onto the blog you'll win a prize! That includes Winter sports photos too!

KEEP WARM!
Ms D

A chilly Week 4

Can you explain what's happening in this photo? All correct answers will receive a raffle ticket!

Science Fair is in Week 9, I really enjoyed reading your log books last week; please make sure that you ask for help if you are not sure of where to go next. By now you should be experimenting and taking photos of your progress so far. Your log book is so super important!

We have had a fabulous few weeks looking at the changes of state and general science discovery, what has been your favourite so far and why? Let me know below and you'll receive a raffle ticket.
This week we are mixing some bubbling explosions, crazy cannisters and making hokey pokey, all the while looking at whether the changes are reversible or not, chemical or physical.

Lastly, have you read Ben Duff's ONCE review? it is bang on the money for a book review, he lists both the positives and negatives of the story and his own opinion. There is a copy of it in the reading corner.

TERM 2

Welcome to Term 2!

This term is all about discovery....what does that mean to you? Does the phrases Seek and you will find sound familiar? Do you agree with that statement? We will be discovering plenty this term: scientifically, musically, sports...you name it, we will be discovering it!

I hope you have already started to think about the Technology and Science Fair, it is in Week 9; although it may seem a L-O-N-G way off, it will come around sooner than you think. Make sure you ask for help if you need it!!

Hey, well done on that AWESOME effort with the beep test today, every single one of you were FANTASTIC and certainly improved your score on last time!! I'm super proud of you!

Good luck to the netballers who start their grading rounds tomorrow night! I will see you there at the Edgar Centre!

Keep warm, work hard, learn plenty

Ms D

ASPIRE!

Well we had the first lot of presentations today for ASPIRE, I was super impressed that most of you were able to tell me what made your New Zealander EXCEPTIONAL and HOW they made an impact on other New Zealanders!
I thought Bailey, Sydney, Ben King, and Mackenzie were spot on with their research and their presentations also. Well done. I really look forward to hearing the rest of them tomorrow.

I hope you were all super well behaved this afternoon as I went away Wiggling ( I'm sure you all were!) I've put a few photos on below to take you back to your childhood!

We are having an art afternoon on Wednesday followed by an arty day all Thursday! it will be a fabulous way to finish the term!

Keep checking back on the blog regularly as I am updating it often!

Bye
Ms D

Last week of Term!

It's the last week of term! Can you believe you have been at 'BalMac' for one whole term! I have to say, I feel very lucky to have you all in my class and I hope you feel the same!

I had a brilliant time on Friday enjoying watching you all show off your small ball skills, wasn't the crazy catch the coolest piece of sports equipment?

Tomorrow (Monday) is our museum trip, I can't wait to dress up like 'olden day' people and have a bit of fun, especially as it's the end of our Identity Unit!

What are you and your families up to for the Easter Hols? We are not doing too much, hopefully enjoying some sun shine! Let me know through the comments what you guys are doing?

See you tomorrow at the museum.

ps: Here is a photo of me last weekend in Queenstown running for the finishing line!! phew!

Week 9

Wow! Week 9 is here already, that makes it 7 more days in the classroom until a well earned break arrives!

Apologies for the sincere lack of 'blogging' lately...

A few reminders and bits for you to remember while I'm at home with a poorly Thomas...

• You should be working on your ASPIRE at home and at school. Your clear file needs to be going to and fro so you can work at home and during class time. Remember presentation of these ASPIRE units is due next Tuesday! YES! that's not long away!
• We have our annual Year 7 Small Balls Skills tourney on Friday, you may wear (CORRECT) PE gear to school on Friday! You will be in house groups rotating around 8 different small ball games, it will be a BLAST!
• Don't forget that on Monday you need to meet me at the Early Settlers Museum by 8:45am, PLEASE DON'T COME TO SCHOOL FIRST! and you need to be collected from the museum (Anzac Avenue) by 3pm. I will be sending a note home to those parents who have offered to help at the museum when I get back to school.

Have a fabulous week everyone! Be good and hopefully I'll see you on Thursday!

Ms D

Mackenzie's recount

THE HIGHLANDERS COME TO BALMAC

We hurried over to the field excitedly, all set and ready to go watch our very own Highlanders train on our own school grounds.

We were honoured to have them at our school, extremely proud of the local Otago rugby team. As we approached the field, we watched in awe as the Highlanders chased eachother around with the ball, tackling each other to get it. I went and stood by the sideline, chatting with my friends and watching the Highlanders pass to each other, and try and tackle their way past the try line.

Unfortunately, our class, Room 7, ruined it for each other and go to go inside early. We trudged inside, disappointed that we weren't able to watch them train anymore.

As we waited eagerly in the class for three of the Highlanders to come into our class room and answer some of our questions, we just couldn't contain our excitement. We were all grinning at each other, some of us bouncing around in our seats in excitement.

Finally, three very cheerful-looking and sweaty men came into our classroom. They stood at the front and introduced themselves as Lucky, Israel and Hayden. Hayden was very tall with a little goatee and the others were darker skinned with dark hair. We listened as they talked about training, only interrupting them to ask questions. We had some very good questions and they had some very good answers. We found out all about how the team worked, and how they trained mostly every day of the week. Playing rugby for the Highlanders was their full-time job.

The bell rang for morning-tea and the three Highlanders offered to sign their autographs onto a special Highlanders card for us. We filed along beside them, watching them signing our piece of paper, amazed by them. We thanked them nervously and ran outside with our morning-tea, running around after the other Highlanders, high-fiving them and asking them for their signatures.

It was a great morning and I just LOVED it. I hope they can come again soon!

By Mackenzie Reeves

Week 6

Swimming sports!

Swimming sports are on this Friday at Moana Pool, don't forget that you need to be dropped off at the pool at 8:45am on Friday!
It's the first big event for the houses this Friday, I wonder what house will take it out? Highgate probably ...

Tomorrow Mitchell and Mackenzie will both be publishing their wonderful recounts about the Highlanders visit, they were both excellently crafted using the skills of Show not tell as well as using very descriptive language and a touch of humour....watch this space.

I hope we have a good week!
Ms D

The Room 7 Librarians in action!

Taly, Mitchell, Jacob & Kirstin!

Week 5 is here!

Half way through the term already!

Can you believe it is week 5 already! Where is the term going?

Did you all enjoy house sports on Friday afternoon? I had a great session playing Capture the flag with a Highgate and a Shetland team, we all had a great time until the Southerly rolled in! brrrr.

What's on this week? We have the HIGHLANDERS visiting tomorrow! I hope we ask lots of interesting and valuable questions, no doubt we'll take a heap of photos too, so keep an eye out for those!


We have our final swimsation session on Tuesday at 11:30. We'll also be having a challenge to see who can swim 200m without stopping. I think that is 8 lengths.

Well done with your first spelling test on Friday, most of you got top marks! This week you are in spelling groups (The peas, carrots, corn and tomatoes!) you will get your list words for the rest of the term and each week you will receive an activity for your current list to work through for the week.

You are also now in maths groups, these groups are based around what strategies you already have for working out addition and subtraction problems.

We also start our PE unit this week focusing on small ball skills, we will be playing lots of games too that will help sharpen up your ball skills!

And finally, congratulations to Liam Guthrie our Class Councillor, and Emma McDonald our Deputy. To Kirsten Reid, Taly Holley, Mitchell McCutcheon and Jacob Craig who are our trained librarians, well done all of you!

Have a great week
Ms D

Wet, Windy Week 4

Welcome to Week 4!
Well I have to say that I am pleased our camp is not this week! We were very lucky indeed with our weather!
Camp was awesome! All Room 7 kids were fabulous and rose to all the challenges that camp threw at them! Have a look at your goals you wrote about camp and see whether you achieved them, I'm sure you did! I'll be posting photos soon, so keep looking back to see if they are online yet!

Well done with the beep test today too Room7 kids! wow! I was puffed watching you! as we work on your fitness levels over the term you will notice that next time that we do the beep test your level you reach will undoubtedly be higher than before!

A reminder that music lessons begin this week, you need to keep up-to-date with your fees and be organized and on time for your lesson! I won't be reminding you in class! (So set your alarm if you need to!)

Don't forget we have golf on Wednesday afternoon with Golf Pro Melanie Harper, it is always a fun session! Remember your PE gear!

Have you left a comment yet on our blog?!

Second language learning!

Japanese is here!

Our second language learning begins today with our Sensei from Otago Girls' High School arriving at 11:15 to begin a term of second language learning! This is really exciting for Room7 including me! Even though we only have our Sensei for one term we will be carrying on with Japanese for the rest of the year as I have taught Japanese at this level for a number of years. I wonder if we have any Japanese speakers within our parent community?

Week 3 Home learning!

Because of camp this week there will be no set home learning tasks. Just make sure you are organised and set for Camp! Next week we will have spelling tasks underway as well as the usual home learning tasks!

Camp is only 3 Sleeps away!

Hi there Room 7 and parents!
Welcome to our blog! This is where I'll post information about home learning, newsletters, swimming times and the like!

Guess what? It's only 3 sleeps until we go to camp! I know I am doing a final run through of all the bits and pieces that we need for our camp to be successful....the forecast is good, the bags are packed! and I can't wait...what about you?