Room 2 Blog Posts

Here are some blog posts worth visiting:

My Sand Castle.  By Ben Baas







Big Earthquake in Wellington.  By Charlotte Noakes

Origami.  By Drew Gombi

Writing.  By Malik Ryniker

Science.  By Paige Hutching

Science.  By Keely Puklowski








What would you like to read about in our future blog posts?

Term 3 Week 5 Newsletter

Would you like to know what is happening at Ross Intermediate over the next couple of weeks?

Our fortnightly newsletter is now available online from our Ross Intermediate website. For more up-to-date information, visit our Ross Intermediate Facebook page.

Production

This term we are working hard on our Production. Ngata house is putting together a pretty awesome show. Sheppard, Batten and Hillary are all very curious about why Mr Filer is building a VW van for us....shhhhhh Ngata students, let's keep it a surprise!

Jude Van Houtte has a lead role in the story that binds together the four parts that have been created by the different houses. So, she has become our reporter and photographer.  You can have a sneak peek when you check out her blog.

Term 3 Week 5 Homework

This week's homework should be glued into your homework book. Please have an adult sign off all 4 MUST DOs and at least 2 CAN DOs by Monday 2nd September. 

Health: Peer pressure

In Health this week we are learning about Peer pressure.  The teachers found this really interesting website, we are using to assist our learning.

Homework - Term 3 Week 4

Well done to those people who completed their homework and had it signed off by an adult.  For those who didn't get sign off, make sure you do this week.

A similar set of 'Must dos' and 'Can dos' this week.  Can you spot the change?

Week 4 homework is due Monday 26th August.

Basic Fact Ladder websites

In Room 2, we are all working hard to reach Stage 8 of the Basic Facts Ladder by the end of the year. Below, are some of the websites that can help us with out Mathematical Knowledge, that will make our strategy learning run a bit more smoothly.


Ross Intermediate Basic Facts Ladder booklet

Online timer


STAGE 4
Stage 4 Basic Facts Ladder

STAGE 5
Stage 5 Basic Facts Ladder

STAGE 6
Stage 6 Basic Facts Ladder

Learn your Times Tables

TimesTable Toons x3

Times Table Toons x9

Times Table Toons x10

Download the TimesTable Toons App here, otherwise you can use it on our class ipods.

STAGE 7
Stage 7 Basic Facts Ladder

Top Marks Year 7

STAGE 8
Top Marks Year 8

Math Magician

Are there other games and activities online that you can recommend?

Fractions websites

Next week we are going to be finished working on Geometry and we will be learning all about Fractions.  After we have worked with Mrs Bradshaw and then completed and marked our book/board work will consolidate our learning with Fractions websites.

Here are a few that we will be using:

e-ako maths: this is something new that we are learning to use

studyladder - set tasks: we always aim to get 10/10 then upload a screenshot to our Dropbox folder.

khan academy - fractions: Khan academy has an updated look since we last used it.

And a few Fractions games:

Tony's fraction pizza shop     
Cookies for Grampy
Bitesize Fractions 
Johnny's Maths Page
Find Grampy
Fraction poker
Melvin's make a match
MathFROG
Converting Fractions to Decimals

Let us know which Fractions game you enjoy the most?

Thanks to Ms Turnbull for collating lots of these games by the NZ maths Stages on her Wikispace - we are now following her on Twitter.

Homework - Term 3 Week 3

Homework, has a new look this term.


Due - Tuesday 19th August

Check the homework link for more information or your homework book.

Ross Intermediate Open Day

Come along on Wednesday 4th September to learn about our exciting Learning Futures programme for 2014. 

Blog Comment Rubric

Facebook - is your child safe on Facebook?

Dear Room 2 parents, 

Is your child using Facebook?  Are they 13?  If not, are you happy that they are breaking the law? Are you their friend on Facebook?  Is their profile private or public?

Here is a great blog post from Allanah King about things parents should consider when their child asks or sets up a Facebook account.

And a video you to think about who you and your children become friends with on Facebook...

For further information about Cyber Safety visit our Cyber Safety page.

Puberty - Health

As part of Health this term we are taking a brief look at puberty.

WALT - recognise the changes in boys and girls during puberty.

Mrs Bradshaw created an assignment on Edmodo using a BBC - Science and Nature website:

Initially there were a few giggles as we felt a bit uncomfortable, but we learnt an awful lot!

Spelling Under Scrutiny - Sounds of Spelling

WALT recognise the sounds of spelling

This term we are working on our spelling.  We are using a wonderful resource called Spelling Under Scrutiny by Joy Allcock.

To help us with our spelling we need to identify the different sounds that different letter combinations make.

Today we looked at the sounds 'or', 'er', 'ow',  and 'oy'
We were really surprised to find out that that the 'or' sound can be made up by 12 different combinations of letters, such as ough, or, aw, ore, ar, augh, our, awe, a al, au, oor.
These sounds can be found in words like: thought, organise, saw, ignore, four, talking, naughty, floor, water, board, awesome, warming, August.

Can you think of any more word that have the sound 'or'?

Book Club

Last term during Technology time, when our class was split in two we started up Book Club.  During this time we ask our buddy 5 of the questions from this list (we can also make up our own questions, as long as we use the Seven Servants), then we share as a class. 

This term we are looking forward to bringing the whole class together for book club and using what we are learning with CSI (Comprehension Strategies Instruction) programme.

These questions can also be used by parents and family member to ask about our reading too. 

WALT - discuss what we have read

What is the title of your book?
Who wrote your book/article/magazine/blog?
How did this book compare to others you have read by the same author? What did you like about this book?
What happened in this book?
Where is your book set?
When is your book set?
How did this book describe a character/problem/point/solution?
Which book do you think you will read next?
What did you infer when reading this book?
What genre/type of book did you read?
What does this book make you want to do or try?
What was the purpose of this book?
What predictions did you make when you started reading this book? What is an interesting fact that you learned?
Describe this book in your own words
What has happened in this book so far?
What would you rate this book out of 5? (1=poor, 5 = awesome!)
What would have made this book better?
What do you predict will happen in the next part of your book?
Which words did you find difficult to find the meaning of?
What did you learn from this book?
Where was this book published?
What connections can you make between your life and the book?
When was this book written?
How many pages are in this book? 

Room 2's holidays

Over the holidays, some of the students from Room 2 set their own Holiday Homework - via Edmodo, to write about what they did in the holidays and add it to their blog.

Here is one example, from Jesse:

Geometry - Mathematics

At the moment we are learning about Geometry in Maths.  As part of geometry we are learning about 2D and 3D shapes.  We are going to re-create our classroom in miniature form.

While the Year 8s were at one of the many High School Roadshows this week, the Year 7s were busy drawing the floor plan of our classroom and all the 2D shapes that can be seen from a bird's eye view.

Keep posted as we progress through the term.