oh room sixteen !

What a great week! I loved this week because every student in the class was involved in some part of the making of the play, whether by making music in the band- at some point during the week Aimee, Kirsty, Georgie, Jahnaya, Samara and Brea were all involved in making music that they had, on Tuesday, never even thought about and through experimenting and working together they made something great. As far as music, they were working through some pretty complex ideas about building mood and texture with violins, xylophones, guitar, recorder and autoharp.

Also, what I loved about the play was how it was originally written by Annie and Layla and then reworked by Caleb and Finn to make it a bit longer and more substantive. Together they made something stronger.

The students that didn't get an opportunity to act in the play were involved by giving valuable feedback to the class about their performances and how to make the play better.

Ultimately, it was a highlight of the year so far for me as watching the class backstage was great because they were so happy and proud of themselves, as they should have been for a play they put together in a week. They showed hiranga- excellence and should be extremely proud.

 Here is an example of some of the quality student work we have produced in our class this year so far. Over four weeks, students worked hard to create a quality narrative and I have been blown away by the quality of their writing. Students also got the opportunity to craft some beautiful sumi e paintings. I know that at least for Annie she was hating having to use one colour, but it has really paid off as they have made some beautiful paintings of our hidden history.


 

Ashish has been exploring the cultural differences between Nepal and New Zealand to help him with his documentary that he is putting together for Land of Plenty. Students are exploring how people maintain their culture when they leave their homeland and come to a new place. In the unit this new place is New Zealand, and with lots of migrants at the school and in our classroom, including Bawi Tha, Bawi Cung, Ram Peng, Ashish and Mr Phillips, it means that we are able to draw on our own experiences and knowledge to help others learn.

In Room 16, we have been learning all sorts of interesting things we can do with Fractions. Yes, they are a bit "freaky" but we don't let that change us.








Also just as a check, would love you guys to complete this assessment if you feel confident with dividing sometime soon please!

We have been exploring this historical issue in order to create our own bloody and frightening historical fiction. I have been extremely impressed with the quality of the students in Room Sixteen's work.

Here is an example from Georgie Merry

"His hands sway back and forward as he moves, his skin papery underneath a well groomed bread and jagged jawling. Looking at him and his pale skin, the way his eyes reflect whatever is in front of them, creates a sort of elegance about him. His eyes remind me of my blue water tank in my yard when you open it, only my water tank is only a few feet deep and his eyes are fathomless"

Students have been focusing on creating

• vivid descriptions of characters
• painting the picture of a scene to give the reader a better idea in their mind
• interviews with the characters to make them more lifelike

I am so impressed with Emma's outstanding presentation of her learning about Heritage, she has shown a range of great sights of heritage in Nelson (or sites) and has made her own opinion as to what heritage is. I especially like how the camera zooms in to her own photographs of the places of heritage.
 Caleb has created a presentation that is a big improvement on his last presentation, I especially like how he has followed our success brief and has made a great personal comment on the issues around heritage. The quality of the thinking displayed is mirrored in the fantastic use of prezi.
 You don't come away from Jackson's prezi without learning heaps and being blown away. Jackson has clearly thought really hard about how best to show the hidden history of Nelson, and this prezi is as sophisticated and as sharp as they can get. A brilliant effort.