S C I E N C E F A I R ! !

Congratulations to you all for completing your Science Fair Inquiry!! It was fantastic listening to all of your presentations in class. There was a wide range of ideas, from Fruit Batteries to Solar Water Heating to Hydrogen Fuel Cells... they were all great! I was particularly impressed with the standard of presentation on everyone's display board - top work team :)
I am really looking forward to assembly tomorrow to find out who the winners are...I am sure we will have some Room 9 representatives at the Otago Science Fair! Have a look at everyone's efforts in the pics below:

What's Been Happening In Room 9???!!

It's been a busy couple of weeks in Room 9!! We have been on a trip to the Otago Museum called Lotions and Potions, carrying out science investigations, learning how to play the ukulele and planning our Rugby World Cup Assembly....
We have also been working hard for Mega Math Month!! Our baseline testing was 63% and we managed to raise it to 86% by the end of the month which was a fantastic effort! A special congratulations to Charlotte J who went from 25% to 93% - definitely a record, well done Charlotte :)
Check out some of the pics below to see what has been happening in Room 9 :)

Science Fair - We're Into It!!

We are into Week 3 of the term already so it's really time to knuckle down and get into Science Fair!! I have talked with everyone about their topic for their inquiry, and where to go next etc. You have your Inquiry Guide in your log book, but here is where you should be at now:

Week Two:

This week keep researching and think about contacting any experts or visit places that could help. Set up these interviews. Remember if you need to go during school time you need to bring a permission slip or note from home.

This week I want you to draft your aim and hypothesis – as we discussed in class. Start summarising the background information on the science behind your idea and draft this also for your display board. Start planning your investigation – the method and fair testing considerations need to be sorted – as discussed. If making a model or invention start drawing your ideas – plan your prototype.

Think ahead and draft up your list of equipment, resources needed! REMEMBER: THE MORE ORGANISED YOU GET EACH WEEK THE EASIER THIS INQUIRY WILL BE!!!

Weeks Three- Five:

Carry out your experiments, make your models, test your ideas. Keep a record of everything you do for your log book. Take photos along the way. Draft your method, equipment, and initial results. A lot of people are well organised and underway with their projects. You need to keep working on it!

Some of you want to use the students in the class to test on. You must have your permission slips ready to give out. Make sure you keep bringing your log books to school and checking in with me to show me what you are doing and to discuss any problems- I am here to help!!

Welcome Back!!

Hello Room 9 and welcome back to Term 2! We have another action packed term ahead so I hope you have all managed to recharge the batteries and are ready to go :)
Our Term 2 topic is WONDERMENT and will have a major science focus with Science Fair and Forensic Science being our main topics. We are also focusing on large ball skills in PE, ukulele lessons, character writing, multiplication and division (Mega Math Month), class assembly...and a whole lot more!
It is really important to get your science fair inquiry up and running asap! Your time management skills will be put to the test this term!! There are a heap of website links on here to help you with your science fair brainstorm as well as Mega Math Month practice. There are also some pics below of previous science fair inquiries - seeing some might help to get your science brain ticking!!
Good luck and please come and seem me if you need any help! On Friday you should have your Science Fair Planning Sheet completed and ready to hand in, and your Mega Math Month and spelling signed off too.

Have a great first week back! Don't forget we are into winter sports too so if you have signed up for netball, basketball, hockey etc make sure you are getting to your practices and meetings on time...

B E R W I C K C A M P!!!

What a week!! Room 9 had a brilliant week at Berwick :) Well done to all of you for giving it 110%. There were a number of challenges at camp and the way you threw yourselves into everything, while supporting and encouraging each other was great to see!
Thank you again for all your efforts Room 9 and making it a week to remember! Check out some of the pics :)

3 sleeps till Berwick Camp!!

Hello Room 9! I hope your packing goes well this weekend! Great to see everyone with their jackets, hats and thermals at school for me to check today. I think we might need them... but let's all have fingers crossed for some sunshine next week...

Here are some last minute reminders for you, get in touch if you have any questions. Have a great weekend and make sure you get lots of sleep!! See you on Monday raring to go woohoo!!

- Secret friend pressie (wrapped and with name on it)

- Gear for Amazing Race

- Ball outfit – Black/White

- Bunkroom decorations

- Camp concert gear

- Baking

- Lots warm gear and a great attitude!!!

Reminder...

As it was Anniversary Day on Monday and First Aid yesterday, your homework this week is pretty simple :) Have a look through the Portobello photos and leave a comment with the following: (should only be a few sentences!)
- something new you learned at the aquarium, marine animal you enjoyed learning more about - what was it?
- I would also like you to tell me what sea creature you are choosing to do your report on.

I know that some people are also going to be using the next couple of nights to catch up on some writing for their Sea Creature Writing Unit - these are going so well, I'm impressed Room 9!!

Last reminder as well to get your camp notices in too please!! Thank you to those who already have :)

Portobello Aquarium Trip

Room 9 had a great trip out to the Portobello Aquarium on Friday! We were lucky to have fantastic weather (maybe this is a good sign for camp??!!) and the day went really well. Was great to see everyone getting stuck into the squid dissection!
A huge thank you to our super parent helpers who got us there and back safely :)
Check out the photos below, as well as some of our octopus homes! This has been Room 9's homework task and they were brilliant! Everyone put in an awesome effort and I loved listening to your presentations.
We are into Week 8 already...the countdown to camp is on! Please get your camp notices in by the end of this week.

The Latest from Room 9...

Hello there Room 9!! Wow the weeks are flying by this term...Camp will be here before we know it! Please get your camp notices in to me asap. We are off to Portobello on Friday - some reminders for Friday:
- you may wear mufti to school - remember appropriate shoes for the lab and a warm jacket.
- big lunch and drink!
- be organised and at school by 8.30 on Friday morning.
It will be a great day out! Hopefully we will be back in time to see the Year 8 Sasa performances, and see our Kiwiana themed sasa on video!

We had something different today in fitness...well done to Lola and Charlotte for planning a unique fitness session! Especially as it was pouring with rain outside! Looking forward to Henri, Austin and Hayden's session next time...

Final reminder about your homework...due on Thursday. Can't wait to see everyone's octopus homes and designs! :)

Fantastic work!!!

Room 9 - super effort with homework this week! I really enjoyed reading your thorough summaries, well done :)

We had a Red and Black mufti day at school today to raise money for the Earthquake appeal, great effort by the whole school! We will hear the amount raised in assembly after lunch. Great to see lots of Room 9ers in their red and black gear - check out the photo!!

Have a great weekend everyone!

H.O.M.E.W.O.R.K. Week 5!

Wow Week 5 - hard to believe we are almost halfway through Term 1 already! This week we have our last swimming session as a class (on Thursday afternoon as usual). Please make sure you are organised with swimming and PE gear.

Homework - Homework this week is spelling as usual (List 3 words) as well as the following Rocky Shore activity. This week is Seaweek which ties in perfectly with our Rocky Shore topic. If you come across any articles/photos/letters etc to do with Seaweek (from the newspaper, internet...) please bring those along on Friday. Your task for homework this week is the following: click on the following link: http://www.otago.ac.nz/marinestudies/database/home.htm

Click on movies - you will see there are 6 movies to choose from. You can watch as many movies as you like but your task is to summarise one of the movies and post it in a comment on the blog. I would expect your summary of the movie to be about a paragraph long. It is important that you check your work for spelling and grammar - use a dictionary if you need to!!
If you are having any trouble please come and see me and I can help you out :)

Good Luck!

Week 4 at a Glance...

Week 4 was another busy week in Room 9! On Tuesday we went to the Art Gallery where we worked with John Neumegen for the afternoon. The rocky shore creatures we created using cut out prints now look fantastic on our classroom wall!
On Friday we had our Kiwi Golf session with golf pro Melanie Harper...check out some of the photos below!

S C H O O L P O W H I R I !

On Friday we had our school powhiri - it went really well and all of the Year 8's sounded great and looked awesome doing the haka!

An extra well done to those from Room 9 who were part of the girls Karanga group or were leaders of the boys haka...Ka Pai!

Week 3 Reminders

Hi Room 9ers! Hope you are all having a fab week :) Just a couple of reminders for you:

- Mufti Day tomorrow! Don't forget your $2 - fundraising for the Balmacewen Staff team at Relay for Life!
- Last day for music notices to be handed in tomorrow
- Swimming lesson #2 - Thursday afternoon. Please remember your signed note if you're wanting to leave from the pool or stay there for waterpolo.
- School Powhiri on Friday, followed by House Meetings where we will be having House Captain speeches. Looking forward to lots of Room 9 representatives putting themselves forward!

And last but not least homework is due on Friday - please come and see me if you are having any problems with it.

Ka kite ano

H.O.M.E.W.O.R.K.

Hi team!

Don't forget to bring your homework in tomorrow! Looking forward to reading them all, and checking out the brilliant presentation skills! Well done to Charlotte J and Taylor who have already handed their homework in...Tino Pai girls!

C O N G R A T S ! !

A huge Room 9 congrats to everyone who got up in front of the class yesterday and spoke to the class about why you should be class councilor! Never an easy thing to do, but you were all awesome! It's a shame we can only have 2 reps on the school council, Room 9 definitely has lots of worthy representatives. In the end Charlotte B-R and Henri were selected as the Room 9 representatives, and I know they will do a brilliant job!

Lola, Bruno and Josh are our class librarians and Ben, Sam D and Mamea are our sports monitors :) Great work team! Hopefully next week we will have some Room 9 names to add to house captains and leaders lists...

Week 1 Done!

Well done Room 9 on a great first (short) week! It has been great meeting you all and I am really looking forward to the year ahead.

During the week we have been discussing the following:
What makes a great classroom?
What makes a great student?
What makes a great teacher?

Below you can see a selection of some of the adjectives we came up with as a class...

Day 1 Over....Phew!!

Well done Room 9...you have made it through your first day as a Year 8 at Balmacewen :)

It was great to see you all today, and a special welcome to Will and Ebony who have joined us at Balmac for the first time.

What I would like you to do tonight is make your first comment on the blog, and become a follower (like we talked about in class). How did you feel this morning when you arrived in the hall? What are your thoughts on Day 1? What are you looking forward to in Term 1?
Remember you won't see your comment straight away as they come to my email and then I publish them. Please make sure you have your name at the bottom of your comment as well.

A number of notices went home with you today - hopefully these have made it out of your bag now!

I'm really looking forward to getting to know you all over the next few weeks, we have a lot to look forward to this term!

See you tomorrow! Miss Roney

Welcome to Room 9!

Hello Room 9 students and Room 9 families :-)

Welcome to Room 9 for 2011! I am really looking forward to this year , and getting to know yet another super bunch of students!

We have a busy and exciting Term 1 ahead of us, with lots happening every week. The key is to get yourselves organised and not leave things until the last minute! Having your PE gear every day, having homework in on time, and generally using your initiative are really important in Room 9.

Some Important Dates to Note:
Our swimming sessions start next week, and will lead up to our school swimming sports on Friday 11th March. Make sure you have your togs and towel on these days - Thursday 10th Feb 1.30-2pm, Thursday 17th Feb 1.30-2pm, Thursday 24th Feb 1.30-2pm, Thursday 3rd March 1.30-2pm. Each swimming lesson costs $3.30 or $13.20 if you are paying for the lot at once.

We also have to look forward to this term: Portobello Aquarium trip, Year 8 sasa, Year 8 triathlon and most importantly BERWICK CAMP!!... there will be more details about all of these later.

This Friday your baby photos and letters to me are due, and next Friday the 11th Feb the rest of your It's All About Me project is due. I'm looking for great content and presentation in your first assignment of 2011.

That's enough from me now... it's awesome to have you all in Room 9 this year, it's going to be a goodie!! Remember if you have any questions/problems about anything please come and see me.
For parents if you need to contact me please phone me at school on 466 7251, email me at lroney@balmacewen.school.nz, or pop into Room 9 anytime!

Miss Roney