Performance by students from our sister school: Guilin

Mandarin lesson 2

Today we had our second Mandarin lesson with Tracey Laoshi. We learned how to have a simple conversation saying our name and where we come from. 

We are loving the challenge of pronouncing the Mandarin sounds which are very different to English or Te reo sounds. 

At the end of the lesson we found out our Chinese names. 

Don't judge a book by its cover!

This afternoon we did an eye-opening activity about stereotypes. We had photos of different (unknown) people placed around the room. We all had to decide on each individual's age, occupation, marital status, hobbies, interests and more. Of course these judgments were based entirely on what the person in the photo looked like. What we found was surprising and way off what we had guessed. Hearing the real profiles of these individuals showed how wrong we were about so many things! We found there's no way you can decide what kind of person someone is based only on how they look and it isn't fair to make appearance-based judgments.

Mandarin lesson

Ni hao!

Today we had our very first Mandarin lesson with Tracey Tong, who has come all the way from Shanghai, China, to teach Mandarin in NZ schools. We are very lucky to be having lessons with her this term and next.

Today we learned the Mandarin for words and phrases such as teacher (Lao shi), how are you (ni hao ma), goodnight (Wangshang hao) and more.

We sang some songs and found out about China's population, land, ethnicities and culture.

Xie xie!

Picasso Art

Over the last couple of weeks we've been working on some art that was inspired by Pablo Picasso. First we picked which facial features we were going to use, then we chose the shape we going to use for the face. We chose from the range of different Picasso styled features. We then coloured it all in with bright and vibrant colours. Our final pieces ended up looking like this:

Over the last couple of weeks we've been working on some art that was inspired by Pablo Picasso. First we picked which facial features we were going to use, then we chose the shape we going to use for the face. We chose from the range of different Picasso styled features. We then coloured it all in with bright and vibrant colours. Our final pieces ended up looking like this: 
Posted by Giselle and Hannah

A day in Room 20...

We haven't posted in a while so we thought we'd put on some photos and videos of some of the things we get up to on a typical day.

Reading - at the moment we are doing Literature Circles. Everyone is in a group who are reading a novel together. Our novels are 'Holes', 'Bridge to Terabithia', 'Charlie and the War Against the Grannies' and 'The Last Wild'. Each week they have an agreed amount to read, and a different task to complete to do with what they have read. Then at the end of the week they have a group meeting where they discuss what they've read and share what they created for their task. We're over halfway through our novels.

Maths - At the moment we are learning about statistics. Today one of our maths groups was learning how to display data in a stem and leaf graph and a histogram.

Art - Matariki

To celebrate the Maori new year coming up later this month, we are doing a very hands-on creativity challenge. Students have chosen between the 'Wearable Art' or 'Make It' options and are using Matariki as their inspiration. Students have chosen to learn how to weave flax stars, design their own hangi innovation, and we have lots of carefully thought out outfits under construction. Watch this space!

Anzac Presentations

Hey Everyone! It's Catherine, and today we were lucky enough to have some awesome Anzac presentations. Thanks to Oscar, Henry, Caitlin, and Taylor for sharing! Look at some cool photos:

Lunch time sports semi final

Yesterday we had our semi finals for non stop cricket room 20 were vs room 22. Room 22 were batting first they did quite well, then it was room 20 turn to bat. 3 of our best players got out first bowl. So the score was not good for room 20. So the score was 18 to room 20 and 35 to room 22. Good game room 22!!!

By Matthew Brondel

Group 20B Mama Mia Pizza Showcase

Extraordinary Mama Mia Pizzas by Group 20B on PhotoPeach

Turangawaewae inquiry

For inquiry room 20 is learning about Turangawaewae ( your place to stand ). We are currently doing presentations about New Zealand's special places, culture, background, and what makes us unique from the rest of the world. 

Published by Sofia.V

Strike!

Today we were treated to a fantastic performance by the well known percussion group, Strike.

We were blown away by their talent and we have some very inspired percussionists among us!

New Classroom Layout!

Room 20 was lucky enough to have a brand new Blue table, and to re design the classroom. Everyone came up with a new layout, and voted on the best one! We decided on Jim's Layout. Look at a couple photos of our New Classroom!

Published By Catherine

Delightful decimals...where do they live on a numberline?

2017 class leaders!!!

Room 20 has recently chosen our class councillors and sport captains for cycle one of the year.

Congratulations to our class councillors Molly and Luukas!!!

And congratulations to our sport captains Sofia L and Matthew.

By Sofia V .

Swimming Sports - Fun in the sun!

What a day! 2017 Swimming Sports was a great success. There were suspense-filled championship races, hilarious doggie paddle races, chaotic whole house events, an epic manu competition and more! 

Hillary even beat Sheppard, TK and Nepia in the house chant competition, created by our very own Zoe, Taylor and Sofia L. Awesome stuff!

Check out some of these special moments below. 

Science Tech - having a blast!

Non Stop Cricket!

Room 20 played Non stop cricket today for P.E. Look At some of these awesome photos. - Catherine (class blogger) 

Introducing (drumroll please) Room 20! Welcome to our blog.

We've had an awesome start to 2017 and are loving our time at HNI so far. We've set some goals and we're ready to get out there and experience all HNI has to offer. We can't wait to show off our learning on this blog. Keep checking in to see more from us!