Healthy Body, Healthy Mind?

The more we have learned about being mindful, and our mental and emotional health this year, the more we have discovered that exercise and healthy choices play a key role in improving our well-being. Taha tinana (physical well-being and health) is one of the four key aspects of Hauora, which we will soon be investigating further.

Last week we asked "How can we improve our level of fitness?" We came up with lots of ideas, many of which included getting our bodies moving and our hearts pumping.

After learning about simple tally charts, we went to the hall and did a beep test. In pairs, we kept a tally of our partner's score, then swapped over and they recorded our results while we did the physical test. Maia set up a station outside the hall where students who had just completed their test could go and immediately test their heart rate.

Later in the day, we again got into our pairs and recorded the number of push-ups and sit-ups we could do in 30 seconds. For each of the tests, we also wrote comments about how our bodies felt afterwards.


























This week we have been discussing what we could do with this data. We have decided that we could do more regular class fitness activities and test ourselves using the same tests as before every few weeks. Then we could look for ways to display the information and see if our fitness improves, as well as noticing how our comments may change. The comments will give us information about how we feel our bodies are responding to ongoing exercise.

Today we used our beep test data to create some simple visual displays to show our results. We have discussed line graphs, and we know that these will be more suitable to use when we have done the beep test a couple more times, then we can track our own performance better. But today we created some simple bar charts using Pages on our iPads.

We entered our personal data into a form in the app, as well as some of our peers' data who we chose to also appear on our own graph. Some of us chose to compare ourselves with a certain group, for example, 'Boys who play rugby league' and 'Year 6 girls' were some of the target groups students chose.

After sharing the results with our peers, we uploaded the displays to our digital portfolios and added descriptions to explain what the charts were. Over the next week we will be using the strategies we learned in term one, when we analysed our school class size data, to find the average, median, mode and range of our beep test results.

We are trying to gain a wide spread of data about our own personal fitness, so as well as all of the data we have collected already, we have begun noting down the number of laps of the field we are completing during each 20 minute session we have for cross-country training. We will use this information to learn how to create line graphs, using them to look for trends, which will hopefully allow us to independently complete this process with our own beep test data over the next two terms.

How Far Do We Travel To School?

Our Geometry focus this term has involved us learning about Transformation and Position and Orientation.

Over the past two weeks we have been exploring why we have maps, the common features of maps, and how we can use maps effectively. 

Learning activities have had us:

• Describing paths on a map of New Zealand using the basic language of direction (including discussing the Maori translation of place names)
• Describing locations and travel routes using co-ordinates

Today we have been working out distances on a map using simple measurement scales. 

We used Google Maps on our TV and learned about what the scale means. Using string and other items with adjustable lengths, we went about working out the distance we travel to school on the map. This involved some repeated addition (and a few of us were able to use multiplication) to add up the total distance. 

We then checked the accuracy of our estimate by using the 'Get Directions' feature, which gives you the exact distance. Most of us were pretty close!

Kyan used a twist-tie that he adjusted so that it represented 200m on the map

Would the exit we used from Bromley School affect the distance?

We added our distances to a chart which included our mode of travel for interest

Google Maps is a great tool for learning. We are looking forward to engaging in some travel challenges using the app to see what we have learned. 

3-Way Conferences

Thank you to all of the parents who came along to our 3-way conferences over the last two days.

It was a great chance for us to share with you our learning highlights and challenges from 2015 so far.

Many of us have created new learning goals with input from our parents. We look forward to celebrating our progress from this checkpoint when we meet again later in the year.

Well done to all Room 14 children for preparing your portfolios and planning your conferences. The meeting time always seems to go so fast, so parents please feel free to come in to the classroom between 8.30am and 8.55am (our Organisation Time) during the week for your child to share more of their learning with you. Much of our digital learning is also accessible online.

Our Mathletics Challenges

We now know that 'Mathletics' is the name given to many maths programmes and competitions across the world. However, we use this title for the maths challenge cards we have in our class.

The problems on the cards are colour-coded. Each relates to a maths strand (geometry, measurement or statistics).

We can choose cards to complete. Some tasks take longer than others and we have a checklist in the back of our maths books to keep track of which ones we have finished.

Mathletics allows us to use the maths skills and strategies we have learned to solve real problems. 

Many tasks require us to work in different environments, so having a learner licence is a great advantage.

Numeracy - Addition and Subtraction Strategies

This term we have had a strong focus on number knowledge, addition and subtraction. We have learned many strategies to solve problems.

Today we each sat down with a buddy to put our heads together. We had a series of problems of varying difficulty and made decisions over what strategies would work best in each situation.

Many children are showing a good knowledge of addition and subtraction, which will provide a strong foundation when we begin multiplication and division next term.

Measurement Challenge

Millimetres, centimetres or metres? Which would be more appropriate?

Today we completed a measurement challenge. We had a list of objects or landmarks around the school to estimate the measurements of, then we went and took the actual measurements.

Many of us showed great task management skills to complete the challenge. It was a great chance for some children to display the skills and attitudes they require to earn their learner license.