Room 4 kicked off the new year and term with an exciting water challenge. The challenge required the students to transfer water from one container to another, using only vessels made from paper. Teamwork, problem solving and communication skills were really put to the test. Congratulations to the winning team of Sloane, Brooke C. and Ellena whose co-operation and teamwork skills were an example for the rest of the class.
Week seven has seen Room 4 tackle art head on. The week started with Mrs Ford kindly coming into the classroom to demonstrate and teach the students techniques on how to work with pastels. The students practised their blending techniques on a Monarch butterfly outline. On Tuesday each student was given an A4 piece of paper and a piece of an artwork, which had been cut into 25 rectangular puzzle pieces. The aim was to use the pastels to recreate the colours of their piece of the puzzle onto the larger A4 piece of paper. On Wednesday when everyone had finished we put the pieces of the puzzle together to create our very own piece of artwork inspired by Warren Pohatu’s “Te Kaka-o-nga-Whatukura (2002″). The result was an outstanding success. A huge thank you to Dominique Ford, Heather Gasteen and Jo Gasteen for their help with our artwork which will be on display at the Omokoroa Art Exhibition this Friday 16 September.
Congratulations to Eloise for receiving a highly commended at the school speech finals on Wednesday 14 September. You made Mr. Joe and Room 4 very proud. Your confident delivery and enthusiasm for your topic was outstanding!
Term 3…ready for take off! Room 4′s problem solving, thinking and teamwork skills were once again put to the test with the Aircraft Challenge. Using only paper, straws, tape and plasticine, students were tasked to design and make an aircraft with a minimum wingspan ratio of 3:1 that could fly the greatest distance. Liam, James and Kyra were the triumphant winners on the day.
To kick off an exciting term, students’ problem solving and teamwork skills were put to the test. The challenge was to make a protective casing for an egg from only 25 straws and cello-tape. The eggs were then dropped from a height of 50cm, 1m and 2m and the successful students were those whose eggs survived each successive drop. The students had a great time but unfortunately the eggs didn’t. Four students rose to the challenge. Congratulations Sterre, Eloise, Beth and Kim for demonstrating excellent teamwork, problem solving and design skills.
A big congratulations to Izzy, Kim and Stella for making it to this Friday’s WBOP Primary Inter-school Swimming Championships. We know you will do Room 4 proud. Good Luck! 
At last! Mr Joe has got his act together and worked out how to use the web page.
So expect to hear about and see photos of some of the exciting learning experiences that Room 4 will be doing in 2011. Mr Joe will also be asking students in Room 4 to share their experiences.
