Maths | Basic Facts Boxes

The basic facts boxes challenge is designed to help you improve how quick you can do basic maths problems. Today I completed five addition boxes up to one hundred in 3 minutes and 28 seconds.

LI: to remember basic maths facts.

Reading | SSR Selfie

The SSR Selfie task is designed to help people improve their summarising skills and their retelling of a text. I did my SSR Selfie on a book called 'Awful Egyptians'. This non-fiction book is about interesting facts about the ancient egyptian times.

LI: to summarise and retell a text.

Comment Thread | Open & Closed Questions

In our commenting session, we looked at turning closed questions into open questions and using them in a comment thread.

We focused on replying to Room 4 using the structure of a comment which is: a greeting, positive feedback and question.

In groups of three, we created a document which included the comment reply that we were going to make towards Room 4.

First, we came up with a greeting, then we thought of some positive feedback that we could give to Room 4.

We then gave a reply to the two questions Room 4 asked us. After that, we came up with our own question to ask Room 4.

We thought of closed questions and then turned them into open questions. We used the open questions in the comment thread.

When communicating, we should use open questions to extend the conversation.

LI: to reply using open questions.

Kiwi Sport | Dig

A dig is the method used to hit the ball in volleyball.

Place the dominant leg in front of the non-dominant leg, shoulder width apart.

Bend the legs and lean forward slightly.

Put the non-dominant hand into a fist form then put the dominant hand over it (thumbs aligned).

Straighten the arms and push outwards aligning the fists with the waist.

When hitting the ball, the body should move from a bent position to a straight position to push the ball outwards. The arms should also come up straight and align with the shoulders.

In volleyball, it is important to know how to dig because it is the major technique to hitting the ball. The ball should contact the forearm instead of the fist.

LI: to learn how to dig.

Te Reo Māori

In our Māori session we were focusing on revising numbers, feelings, weather and the daily routine in Te reo Maori.

First we did the daily routine and answered questions such as: 'He aha te ra?', 'He aha te huarere?', 'Kei te pehea koe?' and more. 

We then learnt the definition of 'inanahi' (meaning yesterday). The question was' He aha te ra inanahi'  which meant: 'what was the day yesterday?'.

Next, we converted Māori numbers into English. There were ten numbers to translate.


After that we searched for images to match the feelings and weather. 

We learnt new words during this session. Some of them were, Ngenge (tired), ongaonga (disgusted), manaaki (caring), manahau (excited), kapua (cloudy) and more.

I enjoyed this activity and found it fun to do. I enjoyed revising more of the Māori language.

LI: to revise numbers, feelings, weather and the daily routine in Te reo Māori as well as learning new words.

Maths | Proper, Mixed Number and Improper Fractions

Fractions are the equal pieces that have been cut from a whole object. There are three different types of fractions: proper, improper and mixed number fractions.

Proper fractions are fractions in which the denominator is bigger than the numerator (3/4). Improper fractions are fractions that have their denominator less than their numerator (7/6). Mixed number fractions are fractions that have a whole as well as a fraction (1 and 2/5).

To convert each fraction into a decimal representation, by dividing the numerator by the denominator. Example: If someone has 2/10, 2 ÷ 10 = 0.2. The decimal representation of 2/10 is 0.2.

LI: to identify the three types of fractions (proper, improper and mixed number fractions).

Writing | Verb Tenses

Tenses are the three different things that tell about an action. There are twelve types of tenses.

The three things that tell about an action are: time, continuance and completion. 

Time includes past, present and future. Past is something that has already happened. Present is something that is happening at the time of speaking and future is something that has not happened yet.


The two types of continuance are simple and continuous. Simple is a specific thing and continuous is still going on.

Perfect is a completed action. It is not the same as past, although, an action can be done in the past but it may not be completed.

The types of tenses are: past simple, present simple, future simple, past continuous, present continuous, future continuous, past perfect, present perfect, future perfect, past perfect continuous, present perfect continuous and future perfect continuous.

Understanding the different tenses help us identify when an action has been done.

LI: to learn about verb tense.

Reading | QAR | Questioning

We identified the four different question types. The question types are: right there, think and search, author and me, and on my own. I solved the right there, think and search and author and me questions by skimming and scanning the text for clues about the answer. I then answered the on my own question by using prior knowledge to come up with a potential answer.

I put the "What is the drinking water company's name?" question under right there. I looked through the beginning of the book and found the answer on page 1-2. The answer was correct.

For the "What does the water tank code do?" question I put it under think and search. I looked through pages 2-3 and found the answer by reading a bit further from where I found the drinking company's name. This was correct.

Next, I sorted the "Why doesn't Ryder's family have as much water as the Carter family?" question nder author and me. I looked in page 2 because there were clues that showed the lack of water in Ryder's family. The answer was correct.

I then put "What do you think happened to Ryder?" under on my own. I put this question there because there were no hints in the text that could explain what happened to Ryder.

I enjoyed this task and found it very informative about the different question types.

LI: to identify the question types.

Explain that Idiom

My class blogpost for idioms can be found here:

Questioning

My class blogpos for questioning can be found here:

Word Problems and Strategies

My class blogpost for word problems and strategies can be found here:

Procedural Writing

My class blogpost for procedural writing can be found here:

Food Storage and Preservation

My class blogpost for food storage and preservation can be found here:

Summarising

My class blogpost for summarising can be found here:

Mixed Number, Improper and Proper fractions

My class blogpost for mixed number, improper and proper fractions can be found here:

Verb Tenses

My class blogpost for verb tenses can be found here:

Kiwi Sport | Volleyball | Serving

In volleyball, the serve method starts the game.

To do an under-arm serve, begin with holding the ball in the non-dominant hand and  align it with the hips. Then the dominant hand should be behind the back.

The non-dominant foot should also be in front of the other foot.

Then, propell the ball upwards slightly and bring the dominant hand to the ball.

When doing an over-arm serve, start with holding the ball in the non-dominant hand and align it with the shoulder. Then the dominant hand should be over-head, like an 'L' shape.

The non-dominant foot must also be in front of the dominant foot.


Throw the ball up and hit the ball with the dominant hand.

LI: to learn how to serve the ball in volleyball.

CARE Awards

Today, I badge bid for my bronze attitude. I thought I deserved this badge for having a positive attitude during KiwiCan, including motivating teams and giving ideas and techniques to other people to help them go through with the activities.

Te Reo Māori | Pipiri

In our Māori session, we were investgating the different numbers, days of the week, the different feelings and weather types in Māori.

Piriona is billion, miriona is million, mano is thousand, rau is hundred, tekau is ten and tahi is one. We were translating numbers to Maori.

Next, we identifyed pictures with different expressions in them. We wrote down what feeling each image showed in Maori.

After that, we translated different weathers into Maori. For example, "It's a hot day". He means 'It's'. Rangi means 'day'. Finally, Wera means 'hot'. So 'He rangi wera'.

LI: to revise the numbers, expressions and weathers into Te Reo Maori.

Maths | Basic Facts Boxes

The Basic Facts Boxes activity is used to help improve how quickly you can do basic maths facts such as 13 - 27 or 32 + 16. Today, I completed my Basic Facts Boxes up to 20, I did both addition and subtraction within 2 minutes and 38 seconds.

LI: to remember basic maths facts.

Reading | SSR Selfie

SSR Selfie stands for Silent Sustained Reading. The SSR Selfie activity is made to help others develop the summarising strategy. Today, I did my SSR Selfie on an interesting book called "Hello Neighbor - Missing Pieces" which is about a boy named Nicky Roth that slowly starts to discover the dark truth about the Petersons.

LI: to summarise and retell a text.

Reading | Inferring

Inferring is using prior knowledge to find out information that was not stated.

To infer people often start by identifying the image. If someone was inferring something about this image:

First, that person could start inferring by using their prior knowledge. That person may know that the fruit baskets have price tags on them. They may also observe that the fruit baskets are arranged on a table. 

By using prior knowledge, that person could then make an inference: "I infer that somebody is selling fruits".

LI: to infer information that is not stated.

Inference Poster

Inferring activity


Quiz activity

Maths | Fractions and Decimals

Fractions are the equal pieces of a whole object. Decimals are numbers that are less than one.

Example: There is one cake and someone is trying to share the cake amongst 4 people. If there are 4 people in the room that want cake, someone can cut the cake into quarters or eights. Each person can have one or two pieces of cake.

When a whole object is cut into equal sized pieces and shared out, it becomes a fraction. Fractions are made up of a numerator and a denominator. 

The numerator is the number above. The numerator shows how people want a piece of the whole. The denominator is the number below. The denominator represents how many pieces of the whole you own.

The denominator number can increase depending on how many people want a piece of the whole. The numerator can increase depending on how many pieces of the whole you own.

LI: to investigate fractions and decimals.

Comment Thread

Today I decided to comment on Hector's aboriginal art blogpost. The question I asked Hector was: "What story does your artwork tell?". I asked him this question because although his artwork was interesting and he explained what the symbols meant, I didn't completely understand what his story was. One thing I liked about Hector's artwork was the design he did inside of the kangaroo. 

LI: to make a comment thread using the commenting function.

Maths | Basic Facts Boxes

Today I completed Basic Facts Boxes up to 20 (addition). I completed doing 100 maths equations in two minutes and fifteen seconds. The objective of the basic facts challenge is to improve how quick you can do basic maths problems.

LI: to remember basic maths facts.

Reading | SSR Selfie

SSR Selfie is an activity that helps you with improving your summarising and retelling a text using the main points. I did SSR Selfie using a non-fiction book about record-breaking vehicles. I found this book very unique because I learnt a lot about interesting record breaking facts.

LI: to summarise and retell a text.

Māori | Translating numbers

He aha te rā? What is the day, date?:
Rāapa tekau hune.
He aha te huarere? What is the weather?:
He rangi mākū.
Kei te pehea koe? How are you?:
Kei te makariri au.

Todays maori lesson was based off translating numbers in to maori. We were making a number chart in maori.

The number chart we made was up to one hundred. On in maori is 'tahi' and one hundred in maori is 'kotahi'.

To write numbers in maori you need to translate whatever number is the tens and then whatever number is the ones into maori. For example: 38. The tens is three and three in maori is toru. Next I need to write down tekau because 'tekau' means ten (Toru tekau). After that I need to add a 'ma' (Toru tekau ma). Finally, the ones is eight and eight in maori is waru. Toru tekau ma waru.

I enjoyed this activity because it taught me a lot about maori place value.

LI: to understand maori numbers.

Reading | Prediction

Prediction is making an educated guess about what will happen in the text. Predictions are made by using prior knowledge and clues found in the text.

One prediction I made was that Kenzie was homesick because the text read "she's feeling wobbly already". This prediction was correct.

Another prediction I made was that Kenzie was vegetarian because the she skipped eating the chicken in the dining hall. This prediction was incorrect, Kenzie just didn't feel like eating the chicken due to it's appearence.

I think that this is a good way to practise making predictions. I enjoyed this activity because I learned a lot about making predictions and using prior knowledge to make educated guesses.

LI: to predict the events to come.

Maths | Volume & Capacity

Volume is how much space is inside an object. Capacity is how much liquid an object can hold. The standard forms of measuring capacity are: Millilitres and Litres. People often use measuring cups to measure capacity.

An estimation is an educated guess on something. Estimation is based off of prior knowledge.


When converting capacity, divide or multiply by 1000. Millilitres to litres or litres to millilitres.

LI: to explore the standard forms of volume and capacity.

Art | Aboriginal Dot Painting

Aboriginal art is a type of art that tells a story using symbols. Aboriginal art first came from the aboriginies Australian culture. There are different types of aboriginal art such as rock painting, dot painting, bark painting and more.

We watched a story about how the kangaroo got it's pouch to get an idea of aboriginal stories. Then we practiced painting the different symbols on a white piece of paper using a cotton bud to get the write shape of the dots. We continued to practice using the paint to get the right consistancy of dots and lines.

Before starting our final piece, we needed a basic idea of the story we were going to tell. We then chose an animal shape to trace. There were: kangaroos, koalas, turtles, geckos/lizards, ostriches and sharks.

We used a chalk to outline and trace our chosen animal shape. Next, we painted the inside of our animal outline then moved on to painting and designing the story. Once we completed our artwork, we let it to dry.

My artwork tells the story of two kangaroos, a joey and a mother. They are in search of a place to escape the hunters. Their journey takes place at night under a sky of stars. They follow the footprints of other kangaroos to a place where they might find peace.

I enjoyed doing aboriginal art because I learnt a lot about the Aboriginies.

Kiwi Sport | Volleyball | Setting

What is a set? A set is the ready position in volleyball.

To set, get ready with the starting position. The feet should be shoulder width apart and slightly bent.

When pushing the ball, the knees and elbows need to change from a being bent to being straight, hitting the ball.

When someone sets the ball, it should propell above someones head. The feet should stay on the firm on the ground when setting.

When the volleyball approaches a ball, they should move into setting position.

LI: To learn the basic techniques to set the ball.

Inquiry | Light and Sound

Our inquiry session was based off learning about the vocabulary of light and sound. Sound is the vibrations that can be heard by someone or something. Light is a source of energy that allows things to be visible.

The first activity was to correct the definitions of words. My group and I understood most meanings because we had prior knowledge and experience of the words.

Our second activity was to find, draw, animate and act words from the vocabulary list. We found photos of the words and gave definitions of them. We drew pictures of the words with the definition. For animate we animated the words that we couldn't get a picture of. Then for act we made a video of words that we also couldn't provide pictures for.

I enjoyed learning more about light and sound and understanding different vocabulary. I enjoyed this activity.

LI: to learn the vocabulary of light and sound.

Writing | Verbs

Verbs are words that describe actions.

There are three different types of of verbs: physical verbs, mental verbs and state of being verbs.

Physical verbs are action words, or words used to describe a sort of physical movement: run, jump, climb, etc. Mental verbs are words used to describe a kind of thinking: remember, forget, imagine, etc. There is only one type of state of being verb, "be" but there are many versions of it.

Verbs specify what a person is doing.

LI: to learn about verbs.

Reading | South Pacific Beats

We made an interactive summary about the article "South Pacific Beats". First, we learned the reading strategies that helped us understand the text.

The reading strategies we learned about were: prior knowledge, visualising, skimming and scanning.

After that, we looked at doing the vocabulary task. The vocabulary task is when you define the words that you think others or yourself may not understand.

Next, we created an interactive summary. We wrote a summary about the text then added the details, including links to videos and sites for extra information. A summary is a brief explanation about the whole text. Details are the specific information about the text.

LI: to create an interactive summary of the article South Pacific Beats.


I earned a badge by presenting this finished workpiece.

Maths | Basic Facts Boxes

Basic Facts Boxes is a maths activity that assists you in doing basic maths problems quickly.

Today, I did 5 subtraction rows (including 10 questions each). These basic facts subtraction problems were up to 20. I timed myself on how long it would take. These were my results:

Inquiry | Properties of Light

Property is a characteristic, quality or attribute that belongs to someone or something. Light is an element that makes things visible.

A property of light is that: light can be blocked by opaque (solid/not see through) objects. The experiment showed that when the opaque object was placed in front of the light, the opaque object blocked the light from passing.

Another property of light is that: light can reflect off of objects such as a mirror. The experiment showed that when the torch light was pointed at the mirror, the light bounced off and traveled in the opposite direction to where the torch was pointed.

Another property is that: light can create rainbows. The experiment showed that the light formed a rainbow after passing through the prism. This is because when light travels through a prism, the prism split all the colours from red to violet.

LI: to observe the properties of light.

Reading | SSR Selfie

SSR Selfie is an activity that assists in improving summarising and retelling context.

'Get into gear, Stilton!' is about Geronimo Stilton discovers that a new mouse in town arrives in a car that shines like the sun. Geronimo tries to figure out how this is possible. Geronimo comes across a secret lab for cars.

LI: to summarise and retell a text.

Maths | Measurement | Weight

Weight is how heavy an object is. The standard forms of measuring weight are: Grams (g), Kilograms (kg) and Tonnes (t). People often use items such as a scale or bucket balance to measure weight.

An estimation is an educated guess on something. Estimations are based off of our prior knowledge and our experiences. For example, people are measured in kilograms, so smaller objects would be measured in grams.

When converting grams to kilograms, divide by one thousand. When converting kilograms to tonnes, the numbers divide by one thousand.

LI: to explore the standard forms of measuring weight.

Writing | Plurals | Describing

Plurals are a form of nouns that show more than one thing. Plurals have certain exceptions and rules.


Often nouns end in "s" to make it plural. However, when a word ends with a "y" then its often switched it to an "i" then an "es" is added at the end (bunny, bunni, bunnies).

When a noun ends with "f" or "fe"then its switched to "v" or "ve" (wolf, wolves). However, there are certain exceptions to this (belief, beliefs).

Plurals can help with specifying if there is more than one amount of something. Use this site for rules and examples on creating plurals.

LI: to describe objects using specific and interesting nouns and adjectivest.