Writing for different audience

This week, in Writing, we have been thinking about writing for an audience as well as being persuasive. We have completed a range of tasks from paired speeches, through to looking at how to plan a persuasive piece of writing and ended up with today's activity of thinking about your audience.

Writing speeches

The idea today was to take a newspaper article and "Change It" into a different genre - suitable for a different audience.
We began by brainstorming different types of writing - humour, gossip magazine, science fiction, fantasy, romance, tweets and texts as well as scripts.

Original Text: A newspaper report!          

                                                       New writing form: action

                       adventure story

Another Police Chase                                 

involving Teens                               Wild Boys

Two teenage boys were                            Crash! Another table flew

allegedly throwing chairs      across Phillipe’s restaurant

and tables at a local      and crumpled in a heap in the

restaurant in Westlands      corner. Roger and Brett laughed

on Friday night. They then      raucously as they scanned the

bolted from the restaurant      restaurant and admired their

when they heard the      work. Only the three tables with

manager calling the police.       customers remained in place.

A high-speed chase ensued      Tentatively the customers began

around central Westland’s      to scuttle towards the door,

streets.      keeping their eyes firmly fixed

   on the villains.

Suddenly the paniced voice

of the manager could be heard

pleading for help. Roger and

Brett glanced at one another

and bolted from the restaurant,

slamming the door behind them.

A couple of groups really liked the idea of a movie script. So while one group headed off with ipad to make an imovie another group headed up to the field to practise their version of a high speed chase!!

(No one was harmed in the making of this collage!)

Issues we are PASSIONATE about!

Back on line!

It has been a while since Room 11 has put up a post... mainly because I was away in Europe. I could fill the blog with lots of photos but better not!
It has been great to get back into the classroom. This week has seen the class thinking about "change" and what it means in their lives and what it might mean on a bigger scale. We did some group brainstorming to get us off the mark.

We have also been thinking about groups/organisations who are agents of change and who we could support this term. No decision has been made but there have been some wonderful suggestions.

Also today we began a term long reading challenge. Room 11 were sooo quiet in the library today as they got stuck in to their books!

So a little snap shot of our week!

My last day of the term!

I can't believe that the year is half way though! This week six students have been involved in the school's Literacy Extension camp: Alice, Olivia, Sam F, Eli, Bella and Maisie. They have had a great time and I am looking forward to hearing all about it!
The rest of us have had a "wind down" sort of week - finishing off pieces of work, such as our advertising briefs. Here are Junior's and Ellie's "advertisements!

Today we carried on with our Art - looking at our faces and how to portray them.  We started with some eyes closed drawings, and then looked at pencil portraits and collages.

All in all a really busy term. Enjoy the holidays!

Engaged in our Learning!

Today we had quite a few students away on the Masterton Sport exchange. Those of us back in the classroom decided to look at castles and their various features. In Maths, with Ms Vanderpump, Room 11 has been using a castle to work out area, so it "kinda" fitted in !!
Well we had a great day. I was even persuaded that Minecraft was the way to go! We also had quizzes being created on Kahoot and art, with pencil and pastel.

And just so you can  see some of the awesome art work:

Picasso Faces

Room 11 enjoyed sharing some of their creative talents with a double session of art!

A Busy Start to Week 7!

 The week began with the class reflecting back on what they could remember from last year's pubertal health unit. We had a "mix 'n match" Challenge and I'm pleased to say they did really well!!

We also shared out class book - The Teenager's Guide to the Human Machine. There are some great  "pages" and I took photocopies to display on the wall.

Mrs Bassett has also sent  through some images from Food Tech:

So lots going on and more to come!

The week that was!

Last week we had a go at technology challenges! The idea was to save a "pet" stuck down a drain pipe! There were some interesting techniques but two teams - Bella and Tamar  and Tom R and Jacob came out on top! This week those four will participate in the school's technology challenge - run by Mr Sutherland.

First the planning!

But does it work???

Group KK create their burgers in Food Tech

Group KK manufacture their Burger Heaven designs .... on PhotoPeach

Group KK Masterchef Challenge

Masterchef light meal using eggs Creativity Challenge on PhotoPeach

Some pictures from this week!

This has been a short week, with a lot of us thinking Tuesday was Monday! It also meant quite a few students without PE gear on Tuesday!
With the cold weather we have had our two PE sessions in the Hall. Mr Bussell introduced us to Hand soccer yesterday and today we returned to an old favourite... unihoc (indoor Hockey). Room 9 beat Room 11 - but they had to borrow a few of our players to even out the teams!

This afternoon we are trying to bring together our class book: The Teenager's Guide to The Human Machine. Each student is putting together a page on a topic of their choice. Included in the tasks was an interview with an "expert" on their subject.

Wednesday of Week 4

I want to thank Room 11 for their co-operation today. I have lost my voice and the class has been great - listening carefully to me. I've really appreciated it!

 Today we had a game of "Crab Soccer" with Room 9. It was great to hear Mr Bussell praising the boys for their readiness to join other teams. It was lots of fun and maybe a game we will play again!

Was that a goal?

Where did the ball go?

I've got it!!

All on the move...

 Yesterday during Inquiry we looked at the types of questions that the students should be using for their interviews. We had a good session looking t the difference between "fat" and "skinny" questions.

This afternoon we took a break from our Inquiry ladder activity and looked at some Thinkers Skills tasks. Maisie's use of false teeth was one task that stood out for me! However there was some very creative thinking going on around the classroom!

So that was our day!

Week 3 of the second term

This week has been a short one for me as I have been away.

I have come back though to Student-Led Conferences and have found it really positive and interesting to hear the students talk about their learning, their highlights and goals. Well done to those of you who had prepared your "scripts" and had work to share that you were proud of!

Subject discussions

In reading I have been… learning about the Highwayman. Our class each made a filmstrip, I will show you what I have done. I chose this work to show you because… I really enjoyed retelling the story in my own way, by drawing pictures on a filmstrip. My goal in reading is… to use reading strategies more often when I get stuck. e.g questioning, inferring, skimming, scanning and visualising.

In maths I have been… doing Statistical investigations with the class. I learnt lots of different ways to plot my information. I chose this work because… I want to show you how many different types of ways I can record my information. My goal in maths is… to learn all my times tables and answer them as quick as I can.

In writing I have been… learning to write character descriptions, how to use a burger planning format. I chose this work because… I want to show you what I have wrote about Connor and how to use the burger format. My goal in writing is… think about where to use punctuation correctly.

Other

So far at school, I have especially enjoyed… Music with Mrs McHattie because I have learnt how to play the drums and guitar. I have also learnt some theory and History of Music players.

It is easiest for me to be successful in… art because I love to draw and create pieces of art.

It takes more work for me to be successful in… Science because I haven't learnt Science for a while. When I went to Science in Technology it was lots of information to remember.

The way I like to work best is… in pairs or in a group because I find it easier when there is somebody to help you.

I would describe my using of the school values as… successful because i don’t break the school values and I don’t get into trouble

Yesterday Hannah brought in one of her noughts and crosses homework tasks - a breakfast cereal! She shared not only her packaging but also gave the class a sample to try!

Last week Mrs Bassett sent through some photos from Food technology.

Maths Strategy Show Mes!

A New Term

What great weather we've had to start off a new term!
Yesterday during PE we did the dreaded beep test! Henry took out the top spot - with Oscar not far behind.
Today we used Pippin and Sam S's umpiring skills to have a game of soccer. It's great to be able to use the skills and talents of our pupils.
Inside Room 11 itself we have been working with our new learning buddies. Yesterday the students checked each others Term 1 camp recounts - providing them with 2 "stars" and 1 "wish" - good points and items to work on:

 We also began brainstorming ideas for our term theme of The Human Machine.

 Time was also spent sharing last term's work. Here are some of the activities that were created during our learning about the NZ Identity:

Cairo's diarama

Ellie's Snakes and Ladders

Olivia's Board Game

Tamar's Game

Julian's ANZAC scene

That's a quick look at the start of our term :)