Black Gold, by Julia Owen

William, Kyle, Briearnah and Robin are reading Black Gold.  This is a place where we can talk about the book.  We are also writing some questions to ask the boy in the cave.  We don't know his name yet but we do know he has a scare in the shape of an 'X' on his back.  

Our Aesop's Fable Productions

During Term Two Room 8 formed movie companies.  Each company was commissioned to turn an Aesop's Fable into a script and then present it as a short film.  As discussed in an earlier posting we used High Five short stories as motivation for our presentations.  Our first company to complete their work was 'ROCK KIDS PRODUCTIONS LIMITED'. They presented 'The Shepherd and the Wolf.  The second company was 'BLUE DOLPHIN PRODUCTIONS' who presented 'The Lion and the Mouse'. 

Learning Intentions:

Our main goal was to communicate the moral of the fable to our audience clearly.  We wanted to achieve this by having a script that made sense and then using our filming and acting skills effectively.  We were trying to make good use of voice, expression, actions and sound effects to support our message.  

We would love to hear what you think about our short movie.  

School Holiday Catch Up Spot!

Hi Room 8,

I am looking forward to having a couple of weeks break in the holidays and know that you will hanging out for it too.  We will all be doing different things over the two weeks and I thought it would be fun to stay in touch over that time.  How about keeping in touch by checking into this blog a couple of times and letting us all know what you have been up to.  You might have gone to the movies, explored something around Welcome Bay, been on an out of town trip or have just gone shopping at Bayfair.  Whatever it is, how about sharing it with us in the comments section and we can keep in touch with what we are all up to!

The Gruffalo, by Julia Donaldson

This week we have been reading a book called The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson.  I think this book is cool but there is one thing that I think is not so good.  The mouse in the story tells a lot of lies and I don't think that's good.  In the story he tells lies to three animals to try and not get eaten.  Tell me what you thought of 'The Gruffalo' and if you thought the mouse could have done something else rather than lie to avoid his problems.

By Laura

When I read this story I thought about the fables we have been reading which taught us that "Liars are not believed even when they tell the truth".  In 'The Gruffalo' the mouse got away with lying.  What do you think about this and could this ever backfire on the mouse?   Are there any times where it is ok for us to lie?

Mr Norrish

Brain Teaser No. Two

Two convicts are locked in a cell. There is an unbarred window high up in the cell. No matter if they stand on the bed or one on top of the other they can't reach the window to escape. They then decide to tunnel out. However, they give up with the tunneling because it will take too long. Finally one of the convicts figures out how to escape from the cell. What is his plan?

Brain Teaser Challenge

Hi Room 8.  Be the first Room 8 student to answer this brainteaser correctly online and win five Prize Draws!

You are on an island in the middle of a lake.  The lake is in a remote part of the country and there has never been a bridge connecting the island to the mainland.  Every day a tractor and wagon gives hay rides around the island.  Puzzled as to how the tractor had gotten onto the island, you ask around and find out that the tractor was not transported to the island by boat or by air.  Nor was it built on the island.

Explain how the tractor got there.

Two Scared Boys

I've been working on a fable with the moral 'A strong man stands up for himself, but a stronger man stands up for others'.  The story is about two boys (Mike and Mitchell). One day their soccer ball got kicked over the fence, but they were too scared to get the ball.  Listen to my podcast to hear what happens.      By Kyle.

 

Learning Intention:

Kyle has been learning to communicate a message to his audience.  Do you think he has shared his moral well through the story?  He was also practising using expression in his storytelling. How do you think he went?

Belling the Cat - A Room 8 Production

Room 8 has been reading and writing fables this term.  We will soon be filming our own original fables, but as a practice we have worked together and created a retelling of Aesop's Fable, 'Belling the Cat'.  We have made a few small creative changes to the script.  

Our Learning Intention:

We are learning that writing and visual language has a message for its audience.  Have we clearly communicated the moral of this story?  'Easier Said than Done"

We would love you to leave your comments, letting us know what you think and how we could improve our work for when we produce our own short movies.

Our inspiration has come from High 5 and their stories.  We have been watching their retelling and looking for ideas that we can use in ours.  

Monarch Butterfly Discovery

  Today we found a Monarch butterfly in the playground.  We saw that it was tagged with a sticker that has a web address on it - www.mb.org.nz.  That reminded us of when we went to Te Puna Quarry Park earlier this year where they were tagging butterflies.  We followed the link to the website and reported our sighting to the Monarch Butterfly NZ Trust.  On this site we found a video of a "Munching and Dancing Caterpillar".

Last week Briearnah brought a cocoon into school.  While we were in assembly it came out and we looked after it until it could fly away.  It was very exciting.  We are also working on some butterfly art, so it has been a butterfly crazy time around here recently.