A day in Room 7

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be a learner in Room 7?
Check out this video to see some of the things our class learnt last week. You can also listen to the Waiata that we performed at the pepeha assembly!

OMGTech! 2016

What a fabulous day we had at OMGTech! Rangers on Saturday. Twelve students from Room 7 were accompanied by some students in rooms 8 and 10 to the event that was held in the Spark office in the CBD.

The day was jam packed with exciting activities! We had Science, Robotics, 3D Printing, Coding and Unmaking. We were even provided with a free healthy lunch! We were really lucky to have the opportunity to attend this event and it was awesome getting the opportunity to experience things that we can't do in the classroom.

Check out this video to see what we got up to!

Learning carries on at home

The Weka reading group have been reading one of the Reciprocal Reading books called Wildlife detectives. The members of the group have been learning to facilitate discussions and to participate in discussions about the book. Each student has a turn to lead the discussion.

Danny Joe was away yesterday as he was not feeling well but sent a note from home with his grandma to share what he had seen on the news which relates to one of the questions Chris had in one of the reading discussions. This is a fantastic way of showing that learning happens in the classroom as well as outside of the classroom.

Pepeha Assembly

This afternoon the students of Glenbrae school assembled in the hall to take part in a pepeha assembly. Three students from each class presented their pepeha, with three students introducing them and three students thanking them for presenting.

Once the students had presented, each class sang a waiata to support their speakers. We sang He 
kākano āhau. Listen to our performance below.

Our Science Experiment

It has been two weeks since we started our plant experiment.

Levi G, Lio and I (Danny-Joe) tried to suffocate a mint plant by putting it in lots of ziplock bags but it didn't really work, it's now half dead. Some of its leaves are black and dead, but others have lost there colour and are white!


You can also see all of the water that we have given the plant in the bag. It still got water, sunlight and soil to keep it alive.


By Danny Joe

Netball Superstars

Congratulations to our year 7 and 8 school girls netball team for winning their game against Marcellin on Tuesday evening,  we are all really proud of you!

Today we played a lot of netball in room 7, as we started with a P.E. lesson with KiwiSport learning about netball passes.  This was great fun and even the teacher got involved!

Later on in the day we played a netball version of capture the flag in Kiwi Can. It was a good thing that we practiced in the morning as we all got really involved in the game! We also learnt about making the right choices, both on the sports field and in our everyday lives.

Our Trip

What a wonderful time we had at Arataki; we all learnt so much about the bush!

Our day started with self-guided activities. We completed a really fun crossword about the plants and animals around the visitor centre and watched a movie about the Waitakere ranges.


Mrs Tofa's group went on to a short trail to investigate the different types of trees in the bush and to make 'perfume' from some of the leaves with different aromas.  One of the trees produced leaves that smelt like lemon!


Miss Stone's group took a walk along the "beverage" track where they looked at the plants that can be used for medicinal purposes. We found out about heaps of different plants, including Kawakawa, which the Pukeko group studied.

After lunch both groups set off for an hour and a half bush walk. Along this walk our guides taught us heaps of information about the bush.  We learnt about birds, seed dispersal, different plants, possums and possum traps and about the Kauri tree. We also learnt about Kauri dieback and made sure that we sprayed our shoes a few times on the trip!

We were all really interested to learn about the life cycle of the Kauri as they can live for 2000 years!


Once we return to school we will be creating recounts and video's to share our exciting journey with you.

On our way to Arataki

This morning Room 7 are on their way to Arataki for a bush walk. The children are feeling very animated as we make the hour trip out west.

The bus driver took us on a very exciting route through the city, so we got to see lots of different places around Auckland.

Fusi and Sam are looking forward to seeing the trees that they completed research on.

Alfred and the Pukeko group are excited about seeing some of the medicinal plants that they researched at the start of the year

Miss Stones Holiday Recount

The term one holidays went past so quickly, I couldn’t believe we had two weeks off! I left school on the 15th April eager to work on our class site and enjoy some time with my family. I hadn’t seen my mum in over a month, so it was imperative that I saw her.

Over the first weekend I visited my partner's family as they were throwing a birthday party for my sister in law. The house was adorned by brightly coloured decorations and there was a wonderful aroma coming from the kitchen. I followed my nose to find my partner's brother cooking a gorgeous selection of curries, poppadoms and naan bread.

With the house smelling so good it was not long before we tucked in. I heaped my plate full of Korma and Tikka Masala. The curries were very decadent and left us all feeling rather stuffed! Amazingly,  we all managed to squeeze in some Tiramisu for dessert, which we ate delicately while enjoying each others company.

During the week Mrs Tofa and I had to go to University for a day course in Mt Eden.  At first we enjoyed the lecture and discussion; it is always great to learn new things! Then came the bombshell, our assignment was five thousand words! How could this be! At first I was in denial “ I must have misheard” I pleaded “surely we can’t be expected to write that much!”

I spent the next few days avoiding the monster and went to see Cinda as I had promised. She had a lot of holiday homework to complete. As we discussed her work I became inspired to return to school. I suddenly had so many ideas about the things that Room 7 could learn, but I knew that I would eventually have to start writing the assignment.

By Friday I was brave enough to face the beast. I started typing, struggling to find the words I needed to express. After a while, I knew what I needed to say. The words started to flow, first like a stream, but soon like a waterfall. My words cascaded onto the page, what a mess!

On Tuesday I emerged from my writing with a great shock. I had surpassed the five thousand word count, by three thousand words. Eight thousand words! I was now drowning in my writing. Yet I knew it would be okay, writers always have editing to do!

I left my work at home on Thursday and joined the other teachers for a trip to Arataki. It was wonderful spending time with nature. We listened closely to the call of the Tui and Kereru, felt the rough bark of trees beneath our fingers, inhaled the fresh mountain air. It was serene; the perfect environment for relaxation!

As Sunday rolled around I was eager to return to school. I had so many lesson ideas for Term 2 and really missed being in the classroom. Although it is great to learn new things and have time off, there is nothing better than being back teaching Room 7.

Collaborating in Maths

On Wednesday 4 May, Sue Pine came in to Room 7 again to observe how we are learning in Mathematics. The Taha group started with a number talk by discussing how to solve multiplication facts which we do not know. 

The word problem we had to solve as a group was called Pirate Crews. The word problem is: On a pirate ship there are some pirates. Each pirate has two swords. In a battle, half the pirates lost a sword and one quarter of the pirates gained a sword. How many swords are left on the ship now?

Everyone had different numbers for solving the problem. We discovered yesterday that some people were confused with the number of pirates and the number of swords. They would half the swords and not the number of pirates which made the problem confusing. 

Everyone in the group worked well together and the focus for our group now is to get better at collaborating. 

Mrs Tofa's holiday recount

By Friday 15 April I was ready for a break from school. Term one had been a busy term with routines to be set up, a new working environment to get used to and a new class to teach and work with. I felt I deserved a nice break away from school for the two weeks.

Although it is called school holidays, I did not have much of a holiday in the first week. First I had to go to Hamilton with my church for a camp. The camp was at a site called Camp Tuhikaramea. It was only for three days but it was intense. I use the word intense because I was one of the organisers and I had the job of secretary which means the person running around to do things for the leaders.

At Camp Tuhikaramea, I enjoyed planting native New Zealand trees, cooking with the youth, laughing at skits and chants and also being away from school. Sadly I have to leave camp a day early because I had a university class to attend on Wednesday.

I spent the rest of the first week of the holidays at the Epsom campus for the University of Auckland. Miss Stone and I had to meet and plan for the learning of our class. I always enjoy being at the University of Auckland because it is a place of learning and the environment is so peaceful and quiet.

The highlight of my school holidays was in the second week of the holidays. My husband wanted me to go to Samoa for a holiday and therefore sent me to Samoa to escort his mum back home. We flew out on Tuesday 26 of April the day after ANZAC DAY. Our flight was in the morning and this was because we wanted to arrive in Samoa in the afternoon to catch a ferry to Savaii which is the biggest island of Samoa.

As we touched down in Samoa, I felt butterflies in my stomach. I always feel like this when I go to Samoa because it is my homeland and where most of my family live. As we disembarked from the aircraft, the heat of Samoa just encompassed me like heated blanket.

My time in Samoa was very limited to only five days. I had to spend three days in Savaii then made the hour long ferry trip back to Upolu to spend time with my father’s family and then return to New Zealand.

What I enjoyed the most in Samoa was the food. I ate a lot of taro with coconut cream and drank Samoan koko. I was not interested in eating meat because meat is found in excess in New Zealand. I also ate local fruit and vegetables. Unfortunately I did not eat any mangoes as they are not in season so I ate Samoan mandarins and guavas. I also enjoyed being back at my family home and decorating my grandparents’ graves with flowers I brought from New Zealand.

The interesting part of my trip to Samoa was my lack of excitement to go and do what other tourists would do such as shopping, swimming, eating at restaurants and for forth. I usually participate in these activities on previous trips but on this last trip, I mostly stayed at home.