2010

What does 2010 hold for all former Room5ians? I will always remember my wonderful Room5ians, even as i quit full time classroom teaching to try something else...
:-)
Tell us here what your aspirations and plans are - I hope to do more illustration, photography, film production work with our business and whatever else comes my way that tickles my fancy.
The world is our oyster!
Keep in touch :-)

Who would like their blog showcased?

At Ulearn09 I will be running a workshop on how to get people like you [squiddlers, kidlets, students, Room5ians - whatever it is you're called] to write brilliantly online through blogging :-)
I need some quality bloggers to volunteer to have their blogs showcased. You can even recommend one of your peers if you like.
Let's see if you guys have superior blogs to the Woodmonstas...
:-)

And guess what - the poor Woodmonsta kids haven't had a chance to do something like the Kakepuku Catastrophe! Poor them!



Of course you may all be at the beach or off skiing...

How about Hamiltron or Rosiegal or Kittymilo or Nei-Nei-NeinaMarie! or Roo or Mojo?
And, of course, we must check out the glorious student who gave us our name:
Im a Room5ian :-)

Well done Mr Jones and Rocking former Room5ians!

Does anyone know what I'm talking about? Please ask him to clarify and send him my congratulations :-)
Also big ups to former Room5ians who were going for it at the Band competition on Friday :-)
I see the defection of Mrs MacKenzie has meant that Fairfield has won this time, just like you won last time with her help. She must be great! You must be great!
:-)

Room5ians Rule

Roooom5iaaaaans ruuuule!!!!
there is no one like a Room5ian.
:-)
I have some new kids in my current class who would make excellent Room5ians.
I would love to hear from you. Any tales of life at PeachyGrove?
Big hugs to you all [- ask Mojo] ;-)

New Blog

I am going to create a new blog for us to share called "Woodmonstas!"
It is possibly going to have all of the content of Room5ians Rule transferred onto it. I am unsure at this stage how that will affect our audience as the URL will change....

So, prepare to Google "Woodmonstas! if you wish to stay in touch :-)

Thank you god of schools

Kitty Kat said...

hey mr woody,

i figure you'll probably get this through your email so i just decided to write on this post because it seemed to make sense.

i'm writing this to say good luck for next year (at fairfield?) and the rest of forever. i had an amazing year last year (well 2007) and that was mainly thanks to you.

i've figured out what made you such a good teacher...as well as teaching me how to teach myself and things, you taught me people skills. you created a fun and happy place where i could learn and enjoy myself. and that suited me really well. you made school something which i enjoyed rather than something which was...boring? so far you are (over all) the best teacher i have ever had. and i think i'll remember that year forever.

i didn't really talk to you last year but by the sounds of your blog you had a good year.

sorry i didn't get to come and see you on the last day and say this in person but i was a bit teary and not thinking straight.

thanks so much mr woody. i hope your having a good holiday. mum and dad say hi.

from kate.

funny voice from the past

Today i got a message from a former student saying she knew one of the people in this year's class - she asked if that person had given me much trouble. that made me laugh. funnily enough it was someone who caused a few unsavoury issues ... but nothing too bad. sadly there was some nastiness from their parent but we expect that in our job [- and don't assume you know who it is please, but the person wrote a nasty letter to the principal about me]. there is always someone who has their own problems and tries to cause trouble at school. naturally this makes teaching a harder profession for people to stick with. fortunately the overwhelming majority of parents find me a decent teacher/person who genuinely cares for and tries to foster creativity and thinking skills in students. i reeeeeally appreciated the heartfelt messages from kids and parents alike at the end of this year. i could finish teaching now and look back fondly with pride having heard truly lovely words from the likes of Mojo and Roo's mums who came to see me in the last week. it was also cool to receive thanks and farewells from former students and their parents. Also the sincere affection and gratitude from the likes of DreamHuntress and Roo. It warmed the cockles of my heart to be invited to become a family friend of awesomo4000. How could i forget the battle with logon for the hand of my wife. and of course, i treasure the gift of tears when shed in parting. I will remember the love many of you shared for gardening. the way you discussed such big concepts like globalisation. the incredible projects produced by the likes of Gaboose, NeinaMarie and Mudpies. The awesome determination and successes of Kittymilo. your class connections with Mr TEehan's class in New Jersey. Hamiltron's fantastic general knoweldge about world events. your world fame via this blog. the partnership with the HCC and the youth council. mechboy's encoragemtn to read the Bill Bryson book [i have it by me now, Mechboy] your work with Microsoft Partners in Learning. Savvy's personal assistance. Snowy's undying commtiment to our class. Hilzy's fame in public. Ellabella's potatohead and forgetfulness. being called mum and mr woodcock sir and mr woodcock ma'am. your awesome cheerful greetings. hugs. playfights. french cricket. asian dub foundation [even though they left]! and so much more!
I find it reassuring that you kids avoided nastiness this year. in fact all of you were really good considering how things normally end up with people fighting in term four.
i did think it was pretty stink to have someone trying to record me in class with their cell phone with the idea of getting me in trouble. i suspect the aforementioned parent at home didn't help that situation. sadly it's behaviour like that that spoils trust and openness and risk taking in education. it also makes prinicipals ban cell phones from school. if everyone used technology responsibly it would be much easier to promote its uninhibited use in schools. students must remember that most teachers are less techno savvy than them and are afraid of what they don't understand. so, to allow teachers to step outside their comfort zone everything needs to be SAFE for everyone. to make it riskier for schools by doing silly things holds us all back. thankfully your exceptional use of this blog has been exemplary and allowed us to continue in an open way. one or two people posted some naughty things this year but i got rid of them quickly before others saw them. i know who did it and i am not surprised. [remember, everything you put on the internet is traceable and there forever...]
anyhow, Room5ians definitely RULE! there will never be another bunch like you guys. well done and arohanui!

xmas and boxing day

i think i like boxing day even more than xmas day. what do you think?
i had a lovely xmas with my family.
today though is about deep deep relaxation and blissful hedonism
what a perfect day it is
and thank you to candycane for reminding me how lovely you Room5ians are.
thank you to the wee group of stayers who shared some lovely stories of their year with each other as we counted down the minutes, playing french cricket world championship out by the old oak tree. incredible fielding skills shown by Cece, Roo n SebV - the eventual champion, winning in the last few seconds with a magnificent piece of fielding the likes of which one might hope to see on tv during a test cricket match.
Room5ians.
so lovely.
treasured memories
love you kids
:-)

Why Do Room5ians Rule?

Can you post your comments about what has been good about being a Room5ians this year?

Perhaps you might like to say something positive about specific members of your class who have made 2008 special for you in some way. Try to think of people outside your specific group of friends.

I know I have really appreciated your honesty and respectfulness on this blog.

Well done Room5ians - you are the last of your kind.

Let the world know how cool you are.

[and remember your togs for tomorrow]

Attenion seeking

Now I know all Room5ians are amazing and i dearly love you all, BUT, today many of you decided enough was enough regarding some annoying attention seeking behaviour. We can all work positively to make sure our end of year is filled with warm fuzzies - as it should be.
How can we help make our last three weeks together blissful and enlightening? Any suggestions?
Remeber to be polite and to consider everyone's FEELINGS because we are all friends - you squiddlers get on as a whole better than any other class I've had before so well done.
:-)
Positive suggestions?

Twitter question

post your questions here and Room5ians may answer them.

or not. it's an experiment really...

what would you really like to find out about ???

"FindOut RedOUbt"

From Twitter:

mrw00dy i find asking questions is a good way to find things out - let's try an experiment... http://peachgroveroom5.blog... less than 5 seconds ago from web

Field trip

Tell me what you though of our field trip.
Post your favourite photo on your blog or glog.
I loved it all - you little poeple were incredibly cool.
:-)

Champion Room5ians

More success for Room5ians!
We've had band competition winners, best keyboard players, cross country running heroes, and now we have now we have super star gymstrada winners!!!

Well done Room5ians.

:-)

[image sourced from MagpiePhotography - not an actual Room5ian]

Why Do Room5ians Rule?

So could you explain for our guests on open night why Room5ians Rule?
What's different or exciting about the yr 7 GATE class?
Describe some of your opportunities or experiences this year that you think are interesting.
How is it different to a "normal" class?
Please also give us reasons why Peachgrove is a cool school.
:-)

Class Creed

Create a Room5ian creed and post it here.
What would some us up and inspire us?
I can't wait@!

Time management

It seems some of you are extremely capable time managers and are very self reliant learners [lucky for you, huh?] ;-)
Unfortunately, we aren't all naturally like that and some of us need to try out different strategies to help us learn effective work habits. I think we can all think of several people in our class who could do with help to learn those skills. This is the forum for us to discuss sensible, practical ways to help people manage their work loads so that learning remains fun. I think we can learn from each other's strengths. It would be best if we supported each other in this endeavour rather than letting someone struggle. It's not nice to feel like you're failing. As Room5ians we must stick together!
I suggest we discuss here and in class ways we can help each other to manage our learning tasks.
I have a few ideas....

Perhaps we could all fill out timetable charts with stamps to indicate whether or not we have successfully achieved adequate progress in each block or throughout each day. At the end of the week we could graph the results and chart our progress towards improved work habits. Those of you who don't need this could prove it over a week then become the tutors in self management. Or the best students could work beside the less disciplined to help them stay foucsed and on task. The ultimate students could make me their pet project and keep me on task during the first half of the day.
We could also state weekly goals and then evaluate if we achieve them each Friday. You guys could even have goals for me. [but be nice please]

What do you think?

Howdy to Mr Teehan's class in New Jersey

These are Room5ians wishing you all a happy holiday - or something like that. I bet you can't understand them. Thanks for being our American friends this year.

Cheers Mr Teehan!

Room 5 has a wiki

Do you know what a wiki is?
Yes, you do, but please prove it here...

Also feel free to visit our class wiki and if you are a keen blogger I will show you how to use the wiki so you can write anything you like and make changes, add information, correct errors, etc.
You have to be trustworthy too :-)

Read the reasons why Room5ians rule, and check out the randomly evolving story which you may add to if you get the password from me at school.

http://room5wiki.wikispaces.com/room5ians+rule%21

Room5ians Rule!

I love my class of brilliant second generation Room5ians!

[N.B.: if you or your parents would like your image removed from this blog please let me know a.s.a.p.]

p.s. If you would like your image added, just let me know :-) I couldn't put everyone up as it makes the post too big

Eggxtemely Delighted!!! Salmonicious!

My goodness - I certainly am a lucky man.
I married my dream girl.
I have a cool dog.I have a home near the river.
I have a cool job with a great class and I work with excellent people.
I have chickens...a dream come true.
And they've laid eggs! Free range, organic, cruelty free eggs from my backyard.

[Well, one has - the other one is beginning to look decidedly roosterish...]

And I'm even getting amazing, out-of-this-world gifts!!! I loooove salmon...


It's good to be thankful for what we have :-)

Thank you!