Budgie Time!

Lucky Larry has flown into our lives. Tell us what you know or have learned about budgies.

http://www.budgiecare.org/about-budgies.php

Also tell us what you have learned about axolotls. How rare is it for them to breed in captivity?

Do you know if its normal for frogs to hibernate in winter?

How long do goldfish live?

Who was the rat we read about today and what was the author's message?

I hope you enjoy having class pets. Would you like to have chickens for our sustainable garden? If so, what could the benefits be for your learning?

Please answer thoughtfully to justify the inclusion of animals in your slightly peculiar learning programme.

If you're a teacher reading this....

...and you're going to Ulearn, please introduce yourself so we can chat about what you might like to hear about in a "breakout".

If you're a kid reading this maybe you could talk about the most interesting or useful ICT stuff we do in class.

:-)

Thanks for helping out. All idea sharing appreciated.
BTW -teachers - Twitter is cool for low key interaction in a teaching community.

Inter-class Challenge

Here ye, here ye!
The Fabulous Room5ians challenge all our fellow classroom bloggers to join us in an online photography challenge.
Is there anyone from New Jersey or Taradale or Christchurch or Auckland Or Pitt Island or Great Britain or Canada or anywhere who wants to participate?
Once people have expressed their interest here we can decide on the rules and means of display. I suggest Flickr or Voicethread or our class blogs to compare results and share voting.
What do you think? Who is keen?

Connectivity

I just realised I am sitting here doing school work at home, with Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, my mobile phone for txting , email, and skype all running as i keep in touch with family, friends, colleagues and my class. So cool!
What are you guys doing?

soil, mulch, compost, worms, dirt!!

YUM YUM! Composting is fun. It's also important for sustainability, good for your garden and really quite satisfying.

Its not as easy as just dumping kitchen and garden waste in a bin though. It is a science! Anyone interested in being a soil maker? Rich fertile soil makes for productive gardens.

Follow the links to find resources about this topic:

http://www.reducerubbish.govt.nz/compost/index.html

http://www.reducerubbish.govt.nz/compost/mulching-101.html

http://www.reducerubbish.govt.nz/compost/composting-101.html

DID YOU KNOW?
If you're filling one wheelie bin of rubbish a week, you could be throwing away enough garden rubbish and kitchen scraps to make one and a half trailer loads of compost a year.

Science Fair

Science Fair is fun!
Well - it should be anyway.
You will all complete an observational drawing in class.
You may do the photography as anoptional extra - this could be in place of the wallchart.
You must do a wallk chart explaining how a "home appliance" works, unless you do photography or one of the other more tricky categories.
If you want to avoid the wallchart category in favour of an investigation or technological innovation, you MUST follow the instructions and seek advice from me. I strongly recommend that you think carefully before attempting this option with the time that is remaining to you. A detailed, dated log book is essential.
We have discussed it all at length. You have written instructions.
You must bring your completed work to school on the first Monday to show me BEFORE you glue anything onto your A2 coloured presentation paper.
It is COMPULSORY.

Brain Power!

Today you watched a D.A.R.E. video about the dangers of drug use and how it affects your brain.
Your whole world deepends on your brain function so you better look after it - especially when you're young and your brain is developing. Choices you make now will potentially affect you for the rest of your life.

Another interesting thing that has happened in Room 5 in the last week has been the challenge laid down about memorising Pi. Remember Mr Jones said you couldn't remember more than 7 digits in a sequence? Well, several of you [including "Awesomo4000" and "Fred"] have memorised it and recited it to me accurately in excess of 50 and even a 100 digits - WOW!!!

3.1415926535897932384626433832795028841971693993751058209749445923078164062862089986280348253421170679 8214808651328230664709384460955058223172535940812848111745028410270193852110555964462294895493038196 4428810975665933446128475648233786783165271201909145648566923460348610454326648213393607260249141273 724587006606315588174881520920962829254091715364367892590360011330530548820466521384146951941511609...


Tell me how many you can remember and try to explain clearly how you do it. I am very interested in how you use your clever brains.
Also, does anyone know what Pi is useful for?

In relation to your learning, memory and intelligence, check out the word study list for this week - it has terms on it like "Synaptic Plasticity". Any idea what that might be? Some researchers tell us that brain synapses are where intelligence lives...

What is photographic memory? Do you have one? What is the other name for it?