This was a good question to ask ourselves last week as it started pouring with rain part way through our training walk. We have a 6km hike into camp (with only backpacks - not all our gear), so the rain was actually an opportunity for us to explore what we might do if it does rain while we're on our hike. Obviously, we need to prepare and make sure we have all the gear.
Today, we looked at 'Challenge' from the perspective of teamwork and problem-solving. We had to get balloons across the field using only our torsos. The balloons couldn't touch the ground and the team members had to stay connected to each other. If we dropped the balloons or became disconnected, we had to head back to the beginning and start again.
Is your class facing any challenges in the near future? What strategies will you use?
Do you have any wise words of advice that we can use to help us overcome the challenges at camp?
Our class is facing a challenge of learning the school virtues and applying them at school that's Excellence, Integrity, Pride and Responsibility, they have to relate them to activities at school and in the classroom. For instance we've started preparing a team for the AIMS Games in Tauranga in Girls Basketball and so the players have to show integrity to make sure they turn up to training each week.
ReplyDeleteHi Melville Intermediate, Hamilton
DeleteEveryone always faces a challenge of some sort and have to overcome that challenge. For instance I have to overcome the challenge of learning new school expectations as this is my first year at intermediate.
Our school virtues are be safe, be a learner and be respectful. We also have Habits of Mind to help us with our learning.
Your blogging friend from Room 24
Johanna
Johanna thank you for your reply. It is interesting that we have some of the same virtues at your school and our school. We use the habits of Mind in some classes at school but we don't use them in every classroom, although I think that you should.
ReplyDeleteAlso we were watching our class page during class, the Feedjit link and I would like to thank your class for their visits to our page. We also received three comments from students from your class and they were the first time that we've received more than one comment from one class, so that was interesting because we got to look at each one. We really like Mollies comment because she identified herself and we knew the school that she was from. We also liked Arielle's comment because of the way it was written. We thought that maybe your class could improve the comments by leaving your URL (class page address) so that we could click on the link and go straight to your class page. There was another comment from a student in your class, we didn't know who it was because they didn't leave their name but we liked how it was positive. We all hope that you have a great time at Camp.
Mr Webb and Room Five, Melville Intermediate School, Hamilton, Waikato.
Dear Room Five
DeleteThank you so much for your comment. We are enjoying receiving your positive feedback and we also like the way your comments are specific. Because of the time you take when commenting we know that you take pride in your work, have high standards for your learning, and show respect to the people you are interacting with on class blogs. We are also setting these standards.
It was a pleasure for us to view your blog and post comments. During our Text Exploration (Literacy) time, I (Miss McLeod) include 'commenting on blogs' as part of our taskboard. It's a great way to develop our literacy skills and have an audience for our work.
I liked your suggestion of leaving our class blog address. This is an excellent idea as both the class and I are new to blogging so it may help us widen our audience.
We are looking forward to camp - especially the hike in, caving, and canoeing. Do you having any EOTC activities coming up in the near future?
Your new blogging friend
Miss McLeod
I think that it is really interesting that you are just starting school and we will soon be done with our school year. How long are your school weeks?
ReplyDeleteColleyville Texas
Dear Colleyville Middle School
DeleteIt's Ashleigh here from Hawkes Bay, New Zealand.
Thank you so much for your comment. I think that it is interesting that you are just finishing your school year and we are just starting! It's funny how it is different all over the world.
Our school has five day weeks, Monday to Friday. We have four terms a year that last about ten weeks. After those ten weeks we then have a two week holiday but over Christmas we get a six week holiday. How long are your school weeks and holidays?
Once again thank you so much for your comment!
Yours sincerely
Ashleigh.
Hi! It's Colleyville Middle School here again ( a different student though)! I agree- it's hard to concept that you guys are just starting school, and we are over half way done with our year! While you have terms, we have semesters which are 18 weeks, and grading periods which are 6 weeks. In fact, our grading period ends today! I hope I'm passing! We also have 5 day school weeks, Monday through Friday, we have a 2 week break for Christmas/winter break, and 1 week for spring break. Spring break is actually in 2 weeks. I am going on vacation to the beach (woohoo!) in Florida, USA for spring break. When is your next break and where are you going on vacation?
DeleteYour Texas friends,
Colleyville Middle School
Wow! That looks really fun.We do something like that here in Texas called Field Day. It's always a bunch of fun!
DeleteHi Sophie
DeleteWhat is field day like at your school? It sounds fun. I would love to find out more about field day. The balloon challenge was really fun and I've never done anything like that before in school with balloons. The PE part was easy but the working together was a little hard because some people kept talking at the same time as others. We all loved the balloon challenge. We all hope to do that some time again.
Your New Zealand friend
Arielle
Wow! A six-week holiday?! Lucky duckies! :) our longest holiday is 2 weeks, our shortest is just a Mon. for Labor Day or something like that. In two weeks we have Spring Break, and this week we had Monday and Tuesday off, so we had a four-day weekend and three days at school. We have four terms a school year as well, with six weeks in one term. Our school starts about August 28 or something close to that and ends May 31. However, June 1st is a bad weather makeup day. For example, if we got snowed in, we would makeup that day on June 1st. When does your school start and end? Maybe a specific date?
ReplyDeleteHello there
DeleteI find your comment quite interesting. You have a six week terms - lucky! We don't have snow in this part of New Zealand, where our school is. The only time I’ve seen snow is when I was a very little girl. We start school in February and this year it was February the 7th. We finish in December, a couple of weeks before Christmas and have a 6 week holiday between when school ends then starts again. In January my family and I go to a place in New Zealand called Ohope. We rent out a house which is right across the road from their beautiful beach. It's so magnificent! The last time we went up might have been the last time we ever go up there again because one of the 5 of us usually goes up but now 2 people don't want to go anymore. Do you have a holiday home? Do you camp in a tent some where? Where would you like to go on a holiday?
Your kiwi friend
Molly
Our class is one of the first few electronic classrooms in the district, so there is a lot of pressure on us. We are all trying our best to set a good example so that electronic classrooms will become more and more common. We all LOVE our IPads and Macs because we can come here and to other blogs around the world on them! As for the words of advice, I've gone to Camp before and it was challenging but very fun.
ReplyDeleteFrom,
Camryn P. from World Discoveries in Texas
Hi Camryn
DeleteThank you so much for your comment and your advice towards camp. It really helped. We all had a great time. The six kilometre hike was definitely a challenge but I know that I felt good when I completed it. What did you do on your camp?
Our school has two electronic classrooms. Last year we had one but just this year we begun our second electronic class. It sounds like you and your class are having fun! They seem to be getting more and more popular all over the world. Once again thank you so much for your comment!
Yours sincerely
Ashleigh
That activity looks like fun it would be awesome to do it.
ReplyDeleteHi,
Deletesorry i'm a bit late replying. It was fun! We were in teams in about 4-6 people and everyone had a great time. The first time we did it we had to hold the balloon (not using) but had to touch your other team mates at the same time. The second time, you had to hold it by by not using your hands, it had to be held between the shoulders and waist, but not under your chin either, and the balloon wasn't allowed to touch your arms! It was a tough one, but my group came first in I think 23 seconds! Everyone else really struggled but got there in the end. We got lots of laughs out of it so if you want to reach your class, this is how you play:
1. Get in groups of about 5.
2. You need 1 less balloon than the people in the group: 5 people would need 4, 4 people would need 3...
3. Make some rules of what things can and can't touch the balloon.
4. Set a reasonable distance, and everybody stand at the start of the race space.
5. Do some races and have fun!
Have fun
Molly
Hi Room 24
ReplyDeleteJust writing to say THANKS to Molly and Ashleigh for commenting on our class blog. We are hoping to do some collaborative work with other classes around the country/world too. We've been busy with other beginning-of-the-year things, but hope to get cracking soon. I was just reading about your camp, it sounds really exciting. We have our camp at the end of each year, and this year we're heading to Nydia Bay in the Malborough Sounds. I don't know much about Taradale Intermediate (though I think my cousin went there last year). I am pretty sure I do know your teacher though, it's a small world!
Keep in touch,
Miss Simpson, R6, Halcombe School
Hi Miss Simpson
DeleteThanks for visiting our blog and leaving a comment! We have had lots of vistors from around the world commenting on our blog, we even had someone from Vietnam visit yesterday!
Our camp was really exciting. When we first arrived at the camp we went on a 6km walk which was exhausting but it was worth it; that night we went to see the Glow Worms and feed the Eels. The eels were very long and slimy. Next up we went Caving at first I was a little bit worried about fitting in tight spaces but turns out I had great fun. We also had Canadian Canoeing - my group won all the challenges and we had a blast. You're right you do know my teacher, it really is a small world.
We hope to keep in touch
Yours Sincerely
Brooke
Hello, my name is Emily, it sounds as though your class has had a very fun time with practicing teamwork and problem solving skills. Your class's camp sounds very fun and exciting. For our camp, we are going to Nydia Bay which I am very looking forward to. I have never been canoeing before, but I hope you all have an exceptional camp.
ReplyDeleteYours sincerely,
Emily.
Hello Emily
DeleteNydia Bay sounds exiting! When do you go there? Apart from canoeing, what else do you do at camp?
This year we did caving and canoeing! That's funny how we're both doing canoeing! I hope you have a wonderful time when you go to your camp.
Keep in touch
Molly
Victor, Parkdale High School
ReplyDeleteI like how your blog is organized because to me it seems really easy to get on the computer and just go to what you look for. which is a good thing. I also like how your blog is creative with pictures and the electronic designs. Also i like how you guys use teamwork because that is hard for some of us to fully understand the concept and use it but it sounds like you guys have it under control. To me it sounds like you guys have a good life over there because you have six term year and a six week holiday, but yeah i enjoyed your blog, its awsome!
Dear Victor
DeleteThank you for commenting on our blog. We have a four term year and each term usually has ten weeks. I'm glad that you like our blog and how it's organised.
We have had many team-building opportunities with our class. For example, camp where we all had to work together to paddle a canoe and work together to get though the caves safely. Also working together at school to make sure the balloons didn’t pop. At the end we all got to jump on a balloon and pop them so we all had a great time.
Hope to hear from you again.
Your blogging buddy
Alexandra
These activities look fun, I would love to try some of them! It seems similar to team-building exercises we have done in school.
ReplyDeleteFrom the International School of Toulouse :)
Hello there
DeleteWhat sort of exercises have you done at your school? They're fun to do aren't they! I'd love to hear about your favourite exercise game.
Your kiwi friend
Molly
This softball game looks realy cool!
ReplyDeleteGood luck!!
That's so cool! Your challenge looks really awesome and great fun! Our class did something like this,it was an exerise called "Team Building"! There was one part of the exercise where we all had to lie on the ground, head to head, with our hands in the air and because there were so many of us we had to work as a team to support another one of our class members weight and move them along the line! Kind of like "crowd surfing"! This was really fun and I definately think that the main way to overcome difficult challenges is to work together!
ReplyDeleteHi
DeleteThanks for commenting on our blog. You were right, our challenge was really awesome and fun. After our challenge we got to pop the balloons. That was heaps of fun! The 'team building' you did sounds like a load of fun as well! I agree that it takes team work if you want to overcome your challenges. Do you have other challenge activites that you do? If so what are they?
Your blogging friend
Johanna
This is an interesting blog! Challenges are everywhere and as humans we tend to conform to their demands. With persistance any challenge may be met and solved. However, at times we find it difficult or impossible to face a challage. With motivation any person can solve any challange. I really like the progress with the blog, as it is interesting to see what you guys are doing.
ReplyDeleteFrom the International School of Toulouse.
Hi there,
DeleteThank you so much for your comment on challenges. I agree that you need motivation and persistence to complete a challenge. If you don't it will be very difficult. What as been one of your hardest challenges you have had to face? One of my recent challenges was caving at camp because it was something I have never really done before and to be honest I was petrified. But when I got in to it I enjoyed it. I am so glad that you like our class blog. We try to make it stand out. Once again, thank you so much for your comment.
Yours sincerely
Ashleigh
Hi, Jim Noble from Toulouse again here. Like all the others, I think your challenge experience sounds brilliant. What I often wonder is how often students see mathematics problems the same way? I think you should! It is all about figuring out what order to do things in by logical deduction and there is often more than one way to do it! good luck to everyone with their future challenges and thanks for you blog posts! Sorry we were a bit late, we have been having holiday's!
ReplyDeleteHi Mr Noble
DeleteThanks for commenting on our blog. Room 24 had heaps of fun doing the camp challenge and we had to think and work together. It worked better than a lot of people think because we didn’t argue, we just did it. So we didn’t have a bad time we had a GREAT time. Hope to hear back from you.
Your blogging friend
Kate