Week 10 Writing Challenge

For week 10 homework Room 34 have been asked to create a story bird story based around a scientist.
This can be a real life scientist or one that you have made up. Be creative and have fun.
The due date for this challenge is the first day of Term 4 so that you can work on it over the holidays if you want to.
Story bird is an amazing website where you can use the work of real artists to inspire and illustrate your stories.
Room 34 all have a login name and password to access the site. There you will see details of the assignment and be able to create your own story bird.
Go to www.storybird.com to get started.
Have fun!

What Am I? Haiku Poems

A haiku is a Japanese style poem which has three lines made by using 5, then 7, then 5 syllables.

Can you guess which animals we are writing about in these Haiku Poems?

 

 

I can fly around

Lots of different colours

Aphids are so yum

By Lucia

 

I like having walks

We have lots of cool species

Our noses are cool

 By Rose

 

 

I like to eat crumbs

My mum and I are so small

I can fly around

By Stella

 

Little tiny legs

I am so fat and chubby

Me like honey, yum!

By Jessica

 

I eat lots of meat

I live in the hot canyons

Us birds have sharp claws

By Blake

 

I am black white

Bamboo is yummy for me

Playing in the snow

By Mojdeh

 

I am quite furry

I have a tiny tail

I have big eye brows

By Harry

 

 

Some are very soft

All chase after cats and sticks

Most are very fast

By James

 

I am a killing machine

In the deep deep sea

Were my yummy food lives

By Orlando       

I live in the sea.

My shell is quite hard and green.

I have one small tail.

By Ruby

What Does Good Writing Look Like?

What should Year 4 writing look like?

To meet the National Standards for writing, we have to be writing solidly at Level 2 by the end of the year. To be above the national standards, we have to be starting to write at Level 3 of the curriculum. To help us to understand what this looks like, here are some examples.

End of Year 4 Example (Late Level 2)

End of Year 5 Example (Level 3)

This school has wonderful goal cards that show all of the things that you need to do to achieve at the different curriculum levels for writing.
http://www.cocklebay.school.nz/images/stories/national_standards/cbs_writing_goal_cards.pdf
Here is the level 2 success criteria. Do you do all of this independently and consistently? If not, what do you need to work on?

At Level Two

Audience, Purpose and Voice

• I write about several experiences or ideas often including detail or personal comment
• I use a process that will help me achieve my purpose for writing
• I independently write texts using language and a simple text structure that suits my audience and purpose (recounting, describing, narrating, reporting or explaining)
• I use mostly relevant information that often includes detail and/or comment supporting the main points
• I use a variety of adjectives, adverbs, nouns and verbs that clearly convey ideas, experiences or information
• I use similes and onomatopoeia to support meaning
• I choose appropriate media for publishing including visual and digital

Structure

• I plan and organise ideas and information using tools such as headings, graphic organizers, mind maps
• I use planning strategies to generate rich language for writing
• I write mainly simple and compound sentences that vary in their beginnings, structures and lengths and are mostly grammatically correct
• I attempt complex sentences using conjunctions such as when, how, because, although
• I use titles, sub headings, labelled diagrams and illustrations to support meaning

Proofreading and Editing

• I use accurate punctuation most of the time (including capital letters, full stops, question marks, exclamation
• marks, commas for lists, speech marks, apostrophes for contractions
• I write most Spell-Write Essential List 1 - 4 words and many from 5 - 7 correctly in my writing
• I revise my writing and edit it for clarity, accuracy and impact using a dictionary and a thesaurus
• I review my writing from a reader’s perspective and revise if necessary
• I reread, discuss and respond to feedback by making changes to my writing

Bee Days

On Thursday we had a Year 4 bee day. We had a go at making bee related products as part of our bee topic. Thank you to all of the lovely parent helpers who came along. We really could not have done it without you.
After making the products, we came back to class to write instructions for the things we made. Read some of these below.
On Friday Sue came into talk to use about her bee hives and how she gets honey from them. It was really interesting.
Before assembly we watched this video all about bees and why they are important and how we can help. We have been doing our own writing about this in class. See that below too.

How to make a bees wax candle

I am going to teach you how to make a bees wax candle I think you should have a bees wax candle because it smells so nice.

You will need:
1. Bees wax
2. Wick

First you get the wax then you get the wick after you place the wick on the edge of the bees wax then you roll the wax and the wick up really tight so it will make a cylinder shape and your done there you go your very own bees wax candle.
This kind of bees wax is actually recycled because if you were a bee keeper you won’t be able to do anything with the bees wax but now you can by making a candle.

Leela

 

Lunch Wraps

Today we made reusable lunch wraps.

You will need: beeswax, fabric, a pencil, a ruler, something to cut the fabric and a grinder.

What to do:

Cut the fabric into a square.

Grind the beeswax onto a plate using a grinder

Put the beeswax on the fabric put the fabric in the oven. And now you have a reusable lunch wrap.

Please wash it in hot water. 

By Fox

How to make a bees wax candle

I am going to tell you how to make a bees wax candle candles have been around for over 5,000 years.

First you will need: a sheet of wax paper and a wick

Firstly you put the wick on the edge of the wax. Next you roll up the wax. Finally you press the end of the wax down so it doesn’t flap around.

And that’s how you make a bees wax candle.

Ruby

Today all the year 4 did a little celebration for the amazing bees. I am going to tell you how to make a candle!!

1. get the wax and string

2. get the string and put on the wax.

3. roll it up carefully so it won’t break.

You can use it for the dark or you can give it to your mum. J

By Orlando

 

 

                                Seed bombs

What is a seed bomb?

A seed bomb is a big seed that grows by itself.

In London there are soldiers called gorilla solider, they go into damp and not nice places and threw seed bombs onto the land and make the place a better one.

You need…

Clay, dirt, water, seeds and a container.

First get the container and put in a little dirt and add a clump of clay. Next ad more dirt then add more water and mash and squish it up add the seeds and put it out to dry.

 

What can you do with it?

You can put it in your garden and it will grow and you don’t have to plant or water as long as it has got rain.   

By Jordan

 

WALT: Instruct

How to make seed bombs

Seed bombs are good for the bees because they plan more flowers and you don’t have to water them.

Step 1. First get some clay then put it in a bucket with soil then mix it around.

Step 2. Next pour some water into the bucket with the soil.

Step 3. Roll it into a ball and put some seeds in it and then leave it to dry. And then you can give it to someone or throw it in your garden and grow beautiful flowers to look at and that the bees can eat the nectar from.

By Mojdeh

 

                               Bees 

You can run through the forest hearing the soft humming and buzzing of bees. So if you like honey and food you better help save the bees do you want to live save the bees 1/3 of the food you eat is good because of bees so do something know.  

We need to do something about bees dying all over the world. If we don’t do something the world will end us humans and animals.

So help the bees.

Bees are important not just with honey but with our survival without bees,  

By Jordan

 

 

 

    

Insect Information Reports

WALT: write information reports

Room 34 have been learning to write information reports. We all researched an insect and wrote an information report about it. Here are some of our reports.

Stick insects

Did you know that Stick insects not only look like a stick, they act like one too. Stick insects eggs resemble seeds scatted about the forest floor.

Life cycle

Fist the stick insects lay their eggs. Then it goes through the pupa larva stage. And then it goes through the pupa stage. At the very last stage of its life stage it becomes an adult. Stick insects can live up to 4 to 10 months.

Stick insects look like

Stick insects have a long thin body. Stick insects look like a stick. Some stick insects have a green and brown body. They also have green legs.

Habitat

Stick insects live in trees so they can blend in with the branch. They are also found in large green bushes.                 

Facts

1.      Stick insects don’t bite but they aren’t defenceless because they can blend in.

2.      Stick insects eggs may attract ants, when this happens the ants take them away to feed to their babies.

3.      Not all stick insects are just plain brown

4.      In winter stick insects eat phasmatod, a type of plant.

5.      Stick insects can play dead so predators don’t eat them.

6.      Stick insects hold the record for the longest

Insect in the world.

 

Now next time you see a stick you could look twice to see if it is a wonderful stick insect.

By Sarah

 

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Ants

Did you know that there are 10,000 different types of ants in the world. Ants are very strong for their size because they can carry 50x their weight.

Ants soldiers have extra-large jaws and heads. Ants have six legs attached to the thorax.

 Diet They don’t have a diet, they eat what they eat they  can find they mostly like bread.

Habitat    They live in rock walls and underground tunnels.

Life cycle they start as eggs then they turn into lava after a little while they turn into a pupa the adult.

Conclusion All the ants in the world are as heavy as all the humans in the world there are 10,000 trillion.

By James

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Cockroaches

 A cockroach is faster than any species and cockroach is fatter than any species it makes it easier to get into houses most cockroaches have fat bodies. A cockroaches has three parts. They have six legs.      

Diet of a cockroach

Cockroaches can eat everything.

Habitat

They live in warm places on the earth.

The life cycle of the cockroach

Inside the egg bag of the younger female body are heaps of little girls or boys. When they are born, they scatter around their mother.

 By Sienna

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Dragonflies

Dragonflies can fly forwards and backward. They change paths so quickly that they’re hard to follow. They can see all around them. They can see above them around them and to the side of them.

Did you know they can breathe water through their tails.

Anatomy

Dragonflies have huge eyes and a long skinny tail. They have two pairs of wings that contain many veins. Dragon flies have six legs like all insects.

Habitat

Dragonflies live in swamps and bushes. When they are really young they live in a pond and they are like tadpoles. Once they are old enough they move out of the pond and to the bush or a swamp.

Diet

Dragonflies are carnivores. That means that they’re meat eaters. They eat all kinds of little bits of meat.

So next time you see a dragonfly be grateful of the little things it does.

By Emma
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                                                                Wasps

There are more than 75,000 wasp species.

Did you know that only females sting and wasps come in a variety of colours including blue.

Wasps live everywhere in the world except Antarctica this is because they like hot climates.

Anatomy

Wasps have one pair of mandibles a thorax and an abdomen a pair wings and a tube for laying eggs

Diet

Wasps eat trap door spiders and caterpillars 

Conclusion

Wasps look like bees but they’re not.

By William

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