Melville Intermediate - Selwyn House in Minecraft Presentation

Earlier this term, inspired by 'Room with a View' from the Figure it Out, Mathematics Curriculum Geometry Level Three Books - although we adapted it slightly.  Those of you familar with the teaching resource will know that under the material listed it suggests a speaker phone.  We put a twist on it, and used our Aotearoa Quadblogging Buddies, Tawa Intermediate and Selwyn House to communicate with by leaving comments on their blog and then responding to them.   This allowed us to refine our questioning technique and also improve the use of mathematical language that our students were using, this worked for both us and our buddies that we were working with.

We started with a two dimensional grid model, refined it with responses from our buddies, converted our two dimensional grid to a three dimensional sketch, contacted our buddies about the sketch, built a three dimensional cube model based on the sketch, and finally constructed the finished classroom in Minecraft.

We then contacted our buddies to show them the results.  Elizabeth, one of the Room Five students filmed this video explaining the process.  You can see some of the screenshots in the process here.
 
  ElizabethMinecraftExplanation from myles webb on Vimeo.

From a teaching perspective a week long project stretched into four weeks however the students were engaged, they were collaborating with other students form across New Zealand and they used Minecraft in a constructive way.  The producing of the final Minecraft model was the quickest part of the whole project.  We completed models of two out of three of our Quadblogging buddies and will continue posting the results during our term break and early next term.

Melville Intermediate - How do they celebrate Halloween in Ireland?

While its the school holidays in New Zealand at the moment, and our students are currently expreiencing the break between third and fourth terms of friends around the world are continuing to post and publish.   'If Only the Best Birds Sang' is a wonderful second grade site from Ireland that we've had the opportunity to collaborate with repeatedly this year.  You can see some of the collaborations with their class here on this site, such as when we first made contact with them, sending us gifts for St Patricks Day, or our Question and Answer Session for Cultural Diversity in TermTwo.

Recently we saw that they had begun getting ready to celebrate Halloween, which is coming up later next month.  We weren't sure exactly how much Halloween was celebrated in Ireland until this fantastic post was made on thier site, so much detail and wonderful information.  We'll be sure to spare this with our students when they return to school, and it would have fitted perfectly with our 'Cultural Diversity' work this year.  Thanks so much for the great post!

Melville Intermediate - Ski Trip Recount Day Two

This recount was written by Chloe from Room Five and is about the Melville Intermediate School Ski Trip (Day Two) that took place in Week Six of Term Three.

We all woke up and we got told to get into our snow gear we were all in our snow gear we had some breakfast and I had bacon an eggs it was nice. We all brushed our teeth and we went to get our hired gear witch was our boots, pants (if need), snowboard and wrist guards and everybody had done all made it down we had to have a lesson we went for a run down the mountain we had a 2 hour lesson it was tiring we had finished our lesson and we got to go anywhere in Happy Valley.   We had some lunch it was chips, ham and chesses buns and biscuits. Then we got to go back out snowboarding we ended the day with having a last ride on the magic carpet. The magic carpet is like a little escalator but with NO steps. We went back up the chairs lifts and dropped off our hired gear and went back up the to the  top with our boots and snowboard and everyone got up the lodge we were locked out so Mr Keegan rang Jodi who was in her office so she ran down the steps and unlocked the door. We all went and ran to our rooms got dressed cause we were all wet from the snow everyone got change we hanged out for about half an hour then it was dinner time we had spaghetti bolognaise and like it we had about 10 minutes and most people played foosball and we had pudding we had fruit crumble and ice cream we all ate it we had half an hour till bed we were playing I dear you and taking pitchers and videos. Then it was time to go to bed that was the end of day 2.

Melville Intermediate - Room 15@Tawa Intermediate in Minecraft

Nathan G and Daniel have been working on this virtual map of Room Fifteen, Tawa Intermediate School.  They are part of the Lumpy Space Princesses from Room Five.  Earlier this week the group completed a two dimensional grid map of the Tawa Inatermediate classroom folllowing detailed discussion and a first attempt at drawing the classroom.

Today Minecraft was used to construct Room Fifteen on the basis of the grid map.   The buidling took place between 9:00am and 9:30am from start to finish.

This is what Nathan G wrote about the activity:
this is me and Daniels idea of room 15 at Tawa Intermediate. we built this on mine craft with clues from the students in that class. the first picture is a view from above the cloak bay, and in the second picture it is a picture from the white board. behind the wall paintings is the cloak bay.

This is what Daniel wrote about the acitivity:\
Me and Nathan G design on minecraft what we thought what Room 15 at Tawa Intermediate school looked like from the inside. The first thing we had to do was create a 2D model of Room 15 then create a 3D model of Room 15 out of small blocks then the final step was was creating Room 15 on minecraft which took only 45 mins.  

We also completed this task mapping Room 8C from Selwyn House in Christchurch, the details of that post are here.

Melville Intermediate - 3d Modelling in Minecraft

We're fast approaching the end of term in Room Five, and we've attempting to complete our Drawing to Scale/two dimension to three dimension/modelling of another classroom.  As you know we've completed the task with Selwyn House and were trying to currently complete this task for Room Fifteen at Tawa Intermediate - we've set ourselves a deadline of tomorrow, the last day of term, and have been busy working in all four Mathematics groups to complete the task.

Room Fifteen @TIS Models - slideshow

These are some of the screen shots from the Minecraft creations of 8c Selwyn House, Room Fifteen Tawa Intermediate and Room Five, Melville Intermediate Schoool.

MineCraftScreenShots2013 - slideshow

Melville Intermediate - Inter Intermediate Basketball Recount

On Tuesday the 24th of September the Girls and Boys Basketball teams from Melville Intermediate went to Te Awamutu for the Inter Intermedidate Tournament.  Our first game was against Fairfield Intermediate.  They didn't turn up so we had to verse people from other teams.   Our second game was against Morrinsville Intermediate, we won that game and in the end the score was 12-8.   We were able to ge those points in the last minute.  Our third game was against Berkly.  We lost by miles but still stuck in the game.  Our fourth game was against Matamata Intermediate and we defeated them.

Our semi-final was against Cambridge Middle School.  We won that game, but it was a close game, because they were undefeated and we beat them and the score was 15 to 12.   Now in the finals we had to verse Te Awamutu Intermediate.  At first we were in the lead but then Te Awamutu fought back and they were in the lead by one point.  In the last two minutes we got more points then the points came 20 to 17 to us, so 'hurray! to us!"

Recount by Leseli, Room Six.

Vs. Cambridge Middle School 24/9/13 from myles webb on Vimeo.

Highlights from the Cambridge Middle School Semi-Final which Melville won 15-13. Cambrdige are in the light Blue and Melville are in Red/Green.

Melville Intermediate - NZAIMS 2013 Recount

On Sunday 15th of September the Melville Intermediate Girls Basketball team went to Tauranga to compete in the NZ AIMS Games.   Later that night we went to the opening ceremony.   The opening ceremony was cool. 

Monday was our first game was against Aquinas College lost by 1 point.   We won our other games later that day against Dio from Auckland and Kristin School from Aukland.  It was tough but we still got back up and won our games 40-10 against Dio and 35-28 against Kristin. There were a lot of fouls  in these games.

Tuesday we played Saint Cuthberts College from Auckland and Northcross Intermediate we won both of those games. There were a lot of rep players which made it difficult but it was challenging and fun for our team. We were excited to win those two games.  The other game on Tuesday was against Tauranga Intermediate this was a tough game and they played really well against us and unfortunatly we lost 35-19.

Wednesday we went to bayfair shopping center,because we only had 1 game late that day.we played a very hard game losing to Te Kura Te Koutou, who eventually won the whole competition.  They beat us 12-60.

Thursday we playerd off for 7th-8th place unfortunatly losing against The Knox school from Australia.  We thought that we would have won this game however we were only just behind at half time and the game ended up very close.   The Knox ended up winning 23-28.

We tried our best and played hard to represent Melville Intermediate  at the nationals.  Overall we came fourth in our pool which we were happy with and there were 17 teams in the competition altogether.

Report by Nichola and Icis from Room Five.

Melville Intermediate - 3d Modelling Room 15 @ Tawa Intermediate

Today we got back into one of our Mathematics activities that were completing before the end of term - the mapping of Room Fifteen @ Tawa Intermediate School.   This process has been a bit more drawn out than expected but thats because of the challenge that has been posed by a classroom that dosen't have a traditional set up.  What Room 15@ TIS are is extremely active online, so today the 'ban' from our classroom teacher was lifted allowing our students to look online at everything they could find.  We've had some wonderful questioning prior but we spent this morning looking at Room Fifteen from an online perspective.  The students then compared this to their notes that they'd taken, the feedback from the students that they'd received and reworked the maps that we've already been working on.  The group that was told in the first round of mapping was the closet, the Lumpy Space Princesses, were able to refine their model and then start constructing Room Fifteen in Minecraft.

Space Princesses @ TIS - slideshows

Melville Intermediate - Inter Intermediate Waikato Basketball

Today in Te Awamutu Melville Intermediate School competed in the 2013 Waikato Inter Intermediate Basketball competition.  The Melville Intermediate Girls team started off the day with a tight game against Morrinsville Intermediate.  Morrinsville were leading for most of the game before Melville were able to take the lead with two minutes remaining a register a win 12-8.  Melvilles next game was against Berkly School, who blew Melville off the park.  Berkley dominated the game winning 6-22.  Melville then needed to defeat Matamata Intermediate to qualify for the semi-finals.  Another tight game saw Melville edge Matamata 10-8, Melville duly qualfiying for the semi=finals.

In semi-finals Melville had to take on the unbeaten Cambridge Middle School.  Melville Girls put on a huge display both offensivly and defensivly.  Melville took an early lead which stretched out to six points at one stage, although Cambridge were always in touch.  Cambridge closed the gap in end but by this stage it was too late Melville winning 15-12.  In the other semi-final Berkley were eliminated by Te Awamutu Intermediate.

The 2013 finals beckoned and up against Melville were Te Awamutu Intermediate.  It was another exciting encounter with Melville establishing an early lead before a Te Awamutu fightback.  Te Awamutu finally took the lead with three and half minutes remaining however Melville struck back and scored an impressive 20-17 win.  This was Melville Intermediates first Inter Intermediate competition win in 2013 and they were very happy to successfully defended the Waikato Schools title which we won last year.
  Vs Te Awamutu Int Int Finals 24/9/13 from myles webb on Vimeo.
This is highlights of the final filmed by Reid from Room Twelve.

Melville Intermediate - Bianca's Japanese Blog

Bianca, one of our Room Five students is currently experiencing Japan as part of our school trip along with three other students from Melville Intermediate School and our Deputy Principal, Mrs Bleakin.  Bianca has created a blog to write from while she is Japan.  You can view it by clicking on the link here.

Melville Intermediate - Vs. Northcross Intermediate

Filmed by Davy Grace this is highlights from the Melville Intermediate (in red/green) Vs. Northcross Intermediate (in blue) game from the second day of the 2013 NZAIMS Basketball Tournament.   Northcross came into this game having lost, like Melville Intermediate to Aquinas College by a solitary point.   The game would decide fourth placing in Pool B.   Melville, who had not defeated Northcross in this competition took a small half time lead which they were able to convert to a 35 to 19 win.   Filmed on Tuesday 17th September 2013 from ASB Baypark Arena.
  Vs. Northcross Intermediate 17th Sept. 2013 from myles webb on Vimeo.

Melville Intermediate - Imagine, Create, Illustrate

Imagine, Create, Illustrate MIS Show

On Tuesday 17th September 2013 there wawhen its a show called Imagine, Create, Illustrate it all started at 1.30pm when the people who have paid for the show went into the hall and sat on the stairs and got ready for the  show to begin. After 5 minutes a man was talking to us about his childhood then he was doing a play about us when we were 3 yrs old  it was really funny because he poured water all over him and then after that a lady tought us how to draw aacarrot, apple a monkey and said just a little bit of detail can change the whole art work or drawing. I really enjoyed the whole show and I would say it was worth $5.  Report by Wattana Room Five.

The lady was drawing  cartoon figures and she was teaching us how to follow somone while they are drawing the same picture . The man told us to write somthing random about your figure I chose to say somthing about a volcano and a jungle . While that time I really enjoyed my time there as they really taught me some new skills with my art and writing skills .

report by Harry from Room Five.  The art in this post was created by the students who were inspired by the show.   The performance was at Melville Intermediate School on Tuesday 17th September 2013.

Melville Intermediate - Vs. the Knox School

On Thursday 19th September 2013 Melville Intermediate School played against The Knox School from Melbourne in the 2013 NZAIMS play off for 7th and 8th.   Melville Intermediate are in their traditional Green/Red uniforms.   The Knox School are in the white uniforms.  This was filmed by the Melville Intermediate School bench during the game.  Thanks to Whaea Dotty.  Final score was The Knox 28 Melville Intermediate 23.
Vs The Knox School 19/9/13 from myles webb on Vimeo.

Melville Intermediate - NZAIMS Games Review

Melville Intermediate Schools Girls Basketball team returned from the NZAIMS Games in Tauranga on Friday afternoon.  The team competed with teams from throughout the country during the week.

The first up game against Aquinas College from Tauranga resulted in a narrow 27-28 loss for Melville.  Following this Melville were able to defeat Dio School from Auckland 40-10 and Kristen School from Auckland 35-28.   Day two saw three crucial games.  In the first Melville were able to come up with a win against St Cuthberts College 35-4.   

The secong game was against unbeaten and tournament hosts Tauranga Intermediate School.  Tauranga had been in dominating form, undefeated after four games, although Melville Intermediate had managed to defeat Tauranga at the quarter final stage in both 2011 and 2012.  This year it was not to be, an awesome defensive display from Tauranga combined with some decisive counter attacking saw them take a commanding 2-24 half time lead.  Althogh Melville Intermediate were able to peg Tauranga back in the second half the gap proved too much for Melville to bridge, Tauranga winning 38 to 19.

The final Tuesday game, Melvilles sixth in two days saw us take on Northcross Intermediate who had a single defeat.  Melville played their game of the tournament defeating Northcross 34-19.  That left a final pool game, against Kura o Te Koutu from Rotorua.  Melville came up against the eventual New Zealand and NZAIMS Champions who were in dominate form and who beat Melville 12-60.

This left Melville having a play off game in the tournament for 7th and 8th place against The Knox School from Melbourne.  Melville were hoping to finish with a win, however again it was not to be and in another very close game Melville were defeated 23-28, finishing 8th (out of 17 teams) for the 2013 nationals.

At the finals prizegiving Chilo Heurea from Melville Intermediate was named in the 2013 NZAIMS Tournament team in recognition of her outstanding play and leadership.  This meant she was recognised as one of the top twelve players in New Zealand for her age.

Our warmes congratulations to our friends at Koromatua School from Hamilton who were runners up oin the Boys and Girls Competition.   We would also like to acknowledge Kura O Te Koutu who were worthy champions, the first school to achieve this honour twice.

Melville Intermediate - NZAIMS 2013

NZAIMS2013 - slideshow