Teddy Town

Welcome to Teddy Town. In Teddy Town there are four houses of each colour and four teddies of each colour. The streets are very special. If you walk along a street from east to west all the houses are a different colour and the teddies living in the houses are a different colour too. The same is true if you walk in a north south direction. In other words, looking at a map grid, each row and column must have different coloured houses and different coloured teddies.

The JEM's (Junior Extension Maths) have been puzzling over Teddy Town for a while and today Camryn found a solution. What great perseverance she showed to solve this problem. Great work Camryn. Here is her solution.

What will Teddy Town look like if there are five teddies and houses of each colour and five purple teddies move into town and build five purple houses?

Thanks nrich for the great ideas and resources.

If Persistence was a Person

Recently on TV One's Close Up there was a story about Hana Old. Hana is 12 years old and has just published her first book, "If Persistence was a Person: The Story of Professor Swee Tan". Hana was just 11 when she watched a TV documentary on the life and work of Professor Swee Tan and was so moved that she decided to write a book to help fundraise the $4 million dollars that Swee Tan needs for his research with the Gillies McIndoe Research Institute. "If Persistence was a Person" is the result.All the profits from the sale of the book go to support Swee Tan’s research. Hana is an amazing example of just what can be achieved when we believe we can make a difference. Watch the Close Up excerpt to hear Hana's story. Copies of the book can be purchased from Paper Plus Online

New Inquiry

This term we will be working on a personal inquiry. Inquiry involves asking questions, gathering and analysing information, generating solutions, making decisions, justifying conclusions and taking action. It may be inspired by the book Taketakerau The Millenium Tree by Marnie Anstis, or there may be something else you feel particularly passionate or curious about. You will need to complete the Inquiry Contract before you begin.

Too Much Toothpaste

Do you ever get told you use too much toothpaste? Last week we worked out how much toothpaste we use in a day, in a week, in a month and in a year! Tama and Connor use 7.3 metres and Camryn, Erica and Ray use 14.6 metres each year!
This week we wanted to find out how much toothpaste there is in a tube so we could work out how many tubes of toothpaste we must use in a year and how much it all costs.

Camryn, Ray and Erica use a whole tube of toothpaste every 11 weeks but Tama and Connor make one tube last for 23 weeks.

How much do you use?

What Do You Want To Know?

There are areas in maths we all need some extra help with or areas where we possibly wish for greater challenge. In Term 4 I will respond to student requests for mathematical concepts you would like extra work in. You can go to the GATEMathsLearning wallwisher to add your thoughts, comments and requests.
Make sure you put your name with your request/comment.

Chocolate Fish Challenge

Here we go again with those tricky maths puzzles. Can you write an equation using only 6,6 and 2 to make 7 or 5? Or... can you write an equation using only 2,2 and 1 to make 7?

Enter your solutions as a comment here or through your Kidsblog.

Calculating the Scale Factor

Maths today

Aotearoa New Zealand

Earlier this week the playground had a make over with fresh new paint and a brand new map of Aotearoa New Zealnd. We wondered if the map is an accurate representation of The Land of the Long White Cloud, and if so just how long is it?
We set out to find the answer to the following questions:

Is our new New Zealand map drawn to scale?

If so, what is the scale factor, and if not, how much is it out by?

Groups working together to decide on the best way to approach the problem.



Measuring distances to compare with the internet or the atlas.

The measuring tape proved much more accurate than metre rulers.

Ryan researched distances in New Zealand on the internet.

Ethan compared distances on an atlas map with those on the playground map.



Science Fair 2012

Recently we held our Kimihia School Science Fair. It was exciting to see the students involved sharing their work and discussing their investigations with the judges, and then later with classes that came to view the projects. Today the winners of the School Science Fair took their boards to the Waikato Science Fair in Hamilton. We are anxiously awaiting the results from that competition to see how well we fared. Check out the Science Fair page to see all the project boards and the results of our School Science Fair.

WaiMaths Quiz 2012

Last night a team of three Year 7s and a team of three Year 8's competed in the annual WaiMaths competition run by the Waikato Maths Association. Around 30 schools enter a team of three who work together for 45 minutes to solve maths problems as quickly as possible.
Well done to the Year 8 team; Sonya, Caleb and Blair, who began strongly showing co-operation and perseverence through to the end of the competition.
Congratulations to the Year 7 team; Stephen, Joe and Cameron who demonstated excellence and cooperation to achieve 4th place. A fantastic result.