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=Welcome back to everyone. Thank you for visiting Room 12 Hearts wiki.= We have had yet another successful school cross country out at theFlay's Berry Farm. As usual the weather was outstanding and the children had a fabulous morning racing amongst the berries. Our inquiry is based around "**What effect do New Zealanders have on the environment?".** We believe it is important that our children become aware of their social responsibility and see that they can make a difference (even at 8 and 9 years). We have looked at our school environment and the impact we have on it every day. We then went for a walk to have a look at other areas that impact on our wonderful school. The children were concerned about the affect the drain on the land behind the school has on our school environment and believe they have several possible solutions. Through the Inquiry process they will continue to investigate the various avenues and hopefully present their findings to the appropriate people. Hopefully they will look carefully at the proposal Room 12 Hearts have presented.

===Most of the children in the class have really used their home learning time well. They have created many different styles of home learning activities to show their learning and research skills off. Each week I am absolutely amazed at the children's fantastic creations. I receive emails from the children with home learning powerpoints which are fantastic. The children are able to share the special parent / child experiences with me and explain how they have created something with your support. All of these experiences are essential for your childs personal development. Thank you parents, we as teachers applaud your enthusiasm and knowledge.===

Literacy is a very important component to the children's learning. Literacy not only involves reading it also involves understanding/ comprehension of the text. When the children are researching their home learning information they need to show they understand and show what they have learned in the process. While presentation is extremely important it is important that the childrens knowledge is being reflected through the depth in their explanations. The use of graphic organisers such as a venn diagram has really provided the children with the opportunity to show comparisons, similarities and key differences about NZ Authors of their choice. Such information has a positive effect on other children by encouraging them to read more and how to select great books.