Maths - Probability snail race

Today in maths time, we played a snail race game. It involves a lot of probability. On the board there are 12 snails. Everyone has to choose at least one or two snails. We had to take turns rolling the dice, and whatever number that both dice add up to, we moved the snail foward. We had to continue doing that until three snails past the finish line. There were also points for the places. First got five points, second got three points, and third got one point.

In the first game Ben came first. He got five points and raced with snail number five. Matthew came second with three points and raced with snail number seven. I then came third with one point with snail number eight.

In the second game Matthew came first with five points with snail number seven. Luukas came second with three points with snail number nine. Lulu then came third with one point with snail number six.

Five, seven, eight, nine, and six are the numbers that placed in the races. Five and seven got a placing two times, while nine six and eight placed once.

The snails that are the best snails are any snails between one and twelve. Because you actually have a chance to get that number while you don't have a very good chance of getting one and twelve.
The snails that are the worst snails are one, and twelve. One is bad because your rolling two dice, not one. And the lowest number you can get is two. Twelve is also quite bad because you have to get six and six. You can't get five and six because that is eleven and that's the closest number to twelve. So it has to be six and six both ways.

I think the best one to get is seven because you have three chances of getting seven. One and six, five and two, and three and four.

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Believe it or not, my guess was true. Thanks to a table we had created. Seven is actually the best snail to get because you have 6 possible combinations. Not three. One and six, six and one, two and five, five and two, three and four, four and three are all the possible combinations. We have 6 chances out of 36 for getting seven. Unlike eight, you have five chances. Because four and four are doubles and either way their going to be four and four.

Mandarin Lesson - Zodiac & Numbers

In yesterday's lesson in Mandarin, we learnt about the big race, and our Zodiac animals. Most of the people in room 20 are Ji, chickens. A few are dogs as they were born in 2006.

The big race was a completion, and the animals that competed and finished the race would get their own special year. The order of the placings are the order of the years.

Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig.

There was a Cat who competed, but they didnt cross the finish line.

Also in last week's lesson, we learned all about numbers. The numbers to ten have their own hand actions aswell to go with the words.

Yoga - First Lesson

Yesterday we had our first Yoga lesson for our topic, healthy bodies strong minds. We chose yoga as it releases stress and makes you relax easier.

The instructor pretended that we were on a jungle adventure, by saving the animals from an erupting volcano. (Keep in mind that she made this to make it more fun for us.)

We first started by rowing our boats to the jungle from across the water.
Next, we went on our bycicle and traveled through the dense forest to a clearing where we could place our tent.
We placed our tent but got our clothes pretty dirty, so we had to wash and dry them.
After they were clean, we went to bed and rested. (It's called Savasna.)
In the morning we got up and saw a volcano about to errupt, so we decided to save the animals.
Quickly, we went up a tree and gave our jungle call to get all the animals.
First the snakes slithered in and joined us.
Then it was the monkeys that swung in.
After that we found a den, so we crawled in an found lions, so they then joined us.
Then we returned home with all the animals.

After we had finished our adventure, we had more Savasna time. Savasna is like relaxing. Just letting all your body go loose and rest. Did you know that Savasna is the hardest thing to do in yoga?

Funny enough, mostly everyone felt extrememy tired and wanted to sleep all because of Savasna.

Mandarin Lesson - Family Tree

In today's Mandarin lesson we learnt all about family and how to say people in our family. We also had to create our own family tree with the new Mandarin words we learnt. Here are some of the new words that we learnt today:

Nainai - Grandmother
Yeye - Grandad
Baba - Papa (Dad)
Mama - Mother (Mum)
Gege - Big Brother
Didi - Little Brother
Meimei - Little Sister
Jiejie - Big Sister

Here is my family tree. The Mandarin names are underneath the boxes, while their actual names are inside the boxes.

Persuasive Writing - Number 1 Pet

Room 20 were assigned with an uncommon animal. Either Skunk, Snake, Starfish, Grizzly Bear, Piranha or Fly. With our team, we had to write a persuasive piece to say why we think our pet was the best pet to have. I worked with Zoe, Caitlin and Bridget, and we did the Snake. Here is what we wrote :)

The Number 1 Pet




Intro: Snakes are evil, wild beasts. No one wants one of them. They are poisonous and deadly! Well what if I told you that most snakes aren't deadly or poisonous and that snakes are actually a common pet to have? Hear us out and you will like snakes after all.

Reason 1: Did you know if you go to special places overseas you can hold snakes? When they are tamed of course! Once they are tamed you could play with them and even dress up your snake. (If your snake likes being dressed up.) Heaps of people hold snakes all the time without having the snake's mouth taped or strapped incase of it biting. Believe it or not people even try teaching snakes tricks. So snakes aren't actually as vicious as you think they are.

Reason 2: Small snakes like the Thread Snake eats the eggs of ants and centipedes. A medium snake like the Tree Boa, eats mostly all insects. Yellow Rat snakes eat rats and mice. All snakes swallow their food whole so forget seeing half a rat left in your house by cat or dog, and say hello to a snake.

 Reason 3: Surely you understand the slight annoyance of having chew toys around the place, animal fur over clothing or furniture, but Snakes don't make messes. Snakes are really neat. All you need to do is leave them in their cages or tanks.

Reason 4: Sure snakes need special heating and other things to keep them alive and all, but after you have those things you don't need to worry about them. Just make sure they have water and food - and the cage door shut - and then you're fine.

Conclusion:  You don’t want to spend heaps of money on food, or clean up after your pets when they are finished eating. You want a nice animal that you can dress up and pat, if you don’t wanna mess around your house you need a snake. There is no other animal like a snake on earth so go buy a snake now!!!

By Catherine, Zoe, Caitlin & Bridget

Mandarin - Names

Today we had another Mandarin lesson. Here are some new sentences that are put in a conversation that we can use:

Jiāmíng: Nǐ hǎo! (Hello!)
Bǐdé/Peter:Nǐ hǎo! Nǐ jiào shén me. (Hello! What is your name?)
Jiāmíng: Wǒ jiào Wáng Jiāming. Nǐ ne? (My name is)
Bǐdé/Peter:Wǒ jiào Bǐdé. Wǒ shì xīn xī lán rén.

I also know how to say and spell my name in 2 ways in Chinese.

Catherine 凯特琳 (Kǎi tè lín)

Catherine 凯瑟琳 (Kǎi sè lín)

Also, to say New Zealand in Chinese is:

xīn xī lan.

Mandarin - Fun Facts

Today, room 20 were lucky enough to have our first Mandarin session. We have learned simple greetings, and about China. Here are some things that Molly and I have learned:

Population: 1.379 Billion (2016)
Area: 9.597 Million Km2
Food: Chinese cabbage, Cooked rice, Pork belly, Bok Choy, Chinese Noodles, Sweet Potato, Lomo saltado. (Etc, etc)

China's Top Tourist Cities:

-Beijing
-Xi'an
-Shanghai
-Gulin
-Huangshan
-Hangzhou
-Chengdu
-Hong Kong
-Lijiang
-Suzhou
-Guangzhou