Inquiry Conclusion

Sorry no pictures. The cameras all had to be returned to the Library for storage over the holidays.
We presented our conclusions to our inquiry investigations yesterday. We have found out a lot and we also worked really well together to gather information.

The Gardens group. We began thinking Rabbits would beautify our school but after researching what Rabbits do and how much looking after they would need we decided it would better to look at growing eatable gardens. Rabbits need to eat too.

Lizards group thought building an enclosure would be a good idea. With the idea of being a rescue shelter for lizards. After some, a lot of research, we have found it would be better to create gardens in areas in the school that lizards would like to live in.

Maps and signs group had some fantastic ideas! A map at the entrance of the school so visitors can find where everything is in the school. A big sign pointing where the school is. Signs labeling the different buildings in the school.

Worm farm group emailed the council and found different websites on the internet. Thier research found out a lot of information about what kind of worms and what they do.

Good Work! It was very impressive to see the different things each group found out that could beautify our school. The children have lots of great ideas they will be able to take to their new classes next year.

We put our poems to music!

Students from Room 21, year 5/6 students, helped us today to put our poetry we have written to music. We used the Mac computers and the Garageband programme.
Our written poems are in our Learning Journals for you to enjoy Mums and Dads!

How to Swim

By Thomas

Circle our arms

that's how to stroke,

but make sure your woke.

My favourite thing is to dive

or how about five!

Kick your legs back and forward

like your on a boogie board.

What I learnt about making paper

I learnt that you can make coloured paper. Josh

I learnt that you had to rip newspaper up in little bites and leave it over night until it has soaked. Paris

I learnt that paper isn't just in factories. Cole

I learnt you have to use newspaper. Britta

It is a very messy job! Isabella

I learnt newspaper can turn into new paper! Kane

You can make new things out of all things. Lexi

To put glitter on coloured paper. Tyra

I learnt that I can recycle old paper! Katelynd

How to make an Electrical Circut

We had fun today making circuts to make a light bulb go on.

Next week (8) for homework the children will have reading, spelling and are to do some chores around the house to raise money to buy their own 9 volt battery. These will be used to make their own xmas decoration. Go to it!

Beartifying our School

Will Rabbits and Lizards beautify our School?
Some research is needed with this question.
If you have a comment please tell us!

Remember we are learning to Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.

Crosscountry Race!

Colin's Presentation

Colin presented a project to the class which he has been working on all year with Mrs Small.

It was very interesting. Thanks Colin!

How to?

Wow, our inquiry is going really well!
In the classroom you can see the experiements we have been looking at.
How to plant a sunflower. How much dirt does it need? Does it need light? How much water? Does it need water to grow?

Wanaka Waste Busters visited again and this time we planted a spud in a bucket. Not an ordinary spud though.
Photos taken by Hannah

Simon has also visited us again. He helped us to brainstorm all the things we think will beautify our school and then we voted what we thought we would like to do. We split into groups and 'Action Planned' how we are going to do it. We think we will need some help too!
Photos taken by Colin.

We need to write letters to some people to ask about how we are going to do some of the things. To write the letters we need PAPER! We have researched how to make paper and are now making paper in the classroom. Lexi's mum is helping too.

Lachie, Matthew and Ruben found this website. How to make recycled paper: http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/caer/ce/eek/cool/paper.htm

Lexi and Katelynd found this site. It also explains how to reuse and reduce paper waste:
http://www.funsci.com/fun3_en/paper/paper.htm


Watch this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIF-5ZhxMmA

Get Well Soon!

Kent's Mum had an accident last Friday and had to spend a night in Invercargill hospital. We are pleased to hear she is back home. We got busy and made her a get well card on Friday. Kent took it home for her. We hope it has cheered her up. Get well soon!

Yaaaayyyy! We have Melaine Bear!

We did it! For the first time this year we have made a good impression with Mr Hamilton during the weekly music lesson and we have got Melaine Bear for the whole week! She is lounging in our star chair over the weekend. Hope she likes it in our classroom and wants to stay.

Congratulation to Ashley and Cole for getting certificates this week. You have both been trying really hard to be switched on in class. Awesome!!!!

We have ben working on our inquiry this week, 'Beautifying our School'. Outside our classroom in the cloakbay are some maps of our school. If anyone has a suggestion please either email, post a comment or write onto our maps when you are visiting the classroom.

Don't forget the Gear Sale at School tomorrow.

Have a great weekend!

Weekly Goal Setting

Each Friday we set our goals for the next week. Some of us think being good or not being naughty is a really good goal. We are learning to think about what being good means or sitting on the mat nicely means and trying to come up with learning goals. Here are some goals set for next week:

Samantha: Use a dictionary and check my writing.
Petra: Check my writing and use a dictionary.
Hannah: get better at finding things on the internet.
Colin: Write neater. Capital letters, check spelling.
Kiki: getting my reading worksheets finished. Read every night.
Britta: Capital letters at the start of the sentence. Look in the dictionary.
Kane: Do my homework every night and prove I am good at something like maths.
Freddie: find things easier on the computer. Write neater.
Lachie: write better stories and write neater.
Cole: Be neater in all my work.
Paris: Do my homework every night.

Freaky Friday!

Freaky!

Wow! Bevan Docharty came to our school

This report was made by Hannah.

Well done Lachie. Good report from you too!

Extra Homework Sites

Make Your Own Maths WorksheetsDownload this free program and you can create your own basic facts worksheets to practice at home.http://www.schoolhousetech.com/Math/Download.aspx

There are lots of great websites to visit to have fun and at the same time getfaster at doing basic facts. Get really speedy at + and - to 10 then practise to 20.Blast the sums that come down like space invaders. Great for getting fast at addition!http://www.arcademicskillbuilders.com/games/alien/alien.html
Don't get slimed! Get fast at subtraction instead!http://www.arcademicskillbuilders.com/games/mission/mission.html
To make your own quizzes and worksheets, go to: http://themathworksheetsite.com/

Learn how to type:
http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/tuxtype/Tuxtype2-1.5.3-installer.exe?downloadYou might also be interested in TuxPaint and TuxMaths as well. Enjoy

This link takes you to NZ Maths Families. Help and support for you at home: http://www.nzmaths.co.nz/families/index.aspx
Wicked Maths: http://www.tki.org.nz/r/wick_ed/homework_help/maths/
Interactive maths activities: http://www.berghuis.co.nz/abiator/maths/intermathsindex.html

English Online. A New Zealand Ministry site:
http://english.unitecnology.ac.nz/resources/students.html

Term Newsletter

• 13 October 2008
  
  Dear Parents/Caregivers and Children
  
  
  Term 4 already, where has the year gone!
  
  Events this term:
  * Athletics day 29 October
  * Middle school swimming 24 November – 12 December (every day in High School pool).
  * Pet afternoon 28 November
  
  The Key Competency this term we are learning about is Thinking:
  I know when I am thinking when I think about my writing and how to make it better. I check if it makes sense. Go back and read it again. Take time to think about things.
  Inquiry Topic: How to beautify our school.
  Homework:
• Reading every day. If your child has not brought home a book get them to read to you a book they have at home. Remember reading to you improves fluency, expression and comprehension.
  Spelling. A list of 6 weekly words. Each word is to be put into a full sentence and learnt. Spelling tests are each Friday.
• Maths will also be glued into their homework books and to be completed by the end of the week.
• Oral Language homework focus for this term:
  1 Holiday news
  2 Present a Poem- find or write a poem to recite to the class
  3 Own news
  4 Amazing Discoveries
  5 Own news
  6 Out of Africa - choose an animal, country or person from Africa and tell us about it.
  7 Own news
  8 A-Z Speeches
  9 Own news
  10 Christmas: If I could have one wish for Christmas it would be….
  
  Extra Homework. If you think your child needs more homework you will find something on the websites listed on our class blog. Or there are really good books in the local book stores but please remember children also learn through play too and it is important they have time just to play. There is plenty of homework going home in the bookbag each day.
  
  Remember parents are always welcome to come in anytime if you want to talk or help out in the classroom.
  
  Cyndi Kruijer

Thank you Simon

Cross Country Skiing

Lexi and Petra put together this report all about our visit to the Snow Farm.
Enjoy!

Recycle and Reuse!

Hannah and Freddie have put together a report about Simon from Wanaka Waste Busters visiting our class.

Snow Farm

I attended a Mac ISchool training day on Friday and this video is a product from our learning on the day. It is unfinished because I got frustrated with the fluffing around and knew it can be done a lot quicker and easier in another programme using a different platform. But because it has the Snow Farm photos on it, it seemed silly to waste. Some Room 23 students are putting together a report using a different programme and will be presenting it soon on the blog, replacing this one.

What I was reminded of though, learning something new can be fun and frustrating! I do experience this a lot with ICT and it doesn’t matter what platform it is, Mac or PC. The thing about ICT is that it is changing all the time and will always require learning new things. It provides a great problem solving opportunity for students. I was interested to hear all the ohhs and wows coming from my colleagues. Yes ICT does have that wow factor and again it doesn’t matter what platform it is as this depends on the exposure. Kids are very quick to learn the whizz bangs, get over it and then find it boring! It is unfortunate but true, we live in an instant society. What I look for when I want to use ICT, is it educational, quick, reliable and simple to use because I use ICT as a tool in all curriculum areas. Time, class size and individual needs do not always allow time for fluff. .

I enjoyed the day and have gained some more experience using a Mac computer.

Wow! Principals Award!

Super cool this week! We have a student who got the Principals Award in assembly!
Well done Hannah!

Also to Ruben and Petra for getting this weeks class award.

Brilliant students!

I wonder who is going to be next with only 3 weeks to go before the holidays?

Olympics

What it takes to be a winner!

This Photo Story has been made by Hannah and Katelynd.

They have done a really good job in presenting this.

There are some mistakes but I couldn't edit it because they had deleted the editing file!

Josh's thoughts about Queenstown School

Sharing with the Junior School

Josh shared his PhotoStory with Mr Western. Mr Western suggested that Josh share his wonderful reading with the Junior School. We couldn't on Friday because Hugo was away but we have made a time with Room 1 next week.

Mr Western's suggestion has sparked us to share everyone's PhotoStories with the Junior School. We thought that if the Junior School liked what we have made that they might like us to make some using their Learning Media Readers. Also as our Key Competency is 'Relating to Others', we are extending our umbrella and including the Junior School into our learning.

Isabella, Britta and Colin took a timetable around the Junior school and asked who would like to see what Room 23 have been doing. They then went back at those times and showed our Talking Books. They even taught the teachers some things on the computer! Room 23 are very good at getting around the school network, I can tell you! The Junior School were very impressed with our work and have asked if we can teach their children to also make these talking books! WOW!

In our reading activities each day we are going to now make talking books. We have made a rubric that will help us to make really good talking books. We will also help the Juniors to make their own talking books. Great for building confidence and fluency in reading. What a wonderful 'Big Idea'! Lets watch it grow!

Welcome Josh

We welcomed Josh into our class this week. Wonderful to see him settling in and making new friends.
In Reading this week he made a PhotoStory with Hugo's help.

Make Your Own Maths Worksheets
Download this free program and you can create your own basic facts worksheets to practice at home.http://www.schoolhousetech.com/Math/Download.aspx

Great idea for anyone looking for some extra homework!

SNOWFARM!

Snowfarm Trip
We go with Room 16 NEXT MONDAY, August 25.Please remember this important information:
Listen to the radio at 7am for cancellations
Be in class by 7.45
Bus leaves at 8am
We return to school by 5pm-please arrange to pick up you child
TO BRING:
full ski outfit and helmet (boots and skis will be provided)
big lunch
plastic bag
spare socks
goggles
sunscreen

Week 3

Wow! This week has been busy with the 3 way conferences included. Thank you for taking the time to come in and to talk about your child's progress. If you missed out and would like to see me just let me know.

Thanks to the parents who have been in to help in class this week. If you have some time spare anytime after 11pm please just pop in. You will get a job!

Congratulations to Colin and Kiky for receiving awards in assembly this week!

We welcome Josh into our class today and look forward to having him as part of our team.

Have a great weekend!

Week 2

We have worked our way through the Essential Spelling Lists this week. Still a lot of work needed to get those words consolidated. This term we will work on these lists again. The children will write their weekly spelling words into their spelling books and there will be a spelling test at the end of the week. There may be some words they know but that is fine because I want them to really get to know these words so that in their writing they will not need to look them up or get them wrong. We are also learning the spelling strategies in the Joy Elcock's 'Spell It!' programme.

Congratulations Gavin and Kane receiving awards this week in Assembly. Wonderful to see you both really trying in class.

Ice Skating went well. Thank you parents for turning up to take the children down to the rink.

Learning Journals. Please send these back to school.

Have a great week!

READING

This term everyone in the class will make a PhotoStory of themselves reading a book as we are working on fluency and expression while we read. This requires knowing the story really well and this means using the 3 P's. Practise, practise, practise and read the same book more than once!

Copyright does not allow us to copy a full book in any way with the exception of the Learning Media publications. We have only recorded a chapter of chapter books like these ones.

Term 3

Welcome back!
This term is already shaping up to be a busy term. Hope you all got the newsletter.

Homework:

Week 1: HOLIDAY NEWS
Week 2: Find an interesting newspaper article about the Olympics and share with the class who, what, when, where and why.
Week 3: OWN NEWS
Week 4: Dynamic dinosaurs
Week 5: OWN NEWS
Week 6: Choose a topic. Research, write and present to the class with a static image.
Week 7: OWN NEWS
Week 8: Conservation Week: Invent something that will help keep the world clean and green.
Week 9: OWN NEWS
Week 10: Jokes, jokes, jokes. Find or write a joke to share with the class.

As well there will be a book to read every night and maths homework. Check the homework book.
I am doing spelling tests next week when everyone is in the class and then spelling will start to come home.

Three Way Conferences are on Tuesday 5 and Thursday 7 August. Please make an appointment with the office.

Ice Skating starts this Monday 28 July for the next 3 Monday's. We go at 1.15. Parents who are helping with the transport please be at the classroom at 1.15pm. The children know what they should be wearing, please check they know. (Managing themselves, Key Competency)

We are going crosscountry skiing at the Snow Farm! Excellent fun! More details will come home soon. We are going after ice skating has finished.

The Key Competency we are learning about this term is RELATING TO OTHERS.

We have to think how to relate to others in the playground and the classroom.

Room 23 STOMP!

Thank you Colin's Mum and Dad who took a video of our STOMP act. See it here:

The opening: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCAXzEo8qYg
STOMP: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdE_s4Nj560
The closing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeChU0NRpF4

More experiments!

Science Experiments

Look at our cool science experiments.

Book Week

Busy time last week and it was fantastic to have parents come in and read to the children. Here is a big thank you to you!

Book Week

This week it is Book Week and our class has chosen the theme Popup Books! The children can bring some in to share during the week.

Here are some links to sites that might be fun: http://www.robertsabuda.com/popmakesimple.asp
http://library.thinkquest.org/J001156/makingbooks/em_popup.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNIU4sNGQXchttp://www.makersgallery.com/joanirvine/howto.html
http://www.cyberbee.com/popup.html
http://www.library.unt.edu/rarebooks/exhibits/popup2/introduction.htm#history
and there are more if you Google, 'popup books'!

Homework:
To be done at home with the help of parents:

Monday: Book Mark Competition. The 3 best will be chosen from the class and submited to the library for final judging. Winners will be announced at the assembly.

Tuesday: Olympic Games. Children read something about Olympic Games at home and share it with their class the next day.

Wednesday: Jokes / funny stories. Read a book of funny stories or jokes and share it with the class the next day.

Thursday: Recipe. Read a recipe book at home and make something as a family. Children can share their baking with their class.

Family Reading Days: Parents or relatives are invited to come in and read to the class between 2.30-3pm on Tuesday and Thursday. Will be really good to see some Dads and Grandads come in to read as we want to encourage reading among boys.

Dressup as a Book Character Day/Parade
All teachers and children will come to school on Friday dressed as their favourite book character. Parade at 2.30pm around the upper hard court area.

Shelter Boxes

A Big THANK YOU parents for helping us with our show!

The Middle School Show was fantasitc! Thank you parents for your help and input. You are all busy people so it was good to have those who could help turn up in the classroom in the lead up to the show and also to help on the night.

We had fun researching 'Stomp!'. We looked at the clothing, what they use as insturments, movements, beat and rhythm. If you have never heard of 'Stomp' have a look at this link: http://www.stomp.co.uk/ -

I have had some great comments about our 'Stomp!'. It was edgy, creative and the kids were all into it. Way to go!

More Inventions

Katelynd

PETRA

Colin

Lexi

More inventions

Isabella's invention

Joshua's

Hannah's invention

Who invented it and what is Hannah's invention.

Wow! Check out the Worldwide Telescope!

This is a new site where you can look at planets,
stars and galaxies through NASA's telescope.

http://www.worldwidetelescope.org/

Interested in our Numeracy Programme?

If you want to find out more about how we teach numeracy, go to this site: http://fraserh.blogspot.com/2008/04/parent-numeracy-session-1_18.html

Mr Hill will be taking another session for parents soon, so keep an eye on the newsletter.

This site will tell you more about the numeracy project: http://www.nzmaths.co.nz/families/index.aspx

Cool Maths Websites

There are lots of great websites to visit to have fun and at the same time getfaster at doing basic facts. Get really speedy at + and - to 10 then practise to 20.Blast the sums that come down like space invaders. Great for getting fast at addition!
http://www.arcademicskillbuilders.com/games/alien/alien.html

Don't get slimed! Get fast at subtraction instead!
http://www.arcademicskillbuilders.com/games/mission/mission.html

To make your own quizzes and worksheets, go to: http://themathworksheetsite.com/

Tux Type

I have been asked by parents about getting the children to type as we have computers in the classroom. Try Tux Type. It will also help the children to publish their classroom work and to carry out other tasks on the computer quicker. I am going to get this installed onto the class computers but you can also try on your home computer. It is a freeware programme. You can search for it on google or try this download link.
http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/tuxtype/Tuxtype2-1.5.3-installer.exe?download
You might also be interested in TuxPaint and TuxMaths as well. Enjoy.

Keeping you up to date!

There is nothing to add to the blog this week. We have been so busy getting ready for Thursday nights Show! It is not to say that we haven't been doing our schoolwork though!

Maths: Multiplication. We have been learning to multiply by 2 and 10.

Writing: Paragraphing and using adjectives, verbs, nouns, metaphors, and similies. You might hear your child speak about delicious writing! That is because we have looked at paragraphing as a delicious sandwich and using delicious words such as the adjectives etc!

Reading: Linking to writing looking at paragraphing and delicious wow words!

I have just remembered why it seems we are doing a lot of show practise. We haven't, in fact on Monday we visited the Alpine Aqualand, the new community swimming pool! The children wrote delicious stories describing what it was like. Check out their writing books. On Tuesday Mrs Western made some delicious healthy snacks with us. Mrs Western takes us for Health. A big thank you to those parents who gave up their time to come in and help out with the swimming and cooking.
It hasn't all been show practise but I can promise you we are looking great and cannot wait to get on the stage in front of our Mums and Dads. Notes have been sent home so I hope you have read them. Maybe have a look in the bookbags. Dark coloured clothing are to be bought to school in a named bag on Tuesday. Thanks.

Seems we have a radio star!

Ruben was on MoreFM this week, reading the weather. Way to go!

Oral Language Homework Term 2

Wk Oral Language
1 Holiday News – Told to a group, not whole class
2 Find or create a good advertisement. Try to sell your product to the class.
3 Own News - Told to a group, not whole class
4 Superheroes - Describe who you are (you can bring a picture). Class has to guess
5 Who Am I? - Tell us about a famous inventor and what he invented.
6 Where in the universe am I? Describe it. Show pictures. The class has to guess.
7 Own news - Told to a group, not whole class
8 Book reviews - Review and show us your favourite book.
9 Science Experiments - Find a cool science experiment. Tell us about it.
Choose the best to do in the class.

Don't forget the Middle School Show is the June the 5th!

We have done our homework!

Last week for Oral Langage homework was to find or create a good advertisement. Try to sell your product to the class.
It can be tempting to be a little silly but the children are learning to realise their work can be seen by a lot of people. We have to think carefully when we present ourselves. The temptation was too much for one of our ad presentors but once it was recorded it was too late to change. It means extra time on my behalf to correct silly comments. As I didn't want everyone to be penalised I have added this posting.

Our Assembly Item

We do fitness every day in Room 23. Watch us go!

You must have this!

Hannah has something you need!
We are looking at advertising this week. Notice how we are being careful with putting on personal information. I wonder where you can get what Hannah is selling!

You should have this!

Check out Lexi's ad.

Comment from a fellow University Student.

It is always great to see who is visiting our site, expecially when they leave us a comment! As you know I am doing some University papers this year and here is a comment from a colleague. Can anyone help her? Just comment back to my email address and I will pass it onto Pauline. Thanks.

Hello Room 23
My name is Pauline Simpson and I am studying with your teacher at University this year. I am very interested in your blog as I am doing some research on how using a classroom blog can help parents support their childrens learning at home. I really like the way your teacher uses the blog to not only share your work with your parents but also to communicate with your parents about homework etc. I would be very interested to hear about how useful parents find this blog. Your teacher has my email address if any parents wanted to share their thoughts with me on this. Thank you.

Welcome Back

Holidays are over and we are almost all back at school. Matthew is still on holiday but we look forward to having him back this week. Ami left us on Friday. She is away visiting family in Japan until September. Have fun Ami. We will miss your smile.

3 Way Conferences:
I have typed up the reports today and a copy will go home to you next week. I am really pleased with the information we shared and the goals that were set. Already a positive difference has been noticed in the classroom. Thank you for taking the time to come in. If you missed out and would like to see me, either email me or leave a message at the office.

Homework:
This has changed this week as the comment amongst the parents of the year 3 classes was that there was not enough homework going home. The format has changed and will be in your child's homework book. I have a class chart and if every child completes their homework each week there will be a class free choice. Such as a game chosen by the class. It will be noticed if some children are not doing their homework!

Spelling:
As well as getting the children to consolidate the words from the essential spelling lists and an exercise in getting the children to work independently and together the children will also have in their homework books the Essential Spelling lists up to list 7. I expect them to learn these, you choose how many each week at at the pace the child wants to work at. During the week they will peer test each other. This is what the little notebook will be used for. They are to write their spelling test into these. They will bring these books home weekly so you can see what they have done. On the class chart they will record the list they have got all correct. When all the class knows a list there will be a class free choice activity.

Work books:
I remember beginning the year off well with sending home weekly the children's reading, maths, writing and poem books. I was reminded with the interviews that it is difficult to know how well your child is doing so I will be sending these workbooks home at different times throughout the week. Please just remember these are workbooks and not always your child's best work but use them to discuss with your child what they are learning. I also may not have marked some work because it has been sent on the day the work has been done. These books must be returned the next day. It is very difficult to do work in the classroom without a workbook.

Friday Assembly Item:
Yes we are on stage this Friday! The school orchestra and choir were scheduled but there will be 3 classes away in Stewart Island on their Year 6 camp and this also means most of the orchestra and choir, lucky things. Thought I would do the right thing and volunteered Room 23 to fill the gap. All is going well, we have worked out what we are going to do and everyone is practising their part. Hope parents can make the time to come and see us.

Photostories:
I do realise that not everyone got to put their photostory speech onto the blog and I won't be putting any more on. The children are now expected to work on putting together their own photostory in any spare time they might have. Many that were made were not up to presentation standard for posting onto the blog. Reasons vary from too much information to inappropriate presentations. The children are learning the blog is looked at by anyone visiting the blog and they need to present themselves in an appropriate manner with the relevant information. The children are capable of putting these together so watch this space!

We have an interesting term ahead and I appreciate the help that has already been offered with the show in week 5. I look forward to having parents in the classroom!

I am a Legend!

Something Tony Ryan has talked about is the importance of self talking. Daily the children have practised saying in their heads, "I am a Legend!" We have written about why we are legends and have also written a diamond poem.

Class Skipping Challenge

Today we are challenging the other Year 3 classes with our skipping challenge. Can you see what our challenges are?

Paris is here!

Photos by Colin.
Photo Story by Thomas and Hugo.
Trainees: Joshua and Kane

Comments

It is awesome to see so many are visiting our blog! But we are noticing not many are leaving a commets. Why is this? A parent commented that you are asked to make a Google account and that puts you off going any further. It is very easy to make the account. All you need to do is follow the instructions and once you have that you will not be asked again! Go on! We would love to get some feedback!

Email

The children all now have their own email address. Many are arriving to class and checking their inboxes to see if they have had a reply from family members. This is another part to our Language Programme and it is really good to see the children are so selfmotivated! If you would like your child to email you please give them your address and they will email you first. I do not get to check these emails as they are personal between you and your child but I want to encourage the children to check for spelling mistakes and to correct them. If you notice a spelling mistake, in your reply ask for the word to be corrected and also a dictionary meaning for the word too. This will help to inforce our class learning intention: I am learning to correct spelling mistakes in my work.

Introducing Joshua

Photos taken by Freddie.
Photostory put together by Lachie and Thomas.

Hi I am Freddie

Photos taken by Joshua.
Photostory put together by Thomas and Lachie.

My Story

Photostory put together by Hugo and Thomas.
Photos taken by Freddie.

Tony Ryan

Tony Ryan has just visited our school and is very inspirational. I have attended a couple of conferences where he has spoken at before and have taken copious amounts of notes. Want to know more? Visit his website:

http://www.tonyryan.com.au/cms/pages/!/display.html

Homework week after Easter

As this is a very short week there will be no homework. Yay! Less marking to do!
You all have a 'Challenge Yourself' rubric in your homework book, try something from that instead.
Have a great Easter!

Fantastic Students!

Amazing Handwriting: Tyra, Britta, Isabella

Clever Maths: Colin

Excellent Homework: Kent

Wonderful Art: Freddie

Best worker: Lachie

Way to go!!

Introducing Britta

Hi! I am Lexi

Homework

Homework has change since Outdoor Education week. You will (should!) notice a photocopied sheet in your child's homework book with the weekly activities on it. The children still have spelling words to learn which will (should!) be on a typed slip glued into their homework book or words they have misspelt in their writing. That is 4 words to be put into a sentence each.
Oral Language is still the same. 'Star Students' presenting about themselves. Many are already on the blog and are sounding fantastic!

Personal and class challenges

We have been discussing different types of challenges. For ourselves and also to create a variety of games and activities that we can challenge other classes with.

Some personal challenges the children have identified:
Thomas: Put your hand up. Manage yourself.
Katelynd: I need to stop reading so much at night and go to sleep when I am asked to.

Some ideas for a class challenge:
Hugo: Lots of different little challenges like: Try to lick your elbow. Try to turn your hand around on the table. Make a 3 leaf clover with your tongue.
Paris: A Backwards race.
Britta: Hoola hoop race.
Isabella: Skipping 100 forwards and backwards.
Tyra: Sniffing different things challenge.

Great ideas! Are there anymore great challenges we could setup and challenge the other classes with?

Thank you Parents and Grandparents!

I have put out a challenge to my students to see who has been commenting in our blog and where they are from. It is fantastic to hear from you and I am glad you are enjoying being part of our classroom.

Hi, I am Ruben

Fantastic workers

Fantastic Handwriting: Ami

Amazing storywriting: Hannah

Neatest Maths book: Colin

Best listener: Cole

Well done!

Introducing Samantha, Petra and Hannah

Sorry Petra and Hannah. It was decided your PhotoStories had too much information about your families. I want to keep you safe so I have taken them off our blog site. If we have time we will do them again but without so much family information, such as your last name and where you live. They were fantastic and you both spoke so well.

Outdoor Education Week

Last week we were all away from school on our Outdoor Education Week. In class we are now writing about what happened during Outdoor Education. We are thinking about the Plus, Minus and Interesting (PMI), parts we experienced during the week.

Group D's Hikoi day:
Photos taken by Ashley and Lexi.

Introducing Hugo

Camera

The children take all the photos themselves and they are getting very good at it. They have learnt how to hold the camera when they are carrying it and using it. We have looked at the angle to hold the camera when taking a photo. Holding it portait, up and down, is good only when the photos are for our art in the classroom. But if we want to make a Photo Story, landscape, long ways and the normal way a camera is held, is best. This is because we don't want to have to fiddle around with changing the picture around when we are making the Photo Story.

The children are also learning to save all their own work into their own school folder, how to transfer photos into their own folders and how to make a Photo Story. The stories you can see on the blog has had plenty of teacher input but these children are quick learners! I am looking forward to when they can do it all themselves!

Skyline Walk 25 February. Rooms 16, 17, 23 and24

Homework

Reading: The children will bring home each night a book to read. Each child will need a bookbag. This is an important part of our reading programme.

Spelling: The children will have 6 words in their homework book to learn each week this term. They are to write a sentence for each word into their homework book.

Maths: This will start to come home after Outdoor Education.

Oral Language: Each week a child will present to the class all about themselves.
Week 4: Hugo, Petra, and Lachlan
Week 6: Ruben, Britta and Hanna
Week 7: Lexi and Matthew
Week 8: Katelynd, Frederick, Joshua and Kent
Week 9: Cole, Tyra, Kane and Ami
Week 10: Paris, Isabella and Colin

Maths

This link takes you to NZ Maths Families. Help and support for you at home:
http://www.nzmaths.co.nz/families/index.aspx

Wicked Maths: http://www.tki.org.nz/r/wick_ed/homework_help/maths/

Interactive maths activities: http://www.berghuis.co.nz/abiator/maths/intermathsindex.html

English Online

I really enjoy this site and will be using the student area in the classroom. If you would like to use it or just have a look at home here is the link.

http://english.unitecnology.ac.nz/resources/students.html

Oral Language

As part of the Oral Language programme each week a group of children have a turn at being the 'Star Students' for the week. They get to present to the class all about themselves. This week it was Kiky, Ashley Thomas and Samantha's turn.

Tony's Visit

Challenge Ourselves!

This term we are looking at 'Challenging Ourselves.' We want to have a 'can do' attitude towards everything we do. We have started by setting our own term goals using the 'Pizza Smarts':
Word Smart: Reading, writing, talking and listening goals.
Number Smarts: Maths goals.
Picture Smarts: Art goals.
Body Smarts: Acting on doing it and getting a gut feeling.
Music Smarts: Music goal.
People Smarts: Working with others.
Self Smarts: Think about it and connect it to your own life.

The Ministry of Education is implementing the 'Key Competencies' into the new curriculum. The Key Competency we are looking at this term is 'Managing Ourselves'. Our class treaty reflects how we know when we are managing ourselves in our classroom:
"I know when I am managing myself when I am looking and listening to the teacher."
"When I am working quietly."
"When I know what to do."
"When I am a good friend."
"When I look after my classroom."

Lexi's Dad, Tony, visited our classroom and talked to us all about his challenges and his 'can do' attitude towards his challeges. He had a lot of really fantastic motivational ideas for us to think about. Kane and Hugo took photos while Tony was talking. See the PhotoStory. Thanks Tony! We would welcome any of our class parents to come in and share how they have challenged themselves. Please reply to this blog.