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.