End of term 3 already!!!

This term has flown by and now we are into the holidays!

Over the last few weeks we have been using story cards and story dice to motivate us in our writing. 

The children pick two cards from a box and then make up some wacky sentences.

Here are two of their wacky sentences.

 The more capable children were working with story dice. They roll the dice, then pick three pictures to use in their story. This one is a little sad, but used the pictures of the world, a walking stick and an old woman really well.

This term, at fruit break we have been watching little animated clips of Peep and the big wide world. These are short stories of three little birds and how they view the world. 

We decided to write our own stories about Peep and his friends using a storyboard.

They turned out really well and the children were proud of their efforts.

In Room 1 we have been trialling a focus yoga routine. The children are keen participants, it helps them settle at the start of the day and prepares them for learning. This is part of our well-being focus for the year. Along with the yoga, we work together to remind each other that, 'We are smart, We are kind and We are important'.
Over this term we have become very good with our stretching and holding the poses.

We will be continuing our yoga routines next term and might even try some Tai Chi! 

That's all for this term, have a great holiday and remember swimming in term 4!

End of week eight!

This term is flying by!
Room 1 children have been really busy the last few weeks. We have been practising hard on the music side of our topic for this term. At Room 1's assembly we performed a musical item, 'An Octopus's Garden'. The children played along with Ringo Starr and delighted staff and parents alike.

Here on the drums are Tiaan, Brooke, Renae and Lincoln.

On the tambourines are Jack, Isla Grace, Harper and Glenn.

And on the shakers are Skye, Isla Rose and Aubree.

Here they are at one of their practices, giving it their all!

The music inspired the children to create their impression of what an Octopus's garden might look like. They used paint with sand to make a textured sea bed, dye for the sea and wool for the seaweed.

Last week we had Lucy from the Blue Penguin Trust come and give us a talk about the New Zealand Blue Penguin.

First she asked us about what we knew about the Blue Penguin, it's habitat and where we would find it. The children were quite knowledgeable! 

Then Lucy showed us some display penguins she had brought with her. Although the children couldn't touch them, they were fascinated to have the chance to get up close  to some real penguins, even though they weren't alive.

Our sharing has been a great success again this term, however, next week will be our last week for sharing for the term. 

Last week we had the letter S and the blend sp. Here are some of the things the children brought in to share.

Here are special sparkly bracelets,

a sewing doll,

a strawberry,

a scary snake,

and our sharing sign.

That's all for now everyone, next up-date is at the end of term!

Middle of the term already!!!

The last two weeks have been very busy in Room 1.
Last term the students of Room 1 put out a challenge to all the other classes to keep their bag bays tidy.

Room 1 worked hard checking and making sure their bag bay was clean and tidy. They won the challenge and last week had their mufti day.

Well done Room 1, and they are still doing a great job keeping their bag bay tidy this term.

Some of our students have been learning to count in two's. To start pegs were placed on every second number to help with skip counting in two's.

For strand this term we are learning about probability. One of our activities was predicting tossing a coin. This was great fun trying to guess which way up the coin would fall. 

Our results didn't turn out how we expected them too!

Sharing is up and running again this term with the letters 't' and 'r'. For 't' we had...

A tens frame,

A trolley,

Tractors,

And a toy.

For the letter 'r' we had.....

A ruler,

A remote control,

A red motorbike,

And a racing car.

Room 1 children put a lot of thinking into finding things that start with the letter or blend of the week. Well done Room 1!

Our topic for this term is learning about music and dance. One favourite song is 'Up, up and away in my beautiful balloon', sung by The 5th Dimension. The children made up their own moves and enjoyed dancing around the room pretending to be balloons. This was the motivation for our 3D balloon pictures.

This week was Book Week. We decorated our class door, inside and outside, to relate to our favourite book.

The children had fun going in and out of the 'cat door' at break times. During the week there were stories read at lunch eating time and 'treasure hunts' at playtime (organised by our lovely Jo in the office).

On Wednesday this week we had Wacky Wednesday. The children came to school wearing something wacky. 

Then on Friday we all had to dress up as our favourite book character. Check out the awesome costumes!

Looking forward to sharing more exciting things that are coming in the next two weeks!

Cheers!

Welcome back to Term 3!

Murtle and I are back from our big trip and had such fun being back in class this week!

We did lots of sight seeing in London....

Westminster

 The London Eye

And met some friends at Madame Tussauds Wax Museum.

In Ireland we visited Sligo Abby ruins and attended a wedding of a family friend. Murtle even got to dance with the bride!

We popped over to France for a couple of nights and saw some more sights..

The Arc de Triomphe

The Eiffel Tower

And what's left of the Notre Dame Cathedral after the big fire!

Then it was back home for a big rest....

This week Room 1 have been getting back into their routines in Reading

Writing...

and Math.

For topic this term we are working on Music and Dance.

In Music we are looking at using body beat and different sound sources to make music.

In Dance we will be learning about different forms of dance and the language of dance (high, low, transition, glide, up-beat, etc).

Next week Murtle will start his home visits again and it will also be the start of our homework. Our Sharing will start in week 4.

Murtle and I are looking forward to another fun filled term with lots of laughs!