Term 1 Week 4

This week we had an exciting trip to visit our friends at Nayland Kindergarten. Many of our students are graduates from the Kindergarten and were delighted to see their old friends and teachers again. We are looking forward to having more Nayland Kindy graduates join our class this year.

Students continued to explore their interest in insects after observing a wasp nest and cicadas bought from home.  They developed plans for making salt dough insects and Jo helped them make and bake their  creations.  Amelie joined us on Monday and she is already giving everything a go.

Liam and Rocky are sounding out the words they want to write and using the word card to find the letters they need. 

21 Century Learners - Collaborating and Co-operating. 

Jake, Zeb, Max and Shou were playing in the construction area but people's weapons were getting broken so together they developed some rules for play. They say "This is the rules. You have to not touch with your weapons." Later the also added a rule that said "no throwing". Other students "signed up" to play and abide by the rules. 

Our week was full to the brim with other exciting and interesting learning experiences. The students have shared these with their parents and whanau by using their seesaw learning journals.  

Term 1 - Week 3

A Week of Building

This week in Room 8 the children have created many wonderful creations! Following on from the delivery of our shed we got out the wood, nails, hammers and saws and started making. It was lots of fun and there is a huge range of things that have been made. We are going to continue building next week and hopefully we will see our shed going up as well.

There has also been a lot of building going on in the classroom. Mobilo is still a firm favourite but the children are beginning to explore the other construction materials more this week as well.

This is a jump car made by Liam S

Jaden found a Huhu Bug in the wood pile at home and brought it to school. He built a house for his bug and even wrote a book about it. Ka pai Jaden.

Milan has just turned 5 and had her party last weekend. She brought along her 'pin the flag on the pirate ship' game and we all had a great time playing it. Everyone was super at waiting their turn.

Every Monday, Nicole from 'No Child Left Inside' is going to come and work with us. This week the children went out in 2 groups to practice their throwing skills and play some games. It was lots of we can't wait for Nicole to come back next week.

Finally, today we went to Kapa Haka for the first time. It was a great experience and the children loved it. Unfortunately we didn't get and photos but hope to next week.

Term 1 - Week 2

We are getting a shed! As we plan to use the outside area a lot more over the coming weeks we decided we needed somewhere to store all our equipment. Luckily, Mrs Gulbransen agreed with us and so today our new shed was delivered. We were lucky enough to see our shed being unloaded from the truck which was very exciting.

It was a very tricky job for the truck driver.

He had to work the controls all by himself.

Mrs Gulbransen had to sign off on the delivery.

We had the best seat in the house!

Next week our shed is going to be built. I wonder if any budding builders will be able to help?

In maths we have been learning to recognise numbers to 20 and beyond. The children get to choose which activity they would like to participate in each day. Some children chose to work with number fans while others wanted to play the 'Walk the Bridge' game. We are all getting very good at recognising our numbers.

Rory walking on the bridge. I wonder what number he is going to stop on?

On Thursday Jake's Mum, Jen kindly came and work with us for the morning. Lots of children wanted to play the rhyming game with her and they had a great time. Being able to hear and generate rhyme is a very important skill and something it's great to work on at home.

As our interest in insects grows, the children have been looking for different ways to follow this. Over the last week they have done an amazing job of using the playdough to make all types of creatures. Here are some of their creations:

Remember, we would love a caterpillar for our swan plant so if you have one at home you could rehome that would be great! Have a lovely weekend everyone.

Term 1 - Week 1

Wow, what a great first week we have had at school! The children have settled in brilliantly and are loving having such a large space to explore - we are very lucky. This week our afternoons have been taken up with lots of swimming. Although this is tiring, it is also a great way to relax on a hot day and there have been plenty of these this week. Here are some photos of the children enjoying their time in the pool:

Keisha is like a fish, look at her go swimming under the water.

The children all having fun relaxing in the water. 

We are lucky to have Dallas get in the water with us. Here she is helping Jaden float. 

Who is this mystery swimmer?

 We have also been very busy planning and making. The children have been able to follow their interests and this has led to some wonderful creations. I'm sure the children have brought them home and showed them off proudly. Here is Keisha with the amazing container she made. Keisha has a wobbly tooth and was worried about where she would put it when it came out, so she designed and made her very own tooth holder with flip top lid. Ka pai Keisha.

 Rocky wanted to be a pirate and found the perfect top in the dress ups but didn't have a sword, so he decided to make his own. He carefully planned his design, even down to the colours he wanted to use. Jo helped him draw and cut out his sword out of cardboard and then Rocky labelled it 'sword'. Can you see his amazing writing?

Ossiah, Max and Koby all built rockets and then compared them to see whose rocket was longest. It was very close!

The boys then decided by combining their rockets together it would be nearly long enough to reach across the room. Great team work boys.

These boys played the Compare Bear game together. They did an amazing job taking turns and encouraging each other. It is wonderful to see such caring and supportive children in Room 8.

We have learnt 3 new sounds this week (s, a and t) as part of our phonics programme. Liam did a super job looking carefully at the pictures, working out what sound they started with and then writing it in the tray. In this photo he is writing 'a' for apple.

 Ellebethel and Liam were able to find all the letters they needed to make their name. They then threaded them onto the string to make a name necklace. Next time they are going to make their surname as well.

We hope you have all had a lovely long weekend and look forward to seeing everyone back at school on Tuesday.