Weeks 5 and 6

What a great 2 weeks we have had in Room 8, more new faces have joined us and there has been a real buzz in the classroom. We have been busy with 2 trips out of school, the cross country and a visit to kindy. We were fortunate to have a lovely day for the cross country and all the children gave it their best. I have lots of photos of children racing but here are just a few of them:

At kindy there were lots of new things to explore and old friends to visit. We taught the kindy children our good morning song and they showed us their play of 'The Seven Fish of Matariki'. Here is some of the children performing the song and a few action shots:

Last week we had a 'Power Free Day'. Lots of children brought torches to school and we spent some of the morning designing and building huts. There were lots of changes throughout the process but everyone was happy with the final product. Here are some of the budding architects:

Week 7 already next week, the term really is racing by!

Term 2 - Week 4

Sorry for the lack of posts recently, it has been a very busy few weeks. We were really lucky on Monday to have Mr Ward join us in Room 8. The children have really enjoyed, and been making the most of having 2 teachers. We have had 4 children join our class since I last posted: Cody, Brodey, Emma and Molly. They have all been amazing and seem to be loving school!

On Thursday, as part of our healthy eating unit, we were lucky enough to see the 'Be Bright, Eat Right' show. It was an amazing show and the children have many questions about how Wes the Magician did the tricks. Lots of children from Room 8 got to take part in the show, including Rylan who had a starring role.

We were first there so had the best seats in the house.

Charles giving a helping hand.

Haizel was also a great magician's assistant. 

A healthy food plate.

Can you guess which Room 8 student is under the monster mask? 

How did Wes change the soft toy into a real rabbit?

 After the show, lots of children wrote about what they saw, here is some of our writing:

This week we have been learning about healthy eating. We sorted food into different food groups and talked about which food is good for our bodies. Next week we are going to look at healthy breakfast choices and have our own healthy breakfast. Here is our food pyramid:

Every Friday all of Whenua and Awa go to Kapa Haka. This is a great opportunity for us to learn some waiata together. Nayland Primary has a performance Kapa Haka group that children can choose to join when they are in the Moana or Maunga syndicate. Did you know that Anahera's mum is in charge of Kapa Haka? We are very lucky to have her helping us out. This week the girls got to have a turn with the poi and it was great fun, although a bit tricky.

Don't forget cross country on Monday everyone.

Term 2 - Week 1

It certainly sounds like everyone had a lovely break and it was great to see so many smiling faces back at school on Monday. This week we welcomed 5 new children - Emma, Austin, Hunter, Thomas and Andrew. They have done a great job of settling in to Room 8 and it is great to have them with us.

As part of our Cultural Diversity Unit we have been inviting parents to come in and talk about where they come from. We were lucky enough to have both Ellebethel's mum and Dahlia's mum visit us this week and they both brought food for us to try! If you would like to come and talk to the children please let Gill or Kate know.

Elebethel's mum talked to us about life in Tonga. Here she is holding a kiekie and she told us that in Tonga the teachers would wear this to school.

She also made a Tongan dish called chop suey and lots of the children thought it was delicious. She is going to give us the recipe so the children can make it at home.

Here are  Ellebethel and her sister dressed up ready for White Sunday last weekend.

Did you know Dahlia used to live in Singapore? Her Mum showed us lots of photos from Singapore and then helped the children to make epok epok. This snack made from pastry, meat and a number of vegetables is common in Singapore. Just like the chop suey it was delicious.

 

We have also been busy exploring the school environment. The children have really enjoyed challenging themselves on the senior playground. Many have tried to get across the monkey bars or climb the chain wall but it is very tricky. Here is Austin trying to get across the chain bridge:

A big congratulations to Haizel and Marcel who received the Room 8 certificates in assembly on Friday. Haizel, we are so proud of the way you have settled into Room 8 and Marcel is making a real effort to be more independent in the class. Ka pai both of you.

Term 1 - Week 11

We have had a long but rewarding first term back at school for 2016. The children have achieved so much and we are all very proud of them. There has been lots going on in Room 8 to end the term.

On Wednesday we had our class and individual photos, the children did a great job and the photos will be available to purchase next term.


We were also fortunate enough to have Amelie's Dad Felix and little brother Esher come and talk to us about Germany. Felix wore his  'Lederhosen' which is a traditional german outfit and brought along a Schultüte. This is a cone that children in Germany get given on their first day of school. It is prettily decorated and filled with toys, chocolate, lollies, school supplies, and various other goodies. Felix also brought some german lollies for the us to try. What lucky children!






Blyth has been off school this week, recovering after having her tonsils out. After the operation Blyth chose to keep her tonsils and her big sister brought them to school for us all to look at. The children were very interested and we spent some time trying to look at each others tonsils but they were quite difficult to see.


On Friday we had our hotly anticipated 'Wheels Day'. The children brought their bikes and scooters and had a great time riding them on the court and tiger turf. We set up cones and a jump for both the bikes and scooters. Here are some photos from the day:

We hope you all have a lovely holiday, and will see you back after the break.

Term 1 - Week 10

This week we have really been getting into our cultural diversity unit. We were lucky enough to have Rory's Mum, Kirsty come and talk to us all about Scotland and Zeb's Dad, Paulo talk to us about Colombia.

This is a Sporran, it belongs to Rory's Dad. It is a pouch worn around the waist that hangs in front of the kilt.

Here is Rory with a sgian-dubh. This is a knife usually worn on the left leg.
Some of the children then decided to make their own kilt. Rory made this kilt and Shou is modelling it.


Here is one of the castles we have been busy making. The pan is to make little characters for our castles and then write and record a puppet show. Some children took their castles home on Friday, if your child did it would be great if they could bring it back to school so they could use it for their puppet show.

When Zeb's Dad came to school he talked all about life in Colombia and Zeb taught us how to count to 10 in Spanish. I wonder if anyone can still remember? He also showed us lots of photos from Colombia and talked about them. Here are two of the photos he showed us, can you remember what is happening in them?

We are looking forward to having more visitors next week to talk about their culture, feel free to get in touch if you would like to come and talk to us.

Don't forget that Room 8 are now in charge of Nayland Primary's worm farm. A big thank you to Amelie's dad, Felix who has given us some worms. They like lots of different foods, here they are with some paper and egg shells.

Term 1 Week 9

We packed lots of fun into our short week after Easter.

We wrote about our Easter egg hunts and our adventures over the long weekend. 

Cash wrote about joining the protest to save Okiwi Bay from pollution by a proposed fish farm.  

On Friday morning we arrived at school to find someone had scribbled Graffiti on our walls and around our playground.  It really upset the students but gave us the opportunity to "investigate the crime". Students took photos and interviewed members off staff to find out what had happened.  The students went on to create "traps" and wanted posters while we waited for the police to arrive and check for fingerprints. 

To end the day on a positive note we had our turn at presenting the whole school assembly. Students did a wonderful job of introducing the speakers and items for assembly. We also shared our Easter artwork. Thank you to all the parents who came along and supported us.