Term 3 - Week 5

Our class is growing once again, over the last few weeks we have welcomed Joplin, Jake, Sienna, Paige and Joseph so Room 8 really is a busy place to be.

We have been finishing up our unit on movement but everyone still loves towers. This time Rylan set himself he challenge of building a tower higher than Mr Ward. He hasn't quite managed it yet but did manage to make one taller than he is. Do you have any advice for Rylan?

The tyres on our outside area have also been a big hit. The children have been rolling, stacking and building all sorts of things with them. This has been a great opportunity for the children to work together for a shared goal.





Ever Wednesday Britt from Nelson Girls spends the day with us. Last week some lucky children got to go with her to decorate some biscuits. They certainly looked delicious.



We have also been 'Buddy Reading' with Room 5 every Tuesday. During this time the children read a story to their buddy from their browsing box and then to to listen to their buddy read a story. This is a great opportunity to gain confidence and build relationships with others.


Have a relaxing weekend everyone.

Term 3 - Week 1

This week we welcomed 7 new students, there seems to be lots of children turning 5! Api, Tama, Ben, Amelia, Knut, Eleanor and Hadrian have all made an excellent start in Room 8. Next week we have even more new students joining us.

We have all had a great time learning about movement over the last few days. The children have been busy building towers, creating marble and ball runs, transporting stones and many other things. There is so much learning we can have through play. Here are some photos of our investigations:

Working together to build a tower. The children thought hard about how they could make it steady.

The children wanted to move the stones around and decided the water tray would be a great way to do this.

The wheel barrow also came in handy.

Looking carefully to see what happened to the ball.

What a masterpiece!

Inside the class there was more building, here the children are making their own marble run.

Koby set himself the challenge of building a tower higher than 1 metre. It took many attempts and much perseverance but he finally got there.

The beginning of a new term means it is our turn for 'No Child Left Inside' again. On Monday we sent some time with the quoits practising throwing. It was very tricky to get to over the stick or in the hoop but a few children managed it.

On Friday we attempted to hold the Great Dart Throwing Extravaganza, unfortunately the wind got the better of us. Perhaps we will hold a rematch next week.

See you all on Monday.

Term 2 - Week 9

On Monday we had a visit from the New Zealand Playhouse who put on a play for us called 'The Fairest of Them All'. In the show Snow White gets sent back to the forest by the Magic Mirror and needs the help of the Seven Dwarfs once again. The children loved the performance and there were many laughs. Here are some pictures from the performance:







Week 9 really was the week for visitors! We also had Jerri who used to work at Nayland Primary sometimes came to Room 8. Jerri is an author who has written a book called Kate and Caboodle. It is a fabulous story and the children loved the opportunity to listen to a story being read by its author.

The children may have talked to you about our new handwriting programme called 'Casey Caterpillar'. The photo below shows children practising some of the shapes needed to form letters correctly. More information will be coming home about this soon so keep an eye out.

We were also lucky enough to get some new sports equipment. After waiting a few days for some sunshine it was finally nice enough to go out and practise with them. Everyone listened carefully and threw the ball to their partner.

Term 2 - Week 7 and 8

Last week we began our unit on sustainability. Sarah from the Enviro Centre came and talked to us about the things we could do to reduce the amount of landfill. She brought lots of rubbish with her and we looked carefully at each piece to decide if we could reuse or recycle it. Recycling is great for the environment!

After the visit from Sarah we decided to look at what things we could reuse in the classroom. We emptied out the paper recycling box and looked carefully at everything in it. We decided that we could use all the paper that had only been written on one side again and took it out. Here is the sorting in progress:

After sorting the paper we were still left with a lot. We have been busy recycling the scrap paper into new paper and hopefully everybody will have a piece each to do something special with, Recycling paper is hard work!

Mixing the paper into pulp.

Flipping the paper onto the drying card.

Sponging out the excess water.

The children have been using our Numicon equipment to learn some amazing new maths skills. Coby spent a long time finding different ways to make 10 and Ellebethel ordered the numbers all the was up to 10. Ka pai tō mahi!

Our tinkering area has been a big hit the last couple of weeks. So far we have taken apart some speakers, a phone and an old toaster. It has been very interesting to see what the inside of all these things looked like. Do you have any old (and broken) electronic equipment that we could take apart? If so please bring it into school.

Ka kite everyone.

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.