Production

We performed our item at the Team Rata Production, A Taste of Kiwi for the school on Tuesday as a dress rehearsal and our families on Wednesday.  The children's performance was excellent. 

Twisting couples

Our Band

Classroom Environment

Room 1 environment

Production finished and we are able to put our room back together so I decided to ask the children which areas they thought worked well and which needed to be changed. 

We had undertaken this activity in term 1 and it is very noticeable that the children are capable of much deeper and clearer thinking.  Their ideas this time are a response to how they are able to work in areas whereas at the beginning of the year it was much more about activities they like to do.

The children were able to justify their comments with sound ideas based on their experiences.  The changes mostly were around ease of access and being squashed using a particular area or table.

Emily – in room 1 I think that the browse boxes are easy to get and easy to see and they are in the right place also the maths need moving and the library books need moving to a different place I think that the whiteboards and the whiteboards need to go a different.  (It needs a bigger space – library books)

Daniella

What is good in this classroom is the curtains because it is like a dark spot. I also think that we have change something is the bookshelf and the literacy activities. (Because so then we can learn other stuff)

Samantha

In room 1 the library corner maths activities are working really well we can get them.  The library corner you cannot get the books.

Sophia

The birthday cakes on the wall can stay where they are

Alexey

We need to move the white shelf to the jelly table. It is very nice (so we can see it from the far away.)

Jacob M

The maths shelf was working well because when you tell us we can just walk to the maths trolley from the mat.  The library corner needs to be moved (when books fell off people might bump into it)

Jimmy

The maths trolley is perfect.

Charlotte

The maths are going very well because we are able to get them and I think we should move some paper into some square holes  (from blue shelf to white shelf)

Bella

In room 1 the browse boxes are in the right spot.  Because it is in the right spot the maths trolley can move because they are in the way of us playing.  (There’s not enough room to play with the maths.)

Adam

In room 1 the maths are easy to get there so you can get the activity and the worst is the key area (if heaps of people want to look at it there is not enough room)

Jacob Y

In room 1 the browsing boxes look very good and they easy to get to.  The library corner needs to get moved (when you try to get a book the curtains pull up and down)

Toby

White shelf is in right place but the maths shelf isn’t (when we want to get a game we might hit our heads.

Madison

In room 1 the white shelf is in the right place the whiteboard could be around the other side of the TV and the couch could be where the maths is.

Kaiden

My idea is a treasure map so we can go hunting.

Lucas

In room 1 the books are in the right place the whiteboard needs moving (so I can get the whiteboards and not need to ask a child0

Haylin

I think the library shelf shouldn’t be moved because its got a wee bit of space but I think the literacy should be moved because it doesn’t have a wee bit of space.

Harrison

The maths trolley is in the right and it should not be moved. (The table by library because people get squished through that little space.)

Coben

I would the big table needs some more room otherwise you go to side it and get squished.

Catwings

We have been reading the story Catwings about four cats that have wings and escape from the hard city streets to the country.

We talked about the pros and cons of being a cat with wings.

	Yellow hat	Black Hat
Harrison	The Catwings can fly up in the air high.	The cats can get lost in the clouds and they can’t fly in the rain
Daniella	I think that flying cats are very soft because when you pat them they are very soft	The worst thing about cat are scratching their selves
Bella	If I was a catwing I would fly to a rainbow	The bad thing is I flew into a rock
Haylin	The good thing that was that you can’t crash if you don’t have your eyes open
Adam	The good thing is you can fly to school	The bad thing is that you can fly away
Samantha	The cat can fly to its nest	The bad thing is you could bump into your nest
Charlotte	If I were a cat with wings it would be very good to fly	If I would shut my eyes I would crash
Jimmy	If I was a cat with wings it is a good thing that I can fly home from school	If I was a cat with wings and I got captured I would be a bad cat for them
Coben	The good things are when I go home	I will stay in school for ever
Madison	The good thing would be if I could fly and get my food and drinks	The bad thing would be I might get trouble and somebody might put me in a cage and keep me
Emily	I am a cat and I have wings that have points and a delicate body that has ginger fur on my body	I don’t like licking myself
Kaiden	The cat is normal and it flies	I won’t be the king
Toby	The good thing is I can fly	The bad thing is I could get caught
Lucas	The good thing is I have wings to fly	The bad thing is I could crash into a rock
Jacob Y	You could see things on the ground	The bad thing is you could crash into another bird
Sophia	The good thing about being a cat with wings is that you can fly all you want	The worst thing of being a cat with wings would be that there would be too many other birds that you couldn’t see
Ginny	I would like to be a flying cat because I would fly high	I would not like to be a flying cat because I could fly into a tree
Alexey	The good thing tis he cat is not flying far away	Don’t fly far away from your parents
Jacob M	It will be a good thing because I can fly anywhere	It will be a bad thing because a bat will bite me.

Color of his own

This week we read the story of A Color of His Own, where a chameleon didn't want to keep changing his colour wherever he went and wanted a colour of his own.  The story ends with the chameleon meeting another chameleon and realising that it friendship is more important.

We drew our own chameleons on acetate and put them around the classroom to see how he would change colour.

We then went around the chameleons with black glue paint ready to fill with the colours of where our chameleons will sit. 

Water Colour Landscapes

We have completed our art sessions with Miss Rebecca.  We learned a lot about blending colours, the lines used in creating a landscape and how colours make things seem closer or further away.  We hope you like our work.

Independent Writing

As part of our independent literacy activities the children may choose a picture to use for a writing prompt.  Their writing is showing the emergence of poetic writing.

The Butterlies

By Samantha

I can see Monarch butterflies, flying to the tree by my house.

The black spots are dark on their orange, shiny wings.

A butterfly lands on the branch and rests its wings.

The Lake

By Ginny

Water falls down to the lake.

Animals swim and play.

A parrot flies above.

The Pukekos

By Sophia

I see pukekos looking at each other.

I see trees swaying.

I see vines curling up.

The Race

By Charlotte

This looks like an animal race.  The kangaroo has won.

Hurray, hurray!

Tuis

By Samantha

I see some tuis sitting on a branch

I see a moon shining bright.

I see a spider web with bugs on it.

Writing from a title

24/3/14

Today at circle time we each said one word to tell about what we did in the weekend.  Mrs Gleeson's was ‘ breakfast’. We recorded these ideas.

Then we said what that thing did  or where we were or what we saw.

This became the title of our story and from here we wrote about that topic.  Some children found it difficult to write about what they had told us and wrote completely different stories from their titles. 

We will be learning how to add interesting vocabulary to our writing and how we can ‘hook’ the reader so they want to read what we have written.

 

Watching Movies

I am at home and I was watching a Dora movie.  It was great.

Ginny

At The Playground

I slid down the pole and I liked doing it.  I saw the rope and the slide.

Harrison

Diving

My mum and dad and I went to the pool and I dived in.

Haylin

Harry Potter

I was watching Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.  My Granny and sister were asleep.

Jimmy

Grandma plays snape

My grandma and me played snap.  My grandma won and I won. Then we had lunch and then we played memory.

Jacob M

Playing with My Dad

Me and dad played soccer.  When I kicked the ball it landed in the net.

Jacob Y