An amazing day in Oz.

We had the most amazing day with each other in the land of Oz. We dressed up in fantastic costumes and made some masks of the characters from the book/movie. Then we had a parade with all the other junior classes to show off our costumes and masks. Mrs Cooper played Wizard of Oz songs as we paraded. After that we followed the yellow brick road down to the enviro centre and the teachers surprised us by giving us bubbles to blow. But the biggest surprise was the bubble man coming! He blew ENORMOUS bubbles and we were amazed. After lunch we had a nice cool down with an ice block - what a wonderful day we had with our friends.

What's the plan Stan?

This term we have been learning how to keep safe in natural disasters. The children had a strong interest in natural disasters and enjoyed researching on google images together, looking for pictures and finding information. This morning we have finished off with talking about wind storms. After reading about different wind storms some chose to go off and share a tornado book together. They then created their own 'tornado suckers' out of mobilio. Very creative.

Half and quarter.

Mrs Hislop come and worked with us on Wednesday. We had a wonderful time in maths learning all about half and quarter. We chopped up the fruit and shared it with our friends. We were very safe using the knives and now know how to cut food into half and quarter. Thanks Mrs Hislop for a fun time!

Gecko Room kids learn about mass, capacity and volume.

We have been learning about mass, capacity and volume for maths. On youtube we found the Numberjacks and we LOVE THEM! They talked about capacity and we talked about our own containers for filling at home. Watch this episode and share with your family - enjoy! http://youtu.be/eR20PMLni3U

Break dancing kings!

Here are the hip hop dancing boys from Gecko and Penguin rooms. They are learning how to do break dancing and they shared their dance with us. Next term they will keep learning their dance and we hope they will perform it in assembly.

Character Day at school.

 

 

We collected lots of food for the foodbank on our Character Day at school. Everyone had a really good  costume on and they looked great. Gecko room collected the most food for the foodbank. We talked about people who can't afford to buy food for their families and how we can help people.  (Dictated from Joel K, and Mason).

We went to the Maths Roadshow and did some amazing maths games. We worked together to solve problems and had a very fun time.

Clever movie makers Drew, Charlie, Kai and Gabriel.

The dino boys telling us some dino news! Dino news from Drew, Charlie, Kai and Gabriel by cathmooo on GoAnimate

Come and watch our amazing dino movie!

An amazing movie by Joel D, Mason and Brody. Dino facts by Joel D, Mason and Brody. by cathmooo on GoAnimate

Having fun on Reading Eggs.

During reading time we have fun on Reading Eggs. We learn letter sounds and new words and like to dress up our little Reading Eggs friend. Imogen said "it is so much fun" and Maia said "I like to go into the playhouse". Have you tried Reading Eggs at home yet?

Poeiti makes a fantastic picture!

Poeiti showed out school value of perseverance during reading time the other day. She spent a long time thinking about her hammer and nails picture, selecting her colours and shapes carefully and making sure she didn't hammer her thumb. Ka pai Poeiti, we are so proud of you!

Treemendous Makeover.

In the weekend we came to school to plant some trees for our new Enviro Centre. There were 1000 trees to plant and it was a rainy day. Lots of people came to help so it didn't take long to get all the plants in and afterwards there was a drink and a sausage sizzle to warm us up. What a tremendous time we had!

Fun times at gymnastics.

Today we went into New Plymouth to gymnastics. It was fun there because we got to crawl through a tunnel, jump of high things and we got to jump over the rope. Bryan our coach helped us and so did Jody. We are going to gymnastics each Monday until the end of term. Thanks to our parent drivers for your help.

The Kawakawa Tree (Pepper Tree).

Today Ms Butt brought in some branches off her Kawakawa tree for Mrs Cooper and the Gecko children. This is a special tree in New Zealand and some people use the leaves to help them feel better. We made a tea from the leaves by boiling them in water and straining the tea ready to drink. Some of us thought it tasted delicious and others thought it was yuck! It was supposed to make our tummies and sore throats feel better. Stella J said "it tasted like water and was yummy" William C "it tasted like leaves and I feel ok now", even our Principal enjoyed tasting our tea. You are able to eat the leaves off the Kawakawa tree and Gecko room loved tasting them. They tasted quite hot and peppery in our mouths. This is a special way that we use trees.

The Tui.

Hi friends in England. Here is a picture of the Tui to show you what it looks like.

Koru Landing big opening morning!

This morning we had our Koru Landing opening ceremony. Our Principal Miss Hepworth thanked all the adults for their help to make our school look beautiful. She also thanked the children for their ideas to make Koru Landing. Mr Pritt did all the hard work making Koru Landing and Mrs Peters designed it. Thanks so much you guys! Our school gardens are looking so great and we love to play in them. In the middle of the path in Koru Landing there is a beautiful koru shape, we will try and take a photo of it to show you. Do you know what a koru is?

Some special birds.

 

Thanks Joel for bringing in your Kokako and Tui birds to school. We enjoyed hearing their beautiful sounds and were sad to hear about the Kokako being endangered because of predators. Sometimes we hear the call of the tui at school. It is Mrs Cooper's favourite bird because it has a lovely white feather under his chin.

Here we are asking you a very important question!

How do you use trees?

This term we are learning all about trees. Our inquiry question is 'how do we use trees'. Can you tell us how you trees at your school or home?

Observational drawing fun.

We have been busy looking closely at leaves we have found in our school forest. We each found our own individual leaf and took our time drawing using magnifying glasses. One of our discoveries was that leaves have veins and lots of lines and marks on them.

Finding a Kowhai tree outside our door.

Our inquiry topic this term is all about how we use trees. We are learning about all the lovely native New Zealand trees in our local area and school. Today we went for a walk to find the Kowhai tree. There was one just outside our classroom! It has yellow flowers on it and seed pods that have little yellow seeds. The Tui (NZ native bird) likes to visit the Kowhai tree. I wonder why? Do you know?

Fun down at Matekai Park

On Friday all of our junior classes went to Matekai Park. It was AWESOME!!!!! We went looking for the golden stripped geckos that live in the park ... but they were too well hidden and we didn't see any. Our class is named after the golden geckos. We saw pine cones, kowhai trees, pepper tree and flax. Thanks to our parents for coming with us for a walk.

On Thursday mornings we go out to Kiwisport with Manuel, Amy, Mitchell and Mark. We have been learning how to hop, skip, run, jump, fall, dodge and having lots of fun. Maia said "I love to skip", Kai said "I like learning how to run", Joel said "Hopping is my favourite because I like to change over my legs", Bella said "I like skipping because I am good at it", Mason said "I can skip really well now because I keep on trying". Mrs Cooper is really proud of all the Geckos for having a go, trying their best and not giving up when the going gets tough.

Helping Mr Priest in the nursery.

We went to our school nursery to help Mr Priest pick up the leaves and pull out the weeds. Lincoln enjoyed pulling up the weeds and putting the leaves on the pots. Stella H. told us it was hard work!