Saturday 29 July 2017

Term 3, Week 2

Last week we did a lot of thinking and talking about our Inquiry related to Moving and why people move. We read The Leaving Morning, by Angela Johnson 
This helped me to tune in to the children's experiences with moving and encouraged the children to start making text-to self connections. This is a strategy we are using a lot in reading this term. 
Our displacement activity has been postponed to this week- likely Wednesday- weather dependent) due to a scheduling clash on Friday. 

In Maths, the children have been inquiring into shapes and attributes. We began our inquiry by thinking up as many ways as we could to line up a selection of boxes on a shelf. It was tricky for the children to see past organising the boxes by size at first, but after much thinking and talking they also managed to arrange them by colour, height, writing and no writing, full and empty, lids and no lid, sides, corners etc.  By the end they had collected many more attributes with which to sort shapes and objects. We then applied this skill throughout the week by sorting ranges of shapes that increased in difficulty to sort. Photos of our activities will be posted shortly . 

This week we will be taking our thinking further, identify which shape does not belong within sets of shapes and saying why it does not belong. 
We will also be constructing our own shapes with straws and pipe cleaners. 

In Writing, we are learning about the features of narrative texts. We will be exploring themes like- friendship, courage, kindness, bravery, greed. We will also be talking about characters and character traits. We will be turning ourselves into book characters, describing some of our best and worst traits. 


Thank you for the cardboard boxes. We have quite a few stacked up now. I will let you know when we have used the ones we have and are ready for me. 

This week: 
Tuesday- Hannah (moved from Thursday) 
Wednesday- Displacement activity
Friday- Full school assembly 2:20pm  & Passion Fridays begins 

Saturday 22 July 2017

Welcome to Term 3!

Welcome back everyone! I can't wait to hear about all your holiday adventures. I bet you have all grown a little- I saw a few kids over the break and they all seem to have a shot up by a few cm!

My family had a relaxing break. We went to Rotorua  for a few days to take in the sights and ...smells.  We missed the snow by a day, but it was still FREEZING! Here we are taking in the treetop walk in the Redwood Forest.


This Term we have some exciting learning coming our way. Our inquiry is around Social Responsibility and Movement. We will be starting by thinking about houses, how houses have changed and moving houses. We have a TOP SECRET experience for the kids to take part in that will get them thinking about why people move and what it feels like to have to find somewhere new to be.  On Friday of Week 1 the children will arrive at school to discover our classroom has been "quarantined" and closed for an indefinite period. We will then be forced to relocate and make do in another space around the school for the day. PLEASE DO NOT TELL YOUR CHILD THIS WILL BE HAPPENING. I want it to be an authentic experience of displacement to get the children thinking and to generate spontaneous discussion, problem solving and emotions. Know that your child will be safe and well cared for during this adventure experience.


I am still on the hunt for any of the following things:

  • If you, or someone you know is a builder and working on a local project and would be willing to have small groups visit them or interview them, please let me know. 
  • If you have any materials like planks/pieces of treated wood, pallets, spare nails, hammers etc the kids could use to create a building project outside our room, or on the carpentry table during free choice time, please also let me know. If anyone is handy and could create a miniature house frame for the kids to bang some walls onto and add a little roof the children would over the moon! 
  • If you, or someone you know is moving house or a Real Estate Agent, we would love to chat with you or them! 
  • If you have small, medium or large boxes at home we would love to have them! 
  • If you have any hidden talents in the area of puppetry or storytelling feel free to perform for us! 

Remember that this Wednesday is the Soft Toy Tea Party: 
This Term we welcome Ting, an International Student joining us from Monday for 4 weeks. 

Byron will be back student teaching with us in August too for 3 weeks this time. 

Here is an overview of our learning this term: 
 If you would like to volunteer in any capacity this term, please let me know. 
I look forward to another fun term in M1!
See you soon! 


Saturday 8 July 2017

School Holiday Opportunity

Hi everyone!

I visited the Estuary Arts Centre today and found that they have a great holiday programme going on that closely links to our learning in Term 3, so I thought I would share it incase you were looking for fun things to do over the next two weeks.  We will be learning all about storytelling through narratives in writing. To complement this, I will be setting up storytelling stations and puppet shows for discovery time and literacy time. They children will be learning about plays in Reading also, with plenty of opportunities to perform for the class,
Here are the details for the Festival of Puppetry in Orewa:



http://www.estuaryarts.org/july-school-holiday-programme.html

Timetable


Spaces for some sessions are limited, but other sessions are drop-in throughout the day and are just a gold coin donation.

Have a wonderful break full of adventures.
Best,
Jo

Sunday 2 July 2017

Week 10

What an amazing Term we have had. It's hard to believe we are halfway through the school year already! If I don't see you before the break, have a wonderful time with your family!

This week we have a few changes: 
Monday- Library - browsing only
Thursday- Hannah in for Jo
Friday- Jo on an Inquiry Course, Lexia will be with the children for the day
             Full School Assembly

Looking ahead to Term 2, we have some exciting things in the pipelines.



Requests for Help in Term 3

In Term 3, the children will be inquiring into orientation in place and time; personal histories; homes and journeys. From the children's interests, we will be exploring homes, moving and migration. We hope to take a field trip and possibly some walking trips around the neighbourhood to gather information about homes, building, selling homes, and how homes are changing over time. 

If you, or someone you know is a builder and working on a local project and would be willing to have small groups visit them or interview them, please let me know. 

If you have any materials like planks/pieces of treated wood, pallets, spare nails, hammers etc the kids could use to create a building project outside our room, or on the carpentry table during free choice time, please also let me know. If anyone is handy and could create a miniature house frame for the kids to bang some walls onto and add a little roof the children would over the moon! 

If you, or someone you know is moving house or a real Estate Agent, We would love to chat with you or them! 

If you have some spare time and would like to become a regular classroom helper during writing time (any day 9:15- 10:00 Monday- Thursday) in Term 3 , please let me know. This would involve working 1 to 1 with children, helping with publishing or possibly working with a small group on a specific skill. 

Have a wonderful break!
Jo