Sunday 27 August 2017

Week 6

Week 6 already! We welcome back Byron for several weeks of teaching fun in M1 this week. He is going to be amazed by how his little friends are progressing with their learning.

Thanks to all the supporters who came out to watch the Cross Country last week. What excellent determination our children showed.

Kevin Fuller (also known as Boo Boo to Isla) came to talk to the children on Wednesday. He inspired the children so much that they have all gone ahead and marketed your houses for you in some gloss looking Mike Pero brochures. Judging by the asking prices it would seem there has been a distinct downward turn in the Manly housing market lately, with some houses up for grabs for as little as $100. Might be a good time to look at boosting your portfolio. Thank you Kevin for answering all our questions ( including the one- Do you get hungry while you work?)

This week in M1 we are moving on from learning about fractions 1/2 and 1/4. We are heading back to addition and subtraction strategies. The three main focus groups are working on:
1. Adding and subtracting by counting all in our heads.
2. Counting on and counting back from the biggest number in our heads
3. Using doubles and halves to help us work out near double addition and subtraction problems eg. if I know that 6+6=12 then 6+7 must be 12+1

In Writing, we are creating our own narrative books. We are reviewing the parts of a narrative- Orientation, problem & solution and adding on to these elements by learning that good authors catch their readers attention with a hook, stretch out the plot by adding details,  and try several solutions before before one finally works. For such young writers their stories are EXCELLENT!

In Reading, we continue to learn to make deeper text-to-text connections. We will be finding links between these books this week


 


Can you think of some ways these stories connect?

This week Hannah will be with the children on Wednesday instead of Thursday.

Please return any outstanding trip forms and pay at the office if you are paying your activity fee as you go.

Have a wonderful week!
Best,
Jo


Wednesday 23 August 2017

Cross Country Fun!

What a great day. The M1 kids showed determination, effort and kept a smile on their face while doing it. Thanks to all the cheerleaders who came to support the kids.













Sunday 20 August 2017

Week 5

I have been home with a horrible bout of acute Bronchitis for the past 4 days and will be out Monday trying to recover for Tuesday. To those who booked in for interviews to ask questions about our recent reports, I will try to honour those appointments, but will let you know via email if anything changes.Thanks for your patience.

This Week:

School finishes at 12:30 this Tuesday

Cross Country is from 1:00-2:00pm this Thursday. It will be messy, so please don't send good clothes.

We are off to Motat 6 Sept! Please complete and return your forms well ahead of time to help us with organisation.

Kevin Fuller joins us from Mike Pero Real Estate this week to teach us about buying and selling houses. We look forward to hearing all about it!

Have a great week!

Saturday 12 August 2017

Week 4


For the next few weeks we are going to be learning how to tell our age in Te Reo- E hia ou tau? (How old are you? ) E ono aku tau. I am 6 years old or E rima aku tau. I am 5 years old.

Our training for Cross Country will continue this week. Please remember to send in trainers/sneakers each day so we are ready to go when there is a break in the weather.



It's Maths Week this week, so we will be engaging in a lot of fun activities around maths. Each day we will be running an estimation station. Each child will make an estimate. If they are the closest each day, their names will go into a box in the office. On Friday, one lucky child will have their name pulled out of the box and win a prize!

Wet Weather Warriors. Our class is doing a wonderful job of beating the feet to school on Wednesday regardless of the weather. Remember to stop by the office on Wednesdays to get your efforts recognised.

This Week:
Hannah for Jo Thursday
Full school assembly Friday 2:20pm



Saturday 5 August 2017

Week 3

24 August- Cross Country

6th September- MOTAT trip to look at how houses and life has changed over time. More info to follow shortly.

This week:
We are in the process of updating our Essential Spelling word lists to reflect our progress. Thank you for your patience. Regular spelling words will return shortly.

On Friday we began making a mini-city out of boxes. We will continue adding to it this week. We will also be learning about the materials used to make houses and some of the steps taken to build a house. Shortly, Isla's Grandad Kevin will be coming to talk to the class about the process of buying a house. Once we have learned about some of the materials used to make a house, we would like to take a brisk walk around some of the neighbourhood streets to see and collect data on what houses in our neighbourhood are constructed of. If you are free most morning between (9:15 and 10am) and would be happy to chaperone a little group on a walk (with Mrs Kember) please let me know.

In Maths this week, we are exploring partitioning shapes and moving into understanding basic fractions. Our big questions are:

Inquiry Questions • How can a shape be described? • How do shapes fit together and come apart? • What makes shapes different from each other?• What is a 2-dimensional shape? • What is a 3-dimensional shape?

In Writing, we are learning more about plot, problems and solutions in narrative writing. The children are using the overhead transparence to create scenarios and tell stories with problems and solutions orally.

In Reading, we are learning to go deeper with our text-to-self connections. We are also learning to identify the theme in stories we read- this crosses over from the work we did in writing last week.

Have a great week everyone!



Wednesday 2 August 2017

Locked Out!

This morning the children arrived to discover the classroom closed until further notice. They handled the news like champs! They immediately started throwing around solutions to our problem.
When everyone had arrived at school Mrs Kember said she was allowed to open the door to the classroom for 3 minutes only. Before she opened the door we all closed our eyes and thought hard about what we wanted to gather during the time. Then the timer started and the children raced through the classroom taking the things they needed.



Now we had to plan our first move. Where could we go that might have enough space for all of us...and our stuff! We discounted so many ideas before settling on our first stop...
The Office!
Getting our stuff there was easier said than done...


Luckily everyone pitched in to help each other carry the heavy things...with no prompting from the grown ups either! 

At the office...



Oh dear! Back to the drawing board. Next idea was the PE shed. We asked for the key, but the answer was a resounding NO! 

We sat down and thought...and thought...and thought until Stephanie suggested we used the Peaches and Pickles room K1. She led the whole class there and we discovered it was EMPTY! 

The children noticed how bare and empty the room was and seemed a bit deflated for a minute. Mrs Kember told the children that she was sure we could make something of the room if we tried and immediately the children set to work. Within minutes a stereo had been found and the radio was blaring some tunes to decorate to. We located a little heater, turned over stacked tables and set out chairs. Someone found some books and set up a library corner, while others set up spaces for bags, books, lunches etc. It was AMAZING to watch and one of my proudest moments of teaching. The children worked incredibly as a team, problem solving, collaborating and making the best of a bad situation. Their positivity was incredible. 

When we debriefed about the experience some wonderful thinking came from our activity. We made some important connections about feelings involved in moving or being displaced.  
Here are some of the things they said about the different stages of the activity:

When we arrived at school I felt...
  • miserable. I like going to my classroom every morning and playing with the toys 
  • confused and worried
  • confused. I thought we would be outside all day long
When I only had 3 minutes to find my things I felt...
  • worried that I wasn't going to get everything I had thought of
  • excited because it was like a race
  • sad about the things I had to leave behind like my puppet
  • worried I wouldn't have enough stuff for the day
When everyone said no to us around the school I felt...
  • frustrated because we couldn't find anywhere to go
  • mad that nobody would help us
  • embarrassed because people were looking at us
When we found a place to stay I felt...
  • so happy to be able to put down my heavy bag
  • so happy to have a place to be
  • a bit worried someone might come and tell us to go again
  • weird because we were at school but the room was not like our real classroom. it was empty and cold. 
Amazing how articulate they were at expressing the feelings many refugees are currently experiencing around the world! 

When we finally returned to class, we had a big discussion about our experience. I told the children that it was me who put the signs on the door and that there was something I wanted them to learn from the activity. We talked about how there are people in the world who have different lives to them. Some of those people live in places where their safety is at risk. Sometimes they may have to leave their homes quickly and only have minutes to get their important things together just like we had. We talked about how, when there are lots of people moving altogether in the same direction it can be hard for people to help them- just like no one had room for our whole class when we were looking for a place for the day. We talked a little about how, even when some people are lucky to find a place to stay, they then worry that someone might come and move them on.  One student brought up the fact that there are people without homes even in our local area. This is potentially an area that some children feel compelled to find out more about as a few knew about Love Soup at Whangaparaoa Hall. It was such a powerful and heartwarming experience. I was incredibly proud of your little people and how they rose to the challenges so beautifully. I will try to post some videos of the class in action soon.  For now, here are a few written responses :

Chloe
The Moving Day
When I got to the classroom I saw a sign on the door. It said “ Warning!” We went to the office. Cathy said “ No! You can’t work in here!” We sat outside by the library. We asked the office for the Sports Shed key. They said no. We found an empty classroom. It was K1. WE fixed it up with teamwork. We felt proud of ourselves. Soon it was time to go back to M1.

Joshua

When I went to the classroom, I felt weird. The classroom was locked. We played tag then when the bell rang we had to find somewhere else to go. We tried going to the office. They said no, so we thought  to go to the sports shed . They said no to that too. We thought and thought and thought and thought...and thought. Finally Steph said “ We can go to the Peaches and Pickles room. It was empty. Finally, we had found a place to stay. It was cold. We made it a classroom. Then we did some writing until it was tea break. When tea break was finished, we went to our own classroom. Mrs Kember said it was her tricking us.

Jackson
Leaving M1
When I got to school, I saw signs that said WARNING! Classroom closed. Don’t enter. I had 3 minutes to get the things I needed. As I ran I saw the blocks and I get them. They were so heavy. I needed help! We went to the office. Cathy said no to us working in there. Stephanie had an idea...K1! So we went there. We unstacked the tables and the seats. The room looked cool. When we got to M1 I was happy to be back.