Kaipara Flats Room 2 News

Our Friday Letter - Thinking about athletics

2011-11-18T13:43:00.002+13:00

Friday 18 November 2011

Dear Parents,

On Thursday Tony came to our school for PE. We did athletics and it was a lot of fun.
One activity got us thinking.
In high jump, Tony had three different jumps, a high jump, a medium jump and a low jump. We were allowed to choose whichever jump we wanted to work on.
Then Tony made a rule. He said, "If you knock the bar off when you jump, you are DISQUALIFIED and you are out. You have to go and sit down and not jump anymore. You have ten seconds to choose which jump you want to try."
That made us think. Most people went to the low jump or the medium jump. Only one person went to the high jump.
Why? ...because everyone wanted to be able to keep jumping. They didn't want to be DISQUALIFIED and have to sit down.
Next Tony said, "I'm changing the rule. Now the rule is, if you knock the pole off, you don't have to sit down. You just go down one level AND if you get over the pole, you go up a level. You have ten seconds to choose where you will jump."
We liked that rule so much better.
No one got DISQUALIFIED and no one had to sit down AND we had to work harder because we moved up the levels to the highest jump.
That was a much better rule and it meant we could follow Tony's other rule, "Have fun and try your hardest."
Next week, when the Year 4, 5 and 6 children are at athletics day, we are going to plan an athletics afternoon and think how we can use Tony's rule in other activities. We will invite Year 1 and Year 3 children too. Parents can come along to watch and help out to make sure all the activities are safe.
We will send out a notice on Monday to let everyone know about the day.
from Ms Donnell and the early finishers in Room 2

Our Food Riddles

2011-11-04T17:47:00.001+13:00

After Harold's visit last week, we were thinking about what our favourite healthy foods are.

We visited this class blog and loved the riddles the children had made. We decided to try to make our own. Here are our riddles made with Kid Pix Slide Show.

2011-10-06T14:40:00.002+13:00

O le pepe - singalong

Show Day Ribbons

2011-10-05T22:26:00.001+13:00

Ribbons at Show Day on PhotoPeach

Our Show Day Classroom

2011-09-30T18:16:00.001+13:00

Getting ready for Show Day on PhotoPeach

The classroom is ready on PhotoPeach

A song from the Cook Islands

2011-09-16T08:13:00.002+12:00

Mrs Haurua has been with our class for the last seven weeks, since the beginning of the term, and for the last three weeks, she has been the main teacher in the class.
While she has been with us, she has taught us a song from the Cook Islands. It is called Kua iti te marama. We have all been practising it and it has been quite a challenge to learn the words and the melody. Today we will be singing it at a special music assembly.
Sadly, Mrs Haurua is not able to be with us today, but she did make a video of the class singing the song, to share with her Cook Island family.

Winter Tree Paintings

2011-09-07T09:42:00.000+12:00

Winter Tree Paintings on PhotoPeach

Winter Trees

2011-08-12T08:38:00.005+12:00

Winter Trees on PhotoPeach
We have some beautiful oak trees in our school grounds and we have been looking at them as we think about the changes that happen each season.
Here are our pencil sketches of one of these oak trees.

Post Boxes

2011-08-09T12:39:00.004+12:00

Post box

View more presentations from Tina Donnell.

We did a post box activity to get us thinking about what we know and what we don't know.
We had six questions.
What makes the seasons happen?
What do you know about the moon?
What do you know about the sun?
What causes daytime and night time?
What do you know about the tides?
What do you know about the seasons?
We had to read the question, write an answer and post it in the right box.
We had two goes at writing our ideas.
Today we sorted the answers and chose the 3 best ones from each box to share with the class.

Tashi and the Ghosts - our pastel resist pictures

2011-07-13T17:10:00.004+12:00

We have been enjoying THE BIG BIG BIG BOOK OF TASHI by Anna & Barbara Fienberg & Kim Gamble each day over the last week or so.
These are some pictures we made about "Tashi and the Ghosts" and "Tashi and the White Tigers".
We made them using pastel and dye.
We have put instructions for making this kind of picture at the end of this post. We hope some people will try to follow our instructions.

Tashi, ghosts and white tiger stories on PhotoPeach

If you click on the comic strip, it will be big enough to read.

Measuring Teddies

2011-07-11T16:27:00.004+12:00

We have been having some fun with our teddies in the last few weeks.
We measured them using beads in balance scales and also using bead strings.
Each teddy had a card with its measurements on, but we didn't know which teddy went with each card. So then we had to guess and check our measurements to find the mystery teddy.
Here is some of the work we did.
The app we used was Comic Strip. http://yourcomicstrip.com/

A VIsit From Fire Fighter Max

2011-06-16T12:38:00.001+12:00

Firewise Visit on PhotoPeach

Tamati and Sam Get Firewise

2011-06-13T16:33:00.003+12:00

Tamati and Sam Are Firewise
The Leopards worked together in reading time today to create this story to show how Tamati and Sam are Firewise.
Some of the children recorded the story using the iPod touch app "Storyrobe".
Here is the story on PhotoPeach.

Washing Machines - Then and Now

2011-06-08T23:04:00.004+12:00

We have been doing some really tricky thinking this week.
We looked at the pictures of old washing machines we took on our museum trip.
First we put on our yellow hats to help us to think about what was good about the old kind of washing machine.
Next we put on our black hats to think about what was not so good about that old washing machine.
After that we used our yellow and black hats to think about new automatic washing machines.
Our teachers worked together to help us with this work. Ms Knight helped us with the thinking and helped us record our ideas on two Venn diagrams. Then Ms Donnell put all our ideas into one Venn diagram, so we could show things that were different and things that were the same about the two types of washing machine.

Watch the ball

2011-06-06T22:36:00.005+12:00

When we worked with Simon this week, we had to watch the ball into our hands.
We needed to get our hands into the right place so we could catch the ball.
It was a challenge to do this while we were moving around and throwing the ball up high.

An Invention

2011-05-30T15:17:00.004+12:00

After our trip to the museum last week, Oliver brought a special photo to school. It shows his great great grandfather who was a gumdigger.
Read his story to see what Oliver's great great grandfather did.

Our Fire Safety Voice Thread

2011-05-20T14:51:00.000+12:00

Firewise at Rangikura School

2011-05-18T22:59:00.002+12:00

Watch this video to see what the children at Rangikura School did when they were learning about fire safety.

Term 2 Big Idea

2011-05-04T14:57:00.002+12:00

Sharing our art - cardboard prints

2011-04-17T13:26:00.002+12:00

Cardboard print self portraits - following on from "brushing my teeth" portraits on PhotoPeach

Over the last few weeks, we have been working on making the blocks for these cardboard prints and now we have finally printed them all.
A big thank you to Joel's mum for helping us with the printing.
In the slideshow, some of the pictures have both the block and the print, so we can see how the print mirrors the block.
That's why, when people put a letter on the front for their name, they had to do them back to front.

Easter Fun

2011-04-16T00:12:00.003+12:00

I'm afraid things have been too busy for keeping up to date on our class blog lately.
But just in case anyone's looking for something to do over the holidays, here's a link to an Easter game.
There are lots of other good games on this website too.
Just click on the picture to go to the game.

Our Tabloid Day

2011-03-30T21:59:00.001+13:00

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

What responsibilities do Mums and Dads have?

2011-03-23T22:48:00.004+13:00

We made a chart for Mum's responsibilities and Dad's responsibilities.
We had to make a space for both Mum and Dad because Mums and Dads can sometimes have the same responsibilities.
This kind of chart is called a Venn Diagram. The two ovals cross over and that is where we put the things that both Mums and Dads do.
Today we found out that in different families, Mums and Dads do different jobs.
We found this out by asking Joel and Kane some questions about what their Mum and Dad's responsibilities are.
Next Ms Donnell is going to teach us how to make our own Venn Diagram so we can show responsibilities in our families.
This writing is by Kane, Maddison, Nic, Milan, Tuhirangi and Ms Donnell

Postcard Project Update

2011-03-17T17:24:00.003+13:00

Now you can see the postcards we have received in the mail.
Three are from New South Wales in Australia.
Two are from Hawaii.
One is from Seattle in the USA.
One is from the Shetland Islands, north of Scotland.
One is from Invercargill in the south of the South Island of New Zealand.

Our Self Portraits

2011-03-11T17:37:00.004+13:00

Crayon and Dye Portraits on PhotoPeach
Today we finished our portraits. We have been working on them for a few weeks now.
This was the first time we have needed art shirts and it was quite a job learning how to put them on with a buddy to help and how to fold them and out them away tidily.
Here is a photo of us all ready to go and dye our pictures wearing our art shirts. Ms Donnell thought we were very sensible and responsible.

Another Great Picnic at Martins Bay

2011-03-03T22:14:00.000+13:00

Martins Bay Picnic 2011 on PhotoPeach

Ways to be responsible in our school

2011-02-24T17:13:00.004+13:00

The children in Room 2 were thinking about ways to be responsible for looking after our school.
This is what they thought...
Ways to Save Water by Reuben, Grady, Kane and Dan

Turn off the taps
Do not spill water
Do not waste water

Ways to make our grounds look good by Grace, Indy, Annabelle and Nic

Care for trees
Do not run on new grass
Care for plants
Do not step on new seeds growing

Ways to save electricity by Zac, Jade, Zara, Charlotte and Bayden

Turn off the light when finished in the room
Turn off the machines when you are not using them
Turn off computers and iPods

Ways to stop pollution by Maddison, Joel, Milan and Oliver

Pick up any rubbish lying around

Ways to recycle by Ms Knight

Collect cans, bottles and scrap paper for the bin

Our Bright Smiles

2011-02-18T16:49:00.005+13:00

Today in art we were learning lots of things.
We learned to:

* draw ourselves
* make our pictures colourful all over
* listen for the click when we put the lid on the felt pen
* use felt on the outlines and crayons for the inside
* keep inside the lines when we colour

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

The Postcard Project

2011-02-16T16:58:00.002+13:00

We have got our postcards ready to send off for the postcard project. Our postcards will go to schools in New Zealand, Australia and Hawaii.
We have already had a postcard in the mail from Reefton School.
Postcard Project

Responsibility

2011-02-11T16:32:00.004+13:00

This term we are thinking about responsibility.
Here are some of the ideas we shared about responsibility.
We are all responsible for brushing our teeth. Look below to see our pencil drawings showing us doing this important job.

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Goldfish

2011-02-08T10:25:00.004+13:00

In our class we have three goldfish. We used Answer Garden so people could give us ideas for their names. These are the names we chose: Goldy, Speedy, Stripy.
Annabelle and Zac are responsible for looking after them at the moment. They have to turn on the light and feed them in the morning and turn off the light and feed them in the afternoon.

Welcome to Room 2 2011

2011-02-04T14:58:00.002+13:00

What shall we call our goldfish?... at AnswerGarden.ch.

Our Virtual Chick

2010-12-08T12:27:00.001+13:00

Jared and Thomas decided we should adopt a pet chick for our blog as well as the ones we have in class.

adopt your own virtual pet!

Eggs and chickens

2010-12-01T18:08:00.005+13:00

We are expecting some day old chicks to arrive in our class sometime in the next few days.
We have been finding out about the life cycle of a chicken.
Here are some videos. The first one shows a hen laying an egg. The second one shows a chick hatching from an egg.

November record of the weather

2010-12-01T09:41:00.003+13:00

This is our record of the weather for the month of November. Most weather has been sunny. Some days have been a little bit rainy and cl0udy. Now we have finished November, we are up to December. :):) 24 zzzzzz to Christmas.

Our Worm Farm

2010-11-24T13:35:00.003+13:00

Ages ago, last year, when we were thinking about rubbish and recycling, we decided that it would be a good idea to have a worm farm at school.
This term, we remembered about the worm farm when the Leopards were reading "Extraordinary Earthworms" and we realised that worms change the soil and food scraps, so this week, we made a worm farm.
Here is the part of a procedure when you tell all the steps for how to make something.
We forgot to say: Put the lid on.
Now we have put the worm farm in a shady place and we will check it to keep it moist for the earthworms. We will put some food scraps in too.

Making Waffles

2010-11-18T16:45:00.003+13:00

Today we were making waffles in the staffroom. We used milk, salt, egg yolks, flour, sugar, egg white, baking powder, and butter. We mixed them all together and we popped it in the waffle iron and we waited for 10 minutes until out popped yummy waffles.

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Radish Seeds Sprout

2010-11-16T00:13:00.003+13:00

Another video: A Plant Story
Narrated Video: A Plant Story
More educational games & videos on Plants at NeoK12.com

Time lapse radish seeds sprouting, top and roots growing
We couldn't watch our cress seeds sprout like this. The change happens too slowly. This video was made over a long time and then sped up so we can see the changes happening.

More science games & videos on Plants at NeoK12.com

Slow Change with Cress

2010-11-15T10:22:00.005+13:00

On Thursday Mrs Parris told us to plant some cress seeds at school in the class. We were finding out about slow change and how seeds start to grow.
We used cotton wool and seeds and water and a saucer for each group.
We split into eight groups and first we got a saucer and then we got cotton wool and then we put the seeds on and sprayed water on it.
On Saturday and Sunday they all grew.
Arleigha and class

Quick Change

2010-11-02T17:48:00.002+13:00

Check out our quick change brainstorm. We came up with a lot of ideas.
One thing we thought about was how some changes are "in a flash," like fireworks and other changes are not quite so fast, like an ice cream melting on a sunny day.

Thinking about change

2010-10-29T09:37:00.003+13:00

Here is our voice thread where we shared our first ideas about change.
Here is a poster and some collage pictures that show some of the things we can think of that change.

Show Day Reflections

2010-10-22T13:06:00.002+13:00

Listen to our stories about Show Day in this voice thread. Ms Donnell asked us to think about reading with expression.

Show Day in our classroom

2010-10-15T16:12:00.006+13:00

This morning was very busy as we worked to get our classroom ready for Show Day tomorrow. You can see what we made in this animoto video.
There is a a slide show too, so that you can read our stories.
We had to work very quickly to get everything finished in one day.
We were also learning to bring our photos into Kid Pix and save our work by ourselves.

Show day 2010

View more presentations from Tina Donnell.

Harold and the Healthy Food Pyramid

2010-10-12T18:40:00.003+13:00

We have Harold the Giraffe visiting our school this week.
Here is a link to a great website to find out more about a balanced diet using the healthy food pyramid.

Learning from Picture Books

2010-09-24T16:04:00.003+12:00

In this story we decided that the author wanted to tell us that people (or mice) who look and think and dream can help us as much as the ones who do other jobs.
Frederick helped the family of mice get through the long cold winter because he reminded them of the warmth and colours of the summer and created a beautiful poem to share with them. These were his supplies.
Here are the collage pictures we created after looking at Leo Lionni's beautiful work.
This was a good way to use the paintings we made earlier in the term.

Musical Instruments and Ideas About Sound

2010-09-22T21:36:00.003+12:00

We have been thinking about musical instruments and the way you play them to make sounds. Ms Donnell asked us the question, "What causes sound?"
You can see some of the work we have done in this animoto video.

Colour Wheel Clowns

2010-09-21T17:09:00.002+12:00

These clowns have made a big splash in our corridor but here they are on our blog.
We made them with a mixture of paint, collage and pastel. We hope you like them.

Exploring Running

2010-09-15T22:39:00.003+12:00

Simon was teaching us running and jumping. All of us were practicing. We were jumping over some big hurdles.

Our Concert

2010-09-09T16:45:00.003+12:00

The big night has been and gone. The concert is over for another year.
We all worked so hard to learn all the songs. We played and we danced and our costumes looked great. There was lots of laughter and our family and friends enjoyed the show.
Here is a voice thread to show you the different acts we put on. We will work to tell some of our stories about the show.
When we made our comments, Ms Donnell asked us to listen to what other people had said and try to add some new ideas.

Thinking about earthquakes

2010-09-07T20:25:00.005+12:00

We have heard about the earthquake in Christchurch and seen photos of what has happened to buildings there.
What makes an earthquake happen?
You might like to look at this video to find some answers.
What should you do in an earthquake? Click on this "Things to know" picture to find out.
How do earthquakes change the land? Look at the slide show to find out more.

More Kandinsky Circles

2010-09-03T15:28:00.001+12:00

Kandinsky Circles on Kid Pix on PhotoPeach

Jared's Story About the Concert

2010-09-02T11:41:00.002+12:00

In a couple of days we are going to have a concert at the hall.
I am going to be a dancer.
There's a green group and a red group.
Tom and Tuhirangi and Joel and Oliver are dressing up as dinosaurs, if they like.
The green group is dancing for Riverdance and Shake it up, baby. I am in the green group.
I feel excited about the concert.

Irish Dance

2010-09-01T16:35:00.003+12:00

We had a go at hip hop today. That was fun, so let's have a go at this step for Irish Dancing. It might be handy for our Riverdance item.

Hip Hop Dance Move

2010-08-31T16:41:00.005+12:00

Today we were trying out some hip hop and rap dance moves. Here are some ideas you might like to try.

This one is a little trickier.

Collage Circles

2010-08-27T17:20:00.004+12:00

We are learning to create collage pictures.
In these pictures we had to trace around the shapes, then cut them out and arrange them on our black paper.
We learned to use the scrapers with the PVA to put the glue around the edges.
An artist called Kandinsky had this idea for creating pictures.
He thought that making art is like making music. He wrote this: “ "Colour is the keyboard, the eyes are the harmonies, the soul is the piano with many strings. The artist is the hand that plays, touching one key or another, to cause vibrations in the soul."
You can see some of his circle pictures here.

Facial Expressions

2010-08-16T22:09:00.000+12:00

Communication - what is it?

2010-08-05T14:00:00.001+12:00

Our theme this term is COMMUNICATION. Here is a voice thread about some of the thinking we have done so far. You will see our brainstorm where we tried to work out what the word communication is about. You will see our definitions of communication and some examples of ways people communicate.
We will be adding our voices to this over the next few days.

Maths Week 2010

2010-07-30T21:19:00.002+12:00

Maths Week is coming up next week. Check out this website to find out more.

Oliver's See-through Clock

2010-07-29T17:41:00.003+12:00

On Friday Oliver brought his see-through clock to school.
I got to take photos of it but they were bad so I had to delete them so Ms Donnell did one and it was good so we didn't delete that one.
We put it on the computer at the doorway. by Maddison
Maddison took a responsible risk and had a go at taking a photo of Oliver's clock. It was very hard to get a good photo because the clock was see-through and we needed to hold some paper up to make a background. It took quite a few tries before we got a photo that was good enough.

Model Clocks

2010-07-26T08:15:00.001+12:00

Model Clocks
We had fun on Friday making these model clocks and practicing o'clock and half past times.
We hope you enjoy this show.

Clocks and measuring time

2010-07-21T16:27:00.002+12:00

Clocks on PhotoPeach This week we have been thinking about time. Ms Donnell asked us to draw the clocks we have at home and bring our drawings of them to school. There are lots of clocks to look at.

Reflecting on our models

2010-07-20T23:43:00.003+12:00

This is a voice thread, but we did not have time to read our writing for people to listen to our stories.
Ms Donnell thought we worked well to share our ideas about how we did.

Vehicles with Wheels and Axles

2010-06-29T17:35:00.000+12:00

Our Road Transport Models on PhotoPeach

Our Voice Thread About Making Models

2010-06-25T14:31:00.002+12:00

Click on the link to hear our voice thread about making our models.

Making Model Vehicles

2010-06-22T17:20:00.002+12:00

We have been so busy today. We turned these boxes into fantastic model vehicles.
We have lots of photos to show us all at work, gluing, cutting dowel with the hacksaws, axles, and doing so much learning.
Hopefully Ms Donnell will be able to get them onto animoto for everyone to enjoy. There was a technical hitch today.

Learning about levers

2010-06-16T09:46:00.002+12:00

Yesterday we followed some instructions from a book to make a lever.
We used the lever to lift a heavy book. The block you can see in the picture is called the fulcrum. We put the fulcrum at the 30cm mark on the metre ruler. This place worked well to make it easy to lift the heavy book.
A lever is a useful machine to help people lift heavy loads up and down.

Thinking about machines

2010-06-11T15:57:00.002+12:00

Machines
If you click on the menu at the bottom left of the slide show, you will be able to look at this on full screen.

View more presentations from tinad.

How do things move?

2010-06-09T17:10:00.001+12:00

News about one of our frogs from Olly

2010-06-08T12:45:00.004+12:00

Oliver sent me an email with this comic strip on it.
Read and find out what he has to say.

The Rodney Library Road Show

2010-06-02T16:34:00.002+12:00

We had a visit from Anne and Nicky from the Warkworth and Mahurangi Libraries today.
It was fun helping them to act out their stories. Look at our video to see some of the things we got up to.

Crazy Hair Day at Kaipara Flats

2010-05-21T14:56:00.004+12:00

It was crazy hair day today. Room 3 were raising money for the Make a Wish Foundation.

Tornado at Kaipara Flats

2010-05-17T13:48:00.004+12:00

On Saturday something very scary happened at Kaipara Flats. There was a tornado.
We have been writing and talking about it.
Click on the picture to hear some of our stories.

Questions and Answers About Transportation

2010-05-12T16:34:00.003+12:00

Today we had another look at the questions we asked about transportation. We talked about different places you can go to find answers to your questions and how it's a good idea to look in more than one place to find answers. We also talked about how it can be good to ask people for information too.
In one book we looked in about helicopters, it described how some people who work at sea use helicopters to get there. Thomas and Cody thought it would be good idea to ask Nick, who works on oil rigs, if he ever uses helicopters in this way.
If you click on this picture, it will take you to a voice thread where Cody and Thomas and Alexie talk about why people fly helicopters.
We are hoping Nick might be able to tell us about why people use helicopters too.

Making Our Own Stories

2010-05-10T23:24:00.002+12:00

Our Cool Class Goes To School on PhotoPeach
We have been reading two great books: Marvin K. Mooney Will You Please Go Now! and Miss Pool is Cool.
We have used ideas from both of these books to create our own pictures and stories.
We hope you enjoy them.

Maths and Kid Pix

2010-05-04T17:19:00.003+12:00

Triangles think about number stories on PhotoPeach
In our maths we have been using transport to make up stories for number sentences.
Ms Donnell has been getting us to think about cars in garages like this: I have 5 cars and a very big garage. 2 cars are parked outside. How many are parked inside the garage?
Now the triangles have been using Kid Pix to make up some stories if their own.
We hope you enjoy them.

Learning about asking questions

2010-04-29T17:46:00.007+12:00

Today Ms Donnell asked us, "What makes a good learner?"
Someone said, "Listening." Someone said, "Looking."
That was a really good start.
Someone said, "Lips closed." Someone else said, "Sitting quietly."
"Mmmm," said Ms Donnell. "We certainly need to do that to do good sitting at school, but will that help you learn well when you're playing a sport, like rugby?"
Well, we went on talking for a bit before Ms Donnell told us about asking questions.
That is so important that one time, Room 2 children made it a class rule: Ask lots of questions and be curious.
So today, we've been practicing making questions about the things we wanted to know more about for transportation.
If you click on the picture, it will take you to our voice thread and you can see the questions we thought of.

The Fun Bus

2010-04-23T15:53:00.000+12:00

The Fun Bus on PhotoPeach

A Message From One of Our Frogs

2010-04-22T21:39:00.002+12:00

Check out this comic book message from one of our frogs who went to Abby's place.
Click on the picture to see the comic better.
Click here to go make your own comic.

Our Term 2 Topic

2010-04-21T17:24:00.005+12:00

Today Ms Donnell asked us to look at some pictures and think about what was the same about them so we could work out what our term 2 topic will be.
Here is a mind map to show our thinking.
If you click on the picture, it will link to a voicethread where we can talk some more about our ideas.
We have already written a sentence about what we think this topic is about.
Remember, you can click on the picture in voice thread to zoom in and read the words.

Term 2 Begins

2010-04-19T16:44:00.005+12:00

Today was our first day back for Term 2.
We had a great first day.
Mrs Smart took us for assembly this morning and now we know that the habit of mind we are working on is PERSISTENCE. Stick with it and don't give up.
In Little Red Hen the hen persists to make her bread even when the other animals won't help.
This term we need to be like the little red hen. We will set our goals and work hard to achieve them, even when things get tough.
Check out the writer's blog over the next day or so. Milly did some great writing today and some other children have been using Kid Pix for writing. I will post their stories as they are finished.

Teddy Gram Note Generator

2010-04-01T13:19:00.003+13:00

Community - the big idea on PhotoPeach
When we went to the Honey Centre one thing we learned is that bees are important in the world because they pollinate the flowers. Without them there would not be enough food.
The BIG IDEA is that all living things depend on each other.
Today we read Michael Foreman's picture book "One World" and we talked about what he wanted to tell us in this story.
Here are some of the ideas that seemed important to us.

More about beehive communities

2010-03-19T12:58:00.000+13:00

Why is a beehive a community? on PhotoPeach

Honey Centre Voice Thread

2010-03-05T13:55:00.002+13:00

Here are some of our stories and pictures about our trip to the Honey Centre. Over the next week we will be reading our stories for you, as our pictures are uploaded onto Voicethread.
We will be listening to our reading and thinking about how we can make it better.

The Honey Centre

2010-03-03T17:00:00.001+13:00

Our Visit to the Honey Centre on PhotoPeach

Bees and other exciting news

2010-03-02T17:36:00.003+13:00

Today has been so exciting in Room 2.
Our picture shows our first ideas about bees, with some of the questions we hope to find answers to on our visit to the Honey Cnetre tomorrow
BUT...
You wouldn't believe how much else has been going on.
Santana brought freshwater crayfish to school. We looked at them lots. They have nippy little pincers. Youch!
And... this afternoon we watched while one of our caterpillars changed into a chrysalis. We even managed to record this with the digital microscope.
What a busy day.

Is it a community?

2010-02-24T18:11:00.000+13:00

Our School Picnic and other stories

2010-02-24T17:34:00.000+13:00

What is a community?

2010-02-23T17:42:00.009+13:00

We have had another look at our ideas about community today.
Can you see how our ideas are changing?
We had lots more to say this time.
Our next post about this will show our ideas for some rules to answer the question, "Is it a community?"

Martin's Bay Picnic Word Bank

2010-02-19T18:00:00.004+13:00

We have been writing recounts about our school picnic at Martin's Bay.
This is the word bank we used when we were planning our writing.

Parachute Play

2010-02-16T16:07:00.002+13:00

Parachute Play on PhotoPeach
In our class community we have to be good at working together. Playing with the parachute is a good way for us to practice this.

"Smile!" - a new story from an old story

2010-02-11T17:05:00.003+13:00

"Smile!" said Ms Donnell on PhotoPeach
We've been reading "Smile!" said Dad by Jane Buxton. We have made a story about us, using Jane Buxton's ideas.

Tadpoles in our class community

2010-02-11T15:59:00.000+13:00

Community - First Ideas

2010-02-10T08:56:00.000+13:00

At the beach with my family

2010-02-08T16:17:00.002+13:00

Read our stories about the fun we have with our family at the beach.

Our tadpoles

2010-02-08T15:45:00.005+13:00

We have ten tadpoles in our classroom. They are eating lots and growing big. Nearly all the oxygen weed has gone because the tadpoles have been eating it. This morning when we came to school, Abby saw that one tadpole has two big back legs.
On Friday we made frog puppets.
We learned to fold paper to make a w.
We learned how to use the glue so it doesn’t make a big blob!
Our puppets are fun to play with.
It is fun having tadpoles in our classroom.
On Tuesday Santana fed the tadpoles some special tadpole food. They liked it a lot.

Welcome to Room 2 for 2010

2010-01-27T22:21:00.005+13:00

The holidays are nearly over and we are all getting ready to go back to school.
I hope you have all had wonderful holidays and will have lots to talk about when you come back to school on Thursday 4 February.
This photo shows one of the beautiful places I visited in the holidays. It is Cathedral Cove on the Coromandel Peninsula.
If you have photos of places where you have been you might be able to email them to me so we can look at them together.

Christmas Fun

2009-12-18T14:23:00.005+13:00

These photos are from two special events Kaipara Flats children have been a part of this Christmas season. Ako, the pukeko is sitting in the punga tree on the float in the Warkworth Santa parade and Santa is arriving at the Kaipara Flats Children's Christmas party driven on the quad by Bob.
Here are some Christmas activities, just in case you're looking for some entertainment over the holiday. (There are more activities on the sidebar too.)
Ten Little Snowmen
Reindeer Orchestra
Build Your Own Snowman
Decorate a Gingerbread Man
Santa's Secret Village
Advent Calendar
Snowline

National Jandal Day

2009-12-02T09:43:00.003+13:00

Today we are celebrating National Jandal Day. We have dressed up in our beach clothes and jandals and some of us have brought beach toys. We are making gold coin donations for the Surf Life Saving Club at Omaha. Here we all are, dressed up and having fun.

Properties of Plastic and Glass

2009-11-20T15:58:00.004+13:00

We have been learning to work together using a programme called Kidspiration to organise our ideas. We were looking at the properties of plastics and glass.
You will notice that some of us used post it notes and card instead of the computer. We could still organise our ideas this way.
We have also been learning to use words like transparent, translucent, opaque, dull and shiny to describe what we see.
If you have trouble reading our work, click on the picture and it will zoom in.

Scatter Cat by Lynley Dodd

2009-11-11T16:37:00.003+13:00

We have been learning to use words like in, on, under and behind to describe where things are. Here we have made a voice thread recording our stories about Hairy Maclary chasing all the cats in Scattercat by Lynley Dodd.