Sunday, February 28, 2010

Rats! Update

Not tomorrow!

I'm still working through the details.

I've figured out what to feed them and where to get the feed from, and what to scatter on their cage floor.

It's just a question of getting round to see the two I've got my eye on, a secondary cage (assuming they can't get through the gaps in the cage in Room 2), and some sort of play pen so's we can have them out and about at various times during the day.

But we're getting there. (Thanks Hon!)

Mr Grant

Saturday, February 27, 2010

Newsletter for Term 1, Week 5

Good afternoon,

Just before I jump into the pool, here is the newsletter for Term 1 Week 5.

Have a good weekend,

Mr Grant

Rats and T-Shirts

Good morning,

Still got to write the newsletter, but - some updates...

  • Yes, we lost the initial auction for the rats 'n cage package, but I may have sourced another cage (subject to some repairs), so we may still be on track for having a couple of new classmates, who just happen to live around the road from my house...

  • I'm planning the reading programme for this coming week, and Green Group will be listening to T-Shirts to accompany their book on Tuesday.

  • And White Group will be listening to The Ant and the Grasshoppers, before performing it themselves on Tuesday morning.


That's it for now.

Mr Grant

Friday, February 26, 2010

Rats! We lost the auction...

...for the cage. Bother. That'll teach me for staying at school late when there's an auction due to close.

Anyone got a portable mouse/rat/bunny/whatever cage to transport a couple of rats from school to home and back? I guess its not urgently urgent - but we will need one for the holidays...

Mr Grant

Fun Day Friday

Good afternoon,

Well, apart from news about the rats (see the previous post), Friday came and went much like they do.

A little R.E.


...some free time...




...Assembly and a swim...



...with a game there...


...and a dance back.


Next week we will be settling into, well, the fitness/uniform routines for the rest of the year. The children are to come to school each morning in their fitness gear, and to bring their uniform to change back into on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. They will be staying in their fitness gear all day on Tuesdays.

Also, please continue to send their togs to school each day for the next week, possibly even the week after as well. We will still swim in the afternoons, if the weather is fine enough. And so long as we can fit it in. Which we can't, but I may just have to make it fit. Water confidence is a good thing to have.

And that's about it for today. All things being equal, Pinky and the Brain (or whatever we'll call them) will be here on Monday.



Mr Grant

Rats! Part Duex...

(500 House Points to the first three children who can tell me what movie title that reference (Part Duex) is from. Think Charlie Sheen...and chicken nun-chucks!)

Good afternoon,

It is with some trepidation that I announce that we have been given the go ahead to get a couple of rats for the classroom. (Trepidation because I haven't kept class room animals before, and this is definitely on a 'we'll see how it goes' basis...)

So, I'll put a bid in for the auction for the rats, cage 'n gear, and we'll see how it goes!

Each child will be on a roster to look after the rats during the school day (that is, two children will be responsible to make sure they have food, water and, yep, even cuddles - they're social animals and I want to keep them that way), and for those who want there will also be a roster to take them home in the weekends/holidays.

To that end, I need to know who is willing to take them home in the weekends. I will leave a sign up sheet on the board on Monday. Or you could let me know your interest by leaving a comment in the comment field of this post.

Bye for now, got to get ready for assembly,

Mr Grant

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Rats!

Good evening,

Got me an eye on some ratties, and then Tracy (my wife) brought up the question of holidays - staying at school over the weekend should be fine, but what about the holidays?

Oh, and what about a smaller cage to transport them thither and yon...

Oh, and some toys and a water bottle, and some food...hmmm...I'm not sure I've thought all this through...

Anyway, if we do get some, do we have any volunteers to to look after them during long weekends (or even normal weekends...on a roster, like Galoop, but only of those who would actually like to bring them home...hmmm, we're going to need another cage...that first auction is looking quite good...) and holidays?

Please feel free to leave some comments to let us all know what you think.

Mr Grant

Triathlon Thursday

Good afternoon,

And what a good afternoon it is. I was a bit worried that the day would be rained out, given the forecast at the beginning of the week.

Well, didn't your children do well?!

We started the day our usual way...


...and their best they did!

Room 2 came first in the Year 1 Boys race...



...first in the Year 1 Girls race...



...first in the Year 2 Girls race...



...and Second and Third in the Year 2 Boys race.



Well done all of you, it was wonderful seeing you giving your all, and smiling away while you raced!

After lunch we all popped into the hall to chill out with Monsters Inc.



So a good day was had by all.

Further excitement was added when Amelie's Mum and Dad dropped off their old rabbit cage so's we can have some rats (or should that be 'can have some more rats...) in the room. If Mrs Earl is OK with having them in the room...she seems ok with the other 20! :-)


CU in the morning,

Mr Grant

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Please bring your house colours!

Good evening,

Just heard from Mr Atherton that the children are to bring their sports shorts and a shirt in their house colours for tomorrow's triathlon.

CU tomorrow,

Mr Grant

Absent Wednesday

Good afternoon,

Sorry I wasn't able to turn up to school this morning. Got me a migraine. Feeling better now, so I should be back tomorrow - Triathlon Day.

Don't forget...

  • A shirt in your house colours

  • Hats

  • Drink Bottles

  • Sun Screen

  • Enthusiasm!


It'll be great. The J Team kicks off at just after 11:00.

And just to prove that I haven't been twiddling my thumbs all day, I found a very cool sight word page and have used bits of it to form our very own Room 2 Sight Word Practice Page. The link is on the right, just under our Room 2 Listening Post Page.

Bye for now,

Mr Grant

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Fabulous Tuesday

Good afternoon,

The weather is Glorious! We took full advantage of the hot temperature this afternoon and jumped back into the pool after Triathlon training - our first time for a genuine bike transition 'n all.






Earlier in the day we also went outside...

We are listening for God made sounds

...which was an activity to...
...stimulate auditory and visual awaremess, and to heighten sensitivity through connecting with nature in the school surroundings.

The children lay on silently their backs and held up one finger for every natural sound they heard. I've even got a recording of it!




Right, tomorrow.

Lucy, don't forget to bring your bike back to school in the morning, the rest of the class' bikes have stayed here at school over night.

And, well, that's pretty much it. See you tonight at the Family Fun Night,

Mr Grant

Monday, February 22, 2010

Hot Stuff Monday

Good afternoon,

And...

What a lovely day!


We took the advantage of the hot weather to get our Triathlon training out of the way for an extra couple of minutes back in the pool.



Earlier in the day, after reading...


(well done boys!)

...we started our new Social Studies topic Me in my environment. Our first learning intention was WALT talk about our school environment and how we feel about it. To that end, we went outside to two different parts of the school - the playground, and the back of the field.

In both we saw some rubbish. So...


We talked about how each area was different, had a different use and made us feel a little differently about.

We decided that the playground was noisy and exciting...



...and the back of the field was peaceful and quiet.


After the pool we had our first R.E. interchange, where the Year 1 children all popped into Room 2 to discuss what God is like...


...learn/re-learn/practice a good morning prayer.


I think that's it.

Oh, and one other thing. Remember to bring your bikes to school in the morning!

Right, on with the next meeting...

Mr Grant

Friday, February 19, 2010

Newsletter for Term 1, Week 4

Good evening,

Here, fresh off the press, so to speak, is the newsletter for Term 1 Week 4. I'll send out copies by email in the morning from school.

Have a good weekend,

Mr Grant

Fabulous Friday

Good afternoon,

And what a lovely afternoon it is. We didn't end up going in the pool (no time), but then again, I suspect the water would have been quite cold, given yesterday's rain.

But I digress...

This morning we kicked off with the laptops...



...creating digital Galoops.


Then we had a sing song, a bit of free time...



...and a kinesthetic memory exercise just before lunch.


I find remembering this kind of stuff really hard!

After assembly we went back out for another Triathlon run down, this time with a slight change in the lay out in terms of getting on and off the bikes.


Feel free to pop round in the weekend to practice it if you like.





Just a reminder about the Triathlon, please have those bike notices back as soon as you can, and remember to bring the bikes to school on Tuesday. Practice putting those helmets on and off!

Have a great weekend,

Mr Grant

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Exciting Thursday

Good afternoon,

Well, we had a bit of excitement to liven up our day today (like over and above the normal excitement that livens up our day...). Just as we were sitting down to write what we had just talked to each other about...


...we had a power surge that tripped the fire alarm. Just as well we had practiced the evacuation procedures. I was very pleased the way the Room 2 Writers filed out quickly and calmly to be joined by the rest of the class on the court from their various interchange classes. So, as the alarm couldn't be shut off for a while, we all had an early morning tea!

After reading, where Blue Reading Group (minus one) read today's book to us...


(Well done girls!)

...we had the laptops back in the room (indeed, they were kinda rained in - it's been too wet to wheel them back!), this time to learn to use the Fill and Text tools...



...and then to enjoy each other's work.


Tomorrow morning we will pull all of the things we've been learning to create digital Galoops!

We ended the day with another reading from our serial story Brave Mama Puss.


It's getting exciting!

On the triathlon front, no, we didn't trot around today, but we will be tomorrow (weather not withstanding), and please plan to bring the bicycles to school on next Tuesday. They will be kept overnight in the hall for practice again on Wednesday and then the big day on Thursday.

Bye for now,

Mr Grant

P.S. well done Grace for answering last night's question. Here's another...

What did Papa Puss hit the robot rats with?

By the way, we saw this clip at our Responsibility Assembly. Since Room 7, Room 8 and Room 9 have got it on their blogs, I thought...why not!

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Missing Mass...

Good afternoon,

I arrived this morning with the idea of taking each of the children's photo with their ash cross after mass, but, what, with maths interchange, interval, and then reading interchange, by the time I had them all together again (PMP children not withstanding), their crosses had all but rubbed off.

Sorry, their photos would have looked great besides their Ash Wednesday pictures that they took home last night. Might try again on Friday...anyone got any palm leaves ashes spare?

Ah well...

The room next door is coming along nicely. The big excitement at morning tea time was the arrival of the concrete mixer!


Just before lunch (when we finally got together again) we had another crack at Windows Paint on the laptops, this time using the Ellipse and Curve Tools, making circles and smiley faces.


If you have a Windows computer, have the children show you how to use Paint at home. Depending on how you've got your Start Menu set up, click Start/All Programs/Accessories/Paint to open Paint.

After lunch we were Triathlon training again.






Right I've got a class description to start writing. "Room 2 are a bunch of rat bags..." :-)

Mr Grant

PS 100 pts to the first three people who can tell me what this photo has got to do with Brave Mama Puss