Koru Friday

Good afternoon,

This morning, before skipping...




...and after Mass (which was lovely), Room 2 were learning to draw koru.








Very cool.

Then, after assembly and a bit of free time...it was the weekend! Have a nice one everybody, and CU Monday,

Mr Grant

Weather Update

Good morning,

It is -3.6 degrees outside R2 this morning, as of 07:57.

Now that's a bit chilly!

Mr Grant

Why Bless Me, It's Thursday...

Good afternoon,

This afternoon we talked a bit about blessings and, more particularly, blessing each other...


...and then we asked God to bless us...



Then, after a bit of handwriting, we did a bit more weather watching. Specifically, clouds. First to draw and label them,


...then to identify them in the...well, flesh would be the wrong word. Water?


Right, on to tonight's Maori question. (And I would like to say thank you to those who have participated so far...)

Room 2 Readers read Te Taniwha Me Te Poraka. For 100 house points, what is a "poraka"? For another 100 house points, how do you say "jump" in Maori? And a third 100 points will go to anyone who read the first page to me in the morning!

(By the way, you can access a glossary here.)

Please remember that...

• We have mass tomorrow at 11:15


• Yellow House has mufti tomorrow

Have a good night,

Mr Grant

Fine Weather Wednesday

Good afternoon,

And what a lovely afternoon it is. Just as well we had run out of time to look for clouds this afternoon - 'cause there aren't any!

What we did do was update our Weather Chart, and then discussed the three primary cloud formations - Stratus, Cumulus and Cirrus.


We even got some actions going. (As indicated on the image above). Ask your children to show you.

This morning we continued with our ICT work, learning to create a new file, name it (T#W##D## - Term [x] Week [y] Day [z]) and save it to the server to continue to work on it tomorrow.





For reading, Blue Group put on another performance for us, this time What Tommy Did


For R.E., we were learning to identify Holy Objects by moving around objects within the digital R.E. resource that we are using this year. (Just as well I installed those two extra laptops! Now, if we could only get it working on the Macs...)




Right, on to tonight's Maori questions. Please read this - the Room 2 Readers read it this morning.

For 100 house points, what does Ke Te Pehea Koe mean? For an extra 100 points, what does makariri and wera mean?

Kiora,

Mr Grant

Tuesday Thingamieday

Good afternoon,

Another fine day was had here in Room 2.

A bit of digital writing...




(the children are starting to get the hang of creating, retrieving and saving files to and from the server, which as been my primary learning intention with using the NetBooks over the last week and a bit. As the process of working with the server becomes quicker and quicker, we can spend more and more time actually writing on the computers)

Then we had another Maori language lesson this time reading Te Ra O Mama. Then to reading, where Red Reading Group shared their play with us - The Bees and the Bear.


After lunch, the J Team all piled into R2 for a Maori sing-a-long or two...



...before R2 joined R3 for some skipping.




I am pleased to say that R2 won the Y1 boys, Y2 boys, Y1 girls and came second in the Y2 girls races!

Oh, and before I go, each child will receive 100 house points if they read He Kuri to a parent who will then send a signed note to say as much to school in the morning.

Also, for another 100 points, what are your whatu?

Bye for now,

Mr Grant

Mostly Monday

Good evening,

Just a quick update to let you know what the children got up to this fine day...(ahh, but what is it supposed to do tomorrow?)

We had a bit more ICT learning this morning for writing, and we even began writing our own recounts.


Their orientations are mostly done, now to start on a sequence.

After that (talking of sequences) there was a bit of skipping in between our reading...


...and I abandoned the children for some more Assess To Learn PD this afternoon. Miss Russel took over, and I must say the room looked a LOT better at the end of the day under her stewardship when compared to mine!

CU in the morning,

Mr Grant.

Oh yes, and for 100 house points...what does "iti" mean in Maori?

To refresh your memory, please read He Kuri that we read instead of phonics this morning.

Actually, for 50 points, what does "Kuri" mean?

Newsletter for Term 3, Week 2

Good morning,

Here is the newsletter for Term 3, Week 2.

I've also managed to fiddle around with Comic Life (and Windows Movie Maker...hmmm...) to paste together the work that the children created at the end of last term.


Mr Grant

Overcast Friday

Whether the weather,
We'll weather the weather,
Whether we like it or not!

Good afternoon,

We kicked off this morning by filling out our weather charts according to our scientific observations...we looked outside to see what the weather was doing!


Then it was back onto the NetBooks for a bit of Comic Life (which I can't share with you 'till I've got a registered copy on my tablet!), and off to Assembly.



...before walking back in the rain!


After being shut outside...


...those who weren't going to Kapa Haka (which included Rattie) had a bit of free time.


Have a nice weekend, and...watch the sky!

Mr Grant

(Oh, and by the way, I've added the slideshow from the web cam photos taken during writing yesterday.)

Thursday Rushday

Good afternoon,

For R.E. this afternoon, we discussed the word Holy...


...and talked about places that were holy.



Earlier in the day the Room 2 Writers used the NetBooks to capture and save their own photos onto the server. And here they are...


Bye for now,

Mr Grant

Veggie Tale Wednesday

Good afternoon,

Today we had a pre test for the Sacrament strand of the R.E. curriculum. While some continued, the rest of the Room 2 Year 1 R.E. class came down on the mat and I put on the latest Room 2 Veggie Tale - Queen Esther, The Girl Who Became Queen...



...a bonus episode on the Lyle the Kindly Viking DVD. So, as the Year 2s came back from Room 3 we had a quick vote and, instead of handwriting, we watched the rest of the show!


Earlier in the day, shortly after fitness...



(notice how the Room 2 Reading class has grown?!)

...Blue Reading Group (all two of them!) presented their text You Can Carry It, Harriet.


We also had another session with the NetBooks for writing this morning, and, hopefully, may even have them again tomorrow. Perhaps.

Bye for now,

Mr Grant

Jump'n Tuesday

Good afternoon,

This morning for Writing, we abandoned the pen for some ICT.



The point of this, and hopefully tomorrow's, writing lesson was to learn to create something in word, and save it to the server to work on it again later, without having to use a particular laptop - they're all connected to the server, so any laptop will do. This will become one of our regular independent writing routines once we've got a handle on the nuts and pieces of the procedure.

During reading, Red group again performed for us, this time...Roll Over.


White group also shared what they learnt from the book they had yesterday. How Room 1 Henderson Valley School performs a Massage Circle. Or at least they did, back in 1999.

First, they put their flat on the person in front of them and move them round and round in circles like big sun shapes.


Next, they dot their fingers up and down like rain. They start off softly and then get harder and harder, just like rain.


Their two favourite things are at the end. First they put their arms around the person in front of them, all lean forward and hug each other.


The second thing they do is lean back really slowly until they're lying on the person behind them.


And so they did.

After lunch, we had J Team Singing in Room 2 (where the heaters wouldn't switch off and it got to 27.9 degrees inside!).





Stink, we're really packing them in in the J Team this year! And we've still got two terms to go!

Then on to skipping...


And that was that.

CU tomorrow,

Mr Grant