Tuesday No-Willowbank-day

Good afternoon,

Well, we could have gone today, but it would have been rather wet underfoot, and not that warm to boot. To gumboot, in fact.

But I digress.

Today we continued with our time learning. And so, I thought, what would be more appropriate to teach the children that Bill Hayley's Rock Around the Clock. Feel free to sing along at home...

Rock Around the Clock

One, Two, Three O'clock, Four O'clock rock,
Five, Six, Seven O'clock, Eight O'clock rock.
Nine, Ten, Eleven O'clock, Twelve O'clock rock,
We're gonna rock around the clock tonight.

Put your glad rags on and join me hon',
We'll have some fun when the clock strikes one.

CHORUS:
We're gonna rock around the clock tonight,
We're gonna rock, rock, rock, 'till broad daylight,
We're gonna rock around the clock tonight.

When the clock strikes two, three and four,
If the band slows down we'll yell for more.

CHORUS:

When the chimes ring five, six, and seven,
We'll be right in seventh heaven.

CHORUS:

When it's eight, nine, ten, eleven too,
I'll be goin' strong and so will you.

CHORUS:

When the clock stikes twelve we'll cool off then,
Start rockin' 'round the clock again.

CHORUS:

Then for a bit more writing, a bit more reading, and a hastily planned topic lesson 'stead of singing, for which Room 11 joined us.

We tried to match up some images in the right boxes, but, well...next time I design something like this, I'll make sure the boxes are nice and big for the children to get the images into. Ah well.


After a quick discussion about how God made the kiwi, we demonstrated why He gave the kiwi such strong feet.


To scratch around on the forest floor, of course.

Tomorrow, well, tomorrow will be what tomorrow will be.

Bye for now,

Mr Grant

Mournday Monday

Well, mourning only in as far as tomorrow's Willowbank trip has been postponed to Friday. Indeed, I should have handed out a slip of paper this afternoon, but, seeing as it was a piece of paper, I kinda forgot!

So...

Dear Parents,

We made the call today to postpone due to the dubious forecast and the wet ground.

Friday will be the same as Tuesday. The children will wear their sports gear. We are thinking about gumboots but will make that call later in the week. The y are also to bring a named packed lunch.

Regards,

J Team Teachers

Oh, and by the way, I mentioned that the cost for those who want to pay their own way was $12. Turns out, it's $12.50.

As for today, we had us some visitors for Topic this afternoon. Room 11 popped over to watch this jungle movie with us, and then, along with Room 2 we discussed some of the things we learned.








Earlier in the day, Blue Reading Group shared today's text...


Very cool.

Right, now to prepare for tomorrow's unexpected reading lesson!

Mr Grant

Willowbank Postponement

Good afternoon,

Just a quick update before the afternoon begins.

Our trip to Willowbank has been postponed, due to the dubious forecast for tomorrow.

We're trying for Friday. So, if indeed its a goer, the children are to come to school on Friday in their sports gear and gumboots - even if it's dry, it'll still be wet underfoot.

More later,

Mr Grant

Newsletter for Term 3, Week 7

Good afternoon,

Here is the newsletter for Term 3, Week 7.

CU Monday,

Mr Grant

Freaky Friday

Good afternoon,

Another fun was had by all. Don't they look grand?!



For Topic this morning, we watched an online Ocean movie, and the children took notes from the clip.



(Which reminds me of this...)


Then, after skipping...



...we were back for some more science. This time we were discussing how God has designed the Pukeko to live in the wetlands. Specifically, we looked at how their toes are different from ours - they're huge and spread out so as they can spread their weight over the soft mud. So, we went out for a 'demonstration' in the sand pit.




Then it was back for a few more internet clips...



...before making Pukeko feet of our own. I'll try to get them up around the room over the weekend. Perhaps.

Then it was time for buddy reading...



...assembly, free time ('till 3 - I lost track of the time!) and home.

Phew.

On to next week, and the Willowbank trip. First up this morning I threw the names of the parent help volunteers into The Hat and had it spit out four names. I've even got witnesses!


So, if your name is listed above, you're on! If you're name isn't, and you're still desperate to go, you are still welcome...though you'll have to make your own way there and pay for yourself!

I think that's about it. I've got to set up the R2 stereo that we simply don't use in Mrs Earls office.

By for now,

Mr Grant

Big Board Thursday

Good afternoon,

Another productive day was had here in Techie central!

I successfully tried using the board for maths (and finally found something that challenges the Diamonds!)...


... and reading. And I even did my own little effort to save the planet. No paper taped to the board with maths questions! (We won't go into the relative merits and discussions about the additional use of electricity in Room 2!)

Then, for after a touch of skipping and stuff...




We had a spot of R.E.


...and then did a spot of categorization of animals according to their habitats.




(Had I had the time I could have literally given it bells and whistles when they put an image in the right place!)

Right, on to tomorrow. Please remember that it's Freaky Friday (Freaky as in Wacky, not Scary!), and the gold coin donation that goes along with it. Umm, and that's about it. Unless anyone wants to trot along at about 1100 to give us a hand with some ICT?

Mr Grant

IWB Wednesday

Good afternoon,

Big news here in Room 2 - the Interactive White Board has been installed and is up and running!

It's way cool!




Not to mention huge!



So much so that to reach the other side of the board I've actually got to get up and walk over to it...or stay on my bottom, write on the half that I can reach, and use the tablet to write on the other half! Now that's cool!

As it had been in the room for only half an hour (in which time the Year 1's used it to indicate what they called Grandma! 10 Nanas, 3 Nannys, 5 Grandmas and 1 Poppy! Using two pens at a time - way cool!), we did without handwriting this afternoon so that the children could practice their morning roll call routine that I would like them to start using...


So this meant that we kicked off the day in Room 6 for Maths, Writing and Reading.





Right, now to try and sort out where everything's going to go...

CU in the morning,

Mr Grant

Sun Day Tuesday

Good afternoon,

Ah, but it's lovely to see the sun.

It's far too nice a day [not] to take photos

Today we managed to skip our way through what was a bit of an out-of-routine kind of day...


The afternoon was a bit more settled. Well, except for the Room 11 Writers, who had to miss out on singing so that Mrs Johnson could be observed teaching writing, but, well, you get that sometimes.

After singing...


We all went out for a spot of athletics. Specifically, shot put and hurdles.


Tomorrow will hopefully see the installation of our new IWB, so we will actually be using Room 6 in the morning, while the seniors are away at technology. Might even use me the IWB over there while I'm there too.

CU tomorrow,

Mr Grant

Oh, and while I remember it, please return the Willowbank permission slips as soon as you can.

Monday Monday

...so good to me...


But I digress.

This afternoon we started a new inquiry unit entitled Animals in the World, where we will be learning to show how God has made different animals for different places.

To that end, I had the children enact why you don't find no lizards in Antarctica - they need to find somewhere warm to start the day.




I also received this in my inbox this morning from last Friday's assembly.

Ke te pehea koe?
How do you feel?

Ke te tena pai au.
I feel really good.
Ke te pehea koe?
How do you feel?

Ke te makariri au.
I feel cold.
Ke te peha koe?
How do you feel?

Ke te wero au.
I feel hot.
Ke te peha koe?
How do you feel?

Ke te nge nge au
I feel tired.

Ke te pehea koe?
How do you feel?

Thanks Dave!

Bye for now,

Mr Grant

Newsletter for Term 3, Week 6

Good afternoon,

And a lovely afternoon it is too. (Not least for the reason that I got some paint on some of my figures!)

Here is the newsletter for Term 3 Week 6.

Bye for now,

Mr Grant

Few Photos Friday

Good afternoon,

Well, we've been fairly flat out here today.

After a bit of housekeeping, and just before we got back into our Comic Life fairy tales, the A Team invited us over to have a looksee at their science fair. It was pretty cool!





After that we spent the rest of the morning either hacking away at our digital fairy tales (I fed them far too many instructions at once and was running from desk to desk like a headless chook because of it!) and preparing some Maori for our assembly.

Ke te pehea koe?
How do you feel?

Ke te pai au.
I feel good.
Ke te pehea koe?
How do you feel?

Ke te tena pai au.
I feel really good.
Ke te pehea koe?
How do you feel?

Ke te makariri au.
I feel cold.
Ke te peha koe?
How do you feel?

Ke te wero au.
I feel hot.
Ke te peha koe?
How do you feel?

Ke te nge nge au
I feel tired.

Ke te pehea koe?
How do you feel?

Well done with that Room 2, you all did really well. Especially the prayers and presenters, who had to give up a significant part of their lunch time to practice.

Sorry I didn't get any photos of it in the end, I thought I did well just to get the data projector set up and the children seated before the assembly began!

It was wonderful to see so many parents supporting their children for the event too. Thank you.

And thank you for cleaning the tables this morning too! It's just one of those things I just never get round to. I really appreciated it.

Have a great weekend,

Mr Grant

Thursday Theology

Good afternoon,

I am very pleased to say that the children aced their Sacrament assessment this afternoon.

Earlier in the day we had a bit of Jump Jam...



...then a touch of reading...


After lunch we had our aforementioned Sacrament post test, and then a Weather assessment.
(Sorry about the quality - I used a different algorithm to compress this clip, and, well, the results are not as flash as I was hoping.)

Then on to a discussion about what we're going to do for assembly tomorrow. The children came up with some lovely prayers that Cameron, Maddison, Molly and Samuel will recite tomorrow at assembly...

Prayers together: Ki te Ingoa, o te Matua, me te Tamaite, me te Wairua Tapu. Amene

Cameron: Thank you God for school. Holy Spirit please help us to work hard. Lord hear us.

Maddison: Thank you God for us being kind and caring at our Catholic school. Lord hear us.

Molly: Thank you God for taking away the sins of the whole world. Lord hear us.

Samuel: Thank you God for the Holy Spirit. Please help us to be more like Jesus. Lord hear us.

Prayers together: Ke te ingwa. O te Matua, me te Te Mite, me to Waru Tapu. Amene.

We will also be sharing this song with the rest of the school...


...as well as a bit of Maori language - we will be doing a shorter version of this text here.

CU in the morning, and then, possibly, again at 1:30.

Mr Grant

Few Photos Wednesday

Good afternoon,

Not that it's a particularly 'good' afternoon. Mind you, Rattie seems to be having a good time squirreling away some multi link cubes that I scattered on the floor of the room. And now he's skiving off with some more paper. Or is that eating it? Funny wee chap!


But I digress.

Lots of the usual stuff went on today. Inside. All day. Even for lunch.




And that was about it.

I hope it stops raining tomorrow...

...'cause we've got a couple of tests! A Sacrament test, and a test on what you might see or do during the different seasons.

Mr Grant

Oh yes, and the install date for the interactive white board is next Wednesday morning. Yay!