Finally Friday!

Good afternoon,

And welcome to the Term 3 Holidays!

We had a bit of a busy morning this morning. Another assessment, this time the second half of the weather assessment that was done, what, 5 or 6 weeks back? Turns out I forgot to ask them some stuff that would allow them to get better marks, so I gave them that opportunity this morning. I was very pleased with the results.

After that it was outside for a quick run...


...and then back to work - if you can call something that didn't actually work very well at all work.

I grabbed hold of the NetBooks with the idea that the children could take snap shots of themselves with the web cam directly from Comic Life and then make some sort of message for home. Trouble is, only three or four of the 12 that we were using would actually open up the web cam from Comic Life...so...well...suffice it to say, 'twas not the best lesson on the planet!


During this afternoon's assembly a couple of Hoon Hay School Hip Hop teams came over the paddock to share a couple of routines with us. They were way cool!

And that's all there was.

Thanks for another great term, and have a fantastic holiday,

Mr Grant

Testing Thursday

Good afternoon,

Well, the children have had to some cerebral exercises this fine spring day.

First up, R2 Maths had their Time post test (which was as challenging as I thought it might have been - 'specially considering that I had extended them quite a ways beyond what the curriculum says they should have been learning - hours and half hours...), a couple re-did their argument post test, and R2 R.E. had their Church Post test. Which I can't seem to up load to share with you.

In between these events we also did some running...


...and after, we finished our Animals Inquiry. Horrah!



Tomorrow will kick off a visit from Father Bernard, and then we will start to wind down in preparation for the holidays. Yay!

CU tomorrow,

Mr Grant

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

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

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

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!

Another Monday

Good evening,

Another Monday, another, well, start to the week!

We kicked off the week with a Values Assembly...


...which kinda slipped my attention in terms of planning for thereof!

Still, no worries, maths was just cut a little short. (On a side note, I actually learned something during Maths this morning. The Comparison strategy that I was teaching the Diamonds is just about comparing two numbers and finding the difference. Ha! So that's why they called it comparisons!)

This afternoon we kicked off with a bit of a looksee at Echarist...

Coming together for Eucharist is the best way to worship God.

We then discussed what clothes were appropriate according to the season. Each corner of the room was designated a season, I had the children pretend that they were wearing either...

• shorts and a tee shirt,


• long trousers and a long sleeved shirt,


• long trousers, a long sleeved shirt and a jacket,


• long trousers and a tee shirt

...and I had the children choose what season was most appropriate for what they were 'wearing'.


Bye for now,

Mr Grant

Assumption Thursday

Good afternoon,

Seeing as we are celebrating the Feast of the Assumption tomorrow, we decided to further the children's learning about it this afternoon.




Speaking of the Feast of the Assumption, the whole school is off to Mass at 0915 tomorrow. The children are to come to school in full school uniform tomorrow - leave the sports gear at home.

Following R.E., the children then got into small groups to sort these 1, 2, 3, 4 cards into the correct order.



CU in the morning,

Mr Grant

We are Responsible, Respectful, Room 2 Learners?

Good afternoon.

What's wrong with this picture?



Oh, hang on, that black jacket's mine! That aside...if you're missing any clothing, please check this ever growing pile here!

Prior to this shot, the children were beavering away re-enforcing their understanding of the water cycle.





Thank you, and good night.

Mr Grant

Oh yes, and in case you were wondering, I didn't see Green Reading Group this morning, so they won't have a book this evening.

Water Cycle Monday

Good evening,

Man, it's cold out there!

This afternoon, we discussed, and then acted out, the water cycle.

Here, the children are c___________ into clouds...





Earlier in the afternoon, Room 2 R.E. discussed birthday rituals, and then acted some of them out.


And for those of you at home...


All this after a wet lunch time inside, culminating in a game of Heads Down, Thumbs Up.



Bye for now,

Mr Grant