Our Book Launch!

What an amazing turnout at tonight's Book Launch!  It was super fantastic to see lots of family members arrive to see the books we've made.

A big thank you to Penny and Ruby T who did a great job at hosting the launch - didn't they do well?

The food was amazing too!

Our Book Launch! on PhotoPeach

One of the movies we shared was one we made of Jill Eggleton's story called 'Pirate Polly'.




We also shared another movie we made about how we INTERACT with books.



I'm very proud of Room 12!  Thank you to everyone who came along tonight.

Our book launch

Our book launch is looming....tomorrow!  Room 12 are excited about sharing their books with their families tomorrow night.

Today we showed our books to our buddies in Room 5.  Room 5 then returned the favour by showing us their very cool kites!!!


Mini Book Launch with Room 5 on PhotoPeach

It is a busy week!  Not only do we have our Book Launch, but we are also practicing for our Christmas Show.  Here we are trying on our costumes for the show....fancy!

The boys look very handsome in their green waist coats.

The girls love their glittery skirts!

Hopefully you can make it to our Christmas Show - kids have notices in their reading folders today.

Our LAST day of swimming

Our final day of swimming was so much fun!  Room 12 were very brave and jumped into the deep end wearing a lifejacket.  They also had a go at falling backwards from a lifeboat and swimming under the boat to the air bubble underneath!


Last day of swimming on PhotoPeach

I have been so very proud of Room 12 during their swimming fortnight, and I hope they feel very proud too!

As it was a very hot day, and I was also very proud of Room 12, I decided we needed
a lovely cold ice block!

Swimming Day 9

We wore pyjamas in the pool!

What fun!  The kids experienced what it might feel like wearing clothes in water - they were very heavy!  Some of the kids got confused and tried to go to sleep before swimming too....

Swimming Day 9 on PhotoPeach

Room 12 have been making a Swim safe message - on an ipad!

Ghazal and Mio working together on their swim safe message.

Swimming Day 7

Room 12 are doing so well with their swimming.  Everyday I see them become braver and try new things - it is an awesome thing to watch!


Swimming Day 7 on PhotoPeach

On Wednesday a note is coming home to ask children to bring their pyjamas to school on Thursday and Friday.  Room 12 will wear these over the top of their swimming togs for one of the activities (to simulate what it might feel like being in the water with clothes on).  They do not need to be fancy pyjamas....just normal easy to put on and off pyjamas will be absolutely brilliant.

Yesterday we wrote about on of our favourite story books called "What's in the Witches Kitchen?".  It is a pop-up book with lift-a-flap pages.  We are looking at how we interact with books.  Here are a couple of stories.

Ruby K said "I had to open flaps in the witch book". 

Xavier said "I like opening the book".

Our BOOK LAUNCH is next Wednesday at 5.30pm.  Room 12 have been working hard on their books.  We can't wait to show you!  Remember to bring a plate of finger food.

Swimming Day 6

More awesome swimming today.  We have children learning to float on their backs, children learning to do backstroke (I even heard the children use the term 'streamline', wow!) and we have children learning to see things under the water.  Have a look!

Swimming Day 6 on PhotoPeach

Congratulations to Room 12 - the absolutely brilliant independent dressers!!!  We set a brand new time of getting dressed after swimming today....6.22mins!  Woot!  Woot!  Even more exciting is the fact that no piece of clothing has been lost yet!

In the past few years our last two days of the swimsafe programme involves wearing life jackets, climbing onto a life boat and wearing clothing in the water (usually a pair of pj's as these are easy to get off in the water and can be worn over the top of pjs).  This is to simulate what it may be like if someone has fallen into the water.  Jellie Park haven't told us whether this is happening this year or not...I will find out tomorrow and confirm asap.

We always begin the day with mathematics and today's session was a good one!

This group are using calculators to check their addition problems.

Makylah and Mio are playing 1-10 Bingo.

Naai, Ruby K, Xavier and Jayia are using the activboard to play 1-20 Bingo.

Maddox and Kian are playing Snap!

Swimming Day 5

Wow!  Room 12 certainly achieved a lot today at swimming!

Some children were learning to do backstroke, others were learning to swim with their face in the water, and some children had a go at safely jumping into deep water!  What fun!

It has been awesome to watch a VERY HAPPY ROOM 12 go swimming.  Thank you so much parents for preparing your child so well.

We even set a new time for getting dressed after swimming!  Woot! Woot!  Our new time is 8:59 seconds!

Swimming Day 5 on PhotoPeach

Swimming Day 4

A fantastic day at the pool today!

On Tuesday it took over 12 minutes to get dressed after swimming.  Guess what our time was today.....wait for it......9.38 minutes!  Woot!  Woot!  We were so proud of ourselves!

Swimming Day 4 on PhotoPeach

Remember that it is mufti day tomorrow - please make sure your child is wearing easy clothes to take on and off.  Instead of a gold coin donation - bring a grocery item.

Swimming - Day 2!

Another fantastic day at the swimming pool on Tuesday.

Swimming Day 2 on PhotoPeach

Just a reminder to parents that children only need the clothes they are wearing (i.e. their school uniform) and their togs and towel.  Some children seemed to have spare tops, shorts, singlets etc in their swimming bags.  This just confuses the children.  Please keep things simple for your child.

As you know Room 12 is having a BOOK LAUNCH on Wednesday 11th December.  We are making a movie about Pirate Polly.  Here are some stories about Pirate Polly.

Penny's story was "Pirate Pat got a big hole and Pirate pat was crying and sighing!  And Pirate Polly
plugged the ship!

Xavier's story was "She went tap on the drum."
Xavier is getting absolutely brilliant at finding letter sounds on his ABC card...he even found the
word 'the' all by himself!

As you know this Friday is a MUFTI day.  There is no theme - just normal mufti clothes.  Please take swimming into consideration when your child is getting dressed for Mufti day - make sure they are easy clothes to take on and off please.  The weather is supposed to be lovely on Friday - why not come to school dressed in summer beach clothes?!?!

Remember to bring a grocery item (instead of a gold coin donation).  

Here are some good examples of what you can donate.
No perishables please (fruit etc).

Swimming!

Wow!  What an amazing first day of swimming!

I was very proud of everyone in Room 12 because:
1.  They sat on the bus nice and quietly.
2.  They quietly walked past the main desk at Jellie Park.
3.  They all changed/dressed themselves FAST!
4.  They all did their best in the pool.

I was a VERY PROUD teacher!  A huge thank you to parents who put so much effort into making sure their child could dress themselves etc.  This is really appreciated.

Here are the fabulous Room 12 having their first school lesson!

Our first swimming lesson! on PhotoPeach

After we swimming we wrote stories about going swimming.  Here is Maddox's story:

I saw people swimming in the big pool.
Maddox is getting very good at finding the letters and words he needs on his word card.
Ka pai!

This afternoon we have been creating our characters for a movie we are making.  We are making a movie of one of our big books "Pirate Polly" for our book launch.  What do you think of our characters?

Room 12 worked in pairs to make these characters.

Welcome to Kian

A big welcome to Kian who turned 5 today!

Kian (pronounced Kee-in).

Wairakei School has some new musical instruments and Room 12 were the first students to use them yesterday!  Lucky us!
New Instruments on PhotoPeach

What a fabulous day today for our Book Character Mufti Day.....can you recognise these book characters?  I'm so sorry Toby!  I'm not sure how I missed your photo, oh no!  Our lovely Toby dressed up as a character from the Cars movie/book....in a fancy Cars shirt all the way from America from his Aunty Stella.

Book Character Day on PhotoPeach

Here are three examples of writing from today's writing time!

Ruby T wrote "I am Pocahontas.  I wear a brown dress and a blue ribbon and a jersey".
Yes today it was cold, so Pocahontas was in fact wearing a jersey.  he he
Ruby also had another sentence over the page saying "She lives in India".

Ava-Lea wrote "I am a bee.  I am from Bumble.  I am in a beehive".

Makylah wrote "I am a princess".  I thought this was pretty good for a girl who
has only been at school for 2 weeks!  Don't you?

We have another MUFTI day next Friday....just a normal clothes one (as we're swimming too...please no fairy wings etc).  This time, instead of a gold coin, Otakaro children need to bring a grocery item e.g. can of tomatoes, box of cereal, bag of rice, jar of coffee etc.  All of this gets compiled into a grocery raffle hamper - I love winning grocery hampers!  No one has sold me a ticket yet.

Room 12's Book Launch!

We have been busy making books and we want to launch them!

So we are inviting our families along one night for tea to launch our absolutely brilliant books.

See you there!

Otakaro Cross Country

Wow!  What an absolutely brilliant Cross Country we had this afternoon!  I was so impressed with how everyone tried their best.  Ka pai!

It was awesome to see so many parents and family there too....we may have to add a parent race next year!

A huge thank you to our senior students who played a very important role in encouraging the younger children to run.  You were absolutely brilliant!

Ready Set Go - 5 year old girls

Ready Set Go - 5 year old boys

Ava-Lea came 4th!

Run run run Naai!

Xavier got a Perseverance Award!

Donte claiming his 2nd place certificate - woot!  woot!

Ready Set Go - 6 year old girls

Ready Set Go - 6 year old boys

Upcoming events...

Next week Otakaro (Room 11 and Cool Dots are hosting assembly.  As we are learning about the interactions between a book and it's reader we thought we would have a book character mufti day!  Woot!  Woot!

During week 7 and 8 we are also participating in the Swim-Safe programme.  Room 12 will be swimming between 10-10.30am.  You are most welcome to come along and watch - please do not help your child get changed however, as this has a roll on effect where other children will expect to be dressed also.  I firmly believe all 5 and 6 year olds should be able to get dressed independently.

Lunch time!

It was a beautiful day on Friday and I was enjoying watching Room 12 playing together...I I thought I would take some photos.  Obviously, the favourite activities of the day was climbing trees, making things in the library and the playground.

Friday Lunchtime on PhotoPeach

Just a reminder that Wairakei School is going swimming soon!  Can your child dress themselves?  If not, now is the time to start practising.  Make it fun...have a race, use a timer, use lots of praise.

Next week (Friday November 22) we are having a Book Character Mufti Day.  Kids can come to school dressed as their favourite book character - gold coin donation.

Tahlia and Toby working out how to balance the scales.

Kapa Haka at Pitcairn Crescent Kindy

Last Friday Room 12 and their buddy classroom, Room 5, walked to Pitcairn Kindergarten to perform some Kapa Haka items.  What fun we had!

A huge thank you to Miranda Gray, Jaime Young and Angelita Schwalger for walking with us - your help is very much appreciated.  Didn't the kids do well with the long walk?

At Pitcairn Kindy we performed some items, then the little kiddies from kindergarten also performed some items - brilliant!

We were kindly invited to stay for afternoon tea and a little play in their playground.

We should do it again!  Maddox and Ruby K loved visiting their old kindergarten and seeing their teachers again.


Pitcairn Kindy visit on PhotoPeach

Reading Rocks!!!

This morning Wairakei School had a visit from Adrian Kirk who told us how reading rocks!  He shared some of his favourite books and told us why it's important to read.

Adrian made us laugh and laugh and laugh...oh and laugh!

He was a very funny man!  We also decided he was very clever too.  Adrian told us that because he learnt to read, he can now read all sorts of books about juggling to learn new tricks.

Adrian even taught himself how to ride a uni-cyle (by reading a book!).  Here he is riding a uni-cycle with Gyle on his shoulders - wow!

Adrian has a Reading Rocks website too.  Feel free to visit http://www.readingrocks.co.nz/ or 'like' the Reading Rocks facebook page https://www.facebook.com/ReadingRocks

Athletics Day

We had a beauty day today with Athletics.  A huge thank you to parents for making sure children had sporty clothes/sensible sports shoes today, and for the huge turnout!  It was fabulous to see you there!
Wairakei Athletics 2013 on PhotoPeach

Now Room 12 will be training for the Otakaro Cross Country which is being held at school on Wednesday 13 November.  Exciting!!!

Welcome back!

A big welcome to Maddox who has started school this week. Maddox turned 5 on Monday - Happy Birthday, Maddox!

Our potato plants are growing in our buckets!  This week we noticed some leaves poking out the top, so we wandered down to the edible gardens this afternoon to put some more soil into our buckets (so there is plenty of space for HEAPS of potatoes to grow!).

Ruby T and Toby adding some dirt.

Penny and Tahlia adding some more dirt.

On our way back to class we stopped to watch some of the seniors practice their athletics.  Don't forget to come along next Wednesday to the Wairakei Athletics Day.  Otakaro begin at about 10.45am.  All children need to wear suitable sports clothes and footwear.  A drink bottle might be handy too (and of course, their sun hats should already be at school).  See you there!

Watching the high jumping - so high!

Note:  I haven't had a chance to print out new reading logs for this term...these will go home next week.  Thank you for your patience.

Wacky Wednesday!

Today we wore our weird and wacky outfits to school to raise money for Bowel Cancer.  Wairakei School raised just over $250!!!  Ka pai, Wairakei!

Don't we look wacky?

Weird and Wacky Room 12

ipad art of Jake the Dog on PhotoPeach

Jake the dog!

Today we had a visit with Jake the dog.  Jake is a New Foundland dog.....so he is REALLY BIG!  He took all of us for a ride in his cart!  After the visit we all used an ipad to draw a picture of Jake....they're coming soon!

Jake the dog on PhotoPeach

A big thank you to Julie and Nate (in Cool Dots) for bringing Jake to school.

I took a lovely photo of Room 12 while we were watching one of the America's Cup races this morning.  Isn't it just GORGEOUS!

We welcomed Maddox who was here for his second visit, and we welcome back
the lovely Ghazal who has been sick in hospital.  

Purua's 'Let's Build!'

This afternoon the Otakaro Team were invited to watch the rehearsal performance of Let's Build.  The Purua Team is performing this show tomorrow night to parents and community.  What a fabulous show filled with gymnastics, singing, dancing, acting, comedy and kapa haka.

The three little wolves and the big fat pig!

Jungmin and Sadie show us some gymnastics - ouch!

Nicole (Chloe's sister) is doing a bridge - another ouch!

Purua choir 

Two friendly builders - Mrs Dean and Mrs Edlin

Will tomorrow be the day?  Room 12 have been really keen on watching the America's Cup in the mornings before school.  Finger's crossed that Team NZ win on Tuesday morning!

Good old live streaming.  

Another busy Friday!

This morning we had the chance to watch the arborist do his work.  The wind last week damaged our big tree and it had to come down.  It was pretty exciting!

This afternoon we were visited by Scruffy!  Scruffy is a dog who belongs to Oscar (in R11) and his family.  Scruffy did some tricks for us and he let everyone shake his paw - cool!  Oscar's dad, Gary, taught us how to be like a tree!  This is a good safety skill to have if a dog is chasing us.  It means we need to be very brave, stand tall and straight with our arms and hands in front of us.  The dog will take a sniff, and because we're not moving the dog will get bored and wander away.

Scruffy the dog on PhotoPeach

I also want to show off some writing by Donte.  Donte can now write long stories independently.  Look how good he is at using capital letters, full stops and finger spaces too.  Ka pai, Donte!

I have a new trash pack.  It looks cool.  It turns into a monster.

Picasso Calendar Pictures

Miss Gray has been helping Room 12 to do Picasso artworks.  Picasso is famous for portraits, and drawing unusual faces.

Here's an example of Pablo Picasso's work.

Here are our examples!  Don't forget you can order these as calendars, diaries and cards....your child has taken home a notice about this.  Put your order in asap!

Picasso Calendar Pictures on PhotoPeach

Cricket with the Wizards!

Today we were VERY lucky!  We interacted with three players from the Canterbury Wizards cricket team who came to teach us some cricket skills.  One of the players (Hamish) has even played for the Black Caps!

Have a peek at the fun we had....I see we have some future Canterbury Wizards in Room 12.

Spot the poor crippled Miss Gray in the background....she'll do anything to sit with her legs up!  Just kidding Miss Gray!

Cricket with the Wizards! on PhotoPeach

New student!

We welcome Jayia to Room 12.  She had her first day at Wairakei School today and she was excited to be in the same class as Ava-Lea (her old kindy buddy!).  Yay!

Jayia and her buddy, Ava-Lea.

Last week we had Animal Control come and visit us with their lovely dog called Matt.  We are learning about how to interact and be safe with dogs.  Here are just some of the things we are learning:

If a dog is on its own - leave it alone!

To meet a pup - ask a grown-up!

Don't run and shout - it freaks us out!

To understand - they sniff your hand!

If a dog has a snack - keep well back!

Quiet and slow - is the way to go

Chin or chest - that's the best!

Animal Control on PhotoPeach

After the visit we all write a story about our new knowledge.  Here is Phoenix's story.

Matt (the dog) did a poo in the hall!  We learned that it is the owner's responsibility to pick it up.
Charlotte (from Cool Dots) showed us how to use a plastic bag to pick up doggy poo!