Our Absolutely Brilliant Assembly hosts...

I just wanted to give a shout out to our absolutely brilliant hosts in today's assembly!  Zan, Aakash and Kobe (from Room 9) did an amazing job...using their loud, clear voices with a load of expression too!  They made me VERY PROUD.

During assembly there was a staff 'skip off'.  What was supposed to happen was that teachers begin skipping, and if they trip, they stop until there is one teacher left.  Evidently 'we' teachers are not so good at following instructions.  It was A LOT of fun though.

Fonterra Milk in Schools

This week Wairakei School began participating in the Fonterra Milk in Schools programme.

This programme is purely optional, and only if the kids want it.  Thank you to those parents who returned slips saying their child was unable to participate due to health reasons.

In Room 12 we drink our milk during book box time...the kids love it!

Fonterra Milk in Schools on PhotoPeach

We love handwriting!

Last week we practiced writing the following letters: p, n, m and r.  These all begin the same way (down, up and round).

Abigail writing a p on the activboard.

We practice on whiteboards too.

Zan writing a p on the activboard.

New people!

A big welcome to Miss Byrne (Aleisha) who is spending the next 6 weeks in Room 12.  Miss Byrne is from the Graduate School of Education and is completing her last teaching placement!  We know you will love it in Room 12 (because we're the best class at Wairakei School....shhhh!  Don't tell anyone!).

Miss Byrne reading about pirates!

We also have some fabulous new kids in Room 12.  A big welcome to Eniitan (pronounced Any-tonne), Chloe and Ghazal (pronounced Gaz-zelle).


Meet Chloe, Ghazal and Eniitan on PhotoPeach

Lots to share today!

Lachie obviously wants to be a photographer when he is older...here are some of the pics he took using the ipod today.  He is learning to 'check his frame'...
Lachie the Photographer! on PhotoPeach

Last night Phoenix took Mr Bojangles home for the night.  Phoenix and her Mum made up a poem...it is so good I thought I would share it.

Mr Bojangles came home with Phee,

They jumped, played....ate their tea !

Brushing their teeth, they went to sleep,

Both were very tired, and made no peep !

Phoenix was also our First Mate today...hence the pirate hat!

Room 12 are looking at the pirate culture and how they sustained themselves (or not!).  Today we had a go at speaking like a pirate!  Quite a few of Room 12 sound quite convincing!  What do you think? Some of our pirates have improvised and have a pirate hook too...can you see it?

If you would like to learn how to speak like a pirate also...? 

Visit http://www.fissio.com/pirate.pl 

Have a sneaky peek at our dancing!

Hopefully you have all marked the 25 June in your diary, so you can come and watch our Move n Groove night!

This term all Otakaro children are learning a variety of dances to showcase at our Move N Groove night.  Luckily we have Donna Head teaching us one of our dances...here's a sneaky preview!

Miss Gray is a bit of a groover, isn't she?

Kelly Sports Day Two

This afternoon we had our second skipping session with Connor.  It was so much fun!

Kelly Sports Day Two on PhotoPeach

Here is Eniitan and Aakash skipping...

It was hard work learning to skip and move at the same time...

We love the helicopter game!  It came down to Eniitan and Lachie at the end...

It's okay...Lachie wasn't hurt!  

Nobody was harmed in the making of this video.  

The Caterpillar Cake

Room 12 collected their 20 pieces of treasure this week, so we had our reward today!  Yippee!

Our poem of the week is called The Caterpillar Cake, and we decided that we would make our very own caterpillar cake!  What fun!  So we iced some cupcakes, decorated them and arranged the cupcakes to look like a caterpillar. What do you think?

We're going to eat them at lunch time!

Room 12's Caterpillar Cake

Here comes Cathy

In a big cook's hat.

She's carrying a cake,

A caterpillar cake.

Six curly candles

And two currant eyes!

A caterpillar cake

For a birthday surprise!

(by Cynthia Rider)

Capacity

How much water will fill this container?

Will this container hold more or less than that container?

How many cups of liquid do you think is in this container?

These are the questions that Room 12 will be answering over the next few weeks with Miss Gray.  They are learning all about capacity.  Take a look at the fabulous new equipment they are using...what fun!

Look at that focus!

Discovery Time!

Making paper iphones was one of the favourite activities this week!  Here is Lachie using his...I think he may be downloading a new app for his phone?

At the top right of Room 12's class space you will find some photo galleries.  Take a look at them...I update them when I can.  I have added some new photos to the Discovery Time gallery.

Take a look at the above websites...

You will notice at the top of the Pirate Learner's blog that there are website tabs (Literacy, Numeracy and Other).  These tabs have links to a variety of online educational games and activities.  Just click on the picture to take you to the link.

I have just added abcya.com to the Literacy Websites tab.  Games range from alphabet matching, counting numbers, shapes and e-storybooks.

For a sneaky peek you can click on the picture below.  Have fun!

Kelly Sports!

A big welcome to Toby and Aakash who started at Wairakei School yesterday.

Christopher (holding our new ipad cover, and Toby.

Aakash and Alex creating a puppet show!

This afternoon Connor, from Kelly Sports, lead Room 12 in some skipping activities.  We had a lot of fun!

Our favourite skipping game was the Helicopter game (where Connor stood in the middle of the circle and spun a long skipping rope around - we had to jump each time the rope came our way - Joshua was our helicopter champ today!).


Kelly Sports Day One on PhotoPeach

Assembly Hosts

About half way through last term Otakaro hosted assembly.  Our absolutely brilliant hosts were Abigail, Preston, Lachie and Cooper.  They did an awesome job!

They were very nervous beforehand...but you certainly couldn't tell!
Great job!

Teddy Bear's Picnic

At the end of Term 1 we had a Teddy Bear's Picnic.  We brought our teddy bears to school for the day, had a picnic, then went to the local park for a play.  Our buddies came with us too!

It was a fun day!  We:

• read to our teddy bears
• wrote with our teddy bears
• measured our teddy bears
• made and ate some teddy bears

Our buddies brought their teddy bears too!

A big thank you to our wonderful parents who came along!


Our Teddies! on PhotoPeach


Park and bear treat! on PhotoPeach

Friendships are really important.

At the beginning of the year we looked at how we can sustain our friendships (stay friends)...here's our very cute video!

Purple Day

A wee while ago Wairakei School held a Purple Mufti Day to raise money and awareness of epilepsy.  Don't we look good?