The 'Lift-a-flap' fold

I can't wait until it's time for Room 12 to make their pop-up books!  I am so proud of how quickly they learn a new skill.  Today's skill was the 'lift-a-flap' fold (a bit like a door).

Have a look!

Lift-a-flap fold on PhotoPeach

Eniitan's tooth fell out!

On Friday afternoon while Room 12 was working.....Eniitan's tooth fell out!  How exciting!  Doesn't he look proud?

Can you see it?

Harold...PLUS new ipads!!!!

Yesterday we had our last session in Harold's classroom.  It was all about looking after our friends and staying safe.

We all got 'friends' to care for....have a peek!

Harold the Giraffe on PhotoPeach

Today the Otakaro Team got some new ipads!  Woot! Woot!

These are being kept in Room 12 - how lucky are we!?!?!  This morning we used them at Maths time.  We discovered there were some awesome apps to help us to skip count, recognise numbers and do maths problems too!



New ipads! on PhotoPeach

Did you know that Room 12 have KEEN AND EAGAR students?  Room 12 like to begin their learning even before the bell rings in the morning.  Here are Mahina, Aakash and Balin playing Guess My Number on the big 100's board.

Is it in the twenties column?  Is it an even number?  Is it bigger than 56?

Harold and Kapa Haka

Room 12 are doing so well with Kapa Haka!  We're going to be showcasing our kapa haka moves when we welcome the Education Review Office (ERO) to school next Monday.

Rihare playing the guitar

The boys practicing their moves.

The girls practicing their moves.

We also had our first visit to Harold this morning!  Everyone was so excited!

Room 12 and Miss Gray....about to enter Harold's classroom!
It's a classroom on wheels - awesome!

Happy Birthday Phoenix!

Phoenix turned 6 today - how exciting!  She even brought in a birthday cake for us to eat - it had a skull and crossbones on it too!  Yum!  Yum!

Zan, Phoenix and Lachie guard the cake!

We love the cake.  Thanks Phoenix (and her mum, the baker, of course!).

Have you all started to collect the MeadowFresh stickers yet?  Preston has!  He has already brought in 123 stickers.....woot!  woot!

Balin thinks Preston's effort is pretty awesome!

More on our pop-up books!  As you know we are learning how readers interact with pop-up books.  So far Room 12 have mastered the mouth fold, box fold and complex fold.  Today we learnt how to do the 'slider'.  This is where you cut two slits so that a long 'slider' can be pushed or pulled through them.  We made a slider with different mouth expressions (sad, happy, puzzled, worried, surprised etc) which could be pulled over the mouth area of a clown....have a look!

The Slider on PhotoPeach

Room 12 are so clever!

Gymnastics

This term Room 12 are participating in 6 sessions of gymnastics.  The lovely Mrs Watson is teaching us again this year.  In our first session we learnt about the importance of landing like a motorbike (bending our knees with our arms up in front....like we're riding a motorbike!).

Gymnastics (Day 1) on PhotoPeach

How's this for a pyramid?

Mahina and Lachie had fun working together to make this pyramid!

We also had Discovery Time on Friday.  I have added some photos to our Discovery Time Gallery (top right of the screen - if you log in you can make comments on our galleries - have a look!).

Maths!

We love Maths in Room 12.  We always start our day with Maths.

Today we put Miss O'Neill's coffee cups into good use.....we made pyramids!

Some of us are even learning about 2-digit numbers and can find them on a 100's board - clever!  Others are learning how to make 3-digit numbers too.

Have a peek at Room 12's mathematicians!

Maths! on PhotoPeach

Toilet Talk - over the last few weeks the boys toilets have been disgusting!   

I am sure all of Room 12 boys know how to pee 'in' the toilet...but it may be a 

good idea to have that chat with your boy.  Thank you! 

Who's coming to Wairakei School???

Harold the Giraffe is coming to Wairakei......next week!
How exciting!

The Complex Box Fold!

Watch out, parents!  I think we have some future pop up book makers in Room 12!

Today we learnt how to make a 'complex box fold'.  This fold is good if you want to make something stand up in front of something else.  I thought it might be a tricky lesson....but the super kids in Room 12 picked up the technique easily!

Here's a complex box fold.
Can you see there is a little box coming out of the big box?
That's why it is 'complex'.

We read this book!  It was our motivation for today's pop up activity.

Here are some photos of our afternoon.  You can see that everyone is so proud of their own creation....can you see the helpful kids too?

Complex Box Fold on PhotoPeach

Room 12 look pretty proud of their 'complex box fold' creations!

Look who's in the paper!

I noticed that our lovely Ruby T is in the paper today!

To see the actual paper, click here.

Welcome to Ava-Lea!

Today was Ava-Lea's first day at school!  She had so much fun, and I was very impressed with the way Room 12 made her feel welcome.

We also welcome back Ghazal!  She has been unwell, and now has a feeding tube which comes straight out of her tummy - wow!  She showed us her special tube this morning, so that Room 12 would know to be very careful around her.  It hurts a little when bumped.

We also had a special visitor - Miss Byrne!  You may remember Miss Byrne from last term when she had her last placement as a student teacher.  Miss Byrne is now looking for a teaching job.  She has agreed to come and help out in Room 12 some mornings....we are so lucky!

Here is Ghazal (with her buddy, Abigail), Miss Byrne, and Ava-Lea (with her buddy, Chloe).

Yes!  We are doing the MeadowFresh competition!  Hooray!  So start collecting the stickers....we will get some fabulous art supplies for the school.  All children will be bringing home collection sheets on Tuesday.

http://www.meadowfresh.co.nz/
Go to the above website if you would like more information.

KidsCan Mufti Day

Today it was mufti day to raise money for KidsCan which helps children in New Zealand who need things like jackets, shoes, lunches and breakfasts.

Each class came to school dressed in a particular colour.  Room 12 and Room 5 came in BLUE.

Room 12 with their buddy class, Room 5

It was fabulous to see the effort each child made...ka pai!

This afternoon we made a pop-up card (using the box fold) to show ourselves dressed in blue!

KidsCan Mufti Day on PhotoPeach

Every night I empty the ipad of its photos.  It is amazing what I find!  Tonight I found this very cute 'selfie' of Abigail.  She is very proud of losing her first tooth...her next tooth is nearly out too!

The Box Fold Part Two

A big welcome to Tahlia!  She turned 5 on Tuesday.  She's had a great first few days, and has made friends already!

Tahlia making her box fold creation!

Today we had another go at creating an object with a box fold...we are so clever!

Chloe and Tahlia

Lachie and Mahina

Penny (looking pretty excited!)

Phoenix

The Box Fold

Today we added to our Inquiry learning of how people interact with pop-up books.  we all learned how to do a 'box fold'.

Here's an example of how to do a box fold.

We all worked hard!  We had to know how to fold a piece of paper in half, persevere to cut out a person shape, and figure out how to make it stand up by making a box on our big piece of paper.  We are so clever!  Everyone took their creations home to share with their families.

The Box Fold on PhotoPeach

Cultural Festival

On August 30 (Friday) our whole school is attending the Cultural Festival at the CBS Arena.  This will be so exciting!

Here's a sneak preview to what we will see there...

Otakaro's Little Helpers

While I was on duty at lunch time today I noticed Chloe and Jemma (from Cool Dots) picking up cabbage tree leaves from the junior playground.  When I asked what they were doing they said "Miss O'Neill these leaves make the playground look ugly, so we're picking them all up!".

How delightful!  These two little angels are definitely showing the characteristic of We Care, don't you think?  So their names have been put into the Care Catcher's Award bucket...I wonder if one of their names will be drawn at this Friday's assembly?  Fingers crossed!

Thank you Chloe and Jemma!

Busy day on Friday!

This morning we had Discovery Time.  Room 12 had a music focus, so there were musical instruments galore to choose from and play!  (It's okay...I had some panadol beforehand!)

Our focus is We Work Hard, so we were persevering to 'play a tune'.  Some of us had a go at playing 3 Blind Mice on the activboard.  If you want to have a turn at playing 3 Blind Mice, just click on the words 3 Blind Mice (above).

Discovery Time 2 August 2013 on PhotoPeach

Here are some stories about Discovery Time this morning...

At Discovery Time I played drums.  I played rock and roll.  I was part of Mr Buckner's band.
Mr Buckner was playing the guitar.  by Aakash.

Donte has been working hard at writing sounds he can hear.  Hasn't he done well?
At discovery time I played on a piano.

Ruby has only been coming to school for a week!
I got my face painted.

Toby shared some pictures of his new baby sister for news today.  Here he is with gorgeous wee Coco.

This afternoon we had some buddy class time with Room 5.  We visited our class spaces on the school ultranet.  Remember to log in at home too...this means the children from Room 12 get used to logging in by themselves too.


Using the Ultranet 2! on PhotoPeach