Cookies in a Jar

Today we all made Cookies in a Jar.  This is where the kids have measured out quantities of dry ingredients to make chocolate chip cookies and poured them into a jar.  They did really well at using a measuring cup and spoon to measure the flour, sugar, chocolate chips, baking powder, baking soda and cocoa.  Not much ended up on the floor at all!

We brainstormed who we could give our cookies in a jar to for Christmas.  There are going to be some lucky Grandma's, Aunties and neighbours!

There are instructions on the jar for cooking the cookies.

Room 12 look really proud of their creations!

We've also been making a video about what Room 12 like about Christmas.  Here it is:



We will also be showing this video in our final assembly on Thursday.  Don't forget you are welcome to come along to this assembly at 11.15am (bring your singing voice!).

Day at the Beach!

Rooms 12 and 9 were so lucky for having great weather at the beach...not too hot and not too cold!  Just right!

We learned about staying safe in the sun, staying safe on the beach and in the water.

We had SO MUCH FUN!!!!


Day at the Beach! on PhotoPeach

Of course our day wouldn't have been possible without our wonderful parent helpers.  

A BIG THANK YOU TO THE PARENTS WHO CAME ALONG.  

Class Photo

Back in Term 2 it was photo day for all of the classrooms at Wairakei School.

Unfortunately I was sick on that day so our class photo had no teacher in it.  We've also had quite a few children begin school since then.  So we had another photo taken this morning.

A big thank you to Dee (Levi's Mum) who stayed at school after the bell rang to take some photos.

Tomorrow everyone in Room 12 will take home a laminated copy of the photograph - my gift to you!

Gorgeous Room 12
Absent - Kian, Sophia and Zephy

Pulling a funny face!

Sophia's funny story!

Today Sophia wrote a story about what she might be getting me for Christmas!  It made me giggle!

Here it is:

Today was Natalie's first day at Wairakei School.
Harlow is showing her some maths activities on the iPad.

Pyjama Days at the Pool!

Last week we wore our pyjamas in the swimming pool!  We all thought this was very strange, but our swimming tutors wanted us to know what it might feel like if we suddenly found ourselves in water with our clothes on.

Ready and waiting in our pyjamas.

Mr Bojangles wanted to wear his pyjamas too!

We discovered that our clothes made us feel colder and they got heavy!

Room 12 learned to use a ball or bottle as a floating device!

We also made a river out of our bodies, and each of us had to walk or swim down the choppy water.  This was so much fun!


PJ Day 1 - river fun! on PhotoPeach

On the next day we put on life jackets and jumped into the DEEP end of the swimming pool!  We found that the life jackets helped us float!


PJ Day 2 - Life Jackets on PhotoPeach

Swimming Day Two

Another great day at Jellie Park!

Swimming Day Two 2014 on PhotoPeach

Athletics and Tin Cans

On Monday Otakaro had a wee Athletics Prize Giving.  Who knew we had some absolutely brilliant athletes in Room 12!

Year 0/1 - Katie got 1st Equal in the Running, and 3rd in the Long Jump.

Year 0/1 Boys - Eita got 3rd in the Throwing.

Year 0/1 Long Jump - Maddox got 1st, Eita got 3rd and Kaci got 2nd.

Year 0/1 High Jump - Maddox got 1st, Kian got 2nd and Kaci got 3rd.

Year 0/1 Running - Maddox got 1st, Kaci got 2nd, and Kian got 3rd

Congratulations everyone!

Yesterday Room 12 wore their old clothes to school so they could paint their aboriginal art onto their tin cans.  We used exterior paint, so we didn't want to ruin our gorgeous uniforms.  In the end we were so careful that our clothes were fine - yay!

Putting the base colour on our cans.

Gorgeous weather for outside painting!

Making our aboriginal paintings (using dots).

Our next step is to figure out how to attach the cans together so they make a totem pole.  

That will get our brains thinking!!!!

Our wonderful teacher aide, Barb Vogel, helps out in Room 12 for an hour in the mornings.
Here she is reading to Kian and Toby.

The World's Tallest and Smallest Men Meet

Click on the picture to read the article.

This morning Oliver showed a newspaper article to the class.  The article was about the tallest man in the world meeting the smallest man in the world.

The article said that the tallest man was 2.51cm, so we got out the tape measure to see how high this was (I had to stand on a desk!).  If you have seen our fish paintings hanging in Room 12, then the tallest man is just a bit taller than those.

The smallest man was 55cm.  We discovered that this was about as high as one of our classroom chairs!

What an interesting article!  Thanks, Oliver!

Today Room 12 are bringing home a notice asking for children 

to come to school in their OLD clothes for the day.  

We are painting with exterior paint, so we don't want to get paint on our 

gorgeous school uniforms.

Room 12 Hosts Assembly

This morning Room 12 hosted assembly.  They did an absolutely brilliant job and I was so very proud of them all.

Our hosts - Tahlia, Kian, Naai, Eita, Mio, Sophia and Kaci.

Read!  Read!  Read!  was the theme of our assembly.  We began by showing a little video of us reading.




Last week Room 12 made a movie about one of our recent big books called I'm the King of the Mountain.  A big thank you to the children who provided our props.  You'll notice that we had to problem solve a little.  We couldn't find a rooster anywhere!  So we've used a pukeko instead.
Here it is:



We also showed another video in assembly which was actually made by last year's Room 12.  So you may recognise some faces.



Joel and Kaci shared their stories about their favourite books too.

Joel wrote:
My mum reads The Very Hungry Caterpillar to me.  I like The Very Hungry Caterpillar.  I like the book because it has holes in it.  It has holes in it because the caterpillar eats the fruit.

Kaci wrote:
I like my book because it has tornadoes and caves too and tsunamis.  It shows how a tornado happens.  it has the biggest tsunami in the world.  The tornado killed 695 people.  I also like Earth and Venus.  I like Mars too because it is cool.  The book also has animals and scorpions.

Ka pai, Room 12!

More QR codes!

Today two reading groups completed a treasure hunt using qr codes.

I had hidden 6 qr codes around the classroom for the children to find.  Each qr code was a link to a video about an animal.  The children had to find out what the 6 different animals were.  What fun!

The next step would be to use a google form (as per earlier post) for the children to fill in their treasure hunt answers.  As this is very new, we will be taking things one step at a time.

We did the first qr code together.

Tahlia using the i-nigma app to view the code.

Sophia and Mio (and Kaci at the back) watching one of the animal videos.

Working well together!  Kian and Tahlia writing down the animal's name on their answer sheet.

Eita and Naai watching an animal video.

Kaci watching an animal video.

I think this is Kaci using the i-nigma app.

Mio using the i-nigma app.

 Here are the codes if you want to try using them.  You just need an app to view the qr codes on your device (we used i-nigma).

QR codes and google forms!

Recently I have been learning about qr codes and google forms, so this week some of Room 12 will be using them too.

What is a google form, you ask?
This is where I can create a questionnaire, survey etc using the google site.  It allows me to view the responses as each person completes the survey or questionnaire.  Absolutely awesome for things ike assessment!

What is a qr code, you ask?
You may have seen these square patterns on websites or shop windows (almost like a barcode).  People can simply use an app on their smartphone, or device, to take a photo of the qr code and it takes you straight to a website (or in my case....the google form).

Today Joel and Oliver used the class iPad to use the qr code to take them to a survey about 'verbs'.

The 'verb' qr code.  We used the i-nigma app to view the codes.

If anyone is keen to learn more about qr codes you can go to qrstuff.com to learn about it.  It is really easy to use.

Goofing around with bread!

Yesterday we made our plan for our tin can art - our can plan!  Some of Room 12 picked up on the fact that can and plan rhymed....so we started to make up some limericks!  We had a ball.  We goofed around with some limericks about some people in Room 12....we laughed and laughed making these up.  What do you think?

There once was a boy called Kaci

He was pretty racey!

He was always so fast

He never came last

Not like that kid called Stacey!

There once was a girl called Katie

Who was always pretty matey

She loved coming to school

because it is cool

She was never very latey!

There once was a boy called Joel

Who lived in a bowl

He is pretty tall

He likes to kick the ball

Right into the soccer goal!

Today Couplands surprised us with a gift!  Every single child was lucky enough to be given a loaf of lovely fresh bread to take home.  Thanks Couplands!

Beautifying Wairakei School

You will have noticed that the Wairere Team were busy last term creating beautiful spaces around the school.  This term it is Otakaro's turn!

Rooms 10 and 12 are currently planning a garden for the back entrance of the school (from Saffron Street) with Miss Gray.  It will look awesome!  Another project that Room 12 is working on is some durable artwork to place in one of our gardens.  We have been learning about aboriginal art and will be making some 'totem poles'.  Part of this project has been learning about what 'durable' means (see earlier blog post).  Over the last couple of weeks we have been observing what happens to certain materials when left outside.  We've established that paper, tissue, a leaf, fabric and a toilet roll is NOT durable.  We have a tin can and wood left...they seem to be durable.

We've chosen to use a tin can for our totem poles.  Hopefully they will look these ones!

This is the general idea.  Now just imagine them with aboriginal art on them.

Today we started to plan our art for our tin can.

Last week one of our writing groups published their colour poems.  They were even published in the school newsletter.  Here they are:

iPads

Today I taught Room 12 how to use a new mathematics app on the iPads.  This app requires them to think outside the square.  In the middle of the screen is a maths problem and it needs to be solved by finding the answer within the coloured circles.  However, the answer is never in the coloured circle...instead they need to hold down two or more circles to get the answer.  

Confused?

Example:  3 + 4 = ?

The coloured circles have the numbers 5, 10, 1 and 2 on them.  So the children need to figure out how to make the number 7 out of 5, 10, 1 and 2.  Can you figure it out?

Alexis and Harlow trying to solve 2 + 2 = ?

Sophia and Levi trying to solve 3 + 3 = ?

One of Room 12's writing groups have been writing poems about colour this week.  These poems will be ready for publishing on Thursday.  After writing today this group used Pic Collage to create a background for their published poem.  These are our newest writers in Room 12 and you'll be amazed at their colour poems - I'm so proud of them!

Clockwise from top left: Toby, Zephy, Levi's leg, Harlow and Alexis

Another writing group are halfway through their 'I wish' poems too - another group I am proud of!  They wrote so much today!

Monday

Joel, Oliver and Kaci have started their second limerick this morning.  Joel is writing his about spiderman, Oliver is writing his limerick about a pirate, and Kaci is writing his about a shark.  Can't wait to see their finished poem!

Look at that concentration!

Harlow and Levi putting the alphabet together.

Alexis and Toby working so well together to piece the ABC puzzle together.

 This afternoon at Discovery Time I had a couple of brand new activities to do.  One of them was 'imaginary face painting'.  This proved to be a HIT with everyone.  They loved pretending to face paint, and I think most of them loved the sensation of the brush on their face.

The purpose of the next activity is to develop our fine motor skills.  The children had to balance marbles on top of the duplo creations.