Friday 22 March 2013

Scary masks, making marks and a mid-week mufti day!


Term 1 Week 8

Inquiry Update


We moved forward this week exploring our second possible solution; Hiding behind the tree and jumping out to scare people who use the wrong entrance. What do you need to scare people? A scary mask of course!


We added scary features to our masks!
Beginning stages of our scary mask designs


We tried our scary masks out on Room 5.
Were they scary enough?

We tried out our scary masks on Whaea Barb.

Whaea Barb was so scared!
Having a go at jumping out from behind the tree!

Our latest A.F.L. Skills

Chest mark and high mark

Practising a digger action for making a chest mark

Emma getting her hands ready to receive
the ball for a high mark

Marcel making a chest mark

Masiu practising his chest mark

Gizelle and Emma making a chest mark

Buddy Reading with Room 11



Nikki listening closely

Tale commanding an audience

Building skyscrapers with the right amount
of floors for the number we have.
It was HAT DAY on Tuesday and we wore mufti
and hats and donated a gold coin so we can buy sunscreen
to stay super sunsafe.

As always stay safe and enjoy your weekend

Whaea Emma and the Room 2 crew

Friday 15 March 2013

New plants, new skills and a new dance created by Room 2.


New plants, new skills and a new dance created by Room 2.

Week 7 Term 1

We planted new swan plants with Bob.

These will grow while the Monarch Butterflies winter-over up north and when they return there will be four new plants and one old one for them to lay their eggs on.


Wils is watering the first new swan plant
Bob is digging the hole.




We watched Bob dig the hole, loosen the roots, put the swan plant in and then fill the gaps with soil. then we got a chance to water the new plants.  We wrote great stories about it.
Bob is planting a swan plant. They are outside
 our classroom. We need to water them. By Tale



Bob is planting a swan plant. Bob is freeing
the roots. We need to water them. By Jaeda.
Bob is digging the hole then he planted
the swan plants. By Masiu.



We were inspired to create the Monarch butterfly life cycle dance.


Eggs waiting to hatch

Caterpillars munching on a swan plant

Changing inside their chrysalis

Emerging happily to dry their wings and fly off with
their friends.




We learned a new skill at A.F.L. 

This week we learned the skill of how to 'handball' with Rebecca our coach.

You hold the ball in your least dominant hand and have your dominant hand like you have just squashed an ice cream cone, then you squash the ice cream into the point of the ball with a slightly bent arm. Sounds complicated but we really got the hang of it by the end of the training session!



Marcel practicing and Tale ready to catch.

Gizelle has got her arm in the right position

I should have been ready to catch this ball instead
of being busy taking the photo!




Make sure you enjoy the sun with your beautiful children and maybe do a rain dance or two for the farmers. 

Whaea Emma and the Room Two Crew 







Wednesday 6 March 2013

A clear winner, reading with new friends, we are a little wiser, Aussie Rules AND a Haka?


Term 1 Week 6

A clear winner, reading with new friends, we are a little wiser, Aussie Rules AND a Haka?


Inquiry Update

Juanpablo and Nikki were happy to disagree
This week we broke it down to 3 possible designs for the sign at the entrance to the teacher's carpark. In groups we wrote a proposal for each of the three and then all of Room one and two voted. The result was clear cut. 23 students preferred the sign to have a car picture with a green tick and the words STAFF ONLY underneath. It left the walking man with a red cross and the big painted sign on the concrete options for dust with 6 and 7 votes each. 
Then we talked to Whaea Barb about how much money we might be allowed to create our sign (this is very important and means the difference between this being a viable solution or not). She said she would be able to find $100 for us to build and make our sign if that becomes our solution. We all thought that sounded like a lot of money but we won't really know if is enough until we do some more research into materials and maybe even companies that might help us create our sign. 


Whaea Barb tells us that we could have $100 to make our sign.

Reading with Room 11

In the Afternoon on Monday we reread our reading books with Room 11, the senior class of the Summerville School satellite unit. It went really well and we got a lot out of hearing them read and having them listen to us.



Mina and Jaeda listening to Reuban

Tale listening very closely




Larkin is saying his letter names and sounds

We are a little bit Wiser now

On Tuesday Room 2 had the privilege of meeting & watching at work renowned American born, Canadian based graffiti artist ‘Wiser’. He is visiting NZ to teach some workshops and we watched him in the process of creating 3 works for Sylvia Park School.

 
'Wiser at work creating 'Love Life'


Aussie Rules

Gizelle making sure she has 'laces away from faces'
We have begun our six weeks of specialist coaching in Aussie Rules! It is a great game, the ball is the perfect size for us and the students have already experienced success when they participated in training exercises and were taught the first skill of how to drop-punt. Rebecca and Brendan are our coaches and they are awesome to work with!
Juanpablo practising his drop-punt





'Punt the coach' - some of us suddenly had
VERY good aim!

Listening to coach Brendan



Time with Matua on Wednesday

Learning the next part of Haka o Sylvia Park

Haka o Sylvia Park
Listen to us...
Bring on (let us welcome) the pride, the specialness and the awesomeness
 
Tamaki is the river
Maungarei and Mutukāroa are the mountains
Ngāti Whatua, Ngati Paoa and Ngati Maru are the guardians of this area
(and so) join the old world with the new world
Unite all of us the many descendants of our ancestors
This is us Sylvia Park School who stand before you and greet you
Our hearts have been planted with values that enable us to carry out our various tasks and responsibilities on the basis of correctness, justice and compassion to one another
Therefore, nurture us, guide us to walk the path of neverending education so that we may stand proudly and confidently in tomorrow’s world.

E Rongo whakairia ki runga kia tina – Tina!
Haumi e, hui e, tāiki e!
 
Whakarongo mai rā, whakarongo mai rā
Nau mai rā te ihi, te tapu, te wehi e

Ko Tāmaki te awa,
Ko Maungarei, ko Mutukāroa ngā maunga
Ko Ngāti Whātua, ko Ngāti Paoa, ko Ngāti Maru ngā kaipupuri o te mana o te whenua nei
Honoa te ao kōhatu ki te ao hurihuri,
Whakakotahingia hoki mātou ngā kākano o ngā tūpuna
Tēnei mātou Te Kura o Te Puna Waiora e tū ake nei, te mihi atu nei ki a koutou e
Kua whakatōkia ō mātou ngākau ki ngā tikanga e kawea ai ā mātou mahi katoa i roto i te tika, te pono me te aroha anō o tētahi ki tētahi.
Nō reira, poipoia, arahina hoki mātou
kia hīkoitia te ara o te mātauranga mō ake tonu atu
Kia tū tangata ai mātou i te ao o āpōpō e

E Rongo whakairia ki runga kia tina – Tina!
Haumi e, hui e, tāiki e!





If you get a chance read through the Haka and english translation and see if your children can show you what they have learned so far.

Have a lovely end to your week 

Whaea Emma and the Room 2 Crew.


Reuban and Wils happily buddy reading
sitting on their 'reading spots'.




Saturday 2 March 2013

Maybe it's a sign? In our own words...

Term 1 Week 5

New Students

We have two new students to welcome to the Room Two Crew. Bella joined us at the beginning of the week and Ali has joined us at the end. We are looking forward to getting to know you even more and helping you and your families settle into the Sylvia Park School Whanau. 

Inquiry Update

So as you know our big problem is students and parents using the Staff carpark entrance because it is unsafe. This week we brainstormed ideas for a solution and these are what we came up with

  • A New Sign
  • A duty teacher stationed every morning and afternoon
  • Reward system
  • Awareness Campaign
  • Jumping out of the tree beside the entrance wearing scary masks to frighten people away from the entrance.
We are going to explore each possible solution (yes, all of them - because that is what Inquiry is all about!), research it's viability and potential impact and consult with stakeholders.

So this week we have looked into a new sign as a possible solution. We took a walk to look at the signs around our school, what they mean and what shapes and colours they are. We came back and discussed what our thoughts were for our sign and have got down to business and started to develop our own designs. You will see these in a future blog as they are not quite finished yet.


In their own words

I have decided to leave it to the Room Two Crew to tell you what they were up to this week.

I am matching my capital and little letters. Larkin

I have my book I read at my house last night and
my word card. Tale. I am ready for reading group with Whaea
Emma. Imran.


I like the number train puzzle. Ali.

I am playing our new number bingo game.
I am counting the balloons. Gaby.
I am threading on my shoelace the sound of letters
 I know and I can say it for you. Imran.

I am putting my hand up because I have M mmm monkey.
Gizelle.


I am counting the dots and matching
them in a line. Larkin. 

I am counting the ice creams, there are 9. I matched it
with it's number and it's word.  Jaeda.

I am making towers with Imran, the next
 one will have 10 floors. Emma

I am counting to see if I put 7 pegs on the 7 card.
Wils

Ten dots and number 10! Masiu

I am saying my letter sounds. Marcel



I am saying E. Gaby.


I am saying G ggg goat. Gizelle.



I am pointing to each word when I read so I don't
get lost. Juanpablo.
Have an awesome weekend everyone. Keep listening to your children reading the book they bring home to share with you each night. Repeat reading is so important, but not as important as taking some time out to relax over a book with your beautiful children.

Whaea Emma and the Room Two Crew