Celebrating our learning

Congratulations to these three champions who received certificates at the school assembly this afternoon. Ka pai. 

We also got a surprise at assembly when we were told that Room 11 won 'cleanest class' last week!

Asking an expert

For our Inquiry studies, we wrote questions about Brazil. Today we were very excited because we got to Skype Jo in Brazil and ask him our questions!

Here are some pictures of us practicing our questions. 

Here are our questions and answers. 

Questions about beaches:

Paradise

Is the water at the beach clean for swimming?

Most beaches are clean. 

Sam

Why do Brazilians wear little swimsuits?

Because it can be very hot in Brazil. 

Questions about jaguars:

Malakai

Where do jaguars live?

They live in the forest. 

Jonathan

How fast can a jaguar run?

They can run about 80km/h. 

Ali

Where do Jaguars sleep?

They climb up into the trees to sleep. 

Tai

What do jaguars eat?

Jaguars like meat. They eat monkeys, wild deer, pigs and even crocodiles!

Tetahi

How many babies does a mother jaguar give birth to at one time?

Usually a mother jaguar gives birth to one or two babies, but sometimes she has three or four of them. 

Luke

Do jaguars ever attack people?

Sometimes wild jaguars attack people in the jungle. 

Questions about Christ the Redeemer:

Malaga

What is Christ the Redeemer made of?

The statue is made of concrete. 

Grace

How tall is Christ the Redeemer?

The statue is 28m tall. 

Maima

Who made Christ the Redeemer?

A Frenchman designed the sculpture and a Brazilian man was the engineer. 

Cing

Who comes to visit Christ the Redeemer?

People visit from all over the world to see Christ the Redeemer. 

Dinarah & Claryssa

When was Christ the Redeemer built?

The statue was built between 1922 and 1931.

Friday Highlights

Friday was a very busy day. 

At Kiwi Can we learnt about 'self control'. We discussed ways we can calm down, and places where we can go to feel happier. 

Here are some of us drawing our 'happy place'. 

Here is our friend, who won the superstar award today because she was listening and following all the instructions during our Kiwi Can session. Teno pai!

We went outside to practice jumping. We tried to jump as far as we could!

This week our poem is about Olympic heroes. We had a think about which NZ athlete/s are our heroes. When we illustrated our poem, we each drew the athlete/s we admire the most. 

We learnt that at the ancient Olympics, winners didn't win gold medals. Instead, they won a crown made from leaves! Do you like our winner's crowns?

We finished gluing on items for our assemblage art. It was good to set out the items and get our designs looking right before gluing them down on the backing board. Using the hot gun was a new experience for some of us. 

Becoming independent

While our teacher is working with a small group, we have activities that we have to do. We are learning to do these activities independently. 

Here are some of the best independent work from today. 

Tino pai!

Wave inspired artwork

We had a guest artist and a scientist visit us this afternoon! They talked to us about waves. We used ropes to make wave patterns. Then we tied the pieces together. 

Monday's highlights

At Writing time we discussed the word, 'persuade' and we thought that it means trying to get someone else to agree with our idea. 

We looked at the word 'New Zealand', and the names of some famous New Zealand Olympians and noticed how capital letters are used. 

Room 10 invited us to play a game with them. It was a listening game! We had to be careful to listen to the words and make the correct actions. 

Going for gold

Luke went for gold at Kiwi Can today, winning the star-kid prize this week! Ka pai Luke!

We have been studying a poem called, 'Go for Gold'. We learnt that 'go for gold' means to try hard to be successful, just like all our Olympic medalists. 

We know that we have to 'go for gold' in our Reading, Writing and Maths. This morning we worked really hard to illustrate our poem. The best illustrations are here:

We had a great time making some medals. First we punched a hole in a tin can lid and then added a ribbon and a picture on the front. We loved them! 

Photo by Dinarah

We are 'going for gold' in Maths too! We are playing lots of games that help us practice adding. 

Some of our friends also learnt how to read number words today. 

Some of us designed and glued together their assemblage art. It was quite tricky for some of us to use the hot glue gun without hurting ourselves, but we persisted and kept going! 

Thursday highlights

We had a busy day at school today. 

During Reading time Luke did some great work! He constructed a sentence from his book, then he drew a really cute illustration to match! 

Today in Math, we practiced adding when we played games! We are trying to put the big number in our heads, then count on the rest. 

During Assembly today our friend Dinarah got a certificate for 'playing in a fair and friendly way'. Ka pai Dinarah!

Kalo won a 'caught being good' prize at Assembly! Congratulations Kalo! 

Math & Inquiry learning

During our Math session, some of our friends practiced counting objects, and putting a peg on the right number. 

Some other friends practiced reading number words and matched them to the right digits. 

During our Inquiry time today we each chose a topic that we want to learn more about - 

Christ the Redeemer

The animals of Brazil

Beaches of Brazil

As a group we made questions that we want to find answers for. 

Monday work

Sadly, we had our last gymnastics session this morning. We will miss our Gym Kids teachers. 

During Writing time we talked about what we can do to persuade our teacher to let us take Max the monkey home with us next weekend. We thought that we will need to have great mat-manners and do all our work if we want to be picked!

This afternoon we did a cut and paste activity to help us learn the names of some Olympic sports, like rowing, cycling and athletics.