Kapahaka

We were part of the kaphaka performance today.  Some of the kindergartens came and watched. Lots of Mums and Dads friends did.

It was cool. Tinika and Ed

Pike River Coal MIne

Every day we have a look at the newspaper.  We always look at the cartoon.  To understand it we have to use our prior knowledge and think about what the author wants us to think or understand. We think of the connections we can make with it so that it means something to us.  Sometimes it is quite hard to know especailly if we have not been watching the news, because the cartoon is always about something that has happened, in the news.

We have been reading about the Pike River Coal Mine and the terrrible disaster.  We had been watching, listening and hoping.  Today there was a cartoon, which we all understood.  It needed only one word in it.  We understand from the cartoon that like us the author is thinking about the coals miners and their families and how much they want their loved ones bodies back with them.  We looked closely at the machine and at the arum lily, which is the kind of flower people often give and have at funerals.  We are very sad, we are sad for all the families and friends.

We talked about how people feel empathy with others and how we are all connected to these people because they could be our brothers, our dads, our uncles or our friends, how many of us have visited Greymouth and many of us know people there.  We talked about how we are all New Zealanders together and what this means to us in times like this. We all made a connection with this terrible disaster. We are storing these memories in our brains, it is now part of our history too,  and we will remember in the years to come about this sad time.

Alliteration

We have been learning about alliteration.  We know that when the words start with the same sound it is alliteration.

Graphs

We have been learning how to display data. We made some graphs.

We have been thinking of what we look like when we and others express themselves.  Here are some ideas.

Aborginal Art

Here is some real Aborginal Art from Australia.  We painted some ourselves. These are done by Aborgines living in Australia and each one tells its own story.

Christmas Display

In Sydney each year they have a display in the David Jones shop of Christmas scenes.  Here is one of them.

Sculpture

Our teacher went to Sydney and saw how people can express themselves through sculpture. There was a huge exhibition at Bondi Beach of sculpture in the sand. 400,000 people had seen it. There were all different kinds, made out of wood, metal, platinum, rock, stones, rope and glass.  Here are some pictures.

Expressing Ourselves.

We have been learning about how to express ourselves and we have been doing some art work to show how we can do this.

Chocie and Challenge

We made coconut ice at choice and challenge on Friday.  Here is the receipe.

500 g icing sugar
100g butter
50ml milk, about 1/4 a cup
11/2 cups coconut

1 tsp vanilla
pink food colouring


Sift icing sugar into a large microwave boel, add butter cut into chunks, add the milk.
Microwave on high about 2 1/2 minutes. 
Add essence, colouring and cononut.
Mix well, you can add more coconut if you do not think it is thick enough.
Mark into squares. 
Leave to set.

Our Poems

We have been expressing ourselves by writing poems. We have displayed them on our wall.

Poetry

We have been expressing ourselves through writing poetry.  We intended to learn about the structure of poems, starting each sentence with an upper case letter, publishing our work neatly and expressing our own special thoughts and ideas.  We have done this.

Newsletter 5 November

Newsletter


5 November


Thank you once again to those that help and helped, and a thank you to Michelle who I missed of the first list, with going to the Gym and the Symphony. Both were really good, positive and informative outings. We were proud of the way that the children behaved and listened.


Launch of Skoolstars
This will be held on Wednesday 10 November that is next week. Come along and see us all Expressing Ourselves. I will let you know the time, it is either 6pm or 7pm or both. The DVD’s can be purchased for $20.00. Something to put away for the 21st birthday celebrations.


Next week.
Friday is Show Day, so no school.


On Thursday I have a release day to continue putting things together for our blue folders. Mr L W will be in for me.


Assessments.
I have spoken with all the Year 4 children and given them their Asttle results. This is just one form of assessment and we take into consideration all their learning. Many of the children find these “tests” challenging as we do not spend all our time doing “tests”, so it is a new way of assessment for them. All the children have made progress. These assessments will be in the blue folders. I am also completing Running Records and send the results home with the children.


Book Orders
Please have them to me by Wednesday.


Chocolate Bars
Could you please send any to school tomorrow, Friday for the Chocolate Wheel for the fair?


If you can help at the fair, please let me know.


Check out our blog. www.room6@freeville.blogspot.com You can add your reaction to any of the postings just by putting in a tick.

Inquiry Express Yourself

We have been working on ways and thinking about how we express ourselves.  We added to our Hyerles Thinking Map.  The black writing are some of our ideas at the beginning and our red writing is at the end of the inquiry.

Symphony Orchestra

When we heard the Orchestra, we listened to this music. I liked at the end when there were the streamers.  I liked the Typewriter music and the last music about the bear.

Expressing Ourselves.

Yesterday we went to see the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra, at the Town Hall, it was all about Time. We listened to music that had "time" in it.

Gym

The was really cool because we got do some things in the pit.

By Olivia

Gym

I thought the gym was really cool.  I liked going on the trampoline and jumping in the sponge pit.

By Keely