Thursday, December 8, 2011

Book Character Dress Up Day

Here are a few photos of some of Bradford's favourite book characters.  There are photos of 'characters' from all the classes and a few teacher type characters as well.  See if you can work out who they all are!!







Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Shadow Tag!

Today we remembered some of those things that we didn't know about being safe in the sun and we went outside to find some answers.

First we worked out that a shadow is made when something is in the way of the sun.  We also discovered that things only make shadows if they are not already in a shadow.  Cool eh?


Caitlin stood in the sun.  Because she stopped the sun getting to the court, she made a shadow.

We played shadow tag just for fun!  You have to run around and jump on other people's shadow and try to stay out of the way of other people jumping on your shadow.






After we played shadow tag, we put a hat on Bernie Bear.  We wanted to see if we could find out why Bradford chose the green hats with the big, wide brim.

Bernie Bear is wearing a cap.  There is nothing to protect (make a shadow) on his neck!!

Bernie Bear borrowed a Bradford hat.  Look how much protection it gives him!  


So we think that this is exactly why Bradford chose this type of hat.  What do you think?

Please make a comment and tell us what you think about our hats.

Friday, November 18, 2011

What we DON'T know about staying sunsafe.

It seems like a strange thing to post on our blog but this is part of our inquiry into how we can be safe in many different situations.

Room Two's learning buddies put their heads together and came up with lots of things we know that we have to do when we go out in the sun.    Things like wear our hats outside, stay in the shade, sunscreen stops you getting burnt, wear sunglasses and put sunscreen on your face, neck and arms.

The next day the learning buddies got together again and started thinking about things we DON'T know about being sunsafe.

Why does shade stop you getting sunburnt?

How does sunscreen work?

Where is the best place to find shade?

Why do they (sunglasses) protect your eyes?

How do sunhats make you not sunburnt?  (Protect you from sunburn)

Why does a sunhat protect your face?   Really interesting when you think about it.  You don't wear a hat over your face after all!

Why do some hats have a frill (or brim) all around and some just have it at the front?

Why did Bradford choose those hats?

These are great questions because we can really think about how we can go about finding some answers.  Looks like we will be busy over the next few weeks. 

And speaking of next week - We're looking forward to Show and Tell from Arleyah, KayLee, Luke, Tigue, Izan and Kelli.

Have a great weekend everybody.

Friday, November 11, 2011

Puppets Galore! Oh - and some maths too...

Hi and thanks for peeking into Room Two's window on the internet.

On Monday we said that there are puppets everywhere and now it really is true.  Every class in the school has been very busy and there are scoop-mouths, pine cone puppets, aliens, ya-ya's, foamies, onion heads, soap-box babies, marionettes, dancing birds, spookies and god puppets.  Wow!   


Here's some photos of Room 2 making and using their scoop-mouths, pine cone puppets and ya-ya's.  We had a very puppet focused star circle this week and shared what we found tricky about making puppets and our favourite bit about making puppets. 










I liked creating my puppet character - KayLee

I liked giving my puppet a voice - Kerrianne

My favourite part was decorating my puppets - Zoe

I liked saying "Boo!" - Steven

My favourite part was making the ya-ya work - Tigue

Room 2 practising the Mr Ghost song with the "boo" at the end.

We also got stuck into a game called Cover Up Kiwi.  Players throw the dice and find different ways to make the total.  We're getting rather good at it.  We're also getting rather good at using bonds of ten to add up the numbers left over when the game ends to see who won!

Kelli threw the dice and added 4 and 1 to make 5.  So she could cover up a 4 and a 1 or a 5.  Or she could be rather clever and find another way to make five.  Like 3 and 2, which is handy if some of your kiwi have already been covered up. 

KayLee is counting on to find her total.  I wonder what it was.  If it was 6 + 4 then she could cover up a 6 and a 4 or 5 and 5 or a 7 and a 3. 


And finally ...

This week we are looking forward to  Show & Tell from Caitlin, Briah, Rebecca, Aden, Steven and Kerrianne.  Check those reading folders to make a note of the day. 

Bye for now
Room 2  

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Handwriting Rocks!

It's the start of week 3 and there are puppets everywhere!  Room 2 will have puppet sessions on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday & Friday morning.  

Show and Tell this week is:  
Tuesday - Zoe & Luke,                                                           Wednesday - Arleyah & Tigue,                                                   Thursday - Kelli and Mina.

We've been learning how to mark our own handwriting.  We sit with our thinking buddies and share things that we notice about a neatly and clearly written letter.  There a lot of points to think about so we pick 2 things for each letter.

This week is the letter C.  The lower case letter c starts at the halfway point in the line and rests on the bottom line.  The capital C starts just below the top line and rests on the bottom line too.  After we finish our handwriting, we swap books with our buddies.  We use highlighter pens to highlight each letter in the spot or spots that it meets our learning outcomes.

Here are some comments that say what we like about marking our buddy's handwriting.





You can choose which letters are good - Caitlin



It's fun - Josiah.                                                                                                                                                                                 It helps us know what it should be like - Mina.

If you want to be a teacher one day, you will know what to do - Kerrianne.                                                                                     You can make people feel good about their leaning - KayLee.                                                                                                          It's fun - Izan.            





Saturday, October 29, 2011

Serious thinking in Week 1

Wow.  Week 1 has gone already! 

Here are some of the great thinkers in Room 2 using a new thing called a 'Think Board'.  We can use these to show lots of different ways of thinking about number stories and addition problems. 



We also began thinking about safety and some of the things that can be a problem when crossing the road, around the playground, by the water and in the sun.  Constable Heather Rei is coming in Week 2 (that's tomorrow & Tuesday) to help us explore safe ways of walking. 

Kicking off our first week of Show & Tell are: KayLee, Josiah, Izan, Cairo and Zane.  The notes went home on Friday and we're looking forward to hearing what these speakers have to share with us.

Have a great week everybody

from the fabulous Room 2!

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Calendar Art and our trip to Ōtākau Marae

Hi everyone

Check out these photos of fabulous artworks by 'well-known' local artists.
You can order calendars and packs of cards featuring your child's artwork...

Josiah - Playing at lunchtime.

Kelli - Hot chocolates.

Rebecca - ABC with balloons and milkshakes.

Luke - Playing on the metal slides.

Tigue - Singing the National Anthem in English, Māori & New Zealand Sign Language

KayLee - watching Yogi Bear with Libby at Bradford Great Behaviour Movie afternoon.

Briah - Eating ice cream made with liquid nitrogen during a super science session with University Physicists.

Cairo - Hot chocolate!

Arleyah -At the Marae

Libby -Sad to say goodbye to friends.

Mina -Hot Chocolate

Zoe - Bradford's friendly chickens.

Caitlin - Hot chocolate

Steven - Wheels ABC day.  Steven on his scooter and Zoe on her bike.

Paige -Bird feeders we made at discovery time.

Izan - playing with Zane at lunchtime.

Aden - Chickens at Bradford.
Zane - Riding my scooter at ABC wheels day.

Kerrianne -Gymnastics

Check out the last newsletter of the term for details about how to order.


And finally, a photo of some of our learning about the Marae.  We all had a go at weaving putiputi (flowers) at the Marae but it was really, really hard.  So we did this simple weaving so we could all learn about alternating under and over.


Thanks to Vicky (Paige's mum), Sheryl (Briah's mum) and Coreen (Mrs B's mum) who came to the marae.

Here's a few photos of some of us at the Marae.  It was awesome fun and we learned HEAPS!!

Zane giving his mihi to Group 3.

Mina giving her mihi to Group 3.

Matua Duggie telling some of the legends about Maui.

Groups 1 and 2 give their mihi to their small groups in front of the whārenui.

Group 3 playing Rākau Purei (Stick Games) with Matua Tony

Libby and Xanthe weaving putiputi (flowers)