What have we been up to lately....
The kids in Room 12 have been writing our own newspapers about well known leaders. For example I'm writing about the amazing Martin Luther King. by Pierina.We were lucky to have Archbishop John visit today and tell us all about what it's like to be the Archbishop. He shared some of the stories of his recent adventures with Pope Francis in Rome.
Thanks Archbishop John, we really enjoyed your visit.
Thinking about others......
Dear Parents, Whanau and Caregivers,
This term for our Inquiry and Religious Education Learning we
are exploring Leaders and Saints as inspiring people. As part of this journey
we are reading the story of Malala Yousafzai and looking at the lives of people
such as Martin Luther King and Mother Teresa. We are inspired to take action !
We like to think of ourselves as a giving little bunch and
this year we would like to start a collection to raise money to ‘Send a girl to
school’ through World Visions “Smiles” gifts.
Last year in Room 8, we did a similar thing and purchased; a
goat, some chickens, school supplies and packs for new mothers to donate in
Africa and in the Pacific.
The children and I have spoken about the value of money, in
the context of our life here in New Zealand and those in third world, impoverished
and war torn countries and discussed ways that they could earn some spare
change to donate themselves. I suggested
that chores like making a bed or tidying up their things are really chores that
they should do without remuneration. As the mother of a 10 year old myself, it’s
amazing how the promise of 50 cents can motivate one!
I have included the link to the website for the Smiles catalogue
if you would like to check it out. https://www.worldvision.org.nz/portal/Smiles/whysmilesisgreat.aspx
Thank you for your continued support
God Bless
Look at what we did today......
Can you believe it is Term 4?
Welcome back to our final term for the year. This term we will be inquiring into the lives, habits and characteristics of leaders that have made our world a better place.
We launched our Inquiry Learning yesterday with a game where we explored how a leader takes control of a group and how the group feel about that – both positive and negative feelings. It made for some very interesting and thought provoking conversations.
Here are some photo's of some groups working together to make a 6 cup pyramid using only string and rubber bands to move the cups.
Term 3 is nearly at an end....
now is a good time to restock your childs resources; such as pencils, glue sticks and rulers.
Cultural Performance - Please come and join us on Tuesday night September 16th for our Cultural Performance and Art viewing. Classrooms will be open to view art work and look around your childs school space.
Welcome Spring
We have been enjoying the sunshine and taking out maths learning outside as we learn about measurement.
Term
2 is coming to a close….
With the term rapidly coming to an end we are reflecting
on all that we have accomplished this term.
Following the success of term 1’s learning about the
Titanic, we chose an ocean themed inquiry for this terms sustainability topic.
We have been busy learning about how pollution affects the ocean environment and
marine life within it. For our ‘action’ we chose a cause that we felt
passionate about; the potential extinction that is threatening New Zealand
unique Maui Dolphin and decided to write letters to Dr Nick Smith expressing
our concerns. We investigated the Great Pacific Garbage/rubbish Patch and
learned about the perils of plastic rubbish on the environment.
We also carried out some scientific investigations that
simulated the effects of ocean acidification, an effect of increased carbon
dioxide production on the ocean environment, and the effect of oil spills on
marine life.
As winter settles in, pick up a good book.
Winter is the perfect time to snuggle down with a great book and loose yourself in the wonder.For year 4 and 5 students, reading every night is important make some time to read. Put down the devices, turn off the Tele and snuggle down with a good book. Try to visit the school library or the public library and grab yourself a good read.
Try books by Paul Jennings, Enid Blyton, Roald Dahl, Frank Cottrell Boyce, Michael
Morpurgo, Mary Norton and Noel Streatfeild. These writers cover a wide range of
topics such as; animals, friendships, silly stories, dance and fantasy. Try
something new - I dare you!
With the Football world cup all around us check out this link to an interesting book about the history of the World Cup that looks like a fun read for 7+ years.
http://www.booktrust.org.uk/
https://childrensbookshop.circlesoft.net/catalog/26140-NZPictureBooks
And how about listening to a book - download these to your computer
http://www.storynory.com/
Love Mrs Peirce
Our Term 2 Inquiry - Sustainability.
This terms inquiry topic see's us dipping once again into the ocean - we just couldn't bear to leave our beloved Titanic behind!The students are learning about how we use our ocean environments and how the marine environment is affected by our interactions.
We started our inquiry by looking at Maui's dolphin, a sub-species of Hector's dolphin. Maui's dolphin is critically endangered with only 55 dolphins left.
The students wrote reports and looked at some of the reasons why sustaining the Maui Dolphin population is so difficult.
We published our reports by drawing dolphins and hiding snippets of text under flaps.
Here is a photo of Ashton's Dolphin on display in our classroom. We also recorded ourselves reading parts of our reports and then added some images to create a short video clip.
A lot of our learning in the inquiry requires us to work together and use our co-operative group skills. Watch this quick clip of us working together to share ideas and learning while we investigate understanding around marine ecology.
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