Friday with Ms Gain

We had a lot more parcels to open up today, very fun!

Today we had mail about Alice’s Flat Stanley adventure in Beijing in China, Jack’s Flat Stanley in Germany, Oliver’s Flat Stanley in Christchurch, Daniel’s Flat Stanley in South Australia, and Oscar’s Flat Stanley in the Netherlands - and he came home with a Flat Annie who he had met while he was there!


Oscar's Flat Staley and the Flat Annie he brought home with him!

We got into small groups to look at the photos and to read the letters carefully. A lot of us were interested in the differences in the buildings in the different countries. We noticed that the buildings in China were “bright and colourful”, “had layers”, “had lots of red and gold”, “had roofs that curved up at the ends”, "were lower and wider", and that many had “lanterns”. We noticed the half timbered houses in Germany and thought the wooden strips on the houses looked like zig zags and like the letters Z, A, and V. Jack also thought it was interesting that “the windows have lots of little windows in them” (lots of little panes). We thought both the Chinese and German buildings were very different to the photos of old castles that we have been seeing in Europe.


A building in Beijing in China




A half timbered house


Alice opening her parcel.


Alice showing us some Chinese writing including her name in Chinese.

Jack's au pair from last year sent us a powerpoint about where she lives in Germany and we watched this as a slideshow. We also got an email with some photos from Noah, who is away on holiday at the moment with his Flat Stanley. The photos were of Noah and his Flat Stanley with kangaroos and koalas in Australia. There was even a photo of them doing some jet skiing!

Today we also did some dance and movement stories. We danced the story of Racy Rabbit and the Slow Torotise. We also told the story of 2 mice who visit the zoo using our feet as the mice.

In the afternoon we had assembly and we watched lots of Kapa Haka performances by the year three and fours.

Maori Language Week

Dissolving M & M's!

First we saw the colour changing. Next we saw the water change into different colours. Day after day the water changed and the M & M's changed. Next we saw the water change colour. This happened because the water made it dissolve.
By Eliza

First we put 2 M & M's into 4 plastic cups. Georgie poured water in the cups. The M & M's made it colourful! because the M & M's dissolved.
By Henry

We put 2 M & M's in each cup. Georgie put the same amount of water into our cups to make it a fair test. First, the incredible M & M's in the cup changed the colour of the water. The M & M's dissolved into the water. Then.... the outside disappeared. Then there was chocolate black! The next day the chocolate black M & M's cracked slowly and there was white! Next we saw the M & M's change colour. This happened because the water made it dissolve!
By Olivia

Friday with Ms Gain

Today we had lots of parcels to open, and emails to read, with news and photos about where some of our Flat Stanleys have been travelling. We shared the photos and news as a whole class and looked on the world map to see where the Flat Stanleys had been. Then we did some writing about some of the Flat Stanley adventures we had read about.

'Today a parcel came in the post and it was mine and it was about my Flat Stanley in France. My Flat Stanley saw BMX riders and Flat Stanley saw kite flyers.' Jasper.

'Today our class got some mail about Flat Stanley. My Aunty Julia sent some photos of my Flat Stanley in London. My Aunty took Flat Stanley to a fancy restaurant and he had mint tea.' Edward.

'Today our class got some mail about Edward's Flat Stanley's adventure. We got a parcel. The parcel was from London in the UK. In the parcel there was photos. Edward's Flat Stanley went to work on the underground train and up a skyscraper. He went to a restaurant and got an ice cream.' Oscar.

'Today in Room 2 we got mail about Edward's Flat Stanley adventure. We got an email and a parcel. It came from London. Some things that Flat Stanley went to were: up a skyscraper, to an ice cream shop, to a fancy restaurant, Buckingham Palace, to the Big Ben. He saw soldiers at Buckingham Palace dressed in red with their busby hats.' Olivia.

'Today our class got some mail about my Flat Stanley. It was from Korea. It was an email. My Flat Stanley has been working with my uncle. My Flat Stanley loves food and cafes and my uncle took him to one.' Holly.

'Today our class got some mail about Finn's Flat Stanley adventure. It came as an email. It came from Scotland. We saw some photos. One photo was a robot that looked like a tank. The robot takes bombs away. Flat Stanley saw the army [and the bomb disposal robot] in a really old castle called Edinburgh Castle.' Kahu







In the afternoon we did music and singing. We learnt lots of new action songs including 'Pussywillow', 'Riding in a Helicopter'. 'The Shaker Song', 'Flea Fly', '5 Current Buns in a Baker's Shop', and 'Ka Kite' a goodbye song in Te Reo Maori that we sang to finish off our day.

Inquiry

Today we started our inquiry unit with a class brainstorm. We each shared an idea for how food can change.

Here are our thoughts.......


Bananas start as a plant and then turn green and then yellow. By Oscar
Bananas change from a plant, they are green and then yellow. When they get older they turn brown. By Georgie
A cake changes from an oven. By Olivia
Cookies change from the mixture to a cookie that you can eat. By Alice
Bread changes from dough and then you make it into a shape and then put it in the oven. It comes out as a bread loaf. By Bridie
Lemons change from green to yellow and then they get old and turn a bit brown. By Leon
Apples change, they start from a plant, they start off little. After a while they get big and turn red or green. By Rufus
Carrots start off as a plant and then they turn orange and you get to eat them. By Daniel
Carrots start off in the ground, they turn orange and you can pull them out. By Kahu
Pancakes start off as a mixture. You put the mixture on the frying pan. When they are ready on the outside they are cooked and then you can put stuff on them. By Finn
Pineapples start as a pineapple plant. They grow for a long time and then they get bigger and grow spikes. By Edward
Pears grow on a tree and then they get bigger and you can eat them. By Sam
Apples start from an apple tree and you can pick an apple and the seeds can come out and start another apple tree. By Jasper
Banana gets rotten from the sunlight. It turns brown and you can use it in a banana cake. By Henry
Tomatoes grow from a plant. It starts off green and then it turns red and then you can eat it. By Jack
Apples grow on an apple tree. You can pick them off. If you leave it for a long time they can get rotten. By Oliver
Strawberries start from a strawberry seed. It grows. It starts off green and as it gets bigger it goes red. By Holly
Banana starts off nice and green and then if you leave it for too long it goes yellow and brown. By Eliza

Maths

This week in Maths we have been learning about length. We set personal benchmarks for 1 metre, 1/2 a metre and 1 centimetre. This is what we came up with:

1 metre is about 1 big stride
1 cm is the width of our finger or finger nail
1/2 a metre is an arms length.

We used our benchmarks to measure objects around the room e.g. a door frame, whiteboard duster, big book and table.

At home this week see if you can measure items around the house using a personal benchmark, report back to class!


For Number we have been learning to recognise 2 digit, 3 digit and 4 digit numbers. See if you can read these numbers to Mum and Dad,

72
34
18
97


567
432
123
809

3214
6788
9210
2467

Koru Collage

This term in art we are using mixed media. We looked at some symbols in Maori Art. We drew our own Koru Design and then used block colours from magazines to collage it.

Here are some examples.