Junior Assembly

Last Thursday Rufus and Sophia were our Junior Assembly hosts. They did a wonderful job especially speaking in clear voices so the audience could hear them.
Kahu and Olivia shared their fairy tale endings and we sung Te Tinana (The Body) song.

Friday with Ms Gain

Today was a busy day! As well as trips to the hall for production practice we did some fun activities as part of our Flat Stanley project.

A RULER OF BRITISH HISTORY: Kings, Queens, Years, and Roman Numerals

Olivia’s Flat Stanley arrived back from staying with family friends in Portsmouth England with a ruler of British History. This ruler had the names and dates of all the Kings and Queens of England. Using photocopies of the ruler we worked in pairs to count up the numbers of Kings and Queens with the same name.

We then put this information into a graph. Edward and Henry were the most common names for a King, there have been 8 King Edwards and 8 King Henrys. Henry and Edward in Room 2 thought this was pretty neat!

We also practised reading years starting with 2010 and counting backwards to the year 2000. We then counted backwards in hundreds till we got back as far as 1000, which is as far back as the Kings/Queens of England on the ruler went.

We also noticed that after each King or Queen’s name on the ruler there were some symbols, which we learnt were Roman numerals. These Roman numerals showed whether the King/Queen was the first with that name or the second or third etc. We learnt how to read and write Roman numerals up to 10.

We enjoyed working out and writing the answers to questions using Roman numerals such as “if the next King was a George what would he be called?” (King George the Seventh). Room 2 were very quick to learn how to write Roman numerals and to commit to memory how many Henrys, Edwards, Georges etc there had been –they answered questions like this with amazing speed!

THE VOYAGES OF CAPTAIN COOK: Developing our expertise in reading world maps.

We then looked at a world map that mapped the three voyages made by Captain Cook on his explorations of the Southern Oceans. We used our fingers to trace the three different journeys and identified all the different continents/countries that he passed by and collected information about, including New Zealand and his discovery of the Cook Strait. We used our ruler to find out who the King of England was that encouraged Captain Cook’s voyages of exploration during the years 1768 – 1779: King George the Third.

There were a lot of questions about Captain Cook and his boat, which was called the HMS Endeavor. Some things we want to find out are: what did the people on the boat eat? How did they get their food? How many people were on the boat? What did the different people on the boat do? Were there any children on the boat?/Cabin boys? We will have to do some research!

JAPAN

Next week Mrs Fields who works in the library is coming to talk to us about Japan, where her son Tim lives. We sent one of our class Flat Stanleys to him in Osaka, Japan, and he has sent it back with lots of photos. Mrs Fields is going to talk to us some more about her own trip to Japan and show us some maps. Today we learnt that Japan has 4 islands and that the biggest is called Honshu. Tokyo and Osaka are 2 major cities on the island of Honshuu. We coloured in maps of Japan showing the 4 different islands.

MATHS

This week we have started learning about money. We started with a brainstorm about what we know about money. Most of us can identify coins and their value.
During our money unit we will compare values of coins, add coin and note value by skip counting and using addition and subtraction.

At the beginning of each maths lesson we start with a number focus. This week we are continuing to learn about multiplication for x2, x5 and x10. We would love to make groups of 2,5 and 10 at home so we can learn our times tables!

e.g.
2 x 1 = 2 groups of 1 or 1 x 2 = 1 group of 2
2 x 2 = 2 groups of 2
2 x 3 = 2 groups of 3 or 3 x 2 = 3 groups of 2

Life Education Classroom

On Wednesday we went into the Life Education Classroom to learn about Food For Energy. We made a Food Pyramid and discussed which foods we should eat lots of, some and little. We can share some of these with you!

We are also learning about how food gives us energy. The Life Education Teacher, Jo, taught us how food travels through our mouth into our food tube and into the stomach. We know the heart pumps the food around the blood tubes and up to the brain for energy.

Science

Junior Duathlon

On Monday we had our Junior Duathlon. The students had to run around the block and then bike or scooter along a track inside school. After the race we used our thinking hats to discuss how we felt after the race and the good points about the event.
These were some of our red hat thinking comments:
After the race I felt....
speedy because Finn nearly past me at the finish line by Daniel
happy because I came 3rd in the Year 1's race by Jasper
pleased because I was coming last then I overtook loads of people by Noah
sick because it was tiring by Oscar
sick because I ran and ran by Georgie
very tired because I ran a lot. It felt like I was suffocating! by Alana
proud because I did better than ever! by Olivia
tired because I had to wait to go back to class by Rufus
happy because I over took 3 people by Edward
happy because I came 5th by Finn
glad because I tried my hardest by Eliza
sick because I was sweating and I had a sore throat by Holly
glad because I came second in the race by Sophia
really happy because I came 1st by Oliver
tired because I had to run by Ryan
tired because I sprinted fast by Bridie

Friday with Ms Gain

Sharing our Writing

Today we did some reflection writing. We reflected on our week and had to think of:

Something fun that we had done
Something we had enjoyed at school
Something that had made us feel proud, and
Something we were looking forward to doing at the weekend.

We shared our writing with each other in a sharing circle. Here is some of our writing:

I enjoyed Jump Jam in Room 1. Georgie

After school me, Mum, and Amelia went to the Post Office. We had some fun in the car. When mum came back she had games for us each. We were happy. Sophia.

On Wednesday I was proud of muself because I scored 3 goals. Leon.

I enjoyed doing all the experiments. I discovered how to draw moths in 3D. Oscar.

At the weekend I played soccer and I got player of the day. I felt happy. Sam.

Yesterday Olivia came to my house. We played heads down thumbs up with my mum and my favourite doll, and me and Olivia played hide and seek and we hid my doll too. Alice.

This week I went to Lone Star with my family. I had a hamburger. At school I really enjoyed reading the book called ‘The Same But Different’. I got player of the day at rugby and I was happy. Oliver.

My sister came down from Scotland and we went to Campbell Park and we played Monsters Ham. Bridie.

I felt proud of scoring goals in netball. Something I am looking forward to is swimming lessons and soccer on Sunday. Kahu.

I enjoyed making the gingerbread man painting and drawing at school. I was proud when I got a certificate on Thursday at assembly. It was fun. I got the certificate because I listened to the teacher. Alana.

Last weekend I went to the movies with my family. It was fun and I took a friend. We went to see Toy Story 3. My friend’s name was Kate. Eliza.

I am looking forward to practising riding my bike. Jack.

I liked showing my rock monster at news time. I felt proud when I washed up the dishes and I got to stay up late. Tomorrow my friend is coming to my house. We are going to have fun. Edward.

Something I felt proud of is: I’ve almost finished my spelling rocket. Something I’ve been looking forward to: going to the Huia Pool! I’m going with my mummy, daddy, and sister Sam. Olivia.

This week I went to Room 5s assembly and I saw my friend. I finished my chapter book. I was proud. This weekend I am going to Edward’s house. I am going to do everything. Daniel.

On the weekend I played soccer. I got some goals but Jack was player of the day. I like soccer. Ryan.

Every Sunday I play soccer with Jack and Henry and Ryan and Jasper. Every Monday I play on the playground. It is fun. Finn.


Today we also looked at more Flat Stanley mail. We looked at pictures of Flat Stanley adventures in Prague, Portsmouth England, Scotland, and Christchurch. We then took Flat Annie from the Netherlands for a walk around our school. Here are some of the photos we took of Flat Annie’s adventures around Muritai School.

Maths

In Maths this week we have been learning about multiplication. We know X means groups of. We started making groups of 2 and then solving them as times table problems. Next week we will learn about groups of 5 and 10.

Practice making and solving these at home:
1 x 2 =
2 x 2 =
3 x 2 =
4 x 2 =
5 x 2 =
6 x 2 =
7 x 2 =
8 x 2 =
9 x 2 =
10 x 2 =

Football tournament

On Tuesday we had a soccer tournament. It was cool and fun. I got sweaty

when I was playing a game. We got 4 points, it was cool. After the game I

felt proud of myself. We had some time off.

By Sophia

On Tuesday we had a soccer tournament. My team was called the Kai

Matthews. In my team there was Kai Matthew, Joshua, Kahu and Esme. I

felt really happy. I scored a really good goal because it was hard and low.

By Kahu

On Tuesday we went to a soccer tournament. It was fun. I side tackled and

scored a goal. It was only because it was teamwork. I felt happy!

By Leon

On Tuesday we had a soccer tournament. We worked as a team I thought we

tried our best. We push really hard and I was really impressed of our group

because our team came 5^th. On that day I felt puzzled and happy too.

By Alice

On Tuesday my class went to the football tournament. When we started the

game some one kicked the ball in my face. I felt happy because it was fun.

By Edward

On Tuesday we had a soccer tournament but we didn’t get any goals. We

tried our best. We drew twice. I played really good because I was taking the

ball off good players.

By Jack

Friday with Ms Gain

Opening our Flat Stanley mail.....




Today in Room 2 we received more parcels about Flat Stanley adventures around the world. We saw photos, slideshows, and read letters about:

• Rufus’s Flat Stanely adventures in Leicester, England
• Ryan’s Flat Stanely adventures in Matamata, North Island of New Zealand
• Georgie’s Flat Stanley in Auckland, North Island of New Zealand
• Olivia’s Flat Stanely in Portsmouth, England
• Kahu’s Flat Stanley in Sydney, Australia
• Our class Flat Stanley’s adventures in Osaka, Japan, with Tim Fields (the school librarian’s son!)

Next week we will be looking at Alana and her Flat Stanley’s adventure in Scotland and our class Flat Stanley’s adventures in Prague with Mrs Mills-Smith’s son Dan! We will also take Flat Annie from The Netherlands on a walk around our school.

Today we also did some work on African animals and started reading a story called ‘The Aardvark Who Wasn’t Sure’ by Jill Tomlinson, which is all about African animals. Lots of us in Room 2 are really interested in the continent Africa, and the animals that live there. We are hoping to get some news about one of the Flat Stanley’s that went there!

Room 2 was full of music today too. We sang lots of songs and used different percussion instruments. We are getting really good at playing our instruments and moving to the beat!

Listen to the music 1 2 3....

Football tournament

If fine Room 2 will be partaking in a fun junior football tournament from 12.30 on Tuesday 3rd August.

Keep an eye out for the photos and writing on our blog!