Ballet

Last week we had some lessons from a ballet teacher in the hall. This is what we thought:

On Tuesday we went into the hall to do ballet. We learnt how to do lovely steps and we did it with Room3. It was cool. Jasper

On Tuesday we did ballet. We did steps, actions and creeping. It was in the hall. The ballet teacher was Shannon and at the end we did jumps over the river. It was fun because we did lots of things. Oscar

On Tuesday I went to the hall to get taught for ballet steps. We learned some moves from the olden days. The person that taught us the steps was Shannon. We did it after morning tea and it was fun. We did some steps that I do at my ballet. Alana

Yesterday we went to the hall. There was a ballet dancer and I was excited because I thought that we were going to be dancers. The first thing he did was to introduce himself his name was Shannon. We learnt some moves and we learned some actions it was exciting. Sophia

On Tuesday at school in the hall we learnt lots of steps. Shannon was the man who taught us the ballet steps. It was great fun! Eliza

This week we are going to see some of the RNZ Ballet's 'The Nutcracker'.

Reading Response

We have been reading The Robber Fox and discussing wow words to describe what he was like. Then we drew him and used crayons and dyes to illustrate the picture.

Athletics

On Wednesday we took advantage of the fine weather and practiced some athletic skills. These are photos of us practicing relays and long jump. After we learnt the skills needed for each activity, we got to practice them. When we got back to class we made a list of the skills we needed to use to achieve the best results.

These are the skills we shared with one another:

Long Jump
I need to use one strong leg to push myself forward
I need to land on two feet
I can fling my arms forward so I can push myself further forward

Relays
I need to put one arm behind me so I am ready for the next runner
I need to use my arms and legs to give myself power to run fast
I need to sprint to the next runner
I need to look forward so I know where I am going

Friday with Ms Gain

Today we had a classroom focus on Japan. We had a visit from Tim Fieldes who lives in Japan. We sent a class Flat Stanley to visit Tim in Japan last term. Tim is now visiting New Zealand so he came in to talk to us about what it was like having Flat Stanley to visit. He also answered lots of our questions about Japan.

Questions for Tim


DOES JAPAN LOOK LIKE NEW ZEALAND?

Tim showed us a map of New Zealand and a map of Japan. We saw that New Zealand had 3 islands and Japan had 4. Japan is a little bit bigger than New Zealand but there are 30 times more people living there! Tim lives on the middle island called Honshuu, which he said looks like a banana. He said the top island in Japan is the coldest and the bottom island the warmest. In New Zealand our North Island is warmer than the South island, this was interesting to think about.

HAVE YOU BEEN ON A BULLET TRAIN?

Yes. Tim had been on a bullet train and he told us about travelling from Osaka to Tokyo. He said it would take 8 hours to drive but it only takes 2 hours by bullet train. He said bullet trains move so smoothly you don’t feel anything, and can go to sleep very easily.

Tim also told us that a lot of people in Japan travel by trains because there are so many people living in Japan there wouldn’t be enough room for everyone to drive cars.

CAN YOU EAT WITH CHOPSTICKS?

Yes, Tim uses chopsticks to eat with a lot. Tim told us the difference between Japanese and Chinese chopsticks. Japanese chopsticks are pointy at the ends, like pencils. Chinese chopsticks are flat and straight. He said even though Japanese chopsticks are pointy you shouldn’t stab your food to pick it up because that is bad manners.

WHAT KIND OF ANIMALS LIVE IN JAPAN THAT DON'T LIVE IN NEW ZEALAND?
Tim told us about snakes and monkeys, which live in Japan.

HAVE YOU BEEN ON THE JAPANESE ROADS THAT ARE ABOVE THE CITY?

Yes. Tim talked to us about how the Japanese motorways are put on poles high above the city because there is no room on the ground.

IS YOUR WATCH FROM JAPAN?/DO YOU LIKE PINK?
Tim was wearing a brightly coloured watch with a pink face. He said these kind of watches are very popular in Japan at the moment and that lots of men in Japan wear pink.

Tim showing us his pink watch.



ARE THE SHOPS IN JAPAN LIKE THE SHOPS IN NEW ZEALAND?

Tim told us that most of the shops in the big cities in Japan are open all day and all night. There are a lot of toy shops, costume shops, and sushi shops.

WHAT KIND OF LOLLIES DO THEY HAVE IN JAPAN?
Tim showed us lots of different types of Japanese lollies including candy floss that pops in your mouth and lemonade candies in a lemonade bottle.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE MARTIAL ARTS?

We learnt that Tim’s favourite martial art in Japan is karate. He also talked to us about sumo wrestling and how the men try and use their strength and weight to push each other out of the ring.

We also learnt that Samurais are like Japanese knights who live in castles. The castles of the Samurais have curved red rooves and are decorated with gold to show the people inside are rich and powerful.

WHEN DID YOU LEARN TO SPEAK JAPANESE?
Tim learnt to speak Japanese at high school and then he moved to Japan where he learnt how to speak it really well.

Tim taught us how to say:
hello: konnichi wa
good morning Ms Gain: Gain Sensei Ohaiyoo Gozaimasu
thank you: arigato
goodbye: sayonara

After Tim’s visit we continued to learn about Japan with some more Japanese activities. We made some origami booklets, see the link to the video on the right hand side of this blog page to have a go at home. We also learnt about Children’s Day in Japan, which is a day that celebrates children. We did some colouring of Japanese children wearing traditional clothes and started making some carp kites, which are flown on Children’s day. Keep a look out for our finished carp kites next week!

Edward's Colouring

Jasper and Noah with their origami booklet.

Noah and Henry making their origami booklets.


Finally we said goodbye to Finn who is going to England for the rest of the year. We played a game of Fruit Salad and finished the day with chocolate cake and a goodbye song. Ka Kite Finn, we will miss you!

Finn sharing his farewell chocolate cake.

Holiday

This morning we shared places we had visited during our holidays and stuck our names alongside the place. Students visited many places throughout the North Island and South Island while others had fun staying in Wellington. We found it interesting how one student visited Cape Reinga which is right at the top of the North Island and another student visited Stewart Island which is right at the bottom of the South Island.
We heard some interesting stories about what people did and have started writing letters to one another describing what we did. We will blog some of these once we have finished.