What's happening in reading? Term 4 week 6

This week we have been reading plays for our guided reading groups. We were inspired by ZeBong the storyteller who wowed us with his magical pirate stories a few weeks ago! Today each group performed their play to the rest of the class and EVERYBODY did such an incredible job! Mrs Saunders was very proud. Here are a few photos...

Welcome back to Term 4!

What a windy, wet day to welcome us back to Term 4!

We had a busy day, starting with a Powhiri to greet new families into our school and then straight into production practise! After morning tea we managed to catch up with our peers about our holidays, did some maths, spelling and poem reading. We finished the afternoon with Syndicate Assembly and some writing work. We looked at nouns. (I wonder who can find some nouns in tonights reading poem - A Fish in a Spaceship)!

Thank you to those who have already brought in their costumes for production. We are going to have a busy few weeks while we practise, practise, practise, ready for our shows next Wednesday and Thursday. It would be great if we could have all costumes at school (in a labelled bag) by the end of week 1. If you are unsure what you need, please ask!

Today week 1 spelling words came home. Below you will find a link to a cool website that helps to practise spelling words by playing online games. You can customise a list of spelling words and play games, while learning spelling! Wicked!

http://www.kidsspell.com

Have a lovely week everyone!

Whats happening in Maths? 30/07/13

Dear Family and Whanau,

This week at school we have been thinking about number pairs. Part of what we have been doing is playing a game called "How Many are Hiding?" To play this game one person counts out a collection of objects, and hides some of them under a container, behing their back or a piece of card. They then ask the other person to work out how many are hiding. For example, "I have 26 buttons, and there are 12 in this pile. How many are hiding? How can we figure this out?" It would be great if you could play this game together at home. You can use buttons, shells, bottle tops or any small toys as counting objects. 

Below is game you can play at home which practices number pairs to 20. 

http://www.ictgames.com/funkymum20.html

Welcome Back to Term 3!

Kia ora all,

Welcome back to Term 3. I hope everyone has had a fun and relaxing holiday. I'm very much looking forward to hearing about everybody's holiday adventures on Monday. We have another busy and exciting term ahead. During Term 3 we have the Life Education truck visiting (weeks 1 & 2), Maths Week (week 3) and gymnastics (weeks 4,5,6,7). AS class is also going to start Term 3 with 2 new class members - a very warm welcome to Carter and Glen!

Enjoy the last few days of holidays and I look forward to seeing everybody on Monday!

Below are links to some maths games that practice subtraction facts. Our class favourite is Cone Crazy!

http://www.fun4thebrain.com/subtraction/flurrysub.html - cone crazy (penguin ice-cream) subtraction game

http://www.fun4thebrain.com/subtraction/flyingsub.html - flying high subtraction game

http://www.fun4thebrain.com/subtraction/deepdivesub.html - deep dive subtraction game

http://www.fun4thebrain.com/subtraction/reindeercafesub.html - reindeer cafe subtraction game

Te wiki o te reo Māori - Māori Language Week 2013

We had a fantastic time and learnt lots of cool things during Māori language week. In class we focused on the ‘Maui and the sun’ legend. We discussed the features we might find in myths and legends. For example, a setting in the distant past, supernatural/magical creatures and events and a hero/heroine. We learnt that myths are traditional stories that try to explain why the world is as it is. We found lots of different versions (or retellings) of ‘Maui and the sun’ and discussed some of the similarities and differences. We used these as inspiration to write our own Maui stories in which we retold the myth in our words. We also were inspired by Cliff Whiting’s illustrations in the book ‘Maui and the sun’ and used these to create amazing rā (suns) - read some stories and see a few of our suns below.

How Maui slowed the tino wera rā. Retold by Bede Enoka
A long, long time ago there lived a wise, strong and brave warrior. His name was Maui. He hated that the rā ran across the sky too quickly. He didn't have enough time to eat, fish and hunt. He had to sleep in the pitch black night sky. "Aue! That silly suns moves as fast as a cheetah" he said. Maui was tired of eating in the darkness so he gathered his brothers and Maui thought of a plan. "We can't slow that rā." "Oh yes we can, we'll make flax rope" said Maui. "Oh fine, we will join in." When the ropes were made they set off to where the rā rose. It took miles and days to get there. "Come on brothers, help me make a wall of earth. When I say, grab the ropes and catch the rā!" "NOW!!!" His brothers threw the ropes. "AIEE!!" screamed the rā but the brothers pulled even harder. Maui got out his jaw bone and beat the rā again and again. "Let me go, can't you see I'm nearly dead." "LET GO" said Maui. The sun rose into the air but moved very slow. Now we get time to eat, hunt and fish all in the sunshine of the sun.

Maui and the rā. Retold by Grace Ly
A long time ago in the olden days when you were not born. there lived a kind, wise, strong warrior. His name was Maui. He was very young but very, very super duper wise. Maui was frustrated of eating every meal in the dark and cold night. He said "AUE! That rā moves too fast, far too fast!" He called for his brothers. "I think I have a plan, we will make flax ropes. I will sing a karakia." "Okay, we'll try" said his brothers. The brothers felt a little nervous because they thought the rā would burn them on the bottom. When the four ropes were finally finished they all set off on their journey. Finally, they were there. But something was wrong. There was no wall. Then Maui said "maybe we can make a wall out of rocks." "That is a brilliant idea Maui." "Thanks! But we must be quick - very quick." "NOW" shouted Maui. "Pull harder" said Maui. "AIEEEEEEEE" said the rā, "you'll kill me." "Let him go, now he won't be able to move so fast" said Maui. Now the people had enough time to fish, hunt and eat their food - all in the light of the rā.

Maui and the rā. Retold by Arana Cronin-Stone
A long time ago lived a warrior called Maui. Maui was eating his food. Suddenly the rā went down. "AUE!" said Maui. "That rā  goes down too fast. I can't eat my food in the darkness. That rā goes way too fast." Maui called his brothers. He had a plan. Maui said to his brothers "you must help me, we are going to make that rā go more slowly." The brothers laughed. "We can't make the rā go more slowly!" "We can!" said Maui. "We will make flax ropes and we will catch him. The brothers still laughed but agreed. When the flax ropes were ready they set off. They walked for days and days. Finally, they reached the pit where the rā came out. "Quickly my brothers, we must build a wall made of earth." "RRRRR" The rā came up! "When I call, jump out and grab the ropes. NOW!" shouted Maui. The brothers jumped out and grabbed the ropes. Then Maui beat him 8 times. "Stop, stop" groaned the rā, "can't you see I'm nearly dead?" "Let him go" said Maui. "He won't be able to move so fast now." Now Maui and his people had enough time to hunt and enough time to fish and eat their food.

How Maui slowed the sun. Retold by Rylee Herewini
So many years ago that I can't even count, there was a very brave, mighty hunter and when he lived the sun went way too fast. "Hey sun! I can't even eat my food." The sun didn't listen. "Aue, I'm fed up with that nasty mean sun. I'll think of a plan" said Maui. The next morning he set off to find his brothers. "I don't know why the sun moves that fast but we better do something quick, and my brothers, I have a plan to stop that speedy rā!" "Haere mai boys, let's go back to the whare nui, but before we do that we need to go find some flax and weave at the whare nui." They stayed up all night weaving and that was all that they ever did until they were done. When they were done they set off hunting for the rā. As they got closer and closer it got darker and darker until they were there. They built a wall and they waited and waited and then the huge ball of fire shone over everything in the land. Maui screamed "NOW!" The six boys pulled and pulled with all their strength. Maui walked over to the sun and looked at him and then he started to beat him on the forehead. The rā tugged and tugged but he wasn't strong enough. "OWWWWWWWW, LET ME GO, LET ME GO! I'M DYING, can't you see I can't shine?" "You need to be taught a lesson" said Maui. The sun was now weak. Now they had time for everything. Maui was happy. He was so so starving for kai.    

On Wednesday afternoon we were lucky enough to have a special visitor come into AS class. We read Māori stories, sang waiata and danced with some poi. A huge, huge thank you to Maria Tierney who came and spent this special afternoon with us! Check out the video...

On Thursday morning we had rotations with MR and GH classes. During our rotations we got to read and learn about different Māori myths and legends and did some wicked art activities too!

Our current Te Reo Māori focus is ‘the classroom’ and using the instruction “Homai te _______” (bring me _________). Some of the words we are learning are:

·         Tūru (chair)

·         Tēpu (table)

·         Pukapuka (book)

·         Kūaha (door)

·         Whāriki (mat)

·         Kutikuti (scissors)

·         Pepa (paper)

·         Rorohiko (computer)

·         Pene rākau (pencil)

·         Akomanga (classroom)

·         Kaiako (teacher) 

Science in a van

Today we had a special start to the day! We went to the school hall to watch a really cool science experiment. This term our major topic is science, so this was a great start to our work.

We wrote about what we saw and learnt in the hall. Read below for some fantastic writing!

Science in a van
Crack! Crash! Boom! Bash! Alan told us about vibrations. If you get a whip and swing it as fast as 2500 kms it will make a crack noise. I covered my ears because it sounded as loud as a trumpet and glass breaking. It was really LOUD! I loved it.
Bede

Crack, crack, crash boom! What was that? Clack! What was it? Alan held a rope in his hand. Ahhh! Ahhh! It was noisy, ahhh! It had two colours. Aaaaaaah! Crash!
Grace C

We went to the science in a van. Boom, Crash! The whip was so loud. It sounded like a great big loud roar. The twirly whirly was irritating. It looked like a distraction to me. We all looked in the middle. When we stopped looking in the middle everything we saw was different, things were different. But it is so much fun when you are learning new things that you didn't know before.
Ariana

Crack, crash, snap went the whip. It went so fast that it made a big snap! The whips owner was Alan. The other one was Emily.
Matthew

Swirl, swirl, swirl. Today I went to the hall for science in a van. Emily showed us the swirly whirly. When Emily took it away our eyes went funny. Alan showed as the whip. It went whack, whack, whack! And then we left the hall.
Tyler 

What's happening in AS Class 17/05/13

Mrs Saunders was very excited to be back at school today as she missed AS Class very much! We had a supercalifragilisticexpialidocious day looking at photos and learning lots of cool stuff about America and Canada where Mrs Saunders visited.

We made USA flags and made our own Canadian totem poles. Mrs Saunders had a special treat for us too - we got to eat maple syrup cookies made from REAL maple syrup from Canada. They were soooooo yummy that we wanted the recipe for ourselves. Please see below for the recipe that you can follow at home! Have a lovely weekend everybody! See you all on Monday. :-)

Canadian Maple Cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 cup brown sugar, packed

1 egg

1 cup real maple syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup granulated sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets.
2. In a large bowl, cream the butter and brown sugar. Add the egg, syrup and vanilla. Mix until well blended. Sift together the flour, salt and baking soda. Stir into mixture until well blended. Shape into 1 inch balls and roll in sugar. Place on cookie sheets about 2 inches apart and flatten slightly.
3. Bake 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Let cool on wire rack.

Assembly 5/4/13

Last Friday AS Class hosted assembly.

We had 3 hosts - ka pai to Ariana, Addison and Keelan who did a wonderful job!!!!

We also had 4 children who shared their mihimihi in assembly. Well done Noah, Isabelle, Grace and Rylee! You were fantastic! Watch the video below to see them sharing their mihimihi. (The sound quality is low so you will need to turn your computer volume full blast)! :-)

Athletics day

Yesterday was our athletics day. It was a fun but exhausting day! Today we wrote about our experiences of athletics day. Our focus was to use an interesting story starter to grab the readers attention and to use the 5 W's (who, what, when, where, why) and H (how we felt) to include lots of information.

Here are few wonderful examples...(note: ngenge is the Maori word for tired).

Run, jump, throw! Yesterday was a splendid day at Discovery School. Do you know why? Because it was athletics day! 5 year olds, 6 year olds and 7 year olds did games like long jump, high jump, hurdles, shot put, sprints and javelin. It was amazing! Rylee

Run, jump, throw! On Wednesday it was athletics day and we did running, jumping and hurdles at Discovery School. It was all the 7 year olds, 6 year olds and 5 year olds. We did 6 events. After we were ngenge! It was exciting because we watched Garfield after we did athletics! Jack

Phew! Phew! Phew! I'm so tired! On Wednesday it was athletics day. In fact, I was so ngenge because of all the athletics events like shot put and high jump and long jump! Isabelle 

What a splendid day! On 27th March at Discovery School all the juniors had athletics day. 5, 6 and 7 year olds did javelin, shot put, high jump, long jump and hurdles. I felt exhausted! Niamh

WOW! What a splendid, excellent day! Yesterday, on the 27th of March we did athletics. There were six events. We threw, ran and jumped. We did it on Discovery School field. I felt ngenge! Addison

Run, jump, throw! What an exhausting but lovely day yesterday at Discovery School's athletics day. Yesterday was the 27th March. We did javelin, shot put, sprints, hurdles, long jump and high jump. We did six events. 5 year olds, 6 year olds and 7 year olds did it too! We did athletics on the school field. I felt exhausted! Rhian

Run, jump, throw! What an exciting day at Discovery School. The 5 year olds and the 6 year olds and the 7 year olds had athletics day. They did little hurdles and races. It was fun. Lailah

Wow!!! On the 27th of March it was splendid day because it was athletics day at Discovery School. 5 year olds, 6 year olds and 7 year olds participated. We did 6 events. We did shot put and javelin and sprints and hurdles. After all of that I felt tired! Oliver 

Happy Easter everybody!

I hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable Easter break and that the Easter bunny is very generous!

Below are some fun Easter games to play. ENJOY!

Easter Egg Hunt

Easter Egg Designer

What's happening in Maths?

Our class focus at the moment is Place Value.

WALT: Identify ones, tens and hundreds in different numbers.

Below are 2 fun videos, teaching us all about place value. 

Now put your place value knowledge to the test by playing these cool games....

http://www.ictgames.com/dinoplacevalue.html

http://www.ictgames.com/LIFEGUARDS.html

SUPER Verbs!

This week AS Class have been learning about verbs! We call them super verbs because they are words that describe an ACTION! Verbs are 'doing words.' We found that a lot of words are verbs - see if you can spot them in our reading books.

Below is a fun game to practice our verbs and our reading. We LOVE playing this at school (hey, and speaking of love - LOVE is a verb)!!!

http://www.eslgamesplus.com/action-verbs-esl-interactive-grammar-vocabulary-game-present-tense/

Maths Term 1

Our Maths focus this Term is Number Knowledge.

One of things We Are Learning To (WALT) do is order numbers (in both forwards and backwards sequences).

Below is a fun game you can play at home to practice ordering non-sequential numbers. You can adjust the sliders to play with lower and higher numbers. Have fun!!! 

http://www.ictgames.com/caterpillar_slider.html

What's happening in AS Class 6/3/13

Kiaora Everybody!

What a busy term it has been already - we have been super busy at Discovery School. Here are a few highlights so far...

• The Toro Pikopiko Puppet Theatre
• Swimming
• Training for Athletics day
• Getting some class fish
• Learning Te Reo about huarere (weather) 

Now that our blog is up and running we will be regularly updating it so keep checking in to see what has been happening and to see our wonderful work!