Week 7
Just a reminder - we have the Junior Athletics Day this Friday.  The activities will start at 9:30 and finish at approximately 10:45.  It would be great to see you there.  
Ice blocks will be available at morning tea time.

Week 6

The start of another exciting week!   

We have started swimming - the water is warm once the children get in and move around.  We are very lucky to have swimming instructors in on a Wednesday and Friday.  The children are really benefitting from their expertise.

Sports Tasters

On Tuesday we have a second session learning netball skills.   Oops cancelled due to the rain!

Then we have 3 sessions of hockey - the children will have the opportunity to learn some of the basic skills involved in this sport.

Here are some of our photos and thought about hockey.

Jilian - I learnt to dribble the ball with the hockey stick.

Sosaia - when you play hockey you have to hit the ball with the flat side of the stick.

Israel - I learnt zig zags with the ball.

Rayan - I learnt how to hold the hockey stick.

Devin - you can't hit the ball with the curved side of the stick, you  have to use the flat side.

Analise - we learnt lots of skills.

Maddie - I learnt the strong position.

Hunter - I learnt how to hit the ball around cones.

Sanura - you have to hold the top of the hockey stick with your left hand and the middle of the stick with your right hand.

Roman - you are not supposed to bend your back, you are supposed to bend your knees.

Hanna - I learnt to hold the hockey stick correctly.

Hunter Leigh - Stuart taught us to do hockey a certain way.

Amarni - you have turn the hockey stick around from side to side.

Ahurei - you use you left hand to turn the hockey stick side to side.

Lattrell - I liked it because I learnt a new skill.

Aryan - I learnt how to dribble the ball with the hockey stick.

Week 4

Swimming

Your child needs to bring his/her swimming gear (togs,towel and sweatshirt) every day to school.  Please make sure it is named as this makes it easier to return lost items.

In Week 5 we will be having set times for swimming lessons.

Week 3

The  children  shared what they did on the weekend.  A number of children went swimming - this must mean summer is coming.  Our swimming pool has been filled and as soon as it starts to get warmer a notice will come home about the days we will be swimming.

Calendar Art

On Wednesday the children will be bringing home the order form and a small photocopy of their calendar art.   This needs to be returned to the office with your money if you wish to place an order.

Athletics

Our class will be developing their different athletic skills over the next few weeks.  It is important that children wear appropriate clothing that they can run, jump and throw in.

Adam Thomas Football Session

Our class had fun playing football training games. Your child will bring home information about an after school football training programme being held at our school.  Here are some pictures ...

Ice Skating Fun

The children had so much fun - it was a really great experience.  Here are some of the pictures and a few of the comments from the children.   Their writing is on display in the classroom - please come in and have a read.

Term 4

I hope you all had a fun and relaxing break.   I had a new granddaughter born during the holidays so it was great to spend time with her.

We have a busy term - please check the school newsletter and calendar for confirmation of dates and events.   Here are some dates you might need:

Friday October 14                 Ice Skating Fund Raiser
Friday November 25             Junior School Athletics
Tuesday 6 December           Junior Syndicate Fun Day
Tuesday 13 December         End of year celebration
Thursday 15 December        Last day of school 
   

Week 7

The children are looking forward to the school's Cross Country event to be held on Tuesday 6 September up at the University.  We would love you to come and support the children on their cross country run.  

Also on the same day, the Run-a-thon prize draw will be held in the afternoon.

Run-a-thon

The children recorded their thoughts about the run-a-thon on to pic collage and added some pictures of themselves.  Come and check these out in the classroom.

Week 4

The children are busy training for our school cross country run.  They are learning how to keep a steady pace when they are jogging or power walking.

Reminder - School Runathon on Friday 26.  Refer to the school newsletter for information on this exciting event,

Math - our focus this week is on equal sharing and using our 2x, 5x and 10 x tables to help us solve division problems.

Ronald McDonald

The children enjoyed the road safety presentation by Ronald McDonald.   He reminded us about how to cross the road safely, walk on the house side of the pavement and to look for sneaky driveways.

We used Pic Collage to make posters about what we had learnt.

Term 3

Welcome back - I hope everybody had a relaxing holiday.

There are lots of things planned for this term - please check the school newsletter and calendar for dates and events.

Week 8

                Fete de la Musique - World Music Day

On Tuesday our school celebrated the Fete de la Musique at playtime.  It was great to see so many children playing instruments.  We had two special musicians - Israel and Michael - who joined in this celebration.

 

Week 7

In Math this week, Room 4 is learning how to tell the time on analogue clocks - o'clock and half past the hour,

www.abcya.com/telling_time.htm

Our Topic focus this week - looking at the Famous New Zealanders we have on the outside of our our learning areas.   These special New Zealanders were chosen because we believe they have made a positive difference to the lives of others.

Matariki

The children have spent the week exploring Matariki - reading stories, listening to legends, string games, singing.

We talked about the traditional uses of Matariki and the way we celebrate it today.

 In groups, the children created posters about Matariki.

Project Energize 4 Food Groups

Renee played a game of "Snacks and Ladders" with our class today. 

The children showed they remembered all the four food groups we need to eat everyday to keep our body healthy and energised. 

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Week 5
This is an exciting week for Room 4 - Book Week.   We are listening to stories from other cultures, sharing our own special books with the class, finding out about different authors, dressing up as a book character and much more.

Last week we started to learn Mandarin in our class.  We have a wonderful teacher - Zhang Ting.  This week we learnt to count to 10 in Mandarin.

Stories from other Cultures

Mr Clark shared a story from Scotland with the children - he tried to convince them that haggis would be a yummy meal.  I don't think the children were really convinced!

Rita came in and shared a fable in Hindi with our room.  She talked to us about the way Hindi is written.  We also learnt to say "hello" नमस्तेnamasteand "thank you"        

"धन्यवाद्" (dhanyavaad) "thank you".

Adu's mother read us some Indian fables about animals from a book called : "Stories from Panchatantra" .
We found out that the Tamil language is one of the oldest languages in the world.  The children asked her some interesting questions about India - we found out that the tiger is their national animal an the peacock is their national bird.

Week 4

Class photographs are being taken on Wednesday morning. Order forms were sent home last Wednesday - if you wish to place an order, please send the envelope and the money to the office before Wednesday morning.

Our focus for this week is Fairy Tales.  On Wednesday. the Hillcrest High School Drama students will be performing "Twisted Fairy Tales" for us to watch.  

We have been exploring some of the traditional fairy tales and how these could be changed.

Week 3

We had a visit from the Fireman Mike today.  He revisited the information we had learnt about being Firewise.  The Room 4 students knew all the answers to his questions!  He was very impressed with their answers and behaviours.

Fireman Mike asked "What does a fireman do?"

Firemen do lots of jobs - putting out fires, going to car crashes, helping people who have heart attacks.

We watched a video about a fire caused by a candle.  

  A candle should never be lit and left by an open window and a curtain.  You need to stay in the room with a lit candle - blow it out if you leave the room.

Fireman Mike told us a story about a girl whose house caught on fire.
The girl heard the smoke alarm and climbed out her bedroom window and went to her safe meeting place.

We learnt how to write a thank you letter to Fireman Mike.

We did some fantastic writing, posters and artwork to celebrate what we learnt about Firewise.

Hulu Hooping Demonstration by Annalise

I showed the class how to do hula hooping because I wanted them to get better at it.  About 10% of the class didn't really know how to hula hoop at all.

If you want to get better at it, you need to practice, practice, practice.

I hope the class loved my hula hooping.        

Week 2

We will be continuing our learning about Firewise.   We had a whole school fire drill last week - the children were amazing the way they knew what to do.  The whole school moved to the cricket pitch (our meeting place) in about three minutes.

This week is also NZ Sign Language Week - we will be discussing who uses sign language and its importance as one of NZ's three official languages.  Here is a link http://deaf.org.nz/nzslw - On this page there is a sign Ninja Game you might wish to explore.

Welcome Back - Term 2

I hope everyone had a relaxing and enjoyable time over the holidays!

We have a busy term - remember to check the School Calendar and Newsletter for dates and special events.

For the first three weeks, the Junior classes are involved in the "Get Firewise" programme.  A covering letter and Get Firewise Family Book/DVD will be sent home.  This book offers ideas and tips on how you and your family can work together to be fire safe.

Hot Air Balloon Visit to Our School

We saw a hot air balloon being inflated on our school field,  These are our thoughts about the visit we had today.

When the flames went up it was very loud - Devin

It was very exciting when we got to climb up and look inside the basket - Israel

The fire looked amazing - Rayan

I liked the part when they pumped up the balloon because it was so enourmous - Aryan

I liked it when the the man when the man went up in the balloon - Lattrell

The fire was neat because it was warm - Veitomoni

I liked it when the man was bouncing in the basket - Israel

looking inside the basket - there were gas tanks in the basket - Hunter

Israel won the Credit Union colouring in competition.  He was very excited and loved his prizes especially the $50 voucher.

Chinese New Year 

Our class had a fantastic experience with Zhang Ting, the new Mandarin teacher - we learnt about Chinese culture and how the Chinese New Year is celebrated.   We ate dumplings, used chopsticks, kicked a shuttlecock, tried brush writing and solved lantern riddles.  

Week 2

Maddie brought her 3 month old cockatiel into the classroom.  The children asked lots of questions about Mango - he got his name because he looked like a Mango when Maddie's family first brought him home.   They are teaching him to talk.  Hopefully Maddie will bring him for another visit later in the year.

First Week Back

Welcome to Room 4's Blog - this is a fantastic way for us to share our learning and thinking with each other and our parents/caregivers.

I hope you had a relaxing holiday and are ready for a great year of learning, exploring and thinking.

An awesome class and an awesome week.  We have welcomed three new students to our school and we have spent time this week getting to know each other..