Snails by Anthony

Anthony knows a lot about minibeasts. He wrote this report about snails. Listen to him sharing some interesting facts.

The playground by Eunji

Eunji enjoys going to the playground. Listen to her read her story about what she played on at the playground.

Our boat

Every Friday morning when we publish our work orally the rest of the class work very quietly in our classroom. Usually we are involved in one or two of the following things - finishing art work, making insects, drawing images on KidPix, using the mimio board, playing with our class toy cars and constructing the most interesting things with the blocks. Our latest block creation has been a class boat - one that many of us could sit inside.

Watch the video below of us in our boat as we proudly announced that we had made the boat.

When asked where this boat could take them ....... they replied to......
* butterfly land where you could see the most amazing butterflies
* candy land where you could eat everything you saw
* Disneyland
* to a land of interesting minibeasts.

The plane by Mihai

Mihai enjoys being videoed. Listen to him telling us he is in the plane. Well done Mihai

I like...... By Pia

At the beginning of this term Pia wrote this story about what she likes.

The differences between a moth and a butterfly

Here are some more of our drawings on KidPix that show the differences between moths and butterflies.
Jayden


Isabel


Gabriel


Eunji

A beautiful butterfly

On the last Monday of the school term an exciting thing happened in Room2. We arrived at school to find that a butterfly had emerged from its chrysalis over the weekend and was busy drying its wings. Once everyone had arrived at school we took some time to observe our beautiful butterfly. We then took it outside to watch it fly away. We know that our beautiful butterfly is a female (girl) beacause she didn't have the black spots on her back wings.

The differences between a moth and a butterfly

As promised here our some of our KidPix images we drew to show the similarities and differences between a moth and a butterfly.
Deborah


Anthony


Adriel


Aesop

A praying mantis

As the term has progressed we have all become quite fond of minibeasts. Isabel enjoyed having this praying mantis crawl on her

The praying mantis

Mrs David our student teacher taught us a lot about the praying mantis. She showed us this utube video.



As a class we made a describe map about the praying mantis and from this we wrote about it. To consolidate our learning we put labels on a diagram of a praying mantis using an activity on the mimio board. This diagram will be placed at the end of our published piece of writing about the praying mantis. Next term we hope to record some of us reading our information reports.

A caterpillar by Aesop

Aesop wrote about a caterpillar. He is gaining confidence in sharing his ideas - well done Aesop

Weekly update

Week 11 marked the end of our first term of the 2011 school year. It has been a very action packed term. As we headed off for a two week break we took a little break from our study on minibeasts and looked at how we could be firewise.
We looked at .......
* the importance of smoke detectors in our homes
* what to do if we woke and heard the beep, beep of a smoke detector
* the importance of keeping down low and getting out FAST
* the importance of having a safe meeting place outside where the family would meet if there was ever a fire in the house
* the importance of not stopping to collect favourite toys or clothes
* only ringing 111 in an emergency


We read a shared book about how a family was firewise and we used a mimio activity to retell the story.




We also had a visit from the firemen from the Takapuna fire station. They showed us a smoke detector and we spotted one in our classroom. They also showed us a video of how quickly a small fire can grow into a much bigger fire.




As they talked to us all of sudden they had to dash away to a call out. When they returned we looked at their fire engine. Do you know what the firemen keep in their pockets? We do - their gloves - can you see them in the photo below.



As we headed off on our holiday we took a book about being Firewise home to share with our families as it is important for all of us to be FIrewise - adults and children alike.

A caterpillar by Pia

Listen to Pia reading her information report about a caterpillar.

A caterpillar by Isabel

Listen to Isabel reading her latest piece of writing.

An information report about a caterpillar by Adriel

Adriel wrote an information report about a caterpillar. What interesting facts did he share?

Welcome to our class Alina

Alina is new to our class and this is the first video she has made. Well done Alina.

The life cycle of the butterfly

Over the past few weeks we have been drawing the life cycle of the butterfly on KidPix.
Pia


Isabel


Finlay


Now we have completed our images and we will over time use these images to explain the life cycle. We started with Jayden and a lot of us are keen to have a turn. Look out for these recordings in the weeks to follow.

Caterpillar Report by Simaima

Listen to Simaima reading the report she wrote about a caterpillar.

A snail by Alina

When Alina came to school for a visit, we were learning and writing about snails. Alina drew this fantastic snail on KidPix. Well done.

Weekly update

This week we have compared the butterfly with the moth. We read a book that told us a lot of facts about the smilarities and differences between a butterfly and a moth. As we read the book we made a T chart on the whiteboard.



We used the mimio board to reinforce our learning.



Some of us also used a Venn Diagram to show the similarities and differences.


Next week we will draw a moth and butterfly on KidPix to show you all what we have learnt.

We finished the caterpillars we had been making with Mrs David our student teacher. At our junior school assembly we showed our caterpillars and recited a caterpillar poem. It goes like this. Caterpillar, caterpillar crawling on the wall. Caterpillar, caterpillar crawl, crawl, crawl.


Friday was Mrs David's last day and we thanked her for all the work she has down with us over the past four weeks.

Snails by Eunji

Listen to Eunji read her report about snails. What do each of the tentacles do?

Snails by Nancy

Listen to Nancy read the facts she wrote about snails.

Minibeasts by Finlay

Earlier in the term we wrote about minibeasts. Listen to Finlay read his work.

Minibeasts by Isabel

Earlier in the term Isabel wrote some facts about some minibeasts. Listen to Isabel read her work.

Snails by Mihai

Miahi made this snail using a sock. He is gaining confidence in sharing his ideas in English - well done

Snail report by Deborah

Listen to Deborah read her information report about a snail.

Table tennis

Last week we had a session learning about touch rugby, this week we had a session learning about table tennis. Below are some fun filled video's of our session. Enjoy

Here we are learning to balance the ball on our rackets.


Here is Anthony concentrating as he balances the table tennis ball on his racket.




Here is Finlay hitting the ball into the basket - success is wonderful.

Grandparents day

A big thank you to all the grandparents and special friends who joined us in room two on Wednesday.

Weekly update

This week we have continued to learn about the life cycle of the butterfly and used a mimio activity to reinforce our learning. When our Grandparents and special friends joined us at school on Wednesday, together we made a life cycle mobile.

It was a real treat to have our grandparents at school and we used the opportunity to show them how to complete the mimio activity on the life cycle. We were the experts and had to show our grandparents how to use the mimio pen.



Watch this video of the photos taken of our Grandparents and special friends using the mimio board



This week - one of our munching, crunching caterpillars finally decided to hang from a leaf - unfortunately it never made a 'j' only a 'l' and it died.



Finlay's Nana heard of our very sad story and kindly brought in a chrysalis for us - everyone was very excited. We just have to remember to look with our eyes and not to touch the chrysalis.



Near the end of the week - another one of our munching, crunching caterpillars decided to hang from a leaf - and we all gave it firm instructions that it had to make a j and not a l. Well I'm pleased to report it did make a J and made itself a chrysalis.



We have worked out that all going well it should hatch just before we go on holiday in two weeks time.

We have continued to work on our 'Eric Carle' inspired collage caterpillars. They are quite time consuming - but we think they will look fantastic when they are finished. The photo below is of Eunji's caterpillar under construction.