Week 8: 8th - 12th September

Kia ora,

Mufti Day - this THURSDAY 11TH September - Gold coin for Cancer Society. 

ODD SHOE DAY this Friday 12th September. 

Only ROOM 7 children can wear odd shoes and socks. 

Yay - Room 7 are allowed to wear odd shoes & socks - we have raised $30 all ready that we will donate to this charity. ($30 from the sale of some of Michelle's ponies). 

Camp Quality is close to my heart I have been a companion twice in the past, my nephew Brad attended a couple of the camps - really amazing time for these children. 

Discussing in groups of 3 - we often work like this. We get into pairs or small groups for discussion, brainstorming and to share each other's ideas. 

Boston kindly brought in this game he had at home POP UP PIRATE - the kids love it! Thanx Mr B!

SUPER SHARP 7, Shkhan and Mitchell for being assertive. (SHARP focus). Also Shkhan is very good at patting people on the back when they get a positive comment or reward. Mitchell is a good role model!

Busy maths bees - doing division.

We might go into boat painting - Giselle's dad is going to be the PROUD recipient of a purple boat for his MAN CAVE (Giselle told me this is where the boat was going!) Enjoy Shane!

So impressed - Archie & Bella cutting out their cue cards & sticking them onto cardboard. 

Love this - Boston watching himself do his speech. The children went into pairs and spent time filming each other practicing their speeches. 

Cam the man & Cam the man!

Enjoy the photos of some of the children doing their speeches.

 Ruby with her soccer ball - with the Wellington Phoenix players running around in the background.

 Awesome to see = Tahirih needed some help - and Shkhan jumped in to help her wrap her present.

 Father's Day goodies.....Emma & Ruby

 You are my sunshine!

 I JUST LOVE THE zzzzzzzz (think that's the snoring lol) I hope you all enjoyed your wee prezzie that your child put together!

HOW COOL IS THIS - I'm at work late at night - and I check the mailbox - look at these 2 notes that made my day/week!!!! Thank you Archie L and Bailey!

I found this and thought it was a really good read and made sense.
Article about how to teach the introvert. .
http://ideas.ted.com/2014/09/02/how-to-teach-a-young-introvert/

I love reading things...and this one I found..it's awesome.
40 things I want to tell my kids before they're too cool to listen..
http://www.marcandangel.com/2014/08/31/40-things-i-want-to-tell-my-kids-before-theyre-too-cool-to-listen/

Welcome to week 7 Tues 2nd Sept - Fri 5th September.

 Hi all - WEEK 7 - and HAPPY SPRING to you all.

I look forward to seeing your lovely children on Tuesday - us teachers will be working hard on Monday (professional development). The children thought it was fab - that Miss Burt will be working the day away!

I recommend for you to come along this Thursday evening, September 4th - (doors open at 6.30pm) - to the talk from the people of Bully free me Wairarapa (link). This night has been highly recommended. Maria McKenzie will be talking from the  Brainwave trust. (link).

Week 6 - a week that will be etched in my memory of being one of my best experiences of this year of working with such an awesome & kind bunch of children!!!!!. Michelle (& her mum Donna) arrived at school  on Thursday with 2 very large containers of toys. Donna suggested that we use the toys for our Auction at the end of the term. .. WOW...huge excitement from Room 7 when they saw the amount of toys.
That afternoon I put it to the children - WHAT DID THEY THINK we could do with these toys? (I could see in their eyes that they could easily have said KEEP THEM FOR US and use for our auction or put in our Room 7 toybox).
WELL....what YOUR children came up with totally blew me away!

Here is Michelle sitting beside the brainstorm that the children came up with - In the middle I had written PASS ON THE KINDNESS...around this bubble is what makes your children SO very special.

- We can give some toys to the children who go to Camp Quality (Camp for children living with cancer)
- Donate some toys to other classes
- Donate to Starship Hospital for the children who are sick
- Give some toys to the Salvation Army
- Give a box of toys to Geoff Walker for the children in Africa
- Give some toys to the Greytown Toy Library or the Kindergarten.
Someone said we could sell the toys - then the conversation turned to the difference between donating, selling and CHARITY! (All led by the children). 
We decided that if we did sell any of the toys the money that was made was then to be donated to a charity. 
The photo below has a few snapshots of conversation that carried on after we had brainstormed what we could do with the toys. 

 Michelle passing on the kindness (& in the childrens' words) - passing on the kindness can cause a boomarang effect - you pass on the kindness, then the next person does, then the next person does etc...and it can be returned to YOU. 

Michelle is opening a present from us to say thank you for her wonderful toys. 

 SUPER SHARP students for week 6 -Sam & Cameron. Both for helping others and being responsible. Well done boys!

Super Bailey - Hero story about Sam. 

Room 7 - a class full of heroes and heroines =) Their hero stories were very touching! We loved sharing them with each other. 

Happy Birthday Bella - Miss 8 year old. 

Maths - what a great brainstorming of words we can use for division. 

 Kuranui College production "The West Side Story" 

we walked down with Totara & Kauri syndicate to see this show. 

Waiting oh so patiently at Kuranui for the show. 

Here we are - yay!

Here's Emma & Koby - Koby had his packet of tissues handy (bless you Koby)....so cute!

West Side Story. Kuranui College. 

Douglas our friend from Room 5 visited us. He just loved the skill saw that Michelle had amongst her toys. 

Look at all these goodies! Thank you Michelle!

Going through all the toys - we put them into piles. Some for us (toybox and auction), some for other classrooms, a box for Africa (Geoff Walker is organising books & toys to go over to Africa). With whole class discussion we decided that if we did sell some of the toys we would donate the money to Camp Quality - Odd Shoe Day which is coming up on Friday September 12th. (more info to come)

Moi recording all the wonderful ideas.

Thinking, chatting, discussing, talking about what charity is...discussing own experiences. 

Yep - I'd like to say...

PASS IT ON...

The happiness of two big containers of toys - and what SUPER SHARP SEVEN did with them xx

FRIDAY FUN!!!!!

Friday fun...milk, food colouring, dishwash liquid and a cotton bud...

Good conversation - what causes the swirling effect when the dishwash is added to the milk. The food colouring is added so that you can see the swirling effect.
http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/lab/experiments/milk-color-explosion

HAVE A GREAT WEEK ALL!
RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS DAY - 1ST SEPTEMBER 2014 - NZ
http://rak.co.nz/

Lost for something to do with the children???

Here are some fun ideas.....
http://www.scholastic.com/parents/resources/article/craft-activities/10-ways-to-entertain-preschooler-and-older-child

Have FUN!

WEEK 6 - August 25th - 29th

Kia ora,
Reminder:
A reminder that the school will be closed on Monday 1st September for a staff professional development day.

Thank you to the parents that have nominated me - very humbling, BUT WHEN I SAW THE SCHOOL CAN WIN PRIZES I'M LIKE RIGHT....LET'S SEE IF WE CAN WIN SOMETHING?
I know last year Deb Dennes who does an amazing job with the Central Regional Health School was a runner up in her category - (Koby's mum) ... inspiration right there!!
When you go onto the link - (should take you right to the vote) you do have to register, if you get lost, go to region: Wellington, school: Greytown, teacher: Miss Burt ;)
You don't have to nominate - just vote.  (Thanking you =)
http://inspiringteachers.co.nz/teacher/302/Rachel-Burt

I love reading, and sometimes just find the right sayings that give me that "aha" moment:
I'd like to share this with you:

"Life is a tapestry of people weaving in and out of your life, people come into your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime. Everyone has something to offer and share with you. Imagine treating every person you encounter, no matter how fleeting, as an intriguing story waiting to be told. But the story can only be told if someone asks to hear it. Will you ask? That person you see standing before you, no matter who they are, young or old, rich or poor, angry or kind, is like a blockbuster movie ready to enthral you. But, first you have to buy a ticket."

What is your story?

• Where were you born?
• Where do you live now?
• What makes you smile?
• What is the most important life lesson you’ve learned so far?
• What is your deepest fear?
• What is your greatest dream for your life?
• Who are you?

WE LOVED HAVING Archie S's Poppa Rex and Nana Margaret in on Friday afternoon - this gave the children a great chance to ask (amazing) questions & to practice taking notes. I was impressed with the level of questions.

Some examples: What did you have to do to reach your dream? 

Ruby L presenting Rex & Margaret with a thank you card.

Thanks for visiting us Nana Margaret & Poppa Rex.

Super SHARP students for week 5 ....were....

Well done to Amy & Claudia - for being SHARP...helping others & telling a teacher when there was a problem. Amy enjoyed her SHARP treat which was helping in Room 3...and Claudia had a bit of free time on the laptop.

WOW Monday morning certificate time.....3 EXCELLENCE  awards went to Caitlin, Ruby M & Koby for fantastic reading logs...all filled out & up to date. Ruby Leigh got the FRIENDSHIP award, Ruby is a super friend & helper in Room 7. Oscar, Theo, Amy, Sam for awesome homework - wow a lot of auction dollars earnt.

Wonderful children who had brought their reading log in this week KEEP UP THE GREAT READING - KOBY HAS NOW READ 150 NIGHTS!!!!

Miss Burt decided last weekend that our Minnie, Mickey, Ted & Paddington Bear were a bit lonely. So we had a draw (homework super people)...and Archie S, Sepp, Bella & Theo got to take them home for the night. Bit of exciting stories the next day telling us what the toys got up to (LOL).

WEEK 5 IN ROOM 7 - ENJOY .......

Staff meeting this afternoon...

We were put on the spot - we had to write & share...(eeek...) Caragh (Ms Briggs) our Environment leader at school asked us to write a piece about what we have done at Greytown School .... we are now  a GREEN/GOLD Enviro School (yay).
P.s....this isn't a finished piece - but we were asked to share it to show our children that we have to write too (hehe).

Nau Mai, Haere Mai

As a staff member & a parent of Greytown School I am very PROUD to say that we are a GREEN/GOLD

Environment School. 
This MEANS that we are as environmentally sustainable as possible.

Now this didn’t happen over night - but it did happen!

What is Sustainability? (link de link!)

Over a number of years, many hardworking souls -  teachers, students, parents and members of our community have worked together to improve Greytown School’s Environment.
This is a venture that started as a group of minds coming together, it is a venture that will continue on into the lives of our future generations.

From crawlies flowing freely in the sparkling, running north creek to the pride of place gateway of tree laden Matariki garden. In between these two magical, mystical places is the gorgeous growing ground of Greytown School - growing  learning, SHARP, experimental, loving, kind  21st century students to work and play amongst a sustainable environment.

Where red and green bins are used to teach children to REUSE, RECYCLE, REDUCE!

Daily visits to busy classrooms to collect food waste, to then be presented to eagerly awaiting hungry worms - the circle of life, they eat...

Worm wees  and crusty compost to lie on top of our gorgeous garden...

The overflowing vegetable garden where golden carrots, crunchy potatoes, leafy green silverbeet, sprightly herbs and pumpkins heave out of their soils to produce hearty soups for children on a cold winter’s morn. These same vegetables are baked or cooked by the super hero Mrs Heard, who with her sleeves rolled up, she digs in, digging up the vegetables with a group of studious Environment group students.

The life cycle...we plant, we grow, we eat…

We want our children to be living in an environment like we were..

clean, green, mean machines!

Week 4 (2nd edition)...

Hi all - I am feeling much better and spent some good hours in school today - missed my Room 7! Wow - neat to see the work the children have done with Mrs Hopkins & Mrs Walker! Well done Room 7 =)

WOW such SUPER SHARP homework over $150 auction dollar students!

Bella being a busy bee - using Pic Collage on the ipad after reading an article (non-fiction reading). 

Smile on your dile - thank you Michelle. Miss Burt was in school today, Sunday and WOW to get such a neat cheer me up picture in the class letterbox =) thank you!

Ruby M - what a super duper GET WELL CARD...you'll be working for Hallmark before we know it!

A nice shoot, bang, hit...get well picture from Boston - love it! I love the read & black rainbow!

SHARP STUDENT (for week 4) Mr Koby Dennes for displaying being SHARP in telling a teacher.  

HOMEWORK: Because I only just got the homework books marked today (Sunday) - I'm not sure if the children have done their spelling partner testing...(I'll have to check with the children 2moro)

SO...

this week - I will give the children a syllable activity to do and also to keep working on getting INFORMATION, INFORMATION, INFORMATION for their speech..

I was blown away today - some children have got a lot of information for their speech! WOW - EEE......

Have a good week all - and remember to check the new links on the righthand side on here, the blog... =)

Enjoy Room 7's wonderful writing & ipad links. 

Finally remember there is a teacher only day on Monday 1st September.  School will be closed for teacher professional development.