Week 3 over and out - Welcome to week 4..

Congratulations to the children who made it into interschool cross country - this event is held at Kahuatara School on Wednesday 17th June and postponement 19th June.
I was most impressed with the EFFORT of the Room 7 children at our cross country - well done to those children who participated in the run.
We will be doing training at school, a set programme for the children going through to interschool and the other children will be doing a PE circuit with the rest of the syndicate.

CONTRACTIONS ----we have been learning. Here are some learning games - below:
http://www.learninggamesforkids.com/vocabulary_games/contractions.html

Some good maths ideas for skip counting...you might remember doing a few yourself ;)

Whisper Count

This is an activity which assists children to move from orally counting by ones to skip counting. When counting from the starting number to the finishing number the children whisper the numbers that are not part of the count and say loudly the numbers that are part of the count. For example: If counting by twos the children would whisper the odd numbers and say loudly the even numbers (in bold): 1 2 3 45 67 8 9 10.

In the following example the students are using Whisper Count to count by twos starting at 2 and stopping at 20.

Initially, record all the numbers from 2 to 20.

2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  11  12  13  14  15  16  17  18  19  20

Have your child circle the numbers that are part of counting by twos, starting with two.

Starting at one, you and your children whisper the odd numbers and say loudly the even numbers forwards from 2 to 20 and then count backwards from 20 to 2. Gradually increase the range.

Starting, finishing and counting sequences can be changed according to the needs of your children.

How far can you go?

Give your children  a strip of coloured paper or a roll of paper. They record a counting sequence as far as they can. You can assign the counting sequence and starting number or may allow them to choose their own. You can restrict the amount of time spent on this activity or allow children to explore the pattern as far as they are able. Writing the numbers vertically assists the students to focus on any patterns that are formed.

After students have completed their strips you might ask questions such as:

• What pattern did you notice when counting by fives?
• When counting by fives would the number 70 be part of your counting pattern? How do you know?
• What if you were counting by fives and started at 135 what would the next few numbers be?
• What if you were counting backwards by fives from 90 what would the next few numbers be?

HOMEWORK this week I have added this odd/even number sheet - please talk about these numbers with your child as a lot of are still confused. We are doing work in class. 

Knowing odd/even numbers help with their maths. Plus the game we play which says "go to the next even number - go to the next odd number".

A little word on homework - I am still doing auction $$ as an incentive - please help your child to REMEMBER to bring their homework back on Fridays. We do spelling testing and they need their homework book as it has their weekly words in.

Thank you to the SIX children who did all their homework last week.

Look at these gorgeous faces =) HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!! (Nanna's day)

The ASK ME children - each day 2 children wear the ask me tags - they are the go to children for help.

We had a big discussion about our learning and how we learn. We discussed that EFFORT is so important, the children did amazing brainstorming about what they can do if they are stuck. That we just don't ask for help - what are the strategies that you can use?

1 of the best teacher you will ever learn from - mistake! Meet Miss Take =) the children liked this.

 BUSY BUSY BEES.....the children are doing their writing to Abby's Aunt Amy and Uncle Matt.

 Here's Abby and Daisy busy writing....

 Olivia very focused (SHARP student)....on the iPad

 THUMBS UP for our visitor from Australia- ADI! Adi is an ex student of Greytown School and Room 7 was one of her old classrooms. Fancy that!

The little black box - Miss Burt places something in here - The children use the green thinking hat (De Bono's thinking skills)...they think, pair then share what they think could be in there. Some great thinking going on!

Midweek smile...

Kia ora,

We have been writing about YOU Mums & Nanna...

Here's a few sentences I had to share =) made me smile!

I know my mum is smart because I asked her how to spelll Godzilla and she told me.

My mum is special to me because if I wasn't born my mum wouldn't love me. 
I know my mum loves me because I am her lovely daughter and I wouldn't love her if I wasn't born. 

I know my mum is very smart because she went to school and listened to her teacher. (Well done Sally!). And well done to Frankie - My mum is very smart because she always listened so that is how she is very smart. 

My mum is good at many things ... 1 thing she's BEST at is putting on pretty make up. 

And Sally again....My mum is best at make up.

My mum is special because she has a TRUE LOVE!

I know my mum is very smart because she does not need a cook book to serve up dinner ;) (Well done Penny!).

My mum is special to me because she has a BIG heart. 

I was reading a good article about raising happy & smarter children...I thought I'd share this paragraph as I think it's important (especially in the classroom and of course for home):

4.  Praise your children for their effort, not their intelligence.

When you praise a child’s efforts you are bringing attention to something they can easily control — the amount of effort they put in.  This is immensely important because it teaches them to persist, and that personal growth through hard work is possible.  They come to see themselves as “in control” of their success in life.

Emphasising God-given intelligence takes progress out of your child’s control, and it provides no good recipe for responding to a failure.  In turn, your child may begin to think that innate intelligence is always going to be a missing ingredient for them, and disregard the importance of their effort to learn and grow.

With that said, a word to the wise: Don’t over-praise your children for no reason.  Make sure your gestures of praise are warranted.  Because if every single move your child makes is based only on rewards like constant praise, when the praise stops, the effort stops too.  And that’s not good because it means they won’t be able to perform well when you’re not around.

The best thing to do?  Again, praise purposefully when it’s truly warranted.  And when your child gets stuck, give them a chance to learn that frustrating issues can be worked through.

Cross country - what a day! And ...welcome to week 3

Kia ora - week 2 over and done with =)
This week is ROAD SAFETY week - a competition will be going home with your child tomorrow - your child can do it and return it any time during the week and once I have them all in - I'll post them
GOOD LUCK!!
http://www.brake.org.nz/roadsafetyweek

To look forward to: This Thursday from 2pm Room 7 will be doing HOCKEY SKILLS with Sharon Gates. Sharon is a brilliant hockey coach and works for Hockey Wairarapa.
We are very lucky to be given this opportunity - your child/ren will remember this from last year (if they were at our school ;)
They don't need to bring anything as it's all supplied - JUST REMEMBER TO WEAR SHOES ON THAT DAY. The children have to wear shoes for hockey skills. 
This hockey programme runs for 4 weeks with a hockey festival at the end of the weeks.

Chinese - Mandarin lessons will continue from this Friday. The children are REALLY enjoying doing calligraphy with Zhangzhang - they write with a special brush and water on special paper ;)
We also have  a new song-ask you child if they can sing it to you ;) YOU ARE GOING TO LOVE IT!!!!!!!

What a day today was - Cross Country at Barton's farm. Enjoy the photos!

Mid-week week2

Our school garden - we are lucky enough to have had Mrs (Ruth) Evans - an awesome Nanny to some of our children at school volunteer to take small groups of children and work with them in the garden or potting shed.
4 children have been chosen to work with Ruth tomorrow (for about 20 minutes) - (we will change the children over the next few weeks).
I had a lot of children wanting to be the first in the gardening group so I had a group of children write a persuasive letter to me - telling me why I should choose them.
If you click on the link to the right of here....."The children's work" you can read some of the letters.
http://greytown7.blogspot.co.nz/p/the-childrens-work.html

If you click on this link this will take you to when KIDS CAN COOK KITCHEN was at our school last term. You can then watch the video of what the children did when Chris was working with them.

http://www.marketground.co.nz/greytownschool

Link straight to the video

http://www.marketground.co.nz/video.asp?v=8p8MbLWlcZM

Week 2, term 2...

Kia ora and welcome to week 2 in SUPER SHARP SEVEN.

CROSS country - this Wednesday (let's see how Mr Weather holds out), the school app will have an update on the morning telling us whether it is on or not. Postponement day is Friday.

On Wednesday remember to pack: A good hearty lunch, water bottle, some $ to spend at the fundraising food stall, sneakers, a change of footwear if want, plastic bag for muddy gear, warm jacket and a great SHARP attitude.
If you are coming (picnic with child/ren - bring something to sit on). 

Children can wear their HOUSE COLOUR t-shirt. If you're not sure of their house colour please ask me, most children know. 
Arawa = blue. Takitimu = red. Aotea = green. Tainui = yellow
Please - if your child hasn't returned their slip with how they are getting to and from cross country please send it to school on Tuesday.

Anzac Day - thank you to the children who turned up on Saturday to represent our school and community. The children who carried the crosses for the fallen soldiers did so with the utmost respect.
The photos in the slideshow show both our school ceremony on Friday and the Greytown ceremony on Saturday.You will see some of the photos have been taken in our school hall - we read the names of the WW1 soldiers that attended Greytown School. The children quickly recognised some of the surnames as Street names in Greytown. It was a wonderful talk and history being discussed.


This video is one I showed the children, about 2 young boys who grew up together and went to war together.
While the children were writing their letters home from their trenches - we watched and listened to this clip.
Jack and Tom is a short film created by the students of Miranda Public School and Port Hacking High School to commemorate the 100th ANZAC Day.

WRITING home from our trenches - the children wrote letters home (pretending they were writing from the 1st world war =( On Friday we then stained the letters to make them look old - 100 years old =)
While the children sat in their trenches we had background war sounds being played.
Thanks to Axel - who was awarded the Victory Cross for saving Miss Burt.

More photos:


I loved the comments after the children got up from their trench "oooh I have a sore..."

MARVELLOUS MATHS...we have now started our numeracy topic of addition and subtraction. We are relating a lot of this to real life problems. Throughout the day we have a little maths spot that comes out of that magic teaching/learning moment.

Time to sign off - to end this blog spot I must say: Amelia and I had a fabulous time visiting the Gallipoli exhibition and "The Great War exhibition" in Wellington- very timely. I would love to have had all of Room 7 with me - totally amazing. Here's a couple of my own snaps from "The Great War exhibition" ...

The children were a bit lucky on Thursday as Olivia's mum & dad brought in a yummy surprise for the children to celebrate Olivia's 9th birthday...

On that note...

Cross-country notice

Hi all and welcome to the middle of the first week =)

I did this activity today with Room 7 and I'm so pleased I did. I've found out information that is really going to help me with some of the children.

I love one of the I wishes....that my teacher knew how to do cartwheels!!!!!! 

I have written one back to the children - "I wish my class knew...."

A notice went home today about cross country next Wednesday - check the school bag ;)

ANZAC DAY this Saturday - thank you to the children who have returned their notice about representing a fallen soldier on Saturday.

I will be at the World War 1 memorial (Entrance to Greytown Park) at 10am. 

A quick snapshort of our FIRST DAY back - look at all these fantastic 50 night readers!!!!

 Seb has reached 25 nights and a bit over now - yay Seb!!

 Jethro leading the school Karakia - (caught ya chair student).

 Toby had a big 8th birthday in the holidays.

 And....our 1st SHARP student for Term 2 - achievement in auction dollars. Olivia got the highest amount of dollars....$1500!!

INteractive trench video - children seemed to like this..
http://www.bbc.co.uk/guides/z8sssbk#z8444wx

Welcome back - term 2 - off we go

Kia ora....

TERM 2 - 11 WEEKS...WOOHOO!!

CROSS COUNTRY - lock the date in - Wednesday 29th April.
Hope your child has been doing lots of running around during the holidays ;) I have! ;)

We are so lucky to be able to use the Barton's farm land....look at the view!

For our new families this is a lovely day for the children, bring a picnic and sit alongside your child while they await their run and relax afterwards ;)

ANZAC DAY.

Please see previous blog (below) 

We will be doing a lot of discussion on Anzac Day this week. 

I have some good clips I will show the children so will share some on here. 

Please remember that Monday 27th April - there is no school as it's Anzac day observed.

(1st time in NZ)

WEARABLE ARTS...

I hope you've all got your creative hats on ;)

The children will start their sketches of what they'd like to do for our 'circus theme'

I still need help with some "fabulous circus music"........

By the end of the term we will have made our wearable arts - and this will lead into a syndicate show next term. 

Wish us well ;) 

PLEASE PLEASE we need all your old junk - ANYTHING! 

Material - wool - string - old socks - stockings - hats - shells - milk bottle lids (clean) - plastic - netting - anything......

PE - In weeks 4, 5 and 6 we will be doing hockey skills with Sharon from Hockey Wairarapa. 

The school participated in this last year and the students loved it. 

Chinese lessons - Zhang Zhang  will continue to teach Mandarin on Fridays. 

This term will also see the children presenting speeches and presenting keynotes based on their Inquiry topic. Phew-wee a lot to do....but so exciting!!

You will see on the wall in Room 7 the outline of all subject areas, this shows what we will be covering this term. 

Here's to a great term!

See you all on Monday - Love Miss Burt =)

A cool little activity you too can do at home:

Choose a number -now follow the steps below .... 

Start with an easy number then try a tricky one.