Week NINE - 30 June - 4 July-Last week of term 2.

Kia ora & welcome to the last week of Term 2!
Matariki - TUESDAY - come along it's a special time at school - up bright & early (with a hot chocolate afterwards & a sausage =)
"On Tuesday morning at dawn or 7.00 a.m. we will celebrate Matariki. Dawn is significant as the star cluster is just rising above the horizon. Matariki is the Maori celebration of a new year. The focus is on the Year 8s as they prepare for a new stage in their lives next year. Everyone however is welcome. The Kapa Haka group will be involved and the Year 8s will plant some trees in the Matariki Garden."
Tuesday afternoon we will be doing some Matariki work with our buddy class Room 14 (yrs7-8).

Keynotes - we will be presenting these this week - a busy week ahead with having to write goals as well!

SUCCESS!! 100% in partner spelling tests each week! WOWEE!

WELL DONE...Theo, George, Boston, Archie S & Cameron =)

SHARP - Week 6 SHARP students were: Ruby M, Amy W, George Cheshoare.
Well done for showing respect to adults, using your manners & being polite.

SUPER SHARP - George, Amy & Ruby M

Ruby with her SHARP morning tea

George & mates with SHARP fish n chips.

Loving it!

Our new SHARP focus will be showing PRIDE in our school environment and showing RESPECT to our caretaker & cleaner. Room 7 are very good at keeping their room & cloakbay tidy (mind you it is a lot of reminding!). BUT overall I'm very proud to Room 7 and the way they are showing respect and pride.
The whole school are still on trial re: The 12.15 lunch bell - at this stage we are letting the children go as soon as the bell goes (it is their responsibility to pick up rubbish etc...).

10 pin bowling. On Friday the children had a go at bowling - and I'm pleased to say I got a good score (LOL).
Shkhan is part of a writing group and one of his activities was to write the rules for bowling and make a set of skittles and revamp the game. Angie who works with Shkhan had a real bowling ball at home so she brought this in. Room 7 were lucky to have a go at the game - and the highest score won...

Shkhan & Ruby with the bowling ball.

KIA KAHA:  A very good first session with Constable Keely - Keely was impressed with the way Room 7 spoke and answered questions. On Monday we have our 2nd session.

Reading a story ... 

Constable Keely was just awesome with Room 7 - great discussion. 

On that note THANK YOU to the children who completed their KIA KAHA homework - talking about things at home. We had a good sharing session today with the children reading out 1 thing from each category. 

The children have been busy making THANK YOU cards for some people who have helped out this term. 1. Jenni Lambert who helps with the basic facts testing each week - yay! 2. Carolyn who helps with the Rainbow Reading programme. 3. Sharon from Wairarapa Hockey 4. LIONS readers. 

Saturday I will be attending a course exploring PMP: Perceptual Motor Programme (PMP)
This course was amazing and had me thinking about a lot of children in Room 7. =)

MUFTI DAY for Tom =)

Cool mufti day kids!

WE ROCK!

Shoe rack looking quite different on mufti day.

Tangram maths work.

Well done Monet you completed the puzzle

The children worked very well with Ms MacKenzie last Tues/Thurs and produced some good Greytown legends (about how Greytown was named) - these were made up by the children. You will see them hanging in our window.

CHECK the window out with our legend stories about how Greytown was named. We made up our own stories. 

Week 8 = 23-27th June

Kia ora,
Wow what a week in Room 7 =) As usual - awesome students! We had ERO (Education Review Office) visiting our school during the week - and I was so PROUD of Room 7 on Tuesday. We had a review  officer in our classroom for just over an hour and the children were AWESOME!
Special mention to Archie L who answered a few questions and was able to articulate what he was doing.
And...I loved the fact that one of our girls went up to the officer and told her that she was pretty - Bless!

SUPER SHARP SEVEN hosting syndicate assembly last Tuesday - a very good assembly with amazing SHARP behaviour (manners) by all. Room 7 children spoke very well!

SHARP STUDENTS FOR WEEK 7 - Congrats to Caitlin & Shkhan - building others up. Caitlin for success in academic areas (as well as SHARP building others up!).

SHARP STUDENTS = Shkhan & Caitlin.
I hope they enjoyed their SHARP rewards: Shkhan chose hot dog n chips for lunch & Caitlin chose special morning tea. Caitlin had to eat her special morning tea at Interschool X-country.

Keynotes:  "Was Maui A Scientist?" presentation - you may of heard your child talking about this - the children are working in pairs (a couple on their own) to present a keynote to display their big questions & 2 smaller questions regarding a form of science or related to: Was Maui was a scientist?
At this stage they have their questions sorted and now have to find the answers to these questions.
They will be researching using the internet and books (and people skills - that's where home comes in handy!).

Health: Kia Kaha: We started this on Thursday with a fantastic discussion/brainstorming with questions presented for Constable Keely on Monday. Keely will be talking about what bullying is and the different forms of bullying.
I'm very PROUD to say that the introduction lesson for Kia Kaha - relates very well to what we have done in our SHARP lessons re: relating to others and how we are all different. Respecting others differences.

Singing ra whanau ki a koe (happy birthday) to Claudia. 

PE: Hockey Skills - a really good session with Sharon on Thursday. The children were learning to push the ball (not just whack it!!!) then stop the ball that had been passed to them.
Sharon did a neat drill where she would push the ball down the centre & the children working in pairs had to try and hit the ball that was coming down the centre. A few on target!

Getting ready for a game of hockey.

Who is winning blue bands or no bands?

Maths: We have finished add/sub and will now be working on 2D/3D shapes. Add/sub is continuous in the basic facts and day-day life.
Youtube clip that shows 3D shapes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cg-Uc556-Q
Any work you do at home on this topic will help your child in class =) There are lots of clips on youtube. But also looking around our environment.

Here is a good link for you to look at which explains the numeracy/maths stages.
http://nzmaths.co.nz/new-zealand-number-framework

Writing: Tonight I have sat and read/marked the childrens' latest narratives: Mixed up fairy tale - which had to have: Hansel & Gretel (main characters), three little pigs (other characters), a cave which needs a password (setting) and a fire breathing dragon (the problem).

Huge successes! I hope your child took home their GAP SPELLING certificate - this shows the % of how much they have gone up - some very good results. All the children have gone up  - now to see this in their day-day writing ;)

GO OUR LIL CHAMPIONS!!!!!!!

Have a fabulous week, 2 weeks to go until the end of term 2. My oh my!!

Term 2 - week 7: 16 June - 20 June

Kia ora & welcome to week 7 in Room SUPER SHARP 7.

Two weeks ago we received a couple of new board games - YAY - big excitement!! The games Operation & Charades for kids..
.A huge -  massive THANK YOU to our Greytown School PTA, especially Jackie Grey who went up to Masterton and bought the games.
With the recent wet weather both the games are being used a lot - I even had a go myself. And am pleased to say I'm at whizz at Operation! hehe!

Week 6 saw us cover a lot of new things & also finishing off things, such as our  'Hero' narrative & our new versions of 'The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs'.
The children JUST LOVE writing in their fun writing book - as explained earlier in the year - this book is for the children to free write. I won't be correcting their writing - they can give proofreading a go. This book is popular because it gives the children free range to what they want to write about.
(Our writing corner is full of ideas - at least a thousand ;) .... the children came up with a fab list of things they could write (have a look at the range when you come into the room). 

Proof that the writing book is worth its weight in gold - on Tuesday I had TWO students who wanted to carry on writing (even when the bell had rung for playtime)

Head down Shkhan & author hat on! "Miss Burt can I keep on writing????"

Giselle the lil author - not wanting to stop writing......YAY!

We watched a very inspiring Youtube clip on Wednesday - and you may have heard the children say "IF CHRIS CAN - WE CAN" The children just loved this and have asked me to share the link on the blog:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9S3n_tILKo
I love the discussions the children have - this brought on a great discussion about our differences and how we CAN DO THINGS! Remember the old saying "there is no such thing as can't".

KOTAHI RAU reading nights - YES 100 READING NIGHTS!

A huge congratulations to Ruby Matthews - she is the 1st student in Room 7 to reach 100 nights in her reading log. I am so pleased with Ruby - I put a challenge to a group of children as there were 3-4 very close to reaching 100 nights.

98..99.....100!!!! Well done RUBY MATTHEWS. 

You have done so well with your reading log!

On Thursday we were blessed with a visit from a very special wee visitor - Lachie's little sister Lily. Lachie told the class how Lily has recently had her 2nd cochlear ear implant.
Lachie spoke well and was able to tell the class why Lily had to have these implants. The class asked a few questions and Claudia presented Lily with a thank you card:
Here are a couple of photos of gorgeous Lily and her Mum Kate.....

Lachie telling Room 7 about his little sister Lily.

Lily the star!

WOW - testing is nearly complete!
I hope you saw the wonderful certificate your child should of taken home ;) BASIC FACTS LADDER - all children have jumped up ...... the ladder. Wonderful improvement since the beginning of the year. (Your child may have a gap re: testing. But that's ok we'll go over that gap and learn that step again - then jump - keep on moving up that ladder).
Spelling Gap test - again the children are showing some fantastic results with all having a higher result since February.

SHARP student week 5 = Koby Dennes. Koby is pretty awesome at building other children up - giving compliments, helping out where need be and being a great classmate.

This week I was looking for the same thing - OUR SHARP focus lasts for 2 weeks now - and WOW it's just awesome hearing the children 1. Giving compliments 2. Helping each other out 3. Encouraging other children when they're a bit down 4. Supporting other children when they're feeling a bit angry 5. Supporting each other.

This is going to be another tough week to choose 1 SHARP student as all the children are doing this so well =) So I will put names in a hat again =)
In saying this - the children do get certificates for other work they do - as I type - I have 28 topic books on my lounge floor - I'm looking at their title pages for our Inquiry topic, "Was Maui a Scientist?". Over the past week I have given out certificaes for: Basic Facts improvement, Tidy award ;), Awesome manners & a few others.

LOOK AT THIS SHARP BEHAVIOUR during wet breaks this week:

Dress up time!!

JUST DANCE - the children love this!

JUST DANCE - who knew Cotton Eyed Joe & Kung Foo Fighting could be so much fun =) Loved the comment "We're dancing to REAL OLD MUSIC!!!!!"

 

 

 

I was very impressed when I played ELVIS - Cameron said "ooh I know Elvis" yay go the KING OF ROCK hehe!

Was Maui A Scientist? Well we surely were the other day - the children wanted me to share this youtube clip with you so maybe you can try this at home:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oz_GAHTLAR0 
When we did this I tipped the film canister upside down.. BUT LIKE IT SAYS ON THE CLIP - PLEASE STAY AWAY FROM THE CANISTER AS IT'S GETTING READY TO EXPLODE!

We have read the legend "Battle of the mountains" - so this demonstration relates to the volcanoes in the legend.

Cameron & Archie completing a reading activity about How Maui slowed the sun.

Writing up the good (yellow hat) and bad (black hat) points for HAVING A SHORT DAY - we read the legend "How Maui slowed the sun"....the children came up with some good points - as seen here in this pic.

Good luck to the children from Room 7 going to interschool cross country running competition on Wednesday - Go for gold!!

May you all have a great & happy week. I loved some of our pass on the kindness tasks this week - tidying the classroom ;) Making mum & dad's bed (without them knowing), opening a door for someone, smiling at everyone you see.....WELL DONE ROOM 7 - YOU ARE ALL AWESOME!

Here's a list of things we are grateful for: 
WRITTEN BY TAHIRIH:
I’m thankful for a house to live in.
A mum that cares for me
My family
My friends
Happiness
Food - for not going hungry
God
For the sunshine
Warm fires on cold nights
For playing sports
Going to school
To live in New Zealand
To have a bedroom on my own!
Having a snuggly mum
Having money to buy things
All the simple things in life
For my life
For having people to like me
For love
For fresh water!

Term 2 - WEEK 6 - June 9th - June 13th

Kia ora, hallo, bonjour, talofa....

Congrats to our SUPER SHARP 7 children - SHARP WINNERS FOR WEEK 4 were: Thimira, Mitchell & Sam - for showing respect towards their classmates with compliments. 

Bella for the same but also for a big improvement in getting on with her work. 

  Yay! Well done to those SUPER SHARP children!

The SHARP student for week 5 will be for building others up - I have been working with the children about speaking nicely to each other. To give compliments & learning to lose gracefully. We have done lots of talking about helping each other out!!

As a class we have had some awesome discussion about this - we have had a few incidents happen which have stemmed from name calling - which has then built into something bigger. I have also talked to the class about if you see or hear something inappropriate they must tell an adult.

Another fabulous week over & out. We had a gorgeous day on Wednesday (being Thimira's last day). I felt so proud of Room 7 - b4 we ate the shared lunch the children were sitting in a big circle. We went around the circle & each child said something that they liked about Thimira or a fun memory. They all spoke very well & so kindly. When it had gone full circle and back to Thimira this is what he said "I LIKE ROOM 7 BECAUSE THEY ALL INCLUDED ME" ahhhh talk about nearly tears. Here are some pics of a lovely shared lunch & a fun day with Thimira (oh & also for my birthday). THANK YOU for my lovely gifts & special cards that your children gave me.

See you again Thimira - King for the day!

Birthday lady & farewell boy =)

Douglas our mate popped in to say happy b'day - Room 7 showed Douglas how they are just awesome at JUST DANCE!

SHARED LUNCH TIME....

Thumbs up for lunch & friends!

Thanks to everyone - for bringing lovely food for Room 7 to share.

How's this for pretty "just gorgeous"

Cutting the cake - birthday/farewell.....=)

Thanks to Thirima's mum & dad for a stunning cake!

NO I WASN'T PINCHING A CHIP.......having lunch with our SHARP winner - Mitchell - who chose fish n chips for his SHARP treat. Tahirih having a laugh with us.

Good on you Mitchell.

I must say it was really neat to sit and have lunch with a group of students - such a different/relaxed time & conversations.

Things are just grand - Friday lunch. Mitchell, Schalk & Bailey.

Notices for this week:

Every day - X-country training - ready for week 7 and interschool competition
Thursday 2pm - Hockey skills. Wow we had an awesome session last Thursday - I tell you what - Miss Burt was getting tackled a lot. Some skilled children out there!
Sharon had the children very focused & the children showed some good stick & ball skills.
So loved it when I overheard one of the children say "I'm LOVING THIS!!!"

For your information: (more info and booking to follow nearer the time):
We will be holding our mid-year 3 way conferences in the 1st week back of Term 3.
- Wednesday 23rd July 2.00pm to 7.00pm
- Thursday 24th July 3.15pm to 7.00pm


Just a reminder - on the right of this blog post there is a link to home learning sites (for the computer).


Have a FAN-TASTIC week to you all!
Pass on the kindness - Arohanui - RACHEL