Last Day of School 2017

On our last day of school we had a photo taken for the last time as Year one pupils.  Join us in 2018 on our individual blogs.

Tae Kwon-Do

In Term 4 we learnt some Tae Kwondo moves in Kiwi Sport.  We learnt kicks and punches and on the last day we learnt how to break blocks with our feet!  It always looks so easy in the movies but you need to remember how the instructor told us to use the bottom of our feet or else you hurt your toes.  Jaycob and Heilala showed us how to do it without hurting themselves.

Our Day at the Beach

Our whole school day at the beach was great fun for everyone.  We went swimming, played games, dug in the sand making castles, dams and moats, went sliding down the hill on cardboard, had a picnic together, blew bubbles and hung out with friends.  We can't wait for our next picnic day at the beginning of Term 1, 2018.  Spending all day at the beach with your friends is a great way to finish and start the year.

A Fun Afternoon with Mt Hobson Middle School

Some of the students from Mt Hobson Middle School have been coming to Pt England School on a Friday afternoon to help the children in Team one do art activities, read to them and play games.  We have enjoyed having the Mt Hobson students join us in our activities so we decided to have a party on their last day with us.  They brought along some chickens for us to see and lots of yummy food for a party.  We sang to them.  We all had an ice block and had a great time.  Thanks to the Mt Hobson Middle School - we have enjoyed having you.

Using Our Imagination

After reading some Christmas stories we decided to write our own.  Here are some of our imaginative Christmas stories.

"I wish that I can be tiny because I want to be wrapped up in a present."  By Ahasi

"I went on Santa's sleigh.  It was fun flying and I opened a present."  By Jeremiah

"I'm with my friend Bentley.  I am with my teacher Mrs Dwyer.  We are at Santa's house at the North Pole.  It is cold and snowy outside and the reindeer are learning how to fly."  By Flynn

"I will go with Santa to PaknSave.  We will have fun in PaknSave.  We will buy lots of things to eat on Christmas Day and we will have a party."  By Heilala

"I would like to ride on Santa's sleigh.  It would be fun flying through the air.  The reindeers know how to fly and they are magical."  By Alarmanda

Festive Art Work

Mrs Ireland has been coming in to Room 16 every Tuesday to help us with our learning.  We had a fun Tuesday making reindeer on Mrs Ireland's last Tuesday with us.  We had to draw around our hands and a foot and then cut out these templates and assemble them to make a reindeer.  A red pompom nose, google eyes and lots of glitter finished the pictures.

A helping hand from a friend makes the job easier.

Xavier giving Jeremiah some advice

Mrs Ireland helping Talanoa

Our Last Day with Whaea Saf

We had our last day of te Reo with Whaea Saf.  We sang some waiata and sat in a circle passing a poi saying what we enjoyed most about coming to the whare for te Reo.

"A Gruffalo? What's a gruffalo?"

We read the Gruffalo story this morning as our writing motivation.  The children thought that the mouse was very clever when he managed to trick all the animals and not become their dinner.  Here are some of our stories.

"The mouse saw the Gruffalo.  He scared Fox, Owl and Snake.  Gruffalo is brown with orange eyes, purple spikes sharp teeth."  By Bentley

"Today we saw a book about the mouse and Gruffalo.  I liked the snake.  She is great and she is nice."  By Heilala

"I like the fox.  He saw the mouse.  He ran away from the mouse.  The mouse saw Gruffalo.  He has orange eyes and he scared the animals."  By Alarmanda

While reading 'The Gruffalo" story to Room 16 the children had fun repeating the phrase and putting their own expression into it.  They also enjoyed colouring and creating their own Gruffalo.

Abbey with her colourful Gruffalo

Seini, Jaycob and Heilala's scary Gruffalos

Prize Giving and Prize Winners

At Prize Giving Room 16 had 4 winners.  They were Ahasi for citizenship, Bentley for effort and Odyn and Flynn for Academic Promise.  Congratulations to all our prize winners.

From left to right Odyn, Flynn, Bentley and Ahasi

Making Harmonicas

After making a harmonica using popsicle sticks and rubber bands at Makerspace, Abbey wrote her story about it and drew a picture of some musical notes.  Bentley also wrote about making a harmonica and he was fascinated by the noise it made.

"Yesterday I made a harmonica at Makerspace with Mr Vogt.  When I blow on it it makes a buzz sound."  By Bentley

"Yesterday I went to Makerspace.  I made a popsicle harmonica."  By Abbey

Alarmanda is showing us her popsical harmonica.

Practising For Prize Giving

We are busy learning the words and actions to our song to sing to our whanau at prize giving.

Designing Digital Decorations

The children used some of their digital skills of duplicating and copying and pasting to create some lovely christmas decorations on their iPads as we head towards Christmas.

Everyone is busy at work designing a decoration

Flynn decorated some presents.Fl

Abbey's beautiful star

Alarmanda's stockings

Little Hoot is finished

Little Hoot has been finally finished by a group of artists from the senior school and he has "flown" off to be with 58 small owls on an art trail that opens in mid February in Inner Auckland.  Forty artist have turned 46 larger owls into works of art while schools have decorated 58 smaller owls.  The owls have been decorated to raise funds for the Child Caner Foundation. The Haier Big Hoot Art Trail opens in early March. 

to raise funds for the Child Caner Foundation

Talanoa's Art Work

Talanoa drew a great picture of himself in his Pt England uniform on his iPad.  Well done Talanoa - I like the details on the shirt that you added.

Our Gingerbread Man Stories

"I like the Gingerbread Man.  He went fast.  Sly Fox ate the Gingerbread Man."  By Talanoa

"I like the Gingerbread Man.  He can run very fast."  By Jadakiss

"I made a Gingerbread Man.  He didn't run away.  I ate him."  By Xavier

"The Gingerbread Man ran fast and the fox ate the Gingerbread Man in a 1,2,3,4,5."  By Bentley

Neo comes for a Visit

We were all busy working when Neo decided to come into our class and visit us.  Neo is Ms Eady's dog who sometimes comes to school with Ms Eadie.  He is very friendly and we were able to pat Neo.  He seemed to enjoy the attention and stayed with us for quite a while. Thanks for visiting us Neo - you provided us with a great topic for writing today.

"I like Neo.  Neo is happy.  He likes sitting in our class."  By Talanoa

"Ms Eadie's dog was white.  He was soft and he is called Neo.  Neo is a dog and he is old.  He liked to be patted.  By Alarmanda

"Neo sat and visited Room 16.  He is nice."  By Abbey

Our Very Own Film Festival

On Friday we had our very own film festival at Pt England.  The presenters from each class introduced their movie and we were able to watch all the Pt England movies.  The children enjoyed watching the Room 16 movie again.  Odyn and Marzuli did a good job of introducing our movie.

Room 16 presenters - Odyn and Marzuli

Waiting for the show to begin.

"An Owl?"

On looking over our bay wall Room 16 saw a beautiful owl being decorated. Room 15 have finished the first part of painting it so we look forward to seeing the owl when they have finished decorating it.   It looks a very majestic bird.

Making Music and Exploring Sounds

 Room 16 have enjoyed using their imagination and a recycled container to create a musical instrument.  They discovered you could shake, stroke, hit, tap or blow on their instrument to keep the beat and often there was more than one way to play an instrument.

Seini can "Finish It Off Properly."

Seini has been completing all her work so she got the Duffy Award this week and a book called "Grumpy Grandpa" .  We enjoyed sharing her new book and were pleased that Grumpy Grandpa was not so grumpy after all.

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Listening to Music

We listened to "The Snow is Dancing" by Debussy for our writing motivation.  The children were not told the title but had to use their imagination to say what they thought the music was about.  Here are some of their imaginative stories.

"The sun was dancing on the water.  The music was fast."  By Jeremiah

"I liked the music.  It sounded like the stars dancing."  By Talanoa

"The music was like the moon was dancing in the dark."  By Bentley

"I like the rain dancing on the roof and the music sounded like this.  By Flynn

"Today we are writing about some music.  The music has a piano.  It is like rain coming down."  By Ahasi

Flynn and his friends listening to the music.

The star is dancing with the music.  By Talanoa

Practising for Athletics Day

Team One have been practising for the school Athletics Day on November 10.  The children learnt how to line up in a lane and wait for the command "On your marks, get set, go!"  They had fun seeing who could run the fastest.

Halloween Pumpkin

Ahasi drew a picture of a Halloween pumpkin using hyperstudio and wrote about going to a halloween party.

Biking At Lunchtime

Jaycob and Jadakiss have been having fun riding around the bike track.

Jaycob and Jadakiss with bike helmets on and ready to ride.

Showing Kindness

Marzuli was awarded a Duffy Certificate because he showed kindness to his cousin.  He was given a bike riding ticket and went around the bike track a few times, before he saw his cousin who wanted to learn how to ride a bike.  He then helped his cousin by holding the bike and telling her what to do.  That was a very kind thing to do Marzuli, as we know how much you like to ride a bike at lunch time.

Marzuli also wrote a story, "In the weekend my Mum went shopping and she bought chocolates for my sister and me and Bella because I got a certificate at school on Friday and my sister got one too."

"Kiwi Kids".

Room 16 children enjoy the song "Kiwi Kids" so we decided to use this song for our 2017 Manaiakalani Film Festival Movie.  The children thought about all the things that they could do and some of the things that they dreamed of doing.  They had great fun doing some of these things in front of a camera and decided that kiwi kids really can do anything!

Credit for using pictures from Creative Commons or Wikimedia Commons include - Spotlight (Guo Guiyan),  Pohutukawa Tree Metrosideros excelsa Wikipedia,  Rugby Stadium Australia ( File:AUS-URU Nov 05 ET Wikimedia Commons), Fire engine (File Hamilton 411 Wikimedia Commons), Auckland Hospital (File:Auckland City Hospital 02 Wikimedia Commons) Maori Meeting House exterior (File 2001-01 Rotorua Wikimedia Commons), Maori Meeting House interior (Waitangi Meeting House Wikimedia). Thanks for the technological help for Ms King and Ms Davis.

Talaloa's Picture

Talanoa proudly shows his picture he drew of himself in his school uniform in hyperstudio.

"Harry the Dirty Dog" Story and Picture

"Harry the Dirty Dog" is a favourite story in Room 16.  The children think that Harry would make a great pet as he likes to do the sort of things they would like to do  - to have so much fun getting dirty.  Alfonzo did a drawing of Harry with his friends while Odyn wrote a story about him.

Harry the Dirty Dog playing tag with his dog friends By Alfonzo

"In the beginning Harry took the scrubbing brush and buried it.  Then Harry went to get dirty.  In the end Harry went home and had a bath."  By Odyn

"Harry ran away.  He got dirty.  Then he had a bath."  By Flynn

Flounder Stories

"We went to sing a waiata to the boys to catch the fish with a net. We went down to the river to see the boys."  By Marzuli

"I saw a flounder."  By Seini