Disco Dancing

Today we had our end of year disco for team one.  We celebrated a year full of learning and activity with an iceblock and a disco.

Khyani, Adrianna, Charlotte and Abbey enjoying an ice block.

Ahasi, Marius and Tevita.

Disco Dancing

Charlotte, Abbey, Vika, Hinemoa and Khyani dancing.

A green alien ! No just Tevita having fun.

Another New Buddy

We have another new buddy in Room 16.  Abbey has turned 5 and has joined the Pt England family.  Now we have two sisters in Room 16.   We were very excited to have Abbey join Room 16 as we have met Abbey when she collects her big sister Charlotte.  Thank you Charlotte for being such a helpful big sister.  

Team Work to Measure.

It took quite a few children to build a high Duplo tower but with team work anything is possible.

Charlotte, Tevita, Jeyda, Savanah and Jin building a giant tower

Yummy Sausages

A sausage sizzle was held to raise funds for the Kapahaka group.  It was well supported by Room 16 and Charlotte and Temalisi enjoyed a yummy lunch.

What Hiwi the Kiwi taught us

"We went to the hall and we saw Hiwi the Kiwi.  He is cool and he taught us we have to look after the fish"  By Charlotte

"Hiwi the Kiwi came to school and he taught us how to be safe in a boat and to wear a life jacket.  We are not to kill the seagulls and birds by leaving plastic around the beach."  By Tumanako

"We have got to wear a life jacket when you go fishing.  If you do not wear a life jacket you will drown."  By Marius

Wearing a life jacket and keeping safe on a boat.  By Marius

Our First Visit to see Harold

We were very excited to have our first visit to see Harold in his special classroom.  We walked up the steps and sat down only to find Harold was still in his house.  Lyn talked to him and he told us all about healthy eating.

"I saw Harold come out of his house to talk to us about eating a variety of healthy food.  We need healthy food every day." By Marius

"Harold the giraffe slept in his bed.  He showered and he washed his hair." By Charlotte

I saw Harold the giraffe.  He helped us to eat good food."  By Gabriella

Charlotte's Lady Bug.

To keep warm on her way to school Charlotte put on her lady bug hat.

"My lady bug hat keeps me warm.  I like my hat."  By Charlotte

Butterfly Visitors

MOV00266 from Team 1 PES on Vimeo.
Watching two Monarch butterfly visitors to our class helped us learn a lot about their life cycle.  We observed caterpillars munching their way through the leaves on their special swan plant, looked for signs that a chrysalis was about to hatch and  we watched one butterfly that had come out of its chrysalis begin to flap its wings and then fly around the room.

Charlotte making a sketch of a Monarch butterfly.

Touching The Clouds

Last week we had a foggy start to the day which provided us with a great motivation for our writing.

"I saw funny clouds.  They looked beautiful.  I liked them because they looked soft and fluffy and white.  They were so close I could touch them.  They were wet and cold."  By Charlotte

"The sun touched the clouds and made it all foggy." By Tevita

"The fog was all around.  It covered the slide and made it wet." By Hinemoa

Jin thought the fog "was like when you are cooking and there is a lot of steam."

Tumanako said he felt "the low cloud made things disappear.  When you are running around you feel as if you are touching the sky."

New Books for a Holiday Read

Raven from Mai FM came to school for a Duffy Assembly.  She told us how important it is to read and how her love of reading helped her study and get a job in radio.  We sang the Duffy song to her then each class got  a box of books.  We were very excited to choose two books to take home and share with our families over the holidays.  We are very lucky to get these books from the Duffy Foundation.

Duffy Assembly.

Adrianna and Tevita sharing a book.

Hinemoa, Charlotte and Vika looking at their new books.

Tongan Girls Fiafia Video

The Tongan Girls danced so gracefully at the Fiafia in their magnificent traditional costumes.  Vika, Gabriella, Temalisi and Charlotte were in this group.  Can you pick them out?




The Tongan
Tongan Girls from Team 5 PES on Vimeo.

Making the Sun Shine

"We made the sunshine inside our class,"said Charlotte on a wet day.  "We drew around our hands and cut the handprints out.  Then we made a round circle and cut it out.  Gluing the hand prints around the edge of the circle made it look like the sun was shinning."

Your sunny smiles show how much you enjoyed making the lovely sunshine to brighten up the class when it was too wet to go outside.

Khyani, Charlotte and Jeyda with the sunshine they made

Learning to type

Some of the children are learning how to type up their stories on their iPad and are finding this a handy skill.

"It is quicker to type up the words than writing them down," said Marius.

"You need to look carefully for the letters you need," said Jarra

Charlotte is "publishing" her favourite story of the week.

Wet Day Fun

It was suppose to be our picnic day but it was too wet for a picnic.  Room 16 decided to use our iPads to take pictures of the rain and write a story while staying dry inside.

Vaha writing his story.

"Is it good enough to use?" asks Charlotte

Munching Melon under a Tree

On a hot day there is nothing better than a nice juicy piece of melon.  Today we were lucky to get some melon for fruit so we sat outside under the tree and munched the healthy rock melon.

Jeyda and Charlotte enjoying their rock melon.

Khyanis smile shows how much she is enjoying her slice of melon.

Healthy Milk Drinks

Twice a week we have milk to drink.  It comes in cartons with a straw.  We are learning to "Drink it dry.  Fold it flat.  Send it back."  We help each other with the folding as this is tricky for small hands.  Thank you Fonterra for a heathy treat. By Room 16 

Temalisi and Adrianna "drinking it dry.".

Vaha showing Jin how to "fold it flat."

Charlotte has her carton ready to"send it back."

Week TwoTeam Certificates.

Week two has seen Marius get a Duffy Award for being a kind Pt Englander and using polite manners.  He choose the book about Big Chicken.  Charlotte got a team award for continuing to do her iPad reading activity even though it got tricky.  She was able to finish her activity - good "stickability" Charlotte.  Savanah who started school on Tuesday got a certificate too.   Welcome to Pt England, Savanah.

Savanah and Charlotte with their Team 1 awards for Week 2.

Marius with his Duffy Award

Reading Activities on an iPad

Marius, Jin and Charlotte were able to do their reading activities on an iPad.  They had to find the text in their reading book.  The clue to help them was a small part of a picture which they matched with one in their book. After finding the correct page it was down to work of sequencing the text correctly on their iPad and read it out to see if it made sense.  Marius, Jin and Charlotte did a good job working as a team to help each other with the tricky steps

Charlotte finds the first word.

Jin and Marius discuss what comes next.

.

iPad Excitment !

Today we used our iPads for the first time.  We watched the safety video so we would know how to look after them and then we opened our iPad.  Everyone was very excited and listened carefully.

Charlotte, Khyani and Vika demonstrated the iPad hug.

Listening carefully to the instructions.

Well done Class 16 for a great start to your iPad learning.

The First Day of 2016 School Year

It is the start of a new school year for eighteen children in Room 16.  For some new entrants it is the beginning of their school journey and for others who started at the end of last year it was a time to meet friends and be excited to continue their learning.

Eating lunch with your friends is always fun.

Khyani and Charlotte with their healthy lunches