Holiday Move!

 Hello A4, while you are on holiday spare a thought for your teachers who are hard at work setting up the new classrooms. When you get back to school they will be all ready for the beginning of Term 3. How exciting!

Teddy Bears' Picnic

Last Friday, we decided to have a teddy bears' picnic.

 Noelani and Paki from A3, helped us to record our ideas about the picnic on the ipad. They did a great job.

Bong Trees

We have been creating bong trees. We took our inspiration from the poem The Owl and the Pussycat, by Edward Lear. Here is an animated version of the poem that we found on You Tube. Look out for, "The land where the bong tree grows."

Here is a slideshow of the bong trees we created, using metallic paint.

The Botanic Gardens

Last Friday, as part of our study of plants, we visited the Auckland Botanic Gardens. We learnt so much from the educators. We took a set of cameras and most of us got a chance to take some photos. Here is a slideshow.

Here are some comments from the children about the trip.

Going Nuts!

Last week, we were talking about the letter p. So Miss Lepou brought in some peanuts for us to try. We had a lot of fun exploring and eating.

They smelled like peanut butter

When we shook the peanuts
something rattled inside

We tried a lot of different ways to open them, like
dropping them on the floor

We tried biting the peanut to open
the shell

When we opened them, we
found out there were
two peanuts inside!

They were delicious to eat!

We're Moving!

At the end of this term we will be moving into a new classroom. Today, Ms Mulrennan took us in to have a sneak peek. The building is not quite finished, but we had a good look around. We are very excited.

Look at all of the light
that comes in

We can see the playground
from our classroom

Watch this space to find out when the official opening will take place.

Vegetable Soup!

Our Garden has grown so much since last term, so we decided to make vegetable soup. It was very nutritious and delicious. Check out our slideshow. 

Whose View?

Last week, we learnt about the different views we can use to take photos. We practiced using a snail's view, giant's view and a baby's view to take photos of plants around the school. 

We got a lot of our ideas for our camera lesson from a teacher named Rachel Boyd: click here to check out Rachel Boyd's wiki

Humpty Dumpty

We have really enjoyed reciting the poem Humpty Dumpty. Especially the version where Humpty Dumpty puts banana skins down the King's pajamas. We have created illustrations of Humpty Dumpty.

Feijoa Cake

Last Friday, we made feijoa cake with Mrs Mulrennan. It was very easy and very delicious. Especially with the pink icing on top. Here is a slideshow of our experience and a story by Sonya.

Flying Kites, by Sonali

Sonali loves flying kites. When she has free time in the classroom, Sonali often chooses to make kites on the make-it table. Here is her story and illustration. 

Ahoy Me Hearties!

Yesterday, was the Junior Pirate Day! It was a beautiful day and we had so much fun. We played pirate games, cooked pirate food and hunted for treasure. Here is a video of the highlights. Aaarrrggghhh!

We have been writing a lot of pirate stories. Here is a story by Nataria.

Tena Koe

This week, our blog is the focus in our Quadblogging team and since the three other blogs we are working with are from other countries around the world, we thought we would welcome them with a Maori greeting song.



Tena koe - hello to one person
Tena koe - hello to two people
Tena koutou - hello to 3 or more
Haere mai - come here or welcome

Monster Mania

On Friday, we created some monster collages using all sorts of different materials. We had a lot of fun using our imaginations to dream up our own monsters. Here is a video of our monsters. Shane was our photographer.

Making Playdough

On Wednesday, we made some new playdough for our classroom. We made pink and green dough. It was hard work kneading the dough until it was soft. We are having a lot of fun exploring and creating.

Here is a story by Maddison.

Preparing the Garden

On Monday, we got our garden bed ready for planting. We had to dig out the old plants and weeds. Then we added sheep poo and compost to the soil, to make it nice healthy for the new plants.

What should we plant in our garden? We would like some advice on what we should plant at this time of the year. Please let us know by leaving us a comment.

We have a new school set of digital cameras! After watching A3's camera experience, A4 had their very first lesson. We learnt how to:

• hold the camera correctly
• turn the camera on
• take a picture
• focus in on an object



Focusing on our names

• look at a photo we have taken

Turning the cameras on and off

Focusing on our feet

Taking close up photos of each other

Gavin's photo of his shoe

Taking photos around the classroom

Jellly on a Plate!

Last week we made jelly with Ms Mulrennan and guess what? We ate it with vanilla ice cream! Delicious! Check out this video.

Introducing the new A4!

We have had a fantastic first week back at school. We have spent the week getting to know each other and have created some cool artwork. Here is a slideshow of the new children in A4.