The present

Last week we had as our focus caring for others. Room 8 had a present waiting on Monday morning. For the week the students tried to guess what was in the present, wrote about and shared their ideas and hopes.

During discovery time the students made gift boxes for each other and wrote messages of encouragement and support for each other. On Friday we opened the present to discover a further note directing us to find Mrs Sawyer who had waiting  a plate of warm chocolate muffins. Yum!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This week, in the last week of term, we are focussing on Dinosaurs. As a part of this we are learning to write our letter d's and b's.  This is an area the students often find hard, remembering which letter is which.  During the week encourage the students at home to write letters d and b.  Words like bed, bad, dab, in which the students write both the b and d can be useful.  

Keep up the reading at home.  Students will be sent home with extra reading books for the holidays as it is important to keep reading even when away from the classroom.

Below are some photos from our discovery time today. The giant footprint is that of a Tyrannosaurus Rex.  We wanted to see how many students feet would fit on a T Rex foot.

Rainbow fish

We have completed our Rainbow fish today (friday) with the students putting finishing touches to our fish with his yellow plasticine lips and glitter flashes to the tail and fin. We are very pleased with the finished art piece and the students are excited about the Art extravaganza next Friday.

Please remember to get all the library books back next week to allow for the library staff to carry out their stocktake. Sight word testing for the students will take place again on Thursday so keep practicing sight words with the students at home. We have been working on practicing numeral formation and recognising numbers to 100. Encourage students at home to write and say numerals they see. 

ART ART ART !!!!!!

This week we have been gearing up for the art extravaganza taking place friday of next week. Make sure you mark your diaries and plan to be there.
Students in the multi learning space have completed an individual multi media art piece combining crayon, dye, photography, pastel and framing.  The completed pieces will be on display at the art extravaganza but here are a couple to whet your appetite.

We have also been working on our collaborative art piece "Sharing is Caring" from the rainbow fish story. Together we have been reading the rainbow fish story, learning about how through sharing we can have more fun and enjoyment.  We have covered our fish with papier mache and each student has used crayon, pastel and dye to create a unique scale which now adorns our beautiful fish. We are in the final stages of completing our art piece which will be for sale at the art extravaganza. 

Icecream week

Last week we had an ice-cream focus in room 8. The reason for this was to give focus to the week around our big book ( The Giant's ice-cream ) and to inspire writing from the students. This week we are going to be focussing on our collaborative art making a large Rainbow fish. Parents you are welcome to join us as we papier mache our fish.

The students will be tested on their sight words on Thursday of this week.  Keep up the practice at home. It would be great to see all students progressing to the next sight word level as this helps considerably with their reading.

Pyjama day with pillow pets

On Friday we had a pyjama day where students brought along their favourite pillow pet or bed toy.  We had a great time eating toast on our sunny deck and sharing stories about our pillow pets. Other students at the school were jealous we could come to school in our pyjama's. Next term Mr Sawyer is planning to have a construction day with the help of dad's (and mum's) we are going to create with wood, nails, hammers and saw's.

This week we have had as a focus the beach. We have explored things we find at the beach, touched a fish eye, read about sea creatures and on Wednesday we went to the school sandpit and played in the sand making volcano towers, houses, cakes and pies. Our writing has been about the beach. We love that in Nelson in the middle of winter we can still enjoy the beach!

Here are some photo's of us in the sandpit.

This is the volcano!

We are making cakes and houses.

Construction is a team effort.

"We need to mix before we pour them"

Working together

Finishing touches

Our class members

Mateja

Lachlan

Holly

Trent

Jayden

Greta

Joel

Fern

Faith

Skye

Takoda

Brendon

Ella

Orien

Sophia

Karishma

Hayden

Angus

Max

Amelia