Prize Giving 2011

Many of us received coveted awards last night at our school prize giving.  It was a formal occassion with the highest class achievements and overall school cups were presented for sports and academics. 

Miss G wanted to thank EVERYONE in Room 1 for making her year such a full-on fun time with truck loads of laughs and a few challenges as well! 

Best wishes Year 8's - you will be missed.  And Year 7's I look forward to seeing you back again - stepping up into the Year 8's role. 

Merry Christmas guys - enjoy your holiday break. Rest up and be ready to take 2012 by the (Bulls) horns!

Over and Out,
Miss G

The Final Week Is Upon Us:

Well as we head into our last week of the 2011 year - surely things must be beginning to slow down? -NOT!!

Monday we have Athletics Day, Tuesday we have Buddy Class & Prizegiving, Wednesday our Reports go home, Thursday we have Moving Day and Friday - well Friday is the end of an era as Year 8's prepare to move on and Year 7's prepare to step up!

Bring on the Christmas Party people!!

RIGHT CHOICE AFTERNOON!

Hey there everyone!

We figure even if you work in Palmerston North you probably had a heads up on what landed on our field this afternoon!  Surely you would have heard it!!!

We were lucky enough to have an Iroquois Helicopter right here on our rugby field!  We got to get up close and personal with the chopper and the pilots (thanks guys!)

We feel very privaleged to be included in such a fun afternoon!  It was fantastic!

Thanks RNZAF - you made our day!

SWIMMING!

How lucky are we!

Through the Swim for Life initiative and our local council we have been lucky enough to get 10 x 30 min swimming lessons with qualified instructors the the Marton Pool and MAN - IS IT GREAT!  We are half way through and the skill level has improved so much I can hardly beleive it! 

New Zealand is surrounded by water and our holiday activities almost always include an element of swimming.  We camp at rivers, fish in lakes and swim in the sea.  We MUST know how to swim and have water safety skills to prepare us for a lifetime of enjoying what Aotearoa has to offer.

Hangi Lunch!

Finally the day had arrived.  Much preparation behind the scenes went on to make this final celebration of our Theme study possible.  We had to borrow Kai Cookers, watch You Tube videos to learn how to use them and get up VERY early to get things sorted out and underway! 

If things hadn't worked out so well I simply would not be writing about it!  But it all went fabulously!  (Extra thanks to those who came along to check that we were actually on track). 

The lunch was delicious!  The chicken was beautifully cooked, the veges were perfect and the stuffing was scrummy!  Yum yum yum!

Take a look at our photo collage up in the office - there are lots of photos of us preparing and dishing up and eating the kai!

Marae Trip to Parewahawaha!

What a fantastic day!  It began with the Powhiri - and the sounds of our Kaikaranga rang out across the fields.  Hiromina and Leilani sounded so beautiful and we were all very proud of them! 

At the end of the Powhiri we were treated to a impromptu history lesson about the inside of the Wharenui by some of the Kaumatua.  We learnt about the meanings behind the tukutuku panels as well as the beautiful carvings and designs in the meeting house.

We went on to some very busy rotations which included:  weaving, poi making, waiata, ruru, whai and much more!  Miss G was busy in the kitchen preparing for our hangi on Friday.  (Do you know a food processor makes stuffing 150% times faster than I can!) 

So....to see a fabulous collage of photos from this day pop into the office the photos are up in the foyer. 

Ka Pai Tamariki Ma!

1000 APOLOGIES!

Dear Blog Fans,

I have a confession to make!  I have lots of things to talk to you about and lots of photos to share with you.  The first 4 weeks of this term have flown by at an unbelievable pace.  We have had:
YMCA athletics lessons
Assessment
Marae trip

Shared Kai - Hangi Lunch

Cross Country Training - and 2 cluster cancellations :-(

Tuesday afternoon sports....

And more! 

And I have hardly had a second to let you know (and see) all these fabulous things because I am busy writing REPORTS! 

So - 1000 apologies - I promise to make a better effort this week!

Miss G

Bulls Kindy Buddies!

CALL INTO THE SCHOOL OFFICE TO SEE MORE PHOTOS OF FUN TIMES WITH OUR BUDDY CLASS!

This term has been a little more hands on with our fabulous buddies from over at the kindy. 
We have made frogs for a drama activity called "5 Little Speckled Frogs."

And today was Wheels Day for our buddies so we set up a track for them. At the end of our reading session we went outside for some fun!

Reading to/with our buddies is a great way for us to improve our open-ended questioning skills as well as help us develop role modeling skills. 

ITS A WIN WIN SITUATION!

Maths disguised as Art!

What do you think of our symmetrical tekoteko art work? 

We designed our tekoteko in pencil first then went over it in vivid.  We were allowed to choose from a paint palet of either hot or cold colours.  When the paint dried we went over the vivid lines again so that they stood out!  Then we glued paua to the eyes to give them an extra fierce look!  They are afterall the protectors of our classroom!

Room 1.

Key Competency:  Using language, symbols and text.

Assessment Time - Head Down....

Well another week has snuck by very very quickly.  Room 1 has had a week chocka full of assessment - oh and a little 'important race day' thrown in there as well. 


We have completed Reading, Writing and Numeracy tests which will go towards our progressive report comments.  Also alot of this data will be passed onto our chosen High School to help them place us for 2012! 

Eeeekkkk - High School - its not that far away for half of you Room 1!!!

Enjoy your weekend - fingers crossed the sun shines brightly.

Miss G :-)

Rhythm Interactive - Whole School Right Choices Fun!

Week 1 - Done and Dusted!

And it really was a crazy, busy, buzzy one! 

Tuesday - Back into it!  We began creating holiday Wordles - we will publish these on our page soon!  We began the summer TAS rotations (Tuesday afternoon sports). 

Wednesday - Tuning In for Nga Tangata O Aotearoa & Technicraft - only 6 weeks so we need to make the most of it!

Thursday - Art focus with a maths spin (pictures up when they are complete - Mrs Syme has taken us through the steps to produce fantastic final pieces!) 

Friday - Right Choice Day with Rhymthm Interactive, followed by a Dog obedience display, followed by Pet Day!!  The rain put a bit of a damper on the day for the lamb and calf entries but everyone stayed positive and made the best of things. 

And that was the week to kick start the term!

TERM 4 MIDDLE/SENIOR SPORT:

TUNING IN - TERM 4!

Our teachers are a little 'loolaa' from time to time!  But it's all in aid of helping us learn and tuning us into our theme for the term.


Today we took a closer look at the Treaty of Waitangi and the Middle and Senior Team teachers re-enacted the history of the Treaty to help give us clarify our understanding of this important and monumental document. 

We still have a lot of questions though.  We will publish our questions on our 'Awe and Wonderment' wall and endeavour to answer them over the next 6 or 7 weeks. 

Miss G.
(Big thanks to the teachers in the team for being such great sports!!)

Nga Tangata O Aotearoa

Term 4 - What's Coming Up?

Well - we need to fit 20 weeks of work into 8 SO we will be very very very busy!  Luckily we are all mentally and physically tough enough to handle hard work!

We have: 
*The Interactive Drum Group on Friday morning followed by Pet Day in the afternoon.

*YMCA continues to provide us with quality lessons based on the skills of athletics every Monday.

*Many of us have 'pre-tests' at the high schools we are enrolled in for 2012!

*Cluster Cross Country is in week 3.

*As a part of our Nga Tanagata O Aotearoa theme we will be studying and visiting our local Marae.

*We will be being assessed for the final stage of our progressive report for 2011.
*We are organising some fun-filled kindy buddy class activities.
*Oh and Miss Gee  just reminded us - we will be readers, writers and mathematicians as well! 

"Are you sure we can fit that all in Miss G?"

Whew - That Was Close!!

Well done boys - you did what we all hoped, dreamed and believed you could do for the last four years!!

**CROSS COUNTRY**

Miss G went over the course last night and decided it was 'perfect' so as long the weather played ball we were good to go!

And - Yeehah - it all went ahead - and quite frankly the weather conditions couldn't have been better. 

Students (well most students) put in a 100% effort and some have earnt themselves as place in the Cluster Event - which is in Week 3 next term!

If you think that may be you - make sure you keep up your training regime throughout the holidays!  We will have a 2km run off in the school grounds to finalise your place in Week 1. 

Photos will follow!

Kai pai to all the fabulous helpers! 


Key Competency:  Participating and Contributing.

Miss Gee ditched Room 1 for the morning!

Yes - I'm afraid its true!  I managed to get myself invited to go the the Rugby Museum which is situated on the top floor of Te Manawa in Palmerston North.  What a fantastic experience.  I know Room 8 had a fabulous time and leart alot!  Here are some of the photos I took (that was my official title:  Chief Photographer!)

Mrs Frisby and The Rats Of Nimh by Robert C OBrien

We are about to finish our class novel and I will give one little clue away.  The mice DO NOT end up like the greedy one in our You Tube clip does!

Check it out in our 'gadgets' list. 

WARNING:  No animals were harmed in the production of this video - it is all camera trickery!

Wanganui Culture Cruise!

Do you remember when we went on this trip!  Well here are some of the artistic fruits of our labour from the Wanganui Art Gallery.  Aren't we super clever and creative!!!

YMCA - Warm Up and Shot Put Pics:

We have a fantastic lesson in the early morning sun with our YMCA stars!  It was a bit slippery though - see if you can spot some photo evidence of the dew on the grass!