Reading

In Reading Mrs King's class continued with their slime chapter book, discussing new words and their meaning. Students have been showing a lot of excitement around chapter chat and are keen to get to it and grow their knowledge and understanding of the text they are reading. 

Miss Doig's and Mrs Griffths reading class have been working well to independently take themselves to and from activities when not with the teacher. Activities include handwriting on whiteboards, blend worksheets, listening activities on epic, and reading independently. Students have been showing us that they are capable of managing themselves to be in the right place at the right time and we hope to see this continue. 

Writing 

This week our science experiment was called "Dancing Raisins". Students worked in small groups, where they had to make sure everyone was included and had a role in the experiment. Each group got a cup of lemonade, students carefully placed 5 raisins in their cup and waited to see what would happen. Students were amazed to see that after 30 seconds or so the raisins started moving up and down (dancing). Students had some great discussions around how the bubbles and fizz were making the raisins move. From this, we wrote some awesome stories including lots of WOW words. 

Maths

In Maths, we are continuing to explore number knowledge and strategies. Knowledge is about what the students know about numbers e.g. putting random numbers in order from smallest to largest. Strategies are the way students solve problems given to them this could be adding 10s, counting on, solving the problems in their head via imaging. We aim to have the students being able to tell us what strategies they have used and how they have solved problems. Some students are able to solve problems but are unable to tell us how. Maths-Whizz is a supplement to our maths programme and doesn't give an accurate measure of where the students are working. 

Maori

This week we have focused on making sure we say Karakia before we eat our morning tea and lunch. The students are great at reminding the teachers that we need to do karakia as they understand the importance of showing how thankful they are for the food in their lunches. 

Physical Education

In preparation for cross country students have been pushing themselves to do extra laps when running. As well as running around the field course we have also been skipping and playing games. Students are always eager to get outside for a stretch and a run-around. 

Integrated Topic

Last week we discovered what students already know and want to know about their chosen topic. Therefore this week in Recycling students discussed and identified what goes into the rubbish bin and what goes into the recycling bin. In Gardening, students looked at the anatomy of a plant and what a plant has on it. Lastly, in the Orchards group students have been comparing and learning about oranges vs lemons.