Happy Holidays

It was our last day of school on Wednesday and we are all now on holiday until the 2nd of February 2011. All things Great and Small will return with a new group of children who can't wait to share their learning on the blog.  Hope everyone has a great Christmas and New Year.

Concert Video

Take a look at the videos of our end of year concert.  We had a great time so we hope you enjoy watching them.

The year ones

The year twos

The year threes

A roaring good time!

Today the junior school had our Christmas concert.  All of the year ones had their face painted as lions and we sung 'In the Jungle'.

It was a lot of fun and the children did a great job performing their songs!  Take a look at our photos and stay posted for a video of our performance.  

Christmas Concert on PhotoPeach

Splish, Splash Chesters taking a bath

Chester, our guinea pig, was getting very dirty so we decided to give him a bath to help him clean his long fur.  We filled up a tub with warm water and carefully washed him. 

Zaraa took photos of Chester while we washed him.  Take a look at our slide show to see all the great photos she took.  Well done Zaraa!

Exit, stage right

We have been practicing hard for our end of year Christmas concert.  Yesterday we had our first practice on the stage and some of the children have written stories about what we did.  

Alex has written a story about someone that couldn't stop practicing.  Listen to his story to hear what happened.  

Wally Returns!

Wally has arrived back in our class.  We were all very excited to see Wally again.  He told us that the Springston Explorers had taken great care of him.

Jaida wrote a story about what happened on the day he arrived back. 

The Sore Loser. By Simon

Today we watched the Papatoetoe East Idol show.  It was great and we saw lots of talented kids.  Simon wondered what it would be like if someone from A3 had been preforming in it.  Have a listen to his story to find out what he thought would happen if Jerome sang for the judges.  

Goodbye Nanas

It's time for Nanas to go back to his class in Christchurch so we decided to give him a farewell party.  We had a treasure hunt and played some games then we made banana splits! Yum!  We will miss Nanas, but we are looking forward to seeing Wally again.

Welcome Kiet

Kiet is the newest student in A3. We are looking forward to getting to know you Kiet,  welcome to A3.

Rachel's first movie!

Take a look at Rachels first movie.  I think she did a great job reading her story, well done Rachel.

The museum. By Jasraj

After our trip to the museum Jasraj was keen to write a story about what he saw.

Nanas Big day at the museum!

Yesterday A3 and A4 took Nanas on his first adventure into the big city.  He went with us to the museum and he got to see lots of interesting things, like dinosaur bones. 

Nanas on looking at the motorway on the way to the museum

Nanas looking at some cockroaches in the weird and wonderful exhibition 

Take a look at this slideshow to see what else Nanas and A3 got up to:

Here are some stories that the children wrote about their trip to the museum.  It is Tevita's first video since starting in our class, well done Tevita! 

The Kittens have arrived!

The kittens have arrived.  They are staying in Mrs Compston's office until they feel safe and happy at our school.  A3 and A4 got to go and meet them and they are very cute! 

Here are some kitten inspired stories.

The kittens don't have names yet.  Please let us know your suggestions. 

First Contact

Yesterday we had our first ever skype call with the Springston Explorers in Christchurch.  We got to see Wally and ask them questions about what he was doing down there.  They asked us some questions too!  It was very exciting.

Nanas is waving hello to his class.

Asking questions about Wally

A3 and A4 go bananas for Nanas

Nanas has arrived and everyone is very excited.  He has spent the day meeting the children, reading books and playing games.  It's been great and he even came out to fitness with us.

Wally Wonderings

The children are still thinking and writing about Wally.  Here are a couple of children reading their stories about what they think Wally might be getting up to in Christchurch.

Where's Wally?

Yesterday our class mascot, Wally left us to go on a trip to Christchurch.  He is going to be staying with a class who we meet through blogging!  We are a little sad, but we can't wait to see what he gets up to while he is down there!  The Springston Explorers are going to send us their mascot, hopefully he gets here in time to go on our trip to the museum!  

Celebrations

Over the weekend lots of the children had fireworks at home for Diwali and Guy Fawkes night.  When they came back to school they were very excited to share their experiences.  Some of the students chose to write stories about it.  Two of the stories are true and one is not.  Can you guess which story is made up?

Happy Diwali

On Friday it was Diwali, the Indian festival of light.  We decided to celebrate it by making Barfi and Rangoli patterns.  Take a look at our video to see the what we did.

Free Falling

Last week Miss Mac brought in some little parachute people.  We couldn't wait to get outside and try them.  A3 and A4 waited downstairs while two people went to the second floor to launch the parachuters.  We had races to see which one made it to the ground first.  One of the parachute people got caught in the hanging flower basket and we had to ask Mr Heihei to get it out for us! 

Getting ready to launch our parachuters. 

In the afternoon some of the children wanted to make something to try and catch the parachute before it hit the ground.  Have a look at the video to see what happened.

Trick or Treat

It was Halloween last week.  We decided to make some scary halloween food.  We got together with A4 and made marshmellow ghosts and fingers covered in blood!  It was fun making them but even better when we got to eat them.

Strawberry fun.

On Thursday we planted our strawberries.  Have a look at our video to listen to the stories the children wrote about it and see what we did. 

Flying. By Seth

Seth is flying in an aeroplane, can you guess what he does once he's landed?  Listen to his story to find out if you were right.

The Crash, By Jasraj

A car has crashed! Listen to the story to find out what happened next.

Gardening

On Wednesday we started to get our garden bed ready for the plants.  First we took out the weeds, then we put newspaper down and wet it.  This was to stop more weeds from growing.  Once the newspaper was really wet we started to fill up our garden with dirt.  It was a very messy job but lots of fun.  We were all very tired at the end but we can't wait to start growing strawberries so we can eat them all up! Alex wrote a story about what we did to make our garden, have a look:

Take a look at this slide show to see what we did.

Welcome Rachel

Rachel turned five on Friday.  Today is her first day of school and she had a great day.  She loved looking at the books and playing with her new friends. Welcome to A3 Rachel.

The big cage. By Jaida

Jaida is trapped! Have you got any ideas on how she can escape?

Welcome Tevita!

Tevita turned five on Friday and has joined our class.  He loves playing on the computer and playing with the cars.  Welcome to our class Tevita.

First time movie makers!

This is the first time that Patrick and Esther have read their stories for our blog.  I think they did a great job!  Have a listen and let them know what you think.

Insects

Some of the children have been learning to write descriptions this week. Since we have been talking about insects we decided to write descriptions of insects.  The children used a writing checklist  to make sure that their description had the name of the insect, its colour and a word describing the size of the insect.  They used the books that we had been reading to find the words they needed.  Take a look at the photos of these amazing writers at work.

Here is the video of the children reading their descriptions.  They each drew a picture of their insect on kidpix which you can see at the start of each clip.

The snail. By Katie

We have been looking at snails this week.  Here is Katie reading a story about a naughty snail.

The shark and the puffer fish

Last term we learnt about puffer fish and some of the children are still very interested in them.  Here is Charin reading a story she wrote about a puffer fish and a shark.

Table Tennis. By Simon

In the holidays Simon got a new table tennis table.  Here is Simon reading a story he wrote about it.

The Praying Mantis


 Today the lions read 'The Praying Mantis' by Pauline Cartwright.  The book was really interesting, here are the children telling you what they learned and what happened in the story.





Do you have any interesting facts about the praying mantis? Please let us know!



Praying mantis, by Avnish



Our puffer Fish

We have been working hard for about five weeks to make these wonderful puffer fish.  First we had to cover our balloons in layers and layers of newspaper and glue. After that we had to cover the balloon in white paper and wait for it to dry before we could begin painting it.  It's taken a long time but the results are great and all of the children are very proud of their fish.

Year one barbeque

On the last day of term we had a barbeque with all of the year one classes.  We got to play with the sports equipment and the parachute.  It was heaps of fun.  Take a look at our photos. 


 

Best friends. By Kenny

Stu has a new friend, listen to Kenny's story to find out who it is.

Chester and Stu. By Katie

Chester is very scared! Listen to the story and find out why.

Chester's Birthday. By Yvon

After giving Chester lots of cuddles Yvon was keen to write a story about him. We will definitely be having a party for Chester on his third birthday!