The Helping Circle

We have been reading a poem called, "Our Town" by James K Baxter. This week we will be writing our own version of the poem. As a group, we brainstormed places that we could write about and then we went off to work on our own brainstorms for our poem about our chosen place. 



At the end of our writing session we worked in a sharing circle. We read our brainstorm to a buddy and they read theirs to us. This is a great opportunity to edit and improve what we have written.  




Students have been helping each other to brainstorm what they can see, smell, touch, feel and taste in their chosen place. 

This links with our school focus about being connected. 

This is the poem that our students have been reading:

OUR TOWN

By James K Baxter

The town was usual enough; it had

A creek, a bridge, a beach, a sky

Over it, and even a small tin church

I never went to. My brother, my cousins and I

Did what boys do- dozed in the hot

Schoolroom, made bows and arrows, dodged the mad

Boat builder, crept like rabbits through the black

Under-runners with a weak torch,

Burnt dry rushes, wrestled or swam

Doing nothing important.

Connecting and Collaborating

Our focus this term is collaborating. Our Year 3 students have been helping our younger students to use Google Apps for Education (GAFE). Our Year 1 and 2 students have their own folders in our shared account. We are writing for our project, "If you learned here." We had a great morning connecting with people that we don't usually work with.

Swimming Begins

Swimming lessons started today!

Non-Standard Measurement (Length)

The playground is 27 children long

We are measuring the height of the door using a glue stick

The Rainbow Bench is 12 children long

The slide is 8 children long

We are measuring the height of the door using a purse

Maths - Imaging

In Maths, we have been learning to image in our head when solving problems. We have been using the bigger number to start to learn how to count on. We are using paper bags and beads to help us master this skill. We need to know our basic facts to 10 and our doubles which we are practising along side this.
Check out the video to see some of our thinking...

Cross Country Training Begins...

Today we started to think about our goals for our school cross country. We are learning to pace ourselves so that we can complete the run.

Great start to Term 2

It was lovely to see you all today. You were all full of energy and ready for learning. It's going to be a great term!