The Ant and the Grasshoppers

This week we read a big book called The Ant and the Grasshoppers. It is a play. Yesterday we got into groups and decided on who would play each part in the play. Next we practised reading the play out loud. Today we had one more practise and then one group got to perform. Here is a video of their efforts.



Next week the other groups will have their turn. Keep an eye out here for their videos. As we do more plays we will work on volume and using expression.

Lynley Dodd Character Descriptions

This week we have been learning to write character descriptions. We had to use describing words to put a picture in the reader's head. First we described ourselves. Then we choose one of our favourite Lynley Dodd characters and wrote a character description about them. We are also learning to start our sentences with different words. Here are some of our stories. See if you can guess which character the description is of.

I am a cat. I am black. My eyes are yellow and my ears are orange. At the end of my tail it is blond. Who am I? By Caitlin

I'm skinny and black. I like to steal stuff at night time and I am mean. Who am I? By Palm.

I am as big as a horse. My coat is brown. I have long legs. Also I have a lot of friends. Who am I? By Emma.

I am yellow. I have orange feet and I have an orange mouth. Who am I? By Te.

I'm low. I am brown. My coat is rough. I have a sausage tummy. My collar is blue. My tag is green. Who am I? By Olivia.

I am a black cat and I am mean. I have sharp claws. Who am I? By Kahn.

My coat is fluffy. Very very fluffy. I have a white coat. It keeps me warm. My fur is scruffy. Who am I? By Bella.

I am yellow and I have yellow feathers and I have orange feet. Who am I? By Swastik.

I am a black dog. I have a long coat and I am a bit naughty. Who am I? By Ashley.

I am strong and tough. I am angry. Who am I? By Finn.

Doubles

We have spent this week working on our doubles song every day during maths time. We are getting much better at knowing doubles to 20 out of order. The circles maths group are learning to use doubles to solve problems. E.g. 6 + 6 = 12 so 6 + 7 = 13. We filmed the song so everyone can practise at home. Thanks to Mrs Ashby and Room 17 for the background music on their blog.

Spy Week

This crazy week of spy games all started last week, when Miss A told everyone that she was a teacher in the day time and a spy at night time!! She said that she had seen a St Albans teacher creeping around our school at night. So this week we wrote our own spy stories. We had to guess which teacher was creeping around the school, and what they were up to. Then Mrs Simmons came into our room with a note taped to her back that said: "Mrs Simmons is a Spy". Then she accidently dropped her spy notebook in our class!!













Next we collected up all the evidence we had gathered during the day and put it all on the whiteboard.










The Room 16 spies worked out that it was Mrs Simmons who was here at night and she had hidden something under the trap door in her cloak room. So we, (being the super spies that we are) distracted Room 15 and had a look. This is what we found:









It was a package with a note for the Room 15 children. Mrs Simmons had left them a present for having such great ideas in their story writing. It was nothing bad at all!!

On Thursday Miss A told us that she had been at school again the night before, and that there was another teacher who had snuck into our cloakroom and put something under our trapdoor. We wrote stories about what we thought was under there and who we thought had done it. Then we opened it.









This is what we found:









It was chocolates, lollies and a note from Secret Spy Agent J!! It could only be June Sutherland, Judy Calder, Julie Worthington or Jeannie. Miss A thinks it's Jeannie because she has been very secretive all week. And also, Jeannie does think that Room 16 children are awesome!! We will try and find out next week.

Thursday was also St Paddy's Day. We had green balloons, made shamrock hats and found out about St Patrick - the Patron Saint of Ireland. Miss A painted shamrocks on our cheeks. What a day! Lucky that we have 3 days to get ready for another great week next week.

Funday Friday

Wow we have had an action packed day of fun today. To start with - it was Bradley's birthday!! Happy birthday Bradley. He bought his new Bay Blade in to show us. Next meanie Miss A made everyone do their spelling tests!! But even after having an earthquake and some days off the results were good. Keep it up. Then we got to finish our pig paintings. They were fun to make and they are super cute. Here is a slide show of us finishing them and of the final products. Check it out.



Next we had singing with Mrs Toohey and Room 15. After that we had discovery time. We got out the playdough, stickers, construction and games. After we had packed up all of that we headed outside for a Funky Monkey's show!! There was singing, dancing, stories and bubbles, bubbles, bubbles! So many bubbles!! It was so cool. There was even a TV camera filming it so keep an eye out for us on TV. Here are some photos of the show.
























After lunch we read our big book - The Gardener's Maze. Then we had a go at all sorts of mazes. We couloured a maze from the book, tried drawing our own mazes on whiteboards, and had a good time making mazes with our construction things. Have a look.





























By 3pm we were all tired out after an exciting funday Friday and were ready for the weekend. See you all again on Monday.

Words of Wisdom

Here are today's words of wisdom from the brilliant minds of Rascal Flatts. I was listening to this song in the car today and thought it seemed appropriate.

You find your faith has been lost and shaken,
You take back what's been taken,
Get on your knees and dig down deep,
You can do what you think is impossible.
Keep on believing, don't give in,
It'll come and make you whole again,
It always will, it always does,
Love is unstoppable.

Keep looking after eachother. Kia Kaha. xx

Let's get Learning!!

Ok it's time to get those brains working again. Here are some things you could do while school is closed:
Writing
Write something for me - this could be about the things happening at home, a fairy tale, a superhero story, a song, a poem . . . anything. If you can email me your writing I would love to read it. If you want your writing published I can post it here for you.
Reading
I'm sure you are all doing plenty of reading with your family. If you have read a great book recently then you could do a book review about it to share when school starts again. Remember to tell us the name of the book, the author/illustrator, what it is about and why you think we should read it too. If you need some more things to read, try this website http://www.magickeys.com/books/ .
Maths
This website is great for practising your basic facts: http://www.playkidsgames.com/games/mathfact/default.htm . Playing board games at home as also a great way to keep up your maths.
Spelling
You can practise some spelling words using this website http://www.spellingcity.com/ . Just get an adult to enter in some spelling words and you can play games and do activities that use your words.
Other Ideas
You can go to http://www.selwynridge.school.nz/kidszone.html to play the games that we play on our classroom computer. Remember to click on "Small World" or " Busy Bees".
Ask if you can do some cooking or baking and then write some instructions about the things you make.
Check out the newspapers and choose an item to share for current events when school starts back.
Illustrate a story that you have written. Remember that a great illustration will show us things that the story doesn't tell us.
If you have some earthquake photos, or photos of things you are doing at home then email these through to me. I can post them for others to see what you are up to.
You could simply send me an email to say hello and to let me know how you are doing. Try asking some questions and I will email you back to answer them. Reminder - my email is jodi.archbold@stalbans.school.nz

Remember to help out at home where you can. Big hugs to everyone. I am missing you all and hope to see you again soon. Love Miss A.

Earthquake Support and Donations

Hello again. As school is closed for at least another week I know there are a lot of people who are doing ok themselves and are looking for ways to help others. If you are in this situation then here is an idea for you: Rangiora Earthquake express are in need of donations of non-perishable food, water bottles (full or empty), nappies, baby formula, bread, razors, rubbish bags, glad bags, life-long milk and bathroom/sanitary items. If you would like to make a donation, but are not able to take it to Rangiora then I can do that for you. I will be in the St Albans area tomorrow (Tuesday) and again later in the week. I can collect goods from outside the school and take them out for you. Please email me (jodi.archbold@stalbans.school.nz) if you would like to do this and I will let you know a collection time. Please also let other people know who may like to do the same thing. The Rangiora Express are doing a fantastic job getting this food to the eastern suburbs by truck and helicopter.
Also, I have some connections with a St Albans based church group who are keen to help where they can. So if you or your neighbours/families/friends need help digging, cleaning up, moving furniture etc or you simply need some support, please let me know and I will organise some help for you. Take care and look after each other.
Jodi xo

Earthquake Tribute

This is one of many tributes posted on you tube recently. It is a great reminder of how we can come together during trying times to create the strength needed to get through. Stay safe. xx

School closed Until Further Notice

I hope this message finds you all safe and well. Well done to all of the children for the way they coped during the quake on Tuesday. You were fantastic. Also thank you to the family and friends who stayed with the children to help keep things calm. Your help was very much appreciated. My house and family are all fine. We have water and power so please email or let me know if there is anything I can do to support you and your families during this time. Keep an eye on the school website for updates. Take care. Jodi. xoxo