March 23rd: Lunchtime!

Kia ora whānau,

When the weather cooperates, we eat our lunch communally on the top courts which are outside Rooms 8, 9 and 10. Of course, hats are compulsory during terms 1 and 4:

March 22nd: More Self-Portraits

Kia ora whānau,

Here are two more cool self-portraits:

March 21st: Devices in Room 9

Kia ora whānau,

We have sixteen chromebooks, two iPads and two MacBooks in Room 9 so with reduced numbers this means that students have access to a device each. 

March 18th: Maths and Numeracy Challenges

Kia ora whānau,

Students in Room 9 are given weekly literacy and numeracy challenges. Literacy challenges include crosswords and word searches. This week's numeracy challenge was to arrange the numbers 1 to 9 in four intersecting rows so that each row added to an equal number. Students started with number bonds to ten on the outside numbers before reordering them – well done!

These challenges can be found in the weekly learning plans on the Kauri Team site under Room 9.

March 17th: Busy People in Room 9

Kia ora whānau, 

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

We had another busy day in Room 9. You can see how the students care for our class chromebooks and tend to their books – the whole class does a great job of keeping the classroom tidy, so if your child has difficulty keeping their bedroom clean, they have a model of organisation at school!

Today students also commenced their journey to work through the various levels of the Essential Spelling Lists. As always, your child can access this learning at home too via the Education Perfect website. I was proud of the dedication that everyone showed to practising spelling today – it was hard to get them out to eat their lunches! 

March 16th: Focused Learners before School

Kia ora whānau,

Here is some more insight about what goes on before the 9AM bell rings. We had some really focused learners today who were playing Boggle, reading and drawing illustrations from their library books.

 

March 16th: Te Awa Ngahere and Drumming

Kia ora whānau,

Hamilton East School is blessed with a nature trail (Te Awa Ngahere) which we use most days to access the Putikitiki ground. We are also lucky to have a couple a good drummers in our class so they are passing on tips to those interested this week.

March 11th: Digital Technology in the Class

Kia ora whānau,

The main form of digital technology that students use in the class are chromebooks. We also have two iMacs and two iPads. There are almost enough devices for each child, but learning rotations means that not everybody needs a device at the same time. In many cases, children can share devices too.

 

March 10th: Morning Waiata and Kori Tinana

Kia ora whānau,

Singing and some physical exercise are an essential part of our morning routines in Room 9. Here the children are enjoying the fine March weather:

March 9th: Before the 9AM Bell Goes

Kia ora whānau,

If your child arrives early to school and you wonder what they do before the bell goes, here is a selection of activities that are popular:

1. Reading: I have some Choose Your Own Adventure stories that are popular.

2. Basketball: We have child-sized basketballs in the classroom and two hoops.

3. Just hanging out: The deck by the entrance to Room 9 is always a popular place for chatting and play.

March 8th: End of the Day

Kia ora whānau,

It has been great to talk to a lot of you this week and hear more about our child.

Today I would like to give you some insight into how we close out our days in Room 9. There are two think that we always do: one is a reflection where the children ask each other the question "He aha ngā taonga o te rā?" or what were their treasure/favourite parts of the day. We always finish with a closing karakia which is always at the end of the weekly learning plans that I have been posting on the Kauri Site.  These are both important parts of our daily routines.

If we have a few spare minutes, a popular game recently has been "Wink Assassin". Perhaps you are familiar with this game, but it involves all children closing their eyes. I then select one to be the assassin. This child then opens their eyes and commences to wink at other children. Another child is selected as the detective and their job is to work out who the assassin is as their classmates are eliminated from the game by his or her winks. I think this is a nice way to build an atmosphere of fun and friendship in the class.

More Sketches Done!

Kia ora whānau,

I hope everyone had a great weekend and you are all safe and well.

We are all proud of the wonderful sketching we have been doing in Room 9. Here are some more self portraits and other work from today. Our next art work will be to produce drawings of the mountains and rivers in our pepehas.

March 4th: Fun in the Pool

Kia ora whānau,

The students who went swimming today had a cooperative challenge: each team had to link themselves using swimming pool noodles and try and catch the other team like in a cycling keirin. At times, I asked the teams to change direction so they could experience working against the current. They all had a lot of fun and worked well together.

 

March 3rd: Using Maths Materials and More Self-Portraits

Kia ora whānau,

A popular maths game to practise addition is SKUNK. The rules for this can be found in the Week 5 Learning Plan on the Kauri Team site -- this can all be accessed by your child at home via Google when your child logs into their Hamilton East School account.

Here is how we used materials to solve an addition problem (54 + 68):

1. Count 54 and 68 using one-blocks and ten-rods.

2. Match 10 one-blocks with 1 ten-rod.

3. Remove the 10 one-blocks and add 1 ten-rod to the other ten-rods.

4. Match 10 ten-rods with 1 hundred-block.

5. Remove the 10 ten-rods.

You should now have:

1 one-hundred block

2 ten-rods

2 one-blocks

This is 122.

Here are some learners in action with the materials!

And some more sketching as parts of our Ko Wai Au? (Who Am I?) self-portrait project and images of nature: