Calf Club Day

Calf Club Day is an annual tradition for rural families and schools throughout New Zealand.

The events foster life-long values in children such as motivation, commitment, compassion and responsibility - they are a great entry-point into agriculture and for many, the stepping-stone to a career in farming. (From http://www.lic.co.nz/lic_calf_club.cfm).

At our school children can opt in with a calf, lamb or goat that they have been caring for since the animal's birth. They build relationships and are able to lead and call these animals. they become real pets!

Other children at school take part with helping on the day or making miniature gardens. These children attend Calf Club Day as audience to show their appreciation of the hard work done by their class mates.

Working in a team...

We have learned about symbols we can use to make different  sounds with our hands and feet. This afternoon children worked in teams and designed their own "storms"! FUN!

Independent work...

In Room 1 you will find lots of independent work being done by children. They use self assessment criteria to check if they have used everything they have learned.
I was reminded of this when I saw this poster on a blog by a teaching guru. Her name is Karen Boyes, she writes a very informative blog about all the ups and downs in education.

You will find her blog here:   Karen Tui Boyes. (Click on link).

Champion runners!

Here is Tori. She won the Interschool Cross Country race for 5 year old girls. She is showing us her hand with a great big 1 on it! Well done Tori!

And here is Korbin who came 3rd out of all the 5 year old boys and first for Te Waotu School. Well done Korbin!

"No David!"

We often read the "David" books by David Shannon. They are hilarious, about a naughty boy called David. There is not much text but is has great opportunities for many discussions on the mat. I always ask the children if they liked the book  or page - "to put a finger on your nose or a hand on your head if you disliked it". That already provides great opportunity for discussions. Also, they takes turns to tell the story by just looking at the page.  Often children remember things from home and  their own stories are being told too. These books are so well liked, even after 50 times they are still popular! "Can we do David please!!"
Anyway, the best thing of all is that we are discussing key competencies all the time: eg managing self, relating to others, participating etc. which is so important for transition.

Busy days..

Our work showing how animals stay warm ...

And some of the independent group work that is happening spontaneously in class. Children are very busy making road and space maps in class when work is finished.  Excellent manners are being used and great cooperative skills too!

Maps...

Here is Fergus explaining to his classmates what he and several of his colleagues have made this morning: a map with even a space station take off platform...great oral language opportunity. They worked really well together with Fergus being a very thoughtful leader. Kapai guys!

Rocket ship

A big thank you to Olivia's dad Dan, who came and helped us make a rocket ship. We are learning about all the planets in space around our Sun. We are also learning about sound! The rocket ship has some cool speaking tubes and "phones" that children can use to learn about sound and how sound travels. What a neat, busy morning! THANK YOU Dan!

....and it's got lights!

Cross Country Run!

It was a beautiful afternoon after all! Well done to all you good runners...well done to the winners!
Great attitude...not giving up easy! We can do it! Official results to come!

Key competencies in the New Zealand Curriculum

About the key competencies

Key competencies are the capabilities people have, and need to develop, to live and learn today and in the future.

The New Zealand Curriculum identifies five key competencies:

• Thinking
• Relating to others
• Using language, symbols, and texts
• Managing self
• Participating and contributing

All of these key competencies are of equal and utmost importance in Room 1, daily.

We are learning to work together and listen to each other.

We manage ourselves by putting our gear away in the morning and focus on our work and play.

We learn to read and write and do maths.

We participate and contribute with all we do!

Children learn about these key competencies in real life scenarios, or role play. 

These key competencies are discussed and named often.

The making...

Writing time...

We are working hard at writing time. Ask your child what they are learning at writing time! They all know!

Jim Barnett Bush Walk...

What a great day for the juniors. We got together with our town schools and had a wonderful day. Thank you to all the parent and grandparent helpers that came along and supervised small teams.

We are incredibly lucky with Barnett's Bush right on our doorstep. There is a huge variety of native trees, even a 1000 year old Totara! We were a bit too noisy for the birds, but there is also an abundance of birds flying around.

Many volunteers offer their time freely to walk their tracks and check the traps in order to keep pests like mice, rats and possum out of the bush.

We are lucky to have such a Taonga in our neighbourhood!

Don't forget, tomorrow is our turn for running the assembly!

Maths on iPad, cooperative learning in Room 1

This app is called Maths Slide 100. Four children can play!

Friendship seat...

Some children in Room 1 were feeling a bit lonely during play time, so we talked about a Friendship seat. If you are feeling lonely you sit on the seat outside of Room 2. Other children will check regularly to see if they can pick someone up to play with. We made up signs for the seat and put them on the seat! Tumeke!

Day one....

What a busy first day for Room 1 children. We explored the whole school. We even went up to the top of the Hall!  We visited all the other classes as well and said hello to brothers and sisters.

We stopped in at our school library and chose our books. They need to be returned next Tuesday.

Tomorrow will be first day for swimming, so please bring your togs. Swimming is all about water confidence, so having fun in the water. I will let you know after tomorrow whether I need some help with this in the afternoon.

Your child should have a stationery form in their bag so we can get started with working in our books. Their clear-file from last year should still be good to use, but parents please empty it at home. We will  start a whole new year of work samples to take home daily.

Kia Ora!