Looking at Worms!

This term we are looking closely at worms as we get ready to set up our worm farms. Sharon from Wastebusters came in to work with us, to help us learn all about Earthworms and Tiger Worms. In the photos we are looking at different types and sizes of worms and looking for clues to show whether they are baby or adult worms. We even looked so carefully we found some tiny worm eggs.

World of Maths

We have had a fun time at World of Maths today! All the New Entrants, Y1's and Y2's completed the activities at the same time with some great senior helpers and parents. The activities meant the children had to use their maths knowledge as well as our A+ characteristics.

Taking part in PMP

All the New Entrant and Year 1 students have been taking part in a programme called PMP (Perceptual Motor Programme) with Mrs Lee, Whaea Bobbie and Viv on Tuesday afternoons. This is a programme which aims to develop children's perceptions and understandings of himself or herself in relation to their world through movement experiences. It aims to develop perceptions of height and space, patterns and their confidence to manipulate themselves.

Here are photographs of some of the activities the children have taken part in.

Our trip to Ferrymead

I thought you might enjoy this slideshow of the things we did during our August trip to Ferrymead! You can view it in full screen to see the photos more clearly.

Dress Up Day - Book Week September 2017

We all look great in our costumes for Dress Up Day! We all dressed up as characters from a book we liked.

We started the day with a whole school parade around the playground and each class had a best dressed student. Anna took the prize in Heaphy.

We had a photograph as a junior team as well.

Rectangle Robots

At maths time one of the activities we have been able to choose is about shape. We have been making robots using just rectangles. Here are some of them on display in the classroom.

Lift off!

We have been very excited to have a rocket ship in our classroom. We use this to help us to practice the key competencies from the New Zealand Curriculum, including thinking, using language, managing self, relating to others and participating and contributing (A+ characteristics). We thought you might like to see how impressive it is. The children have made stars to go on the wall behind it, to make it feel like we are in space.

Thank you Whaea Bobbie for making it!

Bugs, Bugs, Bugs!

This term we have been looking at some stories by the author Eric Carle. One story is 'The Bad Tempered Ladybird', so we decided to make grumpy faces to go on our ladybirds, and talked about things that make us feel grumpy.

Then we read 'The Very Busy Spider'. Following this we made some webs by sticking lollipop sticks together and then learnt how to weave wool around them, by going under and over the sticks. We also made spiders from egg cartons and pipe cleaners with wobbly eyes.

We then read a book called 'Stick Insects' by Dawn McMillan and made some very colourful stick insects to go on and around our tree.

Here are some photos of our display.

Financial Literacy

On Wednesday we had Amy the ASB lady come to visit us, to teach us about money. She told us the names of different coins and notes, and how we can look after our money by keeping it in safe places and not just lying around. She also talked about how we exchange money to pay for things we want.
Here are some photographs of her talking to the children.

100 Days at School

We have now had 100 days at school this year (just over at the time of posting this blog!) and we celebrated with a treat. We have been adding one cube to a chart each day since the start of the school year and practising counting the daily total in ones, or in tens and ones each day, as we have added more cubes.
Here are the photos of our treat. We were only able to eat the biscuits when we had made the number 100 correctly!

Ferrymead Trip

We had a wonderful day last Wednesday when we visited Ferrymead. Continuing with our Change Theme this term, the visit has sparked our interest in changes through time from around 100 years ago to the present.
We took part in four different activities including, going to the movies, making a biscuit in the bakery, cleaning a house with items similar to those in the past and taking part in school activities. We had to do these activities in clothes like children a long time ago as well.

Hockey Skills

Last term we were lucky to have  a member of Selwyn Sports Trust team to come and work with the whole school to improve our hockey skills. Here are some photos of us practising the skills we learned.

Airforce Museum Trip

As part of our Change theme this year we have been studying physical changes in Science. To further develop the concept of physical phenomena we went to the Airforce Museum to help us understand how planes fly. This involved some practical investigation, looking at different types of planes through time and a scavenger hunt around the museum. We did lots of learning and had fun at the same time!

Community Time

We enjoyed learning to work together during Community Time sports.

Craft Day

We had some amazing entries on Craft Day in the recycling bottles and tins section as well as many others. Well done to everyone who entered!

Fundamental Movement Spectacular

We all had a great time trying out some new games to take back to school with us, at Foster Park in Rolleston. We used lots of different types of movements including running and throwing to help develop some fundamental movement skills.

Maths activities in Heaphy

Here are some of the practical activities we have been doing to consolidate our number knowledge.

World Read Aloud Day - Thursday 16 February

We had great fun reading on World Read Aloud Day. This was an opportunity for the whole school to get together with their buddies to enjoy reading for pleasure and to get to know our buddies better.

Swimming has started!

We've been focussing on building our water confidence as I assess the stages the children are at. Please remember to send togs to school on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Welcome to the Heaphy Class 2017

We've had a really good start to the term, as all the children have settled well and are learning their new routines.

I'm really enjoying getting to know your children and you! Please feel free to come in the mornings and look around both sides of the classroom and see the exciting learning that is beginning to appear on our walls. Also keep an eye on this blog (please follow the link at the side to subscribe by email for updates) as we share what we have been learning.