Twitter Club

Every second Thursday afternoon Room 2's Twitter Club join in on #kidsedchatnz on Twitter. The Twitter Club is a group of children that are interested in learning how to tweet on Twitter. Anyone can participate in this group on a Thursday afternoon. #Kidsedchatnz is when other NZ classrooms all tweet on Twitter from 2.00 pm - 2.30 pm with each other. Each time there are different focus questions that we tweet about. Last week the questions were about why reading is an important skill to learn and how we can become better readers. #Kidsedchatnz is organised by a NZ teacher for NZ children. 

Room 2 children did an excellent job of tweeting with other schools last week. Children who are confident with using Twitter are learning to tweet independently using the iPads. The rest of the group tweets with Miss Gentil on the mat. We use the interactive whiteboard so that everyone can see the Twitter feed and take turns at tweeting. #Kidsedchatnz is a great way to teach positive Digital Citizenship. 

If you're interested in finding out more about #Kidsedchatnz you can click the link below. 

http://kidsedchatnz.weebly.com/kidsedchatnz.html

Cross Country

Room 2 has been training so hard for cross country and today all that hard work paid off. I'm so proud of each and every one of you for your effort and achievement today. The majority of Room 2 also chose to run the championship race which was awesome. Thank you to all of the parents and whanau that came along today. What an awesome afternoon.

If you missed the cross country today here are the year 4 and 5 results. 

Year 4 girls 

1st place equal - Stella and Carlia
2nd place - Hanna
3rd place - Breanna

Year 4 boys

1st place - Caleb
2nd place - Potiki
3rd place - Jacob

Year 5 girls

1st  place - Araleigh
2nd place - Sapphire
3rd place - Georgia

Year 5 boys

1st place - Lucas
2nd place equal - Taylor and Daniel
3rd place - Liam

We LOVE Reading!!

We love reading in Room 2. During reading time we participate in lots of different activities that help to support our reading. We are exploring different reading activities at the moment. Some of the activities include reading and commenting on other class blogs, the reading app of the week on the iPads (this week it was Monkey Word), independent reading, posting tweets on our classroom Twitter board and practising our spelling words on Spelling City. We also read with Miss Gentil or with a buddy every day.

 

Your child can access their spelling list at home on www.spellingcity.com. Once you are on the website click 'find a list', then type Simone Gentil into the search bar (make sure you have the option of 'teacher's name' selected). From there your child is able to find their spelling list. On Spelling City you can listen to your words and play lots of different games. This helps us to learn our spelling words in a fun way.

 

 

 

 

All About Hanna

My name is Hanna. I am 9 years old. In my spare time I like to dance my butt off, sing, play with my best  friend Khear who goes to a different school  in Kam. I also like to go swiming, go to the beach and go fishing. My favourite food is sushi . My favourite movies are the Lorax, Up, Revenge, H2O, and Pitch Perfect. Over the summer  holidays I went past South Queen's Bay. I saw  Snail  Island, White Island and Whale Island. In Room 2 I would like to put things on our class blog.

 

 

Mexican Fiesta

Our theme for Adventure Learning this week was Mexican Fiesta. Over the past two weeks Adventure Learning has been quite structured, with a large focus on planning and reflection. This week Room 2 was provided with a group challenge. On Thursday I explained that on Friday we would all be making nachos. The children organised themselves into small groups. They were then given a list of ingredients to make nachos including nacho chips, cheese, salsa and guacamole. In previous weeks we have gone through step by step instructions of how we would carry out our activity. This week the children in Room 2 were told that they would have to discuss in their group the best way to make their nachos. The then had to work together as a team to develop their plan. No one method was right or wrong. Some groups decided they would put their chips on their plate, then sprinkle cheese on top. Other groups tried to melt their cheese on a plate first and then spoon it onto their nacho chips. It's important that Adventure Learning is student directed and that the teacher's opinion is kept out of it. The children will then reflect on their learning on Monday (we ran out of time today). When they complete their individual reflections they are all encouraged to think about what went well, what they learnt, what challenges they came across and what they might do differently next time. Room 2 will continue to work on 'whole class themes' for Adventure Learning for the next few weeks, before moving on to individual or small group projects. A lot of the children are already buzzing with ideas about what they would like to learn about. Our mexican fiesta really encouraged everyone to work together as a team. Room 2 has a lot of fun working in our class kitchen today. I couldn't believe how they could eat such big plates of nachos! If your child came home with a full lunch box today this will be why...

Sizzling Sausages

The Year 5 and 6 children have been very busy fundraising for their school camp. Today was the first Friday sausage sizzle. Room 2 bought 32 sausages and some children even ate two. I didn't think they were going to be able to fit that many in their tummies! Every second Friday there will be a sausage sizzle at school. Sausages can be purchased for $1.50 each.

Planting Magic Seeds

Today for Adventure Learning we planted magic seeds. We don't know what kind of seeds they are so it will be a surprise when they start to grow. Before we planted the seeds we talked about what we thought they might grow into. Some of our ideas were marigolds, peaches, pears, a magic bean stalk, a money tree, carrots, feijoas and sunflowers. We planted our seeds in plastic fizzy drink bottles. You can read our instructions below so you can make one at home too.

1. Cut the plastic bottle in half.
2. Turn the top half of the bottle upside down and put it into the bottom half of the bottle.
3. Ask an adult to put a hole in the bottle cap using a hammer and a nail.
4. Carefully thread a piece of wool through the bottle cap. You may need an   adult to help you to do this using a needle. Make sure you only pull the piece of wool halfway through.
5. Fill the top half of the bottle up with potting mix.
6. Push your finger down into the potting mix to make a small hole for your seed to go in.
7. Plant the seed in the potting mix and cover the hole over.
8. Fill the bottom half of the bottle up with water until it is just over half full.
9. Sit the top half of the bottle inside the bottom half of the bottle.
10. Find a safe place to put your magic seeds and wait for them to grow.

Room 2's hints for clever cookies

*We put the wool into the water and through the bottle cap to help draw the water up into the potting mix. This means that you don't have to water your seed because it will drink enough water to help it grow.
*If you have seed raising mix available this will give your growing seeds an extra boost. We used a mixture of potting mix and seed raising mix.