#NZreadaloud - Gavin Bishop

For the next two weeks we are taking part in the Yr 1/2 #NZreadaloud. 
We will be reading lots of stories by New Zealand author Gavin Bishop and we will be posting about our learning on the readaloud blog here.


We read Gavin Bishop's version of 'Chicken Licken' 

and compared it to another version we have in our class.

The endings were quite different. One is sadder than the other!

We voted on which ending we each preferred.

Let us know which ending you prefer!

Weather Skype with 1D in Texas

We skyped with a class from a suburb of Dallas, Texas, USA to talk about the weather.
In New Zealand, it was 8.30am on Tuesday - our day usually begins at 8.50am so we had an early start. 
In Texas, it was 2.30 pm on Monday! 

What did we find out?

In New Zealand it is spring.

In Texas it is fall (autumn).

We measure temperature using degrees Centigrade (˚C).

They use degrees Fahrenheit (˚F).

In summer, an extremely hot day in Reefton might be 35˚C (about 95˚F).

A really hot day in Dallas, TX might be 100˚F.

This morning in Reefton the day was quite cool, and the temperature was about 10˚C (50˚F).

The temperature in Dallas, TX was about 80˚F (27˚C).

We had some time to compare notes about our classes.

We have 20 students. We are Year 1, 2 and 3s, and we are mostly aged 6 and 7, with one 8 year-old.

1D has 22 Grade 1 students, all aged six.

Both classes love doing Daily 5 at reading time!

Winter is the favourite season of Brooks, from 1D

Braedyn from B4 said his favourite season is summer.

We live in a community of just over 900.

1D live in a community of 35,000.

We live one hour away from a beach, but we have a school pool, a town pool and the river.

The children in 1D would need to drive for nine hours to get to a beach! However, they have a rec centre, and lakes, and backyard pools.

Which place is generally hotter - Reefton or Dallas?

What is your favourite season and why?

Stopping the Summer Reading Slide

At the start of each summer we send home book packs 

with each child, then over the summer 

we open the school on three days for the children to come in 

and swap their books. 

Today was the final book swap, as school 

starts again in two weeks.

These keen readers were first in the door!

Well done to everyone who has made the effort to read over the summer.

What books have you read this summer?

What else have you enjoyed doing over the summer?

Daily 5 in B4

All year we have been using Daily 5 to organise our reading time.

Daily 5 involves making choices from

Read to Self

Read to Someone

Work on Writing

Listen to Reading

Work on Words

We usually get three choices in a session, so lots of time is spent on reading and writing. 

During this time Mrs McKenzie is conferencing with individuals or working with small groups 

on their strategies for reading.

We've worked on building up our stamina over the year and each round is usually 20-25 minutes long.

We really like Daily 5 because of the choices we get to make, and we know we are becoming much better readers and writers.

Take a look at how focused we are!

Daily 5 in B4 on PhotoPeach

What is your favourite part of Daily 5?

What strategy are you practicing at the moment?

What book have you enjoyed lately?

Read to Someone ... in Australia!

One of the choices we have each day in our reading programme is 'Read to Someone'.

It is always a popular choice.

Students usually sit side-by-side and can either take turns reading pages of the same book, or take turns to read pages from their own books.

At the end of each page they check for understanding - who the page was about and what happened.

Today Jack and Nikki read to Georgia and Tessa  - at 
Harston School in Victoria, Australia!

Now everyone else is looking forward to their turn!

How does reading to someone help us to become better readers?

What book are you reading at the moment?

http://mrsw.global2.vic.edu.au/2011/09/01/read-to-someone-skype/

Follow your Dreams

We always look forward to a Duffy 'Books in Homes' assembly.
This time we were lucky enough to have Christine Fernyhough speak to us. 

Chrissy is one of the founders of the Books in Homes scheme, 

which our school takes part in.

Chrissy told us to follow our dreams, something that she did when she moved from Auckland and bought a high-country farm several years ago.

After the assembly we collected the box of books for our class, and what did we do? ......

We read of course!

What is your dream?

What will you need to do to achieve it?

Is it a short-term dream or a dream that will take longer to achieve?

Skyping about 'Flat Stanley' with 2KM and 2KJ

B4 and B3 had a great Skype session with 2KM and 2KJ in Australia.

We have all been 

reading 'Flat Stanley', and we asked each other 

some questions about the story.

It was a good chance to try some of our inference and recall skills.

Lots of children liked the chapter about Stanley helping to catch 

the sneak thieves in the Museum.

We also got to ask some questions to compare our schools.

We have 9 Year 2s, but in their school there are 100 Grade 2s!

2KM and 2KJ each have 21 students. 

B4 and B3 each have 18 students.

Children at both schools have art, music and PE. 

They learn Indonesian and we learn Maori, so we showed each other how we count to 10.

At the end of the call the children decided that it would be fun if they make Flat Stanleys and send them for holidays in New Zealand or Australia.

Watch out in a couple of weeks to read about the adventures of the Flat Stanleys.

Have you ever read 'Flat Stanley'?

What was your favourite chapter?

Thanks to the student teacher in 2KM/2KJ for this transcript of the session:

Summer Reading Challenge

Custom Glitter Text
The Summer Reading Challenge is on again!

Read over the summer and WIN!

Come in to school on these dates and change the books in your book pack.

Visit a library and take out books over the summer.

Bring back your signed forms when school starts in February.

What kind of books do you enjoy?

Where do you like to read?

The Lucky Dip

Last week when the Orange group read 'The Lucky Dip' they had their own lucky dip!
They were excited to find out what was in the parcels.
Now they have their own story, made with youblisher.com



Have you ever had a lucky dip?
Were you excited?
What did you get?

Duffy's Black Fern Role-model Assembly

We love Duffy Books assemblies.
Today Kendra Cocksedge and Olivia Coady of the Black Ferns New Zealand Women's rugby team came to our role-model assembly.
They challenged us to think of any job that wouldn't require reading of some sort, and although we tried hard, we couldn't think of even one.
After we sang the Duffy song the boxes of books were handed out and we went back to class to enjoy our new books.
Olivia and Kendra came around the classes and showed us some rugby jerseys and Kendra's medal from the Women's Rugby World cup that NZ won recently.

Gentle Giant

This week we read 'Gentle Giant' by Michael Morpurgo.
Last week Bob told us about some other books by Michael Morpurgo.

We know that it is a narrative story. There was a problem in the middle, that resolved by the end of the story.

The story also reminded us about the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

We think lots of children would like this story.

Bob's Books

Today Bob Docherty came to school to talk about books. Bob used to work for the National Library and he has read lots of books.

Bob wants us to READ, READ, READ.

Bob read us two stories - 'Little Beauty' by Anthony Browne and 'The Wild Girl' by Chris Wormell.

Bob told us about these other good books too, but he didn't tell us the endings so now we want to read:

'Really, Really High Diving Tower' by David Metzenthen, 'Birdbrain Amos' by Michael Delaney,

'No Such Thing as Dragons' by Phillip Reeve,

'BMX Bully' by Jake Maddox,

'Cool!' and 'Running Wild' both by Michael Morpurgo.

Thanks Bob, we always like to hear about good books.

B4, which book would you like us to read first?

Library Buddies

On Tuesdays when we go to the library we read with our buddies from Year 6/7. It's something we look forward to every week

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Gotta Keep Reading - Ocoee Middle School

Hey Rosealeigha, this is especially for you because you love it so much! But make sure you share it with your friends too. Thanks to Mrs Watson and the 123s for sharing it with us.