Friendship Salad

Today was our first day back at school after the summer break and everyone was excited to be back with old and new classmates.

After talking about friendships and working together, everyone helped to make a friendship salad.

In went some grapes -these are the students in the class - the good helpers and friends inside and outside of the room.

In went some apple to show the hard workers that always try their best in everything they do;

some pineapple to show the children that share and take turns;

marshmallows to show the kind sweet words being said in our classroom;

and yoghurt to show the happiness we feel when we are in school together.

No one wanted to add the rotten banana! 

Rotten bananas might cause trouble in our room such as calling people names, or refusing to do the work, or not sharing!

Finally everyone enjoyed eating the yummy friendship salad.

Thank you to Brooke and Hannah for taking the photos.

What do you do to be a good friend to someone?

What Else Would You Be Doing?

We are all getting used to being back at school after the summer break, so when we read this poem in class ...

... it started us all thinking about where we would rather be!


Click on the book to read our stories.

What are you doing and where would you rather be?

Green-screening Our Holiday Stories

Our first class attempt, in 2015, at using a green-screen as we danced, was a bit raggedy 

as this post showed!

This year, we have had more success using a green-screen. 

We recorded our summer holiday stories in front of the screen then used the Doink app to put us into our drawings.

The boys:

The girls:






How did you have fun in the holidays?

Summer Holiday Art

The children spent some time during the first week back at school for 2016 making art works to enter into the local 

A & P Show 

(Agricultural and Pastoral Show).

The art works had to reflect an activity from over the summer break.

Some students chose to use water-colour pencils and others chose to use pastels.

Blake

Riley 

What did you do for your summer holidays?

I'm Bursting to Tell You ...

We started back at school on 28 January, and as you can imagine, the students were bursting to tell all about the events of their summer break!

Here's what we've been up to:

What do you like doing on your summer break?

Summer Break

The students and teachers from  B4 are now on their summer break until January 28, 2015.

We wish everyone a safe and happy summer.

How will you be spending your holidays?

'Mateship' - An ANZAC chat with Tipperary Station

The commemorations for ANZAC Day on April 25th happen during our school holidays this year, so we are spending time this week thinking about it in class.

ANZAC means Australia and New Zealand Army Corps. 

While there is traditionally a friendly rivalry between the two countries, troops from both countries saw action together at Gallipoli in World War 1.  

Tipperary Station, a small Australian outback school of 6 pupils, asked if we would like to do a Skype to talk about the meaning of 'mateship'.

Only 6 pupils!

To kick off our thinking, both classes read

'Simpson and His Donkey' by Mark Greenwood
and Frane Lessac.

Both classes had the same book!

During our skype chat we decided that mateship meant taking care of each other, sticking up for each other, being a good friend and sticking together. 
Another word for mateship is friendship!

We looked more closely at two pictures from the book.

What might the soldiers in the boat be saying to give each other support?

How are the soldiers in this picture showing mateship towards each other?

Thank you to our new mates from Tipperary Station. 

We hope we get to learn with you again!

School Is Not the Only Place We Learn Things!

We've been discussing how learning happens in many places and in many ways.

In their first week back at school the B4 students reflected on what they had learned or got better at during the summer holidays.



What learning do you do out of school?

It's Nearly Time!

It's nearly time for the 2014 school year to begin!

School starts for our students on Wednesday 29th January.

If you are Year 2 and 3, you will be in B4!

Mrs McKenzie and Mrs Wistrand are looking forward to seeing you all again :)

All items on the stationery list are available from the school office, or you may purchase elsewhere if you prefer.

Remember, you may re-use clearfiles from last year - just empty them before bringing them to school! 

If you have workbooks with lots of pages left, you may use them too.

What are you looking forward to at school this year?

What did you most enjoy about your summer holiday?

Our New Zealand Christmas song Playlist

Our friends in Mr Avery's 6th grade class in 

Massachusetts, U.S.A. have created their

 Christmas playlist 

and have challenged other classes to add a playlist 

to their blogs.

While we enjoy many traditional Christmas songs, we're going to put some uniquely New Zealand Christmas songs on our playlist!

Te Harinui

Pohutukawa Christmas Tree

Aotearoa Christmas 

Christmas in the Summertime

Kiwi Christmas Carol

What songs would you include in your Christmas playlist?
If you post, please make a link to both our blog and Mr Avery's blog!

Toys at Midnight - Teddy Bears and Lego Blocks

What happens in the toy box when the clock strikes twelve?

These teddy bears and Lego blocks show you in our 
Celebration of Learning item.

Toys at Midnight from Judy McKenzie on Vimeo.

What do you think your toys get up to at midnight?
What toy would you most like to receive as a gift?

Wrapping Paper

We've been working together in maths to make our own 

wrapping paper.

After looking closely at some commercial papers, we discovered that the patterns are sequenced and often show slides, turns and flips!

We chose 1,2,or 3 shapes for our paper and decided on our pattern sequence.

Have you ever made your own wrapping paper for a special occasion?