Saturday, April 19, 2014

Our River, Our Learning

Our Social Studies topic in Term 1 has been 
'Our Place, Our River'. 
Here's the post about our visit to the river.

 One of our questions was 'where do people find gold in the Inangahua River?' This week we used models, and made drawings and movies to show our answers.

by Liv and Braedyn




We wrote information reports about our river. 

Samuel:
Samuel's river report

Skye:
Skye's river report

Michelle:
Michelle's river report

The Inangahua River is definitely a special place for us!
Tell us about your special place.

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

'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.


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!



Friday, April 4, 2014

The Shape Song

We've been learning a song that helps us to remember the names of 2D shapes. 
After we learned the verses about the square, circle, triangle and rectangle, we made up our own verse about the hexagon and the oval.




Shapes
(to the tune of: "Frere Jacques")
This is a square. This is a square.
How can you tell? How can you tell?
It has four sides,
All the same size.
It's a square. It's a square.

This is a circle. This is circle.
How can you tell? How can you tell?
It goes round and round,
No end can be found.
It's a circle. It's a circle.

This is a triangle. This is a triangle.
How can you tell? How can you tell?
It only has three sides,
That join to make three points.
It's a triangle. It's a triangle.

This is a rectangle. This is a rectangle.
How can you tell? How can you tell?
It has two short sides,
And it has two long sides.
It's a rectangle. It's a rectangle.

Can you make up a verse about a diamond or another 2D shape?

Postcript: Miss Robinson's class from down the road in Greymouth took up our challenge!