Problem Solver, Thinker .... or Vandal?

In art this term we are looking at birds.

We've already looked closely at the pukeko and now we're looking at keas.

Our class mascot Quicksilver is VERY happy about that. 

He's been busy preening his feathers to make 

himself look beautiful. 

Can you see a little flash of orange under his wing?

Quicksilver would like to show you this video about keas.

The video shows how clever keas are. 

(Quicksilver is a little embarrassed about the destruction his family can cause, but he is proud that keas are such great problem solvers and thinkers!)

Did you think the keas were clever?

How do you go about solving problems?

Skyping With Our California Buddies

We enjoyed a 'Share and Compare' skype session with 

Mrs Yollis and her Grade 2/3 students.

Here is the distance between us 'as the crow flies'.
Do you know what that means?

Each class prepared information on a Google Doc about the communities

 and the schools.
Whose school is bigger?

In New Zealand it was 9am on Friday September 21, and one of our students was celebrating his 7th birthday.
In California it was 2pm on Thursday 20 September where his birthday would be the next day!
Why?

Birthday boy!

We wrote our information on little boards to make for easy sharing.

We met mascots Panda and Beverly from Mrs Yollis' class,

Beverley the Bear liked the look of our couch! Zzzzz.

and introduced our mascot, the cheeky and clever 

Quicksilver the Kea, and his friends: kind and helpful Mr Beesley, and fun, cuddly Squirmy-Wormy.

Our mascots Quicksilver

and Mr Beesley

These boys proudly showed their 'manu taratahi', a traditional Maori kite that they made during our Social Studies topic.

These boys made this manu taratahi during topic. 

Thank you Mrs Yollis and Grade 2/3.

We hope to talk to you again soon.

Do you have any questions for us or for our Californian friends?

Have you ever Skyped someone from home or from school?

Questions about Squirrels

Having the squirrel mascot here has prompted us 

to find out more about squirrels.

We thought about our questions and worked with our buddies to find some answers.

Thank you to Mrs Monaghan from A Room with a View, 

who left us some information about squirrels 

in her comment on our Mr Frizzletail post.

B4 children, what was your question and what did you find out?

Mr Frizzletail Comes to Visit

Mr Frizzletail is a squirrel mascot from the U.S.A. and 

is on a tour 'downunder' to 

Australia and New Zealand. 

You can read about his adventures on his blog.

On his way from Wellington to Reefton, Mr Frizzletail got to visit the Beehive and Parliament buildings.

Mr Frizzletail is surprised to find that we don't have squirrels in New Zealand, 

but he is looking forward to some adventures 

with the B4 children.

What do you know about squirrels?

Why do we refer to New Zealand and Australia as 'downunder'?

Some New Friends for Quicksilver

Quicksilver the Kea has been our B4 class mascot 

since early in 2011. 

The children love reading to Quicksilver and including him in games at playtimes. 

Last year he even got to go home with the students 

for a night each!

This year he has some new friends.

He wants you to meet 

Squirmy Wormy

and Mr Beezley

Quicksilver is excited to have these new friends.

Does your class have a class mascot?

Maybe your class mascot could introduce themselves to Quicksilver, Squirmy Wormy and Mr Beezley.

It's Time for Magnie to go Home

It's time for Magnie to go home to Burravoe.
He has had quite a long stay in New Zealand, first visiting the Super Scoopers in Dunedin, and then the Pirates of Rm 4 in Invercargill.


View Larger Map

We made this book for Magnie's class:

We wonder how long it will take Magnie to get home?
Do you know how far he has to go?

Eating Puffin Poo!

A parcel arrived for us.

Magnie the visiting whale was really excited when he 
saw that it was from his friends 
at Burravoe School!

When we opened the parcel we got some lovely surprises.

We found a book called 'Bobby an da Burland Pearls', 

a keyring with a puffin on it, 

a no-smoking sticker that says 'No puffin' '

and some very cool home-made postcards about 

Burravoe School.

But the funniest thing we found was two bags of 

PUFFIN POO!

Luckily we read the back of the bags and 

found it was actually made of white chocolate, toasted ricies, marshmallows and coconut!

Mmmmmm, thank you Burravoe School, we really enjoyed the treats.

We had to use a lot of reading strategies when Mrs McKenzie read some of the book aloud to the class, as it is 

written in dialect!

Do you know what type of horse is shown in the picture?

What do you know about puffins?

Which strategies did you need to use to read this page?

Magnie is here!

Magnie the whale is visiting us from Burravoe School in the Shetlands, Scotland.

Magnie has been in New Zealand for awhile, 

visiting with the Super Scoopers in Dunedin, and with the Pirates of Rm 4 in Invercargill.

He will be on his way home soon, to get back 

before Burravoe School start their long summer break.

Magnie's been hanging out with our mascot, Quicksilver the Kea, and with Lovely, Nikki's little whale.

They are quite envious of Magnie's very cool knitted hat and badge!

Magnie came to assembly and was introduced to everyone in Year 1-8.

He shared some postcards and brochures that arrived with him.

What do you think we should show Magnie before he goes home?

SuperScoopers and Pirates, what was your favourite memory of Magnie's time at your schools?

My name is Quicksilver

Hello, I'm Quicksilver the Kea

Thanks to all of the people who helped  to choose my name by voting.

Remember, you can find out more about me and my family by clicking here.

Meet our class mascot

Here is our new class mascot.

It is a kea, which is a New Zealand parrot.

Keas live in South Island alpine regions.

We chose a kea because they are inquisitive and like to investigate and learn about the world.

We thought that sounded a lot like us!

You can find out more about keas by clicking here.

You can hear the call of our kea:

We brainstormed some names for our kea, but need some help to make our choice!

Please vote for the name that you think would be a good fit.

Do you have a class mascot?

What is it?

How did you choose your class mascot?