Creating and Playing Instruments

As part of music this term, the children made instruments for homework. Now we have a class band!

Do you play an instrument? 
How long have you been learning to play it?
How often do you practise it?

if you don't learn one yet, what instrument would you like to learn to play?

Police Dog Nour

Policeman Aaron visited with his dog Nour.

Police dogs are working dogs.

They have to do as they are told, without question.

Nour is two years old and has only been on active service  since May this year. 

Aaron and Nour are good friends.

Nour is waiting to be told to move.

When he does the right thing, Nour's reward is a game with Aaron.

These children are putting their scent onto the toys ...

and hiding them in the playground for Nour to find.

Nour tracked across the field to find another toy, hidden by Aaron. He is tracking the scent left by Aaron's footsteps.

Nour has a cage in the back of the police truck.

Before trying to pat a dog, let it smell your hand first.

What did you learn during the visit with Aaron and Nour?

Do you have a dog? Tell us about your dog!

Let's Celebrate!

For Social Studies with Mrs. W, the class have been inquiring into celebrations in New Zealand and in other countries of our Pacific and Asia region. 
After talking about some of the celebrations we have in NZ, 
we decided to focus on New Year celebrations.

Matariki is the Maori New Year, and is celebrated during winter.

The class read some stories about Matariki and investigated ways in which people might celebrate the occasion.
We communicated this part of our learning by interviewing each other.
To be successful, we had to share three ideas about how we might celebrate Matariki, and add some detail.

When do you celebrate New Year?
How do you celebrate it?

Frosty Footprints

We had a week of -10˚C frosts, so we just had to get out and explore our frosty environment.

We also enjoyed the first two lines of a poem called

'Frosty Ghosts' by Sydney Victoria.

Frosty Ghosts      

Frosty ghosts escape my throat,

Showing themselves in the damp winter air.

Her lines inspired us to write about frost too, especially when we saw these frosty footprints in the grass!

(Click on the image to enlarge it for reading)

What is the weather like at your place?

Grand Opening of the Compost Bins.

Two of our B4 students belong to the school 

Enviro Rangers group.

The group has been looking at ways to minimise the amount of rubbish in the school, and one solution the group decided on is to compost food scraps.
The senior students in the Hard Materials technology class built an impressive compost bin.

The whole school met for the 
Grand Opening of the compost bin. 

Local gardeners, Marg and Rex Crook, were invited to cut the ribbon, as the Enviro group had visited their garden to learn about composting.

What do you do at home to reduce the amount of rubbish going out on rubbish day?

What does your school do to minimise the amount of rubbish being dumped?