Elf Job Applications

We have been immersing ourselves in the season and thank the families of Room 5 for their great input with ideas, supplies for crafting, and also the feedback for our Christmas Survey.  

Some of our writing in the last few weeks has been exploring ideas about Christmas too. We found ourselves wondering what it would take to be one of Santa's elves.  Room 5 came up with some great ideas, and we used some of these to fill in Elf Job Applications for the Toy Workshop, Elf Bakery, or the Gift Wrapping Department.  Have a peek at some of our ideas:

"I am really good at baking because my mum taught me and I can work fast at baking.
 I work all the time at home.  I bake cakes, cupcakes and birthday cakes for birthdays".

"I am really good at crafting things like origami.  That's why I wanted to sign up for this job.  So I can learn more about toys, get to know how toys work, and see the smiles of the children when they unwrap them."

The Thinkers Keys

In Room 5 this year we have been practising critical and creative thinking with the Thinkers Keys.  There are 20 keys such as:

• The What If Key - ask virtually any What If question e.g. What if all cars turned into skateboards?
• The Question Key - start with an answer and list 5 questions that give that answer e.g. midnight, seaweed or monkeys.
• The BAR Key - make an item BIGGER, ADD something to it, REPLACE something on it e.g. a skateboard, an umbrella or a freezer.

These Keys help us to think in more inspiring ways, are really challenging, and lots of fun!  Also, each of the keys can be tailored to the current learning in class. 

Recently, we have been using the Christmas Thinkers Keys,  Here is some of our thinking about 'The Reverse Key' - List 10 things you don't want for Christmas:

Planning for Writing: 5 W's and 1 H

This term for writing we have been working hard at improving our planning for writing, and making our writing more interesting for our audience.  

We have been using the 5 W's (what?, when?, where?, who? and why?) and 1 H (how?) to help us add information that we can then transfer to our writing.  We have also been adding labels to diagrams.  These steps help us when we are choosing the sequence of our ideas too.

Here are some examples of our planning:

Cross Country

Check out some of the great photos from our recent Cross Country.  We used motivation, persistence and determination to make it across the the finish line. Way to go Room 5!

Christmas Celebration Survey

An OPTIONAL Christmas celebration survey is coming your way!  

Room 5 are learning about the different ways we celebrate.  As part of this, we have made a fun survey for our Room 5 families to take part in.  Students have been given a paper copy of the survey they developed, on which is also a link to do the survey online if you prefer.  

We appreciate any data you can give us as we will be using this in our Inquiry research and for graphing data in Maths.

If you choose to take part as a family, please either fill the survey in online or send it back on paper ASAP so we can get graphing!

Thanks 

Agricultural Day Prep

Note to parents/caregivers:
In preparation for Ag. Day, some of our activities at the end of this week are going to get a bit messy! We ask that you send your child in older clothes, that you don’t mind getting paint on, this Friday 14th November.

We are also going to be creating small flower arrangements on this day to go in vases we have decorated in class. If you can, please send along on Friday with your child, some greenery and flowers for this activity. Please remember that whatever you have in your garden (or Gran’s or the neighbour’s garden) is fine – no need to buy anything. Hunting it out is half the fun! If you have any extras, we would appreciate them too. 

Thanks!

Have a sneak peek at the first stage of the paint dipping of our vase bottles...

News Note

Coming home in a school bag near you!

3 November 2014

Room 5 are looking forward to a busy last term of this year.  Our Inquiry topic will involve finding out more about how and why we celebrate, within our community and in other cultures.  The children have begun doing some great wondering and asking fantastic questions.

Also in less than 2 weeks, we have our annual Agricultural Day to look forward to on Saturday 15^th November.  Ag. Day preparations have already begun at home for those with a lamb, calf, goat or garden, and work is continuing in class on our projects here.  Room 5 are looking forward to sharing our Ag. Day learning with you.

CELEBRATIONS

Room 5 have been doing some superb inquiring into the hows and whys of celebrations in communities.  We have been thinking about, talking about, and finding out more about some of the celebrations we know well and others that are less familiar.  We also have created a 'Wonder Wall' for our celebration wonderings and will be refining our questions for inquiry.  What curious minds we have!

Rad Rap-unzel

The Rap-unzel show by the New Zealand Playhouse visited today.  What a performance - singing, dancing, rapping and a good dose of laughs!  

Here are some photos of the main characters - The "rude and mean" Simon Cow, The gifted Rapunzel, and of course, the charming Prince Rupert (aka Puff Rupee) - and Room 5 enjoying and joining in  the show.

Jars! - Thanks 

***Updated***We have now completed this activity for Agriculture Day.  Thank you to all the parents who sent along jars, and also extras for other children.  Thank you also to Deborah, Yvonne and Becky for volunteering to help with the 'putting together' stage.

In preparation for Agricultural Day in a few weeks, Room 5 children will be making and caring for terrariums at school.  We need to get these planted as soon as possible, so we are asking for good-sized, clean glass jars to grow our terrariums in ASAP!  No lids needed, but labels off jars please.  If you have an extra jar or two that you can send along, it would also be greatly appreciated. 

(image via etsy.com)

Superheroes Among Us!

To round out Term 3, Room 5 had Hero Week, where we let our imaginations run wild in the realm of Superheroes.  There were also a few Supervillains, because what would a hero be without a nemesis?!

Check out some of our 'super' writing and art...

Tree Bark Photography

Room 5 have been exploring photography this term.  One of our subjects to photograph was an up-close perspective of tree bark.  Here are some of the amazing photos the children took!

Reading Group - Finding Information

This reading group is learning how to find information in their Reading Text. Part of this is learning to work together and co-operate, while managing themselves.

Zealandia Trip

What an amazing time we had at Zealandia in Wellington on Friday!  Touching a Tuatara was a highlight for many of us.  Many thanks to the helpers who came with us and to the staff at Zealandia.