Thursday 30 April 2015

Library session on 30.4.15

Our fabulous librarian has set our library up with lots of great Anzac displays over the past fortnight.
    The children have been especially excited about the 'hide' which they have been able to have turns exploring.
    
    The children also had fun trying out some of the army kit that you can see on display on top of the 'hide'.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    Some of the boys were checking out how tall they were compared to the life-sized photo of an army person.
    We are incredibly fortunate having a librarian like Janine who is so passionate about books and topics related to our learning.

Saturday 25 April 2015

ANZAC Commemoration on 23.4.15

     
  
     On Thursday morning we went to hang the poppies that we'd made on the fence.
    
    We also saw the poppies that the discovery children had made on the fence outside our room.

    Liz came over with the three wreaths containing poppies that Trentham children from each syndicate had made stuck on them.
    Then it was time for the ANZAC Service to start.

    First there was a speech in Maori by a kaumatua.

    Then Simon Wasley from the NZ Navy spoke about why we remember those NZ and Australian soldiers who were killed in WW1 and other wars.
    
    Children from Te Roopu Waiata then sung a couple of popular war-time songs.
    
    Next the wreaths were laid below the flagpole in honour of the soldiers who have lost their lives.
    After that the school flag was lowered to half-mast.
    
    A Salvation Army cadet played the Last Post on his bugle.
    
    
    We finished the service by singing the National Anthem and the boys did a Haka.

Last session of Tennis on 21.4.15

    On Tuesday we had our final session of tennis with Tom. The children have been practising lots of different movement skills with the tennis balls and racquets. 
    One popular activity that the children liked was the 'racing car' one where they had to move the ball around their racquet. This required them to use quite a bit of hand-eye coordination.
    Note the looks of concentration from these children! They also liked the 'fish in the net' skill where they had to drop the ball on the court and then catch it on their racquet.
    The sessions ended with children partnering up and hitting the tennis ball to each other from 'low to high'. Tuesday's session ended with a partnered 'rolling rally'. 
    Children were practising using forearm (one hand on racquet) and backhand (two hands on racquet) strokes to roll the ball to each other.


Friday 24 April 2015

End of term fun afternoon on 2.4.15

    Our busy term ended on Thursday afternoon with a fun time using some of our equipment from     discovery. All those Koro Team children who had put in an awesome effort over the term into their home learning tasks took part.
    
    
    
    Mrs Kay showed some children how she uses the rope ladder at her 'bootcamp' fitness class on Wednesday nights.
    
    It was a wonderful way to end Term 1.

Jade visits our class on 27.3.15

    Lucas shared his brand new baby sister Jade with us.
    We got to gently touch Jade's head.
    Thanks for bringing her in Starr!

Inquiry Clubs on 17.3.15

   
We had our last session of clubs today. The children have enjoyed being in their six different groups for the last three Tuesday afternoons. They have taken part in a variety of cooking, basketball, science, crafts, music and cooperative PE games over these past three weeks.

   
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    

Capital E Trip on 12 March

We enjoyed our day out on Thursday at the National Arts Festival in Wellington.
We saw three shows. The trip in on the double decker bus was exciting for the children.
We walked to the different shows. It was great having our Masters student teacher trainee Emma Wickens to help out looking after our children on the day.
Thanks to the other parents and adults who also helped supervise their groups of children on the day. We hope you like your thank you letters that the children are planning to write.