Xylophones and Xrays

Not many things start with X but we managed to keep busy during X week.
We made colourful paper xylophones and played real xylophones (actually they were glockenspiels because they had metal keys not wood)...

..and we learned about how xrays work and matched xrays with photos. Bethany was very good at sorting these xrays!

Calendar Art

We have been busy making a work of art for the PTA calendar fundraiser. Take a look at our wonderful masterpieces.

Calendar Art from Annette on Vimeo.

S is for Stethoscope

Dr Chris came in and showed us his stethoscope. We listened to his heart beat and to the pretend heartbeat of Evan's rabbit.

Learning with Miss Gil

We have been very lucky - we had Miss Gil working in Room 17 this term. Week 3 was her last week with us. Look at what we learned....


Ka Kite Miss Gil. We will miss you!

V is for Very busy!

 This week was 'V' week. We learned about the differences between fruit and vegetables. We found out that fruit have seeds -  that makes tomato a fruit!
We made vegetable soup, a volcano and folded amazing flowers for a vase.
We read a story about a boy called Oliver that didn't like veges. He only wanted to eat chips until he picked vegetables from his Grandfather's garden and found out how good they are.
Watch us read our stories about Oliver.

  
Starring: James, Oliver, Megan, Evan, Ruby, Bethany and Sarah.

Starring:Te Aroha, Lucas, Ella, Jessica, Chloe, Wiremu, Emilia, Deaming, Mason, Anaru and Ashton

Our classroom was filled with the delicious smell of soup. You can almost smell it from here.....

A very big thank you to Bethany's mum who not only made us buns but rescued us when the hot plate we had arranged for cooking on didn't get delivered. She raced home and brought in bench top elements to cook with. On top of that she stayed to help us make the soup! Ka Pai.
(We also tried using a slow cooker - true to its name it was too slow - but that did mean we had soup on Friday as well for those who wanted it.)

V is for Volcano
We made volcanoes with vinegar and baking soda. We tested white vinegar and brown vinegar. See which one was best.


We coloured beautiful vases and then made pretty paper flowers to put in them.

...and... we even found time to paint some scenery for our musical. We are working on learning all our words, songs and dances.

Term 3 Teamwork

We are practising our teamwork skills. With our Inquiry topic about the Olympics starting after Firewize we thought we should get in some teamwork practice!
Here we are working together sorting, measuring and making!

Imagination and teamwork were needed to make this design. Well done Megan and Bethany.

P is for Puppy

Evan brought his puppy to school for P week. We learned that pets need food, somewhere comfortable to sleep, toys and lots of love; just like people.
Stella, the puppy, found Ashton who has just started in Room 17. Can you find Ashton in the slideshow?

Did you find Ashton? Here is a clue....

Sir Peter Blake

We learned about a very famous New Zealander and wrote stories about him. First we drew a picture plan to organise our thoughts and then wrote our stories. Here are some of our picture plans and stories about Peter Blake.

Chloe's picture plan

Peter Blake was racing the yachts and he won the trophy. Sara

Peter Blake saved the sea and he got the trophy for the whole of New Zealand. James

Peter Blake is winning the race. He is having a race and he is picking up the rubbish. Chloe

Peter Blake was a good racer on a ship and people liked him. Peter Blake was a good racer, good leader. Mason

Oliver's picture plan

Peter Blake is a hero. Peter Blake got shot and he is wearing his red socks. He is brave and he died. Evan

Peter Blake was a hero. He won the New Zealand race. He won the red socks. He was going to pick the rubbish up. He is winning the yacht races. Sadly Pirates shot him. The pirates’ ship was brown and black and white. The pirates were sailing Peter Blake‘s boat. Oliver

Sir Peter Blake was sailing on a big yacht. He won the New Zealand trophy and the New Zealand red socks. He has to race seven times and he was so brave. Deaming

Peter Blake is winning the race and picking up the rubbish. Te Aroha

Sir Peter Blake has won the race. He is picking up rubbish. Ruby

Ella's picture plan

Peter Blake was driving a yacht around the world. Then he saw a pirate. He had to run away. Bethany

Peter won the race. Lucas

Sir Peter Blake won the race. He was killed by pirates. Ashton

Sir Peter Blake is sailing his last yacht race. Wiremu

Peter Blake is sailing the yacht to New Zealand. Ella

Emilia's picture plan

The pirates killed Peter Blake. Emilia

Peter Blake saved the sea. “No more rubbish,” said Peter Blake. Then the people listened. Jessica

Peter Blake is a hero. He goes on a yacht and he was going faster and faster. A pirate went on Peter Blake’s yacht. Peter Blake died. Megan

Peter Blake is sailing around the world. Anaru

Some of these stories were read out a special assembly for Year 8 student, Avalon Te Haara-Barr, who won a Sir Peter Blake leadership award. We were very proud of Avalon and our famous Room 17 writers!

Cultural Journey Day

On Thursday we tried some food from different countries. Thanks to Wiremu and Anaru, Mason, Jessica and Sara, we ate Tongan caramel dumplings, an Aussie food platter, Chinese savoury dumplings and Scottish shortbread.
Parents - you can be very proud of the children who gave all the food a try. Many came back for seconds and thirds!

Cultural Journey Day from Annette on Vimeo.

Also, many thanks to Rebeckah and Alrina who helped serve up and did our dishes!