Joshua and the Irish Rugby Team

Joshua was lucky enough to be ball boy for Ireland in last night's RWC match against Italy.

Good on you Joshua! I think you might have been very nervous to be ball boy in front of all those people!

Here is a video of his efforts. A big thank you to Philippa Brocklehurst (Itinerant Music teacher at Wairakei) for giving me the recording. Much appreciated!

(actually...am having some technical problems uploading the movie...hopefully I can sort this out asap).

Hats!

We have been planning, designing and making a sunhat! Miss Clarkson said that our hats must do the following things:

1. Fit our heads

2. Give us shade (the shade had to cover our whole face).

What do you think of our creations?

Ronald McDonald Came to Visit!

Wow! We are so lucky! Ronald McDonald came to Wairakei School to talk to the children about pedestrian crossings, sneaky driveways and wearing our seat belts!

What a busy day today!

Well it sure has been a busy day today. We had Wheel's Day, pizza orders for lunch AND cricket coaching in the afternoon. To top it all off...the sun was shining too. Absolutely Brilliant!

A big thanks to the Wairere Team (seniors) for organising the Wheels Day today.

All money raised is going towards their SAILING DAY.

Another big thanks to Canterbury Cricket for coming out to take Cricket Coaching all day.

We had a blast!

Sophie had lots of fun riding up and down the hills!

Jaxson, Joshua and Jesse on their scooters.

Alura, Gabriella (Rm9) and Shakaia on their scooters.

Miss Miller had a go on the unicycle. Go Miss Miller!

Hunter was in Room 10 last year. Look at his Green Machine!

Cricket was fun! Run, Shakaia, run!

Tim showed lots of form at cricket.

Go the All Blacks!

Today everyone was allowed to come to school dressed in their favourite rugby team's colours. Of course...the big favourites were the All Blacks!

Here we are all dressed up and shouting "Go the All Blacks".

Of course, some of us are supporting other teams...Alura came dressed in red, white and blue (France), Joshua came in the Spring Bok rubgy jersey (South Africa), Mia came in a red soccer top with maple leaves painted on her cheeks (Canada), Julia came dressed in red, white and black with a fern on one cheek and blossom on the other (Japan and New Zealand), and lastly, Christian is a bigger fan of NRL, so he came dressed in his favourite NRL teams colours (Tigers).

Whoever we are supporting...all the best to them!

Finished art and shadows!

We are inquiring about HOW SHADOWS ARE MADE this term. We had a really fun Friday afternoon last week. Look at our video!

Here is a video of our finished artworks that we made with Susie and Rebecca from the Christchurch Art Gallery.

Earthquake Song

We are learning this song! Though we already think we are experts at coping with earthquakes!

Art Gallery Visit

How exciting! Today we had Rebecca and Suzie visit us. They are from the Christchurch Art Gallery and they specialise in teaching children's art lessons.

Rebecca taught us how to make a silk screen print...with gold!!! After that, Suzie showed us how to use a straw to make patterns over our print with coloured dye. It was so much fun! Even the adults were allowed to have a go.

Have a look at our video of Room 10 having fun making some art. We will show you our finished product tomorrow...they are currently drying.

A big thank you to Chris and Liz (Rosie's Mum and Dad) for coming in to help us.

Of course we need to thank Rebecca and Suzie too - you guys are awesome!

Cody's fun in the snow and welcome to Miss Clarkson!

Cody managed to have some fun in the snow recently too.

He and his big brother, Joshua, made this igloo.

Cody even fed some cold ducks down at Jellie Park.

It looks like they really appreciated being fed too!

A big welcome to Miss Clarkson. She will be an intern in Room 10 for the next 7 weeks (this means she is learning how to be a teacher). She has already made an excellent start today. We really hope you will enjoy your time with us!

Some information about Miss Clarkson: this is her 5th school placement so she is very experienced at teaching already, she lives in Sheffield (so has quite a drive at each end

of the day), and her mother is Swedish (Miss Clarkson lived in Sweden for a year).

I wonder if any of you can find Sweden on a map?

Robert's fun in the snow!

And here's another one!

Robert (with the help of big sister, Amelia) has made an awesome snowman (he even has eyesight problems!). Love the idea of using rosemary for the mouth and it's great to see the Canterbury colours! The snowman's name is Mr Gavin (apparently he resembles Robert's dad a few years ago - cheeky!).

There was not enough snow at home...so Robert had to go and fetch some from the neighbours! Good work, Robert!

You deserve a prize too!

Joshua's fun in the snow!

I will have to make sure I have plenty of prizes when school re-opens again.

Here is Joshua inside his igloo! Great effort, Joshua! I wonder if your igloo has melted yet?

Don't forget, Room 10. Make something out of snow, take a photo of you and it. Bring it to school or email it to me (corinna.oneill@wairakeichch.school.nz). There is a prize for children who do this. You better hurry...before the snow melts!

Emilia's fun in the snow!

And the photos are pouring in fast...absolutely brilliant!

Here is Emilia's creation. Didn't she do well? Emilia and her family are from Chile, hence the Chilean flag.

Also, a big congratulations to Emilia's family. Just recently they added a new wee member to their family, a baby brother for Emilia. We hope baby Mattias is settling well.

(I also hope I have spelt his name correctly?)

Joseph's fun in the snow

Wow! That was quick! Just seconds after finishing the post about Julie's photos I received a photo from Joseph's family.

Here is Joseph and his little sister, Maia, beside their snowman

...all ready for the Rugby World Cup, I think!

Excellent creation, Joseph...a prize is coming your way too!

Julie's fun in the snow!

Julie's family just emailed me the following photo's. Julie has had Mr Bojangles over the weekend, and it certainly looks like Julie has been looking after him very well.

Julie and her little brother, Taiga, made an igloo for Mr Bojangles.

They even made a pet rabbit for him too!

Mr Bojangles said "it is nice and warm in here".

Julie has been busy making snowmen!

Well done Julie! A prize is coming your way soon! See you when school opens again.

Snow!

Snow, glorious snow!

Today all of Christchurch (and most of the country) woke up to a blanket of snow! This meant no school of course!

Look what Miss O'Neill did today...

Now...I am curious to see who in Room 10 looks at the blog. So here's some homefun for you. Your job is to make something (anything) out of snow and take a photo of you and it. Bring it to school! Or you can email the picture to me at corinna.oneill@wairakeichch.school.nz. There are prizes for children who do this.

I wonder who will bring a photo...

Of course, it is still snowing...so no school tomorrow (Tuesday) either. I hope everyone is staying entertained and warm!

Gymnastics!

Today Room 10 had their first gymnastics session for the term. We met Megan, our instructor from the YMCA, who showed us a variety of activities.

It was lots of fun. A big thanks to Shar (Amelia's mum) and Donna (Madeline's mum) for helping us.

We can't wait until next week!

Warm-ups with Megan.

Warren jumping and trying to keep the ball in place. Good job, Warren!

Action shot of Joshua jumping and about to land correctly on two feet.

Cody is rolling (just using his tummy muscles to help him to move!).

Luke, sack jumping.

Week 2

We have got new listening posts! We love using them to listen to stories at reading time. We even used them to watch a movie at Discovery Time last week.

Some of the senior students at Wairakei School are running lunch time clubs - what an absolutely brilliant idea! One of the clubs is a CRAFT CLUB. Look how organised the seniors are...with a rather big collection of junior children. WOW!

You guys are awesome!

Puppets!!!

Talk about being showered with gifts!

Today a parcel arrived for the Otakaro Team. Fortunately, the parcel came to Room 10, so we opened it.

Inside was a big surprise. We found 30 puppets and a big puppet theatre (which we helped to assemble). Wow! We must remember to thank Mr Buckner!

The puppets are to be used mainly at Discovery Time, but we had a sneaky play with them. They even helped us to our writing today. We should use them more often, because our writing today was ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT!

Alura and Connor

Mia and Sadie

Timothy and Robert

Luke and Mia

Christian and Jaxson

First day back for Term 3

We are so excited! Room 10 has a brand new listening post. We love listening to stories on it. A big thanks to the Wairakei Home and School Committee who funded the new listening posts throughout the school.

Here is Warren listening to a story.

Today was Rosie's birthday and she turned six! She woke up especially early to make and ice some cupcakes for her friends in Room 10. They were delicious! Thanks Rosie...and HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!

Here is Rosie enjoying her cupcake with Daniel, Warren and Julie.

The holidays!

In the school holidays Miss O'Neill and Mr Bojangles went to Australia! We stayed with Miss O'Neill's brother and his wee family.

Last Monday we were meant to fly home...but it snowed in Christchurch and our flight was cancelled! We couldn't get back until Saturday night...what a shame!

Australia was awesome...and hot!

Have a look at our holiday video.

We miss you, Miss Keeling!

Miss Keeling has finished her time in Room 10. We made a video for her because we really, really miss her.

Last Friday Miss Keeling made us very happy when she came to visit us.

We hope Miss Keeling is enjoying her holiday!

What have we been up to?

Miss Keeling has been very busy during her time with us. She has been teaching us how to look after our teeth. Here is a video of Dr Rabbit showing us how to brush our teeth.

Joshua and Te Aroha showed us how to brush the front, back, side and inside of our teeth...and our tongue too!

All of Room 10 were given their own toothbrush and toothpaste to take home - how cool!

Miss Keeling has also been teaching us how to model with salt dough. The children looked at different types of masks and discussed the various facial features (eyes, nose, mouth etc), then drew a plan of their own mask. We used salt dough to make a model from our plan and painted it to make it look like real life. Here is a video of our masks. Can you see how many masks actually look like their creator?


Don't the masks look ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT!

The other day Room 10 earned their third whole class reward for the year. We made jelly, then ate it with some ice cream - yum!


It is Miss Keeling's last day with us on Friday and we are very sad. It has been awesome to have her with us for the past 7 weeks and we will miss her very much. On Friday we are going to have a shared lunch and party. Room 10 will need to bring a plate of finger food to share.

The Muntstones!

Anyone know The Flintstones? Introducing The Muntstones!



(It's a pity the movie makers added the last little bit...it kind of spoils it?).

Room 10 loved this! We thought it was a great way to use humour to hide our actual feelings and try to move on.

We are back!

Yesterday we returned to school after Monday's aftershocks.

It was terrific to see nearly a full class!

Cody spend his day off on Tuesday baking...he brought some iced biscuits to school for us - what a treat! Thanks, Cody! They were yummy!

Lots of turtles!

Today we had a lot of turtles at school!

Once again we were bombarded with earthquakes. At lunch time a 5.5 quake struck, and like the amazing children they are, Room 10 immediately got into turtle position, then congregated on the field once the shaking stopped.

Parents came immediately to check on their children, and were allowed to take them home if desired. We were left with 9 children for the afternoon. So we thoguht we would play some maths games.

During our game of fraction bingo a 6.0 quake struck, and we had to form the turtle position again, then move outside once the shaking had stopped. School was officially closed for the day.

Room 10 - you were very brave! I know you were very scared, but I thought you were ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT!

School is closed tomorrow (Tuesday 14th June) while the buildings are assessed. A wee reminder that we are supposed to be boiling our water again (that is if you have water and power!). When school re-opens, please bring bottled water to drink (in case we have not got clean drinking water).

Kia kaha, take care, and look after yourselves.

Maths games

On Friday it poured with rain, which meant no sport skills. Instead, we thought it would be a great way to finish the week with some maths games. We chose a partner and played maths games around the classroom. We had 4 minutes at each game...loads of fun!

The best part was that we learned how to play our new games. Watch our video and see if you know any of our maths games!

Rebuild Christchurch

Rosie and her family found this video about rebuilding Christchurch. Rosie thought her classmates might enjoy it. Thanks Rosie!

Lots of news!!!

It has been a very long time since a post was added to our classroom blog, and so much has happened!

First of all, we must introduce Miss Keeling. Miss Keeling is a Graduate School of NZ Education intern and is working in Room 10 for 7 weeks (she only has 4 weeks left!). We think Miss Keeling is pretty amazing and ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT! A big welcome to you, Miss Keeling.

A couple of weeks ago we had another Discovery Time and it was fun!!! One of the activities was the GIANT BUILDING BLOCKS. The children had heaps of fun building all sorts of creations.

Today we had a class reward, as we had earned 20 silver pieces of treasure. So we decided to combine the reward with our blend of the week (SH)....to make sherbet!!! Yum! Yum! We had a paper bag and into this bag we had to put 1T icing sugar, 1/8t baking soda, and 1/8 t citric acid. We were allowed to taste the different ingredients...one was sweet, one was fizzy, and one tasted like orange. It was a great activity to help each other with too.
After school, Cody and his Mum were a little distracted...looked what happened to Cody's sherbet! It went all over his little sister, Ella...oops!

Over the last week we have been busy writing thank you letters to our friends at Halcombe School. Today, just before school ended, we wandered over to the post box, so that we could post our very own letters. A big thank you to Gavin (Robert's dad), Georgina (Joseph's mum) and Reana (Phoebe's mum) for walking with us across the busy road.

Room 4 Halcombe School's surprise!!!

This afternoon we had a parcel delivered to our classroom. How exciting! It was a big box addressed to Room 10, Wairakei School.

When we opened the parcel, we discovered that Room 4 from Halcombe School have been very. very busy. They wanted to make us something to make us smile after experiencing the awful earthquake in February, and the ever-following aftershocks.

The children in Room 4, Halcombe School have designed and made each child in our classroom their very own t-shirt! We think that is very cool! We loved trying them on at school today.

As luck would have it, Room 10 is hosting the school assembly tomorrow, so we will wear our fabulous new t-shirts!

Thank you, Room 4. We have made a video for you.


For art this term we are learning how to sculpt using clay. We are learning the basics first with playdough. Have a look at our video.

Our Cultural Video

We have been learning about differences within our classroom. We discovered that many of us were not even born in Christchurch. We decided to learn where in the world we all came from, so we all brought something about our culture to share with our classmates.

Here is our video.

Hooray for Miss Scott!!!

Last year Miss Scott and her partner, Brendon, set off over to England for their 'Overseas Experience.

When they heard about February's earthquake, they organised a fundraising relay style run from London to Christchurch (Dorset)...which is about 100 miles!!! Whoa!!! The run was held yesterday. We can't wait for Miss Scott to tell us how the run went.

We think Miss Scott, Brendon and their friends are ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT!

Click on the picture to read an article about the run.

Baa Baa Smart Sheep

2011 NZ Post Book Awards

Every year we look forward to reading the finalists in the NZ Post Book Awards. We are lucky to have a teacher (Mrs Pringle) who has purchased all of these finalists for our school library. Click on the above link to see who the finalists are!

The other day we read Baa Baa Black Sheep...and we rolled all over the mat with laughter! To cut a long story short...it is all about a very smart sheep who tricks the turkey into eating a pile of poos!!! Ew!!! We loved it!