Discovery and Creative Time

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We have been learning a fun new song when we are with the Little Einsteins for our Friday morning singing. We have a good chuckle singing this song!

Bjorn and Joseph - Writing

Look at Bjorn and Joseph's fantastic writing today! They had to write a story about swimming on Thursday last week.
Joseph found some fast words on the alphabet card to write his story and listened carefully to the sounds in the words. He used pastels and big bits of paper to write on today.

Bjorn used the i-pad app called magnetic letters to write his story today. What fantastic sounds in those tricky words Bjorn!

Bjorn writing his story on the i-pad

'I am putting toy ducks in the pool'  writes Bjorn.

Joseph's story says 'I am in the swimming pool'. Super sounds Joseph!

Firewise poem pictures and learning

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Our Firewise Visit

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Poem of the Week Pictures

Look at these amazing illustrations that these 4 children drew for our poem this week. ( Fire, Fire!)

Mason's fire engine is doing a great job!

Kate's fabulous fire picture!

Aishling putting out the fire!

Wow Eva, I love the look on the people's faces in the bus!

Poem of the Week

We have been learning about onomatopoeia - Words that imitate natural sounds or give a sound to an object. e.g. 'buzz' went the bee, 'crackle, crackle, crackle' say the big red flames, 'bang, bang bang' shouted the fireworks, 'Quack!' honked the duck...

I wonder if you can think of some other words. Nursery Rhymes use them a lot!

Post some for us to share.

Fire, Fire

Clang, clang, clang,

Says the fire bell.

Fast, fast, fast,

Say the strong fire fighters.

Dress, dress, dress,

Say the strong fire fighters.

Whee, whee, whee,

Screams the loud siren.

Crackle, crackle, crackle,

Say the big red flames.

Squirt, squirt, squirt,

Goes the fire-fighters hose.

Ssss, ssss, ssss

Says the put-out fire.

Home, home, home,

Say the worn-out fire-fighters,

Off

we

go.

By Wendy Clarke

Q is followed by a u!

Our letter of the week is Q. We have been learning that words that have the letter q at the beginning are followed by the letter 'u'.

Look at some of the words we have come up with:

Queen Elizabeth
quit
quilt
Quack!
quaver
quinoa






I wonder if you can think of any more words that begin with 'qu'? Post them on our blog!

Fantastic Performance!

Today students from College Street Normal School came to RSS to showcase some of their amazing singing, music playing and dancing. It was very exciting to watch - the children were fascinated and inspired by the talented students at CSN. They were amazing! See here for a few 'snapshots' of the performance.

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Catch Me If You Can Survey Link

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/R38WBHG

Welcome back!

Hi there All Stars, welcome back to a new term.
We now have our library day on a Monday from 2.25 until 2.55 so you will need to remember to bring your books back to school on Monday or on Friday the week before! We will see how great we can be at remembering!
Or letter of the week is 'W'. I wonder what wonderful words you can think of that begin with this letter? Maybe you could do some extra thinking and over the week post some of your great words on our blog!
I am looking forward to another fantastic term together.

Teddy Bear's Picnic

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Wacky Hair Day

Look at our amazing hair creations that we rocked up with on Wacky Hair Day on Friday 14th September! As a school we put our 'heads together' to come up with some super, wacky hairdos. The children brought along $2.00 to donate to Kids Can which helps raise money and provide for under privileged children in NZ. Did you know that 270,000 children are below the poverty line in NZ? That's 1 in every 4 children! This money will help these children. Thank you for your support and crazy hair creations! We had a lot of fun!

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Yum, yum jelly!

Jolly Jumping Jellybeans! Our letter of the week this week was J. We thought of lots of words and names that started with J... Jayden and Jaedyn and Jaiden, Jai, Joseph, Jack, Jasmine, Jocelyn, Jennifer, Jen, jelly, jellybeans, juice, juicy, jump, jumped, jumping, Jupiter and Japanese... and the list went on! Can you think of some more words that start with 'J'? I'm sure you can!

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Cupcake Decorating for the SPCA Annual Fundraiser

Today in the All Stars we decorated cupcakes to sell and make donations to the SPCA. It was their annual cupcake fundraiser day. The children could bring a $2.00 donation, a blanket or some pet food and in return they received a yummy cupcake! Thank you Lachie and your mum, Louise, for organising this opportunity for some social action to help support the SPCA in our community. The children had a great time and did an amazing job of decorating the cupcakes.Watch the Smilebox slideshow below to see the decorating in action and the superb results!

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Our fantastic assembly

Well done to all of you in the All Stars, Super 7 and Nine Inch Nails for a fantastic assembly. It was fabulous! This is the footage of it if you missed it or just want to have another look! There is a direct link on the RSS website on the sidebar to this as well - pretty fab idea! If you can't make it to assembly you can watch it live! Thank you lovely parents/whanau for supporting us in our assembly. I am very proud of the children. It is a big deal and a great learning challenge getting up on the stage to perform to such a large audience. What a super duper bunch you all are!
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Olympics Day

We had an amazing Olympics Day showing great spirit and determination. There were many fun activities to try and some of them we had never had a go at before. We gave each activity a 'good go' and tried our best. Here are some photos from the day.

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Poem of the week using the i-pad video function

We have been trialling different ways to voice record. We have had success with fotobabble (see our other poem post) and using the i-pad video so far! No luck with vocaroo yet - it didn't work but we will try again another day!

What Is This Called?

We are wondering what this is called?
Can you help us?
We have LOTS of ideas but we looked at all the things we had written down and we realized we don't have a name for it!
We think it is a sport in the Olympics.
Here are some of our thoughts:
The girl is in a stadium
It is a stage
These people are high jumpers.
I've got an x-box and you are allowed to do that. You run and then you throw it when the floor turns green, and then you get a big score.
I see the big stick
What are they doing with the stick?
I think they are throwing it over the bar - then they will get a high score
The pointy stick is an arrow
That looks sharp
We were talking about this the other day in that other picture
That's very true - here is the first picture we wondered about :

It's sports
What are they holding with their hand?


We've done some great thinking - now can you help us?
Thanks! From the All Stars!

"Mu Kau' Korero Maori

Music with Jennifer

Today we played with the sticks during music time. We were keeping the beat.
Our favourite things in music were:
Lachie: passing the ball around - put and pass
Shawn: I liked singing the new song - Shawn over the ocean, Shawn over the sea, Shawn caught a shark, but you can't catch me, Oh you can't catch me!

We all like the Boom Chicka Boom song!

Our beautiful peacock art.

We based our art on our shared big book of the week called 'Peacock Gets a Job'. We have been learning to collage with coloured paper - 'rip and stick'! Don't they look amazing!

Our 'All Stars' Big, Fat, Elephant Poem Illustrations

This weeks fantastic All Star poem illustrations were drawn by Eva, Aishling and Shawn. We are learning to draw a quality illustration. We know we have done this when:
* we draw a picture that matches our poem
* use lots of the space on the page
* the colouring is inside the shape
* we use bold colour, trying not to have too many 'mosquito holes'!

Matariki Celebration

Matariki Celebration

Matariki is the Maori name for the group of stars also known as the Pleiades star cluster or The Seven Sisters;  and what is referred to as the traditional Maori New Year.
When is the Maori New Year?
The Maori new year is marked by the rise of Matariki and the sighting of the next new moon. The pre-dawn rise of Matariki can be seen in the last few days of May every year and the new year is marked at the sighting of the next new moon which occurs during June.

Information from http://www.taitokerau.co.nz/matariki.htm

It was great to share part of the morning and the afternoon with our buddies. The All Stars and Super 7 celebrated Matariki together with the teaching and sharing of ideas coming from some of the older children in the school.
Thank you for teaching us, Kate, Hali, Amy and Ana. You were amazing!
What did we learn to do:
We learnt to draw koru patterns. The koru shapes mean growth and new life.
We drew our koru family. The koru patterns of our family had to be connected in some way.

Kate: I learnt a different way to draw my family
Catherine: I like the way the older girls helped us.
Jacob: You taught us a good way to draw our family.
Jayden:  I liked dying my picture.
Devon: I learnt when you put too much dye on the page it makes big puddles!

We had a lot of fun learning alongside each other today as we celebrated Matariki.

Our Talking Partners

We have been learning to share our ideas. One of the ways we have been doing this is by having a talking partner. We came up with a list of criteria which can help us think about what sharing our ideas looks like, sounds like and feels like. I wonder if the children in the All Stars can talk at home about some of the things they do to share ideas effectively with their talking partner?

Poem of the Week

Katelyn

Kate

Lachie

Here are some fabulous pictures that have been drawn to illustrate the poem of the week. The poem was about cats and our letter of the week was C. We have been learning to draw a detailed picture. We know we have had success when our picture matches the idea/s in the poem. We know to colour inside the shapes and we are also trying to use bold colour and not have too many mosquito holes! (White bits peeping through). Didn't Katelyn, Kate and Lachie do a fantastic job? Kate did hers on the computer using Kid Pix.

What we wrote for our Board Report...

Our first Board Report...
In the All Stars we have been doing some fantastic learning. Here are some of the things we would like to share with you.

Kate: I liked learning to do eye to eye and knee to knee with my talking partner Faiyaz.

Mason: I like reading because I am learning every word.

Isabella: I like story writing. I am learning to draw a detailed picture.

Lachie: I am learning to write lots of words in my story writing and I can hear lots of sounds.

Lydia: I liked painting my portrait. I did good hair!

Jayden: I liked playing grasshopper tennis. I learnt to bounce the ball on the ground.

Shawn: At Discovery Time I liked playing with bowling balls. We put the cones into a big, tall volcano - it was a big pile! Then we tipped water in it and it exploded!

Katelyn: I love playing at the playground, playing down by the tree where my other friends play.

Blake: I like going to school because I like being a shining star. I like sitting on the chair with pooh bear!

Joseph: I liked the volcano. Did you hear it explode? It was really, really, loud.

Aishling: I like drawing pictures. I am learning to draw and write a story.

Jai: I liked playing bowling at Discovery time. We had a bowling set and we  knocked the cones over.

Faiyaz: I am learning to write the word car.

We are learning alongside each other, participating and contributing together and having a fantastic time along the way!

Grasshopper Tennis -Our last session with Big John

Discovery Time

We are learning to participate together, take turns and share.
Last week our letter of the week was P. We planted some seeds with Rochelle and we are watching them grow. We have to water them every day to help them grow.  We also put some sprout seeds into a jar and have been soaking them in water every day and then draining the water off. They are shooting up!
Lydia, Jayden and Shawn created a new game outside with a basketball and some hoops. They had a lot of fun working the game out and playing together. Great participating and taking turns! See Mason, Isabella and Kate making lots of different animal shapes and 'cooking' with the playdough too. Mmmm - the food they made tasted good! Mason made pea soup!
Check out our photos and little video clips.

Our letter of the week is P. Look at all the p words we have thought of.

pig, pink, pasta, Pooh Bear, poppy, pizza, penguin, pepper, peas, puppy, pot, pitch, picture, pencil, pen, pop, piece, peace, play, playground, playtime, peach, plum, paper, peg, plaster, polite, people, phone, pool, potty, patch, pirate

Cross Country

The 'All Stars' took part in our school cross country on Monday. We enjoyed the running and feel very proud of ourselves for participating in our first ever cross country. Look at the photos of us and other children at RSS. We are amazing!

Grasshopper Tennis

We are going to grasshopper tennis with Big John on Wednesday afternoons. He is teaching us skills to play tennis. We are having heaps of fun!

Shawn:I liked grasshopper tennis because Big John could stick the ball to the racquet like a butterfly. We think he's got sticky things on his racquet.
Jayden: I learn't to hit the ball with the racquet. I can do it now!
Lydia: I learn't 'cheesing it' which means to hit the ball on the side of the racquet - you are pretending to cut the ball up!
Kate:  I learn't to 'cheese it'!
Lachie: I learn't to throw the ball to my partner with the racquet in between. We had to try and bounce the ball on the racquet first then the other person had to hit it with the racquet.
Faiyaz: I learn't to bounce the ball on the racquet.
Jai: I like to 'butt' the ball with the racquet.
Joseph: I learn't to butt the ball with the circle bit on the racquet.

Discovery Time

Yesterday at Discovery Time we made  toasted sandwiches because our letter of the week is ‘Tt’.
At the end of Discovery Time we talked about what we liked or enjoyed the most.

Kate: I enjoyed making toasted sandwiches because I just had cheese, no tomato.
Jayden: I enjoyed it when we were playing outside playing with the skipping ropes. I was trying to skip.
Jai: I liked to dress up in the dog costume!
Shawn: I liked playing with the skipping ropes - I can skip now.
Isabella: I liked making the toasted sandwich. I liked it without tomato.
Faiyaz: I liked driving the cars.
Joseph: I liked cooking and playing outside with the skipping ropes. I went back for more! (toasted sandwiches!)
Mason: I liked cooking, I liked cutting the bread.
Lachie: I liked cooking, I liked the cheese and no tomato.

Story Writing

We are learning to write... and what amazing writers we are!

We are learning to draw a detailed picture.
We are learning to write the sounds that we hear.

Here are 3 samples of our fabulous writing that show our learning.

Lydia

Lachie

Mason

Monday, Tuesday, Thursday - Our first week!

We have had a fantastic first week in the All Stars. What great learners we are! We have been learning to point to each word as we read it and have been drawing pictures that match our story writing. We have been counting and learning to write some numbers to 10. Today we even used Mr Hundreds Board to count to 100!

 On Tuesday we went to see 'The Lorax' at the movies. Here is some of our 'quick thinking' after the movie.
Our favourite parts of the movie were...
...when the Baba-loot was in the fridge eating all the food!
...when the Baba-loot fell off the bed onto the floor. It was funny!
...when the Baba-loots put the Once-ler’s bed into the river.
...when all the marshmallows were given out by the Once-ler.

Why did the Once-ler chop down the first tree?
He wanted to make a thneed.

How do you think the Lorax was feeling when the Once-ler chopped down the first tree?
The Lorax said “Why did you chop that tree down?” He was angry and sad because he wanted to keep the tree safe.

What happened to the animals when all of the trees got cut down?
All of the fish, and the teddies and the birds had to leave. The birds couldn’t live in the trees anymore. The baba-loots ate the fruit from the trees and all the fruit was gone. Also... we liked going on the bus!

Today we had Discovery Time. It was great fun to be creative and work together with our friends! Here are a few photos of us.

Welcome to the All Stars

Welcome to the 'All Stars'; we are all stars in here! We are a brand new class of 5 year olds who are very excited about the next stage of our learning journey. In Weeks 9 and 10 we had our first school visits to give us a little taste of 'school life'. We are looking forward to getting started in Term 2. Check out our blog posts as we get under way over the next term and our class fills up with all of our 'All Stars' friends. We will be posting on our blog to show samples of our learning and let you see some snippets of the fantastic activities we are doing. We hope you will comment on our posts and give us feedback as often as you can.