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