Japanese Lessons

Today we were lucky to have Mrs van Beusekom teaching us about Japan, and also teaching us how to speak some Japanese. We made little books with the greetings and we are learning about our name in Japanese. We found out that Japan has about one hundred and twenty million people in it even though the country is about the same size as New Zealand. We learnt that the greetings are different if you are talking to someone you know well, and if you are talking to a stranger. We really enjoyed learning from Mrs van Beusekom today.

Our vegetable garden

On Friday we were lucky enough to have some student helpers from AUT come and help us plant out the veggie garden and hanging baskets. We planted spinach, tomatoes, kale, peas, capsicum and lettuces. We planted marigolds around the edges to stop the bugs eating them. In the hanging baskets we planted succulents because they last a lot longer and don't need watering much. We need to water the garden everyday so that our plants grow into veggies we can eat. Thank you to our special helpers we could not have done it without you!

Ginger the Guinea Pig

OMG!!! Mrs Hook brought a guinea pig into Room 19! It used to be called Sparkles but now she's called Ginger. She's so cute I can describe her in three words: cute, pretty and sparkly! I wish we could have her! I think we can only have her for 1 hour because it is Ashley's, and Ashley is at her dance exam. When I patted her she vibrated. I also felt sad because I used to have 2 guinea pigs but they died because my family was on holiday, so we gave them to my cousins, but they fed it too much so the guinea pigs died. :(

Drum Performance by Brenna

Yesterday we had a show. The people were from Ghana over in Africa. They played drums and sang songs. They did an African dance and a love song. They played on the flute and played a hand game. It had eight levels. At the end the teachers had to dance. Mrs Hook had to go to the front. Mr VB was hardly dancing. Mrs Hook was the best dancer. We also asked some questions, one of them was "How old are you?" One of them was 40 and the other one was 39.

Swimming at Hilton Brown By Fletch

Today we went swimming. When we got there we went in the changing rooms and got changed. Then we sat on the chairs and waited for our lesson to start. We got in the pool and I was surprised because it was a little warm, probably because it had mini heaters. First we did back stroke and after that we did freestyle and it was easy for me. We also lay on our backs and paddled with our feet and that was a little bit hard. When Sanggun did freestyle he went to a different group that was in a shallow pool. Then at the end we played a game called Tug. It is when someone has a straw and tugs them with it, then they're they're in with the straw and the person who is in counts to five and we swim away, then they tag someone and carry on.

Cooking with Carrots from our Garden. By Omar

On Friday Mrs Lisk came to cook with Room 19. We made carrot soup. We got carrots from the school garden. They were fresh. Then we went to the hall kitchen. First we got the carrots and scrubbed them until they were clean, They gave us knives to cut the carrots, they poured boiling water in the pot, then they put the carrots in the pot. They gave us some carrots to taste. They got the blender and mixed the carrots together. Then two minutes later Mr Weston came in with cooked muffins that the other group had made. Then Room 19 came back from the library to the hall and sat down in front of the kitchen. Then Mr Le Sueur, Mrs Ward and Mrs Hook came to the hall to try some carrot soup and carrot muffins too.

Making the muffins

Putting them in the muffin tray

The soup ready to be blended

Yummy! Enjoying our soup and muffins. Fresh from the oven and stove top!

 Thank you Mrs Anderson and Mrs Lisk for helping us! You were amazing!

Maths Week - The Amazing Race!

No doubt you heard all about our Amazing Race for Maths Week, and also about the Maths Wizard visiting. The Maths Wizard was very impressed with our Maths ability, and we were able to answer even the trickiest of questions!! Look out for some of the great recounts the children wrote about the Maths Week.

Term Three

Wow Term 3 has started with lots of exciting things happening. We are enjoying swimming, and the children have already made huge progress in such a short time. The swimming teachers are doing a great job of extending the children, and the children are having a lot of fun! Bridges is our main topic for this term, and it is proving to be very popular. The children are investigating a bridge each and will be presenting their research to the class.

Hansel and Gretel Maps

This week we have been making maps based on Hansel and Gretel. We are using the language of direction to help us. We have been learning about the directions of the compass, about scale and distance. We had to make a key for our maps and show the journey that Hansel and Gretel took. We are going to write instructions for the journey, and create an Educreation about them. We are learning to put the Educreation on our wiki to show our parents. Here is Charlotte's map.

Camp Maynard 2014!

Wow what an amazing time we had at Camp Maynard. The children tried lots of new things and faced new challenges. Some of the highlights included seeing glow worms (just a few!), doing the obstacle course, making huts and trying them out with Cyclone Hook (the kids might have to explain that one!!). We did mini Olympics with a dress-up race, a bean bag throw, a three legged race, a water race, and an apple and spoon race.

We walked in the bush many times, did a scavenger hunt and a clue trail. The tree identification was the trickiest! Some of the wildlife we saw included fantails, geckos and not forgetting the mosquitoes. We learnt about being independent, caring for others, taking risks, trying new things and taking resposibility.

We had such a great time. I was so proud of everyone and it was great to have the year three part of it as well! Thank you to the parents who helped us with all the cooking, cleaning and helping with activities.

Check out the photos of what we got up to!

Watermelon by Caleb

THE WATERMELON
At Pinehill School we have a vegetable garden next door to room 19.  There is a watermelon.
I picked it. It was heavy.
We went to the staff room. We cut it into triangles. I got a yummy piece, it was sweet and juicy.
Then I took a piece to Mrs Moore in room 17.
There is another one growing in the garden.
It is going to be as yummy as the other one.
There are heaps more veggies in the garden.
I LOVE THE GARDEN !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Baby Olivia's Visit by Charlie

Today in Roots of Empathy we knew that love grows brains. Baby Olivia can flap her arms and wiggle her legs. We sing welcome Olivia when she comes and we sing bye Olivia when she leaves. We see baby Olivia once a month. She played with a few little toys. She had little toys at her house as well. It was super fun with baby Olivia. We had 24 people in our class. Mummy Rachael and baby Olivia are VERY special members of room 19. Roots of Empathy is awesome.

Baby Olivia's Visit. By Keira

Today was our first baby visit. When baby Olivia came around she gave me a smile. Mummy Rachel and baby Olivia are going to be part of Room 19 for the year. Baby Olivia's favourite toy was a sock. It had a lady bird on it.

Baby Olivia's visit by Kayla

Today we had our first baby visit. We laid the green mat down and waited for Mummy Rachael and baby Olivia. We sang 'Hello baby Olivia, hello baby Olivia, hello baby Olivia, how are you today?" Mummy Rachael laid baby Olivia down on her back and Mrs Ward put some toys on the mat, and gave Olivia some. When Olivia started to cry we sang 'Twinkle, Twinkle little Star.' When it was time for Olivia to have a nap we sang, "Goodbye Olivia, good bye Olivia, we'll see you very soon."

M and M Maths

Today we did a survey of M and M packets to see how many of each colour is in a packet. We worked in groups to separate and count the M and Ms. We made tally charts to show the results and tomorrow we are going to graph the results and write statements about what we found out. We did get to taste a few after we had counted them. We took some photos of us working today.

Gardening

Today we planted some lettuces. We learnt about spacing the plants so that they were not too close together and could grow well. We had to dig a little hole and plant the lettuces, remembering to pat the soil firmly so the plant would stay in the ground. We have to water the lettuce plants every day. We picked some tomatoes and some spinach, which some of us were able to take home. We are going to take turns helping in the garden.

Pinehill's Garden

Out our window we can see the vegie garden. We have planted some climbing bean seeds and are waiting for them to grow. We planted them at the bottom of the stakes because they will climb up the stakes. We have to water them every day. How tall do you think the plants will get?

We have also been measuring the watermelon that is growing in the garden. It grew ten centimetres in a week. We were surprised that it grew so quickly. At the moment it is like a big round ball. How much do you think it will have grown this week? Charlotte took some photos of the garden for us.

Puppy Visit!

Today Austin from Room 6 brought his Nana's puppies to school to visit. Lots of the classes were able to visit them and find out about them. They were only six weeks old, and very big for their age. We were able to pat and cuddle them. They were very sleepy apart from one which kept escaping. They were chocolate labrador puppies.

Welcome to 2014!

What a great start we have made in Room 19 this year! The children have come back and are all enthusiastic about learning. This term we are learning about The Pinehill Way, Writing Memoirs, The Treaty of Waitangi, and of course the Overnight Stay.
We have a special new class member called Frosty which I am sure you have heard all about. Frosty really likes to hear the children read, and the children love reading to him!
We are looking forward to a great year of learning together in Room 19.