Dr Sprocket Makes a Rocket

Here is a link to a couple of pieces of work children have created this week for Reading.  They are based around a shared book we have covered called Dr Sprocket makes a Rocket.  This was the basis of some of our Play, Make, Create that went alongside our reading.  This work was completed in Explain Everything which is a great creative learning tool but one we are only just getting use to using.  We hope you enjoy.

The first example is by James.  It is very exciting to see how he also included a poem on his last page where he is describing his own lego rocket construction.  This is fantastic as it shows how the different texts we are reading are helping us to feel engaged and learn about the topics we are covering in class.

Evie did a great job of clearly reading part of the story and explaining what her rocket creation is like.  Well done Evie!

Subira just did a great job all around with her explain everything as well.

Fixing the Space Shuttle

Today we have been astronauts fixing the space station. 

We had great fun taking off the back of an old television. It had so many screws to find and undo. We guessed what might be under there. We thought we would find wires, ants, or buttons. We found lots of interesting wires of different colours. We also found different shapes and textures. We are still exploring as more pieces can be unscrewed. 

Reilly, Harry, and Kaden are using screw drivers to see what they can fix. 

Maunga and Iti Space Stories

Team Maunga and Iti have been reading and learning all about Space.  We have also been busy creating different things to turn our classroom into a space place and we are finding it all very exciting.  Here are some stories we wrote after reading different books and looking at different videos about rockets and them lifting off into space.  We were trying to use interesting words to describe the parts of our rockets.  We hope you enjoy it.

Space Rocket Reading

Walking back into the classroom after morning tea to find this amazing group of children.  They are loving our classroom space focus and the half-made rocket and space area that we are setting up.  This has defiantly become a favorite place for children to read to themselves and others.  It is fantastic seeing them reading to each other quietly before school too.  

They are enjoying writing fantastic stories about space, and publishing these using Explain Everything - Watch this space for some of these!  They are also looking up different books we have in the class library, and reading books we have selected for them on sunshine classics about space too.  The space poems with QR codes that students can scan and practice reading if getting lots of use within our rocket reading space.  Our afternoon program is all based around creating things they are reading about so we can display them within this area.  They have lots of clever ideas on how to turn our whole class into space place!  It's fantastic to see all their creativity and enthusiasm.

3 Minute Frenzy Stars

This weeks 3 Minute Frenzy stars are for great improvement.  We are still working on making sure our letters are formed correctly and making sure they were the right way around.  It is great to Maunga trying their best to improve on the previous score.  Can't wait to see what we can get by the end of the term and by the end of the year!  Well done everyone, especially Hannah and Tommy this week.  Great work!

Pairs of Legs Maths with Whaea Diane

Today Whaea Diane came into our class again.  We got to complete activities based around pairs of legs.  We learned that pairs were groups of 2.  We talked about how we have a pair of legs and that means we have 2 legs.  We talked about how if there were 2 pairs of shoes then that would be 4 shoes... And LOTS of other things too.  

Then we worked on some animal pictures.  We had to answer 4 questions.  How many animals were there? How many pairs of legs were there? and How many legs were there altogether.  We didn't get to answer all of the questions but we did discover that we could group our cards in a way that would help us work out how many pairs of legs there were altogether.  

This made us realize how important the number 5 is and how learning not only to count to 5 and back from 5 but also our basic facts to 5 is so important.

Deano Yipadee our Virtual Author Experience

Today we had a virtual Author visit us via a direct link.  He sang us some of his favourite songs which he has made into books and we all had a great time singing and dancing along too.  He talks to us about how authors get their creative thoughts from everywhere especially the funny and sometimes silly things that happen around us.  

Here are some photos of us having fun listening to him reading and singing us his stories as well as us dancing and having fun.  We think reading and writing is MAGIC!  Lots of us want to be authors too.

PS:  We are still in Covid Level 2 restrictions at our school so we have to stay at our tables and keep in our own spaces.  But we still had lots of fun together.