Thursday 25 September 2014

What an end to the week - the term!

We have finished the term on a high. Yesterday we had the fun of watching the staff play against the senior netball team and then the senior basketball team. Joy got roped ito the netball and even though she used to play defense back in the day she had the GA bib on and.....scored a goal. Wahoo!
Then today at Sports Prizegiving Riley got the cup for MVP for hockey. Yay. Then Cruze got called up by Julie to get his certificate and a book for graduating from Reading Recovery. He was very excited to know his mum had come to watch him get his certificate. Super job Cruze. You have worked hard. Here are the two proud boys.
So have a happy holiday and get a good night's sleep on the night before school starts again. 


Sunday 21 September 2014

The art of Clean up

We read an amazing book by an artist who made tidying up into art...so we had a go too. Have a look at this slideshow of our efforts.

Wednesday 17 September 2014

Bye bye Maia

We made a Snake cake because it was Maia's last day at our school. Maia is going to a brand new school in Rotorua. 
To make the cake grab two biscuits and put some icing on one of them. Stick the other biscuit on top. Now put some more icing on top of that. Last you put m and m's on top. Alex wondered how the icing went hard in the middle. Then we set them out on the table in the shape of a cake. It was fun and we got to eat them at the end of the day. 
Good luck. Maia.

Our poem soundscape

Jenny worked with the children to learn how to play as a group, listen to the sounds they were making and think about what instruments would make the right sounds for the soundscape.
Here they are making music that tells the same story as the poem.
The poem is called "Night Countdown" by Peggy Dunstan.
There are millions of stars
in the sky tonight
and thousands of lights
on the hill.
There are hundreds of moths
round the thousands of lights
while the air is shining and still.
There are scores of noises
that music the night
and dozens of waves on the sea.

Tuesday 16 September 2014

Alex's presentation

Alex was our lucky last presentation. It was also his birthday today. He showed us lots of photos of his family and all the places they like to go and have fun together. They like places like the esplanade and laser tag. He has lots uncles and aunties and his family is his treasure. 

Thursday 11 September 2014

The last presentations

We have completed seeing the last children's presentations over the last two afternoons. Everyone has done a fantastic job collecting artefacts and stories, and then practising so they can speak with confidence. Many thanks to the team at home who helped the children get prepared. Extra thanks to those who were able to attend and share the experience.

Faolan
He brought his tiger tooth in which he got in Vietnam. He likes it best because his name means tiger. He had very cute photo of himself as a baby wearing his dad's hat. The photo makes him feel happy. He enjoyed telling us about having bike races with his mum and dad. His mum and dad and big sister came to support him.
Riley
He told us how the McNuer family came from Scotland. Riley had brought his father's kilt. It is a special kind of skirt made of checked material called tartan.
He told us about the family bible which is 149 years old. It was too precious to bring. 
His favourite memory is of a holiday at Lake Waikaremoana when he went fishing and swimming with his brothers and sisters.
His family story is about his great great grandfather George who went to WW1 with only one lung! He cared for the horses as well as fighting. He got a medal for bravery.
Chris
Chris's mum brought some photos on her ipad for Chris to show. They were of him and his brother at the zoo in China. They got to feed the giraffes. They had a wonderful time as a family going to Hong Kong Disneyland. He wanted to show us him in China because he is proud that he comes from China.  He also enjoys spending time with his brother. It was interesting to see them at a restaurant having yum cha - real chinese food. They had found a park with big statues of the 12 animals of the chinese zodiac. 
Riya
Her parents came to NZ a few years ago. The family has some precious gold jewellery even Riya has a gold necklace.
Many years ago Her great great grandparents were taken to Fiji as children against their will and didn't  know where they were going. It was a long time ago but the family remembers how frightened they were. 
She loves diwali - the celebration of light because of the food and the fireworks. She loved going to Fiji to celebrate it there. 

Jaylen
His special artifact is his greenstone necklace that he has never taken off since his mum gave it to him when he turned five. His uncle carved it for him. It is a guardian to protect and guide him which makes it extra special.
He had a photos of his pets. They live with his grandparents to keep them company. He loves them and has the photos by his bed.
He is proud of the memory of beating Angus in the cross country when he was four and Angus was already five.
Gg
He was born in PN and his dad is a NZer. His mum is from the Philippines and he has distant relations in Scotland. His display showed all the flags from the countries his family comes from. His special memory makes him happy when he remembers his trip to Rainbow's end in Auckland . It was his first trip on a plane as well. He was five so he was old enough to go on the rides. 
His family artefact is their love of trains. His dad got given a model train when he was little and Gg has some too. He showed us some beautiful models of train engines. He explained that one was a diesel engine from the v 200 german class. That one could go very fast. The other model was a model his dad had as a child which still works. It was a model of a steam train. They use them on the tracks they have at hime. He had a newspaper cutting of him controlling a big train set.
Daniela
She bought a scan photo of herself still in her mother's tummy.. She was yellow when she was born and had to lie under special blue lamps to turn pink. The family story she has been told was that her brother didn't want her to come home with them. It made him cry! Her next photo was of her and the family on the gondola in Rotorua. She said being in the gondola was very high and you went both ways Daniela had also brought her favourite book. It is a Disney Cinderella book. She showed us her favourite picture of the prince and Cinderella in the coach is at the end of the book.
Nelson
He was pleased his grandma had come to help him share the photos and medals of her father's from WW 2. They are very important to his family. Grandad worked on the destroyers in the. British Navy. He trained in San Francisco. He had to send messages using flashes of light or flags and morse code to other ships and planes. He remembered being given ice cream to eat on board and as they hadn't had any for years they ate and ate and ate!! Nelson showed us his own medals from soccer. His team is the Red Sox and they had won all of their games. He also had some trophies from touch and tball for MVP.
 Joshua
He began by talking about his grandad and his love of tennis. He started playing tennis when he was ten. Joshua had brought a wooden racket to show us. He and his mum found it in a secondhand shop. Joshua also had some photos from the newspaper of his grandfather playing when he was younger. There were also newspaper articles about grandad as well and his tennis career. When he was at high school he was the top in the tennis team. Joshua thinks this is very good. Grandad played tennis for thirty years and still plays these days. Joshua is looking forward to showing him the tricks Big John taught us and have a game with him. 
Maia
Her first photo was of her mum in the family christening gown. You wear a christening gown when you get welcomed into the family of god. Their gown is fifty years old. She also had a photo of herself getting christened in the same gown. Maia's great nana had made it for her children. It is getting passed down through the family. 


Tuesday 9 September 2014

Tuesday's presentations

Today's team of presenters did a wonderful job and were wonderfully well prepared. 
Juliette began the afternoon telling about all the different places her family comes from around the world.  She had a fabulous lift the flap display. Juliette told us her Dad's family comes from England.. There was a photo of the whole family including. Great grandma Green. One photo was of her and her family in front of Kensington Palace in London
Her mother's family has links to Chile. Her Great great great grandad came from there. He was a diver and a whaler a long long time ago. He lived over a hundred years ago.
Another wonderful photo showed her great, great, great, great grandmother who was a maori chief's daughter who died in 1874.. More family lives in Australia. Her Grandad Kevy had some medals for being in the airforce. He used to fix aeroplanes and help with navigation.
Lastly she told us her great grandad jumped out of a burning plane during WW2. He got a medal shaped like a silk worm, which is very tiny, because he survived the jump.  Juliette had learned that they didn't smile in photos because the photos took a long time to takean d you weren't allowed to move.
Rona brought a Enid Blyton book that Marj had given Rona's mum when she was little. Now it is a favourite book of hers and she likes the Saucepan Man best.
Her nanny and koro live near the beach in Omaio . She had some great photos of the town of Omaio including a beach with pink sand. 
Her special thing she loves about herself is her birthday. She likes the date and has had some lovely cakes and presents.
She began by telling us about her grandad who would have been 108 years old if he was alive but he died in the 1960s. He had been a soldier in the first world war. Her family feels they are living a peaceful and lucky life because of the soldiers fighting the war. She showed us his medals.
She had some photos of her great grandfateher as an old man holding her father when he was a baby in nappies.
She had learned lots of facts about the first world war and the sacrifices the soldiers made. Then her father showed us a pressed flower they keep in their family bible. It was a poppy that grandad had picked as a soldier on Flanders Fields. 

Sunday 7 September 2014

Calendar art is ready to be viewed.

We have been making all sorts of beautiful things this term. We have been inspired by the countries we are studying. Our calendar art was inspired by the british lion. We used paint and collage to crete these awesome pieces.

Remember too that you can swap some useful household items for a piece of your child's artwork to help us meet our social action challenge of helping some Afghan refugees coming to Palmerston North soon.

Jim had lots of family treasures to share.

Jim
He brought his mothers jewellery box that came from  Italy a long time ago and has been handed down for a long time. Now his sister will get it next. It has a asecret compartment. 
He told the story about how his grandfather and uncle walked their cows 24 miles along the beach to Wellington. It took 7 hours. They sold the cows and caught the train home.
He remembers his first day of school and how happy and proud he felt that day.

The next family presentations

Sandi very kndly helped these people do their presentations on Thursday. 
Elliot was very organised with a thinking map to remind him to tell us about how much fun he has at Keas. Scouting is very important to everyone in their family as his mum and dad and grandparents are leaders and were scouts and guides when they were young. He had a fantastic camp blanket with lots of badges on it. It was his dad's blanket and they even had granny's camp blanket too. He also loves going to Waiouru War Museum and on ANZAC day they always make sure they make ANZAC biscuits.

Eric told us about his trip to india earlier in the year. His family over there are very important to him. He enjoyed learning about life over there especially meeting some elephants and staying on a huge houseboat on an enormous lake.
Cullen gave his presentation too. He spoke with lots of confidence about his family. He told us about his little brother and his parents who came to help today. Great grandad came to help Cullen and we found out he takes Cullen to soccer practise every week. He tells Cullen he loves him, that he is his biggest fan and to have a great day which makes Cullen feel proud of himself.  He had pictures of things he is proud of like winning the School's Out spelling bee when he learned 50 words. He remembers going to Rotorua and going down the luge by himself.  He had his family crest shields from Ireland. His name is irish because dad's family comes from Ireland which he is proud of.
Brooke had photos of precious medals. She is obviously very proud of her family. She has medals from great great uncle did who went to war but didn't come home as his plane ceashed in the sea. They have a family quilt that Sid made for her nanny Tommy befor he went away. Now it is passed theough the family. 

Onam celebrations

Today is part of the festival of onam in india. It celebrates rhe return of a king from his exile in the underworld. The people make beautiful geometric patterns called rangoli, from flowers or coloured coconut on the ground outside their homes and eat special food. 
We made these paper rangoli this term to learn about shapes. They have symmetrical, repeating patterns on them. 

At Eric's house at the weekend they made a rangoli too.
We also had fried bananas today for our food this week. They make a kind of fried bananas for Onam. We had to use bossy verbs to write instructions about how to make them.

Tuesday 2 September 2014

More family stories

David
He brought his toy puppy he got when he was zero. There was also a photo of him when he was born with his big brother Edward. Puppy is important cos he plays and sleeps with David.
There was a photo of all his family who live in New Zealand. Some of his family live in England because that is where his father is from. Some of his family live in America. 
England is important to him, especially Doncaster where his dad comes from.
He had a photo with his uncle Andy who is his dad's brother. He had a great photo with his granny and grandad in England. 
He liked playing soccer with his friend Albert at Renwick School. We liked how he showed us where Renwick was. He had to come over on the ferry.

Monday 1 September 2014

Our family stories and treasures

Each day over the next two weeks we will havea turn at sharing a family treasure, a family story and a favourite memory of our own. 

Aaliah
She brought the Rastrick family crest - the words say - rose without a thorn - it stands for hope and joy. Their Family tree has been traced back 300 years to a village called Rastrick, near Halifax, inEngland. 
Howard Teppett, her great garnadad was the doctor in Foxton for over 40 years. There is a rose garden with his name on in Foxton to remember him.  He also liked to make things - even his own tv, telescope and yacht. 
Her special memory is about when she spoke at assembly in front of the whole school. She felt special and liked the responsibility of speaking.
Bailey
Barbara is a special person who took care of her when she was a baby. She had a photo of her as a baby with her mum and dad.
Her grandfather won a medal in the war. One was in Italy.
Her special memory is of releasing a hihi bird back to the wild. She has also seen pigmy blue whale that had got stranded on the beach. She wants to be a ranger like her dad.

Joe had his great grandad's WW2 medals. He was an airforce driving instructor. He got shot in the elbow! His great grandad's name was Forster. Joe spends ANZAC day remembering him and feels very proud and special. 
Josharn
His Great grandad Victor  - was born in ireland. He has a photo of the o'Dourhty family crest which has a stag on it. The crest reminds the family of grandad Victor. It sits by his urn at his uncle's.
He had a before and after photo of his First haircut last year. His mum cried a little bit. She even kept his hair so she could remember it. 
Josharn also bought along their family tablcloth that they use at xmas. It has all their names on it. His mum got emotional showing it. It was started in 1998 and is still being added to as people are added as they die. 

Chloe
She had a cowbell from switzerland that her grandfather put on his cows so he knew where they were. Her nana's name is Heidi and she lives in Switzerland. She has a book about a girl called Heidi and her adventures in the mountains of Switzerland. 
Her favourite memory is of her 6th birthday. She remembers they had hawaiian pizza with ham , cheese, and pineapple. She got an Ariel doll and had waffles for morning tea...with a candle on it. She loved going to the beach and seeing the huge waves and she took Ariel for a swim.

Making butter at writing time

We have been reading some picture books about Laura Ingalls Wilder who lived in America in the old days. In one story she helps make butter so we thought we would have a go too.

Today we made butter by shaking cream in a jar. We all helped to shake it. We felt it change until it felt like a lump splashing in the milk.
.

Then we ate the butter on some french bread. It tasted creamy and like real butter. We thought it was delcious.