Ancient Egypt

The year 2 classes will be learning about Ancient Egyptians as the global aspect to the school's Taonga theme.

We have begun to use technology in order to learn more - we have a wealth of information around us if only we know how to access it!  Please find below a website from Manchester University.  We have used this in class today, and have had a good introduction to a number of exciting aspects of life in Ancient Egypt.  Have a go at home!

http://www.childrensuniversity.manchester.ac.uk/interactives/history/egypt/

I hope it works!
Ms Werder

dirty knees...

It is the season for mud and rain.  The kids in Room 1 love to run and play, however, the grounds are muddy...

So, what happens is that the children come in with filthy, little, smelly, muddy, dirty revolting knees.  Here is a picture of some knees on a not too dirty day but still pretty muddy:

We need to bring extra long pants to cover our shorts when we go out to play on the grass.  This is how we can respect our school envirnonment. 

Don't play on the grass with just your uniform shorts because when we touch things in our class they will get dirty.  We could get books dirty, the carpet will get muddy as well as our other furniture.  Our class will smell like mud, which is not very good. 

Thank  you for bringing extra pants!

Going bananas!

Hi everyone!  We are nearly at the end of Term 2, and we are working hard on maths and reading, and our written language has moved on in leaps and bounds.  Many children in the class are beginning to group ideas together and include more specific and interesting detail.  This is establishing the idea of paragraphing, which the children are familiar with through their reading.  Brilliant stuff, I am very impressed.

On the banana front, we have some dangling from our ceiling beam.  Giselle calls them "banana chandeliers", which is perfect!  There is a good harvest this year, with five good sized bunches - one of which is still growing.  A couple of years ago we had someone sneak in on the weekend and take them, so I didn't want to leave them all out for too long.  Mr Ted and Mrs Franklin-Smith cut them down for us. 

All going well they will ripen at the beginning of next term, and we can do some baking. Banana recipes, anyone?

 

We also have a great time with our buddy class, who are now coming on Wednesday afternoons.  Here are some photos of what they do after the spelling test is over...

Rain by Hone Tuwhare

Rain

I can hear you
making small holes
in the silence
rain

If I were deaf
the pores of my skin
would open to you
and shut

And I
should know you
by the lick of you
if I were blind

the something
special smell of you
when the sun cakes
the ground

the steady
drum-roll sound
you make
when the wind drops

But if I
should not hear
smell or feel or see
you

you would still
define me
disperse me
wash over me
rain

Hone Tuwhare

Seeds Time Lapse

Over the last two weeks we have been doing an experiment with seeds.  We planted four different types of seed and have been watching them grow.  We have been watering the seeds and taking a picture every 5 minutes so that we can see how the seeds grown using a method called time lapse.  You can see our video below:

Our awesome Arataki visit

Wow!  Yippee, yay, yeehar!

On Tuesday, Room 1 travelled to Arataki because we wanted to learn about native plants.  We went on a bus, and we had a lot of parents come with us.  The weather was sunny but a bit cold when we left at about half past nine.  Read on to find out some of the things we did, saw and learned...

"Dab, dab, scratch, scratch, sniffff!"
We had to get little blue sponges and dabbed the sponges on some leaves and sniffed.  Some smelled stinky!  And some smelled like nothing, and some smelled good.
By Mahad, Caitlyn and Isabella.

.

We did sniffing potions, and they were strong.  Room one used up native things for it.  Some were not so yummy smells and some were.  The disgusting ones smelled like dogs droppings.   We put it in cups.  Some had seeds in them.
By Milana, Solana and Finn.

Simon found a weta and said it was a girl weta because it had a sharp thing at the back for laying eggs in soft trees.  He said to us that the daddy weta will come out of the hole first and see if it is safe, but if it isn't the daddy weta will kill the animal.  The weta's ear was on its elbow, and its legs were long.  It was orange and brown and white.
By Jared, Saihaj and Dreo.

We blind folded Gigi's mum.  We had to turn her around and make her touch a tree.  She had to feel it, and then when the blind fold was off, she had to find it again.
By Mia-Rose, Poppy and Will.

We had a class photo next to a concrete frame.  We took a photo so we can remember when we forget.  There was a tiny ice cream shop next to the frame.  There was wood around the bark.
By Charlie, Cooper and Giselle.

Canopy are the tall trees in the forest.  Sub canopy are the medium sized trees.  Shrubs are the small sized trees in the forest, and lastly the forest floor is on the ground.  It was pretty fun and easy to learn.  These are the things we learned at Arataki.
By Joanne and Anya.

The smallest tree turns into the tallest tree in New Zealand.  It's quite funny that that happens to the smallest tree.  It is called the Kahikatea.
By Farah, Jayden and Vincent.

At Arataki we got turns getting pulled up the hill on a nikau leaf.  After we got pulled up we got to help Simon pull it.  Then when everybody had a go he chucked it back into the bush.
By Gigi and Daniel.

Don Binney paintings

Taonga is our theme for the year, and luckily for us we have many treasures around, just waiting for us to take notice of them!  We wanted to create canvas paintings in the style of Don Binney, who spent time growing up in Parnell.  We walked down to the end of St Stephens Ave, and looked over the beautiful Waitemata Harbour.  We chose our own viewpoint to sketch the land, sea and sky.  It was awkward carrying our canvases down the road, but Mrs Franklin-Smith came with us, which was helpful!

Once back in the class, we painted the sky and the sea, blending the colours on the canvas, and creating texture for the sea. 

 

 

When that was dry, we painted in the land. 

Finally, we drew our native birds with chalk, and then painted them into the landscape.  We had made careful observational drawings of these birds from photos, so most of them are easy to recognise.  Black lines with vivid completed the Don Binney look. 

The Arts Focus exhibition was amazing, with the work looking very professional indeed.  I am certain they will become a taonga for the children to keep.

Here are the artists and their work: