Week Nine - Showing Respect by Learning From Others

Kia ora whanau and caregivers,

Room 5 were very lucky this Thursday and they got to enjoy Buddy Time!  I have been planning some great activities with our buddy class Room 10 recently, but today Mrs Gosden and I believed it would be a great idea for the students in Rooms 5 and 10 to become tuakana and teina and teach each other something new.  

We had tamariki from Room 5 and Room 10 teaching each other maths games, including some which involved cards!  Some students were teaching each other how to use particular apps on the iPads and others were talking to their buddy, telling them about the things which they were good at or the things which they wanted to get better at!  

Please see below for some of the amazing collaborative work which these students participated in!

Nga mihi,

Nicholas Shimasaki

Week Eight - Non-Fiction Writing About Cheetahs and Elephants

Kia ora whanau and caregivers,

This week the students have been completing some amazing work in Writing around Cheetahs and Elephants.  The students have looked at the distinguishing features about these animals and have tried to include these in their writing.  The students have considered what it is that the animals do during the day, how they act in the wild, what they eat, and also the special places that these animals live.  After watching a video about these creatures the students were easily able to share facts about these animals, facts which they have tried to include in their writing.  The students have been learning to write more independently with their high frequency word cards and have been using phonological knowledge to assist them with spelling larger words.

Please see the images below for a sample of some of the amazing work the tamariki in Room 5 have completed.

Nga mihi,

Nicholas Shimasaki

Week Seven - Training for Athletics Day

Kia ora whanau and caregivers,

This week the students were lucky enough to practice their athletics techniques with Mrs Tizzard.  As the Athletics Sports is fast approaching we are encouraging the students to practise all of the movements and sports which are included so they may improve and assist their house in winning on Athletics Day.  It has been great to see the students confidence grow and improve!  

As some whanau and caregivers may have seen we are now in Room 5 completing Action Stations  in the morning.  These are in place from 8:30am until 9:00am, and have really made a positive difference to the speed at which the children are accessing their learning.  At the moment, this time is being used to develop oral language and written language and gives the students an opportunity to practise their spelling words which they are taking home each week.

Thank you to those whanau and caregivers who are continuing to work hard and practise the spelling words with their child every night, it is crucial that the students get a lot of practise working with and writing these words so their understanding and confidence grows.

Recently within reading their has been an increase in students who are forgetting their Reading Folders, or who are not packing them in their bags before school.  This is the students responsibility however, if you could double check before they leave that they have this in their bags I would be most grateful (as I cannot send reading books home without it).

I hope you have all had a restful and relaxing weekend and I look forward to seeing both students and whanau next week!

Nga mihi,

Nicholas Shimasaki

Week Six - Cold Weather and Exciting Dance Moves!

Kia ora whanau and caregivers,

This week has been the first week where we have started to get some really chilly weather and we can now start to feel the grips of autumn start to set in!  It is great to see everyone all rugged up and ready to learn in the mornings!

Firstly I would like to thank all of the students and their whanau who have been actively completing their homework!  I can already see great developments in the children Reading and Writing.  Please continue to do this as the term progresses and don't forget to practice maths when you are out and about!

I wanted to share a really fun couple of images this week.  As part of our fitness program everyday, we either go for a run or complete another fun fitness activity such as Jump Jam.  As it was raining on Tuesday, it meant that we could not complete our regular activities!  Something which the children really enjoy and which we do on cold or rainy days inside is GoNoodle.  This is something you can do at home too and involves a lot of dancing, moving and stretching.

Below are some photos of the students participating in GoNoodle!  I must say we have some great dancers in Room 5!






Nga mihi,

Nicholas Shimasaki

Week Five - Exciting New Learning in Writing and Learning to Jump Hurdles!

Kia ora whanau and caregivers,

This week was an amazingly fun week for the students in Room 5.  As part of our P.E. lessons around running, jumping and throwing, the students moved on from long jump and high jump to running and jumping hurdles.  The students in Room 5 showed a real enjoyment for this and were very successful in completing the challenges set forth!  Hopefully, with all of this early practise, Room 5 will have great success during the school Athletics Day.

In Writing the students have been working towards completing some work around what it is that makes their whanau special.  In Health we have been looking at different types of families, by doing some writing on this topic the students have broadened their understanding of what a family unit can look like!

Finally, in Mathematics, the students have showed their knowledge of basic addition and subtraction strategies and are currently working towards adopting these strategies in their independent work.

Please see below for some photos of Room 5 during P.E!

Nga mihi,

Nicholas Shimasaki