Goodbye

Thank you to all the parents who have supported our blog for this past year. We have certainly enjoyed being able to show family, friends and people from overseas all our hard work throughout the year.

I will only be at East Gore School next year in a relieving role.

Thank you again and I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday and all the best for 2011!

Tanya

Planting Sunflower Seeds

Today we each planted a sunflower seed to celebrate the beginning of Summer on the 1st of December.

We are going to give our sunflower to someone special as a Christmas present.

We wrote recounts about what we did to plant our seed. Check out the writing page to see what we wrote!

Our Mihi's!!

This term, we have been learning about Tangata Whenua and as part of our oral language we prepared and practiced our own Mihi to share in front of our class and on our blog.

Check some of them out here, they take a while to load, so it could take a while to get them all on here, so please be patient while Miss McLean gets it all sorted.

Aaliyah

Alisha

Ella

Ellie

Hannah

Jordyn

Josh

Marshall

Mikaire

Rebecca

Sam K.

Oral Language - Mihi

Today we had our "practice" reading our mihi in front of the camera.

We then watched it and decided what we needed to work on for when we do it again on Wednesday.

Please help your child learn their mihi's at home. In class we have been working on the pronunciation of the Maori words.

Once we have the "final" one done, we will be putting them onto our blog for you to check out and comment on :) so watch this space!

Miss McLean has been super impressed with the effort some children have put into learning their Mihi's. Ka pai!

Smartkiddies

Remember to go onto the Smartkiddies website - www.smartkiddies.co.nz and play the games that Miss McLean has chosen to help you with your maths learning.

If you are a year 1:

Username: year1roomtotara

Password: coolkids

If you are a year 2:

Username: year2roomtotara

Password: coolkids

Then click on your name and put in your special password.

If you don't know your password, ask Miss McLean.

Happy maths learning!

Miss McLean

Our Photostory - Crumpet the Cat

Together we made a photostory of Crumpet the Cat, our big book.

Jordyn and Hannah took the photos.

Tell us what you think.

Crumpet the Cat - Big Book

We have been reading "Crumpet the Cat" as our big book.

Today we looked at FACTS ABOUT CATS

Habitat (a habitat is where a cat lives):

* houses

* SPCA / Pound

* Pet shop

* in the wild

Do we have them in New Zealand?

Yes (but only domestic cats, not tigers and lions)

What do they look like?

They have: whiskers, tails, sharp claws, 4 legs, pointy ears, wet nose, sharp teeth and can be: black, white, ginger, brown, tabby.

What do they do?

* Lie in the sun

* walk around

* fight with other cats

* sleep

* eat jellymeat, cat biscuits

* catch mice / fish / birds

Then we did a Venn Diagram to show things that Cats do that is different to what we do.

Differences:

Cats -

* have fur

* eat birds / mice

* lick themselves

* don't like water (baths/showers)

Us -

* wear clothes

* eat vegetables

* shower/bath

* go to school

* use a knife and fork

* have skin

Similarities:

We both like to:

*sleep

*walk

*eat

*eat icecream

*play

Jordyn and Hannah took some photos that we will use this week to make into a photostory to share on our blog - so watch this space!

100 Day Party

Public Library Visit

Thank you so much to the wonderful people who drove us to the library and back yesterday.

Rebecca's Nana - Doreen,

Marshall's Mum - Vicky,

Hannah's Aunty - Maree,

Mr Gentle

Ms Mckewen (who kindly came back after she had finished work).

We really appreciate you taking time out of your day to take us there and back.

We enjoyed listening to some Maori myths and legends that Jenny had to read us. Some children did not have a public library card, so they were sent home with an application to get one (it's free!)

Jenny was telling us about the wonderful Summer Reading Programme the public library will hold over the Christmas holidays, so keep an eye out for when you can enrol - this would be a fantastic opportunity for your child to keep reading over this break.

We were sad that it was our last visit this year. But look forward to seeing Jenny again next year.

Ice Cream Sundaes and Milkshakes

On Friday's we will be selling Ice Cream Sundaes and Milkshakes at lunchtime.

This is a camp fundraiser for the 2011 camp.

All orders need to be to Room Kauri in a named envelope before school starts.

Ice Cream Sundaes - $2

Milkshakes - $1

Marae Visit

Room Totara are off to the Marae this Wednesday (tomorrow) as part of our inquiry this term "Tangata Whenua"

We are really excited about this trip.

Your child will need a packed lunch, water bottle and warm jacket to take with them. We are travelling by bus. Thanks to the parents who have offered to help, we cannot make these trips happen without your support.

Welcome back to TERM 4

Welcome back to Term 4.

We have lots of new faces in our class this term. We welcomed Shontaye, Crystal-Rose and Alanah from Room 1 and we also were lucky to get 2 more groovy kids - Ryan and Kyla.

Ooops!! Miss McLean must've been half asleep when she made this weeks homework word-find!! Lots of letters were missing! So if you have been trying to work this out - Sorry! Don't worry about doing the word-find!

This term we are learning all about Tangata Whenua - our big question is: Why is Maori culture important to New Zealanders?

We are very lucky to be off to the Bluff Marae in Week 3 - remember there is a small cost for this, so make sure you pay this before the trip!

We have a busy term planned and it's great to be back into the swing of things!

Term 4

Hey there groovy Room Totara kids!

I hope you have all had a fabulous holiday! There is only a few days left before we are back to school for term 4.

This term we have 3 cool kids from Room Kauri joining us - We welcome Crystal, Shontaye and Alannah. We are looking forward to having them in our class!

I hope you have been busy reading over the holidays - we will be straight back into our reading programme on Monday!

Enjoy the last few days of the holidays, get lots of early nights! See you all on Monday :)

Miss McLean

Our Fabulous Production - The Wizard of OZ

Room 4 performed a "scary tree dance" in the production of the Wizard of OZ

Held at the St James Theatre, Tuesday 21 September 7pm.

Here is a photostory of our dance.

Wizard of OZ tickets

Tickets to the Wizard of OZ production are selling quickly!

Get your tickets as soon as possible to avoid disappointment!

Tickets:

Family (2 adults, 2-3 children) $20

Adult $8

Child $4

Available at the school office NOW!

Miss Fisken's dogs come to visit

Chloe

Jade

Yesterday Aaron brought Miss Fisken's dog Chloe and her puppy Jade to school for a visit.

Jade is a black labrador puppy. Her head felt smooth and soft and her back felt rough and coarse.

Chloe is a golden labrador and she is 6 years old (the same age as some of us!) She was very happy and we know this because of her very waggly tail!

Wizard of OZ Songs to Learn

If you look under the Songs page on our blog, you will find all the words to the songs we need to learn.

It's really important we know these well to be able to sing our best at our production next week!

Get Mum and Dad and sisters and brothers singing them too!!

COSTUMES PLEASE!!

We need all children to bring along their costume for production before Wednesday for a full dress rehearsal!

Room 4 kids need:

Black or brown t-shirt (it doesn't matter if it has something on it)

Black or brown pants/tights.

Please send these along to school ASAP in a named bag.

Thanks!

Mrs Hook's Lambs come for a visit

Mrs Hook kindly brought in some lambs to visit us at school.

Here are some pictures...

The lambs checked out our playground!

So cute!!

Mrs T helps Jante feed one of the lambs.

School Blog

East Gore School has a brand new blog!

www.eastgoreschool.blogspot.com

Go and check out all the fabulous things about our school.

This is a great way for parents to keep updated with things happening in our school.