Picasso

This week we are starting our self portraits.

Mrs Ware loves art but is often disappointed by how the pictures she draws of herself end up. They don't usually look much liker her!

So this year we are doing Cubism inspired pictures.

We read a book about Picasso and looked at some portraits he did. We knew they were people because they had noses, eyes etc. However they were weird colours and looked like they had been cut up and glued back together funny.

Then we practised drawing different part of the face from different perspectives. Then we did a plan of our portraits. Here is Mrs Wares.

What else can you find out about Pablo Picasso at home?

Spelling Words

We are starting spelling homework this week. Everyone will have 10 words to practise and they will be  tested on them on Friday.

This year the Pohutokawa team has decided not to do karate spelling as it was felt that it was too many words at once, which was a bit overwhelming for parents, kids and teachers.

Here are a few F.A.Q. about spelling

Where do the words come from?
I tested the class on the 'essential word lists' and hi-lighted the words they needed to learn. They will start by sellecting 10 words from list one. If they did not get any in list one wrong then they will choose words from list two, and so on.

On Friday all words that are correct get crossed off the list of words to learn, and any others will roll over to the next week.

There are a few in the class that already know most of the words on the essential word lists. They will work their way through some more difficult lists.

On occasions there might be some topic words, or words that follow a sound pattern we are learning.

As the year goes on there will also be some words from their draft writing.

The more advanced spellers will probably also look at widening their vocabulary by learning lists of synonyms (words that mean the same thing) so that we get more interesting words that 'big' or 'said' in our stories. Some of these words might be easy to spell, the emphasis is on vocabulary.

What is an essential word list?
These are created on the theory that it is most important to learn the words that are most used first.  By the time they get to the end of list four they will know words that make up 75% of all writing.

Why is my child getting the same word to learn?
It may be that they did not get it correct last week.
It may be that although they got it right a while ago they are continuing to get it incorrect in their writing.
It may be that when I went back to re-test them on the words they got wrong at the beginning of the year they could not remember how to spell it correctly, so it went back on the list of words to learn.

Route learning spelling words is a little like learning basic facts in maths, or any other route learning. If it is learnt once and then not used again they will forget. There is little point in learning it once, and then not going back to review it to see if you still remember ;)

How can I help my child learn their words?
Try to find out how they learn the best as it's different for different learning types. I will add more information on different ways of learning words in the following weeks.

If you are able to use technology it is a great motivator and can make spelling into a fun game.

Here are some I've used with my own children

I pad apps: A+ Spelling (they enter their weeks words and record them so they can test themselves. Also has a great 'unscramble' function)
Word: type their words in Microsoft word and then change the font, colour etc
Websites: make your own wordfind with their spelling words puzzle-maker.com

Current Events

Mrs Ware found some cool news on a great kids website

kiwi kids news

Check it out for some ideas for next week!

Science News

On Tuesday we did Science news. My favourite was Emily's one. It was a rock. It had shapes in it that were shells. They were really old. 

My other favourite was Millie's news. It was telling us how hot it was. 

By Unique

Calais bought in a science experiment book

Millie's thermometre

Lydia's rock with a hole in it.

Emily's fossils.

Our superheros

In the first week of term we made superheros. 

First we had to design our logo, then we had to draw it again on the outfit. Our logo had to be something that we were good at (our Super Power!)

Next we coloured in the outfit and the logo and then Mrs Ware took a photo of our head and stuck it on the body.

Here are some pictures of our superheros

Photos and Story by Katie

More teamwork

Here is some more challenges that Mrs Ware set for us to do as a team.






First we had to link our hands and then move the hoop around the whole circle without letting go of each others hands.

The next challenge was that we stood in our groups and put our hands in the middle. We had to grab 2 random hands and then try to untangle ourselves without letting go. A couple of groups did it!

Buddy Reading

Every day after SSR we read with a Buddy. We are allowed to choose our own buddy and we read them some of the book that we took home last night. We are even allowed to sit outside!

We need to make sure we are
- sitting Elbow-to-Elbow and Knee-to-Knee (EEKK)
- looking at our buddies book
- listening and showing respect
- taking turns to read

Mrs Ware took some photos of some buddies doing an awesome job!

Connor M and Zeke

 Emily and Millie

 Devyn and Braxton

Louie and Zhi Heng

Buzz Groups

On Monday we do 'personal news'. This is where we get to share anything about ourselves that we like. It might be something we did in the weekend, or something that happened ages ago. It might even be something that is going to happen soon.

This week we shared our news in Buzz Groups. Mrs Ware chose one person to be the leader.

They had to
- choose who went first
- make sure everyone got a turn
- make sure the group was listening and showing respect
- choose one outstanding group member to tell Mrs Ware about

Team work

What a cool first day :)

Today we did a teamwork activity. We had to fit all the people in our group in the hoop, only touching the ground inside the hoop. Then we had to stay like that for 30 seconds.

Mrs Ware explained that temwork was about sharing ideas. This meant we had to listen carefully to other people's ideas and not interupt. We also had to accept when our idea wasn't chosen. Some groups had more people and had to persevere and try lots of ideas before they could complete the challenge.