Manners and Etiquette

I was so impressed when Charlie arrived at school on Monday morning ready with a story about his mum and how she used her manners! The story is fabulous. Well done Charlie! Many of the children have indicated they are working on their stories. I can't wait to see them.

See if you can find out about some manners from these videos. Try them out at home. We will be role playing these in class.

Home learning Week 2

We are underway with our topic;

Speaking of Change

This week I want you to do some research. Find out from your Mum, Dad, Grandmother or Grandfather a story about how they used their manners or were reminded to use them when they were your age. Get them to write it down. We are going to make a doco-drama video using the information. This means you will read their story about what happened. If you are able to get a photo of them when they were young to go with it would be great too. Ask politely first if it is alright to use their photo.

Verb song

We have been learning about adding verbs, nouns and adjectives to help to make our writing more interesting. Have a listen to the 'Verb Song' and sing along too!

Jump Rope For Heart

We are getting involved with the Jump Rope for Heart fund. More details to come but you can visit Digivillage: http://www.digivillage.org.nz/manawanui/

We have got started with skipping this week. We have learnt some new skipping moves. Check them out!

Speaking of Change

The Arrowtown Museum Website: http://www.handsonhistory.co.nz/student/life.php
The topic we will be looking at this term is 'Speaking of Change'. We will be producing a video for the Arrowtown Museum about the changes in the Wakatipu area. To do this we are going to be working with Room 24 and interview their teacher, Mrs Excell. Did you know she has lived here all her life! She will have some amazing stories to share!

Included with the topic we are going to be using the 'Habits of the Mind'. Art Costa's theory about how minds are developed. Along with the value; Integrity which involves being honest, responsible, and accountable and acting ethically (NZ Curriculum, 2007). (I have added the links for parents who want to know more).

As you can see this has lead into thinking about how change happens and looking at integrity with a manners theme. As the children will be interviewing an older person from our community it is a good opportunity to find out about the types of manners their grandparents use to have. To also practice using them themselves and to think about developing them as a habit or to evaluate why they never use them. How do others react and how does it feel? So you will also see this has been integrated into the terms home learning. Watch these videos:

My Greatest Feat

The 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.

http://www.mygreatestfeat.org/

Our class has joined!
The passwords will be glued into the Homework books.

What we have learnt about the Water Cycle

Here is our Water Cycle assessment. I think the children all worked very hard. We used the SUPER THREE to help us to work together and to get the job done. We also wrote our own explanations about the water cycle. Here is the Water Cycle explanation we wrote together as a class:

The Water Cycle

Yesterday I learnt from the Highlander I need to drink 8 glasses of water every day to stay healthy. I have also found out that water is older than my parents. This is because it has been on the earth since earth began! Wow that is old!

First the sun heats the water up and it turns into clouds. When it is going up into the clouds this is called vapour and this is transpiration. When it is made into a cloud this is called condensation.

Precipitation is when the clouds cannot hold anymore water and it rains.

After that, the water that has not been used by the plants, animals or us soaks into the ground and goes into an aquifer. Then the cycle starts all over again.

Each time the water goes around the cycle it is like a washing machine. If too much rubbish is put into the water cycle the water will not be clean. I am going to remember to look after water because it is important for me, the animals and all the plants on the earth.

Written by Room 23

In our writing books we assessed our own writing with this rubric:

Have I used a title with capitals?

Have I used words like next, then, and last?

Have I used capital letters and full stops?

Have I introduced the topic?

Have I used paragraphs?

Have I rounded off my explanation?

The next thing I need to work on is....