MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Gosh hasn't the year flown! I have to say I have had a fabulous time with you all and you have given me some special memories to treasure. I am, truly, sad this year has ended because you have all been wonderful. You should be all very proud of the progress you all have made this year since the beginning of the year. YOU ARE LEGENDS!

I wanted to add a photo collage of some of the photos taken throughout the year but have had some technical problems. Look back through the blog and you will see them anyway. I will keep the blog going as many of you would like to keep accessing it next year too. I really look forward to seeing you online.

Have a fabulous Christmas holiday :)
Mrs Kruijer

PS: Santa would love to hear from you: santac@merry_christmas.com

Week 8

We listened to three fantastic prepared talks this week:

Michael

Bonny and Ben

Our paintings are going to Russia! Daniel's mum is taking our paintngs to a Russian orphanage to brighten up the walls. We hope they enjoy our kiwiana! Olga came in and translated the words into Russian. It was fascinating to watch her write the words and to listen to her say them. We also tried to speak in Russian. I wonder who remembers how 'hello'
is said?

Korero Morning Programme

Prepared Talks this week were:

Zack about Kookaburra's. Your were very well prepared. Try to talk to the audience, look at them and direct your voice to the audience and use a clear voice.

Daniel
Well done boys!
There are still some people unprepared and are not doing their homework. Everyone knows their turn will come and it is not a good feeling when they know they are not ready.
Looking forward to next weeks prepared talks: Micheal, Ben and Bonny.

Week 7

It was awesome having Daniel's Mum visit today and share her story about the orphans. Just amazing. We are well on our way with ideas and making posters, books and art. Sue is having a clothing drive on Friday. If you have any unwanted clothing you could give her please bring it along to school.

Homework this week:
Mathaletics - a letter went home today about this amazing programme.
If you cannot get onto a computer play King of the Mountain with 2 dice and quick addition and subtraction. If you are feeling really clever try multiplication and division.
Korero - check what you are doing this week and be ready.
Reading - read 2 chapters a night of a book you are reading at the moment. Or read the book from school.
Spelling - find 6 words from your writing book. Write a sentence with each word. Spelling test Friday.

Simon is visiting again this Wednesday to plant spuds into buckets. If you have an old 10ltr bucket we could use for this please send it along on Wednesday.
Wednesday we are also sharing each Year 3 class worm farm inquiry. Pop in and visit if you can.
Friday is Pet Day. A notice went home about this today.

Orphans Aid International

This week we have something very special to do. Daniel is soon to go on a big adventure with his family to visit orphanages. Follow this link to find out more: http://www.orphansaidinternational.org/
You must watch this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sV2qPDUJnTY
There are some amazing people in our community. Daniel's family are organising a clothing drive before they go on their adventure. If you can help we are going to make some posters next week. Sue is going to share her story with the children on Monday at 11am. Parents, you are welcome to attend.
Poster making will be Wednesday, Thursday and Friday 11am.

What a week 6 it was!

Korero talk presentations were by Jessie Rose and Hannah. Well done girls! Comment please in the box below what you thought about their presentations. Jessie-Rose and Hannah you could post a comment explaining what your presentation was about.
If it is your turn next please remember to have your presentation ready.

We also had a music man visit. He taught us how to play the ukulele. Hannah took photos.

Year 3 TRYathlon

TRYathlon

Hi everyone!
A letter went home today with details all about this. The children are organising themselves into teams. Please check with the notice to make sure everyone will be ready for the race on Friday!


Worm Farming with Simon from Wanaka Wastebusters
Please bring along to school on WEDNESDAY things you can use to make a worm farm. We are making worm farms with Simon on Wednesday at 11pm.

Korero Morning Programme
Well done Zack for making comments about the presentations made in the morning programme last week. You are a star!
I am not in the class tomorrow so the programme will run Wednesday, Thursday and Friday instead this week. Sorry I didn't warn you before the end of today :( Tuesday students will have their turn on Wednesday.

Here are the Hens!

Middle School Tryathlon

This is happening next Friday 20th November. The students can compete individually or in groups of 2 or 3. The running will be around the school paths, the biking around the field and the swimming in the QPS pool. A notice will go home about this before the end of the week.

Korero Prepared Talks

There were three wonderful prepared talks this week;

Gareth's owl talk,

Seth's talk about horrible animal facts,

and Mitchell's talk about worm farming.

Thank you boys.

What I want everyone to do is to either sign onto the blog. Do you remember how to do that? I might have to go through that on Monday. Or just post a comment into the comment box below. Could you please comment what the speakers did well and what they could do better next time. Please think about your comments carefully.
Check the Korero sheet to find out what you all are doing next week. It has been really great to see the work everyone has put into the first week.

We are rapping!

Verb Song

Today we began work on our rapping songs.  See if you can find some raps on the internet.  Here is one I found.

Simon from Wanaka Waste Busters Visited today!

Simon has heard about the wonderful work we have been doing with the worm farm and food scrap investigation.  He gave us a surprise visit, so....  we shared what we have been doing!  Michael was a mind of information.  You are very into this Michael!  It is wonderful!  See below our chart where we are ploting the food scraps and water we are giving the worms.  

Zara is looking after the water.  Zack and Hannah are looking after the chook bucket and Michael is looking after the worm bucket.  You are doing all an excellent job!

Our next investigation is how to make a worm farm work well.  We are collecting water bottles and are making small worm farms out of them. 

Korero Morning Programme

The information about this programme went home last week and I know many of the students are ready to go!  Please check your child's homework book if you are unsure about this programme.

This week is as follows:

                         Tuesday               Thursday                 Friday

Introducer         Elijah                    Jinho                       Kendall

Prepared Talk   Gareth                  Seth                        Mitchell

Mime                Jessie Rose           Hannah                   Zara

Joke                  Elise                     Daniel                     Zack

Poem                Michael                 Ben                        Bonny

Current Events  Georgie                 Dondu                    Lucy

How to             Kazzia                   Uta                         Jack

The prepared talk I will put in as a posting onto the blog.  The children are to make a comment about one other than their own.  Say what they like and what could be done better.

Problem Solving

This week we have been Problem Solving.

How much food do we give the worms each week?

How much can the chooks have? 

How often do we water the worm farm?

Kids, can you add a comment explaining what we have done to investigate these problems.  Who is in charge of looking after the worm farm and what do they need to do?

Yummy pictures!!!!  Thanks Ben and Daniel.

Writing an Explanation

We are learning about writing explanations.  Last week a reporter from the Southland Times visited our class and talked to us about how to be a reporter and how to write an article for the newspaper. We learnt a lot of interesting things about being a reporter and the newspaper.  
An Explanation makes clear how or why things are as they are, or how things work.  I wonder if anyone could explain this picture? 

Puzzle Maker

http://www.puzzle-maker.com/

Looks like a fun way to learn spelling words!  Make your own word search using your weekly spelling words.

Bird Talk

Shared reading and writing this week we learnt about how to teach a bird to talk!  I was delighted to watch on Saturday night at 7pm this episode of 'Birdland'.  In this episode there was a tui who could talk! If you missed it here is the link.

http://tvnz.co.nz/birdland/s1-e4-video-3086833

Worm Farming

RAP

WALT: Features of Rap

See if these examples have these elements:

Strong Beat

Rhythm

Slang

Repetition

Fast Talking or chanting