A Busy Time

What a busy time we have had over the last 2 weeks or so! Since the last blog entry we have finished our swimming block - Thanks very much to the parents who gave up their time to transport us to and from swimming in their cars. It ensured that the children did not get too tired. The children gained in confidence and competence over the 8 day block.

During the last two days of swimming there were Learning Commitment interviews after school. These gave the children, parents and teacher a chance to think about strengths and possible goals for the first part of the year. I enjoyed talking first to the children about their strengths and then to the parents about strengths and goals and finally with the children again to discuss the goals set with the help of parents. (Was that as confusing to read as it seemed to be when I wrote it??)



On Friday March 13th we had fun making puppy masks and inventing games with balloons. It was great! Do you recognise any of the puppies in the picture?


Last week we were back into normal classroom routines. We also had College teachers watching us do Mathematics. Another group came to talk to us about what we know about numbers. They will be back on April 9th to teach us something about numbers, based on what we already know.

It was fun going to Chipmunks on Sunday and seeing lots of Kindle 2 children at a going away party for Kaya. She is going to Tonga for a holiday and then back to Japan. We hope to keep in touch with her by Skype and through this blog. That big slide was very tempting, I really wanted to have a turn.

This week we had a holiday on Monday for Otago Anniversary Day. Our College teachers, Miss Kerr and Mr Matheson will be with us every day for two weeks. We also have some Japanese visitors in the school. They are from the Gifu area. They will be visiting classrooms and teaching us a little bit of Japanese.

Today all of the Kindle 2 children were given a note about the blog. Now families will be able to access it and read about what we are doing. We have already had our first comment from a parent - Thank You.

Fantastic Friday

This morning we went swimming at DNI Pool. It was Day 4 of our swimming lessons. All of the children have improved over the past 4 days and we have 4 days of swimming next week.

After play today, we made gingerbread men, as a finale to the Maths Measurement Unit from nzmaths. We were helped by Marie, who brought her little oven for us to use and by a parent who was visiting Kindle 2 and knows more about baking than Mrs Dakers!

During our Fantastic Friday Choices - some children made paintings, others used the computers. Some children played snakes and ladders, or with the toy cars and car mats, some children created things with the dough. The focus was on Responsibility (tidying up), taking turns, sharing and asking to join in. There were some very tired children at the Junior Team Assembly presented by Room 4 in the Hall this afternoon.

Measurement: Length

In Kindle 2 we have been learning about Length.


These are the bridges we made for our Gingerbread people to get over the river.
Which bridge is the longest?
Which bridge is the shortest?


Today we made clothes for our Gingerbread people.

Which Gingerbread person has the longest hair?
Which one has the shortest hair?
What colour is the shortest skirt?
What colour is the longest skirt?

Art Gallery Art

On Monday 16 February 2009, Kindle 2 went to the Art Gallery on a bus. We looked at some paintings. For some of the paintings we looked at, John covered something up and we had to try and remember what it was. We went up to the Art Gallery classroom and watched a movie. We drew a picture of ourselves and painted it with dye. Next, we drew pictures of our favourite things onto our Art Gallery backgrounds. We read some books while John glued our pictures of ourselves onto the background. We came back to school on the bus.


These are the fabulous art works we made at the Art Gallery.