Falcon's Visit

Brooke's family are caring for a guide dog puppy.

This week Brooke's Mum brought Falcon to school to meet us. We learnt a lot about Falcon and what he will do when he goes to Guide Dog School and become a guide for a blind person.

The children enjoyed patting him and I think Falcon enjoyed it too, especially having his tummy rubbed.

Thank you Amy for bringing Falcon to school for the children's learning. Some of the children wrote a creative description of Falcon.

                                      

Falcon's claws are sharp like my cat's claws and he's got a silky nose and brown eyes.  Rafferty

Falcon's fur is soft and silky.  Lexi

Falcon's fur is soft.  Lily

Falcon's claws are sharp and he has soft fur.  Sophie

Falcon is black and he has sharp claws and soft fur.  Kyan

Falcon's claws are sharp and Falcon's ears are soft. Falcon's nose is silky. Tayla

Falcon has got soft ears and soft fur. Falcon has got scratchy paws.  Chelsea

Art Expo - Koru Kiwis

We hope you have been to the hall this week to see our Koru Kiwis artwork.

We looked at the koru shape of the young fern plant and koru patterns. 

We looked at the features of the Kiwi bird.

         

We practised and practised and practised sketching kiwis and koru patterns.

We coloured our koru patterns with pastels.

We painted more koru patterns on the borders.

                                

                             We needed to glue cardboard on the back to make our kiwis 3D.

Now look at our Koru Kiwis ready for the Art Expo.

At the Art Expo, Rafferty was impressed with some clever photography art taken around our school. 

Sophie found her brother Christian's art work. 

Lexi found her sister Amy's art work way up high. 

Rafferty, Alex and Louis thought this trick photography was very clever. 

Balloon Play

During fitness (and other times) we bring out the balloons and flyswatters.

Tapping the balloons up and down, left to right, controlling them and tracking them with the eyes helps the brain, eyes and hands work together:

• both eyes need to work together for reading, left to right movement and return sweep to the next line 
• hand eye co-ordination for handwriting 
• eyes need to focus on the board and back to the paper for copying

Holding the flyswatters correctly helps with the correct pencil grip.

And, it's lots of fun too.

"Look at me! I've caught it."

"Here it comes floating down, I'm going to catch it."

"I can tap it on left and tap it on the right."

"I'm getting good at this."

"I've done this a few times and I'm getting really good."

'Oh no, I have to be careful I don't let my balloon get away into someone else's space."

"See my eyes tracking the balloon, see my fingers holding the flyswatters correctly. 

"Got it!"

"This used to be tricky, but now I've got it."

"Oops, it's not a good idea to let it get too far away."

Making Day

On Making Day we had blocks, play dough, paint, paper, crayons, paint, boxes and junk to create and make things.

Then we shared what we made with the class and explained what we made, how we made it and how it works.

Hayden made a shooting gun. 

Rafferty made a baddy rocket. 

Lily printed a picture of her dad and her dog. 

Brooke used rollers and did some drawing to make pattern. 

Lexi used felts to draw and write words. 

Tayla made a fairy house out of boxes. 

Mackenzie used rollers and paint to make a bendy bus. 

Chelsea made and aeroplane to take her back to Fiji.

Louis made a rubbish truck plane out of boxes. 

Sophie drew a picture with highlighters and stuck it on a box. 

The Basket Revealed

After looking up at the basket for 2 days the contents were finally revealed.

Now for more questions:

• What are all these things?
• Why are they together in the basket?
• What are we going to do with them?

It's time to explore and investigate.

It's very heavy and I don't want it to crash down.

I need help to hang on while Mrs O'Callaghan unties the knot.

At last, now we know what's in the basket. 

Why are all these things in the basket?

Being Independent at School

The children are working hard on their personal independence goals. 

Brooke and Grayson can come into school by themselves.

Mackenzie can hang up her school bag.

Alex can put his book bag away. 

Grayson can empty his reading book from his book bag. 

Lexi can push her chair in. 

Kyan can pack his school bag. 

What is in the Basket?

There's a mystery in Room 29

The children came to school and found a basket hanging from the ceiling.

There is a question underneath.       What is in the basket?

They are wondering who put it up there and what is in there?

We're thinking???

We have some ideas.