Reading logs - update!

Here are all the people who have read for more than 100 nights in 2017.   Some people were very nearly there on 98 or 95 nights of home reading.  Still one whole term to go though - so keep reading (AND remembering to record it in your log!)

Hinus had the top boy's score and Ruby had the top girl's score.

Rhubarb - the Mystery Fruit

Leaf or stalk

Chopped up and ready to simmer.

Fruit starting to mush up.

The Lions read the  Junior Journal 44 story, That's the Idea, about gardening and the Zebras read Leaves.  Then we harvested some rhubarb from the school vegie garden; should we eat the leaves or the stalks?  Most people thought the leaves!  We chopped up the stalks with apple and cooked them  with water and sugar on a hot plate in the classroom.  The smell was delicious!  After the fruit had cooled, most people tried a little sample after lunch.

Matariki

We read the book, Matariki, and then we telescopes so we could view the Seven Sisters.  We drew Maori designs around the telescope, and cellotaped black paper at one end.  We pinpicked seven hopes in the black paper to make the constellation, which we could see when we held the telescope up to the light.  We started these in term 2 and just had them finished in time for the end of Matariki in week 1.

Reading Logs

We counted up the total nights of reading we have done since the beginning of the year, and then we stood in order of number.  Hinus was our champion with 104 nights of reading - fabulous work!

Reading our PPP parent letters

On the last day of term, we read the letters our parents had sent about our PPPs.  It was  exciting to receive our own mail at school, and super relaxing to read it in our PJs! 

Teddies find reading tricky, so we had to read it to them ourselves.

Bookmarks

We all made a book mark to motivate us to read books in the holidays.  We wrote our name in coloured bubble writing on one side, and our favourite book character on the other.  Then we added a tassel so we could find our page easily.  It will be interesting to see if the book marks do actually encourage us to read.  We will have a vote when we get back to school in Term 3 to find out.

This was our graph about our bookmarks in the holidays

Riding on a dragon

We watched the video from Pete's Dragon of a boy having a ride on a dragon's back, and then we wrote our own descriptions of what it would be like.  You can watch the video again with your parents by clicking on:
Pete's dragon

Here is one of our illustrated stories - look in our Writing page for many more.

This is what Miranda thought it would feel and look like>

Blowing Bubbles

The Lions read Junior Journal 30 and learned how to make bubbles by following the written instructions.  The rest of the class were very envious, so we made sure that there was plenty of opportunity for everyone to have a go before school.

Mothers Day Cards

As a special surprise, we wrote stories about our mums for Mothers Day.  We also made Mothers Day cards and glued our published stories inside.  We found all the instructions on how to make the oragami flowers for our cards in Junior Journal 37.

Potato Men and Potato Women

We read this book,  The Potato People, together and then everyone made their own potato person using potatoes, toothpicks, wool and pins.  After that we dressed them in fabric, leather, feathers and lace. Later, when the potato people have sprouted, we will plant them in our classroom garden, just like Grandma and Jack did in the story.

Here are two glorious ladies, but you can see the whole class on the Visual Art page.

Marble mazes

The Zebras read the book, The Maize Maze, and then they designed their own mazes and used a marble to check the paths they made.

PirateTreasure Maps

The Lions read the play, Buried Treasure in Junior Journal 53.  Then everyone made their own treasure map.   They used symbols to show the important landmarks on our map.  When the maps were finished, they carefully tore the edges and painted them with strong cold tea so that they looked like real olden day pirate maps.

Cap't Finn's treasure map

Cap't Ruby's treasure map.

Cap't Luka's treasure map

Cap't Kaydn's treasure map

Pirate Flags

The Zebras read the book, Pirates, and found out all the kinds of things pirates did and used in the olden days.  Then they made their own pirate flags.  They had to be scary so they would frighten other sailors so much that they would surrender their ships.

Cap't Kaleb

Cap't Elsie

Cap't Rhys

Cap't Wai

Making Butter

The Elephants read the article, The First School Journal and a letter, Dear Great-Gran in School Journal 2000 Part 1 Number 1.  They compared school life now to the olden days.  Then they made butter in the traditional way.  There was enough for them to spread it thickly on bread so that everyone could have a taste, if they wanted to.

Everyone had to pass around the jar and shake it hard until the cream turned into butter.

Rocking Horse Cards

The Tigers read Junior Journal 25 and then they followed the instructions in Making a Rocking Horse Card to make their own card.  Everyone wrote a message inside to someone special in their family.