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Welcome to Wakaaranga Room 4b toc

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Term One
1.2.11 Welcome to all the children and parents who are going to be involved in 4b this year. I am looking forward to a great start to a new year. Our first topic is Caring for ourselves and our pets. If you have any information about this topic including pictures of your pets please bring them to school to share with everyone.

Here are some photos of the great looking children who will be working hard in 4b!

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15.2.2011 Today all the children in Year 2 were lucky enough to listen to Hayley from the SPCA talk about her job working with animals. She shared a powerpoint and video and at the end let us pat her pet rats. She was very grateful for the money, old towels and food that everyone brought a long for the animals.

18.2.2011 It was a very hectic morning in 4b and all the other year 2 classes this morning as it was our turn to put on the assembly. A big thank you to all the parents who helped us get organised and to all the parents who came and watched. Thank you also to the parents who remembered to send along clothes for the children to dress up in. Well done Megan, Aaryan and Alex who were great presenters, they all spoke clearly and with confidence in front of all the junior classes. Here are some photos of the assembly and the children dressed up for our item.

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Today was also our fabulous student teacher Miss Mouldey's last day until the end of term 2 when she returns for 7 weeks. Alecia is a third year teacher trainee so she has been with 4b for three weeks to learn about setting up a class and when she returns she will be doing some of the teaching with my support. We have all really enjoyed having her in our room and the children have benefitted from an extra pair of hands at the busy settling in time of the year. For art this week Miss Mouldey got the children to enlarge a picture of Hairy Maclary. Each child was given a small square of a larger picture to enlarge onto a piece of A4 paper. They then coloured in their picture and finally they were put together. The end result is below and it is also able to been seen in our corridor, it is impressive and the children did really well considering how difficult the idea was. Mr Jenkin was extremely amazed by the childrens' work.



Thursday 3 March Wow! Today was soft pet day at school and all the children brought their soft pets to school for a fun day. In the hall the children and their pets did jump jam with Mrs Grantham and outside the children and their pets played on the playground and played with the PE equipment. Everyone had a great time. Can you see Guang and Zoish are back in our class, Guang had a very badly broken arm after a trampoline accident and Zoish went overseas for a special festival. Can you see Brooke our visitor from Christchurch? She came to school for two days while she was staying with her grandfather. Her mum and dad are working to get their home back to rights after the earthquake. Remember the black and red mufti day tomorrow for the people of Christchurch.

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Here are a couple of video clips of the day as well:

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Before our soft pet day we had our second Maori lesson with Mrs O'Shea. She is teaching the children some simple Maori words, phrases and songs. This is a very important part of being a New Zealander and we are grateful for her assistance in this area.



Remember our trip to the museum which is on Tuesday 15 March and not Thursday 31 March as we originally thought! We are looking forward to a busy day at the museum which will include a session in the classroom about minibeasts which is our new Landscape Learning topic, a visit to the Weird and Wonderful room where there are lots of minibeasts to look at and a wander around the museum which is always a lot of fun and very informative.

15.3.2011 What a wonderful trip we had today to the museum. A big thank you to Corban's mum, Kees's mum, JJ's mum, Matthew's nana, Ronan's dad and Jack's dad who came with us and made such wonderful parent helpers. It was great to see all the adults really interacting with the children, questioning them about what they were doing and enjoying being with their children and everyone else's. We couldn't have trips without parents like you! The children were all really well behaved and were a credit to Wakaaaranga. We had a great lesson with Shaun in the classroom, had fun in the Weird and Wonderful room and enjoyed a wander around after lunch with the wasps in the park! I'm sure you'll all sleep well tonight - I know I will! A big thank you also to Miss Mouldey who spent her day off university with us at the museum.

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16.3.2011 Today the children had a fantastic session with Mrs Warburton looking through the compost for minibeasts. The children found lots of worms and earwigs as well as a slater and a couple of spiders. It was a lot of fun. We also released the little skinks that Rex had brought in into our lizard garden and saw the insect hotel that Mr Rhodes has made. We would like clay pipes, old roof tiles and bricks to put into the wooden frame that will hopefully encourage lots of insects to "check-in" to the Insect Hotel.



Friday 25 March What a fabulous assembly we had today. First we were lucky enough to watch two great items, a play by Mrs Dean and Mrs Morrison's class and a dance by all the year one students to the Ugly bug ball song. Milla got a Principal's certificate for her life cycle stories, Jasmine got a merit certificate for being a great speller and Kelvin got one for being a helpful computer expert. At the end we won Malcolm the Monkey for being the best sitting up class, especially thanks to the boys who Mrs Grant said sat beautifully for the whole assembly. Have a great weekend and I'm looking forward to seeing you all next week at the parent interviews. Remember school finishes early on Tuesday.



The Monarch Life Cycle Continues... The children have shown so much interest in the caterpillars on the swan plant in our room and today the chrysalis that has been hanging around for a couple of weeks finally opened up to reveal a monarch butterfly which we set free outside the classroom. A couple of hours later the fat caterpillar that has been hanging as a 'J' since last night during parent interviews turned into a chrysalis.

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A big thank you to all the parents who came on either Tuesday or Thursday to the parent interviews. I had 27 interviews and really enjoyed meeting you all and talking about your children's progress. I really appreciate all the work that you do to support the learning the children are doing in my room. Without your help the children would not be progressing as well as they are. I'm looking forward to a big improvement in their spelling skills once spelling starts next term.

If you get the chance, maybe in the holidays visit this website and help your child to create their own story to share: [|www.littlebirdtales.com]

Have a look at the story below that I wrote and the class added their voices to:

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This is a bird tale that has been written by Milla in our class, it is about the life cycle of a butterfly.

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We had a very interesting time in 4b today. Some of the children brought in snails, and J.J. brought in a slug, to race. The snails didn't seem to be very interested in racing though! We found out some interesting facts about snails - they are nocturnal, they can't hear, they move around on their foot producing lots of slime and they don't usually travel in straight lines.



12.4.11 A very big thank you to all the parents who came and supported us making pompoms this afternoon. Thanks also to Mrs Clotworthy for bringing over our buddies to help. Below are a couple of photos taken this afternoon. We hope to finish the pompoms by Friday.



End of term one: - What a great term we have had in 4b! I know everyone was ready for the holidays when Friday came and I'm looking forward to a relaxing break. - Next term our first topic is Our Five Senses so if you find any resources relating to this during the holidays please send them along. We will probably spend a week on each sense - sight, touch, taste, hearing and smell. - Please keep looking for brown, beige or black clothing for our Move and Groove item later in the term, we will be creating our own mask and thinking about the moves part way through the term. - In week 7 we have Book Week and each class has a country participating in the Rugby World Cup to focus on, ours is Ireland and during that week there will be a dress up parade so we will be wearing green! Remember to visit the library if you can and find some good books to read during the holidays. - First week back we will start our formal spelling programme so the children will be bringing home their notebook with words to learn. - Some of the children were keen to vote in the N.Z. Post Childrens Book Awards and below is a link to get you there so you can vote for your favourite books that we were shown by Tina Brown from the Highland Park Library. []

Term Two
Welcome back to term 2. We had an enjoyable afternoon today making patterns using the maths equipment. Have a look at some of the patterns below and see if you can work out which element comes next.

Friday 13 May - Papier Mache The children had an interesting afternoon at school on Friday. We began to make our papier mache faces. Some of the children really enjoyed getting their hands all gluey and putting layers of paper on the plastic plate base, others wanted to wash their hands all the time and use a brush! It will be interesting to see how they turn out after a couple of weeks work. Watch this space!

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Friday 27 May The children have homework this weekend and I would appreciate your support with it. They have been asked to make a simple instrument at home to use when we discuss our sense of sound. Mrs Govender brought her class over with the instruments they made last week so the children should have an idea of what to do. The emphasis is on the sound it makes and not its appearance! If your child has any allergies I need to know about please fill in the slip at the bottom of their homework and return it to school next week. We are going to make popcorn and a gingerbread man and do some other tasting in the next couple of weeks.We had another great afternoon adding the features to our papier mache faces. Next week we will paint them and add hair. Have a great weekend, hopefully the sun will shine!

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Little Kickers The children have been involved with the Little Kickers programme this week and have really enjoyed their three sessions with Coach Kahu and Coach Yvette. They are hoping to start sessions in our area soon and if anyone is interested in their child attending please email your details to info@littlekickers.co.nz and they will let you know when the programme is going to begin. The children learnt a range of soccer skills and participated in fun games which used the skills they had learnt. media type="custom" key="9639284"

Gingerbread Men The children had a lot of fun yesterday afternoon making gingerbread men with myself and Mrs Warburton. Thank you to the parents who sent along cutters and decorations. We have been reading the big book and this activity tied in with Our Five Senses unit, we all used our sense of smell and taste! Below are some photos taken by Ronan, Aaryan and J.J. using my camera.

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Friday 10 June What a great assembly we had this morning. A big thank you to Whaea O'Shea who taught the children the songs for the item and made their tipare (headbands). Unfortunately it has been a nasty wet day and one of the activities the children like to do when it is a wet lunch time is to make a tower out of the rods. Below is a picture of a great tower that four of the boys made.

On Friday the children made t-shirts to go with their paper mache faces. We then put them all together and I've taken photos of the children next to their creations, it's amazing how similar they look! Mrs Warburton has put some of them in the corridor by the library and the rest are hanging in the classroom. They all look fantastic! media type="custom" key="9761956" 21.6.11 Today we had our first run through of our Move and Groove dance to Hey, hey we're the monkees, what do you think? We can only get better! Watch this space to see us improve.

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Here is Friday's version of our dance, unfortunately I missed of the very beginning but it was the first time the children tried the dance with their monkey tails on.

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Below are some photos taken at last nights disco. The children all really seemed to enjoy themselves and it was a great farewell to the hall which will be out of action for about a term while it is refurbished. Be aware that the back carpark entrance to the school will be affected during the reconstruction so take care when you and your children are down there. At the same time the dental clinic is being rebuilt at the front of the school so there will be some distruption there also. Have a great weekend! media type="custom" key="9866869"

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Our third attempt at the dance that was videoed in one of the new classrooms this morning. Don't the ears that Ronan's mum made look fantastic! Thank you to the parents who have already sent along their children's clothes for the dance. Monkey coloured longs and a top is what they need - brown, cream, beige or black would be great. The children will have their faces painted and bare feet on the day.

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This morning the children had yet another run through of our Move and Groove dance and they are all doing really well. We are looking forward to seeing everyone else's dances at the rehearsal on Friday morning. Next Wednesday and Thursday afternoon we are performing. We are the third dance in the first part which is great.

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This week the children have been reading and talking about the story of The Three Little Pigs. It was too wet this afternoon to go outside for Physical Education so the children built wolf proof houses. They had lots of fun trying to huff and puff them down!

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Week 11 I was so proud of all the children who were at school on Friday and performed in our Move and Groove dance - Hey, hey we're the monkees - they all tried their best and looked great. Just to let you know we have confirmed case of the measles at school so if your child has not been immunised they need to stay home until after the holidays so they don't risk catching the disease. If the school hasn't seen your child's immunisation certificate you need to take it to the office on Monday so they can confirm your child has been immunised and that it is safe for them to be at school. On Saturday night I went and saw Walking with Dinosaurs with my husband and really enjoyed the experience having been a dinosaur fan since I was a child, below are some photos that I took.

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Hey, Hey, Look at these cute monkeys!

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Thursday 14 July Well the term is nearly over and it has been really busy and everyone is feeling tired and ready for their holidays - including the teachers! I have really enjoyed and appreciated having my third year teachers college student Alecia Mouldey with me for the last three weeks, the children have benefitted from an extra pair of hands and so have I. After the holidays Alecia will have three weeks full control of the class (obviously I will still be in class when she teaches) in preparation for having her own class next year, she is looking forward to teaching our new unit Seasons and Space to the children. Today was our final Move and Groove performance for the term and with 7 children absent for various reasons our class looked very reduced in size but they performed really well and we were very proud of them all. Here are some photos of them - thank you to the parents who came to one of the performances, I'll sure you'll agree that they looked great and danced well.

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FINAL ENTRY FOR TERM 2! Just to let everyone know that there will be a third performance of Move and Groove on Friday 5 August from 9 - 10.30 in the Farm Cove Gym. This is especially for all the children who were absent on the performance days because of sickness, the measles quarantine or overseas holidays!

**Term Three**
Our first topic for Term 3 is The Seasons and The Solar System. Please add what you know about the four seasons and the solar system to our wallwisher page.

media type="custom" key="10022974" Friday 5 August was a very busy day at Wakaaranga School especially for the children in 4b. First thing in the morning we had to get ready for our final performance of Hey, hey we're the monkeys at Farm Cove Intermediate Gym. Below is a video of that performance. The children all did really well and for the first time all the children were there to perform together. media type="custom" key="10143319"

In the afternoon Miss Mouldey had the children begin their paper mache planets. The children are working in groups and each group had to cover a balloon with paper mache. In the end we hope to have the whole solar system hanging up in our room. media type="custom" key="10143357"

Below are some photos of our Solar System planets from the beginning when they were balloon being covered with paper mache to now when they are planets revolving around the sun in our room. They look fantastic and Miss Mouldey and the children did a great job with them.

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Friday 26 August Today was Miss Mouldey's last day with us and the children and I were really sad to see her go, she will be back for visits but she is now in her final semester of university and looking forward to graduating as a teacher at the end of the year. I know she has learnt a lot from being with the children in 4b but the children have also learnt a lot from her. It is refreshing to have such a young and enthusiastic person working in a class and I know which ever school employs her next year will be lucky to have her. The class particularly benefitted from her pleasure in taking physical education and below is a miniclip of a game called "Chair Tag" that she taught them.

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We seem to be having a lot of birthday's at the moment with many of the children turning 7. On Thursday it was Georgia's birthday and Miss Moudley wrote a great big happy birthday on the board for her. Unfortunately the bible teacher had to rub it off so below is a photo of it!



Friday 2 September Today we finished our calendar pictures which have been created with our Space landscape learning topic in mind. The children pastled in stars, dyed the background dark blue, stuck on some planets using painted paper and added themselves in a space-craft or as an astronaut. The calendars will be on sale toward the end of the term by the PTA as a fundraiser for the school.

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Remember on Friday 9 September all the children are being encouraged to wear black to mark the opening of the Rugby World Cup. The school is going to attempt to create a koru picture using the children and we will sing several songs together.

Here is a link to one of the songs we are going to sing called "Pass the ball"

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Wednesday 7 September Today Mrs Murray brought in a big tray filled with the childrens clay wild things that they made with her in art. They look fantastic and the children were all keen to take them home to share with their families. Well done!

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Friday 9 September Guess what, today is the opening of the rugby world cup in Auckland New Zealand. Everyone is wearing black at school today. Some children have flags to wave.This afternoon we are having a special assembly. Go the All blacks!

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Friday 16 September We have had a lot of absences this week in 4b, lots of children have been away with the flu and various other bugs, hopefully everyone will be back fighting fit and healthy next week. Today a note went home about our gardening gift basket for the gala. Please send along a small gardening item or a donation to help us make up this basket which will be raffled off at the gala on November 5th. Below are a couple of pictures, one of Cameron who was very proud of the healthy lunch he brought along recently and another of Matthew and Summer who created an amazing structure out of the connecting sticks after completing all their other work this afternoon.



Tuesday 27 September A great afternoon was had by all the children, parents and teachers at our Junior School Cross Country. All the children ran really well and we were pleased that all the practise they have done paid off. Ronan deserves a special mention for coming first in the Year 2 boys and also Riley who ran despite the fact he fell over during lunch time and badly grazed his knees and feet. Below are some photos taken by Miss Mouldey who came to watch and cheer the children on. Remember no more track shoes to school now, Mr Jenkin would like to see all the children back in their black shoes which look so smart with their uniforms.

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Friday 30 September I have been working with our computer specialist today and I have learnt how to turn word documents into pdf files and then turn those files into a flip book. Below is the result. I have used the stories the children wrote on Monday when Fire Fighter Matt came and spoke to the children about being firewise. There are two books because you can only fit a maximum of 14 pages in each book. Enjoy!

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Thursday 6 October What fun! Today we had a Year 2 Mini Concert and many of the children were brave enough to get up and share their talent with the syndicate. We had children dancing, singing, playing the piano, reading and doing magic. It was lots of fun. Below are some photos of the event.

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Dear Parents I hope you are all prepared for a very quick and busy term 4. I have just added a new page to our wiki and have put on some of the photostories that the children have created using pictures that have been taken of them during the year. The rest of the class will have the opportunity to make their own in the next couple of weeks. Remember the children need to be wearing their hats this term, black shoes or sandals and they will probably need water bottles in the room particularly when the temperature starts to increase. Our first topic back is buildings and structures and I'm going to tie it in with a study of New Zealand. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone on Tuesday.
 * Term Four**

As I predicted the first week just flew by. Thank you to the parents who have sent along money or items for our gardening gift basket. We are all looking forward to our gala on Saturday 5 November, I'm sure it will go off with a bang! Below are some photos of Jack and Jacob who were very creative this week.



Look at our gardening gift basket that will be one of the prizes for the monster raffle. A big thank you to all the parents who donated money or items. It is not too late to send something along. See you at the gala on Saturday.



Tuesday 22 November It has been a very busy couple of weeks with the gala, athletics and all of the end of year activities that need to be done. Luckily the weather has been reasonably kind and we have managed to do what we need to do. Teachers are in the middle of writing reports and organising classes for 2012 which take a lot of thought so excuse us if we all look at bit frazzled at the moment.

Friday 25 November Well the end of the year is nearly here. We finished swapping for maths on Thursday and spelling on Friday. Obviously the children will still be working in their class but with swimming starting next Wednesday the programme gets quite messy and it is easier just to keep track of your own class. As you will have read my last day for 2011 is next Friday as I am off overseas with my family for Christmas in the U.K. I have really enjoyed teaching your children this year and I hope you all have a fantastic Christmas break. Yesterday afternoon the class and I walked to the year three area for a look around at where they will be based next year. There are going to be some staff changes in that year level in 2012 so watch out for notification of these in our school newsletter. If I don't catch up with you before I leave I just want to say a big thank you to you all for an enjoyable 2011 in 4b.