Grasshopper Tennis

                             

Today we went to the hall to play Grasshopper Tennis.  Joel was the teacher and he taught us to play the smelly bus game.  It was tricky because we had to hit the ball over the net with our tennis racquet but we just gave our very best and had a try.    We laughed a lot because the tennis balls kept going all over the hall! 

 
























We learned to balance the tennis ball on our racquet, and to bounce and hit it.  We can't wait till we get to go to our second tennis lesson next week!

Numbers!

We like to practise writing numbers to 20 on the mini whiteboards.   Sometimes it is tricky to remember which way the numbers go but we just keeping giving it our very best.  

Look how clever we are getting at writing numbers to 20 correctly.  Don't we look proud?

Happy Diwali 2013!

This week at school we celebrated Diwali.  Diwali is the Hindu festival of lights.  It is a special festival that celebrates the start of the Hindu New Year.  People in India and all across the world celebrate Diwali.

At school today we went to the hall to see a special show.  The Chhau Dance Drama group come from India.  They put on a show for us.

The dancers are all men.

They wear special masks to help them tell stories as they dance.

  

We were a bit scared of some of the masks at first!

The costumes were so colourful and we thought the dancers were very clever.

We went back to our classroom after the show and our Year 4 Buddies came to see us.  We celebrated Diwali by making some little Diya lamps together.

Diya lamps are usually made out of clay.  During Diwali and other special Hindu festivals people light them and place them in temples and all over their houses.

We made our Diya lamps out of play dough and we put a little tea light candle inside.

On Friday some of us dressed up in our national costumes that help us celebrate who we are.  Come and look at our fabulous outfits!

Sriraj's Mum made us some special Indian sweets called 'Jamoon' to try.  They had almond powder and cashew nuts sprinkled on the nuts. Thank you Lalitha and Sriraj for sharing your special dish with us in E6!

Mrs Graham wore a special sari for Diwali!

Treasure Island

Today we did some shared reading together.  We read a story called Treasure Island, and written by Dawn McMillan.  








This story is about a pirate called Captain Black Patch.  He plays a trick on the other pirates.
We took this book home with us tonight.  You can enjoy listening to the story while you read along by clicking the triangle below!




Can you retell the story in your own words?

What happened at the beginning?
What happened in the middle?
What happened at the end?

Our E6 Term 3 Super Star

Each Term at Eastern Hutt School Mrs Henderson (our school principal) gives out a very special award to one person from every class at our school.  This award is for somebody that shows excellence in all that they do.  That means that we give our very very best, always.

Our excellent learner in E6 for Term 3 is ... Joshua

Mrs Henderson came and gave out the certificates at our Junior School Assembly this week.

Joshua always gives his very very best.

He can be super quiet and is always thinking about being in the right place and doing the right thing.

Joshua is a super duper listener.  He thinks really hard about what we are learning, and what others are talking about.   

Joshua always shares really cool news and ideas with us.  

He even taught us a song about being H-A-P-P-Y and we sing it all the time in E6!

He has worked hard to learn how to ask interesting questions this year and now he uses the 5 wh's like a superstar!  

Joshua has the best manners in E6! 

He always says 'thank you' and 'excuse me please'. 

Joshua tries extra hard.  He knows how to sometimes have a go on his own when he is learning new things and he knows how to ask for help when he is stuck.

Joshua is a special friend to all the children in our class.

He loves to laugh and have fun with everyone, and he is good at making other people feel happy.

Joshua has a positive attitude towards school.  He loves coming everyday, and we just love having him in our class!

Tino Pai Joshua, well done!

We think you deserve Mrs Henderson's special excellence award and we are so proud of you!

Riding the Wave to the Rocky Shore

This term we are learning all about the Rocky Shore.  

Last Friday was a special day because we went on the bus to the Island Bay Marine Education Centre.






We met Jules.  He works at the Marine Centre. We listened carefully to Jules because he knows so much about all the sea creatures that live on the rocky shore that he is an expert!  

 When we arrived Jules was holding a Little Blue Penguin.

We went to see the aquarium.  

We looked in all the different tanks.  

We saw an Octopus.

 The Octopus looks orange and red.

He looked at us.

 We could see the Octopus Suckers.

 An Octopus has 8 legs.

 Jules fed the Octopus. The Octopus was very clever. It did a trick for us and squeezed through a little hole in the glass.

We found a seahorse.

We found some really big fish!  

 Jules showed us some sea snot. YUCK!  It is like slime.  It comes from a snot snake, who makes the sea snot to protect itself from danger!

What else did we see?

These sea creatures are in tanks so that Jules can look after them, and learn more about the creatures that live in the sea and on the Rocky Shore. 

Next we looked in the 'touch gently' tanks.  We had to remember to use really soft fingers and hands.   

 We had an interesting time exploring and investigating the creatures that lived in the tanks.

 For lots of us this was our very first time seeing the sea creatures that live on and under the rocks.

Come and see what we discovered!

look at all the different Starfish we found...

 

Sea Urchins

Beautiful Anenome

After that we went outside to explore the rocky shore.  It was a wild windy Wellington day! We had to hold on tight to each other while we explored.  

'The rocks were cold' said Kingston.

'The rocks were sharp' said Jeven.

'The rocks are bumpy and wobbly' said Joshua.

'The rocks were wet and some rocks were dry'

said Anika.

 What has Natey's Mum found?

 a tiny little crab!

 We can see a cushion starfish!

 What has Eva spotted?

some cats eyes!

 

 Look at all the seaweed

 Neptunes Necklace was our favorite.

It had little beads that felt like rubber 

and we could squish them!

Look at the baby paua shell

 What can you see hiding in the rock pool?

 We can see a little scallop shell.

 Look at all the cats eyes sticking to the rocks.