Merry Christmas- Enjoy the Holidays

Last Friday Room 2 finished for the year and a new class will be returning early February. For a lot of families in New Zealand it is time for barbecues, beach and camping.

We would like to thank everyone that contributed to blog around New Zealand and the world. Room 2 and Mr Thurlow wish you a merry Christmas and a safe holiday.

Matthew's Reflection of Room 2

Room 2's, Space Inquiry Questions-

Here are the Questions Room 2 will be focusing on:

• What are planets made of ?
• Why do planets have different patterns and colours from space?
• Why is Pluto is not consider as a planet?
• How did Asteroids get their names?

Below is a powerpoint demonstrating our process to get to these questions;

Burnham School Room 2- Star Treking Through the Universe

Room 2 have been investigating-

What is the Milky Way?

• It's a galaxy made up of a whole group of stars.

What we have learnt about the the Milky Way:

• Our galaxy is called the Milky way it has spirals or arms.
• There are other galaxies but the Milky Way has the Sun, Earth and Moon.
• The Milky way is the only galaxy that can be seen by the naked eye.
• Our Sun in so small in the Milky Way it is like a grain of sand on a large beach.

What is a Fact?

I had a really interesting discussion with Chloe, Lilly and Matthew this morning when they were reading about our upcoming celebration 'Matariki'. Lilly was wondering what a 'fact' was, whereas Chloe was wondering whether a piece of information in her journal was a fact.

Put your ideas for 'what a fact is' as comments on this blog post!

Planting Daffodils

It is the last day of term and we are all looking forward to the Holidays. We have just planted daffodils to make our school garden more colorful for spring. Some of us didn't realize which way to plant the daffodils bulb's into the ground. We had shovels and spades to dig the holes for planting but the ground was bone dry. When we tried digging into the ground there were roots and stones. We have planted our share of the bulbs and hopefully in spring we will see beautiful yellow blooms in spring.

Room 2 Visits Burnham Kindergarten

Today Room 2 went on a walk to Burnham's Kindergarten. We planned to read our Santa Stories to the little children. Firstly we played with the children who were rather shy until we joined into their painting. We had lunch at the kindergarten.

After Lunch we song both waiata and christmas carols. We enjoyed playing with the kids. Some of us went to the Kindergarten which brought back memories. Even one of the teachers could remember our names.

Mr Thurlow talked about how the trip helped us interact with other people we don't know. He says this skill will help us when we get older to mix with others.

Skyping Reflections...

We try our first Skype and we weren't really ready for it but it was an exciting experience( From this we have learnt that we must change things)

From this we have decided to make up rules for skyping other classes. We brainstormed rules and put them in priority we think...

1. Stay Calm
2. Talk clearly
3. Look at the Camera
4. While people are talking to be quiet and respectful
5. Respect the other party(end of the line)
6. We need more structure ( Mr Thurlow's responsibility)

Here is our Entry for Cure Kids" Red Nose Day"

Our Poster "Cure Catz"

Comma - Movie

Room 2 have been using different ways to understand a concept, presently we have been working on commas. We have learnt that they are use to show pauses and are able to break down long sentences. Also a comma is used between each item to help a reader to understands a list. A comma is included after each item list except the last item, which then you put "and" before it

Enjoy our little songs/ dances to help us remember how " commas" work.

Room 2 Movie , What we would do differently next time in an earthquake

Here is Room 2's-Rata and the Totara Movie

Room 2 brainstormed the learning around the activity " Rata and The Totara Tree"

We discussed the Key Competencies( It is a term that Room 2 is starting to be introduced too) that were involved in the activity

Thinking - We were, as we all had to be creative and make decisions.
Managing Self - We were, as we had to make plans, be resourceful by finding books with illustrations of Maori legends and completed work to a high standard.
Relating to others -We were, we worked with others in an effective manner and we had a "can do attitude"

We thought the "Rata and The Totara" taught us that we should ask for permission before doing something. Also we should look after nature.

Our Impressionist paintings

Last Day of School!!!! Hooray

In the holidays it will be fun because we won't have to listen to Mr Thurlow's birthday song. Also there will be no homework except for Douglas. For some of us it will be a sad time as our dads and mums will be going away.

The school had Expo on Tuesday night we showed off our go-karts, spiders and our masks. The challenge for all the families was to make something that could fly the furtherest. We had to use 6 straws, 6 pieces of paper, one meter of cello tape and some blue tac. It was an exciting night because the winners won telescopes.

update

Last week, we worked on our go-karts and we had to make seats for our go-karts. Then after that we finshed off our go-karts. Each  go-kart is a  little bit different from each other. Some have hugh wheels while others have little wheels. Also some are long and square and big.

Charlize and  Britteney have taught us  some  sign language, especially to say " HELLO".

Awesome Go-Karting

Our challenge for technology is to make the coolest go-kart.

Our class had a go on a push go-kart, while others had to take photographs. Some people hadn't even gone on a go-kart before, some of these people felt scared. Lots of the drivers needed to steer better, as they crash into the cones. Lots of us looked funny as they drove the go-kart.

Coal was the best driver in controlling the go-kart. Mr Thurlow was probably the worst driver as he kept bumping into cones and students. Most of us think go-karting is fun.

Mr Thurlow needs to loss weight, as he is like moving a elephant on a go-cart.

MUDDY - Canterbury Rugby Team

Today, we went to the Canterbury Rugby Team's practice at Burrows Park. Some of us who were lucky enough get autographs from the players.

We saw them crunch each other in tackles and punt the ball a mile.
The players were speedy , strong and some looked heavy. We were afraid that they might squash us!! Breanna wanted to be in the rucks and show them how rugby should be played.

Not only did the players get muddy, so did we.

Whetu and Reiana didn't enjoy the rugby because they are Hurricanes supporters.

However, most of us are Red and Black Supports. Go Canterbury !!!

update

Yesterday, we started to make eye brows for our masks. We have used pva glue , which is really sticky and squishy. It is quite hard because we have to put heaps of paper layers on our masks. We are finding it hard to keep our eye brows on the masks.
Later on, we need to put the eyes, nose and mouth on our masks.

We also started to learn about fractions in maths. Everyone is becoming more confident about our place values in number.

In writing we have been learning about procedural writing. A different activity for writing was to write instructions for someone to take a message from room 2 to the office.

Room 1 , 2, 4 , 5 have been doing Jump Jam. The Witch Doctor is our favourite song.

Our Thoughts

Ayden wants to tell you that we are working really hard!!!! He has blisters on his fingers because he is working so hard.

Brenna says there's not much more room on the wall for artwork.

We drew guitars last term in bold colours -Jaimie.

It is hard work when the teacher is reading with a group and trying to be quiet. Also I'm doing my homework- Alex

We have some cool books in our classroom library that have very funny themes and pictures, especially the one called " Aliens Love Under pants"

Recount- Military Police

On a miserable Friday afternoon all of the junior school went to the Military Police. When we got there one of the policeman spoke about what the Military Police do and showed us their special equipment. They had three types of guns. I think one might have been a machine gun. Next, we were spit into three groups and had a policeman talking about different parts of their job in more detail.

Each group had to solve a crime by using clues and had their finger prints taken. The visit to the Military police made me realize that they are the same as the police.