Rhyming Words

We are learning to create a rhyming string.

In Reading we have been sounding out, writing, and reading rhyming words.  By practising this we are able to decode unknown words more effectively.

"Rhyming strings are easy because the letters are easy to write", said Tyler.

Descriptive Words

We are learning to add interesting language to our story.

In Story Writing we have been brainstorming adjectives (describing words) and trying to use them in our stories to make our work sound more exciting.  Guy Fawkes gave us the opportunity to practise some of these words:

"It is easy peasy using describing words and I am good at it", said Tyler.

Diwali Divas

We have been learning about celebrations around the world.  One of the celebrations we explored was Diwali.  We learnt that it is known as the festival of light and one of the parts of this festival is lighting diva (pronounced "diya").  We made our own diva using clay and tea-light candles and then we decorated them with paint and glitter.  Happy Diwali everyone!

"I liked making the divas because I liked squishing the clay", said Tyler.

I am learning to use a word card

In Writing we have been learning to use our word card.  It has some words in the colourful boxes and these help us to write our story.  If we need to write a word that isn't on our card we can say the word slowly and write down the sounds we can hear instead.

"I know how to write by myself", said Tyler.

I am learning to recognise punctuation

In Reading we have been learning the different types of punctuation in our books.  We know that an exclamation mark means use a strong voice, a full stop means the end of a sentence, and a question mark means someone is asking a question.  We played a game on the computer to help us remember the different punctuation marks.  Mrs Tetupu read the sentence to us and then we had to choose the right mark.  Here is a screen shot of the game we played:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/starship/english/games/penguins_on_ice/big_no_sound/full2.shtml

"It was easy playing this game because I knew what stuff to do."

I am learning to add when 5 is one of the numbers

In Maths we have been learning to add numbers when 5 is one of the numbers.  To help us get faster at solving these equations we played a game called "Murtle's Turtles".

"It was tricky playing Murtle's Turtles because I was trying to remember the numbers without counting."

Bunnings visits Elm Park

This week we were lucky enough to have Bunnings come and visit us and put together a fun day where students got to build a project.  Nga tamariki had an absolute blast hammering, glueing, problem solving and painting to create a masterpiece.  Here is a brief snap-shot of the fun:

"The trickiest part was trying to not colour in the hooks.  It was fun painting."