2011 ENDS

Thanks to all our supporters in 2011.

We've had a great year in 2011, but it's come to an end and it's time to close our blog.

Watch the Halcombe School website to keep up with our learning in 2012.

CHRISTMAS

Today we used the variations key to brainstorm ways we could annoy our parents on Christmas Day.

Here are our ideas -

• nag all day
• my over excitement in the morning
• wake them up at 2 a.m.
• jump on roof and poor ice cold water on their head when they go outside to feed the dogs
• have a food fight with my ice cream
• hide their Christmas stockings
• have a pillow fight to wake them up early in the morning
• be a chatterbox
• run around the house with a toilet roll
• jump up and down on their bed at 4 a.m.
• go crazy, crazy, crazy
• put toilet paper in the washing machine
• put a frog in their bed

We have many more ideas too, but we won't tell you all our secrets. 

Good luck parents!

Have a Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year.

CROSS COUNTRY

We've had a very eventful term already.  One of the most exciting days of the year is Cross Country.  We've been busy writing stories about cross country and Mrs Hunter has been very impressed with our improved writing skills.  We'll publish some of our stories soon, but in the meantime - enjoy these photos!

 

PET DAY

Halcombe School held their annual pet day yesterday.  11 students from room 4 brought pets to school.  While they showed and paraded their pets in front of the judges, the rest of us made scarecrow collages. 

School was like a zoo of colourful animals, both big and small - Arizona

Pets and parents crowded the field - Jorja

We worked conscientiously on our scarecrow collages - Isaac J

Tilly relaxed, resting on the grass, while butterflies in my stomach fluttered furiously, as we waited for our turn in front of the judges beady eyes - Victoria

Mum was extremely proud and excited about my scarecrow collage, because I had won 2nd prize - Seth

Rosie relaxed, chewing her cud and I jiggled nervously from foot to foot, as we waited for our turn to perform - Sophie

Suds and I soaked up the sun, while waiting hungrily for the call, "Muffins!" - Cooper

Sitting on the bars, holding Merlin, I waited nervously for the dog judging to begin.  This was my first Halcombe School Pet Day - Ashley

Polly slept, huddled in the corner of her cage, as the judges asked me easy questions about how I care for her - Jade

TERM FOUR BEGINS WITH A BANG!

We've only been back at school for one week and we've already done so much.

We started last week with some very exciting news. Room 3 & 4 are now allowed to play in the pine trees and we can build huts too.  We have some rules, but they're not too hard to follow. Quite simple really.

• Don't climb the trees
• Don't break off the branches
• Share the timber for building huts (no stealing)
• Don't go behind the trees
• Huts must be built on the ground
• Don't get any gum on your hands
• Don't bring stuff from home for your hut

It is really exciting to be building huts in the hedge - Ashley

Romping through the pine trees,we cart wood from one end to the other - Regan

Crawling through the pine trees is like navagating your way through a dark, gloomy cave - Jorja

We work like mini Bob the Builders, building and fixing our tree hut homes - Frazer

We hunt around for sticks and pinecones to repair our holey huts - Jade

We search like campers lost in the woods, gathering sticks and pinecones to touch up our huts - Sophie

Planning our huts takes a lot of careful thought - Seth

Our huts are a royal success - Catherine

Collecting supplies for our huts is like hunting for treasure, just to make our huts a little bit better - Arizona

QUIZ YOUR CLASSMATES

In Room 4 we're always tring new things.

Mrs Hunter has created her first quiz. Before taking the quiz, watch the video and then click on the link below to complete your research.



NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC ARTICLE

TAKE THE QUIZ


Powered by Quiz.biz

CREATIVITY

This week we've been stepping outside our comfort zones and trying new things.  We've had open minds and positive attitudes and we've found out that we've got 'hidden talents'.  

CHALK ART

Kurt Wenner is an artist who is creative with chalk. We watched these YouTube clips called 'Chalk Magic'.





We wanted to create our own 'Chalk Magic'. First we had to practice our drawing skills. We did enlargements, using grid lines to help us with accuracy and this helped a lot. Then we had to wait for some sunny days. We knew our 'Chalk Magic' would take a couple of days to complete and we didn't want rain washing it away before we'd finished.

We used masking tape to turn the two four square courts outside our classroom into drawing grids. We drew our pictures and then started colouring them in.

We not only created 'Chalk Magic', we also created colourful aliens (it's not a good ideas to smother yourself with sunblock when you're hands are covered in chalk dust!)

Check out our photos below:

CREATIVITY

In Room 4 we are producing a play called 'Ffion and Her Foghorn Father'.  We have been very busy rehearsing and recording so that it's perfect on the night.  Ffion is the main character, because she was the only girl in Room 4 that played rugby this year.  "Go Ffion!"  Her foghorn father is Isaac J and her mother is Sophie.  Lucas is enjoying his role as the referee, "Crouch - Touch - Pause - Engage."  And that's all we're telling you for now.  We are all looking forward to our Celebration of the Arts evening.  

SUNSHINE

The sun was shining and the junior classes were away for the day.  Good on you De'Quante!  That was great thinking, "Could room 4 use the adventure playground?" she asked.  "Yes," was the answer and it was enjoyed by many.

Also out enjoying the sunshine was Simba the cat.  Simba moves this weekend, so it was his last lunch with students at Halcombe School.  We'll miss you Simba!

 

And to finish the week off - Will Frazer win Room 4 a treat with his pick of a 35 - 20 score for an All Blacks win over France? 

ARIZONA'S HOSPITAL VISIT

Arizona has recently returned to school after having her tonsils out.  She wrote this story to share the experience with us.

Operation Day

Butterflies swirled in my tummy suddenly, as I began my journey to the hospital.  Waiting quietly in the waiting room I was wondering, "Was my name going to be called next?"  Goose bumps were ready to race up my spine as the nurse put the surgery wrist band on me.  I ran to the changing rooms to put on the hospital PJs.  I walked terrified to the theatre and it wasn't long before they put the gas mask over my face - 10,9,8 ...  I drifted off to sleep.

After my operation I woke up in the recovery room.  I got moved to the children's ward where there were two others - Jayden and Tilly.  The ice cream and jelly was the best part of the day.

By Arizona 

SPECIAL BREAKFAST

At Halcombe School we have our very own chickens and two weeks every term we get to take care of them. We feed them, give them fresh water and we even get to collect the eggs. Mrs Hunter decided that a few students needed a special treat. Ffion, Jorja and De'Quante enjoyed bacon, hashbrowns, eggs and orange juice for breakfast. It was quite a feast and they didn't need to eat for the rest of the day. I wonder which boys will be in for a treat in week 10?

WRITING

We have been learning to write persuasive arguments.  We are getting really good at stating our opinion and then supporting it with significant ideas.  We are beginning to add detail to our ideas too.  Here is some of our best writing -

SMOKING SHOULD BE BANNED

Smoking can make you very sick.  So sick, that your lungs wont work properly, because it puts bad things into your lungs that can kill you.

You should not have started smoking in the first place, if you didn't want to die.  You could have lived a lot longer you know. 

Smoking should be banned in NZ, because too many kiwis are dying too young. 

By Jordan

CELEBRATION OF DANCE

Hello to our new blog buddies at Ashhurst and Russell Street Schools. 

We thought you'd enjoy watching us dance! 

Our teacher thinks we're a great bunch and she thinks we can dance too!

We look forward to seeing your introductions too!

We've been having a few technical issues, so I'm splitting our dance into 3 sections.

Here's the Grand March.

HOW CAN WE DEVELOP AND EXPRESS OUR CREATIVITY?

Room 4 students are learning about the importance of a balanced lifestyle. 

Here are some of the things we've found out. 

- from KIDS HEALTH (click on the link to see what else they have to say)

"The best way to keep stress away is to have a balanced life. That means making good decisions about how to spend your time. If you're only dealing with school stuff and have no time to play, you can get stressed. Make sure you keep your SELF in mind: Sleep, Exercise, Leisure (something fun), and Food.

If you take care of yourself and get enough sleep and food, and if you exercise and leave time for fun stuff, you'll probably be less stressed out!

- and from FAMILY RESOURCE (click on the link to see what else they had to say)

Schooling, as important as it is, should not be the only focus of a child’s daily lifestyle.  Did you know children who have a well-balanced lifestyle, balanced with academic and non-academic activities are more likely to experience school success.  Dance, karate, sports and family time are all meaning full activities.  Sometimes school work can become the primary priority at home, as well as at school! 

All of this information started a very interesting discussion - What are the things that we need to do more of and what should we be doing less of?

We surveyed the students in our classroom and found out that over 80% of them have a game console.  Some have many game consoles!  We then asked those students with consoles whether they thought they spent too much time on them.  50% of students with consoles think they spend too much time on them!

We've written some interesting persuasive arguments.  Parents you might have some ammunition now!

Kids Need a Balanced Lifestyle, so we need a video gamers' anonymous.  I definitely agree, kids need a Video Gamers' Anonymous right now and I mean it!


Kids spend far too much time on their consoles.  Kids need to think about themselves (SELF), so they need to get off their couch and make sure they get a balance of Sleep, Exercise, Leisure, and Food.  80% of our class have some kind of console and some of them say that they spend far too much time on their consoles.


There are way too many consoles like PS1, PS2, PS3, GameBoy, Wii, Nintendo and Xbox, but it isn't the consoles - it's the violent video games.  Violent video games should not be allowed in shops, because children are getting more aggressive every day.  Violent video games should not be played in front of young kids.  Kids watch out - some games are rated R16 or R18.


And that's why I think we need a Video Gamers' Anonymous. 

By Natalie

MATHS TRAIL

Last week was maths week, so teachers prepared maths trails for the students to participate in on Thursday.  Luckily the weather cleared by lunchtime and all students participated with enthusiasm.  They were fronted with some tricky maths challenges and Mrs Elliot and I were impressed with everyone's attitude to get stuck in  and try.  Give-it-a-go attitudes led some groups to successfully solving set tasks. 

Well done to these two groups who worked well throughout the afternoon with everyone sharing their ideas and helping their groups reach decisions. 

Jorja - Taylah - Daniel - Frazer

Sophie - Lydia - Tyron - Natalie

PARTICIPATING AND CONTRIBUTING

This week we are learning about doing our fair share of the work.

If we are going to be great team members we need to do our fair share of the work.

We are learning about 'dirty work' and 'donkey work' and we know someone has to do it. So we are trying hard to do our fair share of the work when it's classroom clean up and we are also learning to clean up after ourselves.

Last week we learnt about being reliable team members. Here are some of our reflections -

• WALT to be reliable, so I had to change my attitude at dance.  I had to take my hands out of my pockets and be a reliable partner for De'Quante.  Now I have learnt that it's more fun when I participate with the right attitude, so I will keep on doing this. 
• WALT to be reliable, so I helped Mum with gathering up the groceries.
• WALT to be reliable, so I enjoyed dance more because I was doing the right thing.  When I dance properly I like it.  Now I will be a reliable person, by doing dance properly and holding anyone's hand.   
• WALT be reliable, so I know what to do and when to do it at reading time.  I am very reliable.  Now my learning is going really well, so I'm going to keep being reliable by knowing what I am meant to be doing and when I'm meant to be doing it. 
• WALT be reliable, so I know that I need to remember my reading book and KIT book to be a reliable team member in my reading group.  Now I am going to work harder to remember my reading book and KIT book and I must remember to read and write at home too.

We are being great team members!

LITTLE MISS HELPFUL

To show we are reliable team members in Room 4 we know we should be helpful to others.  We all like being helpful, but we have a little bit to learn about this. 

fhunter

Little miss helpful by fhunter | Make your own at www.toondoo.com

We need to learn about being helpful, because we don't want to make the same mistakes as 'Little Miss Helpful'.

TERM 2'S STAR STUDENT

A very difficult decision to make, but here they are:

Ashley and Ffion have shown fantastic attitudes to learning in term 2.  They have both experienced success in spelling, moving up more than one spelling list in the term.  They've achieved this, because they've both worked extremely hard at school and at home.  They are motivated to achieve.  They are a pleasure to work with during writing time, because they're keen to know their next steps and they work hard to make improvements to their writing.  And to top it all off, they're working hard in maths to learn their basic facts too.  Well done Ashley and Ffion, your hard work at home and school is paying off. 

PARTICIPATING AND CONTRIBUTING

Our key competency focus this term is participating and contributing.  This week we are working hard to be valuable team members. 

We brainstormed ideas about how to be valuable team members both in the classroom and around the school.

Who's showing they're reliable team members?  

Mrs Hunter noticed Devon being very reliable during classroom clean up.  Thank you Devon!

  Leave your comments!

OLD SCHOOL DAYS AND WAYS

One of last terms highlights was the visit from Isaac’s Nan Sargent.  She came to talk to us about ‘school in her day’.  Nan Sargent is 85 years old and she went to school in Lavooka, a small rocky island in Fiji. 

We were learning from the past – How and why do things change?  We were also learning about Relating to Others – in particular using our manners.  We had to be sure to say, ‘please’, ‘thank you’, and ‘excuse me’.  We had to listen carefully, know when to speak and when to listen, and we had to wait our turn. 

We learnt a lot about school in the past and what we learnt helped us to reach a decision. 

Devon decided that he’d rather be a student now.  Here is his persuasive argument.

School Days

I would definitely rather go to school now than in the 1930s, because corporal punishment was allowed back then.  You’d even get punished for getting an answer wrong.  Because of that I would have been afraid of the teacher and to put my hand up even if I thought I had the right answer.  I also think no one should be physically punished for getting an answer wrong. 

Now we have computers that make learning easier and we can go onto learning websites that make us want to learn.  It also means that we can publish our writing. 

Now teachers give us credit for what we do well.  In the past they punished us if our best wasn’t good enough.  It’s so much more fun and fair now and that’s why I would rather go to school in the present. 

Devon used the ‘What If’ thinker’s key to plan his writing.  He also used a PMI chart to note ‘plus, minus and interesting’ things about school in the past.