Readers' Theater

Room 8 have been enjoying reading a readers' theater of the Gruffalo. 

Our success criteria 

*Read with enthusiasm and expression

*Follow along with your eyes

*Read to the punctuation 

*Read with fluency (like you are talking)

*Have fun

Watch the videos to see if we achieved the success criteria

The Gruffalo from tracey hill on Vimeo.

The Gruffalo Part 2 from tracey hill on Vimeo.

We had to add some criteria for our filming so we could create a video for our blog

*Use a loud voice

Creating Texture

Texture on PhotoPeach

 Room 8 have been learning how to create texture so their art looks like it is coming off the page. When you look at their owls it looks like real feathers. Room 8 created this by using layers of colours on each other and creating lines with pastels. They pressed lightly sometimes and harder other times to make different kinds of feathers.

 The Kidd-li-winks have a tip they learnt about pastels. Do not touch the black until last. Also if you make a mistake with pastels you can go over it to create the texture you want.

BFG Game

 Some of the children in Room 8 made BFG games. They needed to show lots of determination to complete their games as there were many different steps to create a game others could play. The Kidd-li-winks enjoyed playing each others games.

Gemma, Ayman and Faith enjoying
Emma's game.

George, Jacob and Teague trying
to win Teague's game.

Czar, Jacob and Isabella playing
Czar's game.

So many giggles were heard while Henrietta, Ruby and Logan
played Logan's game.

Game made by Czar

Game made by Teague

Game made by Thomas

Game made by Emma

The children made a game board with places from the BFG for a start and finish. They used symbols from the BFG to make good luck and bad luck squares. When you land on one these squares you have to pick up one of the cards and follow the instructions. The challenge was for the cards to have things that happened in the BFG. Here are some of the cards the children wrote.
You drank frobscottle whizzpop forward 4 spaces.
You nearly fell in the pit of giants. Go back 5 spaces.
Miss a turn. You need to hide from the Bloodbottler.
You tripped over a blue rock in Giant Country. Go back 3 spaces.
You helped the BFG catch dreams. Go forward 5 spaces.
 

The games are all in Room 8. If you would like to play a BFG game come in and try to beat a Kidd-li-wink. Watch out for those snozzcumbers and giants!

Fractions

We made a piece of bread with our favourite spread ready to learn about fractions.

1/2 + 1/2 = 1 whole

We are learning to add and subtract fractions.

Jacob and Teague checking it is exactly in half

1/8+1/8+1/8+1/8+1/8+1/8+1/8+1/8=1 whole

When you cut 1/4 into half it makes 1/8

We ate eighths of our bread and subtracted to
work out how much bread we had left.

Some people made visual poets to show their thinking

We cut up apples and worked out how many halves.

We have 10 halves of apples. It was tricky to work out how to write it as a fraction.

We worked out together we write it like this.

Bailey had 1 whole apple and 1/4 of an apple.
We worked out how to write this together
1 1/4 

Dioramas

Some of us made a diorama about a part of the BFG. It made us think about our reading and go back to the book to to create.

When making our diorama we had to choose a part of the story and think about what the setting was. We had to re-read part of the story to check we had the details in our setting. After that we created the characters. Making them stand up was a bit tricky.  

We wrote down the part of the story we had created. Our last job was to find sentences from the story that helped us create our diorama.

Mrs H is so proud of all the children who created dioramas. The Kidd-li-winks all took their time and made sure their diorama was their personal best.

Created by Ruby

Created by Gemma

Created by Faith

Created by Isabella

Some of the quotes from the book that Isabella found

Created by Ayman

Created by Bailey

Created by Bella

Created by Ruby
Isn't that BFG head clever?

Created by Henrietta

Adding tens and ones

The Ovals maths group are learning to count in tens and ones to solve addition problems. They have been learning when to count in tens and when to count on in ones. They are also learning about directions.

The group created a path they would follow around a zoo to visit all the animals. To find out the direction, how far they were going and if they would count in tens or ones was decided by rolling dice.

Jacob counting the tens and the ones
395,405,415,416,417,418,419,420

Neesha recording the total of tens and ones

Isabella thinking carefully about the problem

Adding the final tens to the path

The Ovals Zoo
Some lucky dice rolling to get a spread out zoo.

We ended up creating the model of a 468m path. We visited many animals like monkeys, polar bears and crocodiles.

The Ovals worked well together adding up their path and using the compass to work out the direction of their path. 

Our kowhai seeds have grown

We are very excited to announce all our kowhai seeds are growing. They have all sprouted and we now have seedlings. It is tricky to grow native trees so we thought we would share how we did it just in case anyone wants to grow their own kowhai.

What is a kowhai tree? A kowhai tree is native to New Zealand. What is native? Native means is grows in New Zealand and was first to grow in New Zealand. Why is it called a kowhai? Because in Maori kowhai is yellow and the flower in a kowhai tree is yellow! Kowhai flowers are smooth and delicate with different shades of yellow. What does the trunk of a kowhai feel like? The trunk is the part that holds the tree up and the bit where the branches come off. It feels firm and rough.

Instructions
1. Scrape the kowhai seed against the sandpaper until there's a crack in the seed.
2. Place the cracked seed in a jar of warm water.
3. Wait until 2 days and then the seed should grow fat.
4. Take the seed out and place the seed in a garden container full with dry soil.
5. Poke your finger in half way down the dirt and place the seed in there and then bury it in the dirt.
6. Pour half a cup of water on it until it is damp.
7. Wait patiently for two weeks and your kowhai seed will sprout because of sun, water and care.
Instructions written by Neesha

A kowhai tree has leaves and flowers and pods and Room 8 was planting kowhai seeds.
1. Crack open the pod.
2. Make a hole in the soil.
3. Put the seed in the soil.
4. Water the seed and just a little bit of water.
5. Put the plant in the sun.
Instructions written by Gemma

What's a kowhai tree? A kowhai tree is a tree that has big yellow flowers and that is native to New Zealand. This tree is a deciduous tree because in autumn the leaves fall off.

1. Peel the pod until there is a little seed.
2. Sand it until you see a tiny yellow bit.
3. Plop the seed into a jar with warm water for two days.
4. Wait patiently until it grows twice the size.
5. Bury the seed in soil and put in some water and after that place it in the sunshine. It will grow bit by bit but it takes a long time.
6.Remove the plant outside to water each day and keep it in the fresh air.
7. Bring the plant inside over night because its too little to survive in the cold night air.
Instructions written by Henrietta

What is a kowhai tree? Well let me think. Oh yeah I remember it is a native tree to New Zealand. Ok I will tell you the steps to grow your own kowhai tree.

1. Break the pod and take the coating off.
2. Pick up the seed and put it in a safe place and put the soil in a pot.
3. Drill a hole in the soil with your finger and get your seed.
4. Plop the seed in the soil and spread the soil over the hole.
5. Sprinkle a little bit of water on it every day.
6. Take the pot inside when it is night and when it is day bring it outside.

Instructions written by Teague

Our success criteria for instructions was to have our steps in order so the reader can follow them, number each step and begin each step with a verb (a word where you a doing something). 

Our awesome buddy class

We have been having lots of fun being buddies with Room 2. We are working hard to be the role models for our buddy class. We spent some time in the library enjoying and sharing books together.

Showing respect for others

Compromising

We talked about what working together well looks like and sounds like. Room 8 and Room 2 used newspaper to dress up someone as a book character.

Taking turns

Encouraging others

Supporting each other

Sharing

Can you guess who some of the characters are?

Buddy Time from tracey hill on Vimeo.
Rana and Jeevanjot created this trailer about our buddy time.

Oh yes, here are the big kids that couldn't resist having a turn themselves.