Yesterday the Green table wrote their stories straight onto the laptops. This was their first time writing this way,so they had to think carefully, not only about what they wanted to write but where to find the letters they wanted, how to leave spaces and how to make a capital letter.
Mrs Paterson wrote under one story in a different colour to show just how well we can work out our unknown words. Please remember these stories haven't been corrected and are our first effort.
Click on them to make them bigger.

Welcome back to Term 4. I hope you all had a great holiday. This term you need to have a hat at school everyday just like Michaela in the photo. Remember- "NO HAT- NO PLAY."

Have a look at the "Undercover Cody" website in the link under his picture. It has lots of fun ways to learn how to be sunsmart. Share this with Mum and Dad.

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday after a very busy term.
If you have a chance, please add a sticky note to the new "Wallwisher" (at the top of the blog) about what it was like learning and presenting your circus skill.
A big thank you to Ben and Jonty's Nana for the yummy marshmellow mushrooms. What a lovely end of term treat. Remember to keep reading and practicing your wordblast.

We are clowns on PhotoPeach

Room 2- You are all stars. I was proud of you for working hard to learn a new skill.I hope you have really enjoyed our Circus Inquiry. Thank you to Mrs Robinson for writing such a fun webquest.

The LAVs come to visit on PhotoPeach

Ronald McDonald singing "Stop Look and Listen"

Ronald reminds us to "Make it Click" Do you know this song? Remember it each time you go in the car and keep safe.

Stepping Out with Constable Roz on PhotoPeach

Green Day at Riverlands School on PhotoPeach

Today was GREEN DAY at Riverlands School. Nearly everyone came dressed in something green. There were lots of fancy hats and decorated vegetables.
We had a very special surprise when Ronald McDonald came to visit the junior school just before lunch. Then when we got back to our rooms we found pieces of "Green eggs and ham" (vegetable fritatta) and fruit and marshmellows to make our own delicious fruit kebabs.
The day didn't end there. Next we had House activities including face painting, collage, playdough and art.
WHAT A FANTASTIC (AND TIRING) DAY


I liked Ronald McDonald even though I didn't like him when I was Little. Emily Kate
I liked the face painting. I got a butterfly. Hannah
I got 2 butterflies at face painting. Emily
A big girl painted a moustache on me. Levi
We had to make insects with play dough. I made a worm. Michael
I liked the face painting because I got a moustache and a train on my head. Jamie
I liked the playdough because I made a snail. Eric
I like face painting because I got a star and a spider and a moustache. Jonty
I liked Ronald McDonald when he said, "Bye bye baby." Ben R
I liked the playdough because I won when I did the octopus. Ruby
I liked the chicken kebabs. Dylan
I like Ronald McDonald because he didn't know he was at Room 10. Harry
I liked the fruit kebabs because there were lots of different fruits. I tried them all. I put marshmellow at each end. It tasted very nice. Jackson
I liked Ronald because he said, "I'm just going to run across the road" but we said "No!" Alice
I liked the playdough because I made a snail. Brianna
Ronald McDonald had a sock that stuck to the clothes line on the big book. Conal
I liked the face paint because the boy gave me a moustache. Ben W

Today was the first day of "Green Week". Our school has been asked to be the first school to launch Green Week. We have lots of fun things to do all week. Today we had a "Really Wheelie Fun Day." This slideshow shows some of the beautifully decorated wheelie things.Tomorrow we have lots of fun games at lunchtime and then a Green Assembly. On Wednesday there is green face painting and library fun.
Thursday is Keep NZ Beautiful Day so we will be doing a clean up and then the teachers will take on the Yr 8 netball team!!
Friday is time for House fun and a special visit from a mystery guest.

We have been learning to write descriptions. We made this slideshow called "Who am I?" Can you guess who we are?
Who am I? on PhotoPeach

Army Band Concert on PhotoPeach

Today we re-did our reading charts. They have all the activities we do a reading time to help us get better with our reading and writing. This new slideshow shows some of them. The children can tell you about their favourite ones.

Arts Interchange: Drama with Mrs Craig

Today we had drama with Mrs Craig.
We played a lying game. Some did an action with no sounds and when the person came back in and asked what we were doing, we had to tell them we were doing something else.
We pretended to be animals. We couldn't talk, we just had to do actions.
We got cards with pictures on and we had to make sound and find the other person with the same sounds.
We had lots of fun.

Maori Games and Pastimes with Mrs Robinson on PhotoPeach

Have a look at this great new Website set up to tell all about the Winter Challenge. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on "Your Photos". Do you recognise some of these people?
http://www.healthyas.org.nz/
You can copy this address or click on the direct link at the top of this page.

More Orange Day photos on PhotoPeach

More Orange Day photos on PhotoPeach

Orange Day: Healthy as on PhotoPeach

Because Mrs Paterson had to go away before our Disco last term, Mrs Boyce kindly took some photos of us having a great time.
Thank you Mrs Boyce.

Disco Fun on PhotoPeach

In the last week of term 2 we had lots of sick children who sensibly stayed at home to get better. Michael was away for a whole week and missed out on making bread faces with our Buddies. His lovely mum helped him make his own bead face and it was HUGE!!! This is a photo of the story he wrote about how he did it.

These short videos are of our buddy class sharing some of their science experiments with us. We had to predict what we thought would happen. When we finished we all ate the bread faces we had made together earlier in the day. We have had a great time with our buddy class this year.

Making bread faces with our Buddy Class on PhotoPeach

Try this cool new gadget. Click on the link above and you can add a "Stickie note" to tell me what you liked about our Breadmaking Inquiry. Your Mums and Dads can have a go too. I am looking forward to seeing your notes.

What a surprise we got when Sharon from Brumbys arrived in Room 2 with a big box filled with our bread. How kind of her to deliver it to us at school. The smell was amazing. We were amazed at how big our bread had become. Mrs Paterson gave it out to us and we had our photo taken before we started eating.
For those parents who didn't get to see the bread (a lot was eaten before school ended!!!) this is what it looked like.
Thanks Brumbys for giving up your time to answer our questions and for letting us make bread in a real bakery.

Our Visit to Brumbys on PhotoPeach

Our Wonderful trip to Brumbys

I found out how to make dough in the big mixing machine. Hannah
The big machine rolled my dough into a long sausage so I could plait it. Emily Kate
I could smell the dough baking in the ovens. Emily
I made a smiley face with my dough. Alice
They put the dough into a big machine that "proves" the bread. Jamie
When the bread was in the prover it got bigger as the yeast worked. Jonty
In the big ovens the tray was spinning round so the bread all cooked at the same time. Ben R
I made an E with my dough. I put poppy seeds on it. Eric
I put two kinds of seeds on my dough. Dylan
I made a W and I put black seeds on it. Ben W
I made a happy face and I put poppy seeds on it. Ruby
I made a Triangle face. Harry
I put a big hole in my dough to make a doughnut. Jackson
I made a L and I put sesame seeds on it. Levi
I made a doughnut and Sean sprayed water on it to make the seeds stick. I both seeds on it .Michael
I made a J and I put both seeds on it.Jonty
I saw how they put the cheese and ham into the dough. Riley

During the last week we have written a recount of our pizza making. Each day a different group worked with Mrs Paterson describing how we made our pizzas. It was shared writing and we all had turns at writing. You can see our draft and finished story at school.
This is our completed story and who helped with each piece of writing.

Making Pizza:

We put warm water in the breadmaker bowl. Then we put in the flour.
Next we added salt, sugar and oil. Then we put it in the breadmaker.
It whirred and whizzed as it mixed our dough.
(Jamie,Alice,Levi, Emily)

When the dough was ready we took it out of the machine. The dough was gooey and sticky.
Mrs Paterson kneaded the dough and rolled it into balls.
We rolled it into a pizza shape with the happy sticks. It was squishy and sprung back.
(Hannah, Michael, Harry, Jackson)

Plop went the tomato sauce as it landed on the pizza. Next came the mozarella, the tomato,pineapple,ham,salami and mushroom.
We got to try everything. Some of it was delicious. We can't wait until the mozarella is all gooey and our pizzas are ready to munch and crunch for our lunch. YUM!
(Jonty, Ben, Ruby, Emily-Kate)

We could smell the tasty pizza when we came into the room.
We took a big bite and the gooey cheese stretched like bubble gum.
The pizza was DELICIOUS!!!!
(Riley,Eric, Dylan, Ben W)

Pizza Making on PhotoPeach

Today we had a wonderful time making Bread. We used the same recipe and used it 3 different ways. Each dough had a different type of yeast. We made one lot of bread in the breadmaker so the machine did all the work. The other two mixtures took a bit of work. We all had a turn at kneading the bread and it when from "clumpy" to "smooth and silky". Mrs Boyce and Mrs Alderlieste we a wonderful help.

Experimenting with Bread on PhotoPeach

Two very proud big brothers with their new baby brothers. Thanks for sharing your photos boys.

Tomorrow we are going to make our bread. This is what we think might happen.
We will let you know what happened.

I think the breadmaker bread will cook first. Hannah
I think the bread we make all by ourselves will taste the best. Riley
I think the breadmaker bread will taste really yummy. Harry
The outside will be different colours. Jonty
The outside might be brown. Dylan
I think the bread we make ourselves will have more holes in it. Emily
I think the inside might go a yellow colour. Jamie
I think the breadmaker one might be a bit tastier. Michael
We might burn the one that gets cooked in the oven. Ben
The inside might change to white. Eric
The one in the oven will taste really really yummy. Levi
I think the bread we make will rise the most. Alice
We will have to be careful with the plaited breaded so it doesn't. Emily- Kate
I think the breadmaker one will taste best. Ruby
I think the breadmaker one is going to be the biggest. Jackson

We know that yeast needs warmth, liquid and food to wake it up and help it rise the bread. If it is a big frost tomorrow we will have to keep the dough warm so it can rise.
The breadmaker bread will be ok because the dough is all safe and warm inside the machine.

Have you heard the good news????
In the early hours of Friday morning 29 May, Harry's little brother Flynn was born. Congratulations to all the Schroder family.
Later that evening Jackson and Taylor's little brother Finn was born. Congratulations to the McLaren family on your new addition.
Two new little brothers born on the same day!!

This week we are going to choose a bread recipe and make one batch in a breadmaker and one where we do all the work and cook it ourselves.
I wonder which one will cook the best?
I wonder which one will cook the fastest?
I wonder which one will taste the best?
What wonderings will you come up with on Tuesday?
I look forward to finding out. I hope you are all having a great weekend.

Last week we did an experiment with yeast. We added warm water and sugar to wake up the yeast and when it was all bubbly, we decided to make it into bread by adding flour and a pinch of salt. It came out really well as you may have seen in our slideshow below. Imagine how good it could be if we followed a recipe. These little videos explain what happened to the yeast when we did our experiment.

Today Constable Frost came to Room 2. We talked about the things that make us feel happy, sad, scared, angry , proud, embarrassed, confused,or worried. We talked about how we would feel in different situations. We know it is good to tell people how we are feeling, especially if we are worried ,scared or confused about anything. We began learning a new song called "Walking Tall".

Today was Room 2's turn to run the whole school assembly. We were so excited. Lots of parents were coming and we practiced really hard but guess what?......... The data projector just wouldn't work, no matter how hard Mr Parsons tried so we had to change our plans a bit!!!
Thank you Mr Parsons for trying to fix it .
Room 2 children, I am very proud of the way you didn't worry when things were out of order or when you missed your turn because we couldn't share everything. You did a wonderful job and I am sure your parents feel the same way.
Thank you Miss Cleveland for taking photos for us to share with the mums and dads who couldn't come.
Room 2's assembly on PhotoPeach

Today Harry's butterfly hatched. We had been watching carefully but it happened so quick. We saw it with it's scrunched up wings and after play it had pumped it's wings up. This is video of what it would have looked like if we had seen it from the start. We hope the next one waits until Monday to hatch.Mrs Paterson will check in the weekend just in case.

Today Eric's Aunty came and played her violin for Room 10. Mrs Null invited us to come and listen. Can you tell what song she is playing? Violin starts with "V"

Last night Eric went home and told his parents about the experiment we did yesterday. He remembered everything we did and did the experiment at home. well done Eric.

Using yeast to make our bread on PhotoPeach

Making Chapatis on PhotoPeach

In the library today Liam read the award finalist book "Duck stuck". Then we all made duck masks. Everyone was really busy helping us with our masks. Thank you Mrs Null, Natalie, Robbie and Liam. Lots of Room 2 Children went and this is what they looked like when they came back to class. Quack! Quack!

Hannah and Jackson were lucky to win the chance to go and meet the Author of "Piggity Wiggity Jiggity Jig". They got our class copy signed and it has a nice message especially for Room 2. Jackson got to dress up as Piggity Wiggity Jiggity Jig. Here are some photos of them at the library. Have a look at the link to the Library blog and see more photos and videos of the trip. Thanks to Mrs Alderlieste and Mrs Young for taking you to the library.

Today Mrs Paterson had a "Wondering". She wondered how she could make bread?
We wrote stories about how we thought we could make bread. Come and have a look at all our ideas in our classroom. Most of us thought that we needed flour and water so this afternoon we made some bread using just water and flour.
While it was baking we made a "Y" chart to show what we thought the finished bread would "Look like", "taste like" and "smell like."

We waited all day on Friday to see Harry's caterpillar turn into a chrysalis but it didn't happen. I found this time lapse video to show you what happened to the caterpillar over the weekend. Isn't it amazing.
Mrs Paterson

Today Harry and his mum brought a bug catcher to school to share with the class. We were amazed to see a butterfly that had just hatched out , 3 chrysalis and a caterpillar hanging, ready to change into one too. We watched and waited all all day but the caterpillar was still hanging. perhaps it is shy!!!
At the end of the day we carefully took the butterfly out and it climbed up Harry's top and onto his nose! We put it on the swan plant outside Room 4. We found another butterfly there too. We watched the butterfly flap it's wings. It was a girl butterfly. We hope it isn't too cold for butterflies. It is pretty cold for us.
Thanks for sharing with Room 2. Mrs Paterson will keep and eye on the nearly black chrysalis over the weekend just in case it hatches.

These are some of the breads we tried today. Have you tried them all? You can get them from the supermarket and because they are rolls it is an easy way to try lots of different types of bread.

We thought that the brown and grainy breads made us feel fuller that the white bread and we didn't have to eat so much to feel full!! We thought that was really interesting.

You can click on the pictures to make them bigger.

Today we tried lots of different types of bread. They were all different but we liked them all. We used lots of interesting words to describe what they tasted like.

Today we talked about what we already knew about bread and we made a chart to share it with others. Click on the diagram to enlarge it.