Art - Charcoal Drawing

We used charcoal to do large scale portraits on paper. We experimented with different types of lines and smudging to get different effects. Our portraits are on display in the library.

I was drawing my teacher. I used charcoal as
 my drawing tool.

I drew my friend and my hands got black
because of the charcoal.

I made a picture with charcoal. I learned
that charcoal is similar to crayon but they
are black.

It is a Koala Man. He has big ears. 

It was my teacher's face that I drew with charcoal.

This is my charcoal drawing and I put the eye
on top of the nose. Funny...haha..

I drew a face of my best friend in the classroom.

A large scale portrait.

Lung Model

We made a working model of the lungs showing how the diaphragm pushes air from our lungs. We then wrote up a series of steps to make it.

Cow's Heart Dissection

What sort of apron do you wear in the kitchen?

We spent an afternoon dissecting a cow's heart and investigating the various parts we could find. We were able to see the valves, aorta, atrium, ventricles and the "heartstrings" which were really tough tendons. Enjoy the comments made by our students.

I was so curious of the cow's heart.

I am ready with my plastic gloves and glasses.

I looked at the cow's heart. It felt gross.

I wonder why there is a string stuck to the heart?

I will cut the heart..I felt a little bit scared.

I felt sick before dissecting the cow's heart because I thought there would be blood splashing.

Barrett has a theory that these words might be related.

I am so curious now...

This is what it looks like inside the cow's heart.

The heart is not soft. It is a muscle so it is hard.

In the end, we are drawing the heart. 

Estimation

The importance of estimation in maths cannot be stressed enough. Estimating is one of the most useful maths skills we can acquire. It relates to all sorts of different areas of maths – measurement, handling data, handling money, time, space, shape, number operations.  It allows us to make judgements about how much time, money, food, paint…we will need. If you are good at estimating it is a skill that you use on a daily basis in adult life – it saves time and sometimes money.

One of the best things about estimating is that we use our mathematical reasoning.  There are often several ways to come to an answer, none of which is wrong.  When a student comes up with an answer, we can ask them to explain, in words, their thought-process/reasoning.  It encourages problem solving.  Importantly, estimating allows us to check to see if our calculated answers are reasonable.Estimating often provides very rich and active maths. Why sit down and work out on a piece of paper how many beanbags you would need to fill up a bath, when you could experiment with how many beanbags it takes to fill up other things?

We asked three basic questions when trying to estimate the number of pencils we might have in a container.

1. What do we have to compare this to?
2. What methods could we use to estimate?
3. How can we check our estimate?

If we could find out what "ten" looked like it was easier to estimate the rest.

Counting by twos to get a group of ten.

Learning about the structure of English

We had a helper who showed us about how bases are important parts of words and are attached to prefixes and suffixes. This is really important when we begin to look at complex patterns in English.

Using the fist to represent a base.

We are learning how to commit words to long term memory by spelling the word sum aloud as we write it. We then write the word three times, each time spelling it aloud.

Now we will test our words.

Book Week in Grade 1-2

BOOK WEEK IN GRADE 1-2

Dear Parents

As you may know we are planning a fun filled and educational Book Week this week.

• During the week and leading up to the week we will be sharing favourite authors with the class. I have chosen Allison Lester. Students will then choose a character from one of those books to dress up as on Friday. I am encouraging students to be as creative as possible with their designs and to hopefully make their own costumes. They already appear very excited. At our Friday assembly which will be held on the basketball court, we will have all our students share their costumes. We will collect 5000 rp from all students to raise funds for Student Council activities and house points will also be awarded for a variety of categories.

• I would like to invite any parents to come in and read their favourite book to the class. If it is a picture book and in your native language that would be a wonderful way to share our diversity.

• On Wednesday students are invited to take part in a book swap. During snack time students who want to swap some pre-loved books will meet in the hall and engage in a book swap with their peers.

• There will be a donation box set up outside the library for any quality books people may want to donate.

• Teachers will be reading their favourite books to all students in the hall after snack recess each day. This is a treat that many are waiting for with bated breath.

I have also added a document below outlining some hints for reading. I sent this out earlier in the year but it is always good to have a reminder.

Regards

Mr Jim

Reading at Home             Grade 1/2

Dear Parents,

Every day the students will bring home a reading folder, which must be returned to school each day. The children will take responsibility for selecting their own books from a wide range of literature.

During the next few weeks the students will learn how to select books that are just right for their own independent reading. I will be observing, supporting and consulting with each child regarding these book selections and helping your child decide on appropriate books.  Research tells us that allowing children to make their own reading choices increases motivation and a heightened desire to learn to read independently.

Every day, the students will read independently to themselves at school and at home. These important independent reading opportunities allow students to practice the necessary skills and strategies to improve their reading development.

You can help with your child’s reading development by:

·       reminding your child to read independently for about 20-30 minutes at home.

·       suggesting a short family reading time where everyone in the family is reading to themselves.

·       listening to your child read one selected page/passage from their reading book (it is not necessary for your child to read the whole book aloud to you).

·       asking a few questions and listening to your child tell you in their own words about their book.

·       always providing encouragement and positive feedback.

·       celebrating your child’s growing independence and responsibility.

We still read our books n class after sharing at assembly and with the class next door. Everyone enjoys them very much.

Brain Mind Map

Making a Mindmap

A mind map is a diagram used to visually outline information. A mind map is often created around a single word or text, placed in the centre, to which associated ideas, words and concepts are added. They are very good tools for recall because they summarise complex information in a key word and a visual image. The use of the the grouping and colour further enhances recall. We have been using them in our unit on the human body.

Colour helps key parts stand out.

Word Sums and Word Webs

What is the base of <healthy>?

This past week we learned that finding the base of a word is the key to meaning and also the spelling. 

heal + th + y --> healthy

In the word <healthy>, <heal> is the base and <th> and <y> are the two suffixes. You will notice the pronunciation changes but 

the spelling stays the same.

This is why we spell out the base when announcing the word sum. We all learn better when information is chunked in small pieces. That's why this helps so much with spelling memory.

Editing/Modelled Writing

It is important to model for students how to check back over our writing to fix up errors. We do this by first reading aloud then checking for errors that we know are common ones. Currently we are building up our knowledge of how to check for capital letters and fullstops.

Writing journal and using editing skills.

Bridging To Ten

Understanding that ten is a landmark number

It is important that children are able to mentally regroup numbers in order to effectively add numbers in their head. We have been using ten frames and blocks in different ways to help this knowledge stick.

So 9+7 is the same as 10+6

The ten frame makes the learning visible.

Using a card ten frame and recording the thinking.