Term 4 Highlights

Well it's certainly been a busy term. We've shared our learning experiences with our whanau during Creative Week; been part of the Flat Connections Project and skyped a school in America; had Tatjana join our class all the way from Germany; made bread, butter and picked vegetables from our garden, and welcomed more children into our class.

Now we're getting ready for a well earned holiday and it's time to look back at all we've achieved this term. A special thanks to Tatjana, Mrs Van Schaijik, Miss Morrison, Mrs Irshad, Gayle, and all our parent helpers.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year everyone!

Photos by Andrea, Mrs Van Schaijik and Tatjana. 
Music: Marathon by Ben Des Forges

Term 4 2016 from andrea des forges on Vimeo.

What a Crazy Penguin!

Sometimes the big kids come and read us a story that they have written. Caitlin's big brother Ronan, who is in Year 4, read us his story about what happens next in this picture.

Wow! I can see a polar bear laying on the cold and wet ice but a penguin had some cymbals...   Then the polar bear woke up and he was cranky. He raced after the penguin. The penguin ran and ran. The penguin saw water and he jumped into the water but when he looked behind himself he saw a seal. The penguin raced to land...but too late the seal got the penguin. The seal ate the penguin.
"Yum!" said the seal.
The polar bear then saw another penguin. She had a bag of fish. The polar bear sprang at the penguin. The penguin ran and ran until she could see a cave. She ran into the cave. The polar bear ran and ran but... then he got lost in a snow storm. The penguin was safe with her bag of fish.

The Lions reading group read a book about making a bird feeder. Gayle asked Mr Wang if he could help us make our own. A big thanks to Mr Wang for helping us make our bird feeder.

the bird feeder from andrea des forges on Vimeo.

Lets plant a seed

Spring is a great time for growing plants and so we have been planting beans and other vegetables. Here's how we did it.

Plant a seed from andrea des forges on Vimeo.

Rangoli Patterns

Happy Diwali!

It's that time of year when many Indian families celebrate the Festival of Lights. Room 7 and Room 2 thought this would be a great opportunity to learn more about the festival of Diwali and create Rangoli patterns.

Rangoli Patterns 2016 from andrea des forges on Vimeo.

Our Flat Connections Handshake

Thanks to Mrs Van Schaijik, we are taking part in an exciting learning opportunity as part of the Flat Connections Global Collaboration project. Julie Lindsay is the amazing global educator from Australia who started Flat Connections and our very own Sonya Van Schaijik is our project leader. We will be working with schools from Australia and USA. We are excited about sharing our learning and finding out about what school is like for junior school children in other countries. The first step is to make a "Handshake" where we can introduce our school. Here's the "Handshake" video we've made.
Welcome to Newmarket School from andrea des forges on Vimeo.

Pyjama Day

We all thought that it was about time we had a pyjama day and what better time than the last week of the term. Lots of children, and teachers, brought their favourite cuddly toy and wore their cozy pjs. We made some yummy treats and created stories and art and finished off with a movie. What a great way to end a busy term.

Pyjama Day from andrea des forges on Vimeo.