Term 2

FIRE Emergency Visits

Over the last few weeks we have been learning lots about Fire Emergency Services and what we can do in a fire.  We have designed a escape plan with our families, checked our smoke alarms and we all know where our meeting place is in a fire.

Talk to your families about how to GET DOWN, GET LOW AND GET OUT and remember to shout FIRE FIRE FIRE!

After the Fire Emergency visited, we had lots more questions so Mrs Kilkolly invited Mr Kilkolly to talk to the class. My Kilkolly is a firefighter for the Grey Lynn Fire Station. Students had lots of interesting questions and heaps of fun!

Here are a few of our questions:

*If you live in a bush with no track, how will the firefighters know exactly where number is?

*How do you put out big forest fires?

*What if your upstairs and you can't get down from the deck and the fire is near your bedroom?

*Why do you safe cats in trees?

*Why do you have different hoses?

*How many seconds does it take for smoke tot kill you?

*Do you stay at the fire for more than two days? 

Pipe Band

Chantelle talked to the class about the Pipe Band. She will be representing New Zealand overseas next month. We learned about tenor drummers and using the sticks to flourish. It looks really easy we thought - BUT it was really tricky! Can you spot her here?

Miss Wen sharing 

Narrative Writing

Some of our incredible writers. Here is a link to our writing motivation - click here.

The Lighthouse

"Mmmm," yelled the very grumpy man as the window slammed open loudly. Suddenly the grumpy man slammed the window in a rage. In the house there was such a yell because all the people were celebrating.

Tessa

Lighthouse

Outside the wind wailed, quite loudly, as loudly that it echoed around the tall buildings. The posh man that had a wrinkled pale face and wearing a green stripped cap with bits of wool sticking out everywhere. Also a black jacket with poofy bits sticking out and humongous pockets. He grumbled and moaned to himself as he wrote a sentence about lighthouses. All that could be seen was the outline of a tall lighthouse, which was a light shaded black and inside dim and misty. The lighthouse took pace on a hill near the salty sea. He could hear the waves crashing outside on the rocks, angrily.

Chloe

The Lighthouse

One day there was an elderly man. It was pitch  night, the wind whistled wildly as the man muttered, "Village."

His cloak ripped once more. The lighthouse creaked and boomed.

Madison

Lighthouse

His ragged coat was pitch black but still was soft as a sheep's face. The lighthouse flickered off as the bright lights were longer seen. As the grumpy man rushed up the ragged steps hurrying to his precious lighthouse as he couldn't see the light. The ragged lighthouse was shining light. The waves splashed on the ragged lighthouse, looking like the lighthouse was sweating.

Janessa

The Lighthouse

As the man wrote, he slammed the door in rage. The man mumbled because of the echos of the men he lived. He lived in the most brightest lighthouse. "Mmmm," the man mumbled as he slammed the window quickly. Then he walked up the spirally steps as he mumbled and stumbled as it was pitch black outside. The man had spiky whiskers. 

Jayden

Lighthouse

Once upon a time there was a really grumpy man who lived in a really tall lighthouse on a long hill. The man was writing with his pencil as he could hear the men in the pub as there beer sloshed out of the bottle.

Harrison

The Lighthouse

Near the rocky seaside, there lived a man. The voices echoed as the men drank their swirling glasses of beer and cheered. The man had a pitch black coat on as he mumbled and grumbled as he slammed the window tight. His face looked like pieces of wire. Suddenly, the light blew out as he skidded down the steep spiral stairs.

Amber

Lighthouse

The man's cloak was as dark as a cave, and his hate was all dusty and old. He lived in a gloomy broken lighthouse at the edge of the sea with shattering windows.

Max

Production

What an incredible performance. Room 17 were amazing, as you can imagine there is so much that goes into these events! Thank you to all the parents that helped!

School Production Link

Production Update!

Year 1 - 3 Production

“The Day the Crayons Quit”

Dear Parents/Caregivers

The production practices and preparation are going well.

• A huge thank you to all the parents who have helped over the past couple of weeks.
• Please contact the class teacher if you are able to help this week with art work, costumes etc.
• The ticket cost is $5.00 per person.
• Thursday 22nd June is the last day for preferential tickets for families.
• Tickets are on sale through our online shop.  www.torbay.school.nz
• Door sales are available to our matinee.   
• Room 9 and 13 parents and families are welcome to attend the dress rehearsal on Monday afternoon.
• Tickets will come home Friday 22nd June.  
• .Extra tickets will be available to purchase via our online shop from Friday 23rd June.
• All Torbay students will see the dress rehearsal on Monday afternoon.

The dates for the shows:

Mon 26/6	All Year 2 and 3, room 9 and 13	1pm Dress rehearsal for the school and invited guests.
Tues 27/6	All Year 2 and 3, room 9 and 13	Night shows start at 6pm. Students to be at school at 5.30pm.  Collect your child after the show from their classroom
Wed 28/6	All Year 2 and 3, room 10, and 11	Matinee starts at 1pm. For extended whanau, grandparents and preschoolers.
Thur 29/6	All Year 2 and 3, room 10 and 11	Night shows start at 6pm. Students to be at school at 5.30pm.  Collect your child after the show from their classroom

• Main cast to come to the library and to be collected from the library.

If you have any questions or comments please do not hesitate to contact us.

Thank you

Years 1-3 Teachers

22nd June

Photos to come ...

Come and see our awesome maths in the classroom that Miss Brake has been working on with Room 17. We were learning about different forms of measurement, starting from zero. Great discussions! Here's what Caitlin thought about today:

Tricky Maths By Caitlin Duncan

I Learned…. That you can make a circle by drawing a cross, and then carefuly draw a circle around it.

I Think …. That drawing a circle like that is a very smart idea-thanks for teaching us how to do this, Miss Break!

It Was Tricky When….I tried to draw a perfect circle with drawing a cross, but it got a little bit wonky!

If i did this again….I would probably take longer, and be a little bit more careful, oh-and take my time!

Monday Measurement Madness!

12th June 2017

Our Problem :

How many strips? Ariana needs a metre ruler, but she can’t find one. She knows that the wooden table is exactly 1 metre long. She makes herself a ruler from an A4 sheet of paper torn into strips lengthways which she then tapes together end to end. How many strips does Ariana need?

Great discussion today. We were learning to :

- measure using cm and metres

- use addition strategies

- use problem solving strategies to explore situation mathematically using equipment

Discuss with Mum and Dad the words:

estimation/ approximately/ guess/ 100cm/ 1 metre

How do we measure 100cm (1 metre) if we do not have a metre ruler?

What did you learn today? What was challenging ?

Sailor the Puffer Fish

7th June 2017

What an informative morning learning with Sailor the Puffer Fish and how to help children control their asthma. 

Click here to explore their website and games and ideas to talk through with Mum and Dad.

Hell Pizza Challenge

Keep up the reading and remember to show your homework book when you have read 2 non-fiction books, a picture book, and a chapter book. Share these with the teacher and get a Hell's Pizza - AWESOME!

Science Van

31st May

In one word - FASCINATING!

What an incredible afternoon discovering physical science. We learned about solids, liquids and gases, watched washing liquid change colour when we added dry ice, looked at X-rays and even had a go with experiments around the room..... 

What did you learn? What did you wonder? What did you realize and enjoy about today? I look forward to reading your comments!

Photos to come ...

Oral Language Presentations

Week 5

Well done everyone for sharing your 'special place' in a box. Great ideas from your bedroom to a special photo! Here are a few photos from the week.

Cross Country

25th May

Great afternoon, lots of fun! Well done everyone for having a go!

16th May

Science Fun!

I wonder... what will happen if I cover my candle with a jar?

What is fire? 

What does it need? 

What is the fire triangle?

 After lots of discussions, we tested our hypothesis...

This is what we thought would happen....

• the fire would run out of oxygen
• the candle we light first would go out first
• the would all go out at the same time

Abby, Tessa and Nathan timed our tests and we discovered:

• Jar One - 6 seconds
• Jar Two - 14 seconds
• Jar Three - 31 seconds

Why is this???????

This is what we wrote ...

• when we take oxygen away the candle goes out
• a fire needs oxygen
• the bigger the volume the biggest amount oxygen
• a candle is suffocated with a lack of oxygen

What did you learn today? Discuss this with your parents..... I look forward to reading your comments!

12th May

Great Mandarin today everyone! WOW, you guys are impressive with your colours! I hope you are sharing these with your parents!

11-12th May 2017
Earthquake Tower Challenge
Heaps of fun at Maths today exploring weight, length and number. Room 17 have been hired as structural engineers! In groups they are in charge of designing a new 2 storey art building.

The only problem is that their building will be located near an earthquake fault; therefore their building needs to withstand small and big earthquakes!

Since their building will be used for art classes, they need to be creative with shape and design.

There are also building codes that must be followed:

• Each storey must support 100 gms of weight
• Your building must be 36 cm tall
• Your building has 2 storeys - these must be 18 cm tall
• Your building must be fit to the base

To survive an earthquake test, the building must not collapse for 10 seconds after the earthquake begins. The weights must stay on the building.

To build their tower, they will need

• 2 metres of string
• 30 straws
• 100gms of sand for each storey
• 1/4 of a packet of blu tac
• 15 paper clips

Here are a few photos from today ....

And the winner is ...... Teagan and Zachary!

Great structures everyone! 

What did you learn from this activity? 

What was tricky? 

If you did this again, what would you change?

10th May
Inflatable Football
What an exciting day at Inflatable Football. Mrs. Kilkolly was a little competitive!

10th May
Production 
This term the Year 1-3 children will be presenting a production show.  
Planning is complete, the big idea and script are ready, auditions for speaking parts have begun!
It is always a big job to get all children ready to present a show that they can be proud of. 
You can help by preparing the following items...

Things you will need for the production in early June

You will need...

A white plain t'shirt- that we can paint  (GIRLS)

A red plain t'shirt (BOYS)

A black pair of pants (leggings/ jeans/ track pants)

Red cap (I will look into this)
Red sunglasses (I will look into this)

8th May
Sign Language Week
It's sign language week (8th-14th May).  Check out the Sign language website, maybe you could spell your name in sign? Say hello? Have a go below.

8th May
Mathletics
Mathletics starts next week for the month - children have been given their username and password. Starts next week!
www.nz.mathletics.com

5th May
Science - The Earth
Heaps of fun this week answering the question ...
I wonder ... if tectonic plates move?
We had lots of fun exploring the earth with an egg and looking at the different layers of the earth.

What did you discover? What did you learn? 

What are you now wondering?

A few photos from Friday ... looking forward to everyone writing comments below about what you have shared during the weekend with your family!

4th MAy An interesting discussion...

3rd May
Cross Country

This morning, in glorious sunshine, the Year 2's and 3's met up on the top courts to practice for our Junior Cross Country event.  After a warm up to stretch out our muscles, the children lined up in age order and set off along the course.  Although it was a little muddy in places, the children were soon racing across the grass, down the bank, along the fence and past the new fitness trail on the bottom field.  Heading back up to the courts past the car track they were encouraged to try the second lap before finally warming down on the courts again.  We definitely have some great runners in these years and we're looking forward to a little friendly competition on race day.  Ka Pai everyone!

More details of the day will follow, so keep your eye on the fortnightly newsletters.

1st May
Great start to Term 2
Today we settled back into routines and played a listening game .

We also started our Inquiry - "What is the Earth." Have a look at our Padlet for our ideas. Maybe you could add more below in the comment section OR start asking mum and dad about the earth.