Poet in Residence!

What a coup! Matarau School welcomed poet, Paula Green to school yesterday. Over the course of the day, Paula held sessions for the whole school in the library. Even the newest of newbies!! She read quite a few poems to us from her latest collection 'Letterbox Cat' (which has been nominated for Children's Choice at the NZ Post Book Awards!!) and showed us how much fun it is creating poems. When we went back to the classroom, we created a poem together;

Discovery Time

We have been having heaps of fun in Discovery Time this term! A few weeks ago we were looking at repeating patterns and some of us had lots of fun creating a 'repeating pattern zebra'. What do you think of our efforts??? Last Friday, we had a Matariki-themed session. Activities included weaving, kite and lantern making and bookmarks. I'm not sure how well the kites will fly, but we had loads of fun making and decorating them!!

Buddy Reading

In Room 2, we are lucky enough to have 2 lots of reading buddies. On a Monday and Wednesday, some of the Room 11 and 12 'big kids' come up and read with us. And now, We have started a library buddy reading programme with Room 7. Check us out in the library!!

We're Going on a Kiwi Hunt...

One of the great things we have been lucky enough to take part in recently is a kiwi hunt! Our friendly DOC ranger, Rolf, was scheduled to be in the area to change the transmitter of one of our resident kiwi so 5 children from each class in the junior school were chosen to go with him. Unfortunately, we didn't find the kiwi we were after but we did locate Putiputirehu, a smaller female kiwi.

She wasn't very happy at being caught, but she soon quietened down to let Rolf weigh her. Not many of us have been that close to a kiwi before - it was a very special experience :)

Kiwi Moon

Last Tuesday we went on the bus to see "Kiwi Moon' at Forum North. It was a big puppet show, based around Gavin Bishop's story, Kiwi Moon. We all loved it!! After the show, we got to eat our lunch in the library (because it was raining) and then we spent some time doing activities in the library. Some of us were lucky enough to have parents come along too. On the bus ride home, we sang lots of songs. (Written together by the children of Room 2)

Autumn Trees and Leaves

During Discovery Time, Mrs Burgin helped the children create their own Autumn Trees with falling leaves. First they painted some paper in autumn colours then cut and ripped to achieve the finished product. They then used their ever-developing vocabulary to describe what the leaves were doing. Very effective artwork.

Word Families

This week we have been creating words for the 'at' word family. This skill is invaluable for the children during Word Power time. If they can take a small word and add a new beginning letter, they can easily create new words for their list. And what better way to display these words than on the "Cat in the Hat"