Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Train Ride Adventures...

We read the book called 'The Train Ride Story' by Joy Cowley. We loved the story so much we wanted to write out own train ride adventures. Check out what these clever authors wrote.... 



Author Caitlin wrote:

Once upon a time there was a girl called Floretta who was going home on the train. A few minutes later the train stopped at the train station. On jumped a princess and a frog with a small trombone. Behind the frog in flew a huge monarch butterfly. The frog started to play the trombone and the princess did some ballet and the monarch butterfly flew around Floretta’s head. Soon they raced out of the train and ran to the 4 Square to get some blue sugary sweets. After a while the train arrived back and the characters and Floretta jumped into the train and went home. I wonder when Floretta, the princess, the frog and the monarch butterfly will get back together.

Author Jasmine wrote:

Once upon a time there was a girl called Jasmine who was going home on the train but suddenly the door flew open and then a dappled horse galloped in. But, the Lorax was lazy so I had to push the Lorax in. The Lorax kept dropping and dropping his rubbish. “What’s going on here?” said the ticket man. The characters said, “We’re characters and we’re looking for a home.” “You’re looking for trouble if you don’t have rainbow tickets,” said the ticket man. So at the next stop they had to get off so Jasmine felt sorry for them. She got out her pen and notebook and the story started like this. Once upon a time there was a girl called Jasmine who was going home on the train with the lazy Lorax and the dappled horse with blue cross eyes ……

Author Balin wrote:

Once upon a time there was a boy called Ben who was going home on the train. He was getting bored when suddenly the train stopped at the train station and he saw Thing 1 and Thing 2 pushing and shoving through the people to get to the train. Then I spotted in Thing 2s hand a bag. I said, “What’s in that bag?” as he pulled something out. It was a monkey. Suddenly, the train stopped at the snow fields then I noticed that the monkey had a banana phone. He started to talk on the banana phone. He said, “Hi Mum.” His mum said, “Where are you?” He said, “I am at the snow fields having a snow ball fight.” “Oh, I forgot I’ve got your guitar. Thank you cheeky monkey,” said Mum. Then the cheeky monkey hops into the train that goes to the snow fields. When the mum monkey was waiting she played the guitar. When she got to the snow fields baby monkey ran home with mum and Thing 1 and Thing 2 magically disappeared back to their movie Cat in the Hat. Ben said, “I wonder if I’ll ever see them again!”

Author Cloe wrote:

Once upon a time there was a girl called Lileyin who was going home on the train. CRASH! The train stopped at the next stop hitting a large rock. When the train stopped on came a butterfly, a mouse, a cat and a dog. The butterfly floated around. Lileyin and the mouse were doing a dance. The cat was laying down and the dog jumped on Lileyin’s lap and had a sleep. While the dog had a sleep the man was trying to move the large rock off the train tracks. They did move the large rock out of the way of the train and the train started to move. Then, the dog woke up and started to play a game with the cat and the mouse. The butterfly stopped flying around me and got tired so the butterfly had a long sleep on the seat. The dog, cat and mouse played snakes and ladders. The train stopped and I said, “This is my stop. Will you guys like to go home with me?” “Yes please, Lileyin,” said cat, dog, mouse and butterfly. And so they did.

Friday, July 25, 2014

This Weeks PRIDE Recipient

This weeks PRIDE recipient is Whetu. Whetu received his award for working so hard to be the best reader he can be. 

You are a clever reader Whetu.  Kia mau ake I te mahi nui (keep up the great work).

Whetu also received a certificate for being a super reader on the 'Reading Together' reading program run by Miss Anderson and Mrs Gilmore.


Dribbling a Basketball

We are learning to hand dribble a basket ball.

To dribble a ball effectively we need to

  • keep our eyes looking forward (not at the ball)
  • bend our knees slightly (a little bit)
  • make a spider hand (fingers slightly bent and spread apart)
  • keep the ball close to our body and bouncing up just past our waist
Learning to dribble a ball is pretty tricky. The hardest bit is to keep our eyes up because we really want to keep looking at the ball.

Luckily, in Room 14 we have an expert mini ball player who is helping us get it right. Thank you Balin.

Hannah practising her spider hand
Gwen practising keeping her eyes looking forward
Dom pracitising his tricky dribbling move - moving the ball between his hands
Ekrose making a spider hand to push the ball
Payton keeping her eyes up and looking forward
Balin teaching us a tricky dribbling move - moving the ball under the knee and then keep dribbling
Room 14 tamariki taking on the challenge of learning tricky moves


Thursday, July 24, 2014

Thursday News Groups

Today we started our Thursday news groups. We shared some ideas for group rules and decided on three rules
  • Only one person talks at a time
  • Listen and think about what is being said
  • Ask good questions to get new information
We know that we can start our questions with Who, What, Why, Where, When and How.








Giraffes Can't Dance by Giles Andreae

We are learning about perseverance, determination and taking risks. We have been reading the story Giraffes Can't Dance by Giles Andreae. This is a story about a giraffe who thinks he can't dance because other animals in the jungle laugh at him and call him mean names when he dances. A very wise cricket helps the giraffe understand that we can all dance if we find music that we love. Gerald the giraffe finds his courage showing determination and perseverance to try dancing again. To his, and all the jungle animals surprise, Gerald is a wonderful dancer after all.

Today we listened to the audio version of the story and in small groups we followed along with the book. Check out how we shared the books so everyone could enjoy the pictures as we listened.




Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Dance Elements

We are learning about elements of dance; SPACE and TIME

Room 14 learning whanau are showing true Parkvale PRIDE embracing the dance and drama challenges by trying new things and taking risks. Tino pai Room 14 tamariki.

Fast movements
Slow movements
Moving in front of, behind and next to each other
Tall movements
Small movements

Movements in front

Side to side movements

Monday, July 14, 2014

Holiday Dancing

When school is back we will be doing some funtastic learning in dance and drama. Over the holidays you can practice your dance moves with this great song called 'Follow the Leader'.

Your challenge is to create some of your own dance moves for when you are the leader.

Have fun.

Tuesday, July 08, 2014

Marshmallow Catapults

To finish off our unit on forces and movement we made catapults. We practiced  firing pom poms and when we got really good at that we tried marshmallows. We worked with our buddies taking turns - one buddy firing the catapult and the other catching the marshmallow.

Check out the fun we had on the last day of term 2 ..........

Can you spot the pom pom? Can you figure out where Harlem's pom pom landed?
Where has the marshmallow gone?
Ready, set, fire ........
Hmmm, I wonder if the marshmallow will come down and land in my mouth? thinks Ayden
Keep you eyes on the marshmallow Dom and Balin
Whetu invited Arapata to Room 14 to see if he could catch a marshmallow fired from the catapult
Room 14 tamariki earned their class reward - a chocolate banana smoothie !


Thank you Room 14 for a fantastic term. You all worked very hard and have earned a well deserved holiday. Rest up and have some fun with your whanau. See you back at school for some more amazing learning in term 3. Mrs R

Friday, July 04, 2014

PRIDE Award

This weeks PRIDE award went to Karamea.

Karamea earned her award for her hard efforts in becoming a confident reader, making connections and sharing her ideas with the class. Tino pai Karamea !


Thursday, July 03, 2014

School House Challenge

Today we competed in the school house challenge. Every house learnt a jump jam dance. We are very lucky to have some amazing house leaders who taught us the jump jam moves. Everyone put in a super effort - a great display of Parkvale PRIDE on a sunny winters afternoon.

Kea and Pukeko shared first place! Check out this cool photo of Kea house when the winners were announced.




Kowhai Hub Challenge Day

On Wednesday we had our Kowhai Hub Challenge day. Classes were split up into groups and rotated around Kowhai classrooms to do science challenges.
In Room 8 the challenge was to make a lever to knock things over.
In Room 9 the challenge was to build three little pig houses that would stay standing against the blow of a hairdryer.
In Room 13 the challenge was to design and create a ramp for a golf ball to roll down and hit a target.
In Room 15 the challenge was to make a type of flying machine that would reach the PRIDE wall.
In Room 14 the challenge was to build a balloon car that would travel across the carpet.

We had so much fun in our science learning.















Wednesday, July 02, 2014

Balin the Basketballer

In Room 14 we have a NBA professional in the making. Balin plays basketball in the after school league at the Hastings Sports Stadium. His team is called the Parkvale Meteors. Balin comes from a family of basketball superstars and his sister, Bella, is also in the same team. Fiona, his mum is the team coach. The Meteors got to the final and were up against an undefeated team from Te Mata Primary. Parkvale Meteors beat Te Mata by 1 point and won the finals.

Well done Parkvale Meteors.