Wednesday, February 9, 2011

First Week Back

 Hey, Rachel and Claudia here to tell you about our first  full week back! We are two year eight girls
( not our best picture!) and we have been at this wonderful school since we were five. 
We began the week with our very first Technology lesson of the year at Garin College! Mrs Rowling (a teacher from Garin) has us for Fashion Design/Textiles. We had heaps of fun using the sewing machine and learning how to set them up.
  We have also been designing our very own  place-mats on the computers based on 'INNOVATION!' We all have been using our creative side with photos and colours. They have all been split into four sections: reminders, goals, what 'Innovation' means and about me. I think we are all very impressed on how they turned out.
  In our Reading groups - Investigators, Explorers, Inquirers and Discoverers - we have just read the first chapters of our new novels: Island of the Blue Dolphins, Silver Stream, and Hatchet. When we were done we did some vocab work on some of the more challenging words in our book. 
  Maths groups have been sorted out into : Ratios, Fraction, Decimals and Percentages. We are all doing different types of work on place value. We are both really enjoying this part of math because we are learning something new.
  In science we have been learning about the Rocky Shore and its creatures. Next week we are going on a field trip to McKee reserve which is near Ruby Bay, it'll be really interesting to see all the creatures there and will be alot of fun. 
Last of all, in Integrated Studies we have been learning about how our ancestors came to New Zealand and adapted to the environment around them. We have gathered a group of 17 questions that we would like answered before the end of this topic.
We have really enjoyed the new IPads this week. There are lots of fun apps and we have set up the new pod with both laptops and IPads to share.
This week has been a great start to the year and hope the rest of the term is just as exciting. 
 On Laptops, doing Dance Mat Typing.
 Some of our digitally produced place mats.
 Rocky Shore Collection table.
 Questions for our integrated studies.
Novels we are reading.