Find your field of dreams

The learners in Room 18 have been lucky to have swimming instructors taking them for lessons twice a week. This week they learnt about life vests, how to enter the water safely and huddling in a group for warmth. They had an absolute blast.

We also took a walk down to the river as part of our Turangawaewae unit. The children were able to explore how the river is used and how it has changed over time. We have also been learning about how the Waikato river was used in the past, and the ways in which we, as kaitiaki, can look after our waterways.

We are looking forward to an exciting week ahead, learning about our pepeha and where we come from. Please remember to return the form that was sent home as this will enable your child to make a start on this.

A great start to term 1

The learners of Room 18 and I have enjoyed a busy and productive second week.

Our week has been filled with swimming, positive assembly, a mihi whakatau for the new teachers and students at Hamilton East school and lots of new learning.

Sketching our mighty Totora tree on Thursday, learners practise observational drawing.

We have started our first maths unit "All About Me" where learners are discovering how to collect and display data about themselves and their peers.

We have also started reading groups with Whaea Robyn and Room 17.

Another thing we began this week is our portraits. Each learner has come up with five words they think describe themselves. These are part of a collage that will be displayed in our classroom. I'm looking forward to seeing the amazing results. The photo below is our brainstorm of some words we could use to describe ourselves.

Next week is going to be another jam packed week for our learners. Swimming lessons with Find Your Field Of Dreams begin and we have our trip to Hukanui Marae on Friday. Notes were sent home this week, and need to be returned before Friday.

I hope you all are having a great weekend, and look forward to seeing our learners bursting and ready to go on Monday.

A letter introducing your new teacher

2nd February 2019

Kia ora koutou!

It was so lovely to meet the children today and I’m very excited to share this years’ journey of learning and growth with them. I thought I’d take this chance to share a little bit about myself with you.

My own journey to become a teacher has been a long one. After leaving university I studied Child Psychotherapy and then worked as an early childhood educator for a number of years.

I left teaching to look after my children (Noah, Isobel and Jack) and returned to the workforce as a teacher aide in a special needs unit of an Australian high school.

When we returned to New Zealand, I decided it was time to follow my dream and gained a Graduate Diploma in Teaching. Hamilton East was one of my practicum schools (which is why my pink hair might look familiar). I loved it so much. I was really excited to be offered a teaching position here.

My passions include art and craft (I am an avid sewist and make most of my clothes), I love reading, writing, and being in and around the water. In my spare time, I race dirt karts and collect and fix vintage sewing machines.

Your child’s year in Room 18 is going to be full of fun, lots of learning and exciting adventures.

If at any time you have any questions, problems, or just want to have a chat about what’s going on, please don’t hesitate to contact me,

Ngā mihi nui,

Ange Dent

adent@hameast.school.nz

Warmest Greetings!

Hello everyone and welcome to the first week of term 1!

I hope that your summer holiday was full of fun and memory making.

Izzy, Jack and my niece braving the water at Raglan this summer. 

You children have probably come home either full of exciting things to tell you, or completely wiped out after a long hot day. Hopefully they have a good sleep tonight ready for day two.

We are swimming this term, so everyone needs togs, towel and a bag for their swimming gear.

Stationery lists went out this afternoon. The children each have an 'Everything' book which they will work in until their stationery is ready.

Our focus for the beginning of term one is Turangawaewae, the history of Hamilton and where we come from. The children will be learning their pepeha, (who they are and where they come from). Sometimes, this can be challenging for families to talk about, so if there's anything you'd like me to know about your child, please don't hesitate to contact me.

I look forward to an exciting term, and getting to know your children!

Warm regards

Ange.

Can it ice-cream?

We had so much fun opening our box from SchoolKit and guessing what we would be making with it. See our excitement as Hine pulled things from the box.

During the week we learned about heat transfer. We acted it out, watched videos and wrote it in our own words. W experimented with ice to see how it would work.

On Friday we finally got to make and eat it. We loved thinking and creating interesting combinations to try. Our favourite was strawberry and honey. It was very sweet. We were surprised at the taste of having oats and cornflakes in our mixtures.

Thank you Schoolkit for providing our class with some awesome hands-on learning! We loved it.

Nano Girl- the scientist

We spent this afternoon watching Nano girl!

She is a scientist. She taught us lots of things to do with science. We watched some experiments. Some we could try at home, and some we can't!

 This balloon trick she showed how she could push s skewer through the balloon and not pop it. She pushed it through the part of the balloon that had the least amount of tension. We were all pretty amazed!

She showed us a chicken in a cup experiment where when you wet the string and tug on it, the sound with the cup and wet string make it like a chicken. 

We watched Ms Jones get lifted off the ground on a chair and move across the hall.

What did you like the best? Did you try anything at home?

Sharing our Nature trail knowledge

We invited other classes to come an hear about what we know about our school's nature trail and to find out what suggestions others might have for the trail.

We have been working very hard to rejuvenate the trail so we can use it. We would like to see a path the has better access, a hut or meeting place where we can sit and learn, a viewing platform at the top of the trail and perhaps some information signs on the trail too. We know about weeds and some of the other plants that are on the trail. We have been working with Sonja for our projects.

Here are some photos of us when we invited classes to walk through and listen to our talks.

Did you come with your class? What did you learn? What do you know about the nature trail?

Baby Chicks

The baby chicks were so cute and fluffy. Arabella organised to bring her chicks to school let us hold them.
The chicks came from the AMP show. There were lots of chicks. They were starting to grow their adult feathers and beginning to look less like fluffy baby chicks. They were yellow and so soft to touch. They were nice to cuddle. When we held them close to our chests they would snuggle down and go peep, peep to cheep.

Take a look at our photos and sketches of their visit. Please leave a comment if you have any questions about the chicks.

Black water rafting

Vroom! Rustle! Vroom! Roared the engine of my nana’s car! Vroom! Rustle! Rustle!

It was still a LONG drive to the mystery adventure. “Nana PLEASE tell me where we are going!”
I groaned “No! It's a surprise!” I couldn’t stand it anymore. My stomach growled in impatientness

Soon we past Te Awamutu. “OMG! We are so far away from home!” I said to myself in my mind.
Soon we passed some signs saying “Black Water Rafting” I then thought I knew where we were going.
“I know where we are going, we are going to black water rafting!” I said. “No, I'm too old to do rafting,”
said nana “we are going to the glow worm caves!” When we got there we came past this lady with a camera. The lady made us stand by a green screen to take photos of us. After that, we were in a HUGE
lobby with lots of seats. ”1:00 PM tour!” the tour guide announced and we came with him.
In the caves it was super dark. In the cave, there was a boat. When you go on the boat there are
glow worms, it's like a glow worm galaxy. When we got home the house was a hobbit house!

By Eden

Writing about our home

We have been writing about our homes. Our homes are special places and we all have different memories when we think about our homes.

We are learning to write a personal story including our senses. Please leave us a comment or question about our writing.

My house

When I am out of my house I go to the pathway and see what my house looks like.

My house looks green on the top of the roof and it looks white at the bottom.
Then I can see a deck in the front and the back.

When I go inside my house it feels warm and cosy. When I'm inside my house I can see my living room and inside the living room are four couches and one table.

My favourite couch is the black couch because it feels so soft and warm. I put a pink blanket over me and then I have a nice rest and a great nap.

By Fine

Outside summer

When I walk in my house it is shouty. It has two toilets. I like it because there is a mirror, four bedrooms and it has a garden. The garden died, so has the fruit too. The grass feels smooth and prickly. It’s also ticklish. The garden is huge and when I go outside the sun reflects on me. I feel happy because the grass is cozy.

By Hamdi

When you step into my driveway you can see a Rainbow fence. The fence look’s very rough, ‘’scratch, scratch" goes the cat as you walk past.

By Arabella

The New Zealand Shake Out

Today we participated in the NZ shake out. At 9.30 we listened to the sound bite of an earthquake and followed what to do in an earthquake.

We kept ourselves safe by following-   Drop, cover and hold!

We waited out the earthquake and prepared for after shocks. Then we checked to see if people were injured and talked about what we would do after an earthquake. 

This week we have taken home forms to fill in with our families to make sure our homes are prepared incase an earthquake or other natural disaster occurs.