Mandarin Week 2

This week for Mandarin we enjoyed learning how to use chopsticks.  We were lucky enough to practice our skills by picking up marshmallows.  Some of us were very skilled!

Fair vs Equal

Every day after lunch, we have a fruit or vegetable snack and a ponder. We sometimes watch a video, read a story, or have a mat chat about something that makes us stop, think and wonder.

On Friday I put the below picture up on the whiteboard and people shared their ideas about what they saw. It was almost unanimous that the picture on the side was 'not fair'. Everyone agreed it wasn't fair because they couldn't all see the game happening. People noticed how it made the shortest person feel; they looked sad, they weren't having fun, they were missing out.

Team 16 are a bunch of thinkers alright - look at their ideas:

Next, we talked about how this could apply in the classroom. We are SO lucky to be at a school like Silverdale Normal School where there are people from all different places in one spot. We are all different and we all need different things to be successful. Some people eat lots and lots of lunch, some people eat it all at morning tea and not much later. Some people 

use lunch time to have quiet time and relax, some people have to run around and be loud and crazy in the breaks. When we are learning about Maths, some people need quiet, others need to talk, or watch, or make mistakes - and then they can do something completely different when we are learning about writing. We are all different learners with different needs.

My job, as the teacher, is to make sure every beautiful person in our class gets what they need to 'see over the fence' - to learn.

So sometimes we might see people sitting in a particular spot, or getting a bit more help, or time to do things differently, or just extra time to eat. But we are learning to remember, it's about making sure our classroom is a fair place where everyone can learn - and that doesn't mean things are always equal.

Thinking and Strategy

We have been working a lot this week on following instructions, and persisting when things feel tough.

We learned a new game today - 'Nine Holes'. We watched how to play and then got all the equipment ready that we would need to play.

At first, it was a bit confusing to work out how to win, but it didn't take long before people were trying different strategies to beat the other person.

We had a great discussion before playing about what 'good winners' and 'good losers' look and sound like. I was so impressed to see and hear some amazing and supportive things this morning as everybody played:

"Oh man, you got me good!"

"Woah, you were hard to beat that time, I think you might get me next time"

Such good sports Team 16!

Teach your friends and family how to play too!

Here is the video we watched first:

Funday Friday

This afternoon for Funday Friday, we watched a video to learn how to make mini paper helicopters.

It was tricky to follow the instructions initially, but once we had each made one, we didn't find it hard at all!

Some people even went and taught others how to make them!

It was interesting to see the modifications made by some to see how it affected the flight of their helicopter. Great fun!




Have a go at home with different sizes and different materials!

Mr Twit's Beard

We have just finished reading Roald Dahl's masterpiece - The Twits. While we loved the story, we were often totally grossed out by Mr and Mrs Twit.

On Wednesday, we read the description of Mr Twit's beard:

We used our new learning about adjectives to describe some bits of leftover food we thought might be found in Mr Twit's beard:

If you would like to practice using adjectives, there are some great online games here.

Buddy Reading

We had our first buddy reading time today with Mrs Muir's class, Room 14. We had a great time sharing and reading together.

We are already looking forward to buddy reading time next week!

Remember, we are aiming to read for at least 20 minutes each night - you can read your own books or some from school, but write it in your reading log! Reading makes you clever and takes you on amazing adventures!

Using our senses

We are going to be taking part in a postcard exchange with Fernworth Primary School.

To do the exchange, we need to each write a lone of poetry on a postcard - so we have started learning about poetry and descriptive writing.

Today we found a spot to sit outside and used our five senses to describe our surroundings.

We came up with some great descriptions for our first time:

Sight	Hear	Feel
Blue sky and the pure white clouds Kids doing work peacefully Happy people playing in the pool The green field Splashing people in the sparkling pool Ants running up the rough bark in the big tree People playing tag People working very quietly Enormous field with bright green grass Big long trees Classes learning People playing The wooden playground New, square, shiny books Working, yelling kids The trees whooshing around Long slides The classroom that is shining bright The fluttering, dancing, graceful leaves Strong, firm bricks Light, bright sun	Loud, splashing, noisy kids Cicadas going zz zz and birds singing Planes going here and there People yelling in the sparkling water People screaming and playing in the pool Loud noises coming into my ears The breeze whooshing in my ears The birds chirping sweetly The roaring, crazy kids Huge steps coming on the floor	The smooth wind running through my fingers The rough bark The fresh wind whooshing on my face Hot sun burning Rough, ridgety wood Lumpy pole underneath my bottom and the warm soothing sun The hot sun burning through my skin Hard, soggy wood Hard, bumpy deck Yucky, crunchy leaves The rough wood on the train The wind blowing softly like a teddy bear The hard wood rubbing against my back
	Taste	Smell
	The beautiful breezy wind The air, salty like the ocean The cold, strong, blowing wind The fresh air The nice, cold, wet water The sweet wind	Stinky bird poo that smells like my brother’s nappy. Very muddy, yucky, smelly, disgusting dirt Supreme fluttering flowers Fresh air Brown bits of lumpy bark The nice fresh wind and the strong smell of leaves