You can't do it...YET

You know how you sometimes say "I can't do that!"
I usually say "You mean you can't do it YET...but keep trying and you will!"
I found a very groovy Sesame Street song all about YET! Enjoy!

Farewell Tahlia! :(

It was Tahlia's last day with us today. (It was also Pyjama Day!) So we all got together and took a photo or two to add to her farewell poster! We wish you well, Tahlia. You are a fantastic learner and we know you will be a shining star in your new class!

Harry Practises His Word Power...

I found Harry tucked away in a quiet corner with an iPad. He had finished his "must-do trust-you" activities and could choose what ever he wanted to do. Harry chose to practise some more. I think this is why Harry is getting better and better at Word Power and writing - he keeps trying to fit more and more words into his brain! Great learning, Harry!

Reagan Reads "Jack's Birthday"

Click here to hear Reagan read.

 Great reading, Reagan.

You can read a lot of fast words now.

We can hear you going back to re-read - what a good strategy to use.

Look at Siena's Writing!

Look at Siena's writing. Today she wanted to write a story using her fast words. Siena says she found the words in the red box and the yellow box on our alphabet card. Siena also talked with Carolyn and Tahlia about the first sounds in "dog" and "bath". So she wrote those, too. What a great story. You had lots of fun writing a silly sentence, as we all do on Thursdays.

Recording our reading...

Today we learned to use educreations to photograph our readers and record our reading.
We hope to post many examples of our reading.

Click here to watch Felix read.

Wednesday Movie Writing - Funny Penguins

Another video to make us smile! Everybody knew exactly what they wanted to say to their audience today! We wrote about the part of the movie we liked the best. Tomorrow I  will add pictures of your writing but I promised to have the video up by bedtime. I hope I made it on time, Little Einsteins?

Tahlia and the Prime Minister

Tahlia met the Prime Minister yesterday and she features in this video on the NZ Herald website. What an eventful day you had, Tahlia! What was Mr Key saying to you?

We met a T-Rex (and John Key!): Part Two

Here are some more photos from Tahlia's mum, Brenda!

We met a T-REX! (And John Key!)

 What an eventful day! We went to look at Scotty the T-Rex. His  hire truck caused a bit of excitement for Mr Key's security agents! They had a chat with Scotty's handlers and the truck moved around to i-site - then out he came!

 Wow - he is big! And LOUD!

 Reagan's sister Elise wasn't too sure about being so close - you are BRAVE Elise!
Harry looks like he is being a great friend to Reagan! How were you feeling, Reagan?
Ella is standing a little way back with her mum. Can you see her?

 

Siena dressed up as a dinosaur - you looked great, Siena! 

 Felix and Alec had a pat - you were very brave, too.

 Scotty spent quite a bit of time with Connor!

 Siena and Reagan watched very carefully a bit further away - Scotty was LOUD!

 Mr Key is our Prime Minister. He was here to meet people and ask them to vote for him.

Connor and Tahlia had their photo taken with him. Tahlia - you must email your photo to me, and I will add it in. I seem to have accidentally deleted some photos, so Harry, Reagan, Tahlia and Ella, if your Mums have any good ones, send them through! We were all there, though, it was a wonderful experience! Tomorrow you can tell me all your thoughts about it and I will blog them!

Teaching each other...

 

Reagan, Ella and Harry were working together to practise their sounds, today.

What great learners you are, using your choosing time to get better at something.

This is like fitness for your brains.

Wednesday Movie Writing - When are you happy?

This video certainly made us smile! We laughed at all the funny things the minions were doing.
We had a big talk about all the things that  make US happy. After our talking, we wrote about what made us feel happy. You can see our stories in our writing books at school.

I am happy because my mum lets me on the computer with games. Felix
I am happy when Mum lets me do what I want. Reagan
I am happy when I hear rain. Alec
I am happy on my birthday. Tahlia
I like TV and I am happy with my dog. Connor
I feel happy when I am getting lemonade from my Mum. Siena
I feel happy when I drink juice. Ella
I am happy when I play on my sister's iPod. Harry
I am happy when I am in bed and it is raining. Carolyn

Dinosaurs in Palmerston North?

 Click here to watch the video!
Click here to read the Manawatu Standard article. 

Counting to Ten

Today Harry, Ella, Felix, Tahlia and Siena counted to ten on the bead frames. Then they matched the bead frames with the tens frame monster and counted some beans, too. We didn't do the numbers In order because we were also practising reading numbers. Great counting, everybody!

Harry's Exciting News!

I do get some fun emails from the Little Einsteins - look what happened to Harry!

Did the tooth fairy come, Harry?

Felix and Siena are GREAT learners!

 We all have two "Must Do - Trust You" activities to do while reading groups are happening. Today we had to write five fast words on our whiteboard and write some alphabet letters, too. Our two new children, Felix and Siena, were absolutely focused on getting those jobs done. Well done, you two!

Writing - What would YOU tell a new baby?

We watched this movie today and then we wrote our own advice for a new baby:
Eat healthy food - Tahlia
I will tell you to eat lots - Connor
You will need to know jokes - Alec
I am going to to bounce a ball - Ella
My mum hugs a baby - Reagan
You need to read books - Harry
You need to read lots of books to learn your numbers - Felix

Counting in Fives

We have been trying this at counting time, just for fun, as our class grows and we have more fingers in our class! Counting in fives means we can count the fingers really fast. Today we took a photo and made a poster:

Challenging Ourselves on the Playground

Thursday is playground day at fitness time. It is good to be there all by ourselves - it's very busy at brunch and lunchtime. We have to do six different activities each time we are there and Carolyn says one of the things we do has to challenge us just a little bit! That means we might feel a little bit scared but we try to go a tiny bit higher or further. Carolyn comes to stand nearby if we are feeling like it would be good to have some help nearby - just in case.

We all know to talk quietly to people when we are encouraging them. 

We also know to always walk up to each other from in front, so somebody who is concentrating hard can see us coming and not get a fright when we speak to them.

 Ella did this for the first time last week - THIS week she was over the wall before Carolyn had a chance to take the photo - she had to do it twice!!

 Wow, Tahlia - you are STRONG! Tahlia is like a monkey on the playground!

 STANDING UP on the wobbly bridge - a new achievement for Alec! Last week he scooted onto the bridge sitting down; this week he walked on! Great Job, Alec!

 Harry - you are like Spiderman! Your head and feet are as high as each other!

 In the photo you can't see how Connor is swinging his body to make the flying fox move along the rail - fantastic, Connor!

 Reagan was showing some great climbing skills here: hand - foot - hand - foot...great work, Reagan.

Felix was an excellent climber, too!

Reagan Shows Us That Learning is Everywhere!

Reagan is at the beach with his family today and I just received a fun email! Reagan spotted fast words on the fridge and did some writing in the sand. Thanks for sharing! That was a fun email to open! Learning happens all around you - not just at school!

Ella's Maths

 

I made all the numbers from one to ten.

I put them on the tens frame.

I did one all  the way to 8.

I made the right number of stickers to  match the tens frame.

Great maths, Ella!

Visiting Willard Home

Ar Russell Street School, we all have a turn going to visit the residents at Willard Home. We sing, read to the residents and share our learning. Today was our first visit and we were so confident and caring. Some of the ladies we read to might come to visit us once a week and listen to us read in our classroom. Here are some photos of our visit. Each of us has written a sentence to go with our photo:

We read to them really nicely - Connor

I really liked it when I read to one of the ladies.
They smiled and laughed because they liked it - Alec

 I liked reading books - Reagan

 The ladies were nice - Harry

They made sure I was reading all the pages right and
I did one mistake and they helped me with it.
 I said "fire truck", they said "fire engine" - Ella

They liked me reading the books to them.
Two little old ladies tried to read - they did a great job!
 Tahlia

 

The ladies liked the books - Felix