Term 2

Week 10: Harold the Giraffe and the Life Ed van

Today we had our first session with Harold and Corinne in the Life Ed van.

We are learning about: 

• What makes a good friend?
• How do we know what other people are feeling?
• What are the impacts of the decisions we make?

We came up with some great ideas about what makes a good friend.
A Good Friend is:\

• Kind
• Helpful
• Sharing
• Different

Harold showed us that we can disagree with our friends but still be friends. We came back to class and made finger puppets to bring home. We can use these to show how we can be a good friend.

Harold sells souvenirs that we can buy. If we are allowed to buy one, the money can go to Mrs MacBeth as she will get it from Harold for us. We can choose from: 

• Banner pens $2
• Badges $2
• Notepads $3
• Jokebook $5
• Keyrings $7.50
• Large Harold Toys $20

Our next session is on Thursday. We can't wait!

Week 9: The Day the Crayons Quit
Our production is over and what a great time we have had. Thank you for your support over the past few weeks. In particular, Thank you to Natalie Gibb, Linda Broadfoot, Diana Millar and Kerryn Green for your help with face paint.

I hope you enjoyed our show as much as we loved putting it together. In case you missed it, or want to show grandparents, here is a video clip of our dress rehearsal.

Week 6-9: Junior Production

The last few weeks have been all about preparing for our production. We are so excited to share "The Day the Crayons Quit" with you. 

Here are the lyrics to our finale song. It would be great if you could let us practise at home over the weekend.

See you next week at our Performances. 

Week 5: Science Roadshow

We have the Science Roadshow truck visiting Torbay School this week. At lunchtime today we went to visit the show. 

First we had a session with the Educators. 

 

Next we were able to explore the experiment stations. 

 

Edie & Juliette are looking at dating trees with ring growth patterns. 

 

Emily, Levi and Hannah explored good and bad carriers of heat. 

 

Lachie and Alex looked at radiant energy- energy from heat
And finally we watched another show where the educators created chemical changes. We loved the "Elephant Toothpaste"

Weeks 1-4: Visual Arts - Construction
During the term we have been designing and creating Robots with Mrs Kelly in room 22.

We Are Learning To:

• develop our awareness of life in the future.
• share ideas respectfully when it is our turn.
• design a robot that can complete a job.
• identify materials that are suitable for the task.
• follow a design to construct a robot.

Ask me about my robot. This is our success criteria (how we know we have done good job.)

• I can create a robot to demonstrate my future job
• I can share my prior and new knowledge 
• I can work cooperatively with others

Our finished robots are now ready to go home. We are so proud of our creations. 

 

Week 4: Cross Country:
In the beautiful sunshine, we ran our annual Junior Cross Country today. We were very proud of our effort. We had fun and tried our best. Congratulation to our learnes who placed.
6 year old boys:  Macaki 2nd

6 year old girls: Edie 3rd,
                        Agnes 4th

 

 

 

Week 3:
For the past 8 school weeks, we have had the pleasure of having an exchange Teacher from Indiana, Lauren Forbes, working with Room 22 & 23. Today is Lauren's final day in New Zealand so we asked her to write this week's post:

Kia ora!
     I have loved getting to work with the staff and students at Torbay School for the past 10 weeks.  While teaching here in New Zealand I have also been able to travel around the country and take in all that it has to offer.  I have been here as part of a cultural immersion program specifically for teachers, through my University.  It is going to be hard to leave, but I am so thankful to have had the opportunity to work and travel here.  
     Throughout my time here, I have been able to go on several school trips and learn about everything that Torbay offers for its students.  Some of my favorite memories here are watching how excited the students were to learn about sea creatures during the Term 1 Year 2 trip to Long Bay Beach.  I have also gotten to work with the Year 5/6 teams and learn a little about the waterwise program.  While I am not looking forward to going back home and leaving New Zealand, I am eager to share all of these amazing things with future colleagues and family.  
    When I return home, I will have officially graduated from University and be on the job hunt to work in an Elementary in Indiana.  New Zealand, Torbay School, and Rooms 22 and 23 will always have a special place in my heart.  I am eager to continue my journey and hopefully return to New Zealand at some point.  
   Thank you for everything and helping to make my experience so memorable.  





MOTAT - Light and Mirrors



We have had a fantastic day at MOTAT. We explored the new Innovators exhibit where we got to jump on a Springfree Trampoline with a Tgoma that turns your body into a game controller.

We experimented with Simple Machines likes pulleys, screws and ramps. and

We discovered the origins of the technology we have now in the Get Smart exhibit. Mrs MacBeth and our Parent helpers loved looking at things from their past.

Our final activity at MOTAT today was time with Abby, our Educator in the Discovery room. We had time to explore 6 tables with experiments about light and colour. 

We took turns to shine a torch through different windows and decided whether the window was transparent (all the light can pass through), translucent (some light travelled through and some was blocked) or opaque (light was blocked). 

We mixed colours together with colours lights. We discovered the colours we could make by mixing different colours together. 

We created shadows by blocking light. We made explored making big shadows and little shadows as well as different shapes. 

We investigated how we see things and rested our eyes using an eye chart and glasses. We looked at numbers hiding inside colourful circles to see if we are colour blind. We also looked through kaleidoscopes. 

We looked to see if objects reflect light (bounce the light back) or refract light ( bend light to show a rainbow). 

And we also looked at objects that reflect well like mirrors and disco balls. We discovered that shiny, flat objects reflect the light best. We had fun with seeing our reflection in some curved objects. 

Thank you to our Parent Helpers. We could not do these trips without you. 

Week 2: 

We have had an amazing, busy week. We got to have a free session of Inflatable Football. WE loved the inflatable pitch.

And we had a visit from Rochelle from Auckland Transport. Rochelle talked to us about Child Restraints and how we should be 148cm tall before we stop using our half booster seats.

We are so exicted for MOTAT on Friday.

Cross Country

While I was at a course today Room 23, in glorious sunshine,  met the Year 2's and 3's up on the top courts to practice for our Junior Cross Country event.  After a warm up to stretch out our muscles, the children lined up in age order and set off along the course.  Although it was a little muddy in places, the children were soon racing across the grass, down the bank, along the fence and past the new fitness trail on the bottom field.  Heading back up to the courts past the car track they were encouraged to try a second lap before finally warming down on the courts again.  We definitely have some great runners in these years and we're looking forward to a little friendly competition on race day.  Ka pai everyone!

We will be practising as often as possible over the next few weeks so it would be helpful to have good running shoes. We have talked about bringing slippers to wear inside so our muddy shoes can stay outside. We have also talked about bringing a spare pair of shorts / trousers in case of accidents in mud. 

More details of the day will follow, so keep your eye on the fortnightly newsletters.