WDS Cross Country

We have been practicing for weeks for our own WDS Cross Country, and the Taieri Schools Cross Country being held next week. 
This week we had a lovely winter's day for our race. The sun was shining and we had many parents along to support & cheer for the children. One of our parents was brave and fit enough to run with the children! We all noticed the commitment, effort, and encouragement for others shown by the children.

Year one place getters.

Year 2 place getters.

Year 3 & 4 place getters.

Museum Trip Rock Solid

Last week we had a great trip to the Otago Museum and took part in two programmes. The first programme was rock solid where we watched our Museum teacher, Kate show us how to make a volcano with food colouring ,baking soda and vinegar. 



Our teacher Kate makes a print in sand from Dorothy's hand and then pours in 'plaster of paris' to show how a fossil would be made millions of years ago.

In the second programme we found out from our museum teacher, Kim that ancient vases told stories. She told us an exciting story about a vase. Then we looked at the other vases and made up our own stories!



The Man and the Bird

Three Men and a Woman



Our whole class are excited to be learning about rocks and fossils. Already we have a rock collection for the science table.

 Welcome to Term 3 - from Room One

Term 3 has started with our highly engaging topic, Digging up the Past, where we are finding out about landforms, what makes our land change over time and what is under the earths crust.

Room One Sail the South Pacific Ocean!

Jack M, Jack G, Beatrice and Evie are fishing for food.

Yesterday Room One made pretend sail boats out of classroom furniture because they were learning about how the first Polynesian sailors came to NZ. Children split up into 3 groups and made a boat each. They used drama to explore ideas, thoughts and feelings in response to a story that Mrs Lunn told about how the Polynesian settlers made their way down to NZ.

Preparing to sail.

Lets make a plan for traveling to a faraway land.

Sailing on the South Pacific!

Welcome to Term 1 2015!

 We hope you enjoy reading about our cool learning on the  Blog.

This Term, our Inquiry learning topic is " Sailing the Seven Seas".

Our Big Question is:

How has ocean & water travel, and exploration affected people's lives?

We will be learning about some of the early sailors and explorers that came to New Zealand. Also, we will be thinking about how boats are made, and how they and other objects float and sink.

Room 1, 2015, holding the produce from our EE garden.

Bee Swarm Stories

After the bee swarm experience we did lots of talking about what we had seen and learnt. We checked out information about bees and the way they go about their daily lives.
Marcel told us why the bees were swarming  - which was because of the cold weather they are hungry and want to make a new colony somewhere else.
Here are our lovely stories - 

by Max

The Day of the Bee Swarm

Yesterday we found out that there was a bee swarm opposite Charlie's house. Charlie's Mum helped to transport the school up to the spot to have a look.
What a sight... and just when we are asking questions and finding out all about bees. Only last Friday we had read a book called Nana's in the Plum Tree which was all about a bee swarm.

Six thousand bees are swarming on the  wooden post.

Marcel is looking for the Queen Bee. He found her!

Marcel is shaking the swarm into the bees' new home.

We were lucky to see a bee swarm

Trip to the Art Gallery and the Botanic Gardens.

Yesterday we went into Dunedin and visited one of our favourite places - the Dunedin Art Gallery. Our theme was minibeasts of course! John took us around the gallery to look at several pictures that could relate to minibeasts. For example, we looked at an artwork which was perfectly symmetrical & John compared it to the symmetry of butterflies. Another picture of  New Zealand bush on the West Coast was the perfect opportunity to talk about two annoying insects, the sand-fly & the mosquito.
After our Art Gallery tour we went into the classroom and created amazing minibeasts artworks. We worked very hard on these and we hope you enjoying viewing our art.

Ben, Jack G, Madeleine, & Jack M.

Ethan, Cooper, Charlie, & Max.

Michael, Dorothy, Evie & James.

After the Art Gallery we traveled down to the beautiful Botanic gardens where the weather gave us a big treat - it was beautifully warm and sunny! We had a picnic lunch , a play on the playground & then we went on a scavenger hunt. The scavenger hunt asked us to find all sorts of interesting things but the fun part was finding all the other interesting things that weren't on the list! Our group found  little trout in the stream and two big paradise ducks in the duck pond..All too soon it was time for us to pack up and head back to school. We felt like staying much longer!


Take a photograph of your favourite cacti.



Find a tree with interesting bark.



Find and name minibeasts that you spot in the pond.

Trip to Earthlore

Secret agents reading the clues from the crime scene.

Last week WDS travelled down to Owaka to visit Gordon Thomson at Earthlore to learn about minibeasts. Gordon and Janine are very passionate about protecting insects and other minibeasts in our environment and have created a special haven for these creatures. We had some wonderful experiences, including a chance to be bug detectives and watching a special flea circus ( the world premiere!)We also planted a host plant and a food plant for the endangered NZ copper butterfly. We had a great day!

Come and join the spinning and weaving club...If you have 8 legs of course.

Gordon is showing us the clues at the crime scene.

This spider has a big egg sack.

We planted 2 plants in the Red Copper Butterfly Habitat with Gordon.

Taieri Athletics Nov 4th

Taieri Athletics Day

Room One had a great morning at the Taieri Athletics despite the cool weather.

The vortex was fun and interesting and I saw a stronger thrower. He threw the vortex much further than anybody else. (Charlie)

I liked the vortex and I got into the finals. (Max)

The push throw event was cool and I almost got over the line and into the finals. (Cooper)

I liked to run in the short race. I moved my arms and legs really fast. I threw the vortex and tried my hardest. (Ben)

When I was in the Long Distance Race I passed lots of people. I liked getting the yellow beach flag. (Michael)

I loved the three leaps, especially holding the ball between my legs. (Ethan)

It was cold at the athletics and I had to go and huddle up on the tarpaulin in the shelter. (Dorothy)

Michael and I passed each other lots during the Long Distance Run. (James)

I threw the vortex further than anyone else in my heat. (Evie)

Here are the results for the Room 1 children.

5 year old boys Jack McKeay Vortex Throw (1st)

5 year old boys Jack McKeay  3 Leaps (3rd)

6 year old girls Madeleine Clarke 3 Leaps (3rd)

6 year old boys Jack Girvan 3 Leaps (2nd)

7 year old girls Amber McKeay  3 Leaps (3rd)

Charlie and Jack G wait to compete in the agility poles.

Welcome to Term 4

Hello everyone

Term 4 is shaping up to be a fun and busy one.
Please check our blog and feel free to comment and ask questions specific to the post.
We love to hear from you as the interaction is what brings the blog to life.
During our first week we created some beautiful "spring flower and mini-beast" art that was displayed at the Plant Fair.
These paintings were made using chalk for our very beginning sketch and then once we were satisfied with our back ground we drew over the chalk with black vivid.
We used only dye from this point on.
We all used the same green dye for our backgrounds but got to choose from red, pink, yellow or orange to colour our flowers.
In stages we added depth and texture, still using the same chosen  colour, but a bit more concentrated. Our final stage was to choose one other colour and add some interesting patterns to our flowers.
 Finally we added designs to our background in a deeper green and we got to place the mini beasts we made with black paper and pastels.
We think they look great.
What do you think?

James,Ethan, Dorothy & Ben

Max, Jack M & Madeleine

Charlie, Jack G, Evie &Michael.(Michael has not finished his yet)

The Little Lakesiders (The Four Year Old Club)

Left to Right:

Front: Michael,Evie, Dorothy, Beatrice James

Back:Ben, Charlie, Jack M

We have now had two, four year old club sessions and they are proving to be very rewarding for both the teacher and the children. The children are pictured here wearing their cat hats they made after reading all about Greedy Cat!