T-Shirts...

We have been reading a big book in class called 'T-Shirts' by Estelle Corney. It is also online so you can take a look at home...

The children in E7 wanted to design their own t-shirts, so we did.  Then we decided we would write about our t-shirts (click on the photos to take a closer look) ...

The Life Cycle of a Butterfly...

Yesterday Faisal brought in something very special from home for our class ... a piece of his swan plant complete with a baby caterpillar and 3 chrysalis. The plant is in water so that it can stay nice and fresh and the caterpillar has been nibbling away overnight.  Already he is bigger than he was yesterday morning.  We wonder how long it might take until he is ready to turn into a chrysalis too?  

Can you spot the little caterpillar?

We had a very close look at the chrysalis' and were amazed to notice the outline of the wings on the butterfly curled up inside it. We liked the speckles of gold around the top and were very interested in how the chrysalis attaches to the plant.  We are a bit concerned about when the butterflies come out of their chrysalis' - whether we'll be in class so we can release them outside, as there is little for them to live off in our classroom.  Maybe they'll nibble on the watercress we're growing?!

We planted watercress 2 weeks ago.  1/2 of them are
growing well, the other 1/2 not so much...

We talked about the lifecycle of a butterfly and everyone shared their ideas and knowledge with the class.  We came up with this flow chart of what we think happens...

We then googled the life cycle of a butterfly...

And the children wrote some stories about butterflies...

Keep an eye on our blog to see what happens next ...

All About Us...

Over the last few weeks we have been talking a lot about ourselves and our families as we settle into new school routines and get to know one another.  As part of our Inquiry topic "Marvellous Me" and our school values, we have identified that we are all different (although there are some things that are similar between us) - the way we look, our families, our ethnicities and languages we speak, what we like and dislike, how we like to learn, and how we are special just the way we are ...

"We may all be different fish, but in our class ... we swim together."

With the help of their families, the students in E7 have made posters about themselves, their families and their cultures. These are on display on our classroom Whanau Wall. Already we have found out lots about the different family structures, ethnicities, languages and cultural backgrounds represented by our students - it is a wonderful way to acknowledge and celebrate our 'uniqueness'.

Be sure to check out our Whanau Wall next time you visit...

Our First School Trip...

On Friday we went on a bus.  By Georgia.

On Friday our class went on our very first school trip.  

Everyone was very excited as we got onto the big purple bus...

On Friday we went on a bus to Petone Beach. By Faisal.

We visited the Settlers Museum on the Petone Beach.  Lara, Dilly, Amy (parents) and Mrs Gwilliam came with us on our trip.

On Friday I went to the beach with my Mum.  By Kaydi.

We were met by Jolie, from the Settlers Museum and she took us into the foyer of the museum for story time.  We heard about the early Maori settlers who came from the far north to Petone in the 1800's.  It was very interesting.  The pictures around the foyer tell the same story...

 Then we got to have a look around inside at all the wonderful displays and interesting artifacts...

Jolie told us a Maori myth about Ranginui (the sky father) and Papatūānuku (the earth mother).  You can read more about it here. 

We heard a third story about the Taniwha of Wellington Harbour - Ngake and Whaitaitai.  Nicholas, Kaydi and Rory helped act out the parts of the taniwha and Matiu (Sommes) Island.  The rest of us got to be the land and the sea.  It was lots of fun.

Afterwards we went outside and made sand sculptures of the island and taniwha.  Some of us also wrote our names in the sand near our projects.  

On Friday I went on Petone Beach.  By Mohit.

On Friday we went to Petone Beach.  By Jerome.

On Friday we to the beach.  We had fun.  By Violet. 

On Friday we went to look at the beach.  By Ollie

On Friday we went to the Petone Beach.  By Tanishka.
On Friday we went on the sand.  By Dehan.
On Friday we went to Petone Beach.  By Anvesha. 

On Friday we went on Petone Beach.  By Nicholas.
On Friday I made islands.  By Alex.
On Friday we went to Petone Beach.  By Cooper. 

On Friday we went to Petone Beach.  By Peter. 

On Friday I made a taniwha.  By Rory.