On Friday 23 August our school held the Language Festival where all children could recite a poem in their first language.  We were very proud that Ala in our class learnt a Tongan poem which she then recited in front of everyone.  She was very shy but she did well and won the Year 1 and 2 section.  Well done Ala!  This picture shows Ala all dressed up in her traditional Tongan clothes.  She is beautiful.

On Thursday 22 August the Kowhai team from our school got up early to catch the bus to take us to Napier.  We went to look at the rock pools on the shore at Ahuriri first.  Sadly it was raining and we had to put our jackets on.  The Aquarium staff met us there and helped us look at the pools on the rocks.  They were wet and slippery and so we had to be careful.  We found lots of little animals; crabs, starfish, cats-eyes, mussels, sea snails, little fish, limpits and chilton.  There were also some kina.

Katrulena with some cushion starfish and a spiny starfish.

Tuiva studying a shellfish.

Margaret with a sea egg.

Seila loved the cats eyes with their swirly patterns.

We are all very busy at the Rocky shore.

As we were getting a little wet we then got back on the bus to go to the Aquarium where we were luck enough to be able to eat our lunch and watch the big sharks and stingrays swim around with all of the other smaller fish.  This was a great way to start our tour.    We were then split into three groups, the sharks, the alligators and the stingrays.



One group went on a tour of the aquarium first starting with the tunnel through the big tank.  This was where all the sharks and stingrays were swimming with the other fish. 

We went to the classroom and Jake talked to us about the animals on the rocky shore and where we would find them.

 

We also watched the penguins being fed.  They were very shy and we had to be quiet - that was hard as they were so cute!!

 

We were all very tired at the end of the day as it was long and it was dark when we got home.  A fantastic trip, and a big thank you to our parents that came to help us.

 

 

At the end of term 2 we celebrated our financial literacy unit by holding a Market Day.  We had been earning Kowhai Dollars at school by using our U ROCK behaviour, and then we saved these dollars to spend at our market day.  We had made lots of items to sell at our stall. 

We made little cards, pet rocks and beautiful big flowers that we decorated with buttons and baubles.  We also decorated ginger-bread men to sell.  It was very exciting and we were proud of our work.   Everyone enjoyed our market day.

Special Visitor

This week Room 2 had a special visit from a "SUPER HERO!!".   Captain Cash-Tastic came to our class and we learnt about our money.  We thought about the difference between our "needs" and our "wants".  We had lots of fun and even practised our super hero poses!    Captain Cash-Tastic came to us from the ASB bank.  Thanks very much for the visit Captain Cash-Tastic.

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Measurement

Over the past two weeks we have been measuring a variety of objects in our classroom.  Yesterday we used some balance scales to weigh different objects to see which was heavier.  We were pretty good at estimating what would be heavier before checking with the scales.  It was a lot of fun.

We have been learning about writing descriptions of characters.

We have been learning about writing descriptions of characters.  Here are some of our first examples of our writing.

The girl looks at the show.  She looks like she's scared.  She's staring at the show.  Dreshaun.

My Mum works at the airport and we help her clean then we play at her work.  Katrulena

My Mum works at Chiswick.  She cooks the meals.  After work she picks me up and she takes me home and I go on my computer and I play games and I watch movies.  Hayden.

My Mum looks after me and my baby brother and my Mum makes the meals.  Keanu

My Mum is cooking some bread.  Mum is a good cook.  She bought my bike because she is nice.  Faatoelau

The boy was jumping up and down on the trampoline.  He has red hair and he is happy because he likes jumping up and down..  Seila

The boy went on the trampoline.  He looks happy.  He has red hair sticking up.  Troy

My Mum is nice to me when I am crying.  She likes woodworking and she is good at it.  Max

The boy is jumping on the trampoline.  He looks happy because he is having fun.  Tyreese

Th girl has a blue skirt and a red top.  She's about 6 years old and she has black sticky up eyelashes.  Troy

The boy is jumping on the trampoline.  The hair is red. The t-shirt is green.  Pariz

The girl looks like she has make up on.  She is about 6 to 11 years old.  She has a red top.  She is blonde.  She has pig tails.  She is a school girl. Margaret.

Term 1 2013.

This year we are all now Years 2's and most of us have just turned 6 years old.  We have been very busy swimming in our school pool, learning swimming techniques.
We demonstrated our newly acquired skills to our parents at our school swimming carnival and it was very exciting.  Our parents were very proud.