Dancing With Our Little Buddies

Today we got together with our buddy class - Room 8. They taught us a dance called The King Of Spain Goes Marching.

We each had turns dancing with  our younger buddies and had lots of fun.
Thanks Room 8 kids for showing us this dance! We're looking forward to our next buddy class session.

Wheels Day/Fun Day Coming Up

Fabric Fun

Room 3 kids are learning all about Fabric & Fibre. We have been learning to identify different fabrics, and test out and compare their properties. For example, how stretchy is the fabric? Is it absorbent? Does it fray easily? Does it bounce back after you squeeze it? etc.

We worked in small groups and had fun, ripping, cutting, squeezing fabrics.

We've learnt that fabrics are constructed in 4 main ways: weaved,(like cotton shirts)  knitted/looped (like woolen jerseys or stretchy cotton T-shirts)   or are 'non-woven' which are NOT made from thread.  (Like polar fleece)

Today we practiced weaving flax. We needed to work with a buddy because one person had to hold down the ends of the flax while the other weaved .. under, over, under, over.  Then we swapped over to give our buddy a turn.

Our flax weaving looks awesome, even though it's not quite finished.   Here are some photos ...

FRACTIONFUN

We are learning about FRACTIONS in Maths.
We have been exploring finding fractions of shapes and objects.
We've learnt how to find fractions of objects by counting one in every 3 (thirds) and one in every 4 (quarters).
Some of us are learning to apply our division knowledge to work out fractions of objects.
eg: What is one third of 15?
      I know 15 divided by 3 is 5, so 5 is the answer!

We enjoy playing fractions games like Memory and creating wholes ...

Having Fun With Geometry

This is the last week of learning about shapes, position and movement.
We've been learning about the attributes of 2 and 3D shapes (corners, faces, edges), reflecting, translating and rotating shapes, and using directional words - left, right, 1/4. 1/2 and 3/4 turns clockwise, anticlockwise.

Today we had fun finding shapes that tessellate. We cut and pasted shapes as well as tracing around shapes to create cool tessellating patterns. Here are some photos:

The Halcombe School Olympics

Today was The Halcombe School Olympics!
The Student Council organised lots of different challenging activities, obstacle courses and games for all of the school to join in with.

There was a blind-folded challenge, a water-cup-carrying challenge, a gymnastics course, a bowling cones activity and plenty more.

Here are some photos of Room 3 kids getting stuck in and having a lot of fun!

Thanks Student  and Miss Simpson for organising

NZ Players Theatre

We've been having a great week at Halcombe School. On Tuesday we had a helicopter land in our field, and yesterday we watched a show, put on by the NZ Players Theatre.

The play was called The Fairest Of Them All. It had a very important message about how we shouldn't spend lots of our time fixated on social media or the internet. It's important to have good relationships with people around you. It was a very funny show.

Special Visitors

Yesterday, the whole school were surprised and delighted to have a visit from the NZ Defense Force.
All of the children  gathered on the playground, but none of them knew exactly why!!!

After about 10 minutes, there was a noise. It sounded like quiet thumping.
Then louder .... louder...!
"Something's coming!" yelled some random child. That random child was correct. Something WAS coming... Something large and powerful.

Soon everyone saw what was making all the noise. It was a helicopter. A MASSIVE helicopter! An 11 tonne Iroquois helicopter from Ohakea.

Everyone got a chance to have a look inside and ask questions.

How cool!  Here are some photos of this exciting, unexpected event ...

Thanks Mrs Simpson and Mr Borck for organising this special surprise.

Perseverance

Our Social Studies topic is Perseverance.
In room 3, we've set ourselves some fun physical challenges. We have to PERSEVERE and practice working on our goals so we can achieve them in four weeks.

First we had to work out what we COULD achieve. Then had to set ourselves REALISTIC goals.

Here are some of our challenges.

Stay tuned, to see how we go over the next few weeks!

PJ DAY!

On Wednesday it was Pyjama and Burger Day.
We rolled on up to school in our PJs or onesies, dressing gown and slippers. Some of us got 'strange' looks as we got on the Feilding bus in the morning.

It was nice to be snuggly all day, and we tried very hard not to fall asleep!
The student council organised burgers, which made the day even more special.

Soccer

Today was the last day of our Senior Sport Rotation. We had a go at practising some soccer drills and then put those skills together in a game.
Here are some photos of our afternoon ...

The Wahine

We have been learning about disasters at sea. We have been gathering and watching information on the Wahine disaster that happened in Wellington Harbour.

Netball Skills

Today we learnt some Netball skills with Miss Main. We practised having turns at shooting the ball in the hoop. This was tricky for some of us, but we persevered!
We practised passing and catching, and then put those skills together into a game.

Thanks for teaching us Miss Main!

Rippa Rugby

Last week it was Room 3's turn to have a go at playing Rippa Rugby.
We played a game called Last Man Standing. We had a space to run around and try to take the tags off other people. If you were the last one left, you were the winner!

We had relay races and practiced moved the ball around our waist and under our legs.

Then we got to play a game of Rippa Rugby. Some of us got muddy, but this was all part of the fun!

Thanks Miss Simpson for teaching us some new skills.

Stay tuned for Netball photos!

PJ & Burger Day Coming Up

Basketball Fun

Today was the first day of our Senior School large ball skills rotation. Room 3 children kicked off with Basketball.

We practiced dribbling the ball, turning out back while dribbling to evade others and we also tried 'lay ups'. That's when you aim for the backboard so the ball rebounds into the net. Tricky! But some of us got it in.

Then we had a couple of games.
Here are some photos of our afternoon ...

Pirate Day

Ahhhh! Ahoy there me hearties!
(That's pirate language meaning ' Hi there, friends'.

Today was Pirate Day at Halcombe School. The whole school got decked out in some pretty awesome-looking pirate costumes.

When Room 3 children came into class, the first thing they had to do was work out their pirate name. There was an alphabetical code, and each person was assigned their name for the day. Miss Jeynes was Captain Tinkerbell Swab. Others had names like Two-Toes Penny, or Stinky Sharkbait.


We had a lesson on "How To Speak Pirate". Here's a few important tips:
1. Always exaggerate your vowel sounds.  Arrrrrrr.
2. When you greet a friend - you say "Ahoy me hearty - or matey". But if it's your enemy, you say "Avast, ye scurvy dog!"
3. When you address people - use the correct terms: An older person is a 'Salty Seadog'. A young pirate is 'Jim Lad'. A person of a higher rank than you is 'Squire', and the captain is called 'Cap'n'.

Practice those for fun! And for some reason, it sounds better if you use an Irish accent!

We had fun acting out pirate plays, and at the end of the day, we all got into groups in the hall for some fun group challenges.

Here are some photos from our day ...

WHEELS DAY!

We had a 'wheely' fun time today, because it was Wheels Day!

The juniors and seniors had turns at riding our wheels around the school, jumping ramps and sometimes falling off !

There were scooters, rollerblades, heeleys and drift trikes. It was exhausting after a while, but everyone had loads of fun.

Here are some photos of Room 3 kids ...

Measuring Volume

Today we learnt about estimating and measuring using mls.
We got into groups and arranged 3 containers into order of what we thought would hold the LEAST through to what would hold the MOST amount of water.

We drew the containers and wrote our estimates in  millilitres. Then we had turns at filling up each container and tipped them into a measuring container. We compared our estimates with the actual measurements. Some of us were quite close with our guesses!

Estimating and Measuring

In Maths, Room 3 are learning to make sensible estimates and measure accurately. We started off by estimating and measuring objects around the room using our hand spans. We worked out that not all our hand spans are the same size, so our answers were not all the same.

We have learnt the meaning of words .... 'length' and 'width'. The length of a rectangle is the LONG side, and the width is the SHORT side.

Then we learnt to estimate and measure objects/distances in cm and metres. We have learnt that Perimeter means distance around the edge, and Area means the space inside a shape. We have been learning to calculate perimeter and area of square and rectangles.

We are now starting to learn about measuring volume (or capacity). We are learning to measure water using millilitres (ml) and litres (l).

Stay tuned for more photos ...

Can you work out what the PERIMETER would be of a rectangle that had a length of 5cm and a width of 2cm?

Do you know what the AREA would be?
Leave a blog comment!!!!

Feilding Garden Show

This Saturday is The Feilding Garden Show. Lots of schools are entering displays and you can vote for the best one. Of COURSE you will vote for the marae that the Halcombe School Green Team and some R6 children have created, won't you!?

Check it out!

The first prize is a $500 book voucher which will go towards buying new library books.
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE vote this Saturday/Sunday

Wheels Day and Pirate Day

Planting In Our Class Garden

Welcome back to term 2!

Now that the weather is cooler, and our school water tank isn't dry ... it's time to plant in our garden.
Today the whole class went out and we had turns planting leeks and broccoli.
We're looking forward to gobbling these up in term 3.

Here are some photos of us in our garden...

What's YOUR favourite winter vegetable? And how do you like to eat them? Roasted? In a soup? Please comment.

Colour Day

Today was COLOUR DAY at Halcombe School. Everyone came dressed in their favourite colour.
There were green dinosaurs, black All Blacks, pink princesses, yellow flowers, and much more.

Lots of us brought a donation which goes towards buying sports balls for schools in Fiji.

We were lucky to have 'spiders' at lunchtime. Yummo!

Dancing With Our Buddy Class

Today, (just for fun), the wonderful children from Room 8 came to our class to show us a dance they have been learning.
Some of us knew the song. It goes a bit like this ...
"E oma, e oma, tamariki ma ... E oma, e oma, tamariki ma"
(That means 'Run, children")
We sang and danced and did the actions.

Do YOU know this song?

The Minstrel's Visit

Yesterday all of the school piled into the hall to listen to The Minstrel sing songs. He had very important messages to share about fishing and keeping safe when fishing.

Today we are going to write about his visit, and we will be sharing his messages with you in the near future.

Here are some photos from the Minstrel's visit yesterday.

Colour Day Coming Up

Small Ball Skills

Now that our swimming programme is finished, Room 3 are now practising our small ball skills.
Last week it was a bit wet, so we did this in the hall.

Firstly, we each had a ball and had a go at throwing the ball up with one hand and catching with two. Then we tried tossing it higher, and clapping in between. Some of us managed to throw it quite high and still catch it!

We practised using 'overarm' to throw the ball to a buddy so they could catch it, and then tried bouncing a ball to our buddy so they could catch it. As we got better, we moved further apart.

This week, we'll be practising on the field so we can throw the ball long distances using 'overarm' technique.

Senior Swimming Sports

Whoops! I forgot to add photos from Wednesday when the seniors had their swimming sports.
Six Room 3 children participated in this event.  Jock, Maggie, Kaleb, Ruby, Annabel and Abbie. We were so proud of all these children, but especially congratulate Abbie P and Annabel S for their superb results...
Abbie came second in the Junior Championship final, and Annabel came FIRST!
Well done all our Room 3 children for competing in the senior sports.

Junior Swimming Sports

Today was the last day of swimming, and our Junior Swimming Sports!
Because it was a bit windy and cold, we did our class events one at a time, and waited in the classroom until it was our turn. Luckily the water was lovely and warm even though it was windy.

Here are some photos of us ... please leave a comment.