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.

Home Learning In Room 3

Room 3 are now in the full swing of Home Learning. Every Monday we take home some spelling words to practice. For most of us, these are high frequency words that we're spelling wrong in our writing. We practice them in class on Mondays, and then at home.
On Friday, our Learning Buddy tests us on these words.

We also read a book each night.For some of us, this is a book we have read in class. For others, it is our chapter book that we got from the school library. When we finish a chapter book, we write a comment in a Reading Log at the back of our KIT books, and get to rate the book out of 10.

We also practice basic facts in Maths. This might also be Number Knowledge - eg: count backwards from any number within 100. We know we will get faster with practice.

Thanks parents for supporting our learning by giving us time to practice at home.

These children are testing their buddy on their spelling words.

Josh is one of the R3 kids who is great at filling out his homework chart and recording his reflections of his learning in Maths.

Foxton Beach Trip

Today all of the Halcombe School kids had a terrific day at Foxton Beach.
Room 3 kids traveled in a bus with others. When we arrived, we got into mixed age groups and played some fun games.
Later on, we got to splash in the water in the waves. Some of us got VERY wet!
After lunch, we split up into our class groups and did different activities. Room 3 created an obstacle course with driftwood - then we got to go through it! Under ... over... around...

Here are some photos from our day..

Friday Fun Day in the Pool

Today we had lots of fun playing games in the pool. It was very different to our normal swimming lessons!
We had piggy back races, played games like Stuck In the Mud and Dolphins & Sharks, and we did a fun obstacle course. We had to swim underwater to get through the hoops and 'dolphin dived' over noodles.

What a great way to build up our water confidence!

Learning Maths Games

Today we learnt how to play lots of new Maths games that help us practice adding and subtracting. We will be able to play these fun learning games when we finish our Maths early.

This is Room 3

Today was the start of school after the big long holiday break. Here are the COOL, KIND, CARING kids of Room 3.

We have a golden rule in our class. This is it ...

We would love parents and family to read our posts this year. We will be sharing a lot of the awesome work and fun we have during the year, and look forward to reading your positive comments.

Slippery Slidey Fun!

Today, as a special treat, everyone got to bring their togs to school.
Room 6 kids set up a couple of large sheets of plastic and paddling pools and WEEEEE! Slippery, slidey fun!




Thanks Miss Simpson for organising this awesome event

Fun Athletics Day

Today was the Halcombe School Athletics Day. Everyone headed out to the field for some fun games and challenges in group rotations.  One of the activities was the Egg and Spoon race. (Well ... actually, more like Tennis Ball and Spoon Race)...

Here are some pics (along with the Tug O War challenge from yesterday)

A Special Visitor

On Friday, Room 3 were very excited to have Mr Julian Atkins (a National Fingerprint Training Officer based with the NZ Police) to come and talk to us about his experience working in Thailand after the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami.

We have been learning about natural disasters, and Julian explained what his role was in helping identify victims of the Asian tsunami. He also explained how tsunamis are caused and how we can tell if one is coming towards a beach.

Did you know if the sea water suddenly recedes (goes back out to sea) really quickly - this is a sign a tsunami could be on its way?
Don't stand and stare!  Run away from the beach. Get to higher ground - tell others on the way.

Thanks Julian for your talk. We learnt a lot.

Discus training

Room 3 have been practising athletics skills. Today we were out on the field throwing the discus.
We are working on leaning back, and bending our knees, and to hold the discus correctly.
We have to throw with a straight arm.
It looked like flying saucers on the field today!

Wellington Zoo Trip

On Friday, Room 3 went to Wellington Zoo for the day. We met up with Thom, the zoo educator, who showed us around some of the carnivores. We got to see him feed Narla and Sasha - two of the lionesses. It freaked us out when one of them growled for her food!

It was a gorgeous day, and we got to explore all the animals in the zoo. Thanks so much to all our lovely parent helpers who provided transport.

Pet Day

On Wednesday, it was Pet Day at Halcombe School.  There were cats, kittens, chooks, rabbits, calves and heaps of lambs. We enjoyed making apple head dolls and pet rocks for art in the two weeks leading up to Pet Day. Here are some photos of our day ...

Cross Country Practice

We've been training hard for the past week for the school Cross Country this Friday. Today the whole school practiced running over the paddock and through the creek.

Only 2 more days until the REAL DEAL! Here's hoping we have good weather on Friday ...

Bunnies, Bunnies, Bunnies!

Today we had a special treat. Brileigh brought her five baby rabbits into the class.
We sat in a tight circle so they couldn't escape, and we were allowed to pet them if they came close.
They were sooooo cute and were very friendly.
Thanks Brileigh for sharing your news today.

School Disco THIS Friday!

Disco this Friday!  $3 only! Get your ticket at school by Friday. See ya there

BLACK DAY

Today is Black Day. Everyone came to school dressed in black to show our support for the All Blacks for the upcoming Rugby World Cup.



GO THE ALL BLACKS!

Maths with Miss Viles

Miss Viles is teaching in Room 3. We've just finished our Fraction unit and now we're going back over addition and subtraction strategies.

Here's what the Mean Multipliers maths group did yesterday ...

Miss Viles

Room 3 are very lucky to have Miss Viles, a training teacher in our room until the end of term. She has been teaching groups in Reading, Writing and Maths.

She's also an AMAZING dancer! And she's been teaching us some cool moves as part of our PE dance focus. Stay tuned for further pics ...

BLACK DAY COMING UP

CRAZY DAY!

Today is CRAZY DAY! Everyone got very imaginative and dressed up in CRAZY clothes.
We are very proud to have raised $210 for the Feilding SPCA.

Here are some photos ...

Creating Pitch

In our Science topic - Sound, we have been learning about pitch.
Higher pitch is caused when sound waves move through the air causing FAST vibrations.
Low pitch is caused when sound waves create SLOWER vibrations.

We experimented creating different pitch - using various objects. eg; we filled jars of water and hit them with a spoon to create lower, higher and highest pitch.

We used cardboard boxes and rubber bands at different tensions to create different pitch. And we hung up tins and filled them with water. Did you know ... the more water you put in a tin - the LOWER the pitch! Most of us predicted it would make a higher pitch!

We even created the song 'Mary Had A Little Lamb" - this was very challenging, but some of us did it!

We also made plastic cup telephones. We discovered, if you attach two plastic cup together with string, and pull the string tight ... the vibrations of our voice travel through the sting, right to the ear of our buddy! We even heard our buddy WHISPER to us from about 10 metres away! It really works ... you have to try it!!!

Maths Week Fun

It's the second day of Maths Week!  Yesterday Mrs Bowles taught us. We had a fun Maths Trail with rooms 4, 5 and 6. We had to hunt for clues around the school to answer all sorts of maths questions.

Today was all about discovering and exploring tessellating shapes. We split up into 3 groups. First we made cool tessellating shapes using equipment. We mixed a variety of shapes to create unique patterns. Then we went on a hunt around school looking for tessellating shapes, which we drew pictures of. Our last activity was to go onto the maths website 'nrich maths'. We practiced making tessellations with a variety of shapes. When we make something amazing, we can print our pictures.

Check out the nrich maths website. The two activities we did today were ..
Tan's World - making animal, rocket shapes
Tessellation interactive

Crazy Day Coming Up

Very Funny Jack Flash Show

Today we saw a fantastic show put on by The Playhouse Theatre group, based in Christchurch.
It was based on the classic tale of Jack And The Beanstalk, and performed entirely by only 3 actors!

We laughed a lot at the silly characters, but also understood the hidden message about the importance of the Three R's - Recycle - Reduce and Reuse.

Here are some photos ...

Exploring Sound

For our Science topic, we are learning about sound.
What is sound?
How does sound travel?
What are different types of sound?
What makes high pitch and low pitch?

All these questions and more!  Today we learnt about VIBRATIONS. Two children held a piece of paper over a speaker and Miss Jeynes sprinkled sand over it, When she turn the volume up .. the sand 'danced'!

Then we went on a sound hunt around the class. We scraped, scratched, banged and blew on different objects to create different sounds. We recorded what we did and whether the sound we made was a HIGH or LOW pitch.

Here are some pictures ...

We are looking forward to doing more experiments with sound

Wheels Day

Weeee! On Wednesday, the whole school had a blast scooting and rollerblading around the school. And to make our day even better, the Student Council also organised burgers for lunch!
That was so much fun!

Coach House Museum Trip

Today we went to the Coach House Museum as part of our Early Settler topic.

We broke up into small groups and did different activities: We learnt how to make rope, how to set a table and about table etiquette,  we learnt about how milk was produced and transported, and how to use a machine that crushes corn for use in baking.

Then it was off to Kowhai Park for fun on the playground!

Thanks so much to our wonderful parent/grandparent helpers for providing transport and sharing our day with us.

Burger Day & Wheels Day Coming Up

Next Wednesday the Student Council are having a Wheels Day. Bring your scooter or roller blades on the 1st of July for lots of fun zooming around the school. Also, you can buy a burger! See the advertisements below ...