A bit of sad news ...

We were all very sad to find out that Spongebob died last week.  Spongebob is one of the goldfish just in case you were a bit worried.  Bubbles looks a little lonely but we'll make a point of saying hello regularly.

Those of us on the green traffic light on the last Monday of term were able to participate in the school wide BVD excitement.  That's a Bradford Values Day.  This term we had a water fight on Tuesday afternoon.  It was a BEAUTIFUL sunny afternoon and we had a hugely fun half hour.

Finally, the last Star of the Week for term 1.  This week's star is really good with the key competency of Participating and Contributing.  She is particularly good at helping and supporting her peers, especially the younger ones, and has the knack of helping without taking over.

Annashay only came to back to Bradford part way through this term.  She & her family are heading to Australia and we're really pleased Annashay is spending a few months with us in Room 4.  Well done Annashay!

Have a great holiday everybody.  See you again soon.

A short week.

Wow - we can't believe it's nearly the end of term one already!

We've been working very, very hard on our posters about a creature from the rocky shore.  We know lots about crabs, chitons and sea stars.  We've also learned about how to make a title eye catching by using bigger writing and how to lay out the information on our poster to make it look great.

There might just be some photos during the week and feel free to pop in to the classroom to see the originals if you didn't make it to our learning expo on Friday.

Here's our newest Star of the Week.

He's responsible and reliable.  He's a guy with a great positive attitude.  He's a fabulous role model.  He's ....

...  Luke

Have a great week Luke. 

Have a great week everybody else too. 

Ka kite ano

Swimming stories and a bit more time.

The fabulous authors in Room 4 have been busy writing about swimming.  Read some of our stories here.

I love swimming.  I like swimming on my back.  I don't like swimming on a board.  

by Annashay

I am splashing in the pool.  I am jumping in the pool.  I am swimming in the pool.
by Sora

I am splashing everybody.  I like to float in the pool.  I like to flip.
by Josh

Plus a story that Luke wrote a couple of weeks ago.  He put some interesting detail in it.  
I am doing athletics.  I won a medal.  I was happy.  It was a second place medal.  I got to go on the podium to get the medal.
by Luke   


We've been working really hard on telling the time using an analogue clock.  That's a clock with hands that go round.  This week we started working out how to show the same time on a digital clock and even how to start with the time on the digital clock and make the analogue clock show the same time. 

It's a bit tricky.  Especially half past twelve.  If you're reading this at home, you can help by getting us to work out the time ourselves.  Most of us are pretty good at O'Clock now but we could use some help with Half Past.  Some of us are even working on quarter past and quarter to the hour.  If you remind us to count in fives, we can work out other times too. 

Here are a few photos of some of us using the new talking tins to tell us what time to show our buddy. 

Sora pushed the button on the talking tin and Kahnye will show him the time and see if he agrees. 

The message said, "Show me half past eight."  Excellent work team.

Luke isn't a talking tin and didn't have a button to press!  He showed groups a time on the clock and the team had to work it out.  The big hand is on the six, so it's half past something.  The little hand is just past the 10 so it must be ...  Yes!!  Tom got it right.  It's half past 10.

Dakota and Caleb worked out that their message said, "Show me half past three."  Well done team!

Values focus ...
We're continuing with the same values focus this coming week.  "Respecting our environment by putting rubbish in the bin and tidying up our belongings."

See you all again soon. 

MORE swimming ...

Ohayoou  (That's Hello in Japanese - pronounced Oh-hi-Oh)

Here are a few photos of us swimming. We wrote some awesome stories today so look out for them soon.

First week of swimming

Kia ora koutou

Well it's been another full-on week in Room 4.  We've been swimming everyday and making fabulous progress in the pool.  Trouble is, Mrs B keeps forgetting the camera!  There will be photos this week ... we promise!!

We've been learning more about time this week too. A minute isn't very long but you can do quite a few things in one minute.  Some of us can write our names lots of times in a minute.  Like Nika, Caleb and Josh.  But some of us have really long names like Matthew, Charlotte, Annashay and Kerrianne so they only write their names a few times.  

This is a really short blog entry because we've just been really, super busy and tired with swimming but we do need to let you know that this week's Star of the Week is a young lady with a super 'can do' attitude.  She's new to Bradford School but that hasn't stopped her taking responsibility for her words, her actions, her learning and her belongings.  Her name is ...

Lindsay.  

Well done Lindsay!!

Ka kite ano 

Ruma whā

Room Four's Rock Pool Research

At Values Assembly on Monday we started focusing on the importance of 'liking our insides' as Campbell in Room 5 put it.  We listened to Dr Seuss's "The Sneetches" and talked about how it feels if someone looks down on you because your clothes or toys aren't as expensive as other people's.    You can have a go at sharing the video clip we enjoyed later in the week. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMolzESn4oI

I'm very pleased to say that the super dooper cool kids in Room 4 'like the insides' of their classmates and didn't really need much of a reminder about this.  Go Room 4!!!

Walk and Wheel Week

Kerrianne and Matthew were lucky enough to have their Walk & Wheel cards drawn out of the bag for a school prize and everybody who 'walked or wheeled' every day is now in the draw for a voucher for sports gear.  Good luck everybody.  

The highlight of our week was definitely the trip to Warrington Beach on Friday and there are some fabulous photos coming up but first ...

Make yourself comfortable and imagine you are at the bottom of a rock pool like we did on Wednesday last week.  We all pretended to be the creature we had been researching and wrote some cool stories from their perspective.

I am a starfish.  I eat little fish.  They are hard to catch.  The fish is yuk.  
by Caitlin

I am a crab and I eat sea-snakes.  Sea snakes taste yummy.
by Steven

I am a sea-star.  I eat fish.
by Matthew

I am a chiton.  I like algae.  It tastes good.
by Kahnye

I am a starfish.   I eat fish.
by Thomas

I am a crab.  I eat fish.
by Tom

I am a sea-star and I like hermit crabs.
by Salesi

I am a starfish.  I eat mussels.  Mussels are easy to eat.
by Koby

I am a starfish.  I eat mussels.  They are soft.  I float in water.  I like mussels and I am spotty.
by Lindsay

I am a sea-star. I eat mussels.  They taste yucky.  They are disgusting to eat.  They are soft and mushy.  They live in a shell.  I never eat the shell.  It's yucky to eat as well.
by Tigue          

On Thursday we carried on our investigation into time.  We looked at how long a minute is and made some one minute sand timers so we can check out what we can do in a minute.  

What do you think you might be able to do in a minute? 

 

And now HEAPS of photos of our fabulous Rock Pool Research on location at Warrington.  

We started with some sand art before morning tea.

Tom is engrossed in his art

Salesi and his fish

What a gorgeous day!

Steven created an awesome crab (with 10 legs of course!)

Lindsay and a couple of jellyfish

One of many of Dakota's creations.

Finally ... the Rock Pools!!!

Luke and Steven found a sea-star under a rock.  This one is a cushion star. 

Matthew, Isaiah, Charlotte and Koby were very keen rock pool researchers with Charlotte's dad, Andrew.

Charlotte was very observant and noticed what she thought looked like a bird's tail.  Mrs B thought it was seaweed but then she had another think and wiggled the rock just a little.  A fish that was the same length as Charlotte's arm from her elbow to her wrist darted under this big rock.  Can you see it's nose?

Koby found a cats eye snail.

We found a few tiny crabs. 

Baylee found a sea tulip. 

Dakota found a chiton

Kahnye found this rock with two chitons.  We compared them to our rocky shore guide and discovered that the bigger one at the bottom is a snakeskin chiton and the smaller one is a green chiton.

Sora found this cluster of shells and slimy blobs.  The shells are limpets and the dark red blobs are red beadlet anemones. 

Here's a link to show what a red beadlet anemone looks like when it is eating.  Cool eh!!

http://www.otago.ac.nz/marinestudies/database/newdatabase/694/index.html

As for Room 4's Star of the Week - well, we didn't have Star Circle on Friday because we were away for the whole day.  But we will all find out first thing on Monday morning.  It's someone who has been making great progress with the Key Competency of Managing Self ....

Tom

You're getting fabulous at Showing 5 skills for great listening.  Go Tom!!!

Swimming starts this week.  We'll all be really tired but we're sure there will be fantastic photos so don't forget to come and see.

An obstacle course, a zebra and the school cross-country race

Another busy week in Room 4

It was Walk & Wheel week during week 5.  Lots and lots of Bradford students walked or scooted to school last week.  Many of them managed to do this EVERY day so they will be in the draw for some cool prizes.  On Wednesday some seniors helped Mrs B set up an obstacle course for scooter riders. 

Here are some of Room 4 scooting around the court.

Annashay who returned to Bradford just last Tuesday.  Great timing Annahsay - just in time for the obstacle course!

Friday was incredible busy.  There was a zebra at the gate to meet us in the morning.  Strider came to give all the active walkers and wheelers an extra big hello.  He had a really soft face and enormously big, white teeth.

Salesi and his brother saying "Good Morning" to Strider

Dylan gave Strider a big hug.

Thomas & Kerrianne stopped for a photo with Strider and some girls from Room 3 and Room 6.

Friday afternoon was all about the cross-country race.  Room 4 had representatives in 2 categories because most of us ran the Year 1 & 2 race.  But some of us ran the, even longer, Year 3 & 4 race.  An especially well done to those Year 3s. 

I'm really proud of all of you in Room 4.  You all ran so much faster than when we first started to practise the course.  Room 4 rocks!!!   Mrs B

Our Year 3 boy coming second in the Year 3 & 4 race.  Well done Luke!

Caitlin (middle) who came third and Briah (right) who came second in the girls section of the Year 3 & 4 race. 

Tigue (left) ran a great race.

The Year 1 & 2 runners take off.

Isaiah took first place in the boys year 1 & 2 race.

Second place - Salesi.  

Dylan was third with Matthew a close fourth.

Nika was first in the girls year 1 & 2 race.  Baylee was second and Lindsay came a close third.

 

 

 

Some more hard working runners from Room 4.  Tino pai tamariki.

Our new Star of the Week is ...

Someone who has a 'can do' attitude.  She gives everything a go and does it with a smile.

Congratulations Dakota!!!

Rocky Shore Beach Trip this coming Friday 9 March.  

We'll be leaving school sharply at 9am to get to Warrington in time for the low tide so make sure you get to school by 8.45 because the bell will go at 8.50!!!!   

See you there.