Term 2 Assembly

This week our class presented at assembly.  Here is a slideshow of the work we shared.  We chose to share snippets of our writing, reading and maths work to show all of the amazing learning we have been doing this term. 

Now we head off on holidays for a well deserved break. See you next term!

Wishtree

This term our class has been reading Wishtree by Katherine Applegate.  This story is told from the perspective of an old oak tree called Red.  Red is the neighbourhood "Wishtree" so people write  their wishes on pieces of cloth and tie them on to the tree's branches. He has many animal friends and together they watch over the people who live in the neighbourhood. 

During the book a new family moves into the neighbourhood and not everyone is welcoming to them. Some people target the new family who are Muslim and a boy carves the word "LEAVE" into the tree bark.  Samar (the little Muslim girl) and her family consider moving away however Red intervenes to bring kindness.  

This book is a fantastic read and has opened up some great conversations about prejudice, kindness and inclusion.  We thoroughly recommend that you read it!  

Keep an eye on our individual blogs as we will be posting some of our reading responses soon.

Hanmer Camp 2019

Last week Totara 3 and 4 went on camp in Hanmer Springs, North Canterbury.  We stayed for two night and had an action packed 3 days.  Some of the activities we enjoyed were orienteering, tree climbing, mountain biking, Hanmer Thermal Hot Pools and hydroslides, bush walks and of course camp concert.  Here are some movies and photos of our time in Hanmer.  Please check out our individual blogs over the next couple of weeks for more on our camp experiences.

Tree Climbing

Hanmer Thermal Hot Pools and Hydroslides

Conical Hill Walk

Mountain Biking

Camp Concert Craziness

Sculpture Walk and Orienteering

Financial Literacy

Last term we were developing our budgeting skills through a financial literacy programme.  On the first day we added 35 years to our age and then designed what we thought our life would look like at that age.  We made decisions about our family, pets, cars etc.  This then became the basis for our project.  Next we selected and income card.  Some of us were paid wages and some of us were on salary.  The card also told us if we had a mortgage, were mortgage free or renting.  We then had to calculate our weekly income and tax as well as our weekly housing payments. 

Once we had calculated these we were then given a monthly budgeting sheet to complete.  Each week we entered our income then deducted our tax and housing payments.  We then were given a grocery card to add up and deduct.  Finally we were given a fortune card each week.  Ten percent of these cards gave us money and the rest took money off us. Some examples were, school fees are due so you need to pay $50 per child based on the family you designed.  Some of us were in debt at the end of the first week!

At the end of the month we were given more bills to pay including electricity, phone and internet, insurances and car expenses.  This put many of us in debt at the end of the month. Luckily we were then given savings accounts with $2000 to withdraw from to balance our account.  Five of us banked money into our savings account at the end of the month.

This was a very eye opening experience for many of us.  We had to practice many maths skills including calculating percentages, adding, subtracting and also developing an understanding of budgeting.  We are going to begin another months cycle next week. It will be interesting to see if the same people end up with money at the end of the month.

Book Week 2019

Last week Grey Main School celebrated Book Week.  Some of the highlights were the mystery reader competition, Wacky Wednesday and Book Character day, buddy reading, golden ticket hunt as well as our door decorating competition. The doors are getting judged on Monday after school by a guest judge.  I wonder which class will win this year?

The book we chose for our door display was The Hobbit.  This is one of Mrs P's favourite book.  As you can see from the photos are door display extended just a little beyond the door.  We are very proud of our creation.

The Hobbit Door Display

Welcome Back to Term 2

Hi everyone!

Welcome back to term 2 which promises to be another action packed term. Some of the events we are looking forward to this term are;

Book Week

Kids Lit Quiz

Totara Camp to Hanmer Springs

Rugby League Tournament

Cross Country

School Production Rehearsals

Young Philosophers

School Rugby

Choir

Phew! What a list.  

Of course we are also looking forward to our class learning programmes. This term we are going to be looking at Geometry and Measurement in maths as well as our maintenance and basic facts programme.  Our literacy programme will look at poetry, persuasive writing and myths and legends.  Our inquiry is going to focus on industry that the West Coast was built around as well as links to Hanmer.  In PE we are going to look at target games and our Arts programme will be focused on drama.  This is just a snapshot of what we will be doing this term.  

What are you looking forward to the most?

Skateboard Ramp Project Part 1

Many Totara 3 students are keen skateboarders.  We are lucky to have some ramps in our playground at school however because of the increased popularity of skateboarding we no longer have enough to cater for the number of students who wish to use them.  The Skate Crew decided that this was a problem and spoke to Mrs P about what could be done.  Then a plan was formed.  

First a letter was written to our Principal Mrs O asking for permission to fundraise, design and build some more ramps for the playground.  She gave us the go ahead and so Totara 3 decided to make it a class project.  We elected a project manager - thanks Geordie and then dived straight in.  

Stage one: Raise the funds.

Our first fundraising project took place on the last day of term 1.  We held a sausage sizzle at school where students could purchase drinks for 50 c and sausages for $2. We were very fortunate that the school had some leftover sausages from previous fundraisers that we could use and we were also generously donated some.  To prepare for our fundraising event the project manager and his team had to estimate how many sausages we would need, how many loaves of bread, cups, serviettes, tomato sauce, drink etc.  

Once we had done this we created a grocery list and purchased our supplies.  We also advertised our fundraiser in the school newsletter and were thrilled with the response.

On the day we formed cooperative groups and every group had a job to do.  Some children collated orders, some prepared bread and drinks, some counted the money, some cooked the sausages and then we all served.  It was a hectic couple of hours but well worth it.


                                                                  




The fundraiser was a great success and we raised over $500 to start off our project.  Our next step is to meet with a skateboard ramp design expert and formulate a plan.  We can then cost our materials and assess if we need to fundraise more money. 

Watch this space for stage 2.