Room 4's Blog 2014: Room 4's Blog 2014

Welcome to Room 4!

We are a class of 23 students (15 girls and 8 boys), five of whom are new to Matakana School - welcome everyone! We look forward to a busy, fun-filled year.

Thank you PTA

A massive thank you to the PTA who donated $100 to each class. Thank you also to the parents who support the PTA events, which helps make this possible.
We bought 6 floor cushions - we're so small we can even get two of us to a cushion. We also bought two big bags of blocks to use on wet days...we're just waiting for a wet day now.

Junior Run, Jump, Throw

On 2 December all the Juniors got together to participate in our annual Run, Jump, Throw event. The children moved, with their Year 5 helpers, through six stations - Rob the Nest, long jump, shotput, discus, high jump and an obstacle course before finishing with sprints. Thanks to the PTA, everyone got to cool down with a delicious lemonade ice block before enjoying a picnic with families on the field.

Home Learning Challenge

The Home Learning Challenge has closed for another year. What an awesome effort from Room 4 with 19 of the children completing the required number of challenges to an acceptable level. Unfortunately Gemma joined us a bit late to do this but never fear, there is always next year! We look forward to having you join us at the Home Learning Challenge assembly on November 28th.

Leo and the spider he made for his Home Learning Challenge

Leo's news

Today Leo introduced his pet bearded dragon to us. We all got to feel her skin. Did you know that Bearded Dragon's live for about 10 years? And they eat meal worms and dandelions? Thanks Leo.

Welcome to Gemma

A massive Room 4 welcome to Gemma who joined us at the beginning of Term 4. Gemma's little brother has also started in Room 1.

The Little Yellow Digger

In the last week of school the Junior Syndicate boarded coaches headed for the Big Smoke where we enjoyed watching the Little Yellow Digger at the Pumphouse in Takapuna. The actors were very funny and made us laugh. We learned that you don't actually have to talk to be a good actor.

Another highlight was our bus breaking down on the way home...it was actually a Gubbs bus and not the Little Yellow Digger that helped us out of that pickle!

Lunch in the sun before the play

The set

How many kids can you get on a coach?!

Bus to no where - waiting to be rescued!

Run, run as fast as you can!

We have enjoyed having Mrs Spenceley teach our class each Friday morning, while Miss Chittenden is away and Ms Clarkson does kapa haka. This week we made gingerbread men, helped by some of our wonderful buddies from Room 9! And, in case you're wondering...they were delicious!

Special Visitors

On Tuesday afternoon we were very excited to welcome two extra cute visitors to our class. Olive and Molly are just two of the seven puppies Luca's dog, Angel, had recently. Interestingly we also had a number of school staff 'drop by' just at that time!

Lucky Eli - in two weeks Molly will be moving in with him.

Luca with Olive

Daffodil Day

Last Friday, 29 August, was our annual Daffodil Day where we support the Cancer Society by donating a gold coin in order to wear mufti for the day. This year Matakana School raised $510.
To add to the fun it was decided to also make it crazy hair day. Check out these crazy kids...

Welcome, Eli!

We are very happy to welcome Eli in to our class. Most of the children know Eli from Room 2 so we are sure that he will settle in very quickly.

Commonwealth Games Cupcake Day

In Week 2 we celebrated the Commonwealth Games with a cupcake day - yum! Thank you to the parents who supported this through providing baking and/or money to sample the amazing food. Thank you also to the PTA who use the money raised to provide us with lots of little extras around the school.

Welcome to Nanuk

At the conclusion of each school assembly a soft toy is awarded to the best behaved class. Late in June a new member of Matakana School was introduced with Room 4 being the lucky first recipients. With that came the responsibility of selecting a name. After much discussion and voting the name was agreed - Nanuk, the Innuit name for the polar bear. We enjoyed having Nanuk in our room so created a travel diary so he could record his adventures as he travels around the school and it is great to see this being used.

Bye Jesse

Friday 30 May was Jesse's last day at Matakana School. We all enjoyed a shared lunch to farewell Jesse. Mrs Steel, Mrs Bentley and Miss Chittenden, who have all taught Jesse, came too. Jesse will be missed by us all and we wish him well at his new school in Reporoa.

Buddy Reading with Room 9

We love buddy reading! Each class in the school has a buddy class who they read with after lunch each Wednesday and Thursday. Room 9 is our buddy class. One child reads for 5 minutes, followed by the other. The children also question each other about the texts. It has been great that the seniors have shared some of their writing with us.

Sport with Tony: Term 2

We have enjoyed a sport lesson with Tony each week for the last 4 weeks. We have been working on our hockey and soccer skills.

Here Tony is trying the Maradona, initially modelled by Ben.

First Annual Matakana Feijoa Pick: 3 April

Today the Year 2 students enjoyed a visit to Rehutai Orchard in Baddeley's Beach where Deidre, John and their pickers helped us pick masses of feijoas that will be made in to yummy chutney to be sold at Gala later this year. Each student also got a bag of fruit to take home. A big thank you to Deidre and John. A big thank you also to the parents who helped out.

Check out this amazing feijoa found by Sofia - we think it looks like a duck.

MMM Sport Equipment

Each week a new box of sport equipment is delivered to our class for us to explore and enjoy. Here we are mastering the chatter rings and having fun with the elastics.

Jandal Day: Friday 21 March

Today we all enjoyed Jandal Day, especially the games the seniors organised at lunch time. Olivia King was voted the Room 4 winner of best jandals. Which pair do you like best?

Buddy Reading

Today we did some buddy reading in class. Later in the term we hope to get a buddy reading class.

Stepping Out: Thursday 20 February

Today Mr Watts came to talk to us about safety around roads. He talked with us about sneaky driveways, getting out of the car safely, crossing the road, walking in supermarket car parks, bus safety and much more. We also learned where we should cross the road if leaving the school.

Welcome!

Welcome to Lara (left) and Sunny (right) who have joined our class. Lara has moved up from Greytown. She has a brother in Year 4. Sunny has moved north from Queenstown and has cousins at Matakana School.