What we wonder about Dinosaurs...

This week in writing time we wrote about dinosaurs.


First, we wrote down all the facts we know about dinosaurs and shared these with our group.


Then we wrote down what we wanted to find out about dinosaurs.
We tried to use these words at the start of our questions-


When     Where      What     Who   Which   How

We also remembered to put a question mark at the end.

Painting Faces

One of our reading groups has been reading a book called Painting Faces. 

The materials we used to paint our face were: 

-  face paint

- paint brushes

- a mirror

Then, we followed the instructions in the book and painted our faces! 

Kicking off our Science Inquiry with a bang!

We have started our Science Inquiry with balloon experiments this week.

For the experiment we discussed ways that we could make the balloon fire proof! We made predictions about what we think might happen.

We learned that if we put water in the balloon, the water would soak up the heat and the balloon wouldn't pop!


We also had lots of fun learning about static electricity.

We made friction by rubbing the balloon on the material really fast.

Then we used static electricity to make the hair stand up and move paper!

Thinking of how we can help our caretaker

by Kadyn

 Phil, our caretaker, has a problem with the stones in our rain gardens. The stones seem to end up all over the courts!!!

This week we have been brainstorming how we can help Phil with this problem. 

Some children made posters to help remind everyone about not touching the stones in the rain gardens

We love growing our brains during Dance, Drama and Music

Today was the last day with out Dance, Drama and Music teachers for Term One.

T14 made puppets! 

Then we got into groups and practiced our play. Our puppets were the characters. 

We tried really hard to change our voices and get into character. 

T15 were lucky enough to be using Xylophones to practice their music making. 

All of the children were working really hard to listen carefully and follow the teacher's instructions.

Creating Communities

Ti Kouka have been doing lots of learning about what makes a community. We think we are lucky to be part of the Halswell School community. We have published some of our writing. It is on the wall in the studio. We would love it if you came and read it.

The Flying Fish

Today the Takahe reading group read a story called The Flying Fish. The book inspired some children to make their own flying fish kites.

They had to run fast to make their kites fly.

Other children joined in by making their own kites. They used the colouring in pictures they had finished and turned them into kites.

Being Interactors and Showing Resilience during Play

Today there were lots of creative things happening during our play session.

We had a group of children who wanted to build a hut on the climbing frame. They found it very tricky to make the blankets stay up. They kept trying lots of different ways until they could make it happen. It was great to see that they worked as a team, stuck at it and eventually got their hut built.  

Today we also had lots of children creating games together. There was lots of idea sharing and turn taking. 

There were even some people who made new friends. 

We also had some children who wanted to show that they cared for our school. They decided to see if there was any rubbish to pick up. What great Halswell School citizens!!!

Huritini's Assembly

Today the children did a fantastic job of sharing their learning with the school. All our presenters were incredibly brave standing up in front of the school and talking.