Fractions

Last term we learnt about fractions in maths. ½ is half and half is 2 equal groups.

If you are sharing 6 strawberries with 2 friends each friend would get 3

The 1 is for the 1 part of the circle and the 2 is for you made it into 2 pieces.

You can learn more about fractions here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7e_JGthEE-Q

By Princess

Term 4 Learning

This term is a short one with only 8 weeks. The weather is warming up and we are looking forward to summer. Here are some of our learning focuses.

Our school wide concept is: 'Changes'

We will be exploring :

How we can observe changes in our world by looking at day and night and seasons. We are planning a trip to Stardome. 

Writing:

In writing we will be looking at moment in time, 3 point plans (to help us start paragraphing) and recrafting. We will continue to use language features such as alliteration, simile and metaphor, powerful verbs, adjectives, adverbs, onomatopoeia, dialogue and staccato sentences. These skills are reinforced through our personal recounts and cameo writing. In Transactional Writing we will focus on writing instructions. 

Mathematics:

Number: addition and subtraction, number knowledge, basic facts (Weeks 1-2)

Measurement: time and temperature (Week 3)

Number: addition and subtraction, number knowledge, basic facts (Weeks 4-6)

Statistics: literacy and probability (Weeks 7-8)

 

P.E.:

We will continue to have weekly sessions with Jonty. he will teach us various athletics skills ready for our athletics day later in the term. We will carry on our discussions using the 'Kids Rich in Character' programme.

 

Sumptious Similes

Today in class we learned about similes that use as. Similes compare two similar things. They help the reader to get a clear picture in their mind. We also talked about using adjectives in our similes and giving the noun an action. Check out these examples from the students. Some of these are level 2, maybe even level 3 examples of writing!

The mountain loomed as large as ...
a huge grumpy giant.
a deadly and huge dinosaurs stomping and destroying our precious city.
the burning sun.
an enormous museum.
a ginormous stomping giant.
a fiery dragon burning the towers in the sky.

My sister ran as fast as ...
a racing car zip zapping!
a black and white striped tiger sprinting across the plain.
a white racing horse.
a fox.
a rocket flying in the air.
a flash of lightning.
a galloping horse.

Her smile was as beautiful as ...
a sparkling dolphin.
daffodils in the breeze.
butterflies floating in the air.
a fragrant rose.

ROPS Arts Festival

We are excited about 'expressing ourselves' this week through the arts. On Wednesday and Thursday we are having an Arts Festival at Royal Oak School.

Parents and Grandparents are invited to come along. There are lots of exciting things happening. Go to the school website (www.royaloak.school.nz) to see the timetable.

If your child/grandchild is in Year 2 we would especially like to invite you to watch our Folk Dancing display. Come to the hall at 11.45 to see our fabulous dancers. You may also like to have lunch afterwards with us in the courtyard by the Year 2 playground.

We hope to see you there!

We'll post some pics of the event if you can't make it.

Symbaloo

We have developed a class symbaloo account to save our favourite websites. The children can access this from home (or anywhere) by going to:
www.symbaloo.com
The username is: room11@rops.school.nz
The children should know the password. Check with Miss McClue if you have forgotten.

The tiles are colour coded.
Red - reading
Green - maths
Blue - topic
White - school websites (e.g. our blog)
Black - general

We hope this will be useful to us and we will keep adding new great websites as we find them.

Arts Rotation - Weaving

This term as part of our inquiry into how we can express ourselves the year 2 classes are having a rotation of the arts. Our first activity was visiting Room 10 and learning about weaving. In week 1 the children learned how to make fish and windmills. The second week was when they wove puti puti (flowers). It is tradition to give away the first puti puti you make. Although ours are currently on display in the classroom. Have a look at photos of some of the children making their puti puti.

When the Wind Blows

When the wind blows
dogs bark, hats scatter.
When the wind blows
teeth chatter, frogs leap.
When the wind blows
ducks flap, flowers flop.
When the wind blows
doors crash, doors slam.
When the wind blows
dogs race, hair tangles.
When the wind blows
cars zoom, waves roar.
When the wind blows
birds soar, horses neigh.
When the wind blows
inside is a haven
outside is a battle.

By Sparkly

Recrafting

In writing we have been talking about 're-crafting' our sentences to make them more interesting. We can do this by using powerful verbs, adjectives and adverbs.

Here are some sentences we changed together as a class.

The frog sat on a leaf.

The speckled green frog leaped carefully on a slippery leaf.

Sophie walked to the park.

Sophie strolled slowly down to the dangerous park.

The washing hung on the line.

The damp washing flung and swayed noisily in the fierce gale.

Winter Poems

Today we did some environmental writing. We wrote about winter. Read some of our fabulous poems!

July
Rain is shooting stars dripping down our window.
Rain swivels down your bumpy roof.
I sit next to the toasty fire and my teeth chatter.
Lightning flickers like a light going off an on.
jstar

July
Raining is like shooting bullets making terrible puddles.
Lightning is like missiles destroying our city.
I feel delightful when I cozily sit next to the boiling hot fire like a dragon is blowing the fire for us.
rocky

August
Gale force winds whooshing through the trees.
Heavy rain dashes on the hard concrete.
Lightning flashes in the night time sky.
I feel gloomy when the lightning flashes.
firestorm

Term 3 Learning

This is some of what we will be learning this term in Room 11. It will be another busy term!

Our school wide concept is: 'Express Yourself'

We will be exploring :

How we can express ourselves in positive ways through the arts (dance, drama, music and visual art). The Year 2 classes will be rotating through the various rooms to explore these different aspects. We will also be learning Folk Dancing on Mondays and Tuesdays. In Week 9 there will be an Arts Festival Week where you can view our Folk Dancing and various art expressions. More details to follow later.

Writing:

In writing we will be looking at 3 point plans (to help us start paragraphing), alliteration, simile and metaphor. We will also continue to use powerful verbs, adjectives, adverbs, onomatopoeia, dialogue and staccato sentences. These skills are reinforced through our personal recounts and cameo writing. In Transactional Writing we will focus on writing instructions. 

Mathematics:

Number: addition and subtraction, number knowledge, basic facts (Weeks 1-8)

Students who are stage 4 and above will complete 2 weeks of multiplication and division also.

Measurement: length and area (Weeks 9-10)

Some of the Events this Term include:

Sausage Sizzles - 15 & 29 August, 12 & 26 September

Book Week - 15 to 19 August

Room 10 & 11 Assembly - 9 September

Disco - 16th September

3 way conferences - 20 & 22 September

Art Festival - 28 to 30 September

Art Auction - 30 September

Shapes Galore!

We have been learning about shapes and making patterns. Check out the shape pictures we made in the ICT room.

If you would like to have a go here's the website:
http://www.mathcats.com/explore/polygons.html

Harold's Healthy Lesson

Wow! What fun we had visiting Harold the Giraffe. We learnt lots of things about healthy eating.

Do you know about the food pyramid?
Red means eat a little. Foods in the red zone are sweets and treats.
Orange means eat some. Foods in the orange zone are dairy products (good for teeth and bones) meat and beans.
Green means eat lots. Foods in the green zone are fruits, vegetables, breads, pasta and grains.

We learnt this saying:

Food + Water + Oxygen = Energy

Watch our video! We hope you like it!

Exposition

We have learning about writing an exposition in class. An exposition gives an opinion and tries to persuade someone to think the same.

We used the following success criteria:

I will:

• write a title

• write an introduction that says what we think about the issue

• write 3 reasons for what we believe

• write a summary that says our opinion again

Here are a few examples about our favourite toys.

Best Toy

I think the best toy is a puppy.

Firstly the puppy is so quiet and cuddly that you can sleep with it every night.

Secondly it is like a fluffy pillow and it is so cute.

Finally it is so warm like the sun and it has a twitchy nose.

Just remember if you have the toy puppy that's great! It is quiet, fluffy and it is warm like the sun.

By Princess

The Best Toy

Which toy is your favourite? I think the best toy is a beyblade.

Firstly you can play with lots and lots of people, no matter how big and small they are.

Secondly you can mix the pieces to make an awesome beyblade and a more powerful one too.

Finally you can rip your beyblade round and round so that you can follow with your eyes because it spins up to 1000 spins in one second.

I think everyone should have a beyblade.

By Rocky

Harold

We are excited that today we are going to visit Harold. We will go inside his special classroom! He is going to teach us about eating healthy food and keeping our bodies healthy.

If you like to go to his website click the link below. You can play games, sing songs, colour worksheets etc.

http://www.lifeeducation.org.nz/KIDS.html

We hope to post soon about what we learn from Harold.

Junior Assembly

Room 11 is leading the Junior Assembly this Friday. Parents are invited to watch if they wish. Assembly starts at 12.30. We are looking forward to sharing one of our favorite songs with the other Year 1 & 2 children.

Lines for Louis

Louis is a delightful Year 3 boy at Royal Oak School who was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes two years ago. His family is fundraising to get him a pump that will greatly improve his life.

On Friday the school had a mufti day. Children were encouraged to wear stripes, lines or checks and bring a gold coin donation.

In total $1731.30 was raised. This is a great help to Louis and his family. Well done ROPS community!

If you would like to know more about this genetic condition follow the link:
http://www.diabetes.org.nz/about_diabetes/type_1_diabetes

Term 2 Learning

We are almost half way through the term now (where did that go) and have been working hard. To summarise what we are learning this term:

Our school wide concept is: 'Past, Present, Future'

We will be exploring why: 

Toys/games are important to a range of people of different ages and cultures. 

Some toys/games have changed over time, whilst some are still the same.

Big Questions: 

How have toys/games changed over time? 

Which toys/games are the same/different? Why?

 

Writing: 

We have been/will be looking at powerful verbs, using a hook such as onomatopoeia; dialogue; staccato sentences. These skills are reinforced through our personal recounts and cameo writing. There will be a particular focus on Transactional Writing: Exposition and report related to our topic. 

 

Mathematics:

Number: multiplication and division (Weeks 1-2)

Number: addition and subtraction, number knowledge, basic facts (Weeks 3-8) 

Geometry/ Algebra (Weeks 9-11)

Toys and Games

Our topic focus for this term is how toys and games have changed over time. We will be visiting Howick Historical Village this Thursday 9th July.

Please return your permission slip and payment if you have not already done so.

The link to the Howick Historical Village website is: http://www.fencible.org.nz/

We are looking forward to seeing some of the different toys and games that people played in the early 1900s.

I hope the Room 11 children are having fun getting their costumes ready!

Baking Delights

Yum yum! On Wednesday Room 10 and 11 baked delicious Hot Cross Buns and amazing Anzac Biscuits. First we put milk and boiling water in a jug then sprinkled on some brown yeast. We watched in amazement as the yeast bubbled up. Next we added the liquid to the dry ingredients and mixed it up. After a rest we shaped the dough into buns and let them rise again. Miss McClue squirted crosses on our buns. A lovely Mum helped us to cook them in the hot oven. They looked yummy and smelt delicious!

To make Anzac biscuits we put sticky gooey golden syrup in with flour, rolled oats, sugar and coconut. Then we added melted butter and baking soda dissolved in boiling water. We stirred the mixture carefully. Next we rolled the dough in our hands and squashed it a little on the baking paper. The tasty biscuits were cooked in the oven. They tasted crunchy and buttery!

We loved making Hot Cross Buns and Anzac Biscuits. We hope we can bake again!

By Room 11

Our Voki

Powhiri Recounts

In week 9 we welcomed ERO to our school. We started the week with a powhiri. Here some recounts of the events.

Powhiri
"Today is the day of the Powhiri". I was so excited and there were lots of speeches. We sang a song to them. At the end they touched noses. They had something to eat and had a talk.
By J-Star

Powhiri
"Yay the visitors came". The old lady said in maori "Please come" Then another lady said in Maori "We're coming". The kapa haka group sang and I think it was great.
By KingT

Art Gallery Trip

Today we went on the fantastic Art Gallery trip. In the studio we made portraits. We had to draw around a face stencil and draw around our hand. Then we drew our favourite things in the middle. Next we put ink on our finger and filled the hand with finger prints. Finally we put hand prints on our paper. We had to wash the messy ink off our fingers.

In the gallery we saw amazing art. We saw paintings of people done by Gottfried Lindauer and John Goldie. We liked the art piece that was lots of coloured knitting. Jack counted that there were 140 circles. They looked like a rainbow.

Nicknames

Today in the ICT room we watched a Hector's World clip about internet safety. It taught us not to use our personal details on the internet. We have created nicknames to use when we are on the internet and posting on our Blog. It was great fun thinking of some creative names!

Here is the link for Hector's World if you want to learn more:
http://www.hectorsworld.com/island/index.html

Welcome

Welcome to 2011! What an exciting year of learning we have ahead. We hope to be able to use this blog to inform our parents and friends of the exciting things we do in class. Keep checking back to see our updates.

We are a Year 2 class at Royal Oak Primary School, in Auckland, New Zealand. Our school is next to the beautiful Cornwall Park and we have several oak trees around. This year we are fortunate to have 3 computers in our classroom to help us with our e-learning.