Room 22 (Ashgrove Satellite Class)

Wow, that holiday break went fast! It feels like we have never been away! Term two has got off to a really good start, despite being stuck inside on the first day due to rain. Fingers crossed the weather is kind to us this term and we don't have too many wet days. A couple of awesome additions to our class this term: Firstly, we have a new teacher assistant called Nellie who is going to be working one day each week, sharing with Steph who is now going to be working four days. (Sorry I didn't get a photo of Nellie on Monday!) and secondly, we have welcomed a new student, Savannah, to our class as well! Savannah has just turned 5yrs old and has settled in really well so far. Sophie-Marie is loving having a second girl, to help balance out all the boys! Welcome to you both, we are so pleased to have you in Rm22 with us.  Also, this term sees the "Milk in Schools" program return to Ashgrove. This means that every day our students receive a carton of milk from ...

Just a quick post but there are two things I wanted to share with you. Firstly, one of the Ashgrove students who comes to visit us most days today brought us a very special picture which she had drawn for us! Thanks so much Brooke, I have put it up on our wall for everyone to see. We love having the other students come and join us in our class and play with us in the playground, we have made heaps of new friends this term. Secondly, tomorrow we are going to a special farewell assembly for Mr Daniel as it is his last day as Principal of Allenvale School. We have made him a very special goodbye card from our class - every student (and adult) made their own petal, then we joined them all together to make a flower card. Sophie-Marie will present it to him on behalf of us all at tomorrow's assembly. Two other students also have special jobs to do at the assembly, I will try to remember to take photos of it all and share them with you tomorrow. One day of Term One to g...

Today we were lucky enough to be invited to watch Mahuri (the Year 4/5/6 students in the block next to us) during their dress rehearsal for their production "Alice: An Adventure in Wonderland".  We have seen them practising outside our classroom over the term so were all looking forward to seeing the finished product. The show lasted for just over an hour and I was so impressed with how well our students sat through the whole thing! There were some amazing costumes and musical numbers - well done Mahuri students and staff, what a lot of work you have put into it!

Every second Friday morning the junior classes at Ashgrove School (known as Pihinga) have been inviting us to join in with their Discovery Time, which is a play-based learning session where there are a huge range of activities set up and students are free to choose what they would like to do.  We have managed to get there twice so far and both times I have been so impressed with our students and how well they have joined in and had fun with the Pihinga students.  This week I remembered to take my camera (and next time I might even remember to take more photos instead of just having fun!) Lake really enjoys the bars area at Discovery, its a bit less crowded in this area and gives him a good chance to watch what everyone else is doing first. Sophie-Marie loves the chance to hang out with her younger sister Ruby-Jane who is in Pihinga. The two of them had a lovely time in the sandpit with a few other girls this morning. I heard them talking about making a batch of cooki...

Gosh it has taken me over a week to finish this post! I guess that just shows you how busy the end of term is for us all!  We had such a great day at Allenvale on the Thursday before Easter that I ended up with nearly 60 photos from our visit! I have chosen the best ones to share with you, but it wasn't easy to pick! The day before we went to Allenvale we spent the afternoon making our dress up head gear. Everyone chose to put ears on, but the colours they chose and the way they decorated their bands were totally individualised.  Everyone looked awesome! Just after we arrived at Allenvale we were treated to a visit from Linda and her very friendly pet rabbit. Everyone had a pat of the rabbit, Kereama thought it was very very funny and was pretty sure he had worked out how the rabbit could move.... Megan and her helpers had organised some fun games and activities for us all. The first one involved using chopsticks (or tongs) to move mini marshma...

We had the busy-est and best day on Friday last week.  First thing in the morning, after we had done the roll, we went to visit the Yr 0/1 classes (called Pihinga) and joined in with their 'Discovery Time' session which is a play-based learning time - they set up a wide range of activities in the area outside their classrooms and the children can just choose whatever they want to do.  Some of the activities included dress ups, the sandpit, tonka trucks in the bark, a mud kitchen, dancing with skipping ropes and hula hoops, and a 'healthy sandwich' station and picnic area.  We stayed and played for nearly an hour and every single one of our students joined in and had fun - I was so proud of them and their awesome behaviour.  Unfortunately I was having so much fun too that I didn't take any photos, but we are going back again (once a fortnight) so will try to remember my camera next time! After we came back from Discovery we quickly had morning tea and then it was t...