Music with Mr E.

This term in music, we have been learning about Ludwig Beethoven.

His dad taught him to play the piano. Ludwig got too good for his father, so he got another teacher. He even got too clever for the teachers. Holly remembers that Ludwig's mother got really sick and then died. A nice lady came and looked after him. When his mother died, he was so sad that he didn't play music for two years. He began writing music when he was 25 years old.  He wrote music even though he lost his hearing. Ellie remembers that he got an ear infection and it got worse. Losing his hearing made him very unhappy. He died when he was about 56 years old. Ludwig was scared of his father.

We learned to play parts of his Symphony number 9. Before we learned to play some of it. we watched this fantastic video on youtube. Symphony number 9 is also known as 'Ode to Joy.' We noticed Beethoven writes symphonies that can be nice and calm, then go big and loud. They can also go slow, then fast.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbJcQYVtZMo

Fur Elise is another of Ludwig's music we listened to, and we learned to play a part of it with glockenspiels, keyboards and marimbas.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mVW8tgGY_w

Ag Day 2016

To prepare for Ag Day next term, Miss Robinson organised for Charlie and Sam to bring their calf and lamb into school so we could learn what we need to be doing to prepare for the competition.

1 September - Science Roadshow

For the first time, Year 3s went to the Science Roadshow. There was so much happening that MG only took a couple of photos. We saw and experienced heaps of Science.

Rio and Te Puna Olympics

Room 1 thoroughly enjoyed following the New Zealand team at the Rio Olympics and thanks to Miss Green's mum's sky account, we got to watch some pretty exciting events live. Lots of parents told Miss Green that their child was avidly following the events with them before school, and at the weekends also. Room 7 hosted a Mini Olympic event just as the real Olympics were finishing. It was very exciting. The focus for the Mini Olympics was Respect, Friendship, and Excellence. Room 7 did a great job of hosting and organising the teams, events and medal ceremony.
Click on the album to view some of the action:

https://goo.gl/photos/C3EkZJCV9sFz2aKDA

Term 2 Photography at the Quarry Park

We had a fabulous morning at the Quarry taking photos for the school competition. Although none of our photos made it through to the finals, we were proud of our efforts and took some great shots.

Here is the album of them:

Making Onigiri

At the beginning of this term Te Puna hosted students from a Japanese school. We enjoyed meeting them and learning about their life in Japan. We wanted to eat like a japanese school kid, so we made Onigiri (rice balls) and tried eating them with chop sticks.
Click on the link to the album of photos:



https://goo.gl/photos/DJMdCESe3WrneGQH7

Here is some writing about the experience from ...

Pumpkin Soup

At the end of term two we made pumpkin soup with a pumpkin from the school vegetable garden. We were in teams to make the soup. On the first day, Team Stock made chicken stock with a chicken carcass and vegetables. The next day, Team Roast chopped and roasted the pumpkin. The following day Team Mix chopped the pumpkin and mixed it with the stock. Then it was time to eat! Some of us tried just a little, and some of us loved it and has many, many mugs of soup. I wonder what we should do with the remaining small pumpkin?

Cross Country

There were a few hot faces after we held our postponed Cross Country event.

Gym Sport

This Year we had a great lot of gymnasts who entered the Argos Gym Competition. One of the teams won third place and were very proud of their medals. MG hopes the girls continue with their gymnastics. We have had fun gym at lunchtimes on Thursdays in term 3. The senior girls have been teaching us heaps of cool things like flick flacks. Miss Green can't do those!

Music

Room 1 loves going to Mr E. for Music on Wednesdays. We don't go every week, however we really enjoy it when we're there. Mr E. said Room 1 listens attentively. The best bit is playing all the instruments. This day we were playing the Ukuleles.

At the beginning of the year, Mr E. told the classes a story from his childhood about a special box. When we were playing the ukuleles, he played his guitar. It is covered with the stamps that were in the special box.

Watermelon

After a break from our class blog, there is plenty to update.
Way back on the last day of term one, we picked our last watermelon. We didn't know if it would be ripe to eat. The earlier fruiting watermelons were stolen and Room 1 didn't hold out much hope for the last one. Wow! What a surprise to find some pink flesh and favour!

Caterpillars and Butteflies

There has been a rather large swan plant outside Room 1 that has been a busy place for caterpillars this year. We have spent lots of time looking, searching, noticing and photographing each stage of the life cycle. We have made Explain Everything slides about the life cycles and when MG finds out how to share them, she will put them onto our blog. For now there is a little video with some of the amazing photos we took.

Go 4 It

In term 1 we had Hit it with ?. Our first session was Hockey. Ellie and Tama made a Magisto video with the photos. It was really hot weather, so we were pleased that Room 1 went first each week.