Discovery Time

Today we began Discovery Time.  This is time where the children are able to choose from a variety of activities put out in Rooms 1, 2 as well as the outside space and our shared space between the classrooms.  We have a focus which is 'being respectful to others'.  This focus will change and will be matching our school values.   We are developing some specific skills in the children of greeting others, introducing ourselves, asking to be included in activities, and using our quiet voices to show respect to other learners.  There is a poster up in our classroom that shows the rubric for our learning in this time.

A key component of the programme is reflection time.  In this time we discuss our learning using some reflection prompts and also finding out who was chosen as the Discovery Time stars.  The children that receive the badge stand up in front of everybody and explain what they did to receive the badge.  The children from both rooms did really well today but unfortunately nobody from Room 2 was chosen as the Discovery Time stars this week.  We are going to try really hard to be caught showing respect next week!

I have attached some photos of the children from Room 2 to show some of the activities we chose to participate in today.  This also includes our writing time at the end where we work by ourselves to say what we liked about Discovery Time or what we learnt during Discovery Time.

Evie's Reflection

Today Evie has told us something that she liked doing at lunchtime. It is also something new that she has learnt. We think she is very clever and has taught us a new word.

listen to ‘Evie's Reflection’ on Audioboo

What was tricky today?

Evie found printing tricky today because we had to get the bar in the right place. Jess and Aileen found it tricky today when she had to lie on her back at swimming. Henry found it tricky today at publishing time to copy the words from his story. Misha found it tricky today writing her story for publishing. Jackson found it tricky today at publishing time copying his writing from his writing book. Jordan found it tricky today at publishing time today copying the words in his story. Lots of us enjoyed swimming today! Other people liked drawing pictures and reading. Miss Browne was proud of us today because we learnt how to assess our own handwriting using a green highlighter and some faces.

Yone's Reflection

Today we all were trying hard in the swimming pool. Miss Browne asked us to do some different things in the pool today and tomorrow we are going to work out a goal. This will be something a little bit tricky but that we can try to achieve. Yone was excited about her swimming today.

listen to ‘Yone 13 Feb’ on Audioboo

Benjamin's Reflection

Benjamin was the super star in Room 2 today who received our certificate in assembly for being an active contributor.  We love how he listens so carefully and considers his ideas before sharing them.  Because he was the certificate person in assembly, he also gets to use Audioboo about something he enjoyed today.  We hope you like listening to it!

listen to ‘Benjamin 11 February’ on Audioboo

Our First Week!

With our first week now complete we are all getting to know each other a little better.  I was hoping to have the children as the authors of our first blog using Audio Boo but that will have to wait until next week!  The aim is have something updated on here at least 3 times per week - all going well!
We have, however, completed our first ibook about the making of our butterflies.  The children who were at school in 2012 made these at the end of the year when they visited their new classroom.  They were then the experts and helped our new children to make them on their first day at school.  They were wonderful helpers and the children all enjoyed making their butterfly as you can tell from our ibook.  We have made it into a slideshow but I haven't quite mastered the technology to share it with you at the correct speed so I would encourage you to come into the classroom to view it in its book form.  Some children took photos on the ipod, so ask your child about the making of the butterflies as well as the ibook as we had some great teachers helping other children to put the photos on the right page.  We have such clever children in Room 2!
I have also uploaded some pictures from our first week together in a Picasa album.  You can access this in the Visual Images area of our class website.
I have had a great week and hope that you have been hearing a lot about what we do in Room 2.  Please keep checking back here to see what we have been up to.
Thanks
Trudi (on behalf of Room 2, for this week only!)