Thursday 27 July 2017

We are back!!

Welcome back everyone...it is good to  be back despite the dreadful rain that is with us again today.
We are hoping that it will go away before the weekend so that we can get outside and play.

Did you all have an enjoyable holiday?

This term is all about the 'Arts' in our community.

We are going to be participating in a variety of 'arty' activities.

Today we discussed what type of dance /movement that we would like to participate in.

We came up with....break dancing, jump jam, hip hop, irish jigs...we might get Mrs Coleman to teach us the Irish Jig as she is very good at it!!!    So watch this space!!!!

To get us into an 'arty' mood we painted rocks. Gayle went and collected them from Birdlings Flat.
Some were quite big in size while others were flat and thin. They were all very smooth when we touched them.

We chose our rocks then got busy and made a plan of what we were going to paint on them.
It was quite easy to come up with a design.

We had photos of rocks that had been painted by people. Some of the art on them was just amazing.

After completing our plan we put the first coat of paint on them.

Some of us are going to use a vivid to finish them off while the rest of us will use paint.


Thinking about what design we will choose....











Creation number two on it's way....






After a lot of thought we have all chosen what we would like to cook / bake for this term.

First up was Jacob's choice....chocolate cake.

The dry ingredients...

Adding the water...

A teaspoon of vanilla essence please...

Now we need five tablespoons of oil....

You always have to grease the tin....





The final product.....light, fluffy and delicious!!!

Please keep warm and dry everyone and be careful out on the roads!!


Thursday 6 July 2017

End of term!

The end of term has arrived and we are looking forward to sleeping in on these cold mornings!

It has been very quiet in Learning Support this week with some of our team away.
We have missed them!

Our science experiment this week was called Swirling Colours.

Milk was put into a bowl, then we added food colouring around the edge of the plate and a drop of detergent in the middle.

Do you know what happened?

The milk started moving and all the colours merged together....we were so amazed that we couldn't stop watching it. ...it was so fascinating.

Some of us thought that the colours would just stay in one place but that certainly wasn't the case....they kept on mixing together making amazing patterns.
One us us thought that the colours looked like they were at war with one another.

It was all about the reaction with fat in the milk with the detergent.







Look at these amazing patterns




The concentration....





This afternoon we celebrated the end of term with chips, dip, carrot sticks and celery.
It was so good sitting around the table eating and having a chat.
 Then we did some fabulous weaving that we took home to show our parents.

So that is us for the term....enjoy your holiday break.

Keep warm and be safe.

See you all next term.

Desharne, Gabby, Ryan, Aaron, Aieshar, Jacob and Jasiah.


Sunday 2 July 2017

What a week!!





We have all had the most wonderful week!

On Tuesday Te Puna invited us to go on a trip to WillowBank with them.
We all had a buddy to look after...we were the leaders!!
It was a miserable overcast day but that didn't damper our excitement.
It was the first visit to WillowBank for some of us.

Walking across the field to catch the bus....

Our buddies.....







When we arrived we were given a traditional Maori welcome.



During the morning we learnt how to use rakau and poi as well as learning a few haka moves.

Before our session ended we all got together to show everyone what we had learnt...then we sang some waiatas before having lunch.

After lunch tour guide Gabby took us on a tour of WillowBank where we got to see all the animals there.
Gabby is just so knowledgable about Willow Bank.


Sam the Clydesdale  horse...

One VERY large rabbit....

Pony getting the mud taken out of it's hooves...

Patting the eels....

A very noisy cockatoo...

Desharne showing us how he had enjoyed his day....

The amazing Afternoon Programme team!!

 Wednesday morning at Waimairi was just incredible.

We all gathered at 7.15 am to celebrate Matariki.....the Maori New Year.

Some of us had breakfast at school then at lunch time we all celebrated together eating food from other cultures and the hangi that had been put down on the back field.

It was a day of wonderful celebrations.

On Thursday we iced biscuits and put seven silver balls on them ...representing the Seven Sisters...the stars of Matariki.