May Reflection

We always spend time reflecting during each day but at the end of every month, we look back on everything we have done, achieved and enjoyed. Then we write a refelction. Here's Mya's...

Coding

We have been learning how to code to programme Bee Bots. It was very tricky to get the Bee Bot to land on our numbers but eventually we worked out the correct code. 

We also programmed the Bee Bots with several directions to find the pirates treasure on a treasue map. We had to avoid the sharks and the swamp. 

Next time, Mrs Naden needs to remember to have her phone landscape and not portrait when she videos. She always forgets!

Sign Language Week

This week is Sign Language Week. We have been reading articles and watching videos about signing. We discovered it is a combination of hand shapes, facial expressions and body movements. We thought it was just hand movements. We were shocked to discover that using Sign Language was banned from 1880-1979. Deaf people had to lip-read and speak aloud to communicate. This is called oralism. But deaf people continued to sign in secret. Then in 1979 Total Communication was used. This is a combination of using formal signs, finger-spelling, body language, listening, lip-reading and speech. It was made an official language in New Zealand by the New Zealand Sign Language Act in 2006. 

We learnt some simple phrases. Check out our individual blogs to learn how to sign.

Teaching 5 Year Olds How to Make the Sign of the Cross

One of this week's tasks was to make Google Slides or Screencastify's on how to make the Sign of the Cross for the 5 year-olds in our school, and for kids all over Aotearoa. We had to try and make our Screencastifys interactive and pretend our audience was doing what we asked. We also had to give them positive feedback. 

Do you know how to make the Sign of the Cross? If not, maybe you can watch Aime's below.

ANZAC Day

We have been reading and learning about what it was like to be in the war, and how many different animals are war heroes because of their bravery and because of how they helped the soldiers. We also tried eating bully beef and crackers. We discovered that bully beef is actually another name for canned corned beef. We also discovered that canned corned beef was something you either liked or didn't. Some people thought it smelt and tasted like cat food (no we haven't tried cat food! We were using our imaginations). Others said it had no smell and was delicious. The soldiers ate cabin bread in the war because it is long lasting but we couldn't find any so ate crackers instead. We also ate ANZAC biscuits. These are also long lasting. Whānau back in New Zealand would bake ANZAC biscuits and send them to their father's and sons. 

Read the ANZAC diary entry and postcard Leyla wrote after reading her groups articles.

Find out which animal war hero is Olivia S's favourite.