Value of play

We have been very busy playing this week!

 Matching with the ice block sticks to the bears

 A group of girls working together to make towers. Lots of laughter as the towers fall on the ground, and they go back again to build and to see who can make the tallest towers.

Interests emerged from his  exploration. Then we looked at making origami snowflakes using his techniques. You can see his excitement as he opens the origami paper. 

The play dough table with some materials such as moving eyes, bottle lids, shells, and stones was a place to explore creativity.  Many children shared with  me their wonderful creations with eyes. They later found out that if you put the eyes inside the ball of play dough it makes a noise like a shaker. Wonderful storytellers emerged from this activity. 

Our children are able to work cooperatively, listening to each other's ideas, and sharing those ideas to construct something together.

These two children had such an awesome time on a rainy day spending a long period of time on this art together. They explored the texture, colours, the use of various tools, and this ended up with a hand printing session! They really enjoyed each other's company with so much laughter and they were able to manage themselves at this space. They observe their hands to see what they look like after printing their hands on the paper. They placed their hands up and down, moving across the paper using all their senses.

 Some children are interested in learning another language. These two children are learning to write their name in Japanese.

 We welcomed two new children into our classroom!!! Nau mai, haere mai!

Through learning about planets, some children are very interested in having a go at finding Google Earth and learning how to use this programme. The first thing that they often want to see is the school and where they live. They get very excited when they can find our school!!!

Achieving something amazing together

This week has been such a wonderful week, celebrating New Zealand Sign Language Week. It is fantastic to see how keen and engaged our children are throughout this huge learning experience.

On Friday morning, we did a little concert on our deck at morning tea time. When I told our children about what we were going to do, they were just so excited.

In front of so many students and teachers, our children performed 'One call away' in New Zealand Sign Language. It was beyond amazing!

so... what did our children learn through this week's experience?

-Children know that when we work hard, we can achieve something big.
-We recognised the efforts and time that they put into learning New Zealand Sign Language.
-Our children know that the sign language is used by people who are deaf and hard of hearing.
-Performing the concert provided a learning opportunity that develops confidence to be in front of audience and how to manage themselves in such situations.
-It also shows that we are a team! We can work together to achieve something amazing together!
-As we were learning the alphabet signs, the children were very keen to learn more about it and some of them said that they want to be able to finger-spell their names. How cool is that?

Thank you so much for supporting us to celebrate New Zealand Sign Language Week with us!!!

Friday: Have fun watching our performance!

We hope that you have enjoyed learning New Zealand Sign Language with us. 

This is a little performance from us! 

Happy New Zealand Sign Language Week!!!!!!



                                 

Thursday's signs: My name is...

Did you have a look at the New Zealand Sign Language alphabet and have a go at finger-spelling your name? How easy/hard was it?
Using New Zealand Sign Language is beneficial for hearing children. Dr Sutherland from University of Canterbury talks about the benefits of bilingualism (spoken and visual languages) and describes its educational benefits, cognitive development, economic benefits, and growth of communities.

I believe that learning NZSL means that we are practising inclusion. We are developing inclusive communities, and most importantly, how powerful it will be for a person who is deaf or hard of hearing if we can communicate in NZSL?

So today, we will challenge you to learn to introduce yourself! Notice there is no sign for 'is' in NZSL. You just sign 'My', 'Name', '(your name)'. With our young children, they are signing the first letter of their names, but see if you can finger-spell your name! Give it a go!

Wednesday's sign: Thank you

Today's sign is 'Thank you'. Why don't you use the sign to say 'thank you' to your friends, teachers, and whānau this week?

Tuesday's sign: Drink

We are learning basic signs in New Zealand Sign Language.
On Tuesday, we show you the sign for 'Inu' (i te reo Māori), "Drink'.

Also, have a look at alphabet in New Zealand Sign Language.

Can you sign your name using NZSL? We will learn how to introduce yourself in NZSL this week! 

Celebrating New Zealand Sign Language Week, Monday's Sign: Good Morning

This week, we are celebrating New Zealand Sign Language Week. New Zealand Sign Language is mainly used by people who are deaf or hard of hearing. New Zealand Sign Language became an official language of New Zealand in April, 2006 alongside English and Te reo Māori.

So Today's sign is 'Ata Mārie', 'Good Morning'.

The 'Morning' sign represents the sunrise. Practice this sign and greet with each other using the sign! 

What it is like to be in our room?

This is filmed while our children were doing publishing of this week's poem. On this particular morning, the positive assembly was cancelled, so we all went down to Pūtikitiki for a play! They really enjoy going down there. I see our children challenging themselves physically, or developing a game where they play together. This week they were doing a game of knights in the castle at Pūtikitiki.

After we came back from Pūtikitiki, we did the publishing, and here is what happened!

Term 2 starts! Welcome back everyone!

Kia ora and welcome back to Term 2! We have had a wonderful first week with lots of interesting play!

We also have welcomed 3 new children to Room 2!

Nau mai, haere mai ki te akomanga rua!
These new children have done an amazing job settling into our class, following our routines, developing independency by looking after their belonging and managing themselves, and lots of playing!

It has been amazing to watch children develop their own play. It seems like they just could not wait to come back to school to just explore! 

It started with building counting blocks, the children kept making it longer and longer, it event went outside! 

Our new reading corner is well uterlised and the children love spending time here, reading, playing with the dolls and the doll house. It provides a place for a little bit of privacy for our children which is important as their play is respected. 

We have had a few days of lovely sunny days, why not spend lots of time outside?! 

Children enjoyed building with big blocks to see how tall they could build by working together. They also enjoyed drawing with chalk on the concrete. Some of them made their own hopscotch games. 

Some girls loved being puppies, they made their own kennels by using chairs and pieces of fabric. 

Children always enjoy playing with playdough which provides opportunities for creativity, conversations, story-making, fine-motor skills, and collaboration with others. 

It seems like children have really enjoyed the first week back at school. Our children have been so kind to the new children, showing them around in class and school, teaching what we do, and being amazing friends. I am so proud of all of our children in Room 2! What an awesome class we have!!!!