Room Six Students Showing The Key Competencies

Congratulations to Trelia and Joseph who receive certificates this week for participating and contributing well in class discussions. Trelia and Joseph have made a great start to Term Three by being diligent during class discussions. Both Trelia and Joseph always pay attention during class talks and add meaningfully to our learning by contributing thoughtful ideas and interesting questions.

Some of the questions Trelia and Joseph have been wondering about include: Did the Olympic flame come to New Zealand? (Trelia) and What was Mary MacKillop's mum and dad's names? (Joseph)

We've been reading 'Six Little Stories about Mary MacKillop; For her youngest friends'. When we read one of the stories we found out that Mary MacKillop's mum was called Flora and and her dad was called Alexander. We still haven't found out if the Olympic flame came to New Zealand on its way to Brazil. Do you know? If you do, maybe you could comment below and tell us!

Congratulations Rosina, Valentino, Aden and Trelia!

A belated congratulations to Rosina, Valentino, Aden and Trelia who all received certificates during the first two weeks of school this term. Valentino received his for good effort in reading. Like we all do, Valentino sometimes makes mistakes when he reads aloud. Lately he has been doing a good job of fixing those mistakes by checking what he has read 'looks right'. Well done Valentino!

Rosina got her certificate for being curious and asking good questions about what we are learning. Keep up the good questioning Rosina!

Aden received his certificate for improving the way he manages himself in the classroom. Aden is doing this in lots of ways - such as asking for help when he needs it. Good thinking Aden! Aden is also doing a good job of managing his responsibilities (such as putting out our lunchbox box each morning). Thank you Aden!

Trelia's certificate is for increasing participation in the classroom. Well done Trelia - you are joining in more confidently. Keep it up!

Bluey the Budgie

Yesterday Mrs Stoddard told us she had brought something beginning with 'b' to show us. We thought of a few things beginning with 'b' but thought it was probably a bird because Miss McKenna had told us we were going to be learning about birds for the rest of the term.

We were correct! Mrs Stoddard had brought her father's budgie 'Bluey' to visit our class. It was so exciting! Mrs Stoddard told us a little about Bluey and gave us some time to look at him. We asked lots of questions about what was in his cage.

"What's this?" asked Trelia, pointing to a piece of hard chalk on the side of the cage. Mrs Stoddard told us what it was and that it was there for Bluey to rub his beak against to keep it sharp. "What's that thing beside the bird?" asked Ashleigh. "A mirror so he can look at himself", said Mrs Stoddard.

Mrs Stoddard told us that Bluey is different to us. When we look in the mirror we know what we see is just our reflection and not another person, but Bluey thinks it's another bird! This means that he won't get lonely and that's why the mirror is in his cage.

Valentino asked "What's that colourful thing?". Mrs Stoddard said it's a toy so that Bluey doesn't get bored. Wow! He has toys just like us! "What's that?" asked Aden pointing to a container of seeds. Mrs Stoddard said it's food for him to eat. "What's that?" Joseph asked pointing to a long piece of a plant hanging from the top of his cage. "More seeds for him to eat", said Mrs Stoddard. "What's that one?" asked Rosina, pointing to something colourful. "Another toy", said Mrs Stoddard.

We were so excited about Bluey's visit and enjoyed spending time looking at him so much. After Mrs Stoddard left Bluey stayed the night in our class and we drew pictures of him. We talked about what we could see before we drew him. We saw feathers, a long tail, a beak, eyelashes and wings. We noticed that he was blue and white, and had little bits of black on him. We concentrated hard and drew him.

Thank you Mrs Stoddard for bringing Bluey in to visit!