We finally did it. All the hard work practising and performing paid off on Tuesday night. It was a lovely evening at Manchester Street School. Parents got in behind the event and supported their kids with hearty cheers and claps. While there were little technical problems with the sound it wasn't anything that we couldn't iron out. All the acts were sensational the children really loved performing. So from Mr Lowe I say "Great Job Kids. It isn't easy spending the time and effort practising your item, but it all paid off on the night".

on firday Q bear went home with Blair we played on the computer we played 101 kid's Brainy
games and went to bed. In the morning I fed the dog's maggie and zak and went off to nanna's.
when we got there we did same sawing. I did a scarf and a patin and a knitting needler hollder.
and then my uncle allan came and we watched estate of panic and went of to bed. and then my
mum and dad came to pick me up from nanna's and I went to bed.

On friday i went home with shayla.We watched stan walker win australian idol and it was awesome.On saturday Shaylas mum went shopping in otaki. So Shayla's brother Kees her dad and shayla done some baking.Kees baked chocolate cake and Shayla baked a rice bubble cake honey bar and they were yummy!On sunday kaya came at 3;00 to see Twilight New Moon it was freeky and funny and we had mcd's for dinner.Thank you shayla for a great weekend

Since we have finished our last novel "Ocean without End" Gypsy thought that we had to get onto another one straight away. She wasted no time in giving me a timeless classic called " The Secret Garden" by Frances Hodgson Burnett. I'm not sure if we will get to finish this before the year ends, but we will give it a 'good go' anyway. Thanks Gypsy for the suggestion.

This term we have spent time reading through and studying Myths and Legends from around the world. Some legends were local, some were from Australia and some were from as far away as Africa and China. We have been fascinated with different peoples explanations about our world around us. I thought it might be a good idea to post some photos of some of the titles we have read so you could read them yourself if you are interested.

Our class novel this term was called "Ocean without End" by Kelly Gardiner. It was a fantastic story about how a young twelve year old girl gets kidnapped by pirates and eventually becomes their captain. It is a gripping story full of adventure and mystery. Here are some of the comments from the class:

Blair: It was a good story and I learnt that pirates aren't really that bad.

Amanda: I liked how it was an adventure because I like adventure books.

Matthew: It had a lot of mysteries and adventure.

Caitlin: It was a good book because you can learn about exploration.

Madison: It was a lot more adventurous than the Hatchet.

Calvin: I liked the describing words in the story.

Click here people to go to InAnimate Alice.

Thank you to all the Staff at Manchester Street School for a wonderful morning tea shout and an awesome video.

On friday the fun began we went to manfield to see all of the old carsand take some photos.and after we went to my uncls house to ring my brother and say hi.At 7:00 we wathed shortland st then we wathed australian idol it was good then we went to bed.in the morning i woke up at 7:30 to go to my brothers house when we got there we went to the army camp to watch touchthen we went to the movies to watch 2012 it was awsome.Then we went back home and watched heaps of tv we watched chanels 2,12,14,40,62,63,70 and chanel 11then me and my sister played a game of cards then went to bed.On sundaywe went to the marketand we got chines food and some vedges.After we went to the plaza and me and my sister got 10 dollars each we walked all over the the plaza but there was really nothing we wanted.So my brother took us home and we sealteld down by watching the 8:30 movie in the room.
PS.i think Qbear would like to come back cause he was a good friend to have.

This year for the Cushion Concert we will be singing a version of "Swing on a Star". The original was sung by Bing Crosby but it was recovered by 'Spooky and Sue'. We will reproduce the 1970's version of it. Have a listen kids and get familiar with the words.



Swing on a Star

Would ya like to swing on a star
carry moonbeams home in a jar
(one moon beams, two moon beams)
and be better off than you are
(ahaha)
or would you rather be a mule
(Yeah, yeah tell ‘em ‘bout a mule now)
A mule is an animal with long funny ears
he kicks up at anything he hears
(aha)
His back is brawny but his brain is weak
he's just plain stupid with a stubborn streak
and by the way if you hate to go to school
(which I do)
You may grow up to be a mule
(I don’t want to grow up to be a mule)
Would you like to swing on a star
carry moonbeams home in a jar
and be better off than you are
or would you rather be a pig
(Yeah, yeah tell ‘em ‘bout a pig now)
A pig is an animal with dirt on his face
his shoes are a terrible disgrace
He’s got no manners when he eats his food
He's fat and lazy and extremely rude
But if you don't care a feather or a fig
(which I don’t)
you may grow up to be a pig
(I don’t wanna grow up to be a pig)

Instrumental

Would ya like to swing on a star
carry moonbeams home in a jar
(One moonbeams, two moonbeams)
and be better off than you are
We could be swinging on a star
We could be swinging on a star
We could be swinging on a mmm
We could be swinging on a star
We could be swinging on a star

The children at the moment have practised retelling a myth both orally and in written form. With a buddy they made their best attempt to retell with as much detail as they could remember. With all that information they have tried their best to sequence the story together and add a lot of content specific words to help them improve their literacy skill as writers and story tellers.

The latest release on Homework is looking to reinvigorate what learning should look like at home. Mr Neil O'Reily a principal from Christchurch, has other ideas that show us that while children at Primary school level should still maintain a daily practise of reading and basic fact recall, they should be doing other things at home like preparing the family meal. Click here for a great read.

On Tuesday we had the Interschool Cross Country at Victoria Park. Our school did so well that we won the whole competition. Here are some comments from some of the runners from our class.

Jamie: Race day was really tough. All the different schools came together to race. I could see that the other runners were really competitive. When we were coming to the finish line I had two little battles. One battle was with a boy from North Street School. He tried to pass me but I sprinted him off. The last battle was with a boy whom I have never beaten before. I felt that I still had energy inside of me to beat him so I went for it and beat him to come second overall.

Layton: It was really hard during the race. People kept on passing me and I kept on passing them. The ground conditions were really slippery and muddy and it made it difficult to run. But eventually I overcame all of those things to come sixth overall for the year 4 boys.

Thomas: At the start of the race I felt really nervous and I ended up missing the start gun. I had a false start and when I was backing up to get ready to run the lady pressed the hootter button for everyone to go. When I ran through the bridge I got really muddy because I stepped in the middle of the mud puddle and it was really deep. Somebody almost tripped me up because he fell over in front of me when we were running down the hill. But I got eighth equal overall.

Chris: It was really awesome being there because it was funny watching people fall over in the mud. I enjoyed it.

In Room L we really enjoy singing. We have been singing this song for most of the year and we were pleasantly surprised when we heard this re-make. It is by Stan Walker and it is one of his songs he performed on Australian Idol. Have a listen.

On friday it was Matthew`s Nan`s birthday so we went to her house for afternoon tea When we were there we had fruit salad, roll ups and bars. Matthew`s Nan`s neighbours came over too. On Satuday we went to my aunty Helen`s and Phil`s storage home and they let me have a small toy box. After they gave me the box me, and Hannah my sister were being unsafe so we had to go to my Gran`s house. On Sunday Q bear, his friend`s and me were playing mathletics on the computer. At 2:00 we went to my friend Lukas house to play and have tea. Just before tea Luka and I were playing mud war with real mud and it was fun. For tea we had hamburgers it was delicious! After tea Luka and I played ps2.

THANK YOU FOR COMING Q BEAR AND FRIENDS!

This is a post from an iPod Touch. I think this whole thing rocks because I can do this at my desk and not at my computer so what do you think about the whole thing ? I think iPod's my be the solution to providing every child with a computer at a really low cost. There are so many benefits to it, it is actually mind blowing. Anyway if you are thinking of a Christmas present for your child I would highly recommend this.

This term we will be making a "Block Buster Movie" during literacy time. We will be using "Myths and Legends" as our inspiration to make our movie.

On my birthday I won a dog colouring competition. When I heard the news I was so excited because of all of the prizes I won. When I went down to collect my prizes I was surprised with large amount of dogs. They were really awesome to look at.

Q-bear stayed with Layton for the holidays. We slept at Api's house for his birthday and then I stayed at Jamie's house for the rest of the week. We went to the Ledo pools, the Makino pools and the Esplanade. Later on in the holidays Layton's cousins from Whakatane came and stayed for one night. On Saturday we watched the boxing and had a very big sleep in the next morning.

Although it's a little late I couldn't help but give it a mention. Congratulations to the crew that put this advertisement together. I fell in love with it the moment I saw it and would like others to follow suit. Watch again and enjoy!

It was the impossible dream for the Parramatta Eels. They were never suppose to be in the Grand Final with one of the greatest teams in recent history the Melbourne Storm. It had been a fairy run for the Eels as they seemed to run over some of the toughest teams in the competition to reach this very point. Some were allowed to dream that the Eels could possibly have a chance of snatching the NRL trophy from the clutches of a Goliath like opponent. Drama, suspense and tension made it an enthralling match that tittered the possibility of a Parramatta win but the disciplined and hard working Storm triumphed in the end. It all came unstuck for the Eels and in the end they had to succumb to a convincing Melbourne Storm win. What a season everyone, I have loved every game and cannot wait until next season. I hope that the Warriors sort out a few issues and get things going again next year.

It was a fight of epic proportions that failed to disappoint. No matter what the opinions were of either fighter about how well or otherwise they would do on the night, it finally come down to the two of them settling it in the ring. I have to admit I was in Cameron's corner and with anticipation I fully expected a very clever and clinical fight from him that would take him to victory. However it was sorely compromised by an aggressive Tua who came out like a pouncing tiger and dispatched Cameron early in the second round. For all intents and purposes Cameron was measured by Tua, (who has fought against the world's best Lennox Lewis), and was found miserably short.

Well, well they have arrived again. Congratulations to everyone one in Room L for a great term. We have worked tremendously hard to use our time the best we could to get the best learning opportunities. So I looked through my library of treats and I thought that I would post this a little early. I was planning to introduce it when we got back to school, but if some are looking for something to do then this is it. Some may be familiar with the game "Sing Star" on the PlayStation. Well this is a free internet version of it called Karaoke Party. If you want to use then click here and waalaa you will appear there. If you want to save your scores then sign in using our blogger username and password.
Have a good break everyone and thank you for another wonderful term.

All the children have completed their self assessments of the 'Fabric and Fibre Unit'. I have posted a link here, so that you can see what the results look like for a teacher. I think that there are still some improvements that I need to make to be able to use this tool more effectively. I think that this is a good step for the children moving on from circling smiley faces to a more formal type of form.

This young man was diagnosed with a type of autism, which was a fear of people. However he developed a passion for singing and from that he has channeled all his power to follow his dream. His dream is to sing in front of large audiences.

Have a listen and tell me what you think.



(Blue for following your dreams in the future)

We have had a couple of Birthdays this month and so we thought that we would use our webcams to take a photo of them. Hari Huri tau kia korua!

Today the most amazing thing happened. Not one but TWO bands from Feilding Intermediate came to our school to perform. They were brought over by Mr and Mrs Samuela who just happened to be their tutors as well.

On Friday I went home with Thomas and we climbed the tree,played on the trampoline and rode on the motor bike. on Saturday Thomas went to Jamie's birthday and then we watched the All Black's beat Astralia 33-6!!!!!!!!!. On Sunday we went to pamlmy and had mcdee's with tom's cousin Portia when we got home we jumped off the bunk's and played fetch with Jessie the dog I had fun.

(We copied the whole story and put it into wordle and this is what it created)

It was the most exciting day ever. Today was the day that we were going to go to the hall for a fabric and fibre surprise. As soon as we all walked we were amazed with all the interesting displays of fabric and fibres. We saw red stitching, cross stitching, weaving, knitting, felt rolling, spinning and teddy bear making.We stood at the door and we didn't know where to go first. Some people went left, some people went right, and some people went straight ahead. But me I was standing still because I was soooo confused. I felt a little tug on my sleave it was my friend saying "com'on lets go!"
My friend Stevie has light blue eyes and shiny brown hair that reaches down to her shoulders. She is quite tall for her age she's almost as tall as our teacher and she is really pretty.
We started heading for the Teddy Bear making stall. When we got there we saw lots and lots of cute teddy bears. They had some patterns and cut out material that they were going to use to make a teddy bear. That reminded me about how Q Bear was made.
Our next stop was the Needlework by Mrs Monteith. She had pretty little baby booties and a creamy coloured baby dress. I thought how it would be nice one day to have a baby sister of my own. We walked over to where everyone was standing and saw that people we making felt balls. To make a felt ball you need hot soapy water, felt, and little bit of magic (magic fingers). First we dipped a bit of felt into the hot soapy water and then rolled it in our hands so that it became a little ball. When we finished we saw that you could thread them together to make a necklace.We headed over to the patch work section and saw a lady with amazing work. She had a blanket that had a picture of Santa flying over some houses, it could have been Feilding? The sack with the presents were 3 Dimensional, which means they stood out of the picture.Another lady had a weaving machine. She spoke to us about how you make a jersey and the process you need to go through to make it. It was actually quite easy.
We could go on and on but there is so much to tell and so little time. We will be back to update you on the rest of it.

Here is an update on the Youtube front. We have a teacher in the UK showing how talented teachers are. Have a listen and see how he could be an inspiration to the children in his classroom. It is one thing to show kids the path on which they should walk, but it is another thing for you to walk it first and led others along the way. For all those budding singers out there his name is Daryl Johnson.



*(The colour is blue, for the future)

On Friday I went to Thomas's house. Thomas and I packed our bages and started to head off to Hawkes Bay for Go- Karting. We stoped to get Mc Donlds in Dannevirke yumm! By the time we got to Hawkes Bay it was dark so we brushed our teeth and went to bed. On Saturday Thomas was practicing for racing for Sunday. On Sunday we got up and went to the Go Karting track. Thomas got ready for the first race. Thomas crashed so he ended up finishing fourth. In the second race Thomas got third, he was happy about that. In the third race Thomas got second he was really happy about that. In the fourth race YAHOO second again. Then in the Gran Prix Thomas was winning but Tray passed him so in the end Thomas came second. Thomas and I came back to Feilding and went to bed.

At the moment we have looking at the various types of fibres and fabrics. We have been inspired by reading the story "Roimata's Cloak" to make our own cloak. Mr Lowe brought in two korowai (cloak) that belong to his family. One korowai is a traditional cloak that was made by his great grandmother. It is composed of kiwi feathers and have a traditional Te Arawa pattern on it. He also brought a korowai his wife made that she wore on her wedding day. It is a more modern type of korowai that was made of organza and feathers. Now we are working hard to make our own korowai. We made material from paper, crayon, dye, paint and recycled material. We hope that through this experience we will appreciate the significance of the garment and its meaning, as well as the effort that goes into making one.

Kia Ora everyone,

well I would like to thank the parents for coming to the children's learning conferences this week. Although the evening got a little chilly it was still wonderful that parents braved the cold with their children to come.

One of the things of that came up was 'Recommended Reading' for middle school children. I have found that the National Library have a fantastic blog where they host book reviews about novels they have read. If you visit their site you will see that there are a whole range of books, in all types of genres that will suit a wide range of ages. So I just encourage you if you are looking for a gift for birthdays or Christmas, to go to this site and find a good book. Click here to go to the National Library Blog.

We are learning about fractions at the moment. For one of the opening tasks

we worked in groups to see what we knew about fractions. Some of us thought

we didn't know anything! However when we got started we found out that we

knew a bit more than we first thought. We were able to divide shapes and

numbers equally to show a fraction. We were able to draw fractions, write a

symbol for a fraction and write it in words. Through team work we helped

each other and reminded each other about our past learning.

This term we are conducting a scientific investigation of fibres and fabric. We have done investigations that are around sorting, classifying and measuring. We have seen that fabrics have different weaves for different purposes. A cotton material has a simple 'over one under one' type of weave. While satin has an over 'four under one' weave. This means that satin silk is very smooth to the touch and hard to wrinkle.

Kia ora everyone,

This is a reminder to all Choir children.

Kia ora everyone.

Below is the presentation from Thursday night. You can use the arrow buttons at the bottom right to go through the presentation, or you can use your mouse to go anywhere in the presentation. You can click on the links in the presentation and it will open up the website in a new window. You can then save the links to your favourites.

If you wanted to post a story or a picture on Google earth this is a video that will show you how to do it. It doesn't have a commentary but if you watch the video a couple of times you'll see how he gets the marker and puts it down and then adds text.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqp-plXYvDo

Just to elaborate a little on making a comic using Microsoft Word. Insert Autoshapes onto a page (insert six to a page). Then you click on a shape, go to the Fill can, choose Fill Effects, click on the Picture Tab, click on Choose Picture, select a photo and click Insert. I got this idea and a whole lot of others from this blog site. http://sharpjacqui.blogspot.com/

If you want to download the outline you can get it from the "Box" below.

from prezi.com

If you want to contact me about anything in the presentation you can email:
layton@manchesterstreet.school.nz

I went home after school with Gypsy.That night we went to Palmerston to get tickets for the circus for Saturday night.We Played with the Barbie dolls and house. Gypsy has a lot of dolls to play with. Her cousins came on Saturday to play with us and that was fun. Gypsy's cousin Pria stayed Saturday night too and she went to the Circus with us.The circus was a lot of fun. When we got home it was late so we had to go to bed.We played outside on Sunday it was a real nice day.

Now that winter is on the downhill we can start thinking about the swimming season. Well here is a little trick that might get you inspired!

Wow!! Mr Wheeler was blown away by the power, effort and performance by the Middle Team after they performed "Ka Mate". He thought that is was absolutely fantastic and that he was really proud.

Haere mai, haere mai
E ngā iwi e haere mai
Ki runga o te marae
Hui mai tātou katoa
E hine mā, e tama mā
Hapainga to mana Māori e
Kia rewa runga rawa
I a ha hā
E ngā iwi e
Haere mai, haere mai.

(English)

Welcome, welcome
all the tribes welcome
onto the courtyard
all of us gathered here.
Young women, young men
uplift your Maori prestige
to float on high
I a ha ha
All the tribes

Here is a new reading site that people can go to read. This story is about 'Inanimate Alice' she is a young girl growing up in the first half of the 21st century, and her imaginary digital friend, Brad.

Over ten episodes, each a self contained story, we see Alice grow from an eight year old living with her parents in a remote region of Northern China to a talented mid-twenties animator and designer with the biggest games company in the world.

We have been reading procdural texts in reading. We are learning how to read instructions and also write them. Listen to us reading this story.

This term we will be doing procedural writing. That means we will be looking at writing texts that explain how to do things. This will help to clarify why authors write things the way they do and also how we should read that particular text in a certain way.

Soon everyone will have their own comic strips on their own blogs. So stay tuned!

This term we will be looking at music. We will look at traditional Maori instruments as well as modern day instruments. We will also look at how people are making music with people they have never met before. This all ties in with our Kia Kaha unit of being able to work co-operatively together. Click here and have a look at how it all works.

In Room L we are learning how to make Mosaics in Picassa. Picassa is a google program that allows you to store and manipulate photos. We have used Picassa to make mosaics of our class for the art component of our Kia Kaha Unit. We thought it would be a good thing to do so we are reminded of the people who we need to respect and care for. The children have written their personal goals for this term underneath their pictures. This is to remind them how they need to work constantly to make a safe learning environment. They will try and give regular updates and reflections about how they are reaching these goals. So go and look at the kids blogs and see how they are doing.

On Saturday I went to soccer with Jonny and he scored three goals! That was real fun. The final score was 5 - 1 goals to Jonnys team. On Monday Jonny went to soccer school for four days. When he came home he showed me his new cool t-shirt. During the hollidays Jonny's friend max came to stay and on another day Matthew and Conner came to play with us all. We all had lots of fun together.