Mosaics

This week we finished all of our beautiful mosaics and have displayed them over at the main school for everyone to see. We used blocks of wood left over from a big building job, and we smashed up colourful tiles and glued them in patterns. Some people had outlines to fill in, and other people chose their own arrangement of tiles.

Rawiri discovered he had a talent for smashing up the tiles into small pieces. He thought it was a lot of fun.

We discovered that William loves to visit hardware stores, while we were looking for items for this project. He was really engaged in this activity.

 Rawiri put a lot of effort into the mosaic task.

 Alex was also really interested in arranging the pieces of tile.

Kyle worked with some tiny pieces. Mosaics are great for practising fine motor skills.

 The results were fantastic. Kyle's artwork.

 Matthew did a picture in his mosaic. He appreciates the little details. He carefully filled in the shapes with colours to make an apple tree and garden.

Our chief tile smasher, Rawiri, put a huge effort into the mosaic task. We appreciated how willing and helpful he was. 

James decided the sticky glue on his fingers was horrible, and even after the glue had dried he was a bit suspicious that touching his mosaic would be yucky. He had to say thanks to his friends who helped finish his one off. It does look amazing! Great team effort. 

 William should be so proud of his great work. The blend of small and large tiles looks really effective.

Aimee-Lee was such a fast worker that she managed to complete two beautiful mosaics. One has a flower and the other is more random. 

 Alex chose soft colours for his one. He really loved placing the tiles in the gaps.

Merit was away when we took photos. Merit created this amazing heart mosaic almost independently. Fantastic work Merit!

Homework
Can you show someone the photo of your mosaic. Can you talk about the colours you used? 

This weekend the holidays start. What would you like to do in the holidays? Can you tell someone what you want to do? 

Don't forget about Daylight Savings! Remember that this is time to check the smoke alarms in your house are working. Have you got smoke alarms and are they working? Smoke alarms help to keep you safe if there is a fire at your house. They will only keep you safe if the batteries are working!

Travis Wetlands Walk

We are learning about spring at the moment. We discovered that we have an interest in birds, so we decided to make bird feeders. We have been learning a bit about birds so we decided to go for a walk where lots of birds can be seen. We were so lucky because the sun appeared just as we arrived.

We looked at the map when we arrived. William loves a walk.

Alex showed Kyle the map on the sign.

Kyle and Merit are good friends. They usually walk together.

Aimee liked getting out for a walk too.

The ducks were pleased to see us. They came waddling up the track to see if we had any food. We didn't feed the ducks because they have lots of food in the wetlands to eat.

We called Matthew a "bird whisperer." The swans came over to look at him, and he looked back at them for a long time. The swans looked huge next to Matthew! We warned Matthew not to go too close as they might bite, but the swans were very well behaved.

James saw lots of ducks in the lake.

Aimee chatted all of the way along the track.

We went into the bird watching hide. William could see the birds through the wire mesh.

Merit and Kyle peered through the open spaces in the hide and they could see all sorts of waterbirds.

There was an amazing view out across the swamp. We could see the foothills in the distance.

Rawiri found a handy seat for a bit of a rest.

Merit looked so happy on our walk. Can you see the pukeko behind her?

James pointed to the birds.

 Come on Matthew! I think he was a bit sad to be leaving. He really liked studying the birds.

The Travis Wetlands are a really interesting place for a walk. The track is flat and easy walking. We decided that we'd like to return for a longer walk and maybe a picnic. 

Homework 

Can you see any birds visiting the garden at your house? 

If you use a communication device how many different kinds of birds can you find in your "Animals" grids? 

Starting September

We are all so happy to see the sun shining again. The weather has been really interesting lately. Every morning we check the weather on the Metservice website. We can all say that we are in Christchurch, and that our country is New Zealand. The weather really effects what we can do in a day, and what we need to take with us when we go out. After we check the weather we can make our final plans for the day. We have our visual timetable up on the board and we also write up extra information that we need. 

Every day we do some form of exercise. We are all trying to improve our fitness. Rawiri was going so fast walking on the treadmill he is just a blur in this photo! We have seen a huge improvement in his attitude to exercise. Well done Ra! 

 Matthew thought the gym was really scary for a start. He has developed skills in using the treadmill and rowing machine, and now Fay is helping him to pedal correctly on the bike.

 We have been talking about shaving faces with Megan, our OT. She has these funny faces and we have to spread the shaving foam around where whiskers grow, and then we practise scraping it off. Next time she is bringing a razor and we are going to shave water balloons. We think that will be pretty funny!

  We got to go to the Cultural Festival to see the Allevale Kapa Haka group perform. Rawiri, Merit and Kyle were in the team that performed. Alex had lots of fun in the audience.

 James, William, Matthew and Aimee were there too.

Click here to see the Allenvale Cultural Festival Performance 2015 . It took a long time to develop  and perfect the routine. The members of the Kapa Haka group are dedicated and hard working. Well done to all of them, and a special thanks to the teachers and teacher assistants involved.

We have been talking about koanga - spring. We are learning about the leaves growing on the deciduous trees, flowers blooming and baby animals being born. We know that birds are making nests and laying eggs. We decided to make some bird feeders to provide food for the birds that visit our garden. On Monday we visited Animates to see if we could find some birds, then we went to Bunnings to look for some supplies for making bird feeders.

Matthew had a look at the birds, then he was very excited because he found the RATS!!! Pet rat Mum?

 Merit loved the birds. She noticed all of the different colours of the budgies.

 Alex and Fay chatted about the birds. Alex can make bird chirps.

 We also saw some guinea pigs. They go squeak squeak.

 There were so many beautiful animals and birds to look at. Some of us got to pat a puppy too.

We are continuing to work on our bird feeder projects. We have looked a various designs and have purchased and recycled some materials so that we can begin construction next week.

Now that the sun is shining more often we have been able to get out and have some fun in our local area. Aimee loves a walk.

 James is a big fan of swings. Edgar Mackintosh Park has some excellent ones for all ages.

 William and his trusty I-Pod had fun on the round-a-bout. He enjoys spinning around and around. Look at that gorgeous smile!

We have had a really busy week. Next week we'll be getting into making our bird feeders. We are working on some amazing mosaics too. Everyone will be doing some cooking. Some people will attend a cooking class and others will work at school. We will all do some gardening too. We will get out and about on the public bus if the weather is warm enough, and we'll do some practice shopping.

Homework
Can you tell someone about the weather and the season? Can you tell someone: 

• where you live (your address)?
• what city or town you live in?
• what country we live in? 

Everyone who has a communication device has this information programmed. Look under "describe" for weather information. "About me" is under "Chat".