Sparkle!

Goodbye, Baby Joshua!

2009-11-30T15:41:00.000-08:00

Today was Baby Joshua's last visit! And guess what? He can walk! He can take 12 steps!

We presented Melanie with a beautiful scrapbook that we made. Tanya also presented them with a stylish framed certificate from Roots of Empathy. After that we all shared a delicious banana cake with lemon icing.

Joshua has gone from being a tiny little baby, who couldn't even lift his head, to an energetic little boy who screams with delight when he plays with his favourite toy.

We love you, Baby Joshua!

RT

Monkey Business

2009-08-13T19:25:00.000-07:00

This morning we read a lovely newspaper article about Minty the monkey, who escaped from a reserve in Christchurch.

Using classtools, we created an interactive game to support our comprehension of the text.

Have a go! Just click on 'play'.

Click here for full screen version

Joshua has grown so much!

2009-08-06T16:23:00.000-07:00

For various reasons, we haven't had a visit from Joshua for ages! Joshua is our Roots of Empathy baby, and yesterday he paid us a long awaited visit. We are always surprized at how much he has changed since his previous visit!

Baby Joshua

Joshua now is 7 months old. He is cute and always is happy when he sees us.
Joshua can now sit and roll over when you hold him he bounces in your hands. Joshua has two teeth down bottom but one is still growing. Joshua can hold his bottle with one hand and two hands. When we started to sing the Sausage song he started to laugh. Then we sang another song, but Joshua liked the sausage song better.

Baby Joshua weighs 9 kilos. We also measured him, and it was 70 cm. He wakes once a night and he just needs a bottle. Before Joshua left we sang the Good bye song. We all gathered to say good bye while Melanie took him around the circle. Some of us stayed to talk to Joshua, but then they had to leave because baby Joshua was tired.

By: C.F and S.T

Gumboot Dancing at the Pacific Dance Festival

2009-08-05T16:59:00.001-07:00

A large part of our class and some other students took part in the Pacific Dance Festival this week. We did a traditional African Gumboot Dance. This dance was done in the Gold Mines by slaves, originally, as a secret way of communicating. It is made up of a series of claps, stamps and whistles which need very good co-ordination and some fast, energetic moves. We learnt the dance in just one week, and every one said that it was great!

Here is what BT wrote:

As we sit anxiously on the floor waiting to go on stage, Kim and Raylene (some of our Mums) are helping to tie on bandannas for the dancers. Mrs Taljaard has asked me to blog about the dances as we wait. I am sitting on the floor in the chapel, writing this.

Monday, 3 August

We are very nervous, especially as we have only been practicing for one week. Everyone is ready. Then we get called to Room 24. We think that is very funny, as we ARE in Room 24 at school. We have to wait for ages, and they tell us to keep our bells quiet, but it is hard as they are attached to our boots. Soon we have to go on stage. We walk quietly in the dark on to the stage. LB blows the whistle 3 times. We stamp back, and then we're off! 1-2-3-4 5-6-7-8, and clap and stamp and clap and clap. We have to think very hard to remember all the moves, but we do it. It feels great when everyone claps and says Well done!

Tuesday, 4 August

As we sit on the floor waiting, we are not as nervous as last night. But DL is not here yet and she has been away on holiday. But wait, she has arrived this very moment. We are so relieved. Now CF arrives. She is feeling really sick, and has a sore throat. What are we going to do? She is our Caller, and has to shout 'Hamba' in her loudest voice to let us know when to start. She decides she is going to try her best. It's almost time to go on, and now we've just remembered we don't have our bells on our boots yet. Mrs Taljaard rushes to get all six of them fixed. Now LB has lost her whistle. Oh dear - it's time to go... Wish us luck!

Roots of Empathy

2009-06-17T20:09:00.000-07:00

Today Joshua visited us for the fourth time. My, how he has grown! Now he can roll, squeal, cry and he loves to bounce.

Joshua eats lots - mixed vegetables, mashed potato, bananas and weetbix. Melanie gives him a late feed at 10 o'clock, and then he sleeps through until 6.30am. He uses 6 to 8 nappies a day now.

Joshua is 5 and a half months old now.

Today we spoke about the emotions Joshua can have. He can be happy and smiles a lot. He gets frustrated when he can't reach a toy. He changes his feelings quickly. When he gets tired he drops his head and rubs his eyes.

When it was time for him to go home, he was very tired, but he still smiled as we sang the Goodbye Song.

Report by CF
Photos by ST

ANZAC Day - 25 April

2009-05-07T17:38:00.000-07:00

Image and Poem by KN:

The war has begun! Get ready, Get ready!!
You were so brave, so brave you were.
You lived so long, but died shortly after.
We will remember you everyday
for the rest of our lives.

Poem by KT:

The war begun, and then it ended.
Some survived and some were killed.

Children were evacuated
far away from their parents .
They were scared and frightend,
or didn't know what was going on.

But the saddest moment of the Anzac day,
is children's father's drifting away.

Is New Zealand as green as it thinks?

2009-04-15T13:31:00.001-07:00

This is what we'll be thinking about this term. What is your opinion?

New Class Members

2009-04-05T16:42:00.000-07:00

This term we got three new class members. We asked two of them how they had settled in.

PG comes from South Africa and has been in NZ for just over two months.

LR: What's different in NZ compared to schools in Africa?
PG: The subjects are harder at school in Africa. In African schools we share desks with two people sitting in each desk.

LR: Do you like school in NZ or Africa better?
PG: I like the schools in New Zealand better, because it is so much fun.

LR: Who is your favourite teacher at Elm Park?
PG: My favourite teacher is.... Mrs T.

LR: What was your favourite subject in Africa?
PG: In Africa my favourite subject was Maths, but here my favourite subject is Art.

LR: Welcome to our school P!

by LR
photo by KT

Our other new girl is AR. She comes from Sri Lanka, and has been in New Zealand for just over a year .

AG has settled in EPS very well. Her friends have been very nice to her as she is still new. Her one and only hobby is drawing. In her free time, she has been drawing animals.

by KT
photo by KT

Our Class Cricket Hero

2009-04-05T16:34:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, 5 April, DB had his Pakuranga Cricket Club prizegiving! We have a cricket hero of our very own in our class!

SA: What was your team called?
DB: Our Team name is McCullum.

SA: Who do you play for?
DB: For Howick Pakuranga Cricket Club

SA: How did you feel when you won the Player of the Year trophy?
DB: I felt very proud when I won, because only two players get the trophy each year.

by SA and DB
photos by KT

Meeting John Key

2009-04-05T16:12:00.000-07:00

KN wrote this almost a month ago, when we had our library opening:

Today is March 13, 2009. Today is no ordinary day. Mr John Key, Prime Minister of New Zealand is coming to Elm Park to open our new, fresh and stunning library!

K, C and I were waiting in the auditorium with the other students and teachers for John Key. Everyone was very excited and on their best behaviour. K and I felt like fainting! It took forever for Mr Key to come, but then I heard singing from two women. They were saying "Haere Mai".

It was JOHN KEY!!! Looking smart and neat he walked in. He told us a story about a rich man. Then Mrs Plowright said a speech. It was quite interesting. Then we had to sing a song. I could tell John Key really liked it.

Later on we went outside to open our new library. There was an orange ribbon tied at the entrance. Mrs Plowright handed Mr Key the orange scissors. Then he said "3,2,1....open!" and he cut the ribbon off. Everyone clapped and yelled out "Yay".

John Key was taken inside for a tour of the library. We sang a song. It was my favourite song, 'Korero Maori'. Soon after we left and went back to class.

Not everyone can meet John Key, but we're all lucky enough for him to come and meet Elm Park School.

by KN
Photos by AS

Influencing people to change

2009-03-31T18:36:00.000-07:00

Roots of Empathy

2009-03-30T18:23:00.001-07:00

Today Baby Joshua came to visit us for the second time. He is 12 weeks old now. These are the things we noticed:

He's quite focused.
He can hold toys now.
He listened quite well when we were singing.
When he's on the roll he eats his hand.
His shoe fell off.
He makes quite a few sounds.
He gets grumpy when he is tired.
He stopped crying when we sang the Bye Bye song.

by LR.

BT's Weet Bix Triathlon

2009-03-30T13:31:00.001-07:00

On Sunday BT went to the Weet Bix Triathalon . First when BT got to the triathalon she was wearing her wet suit because she had to swim first. She didn't know that she had to start the race at 10.30.

Q1.AS: - Why did you go there?
A1.BT: -I knew that I did'nt have anthing to do that day after E's sleepover.

Q2. AS-What was your second activity?
A2. BT-My second activity was when I ran out of the beach and gave my mum my cap and ran to the bikes and took the wet suit of and put her sheos on then she got on the bike and starting riding.It was along ride.

Q3.AS-What number was your T-shirts number?
A3.BT-My T-shirts number was 29,593.I don't know what place I came.

Q4.AS-Was your bike a BMX bike?
A4.BT-No I A mountain bike. My bike was really fast because I kept on changing the gears.

by AS
photos by AS and LA

Our School's extreme make-over

2009-03-30T13:31:00.000-07:00

On Monday the school looked completely different because the school had an extreme make-over over the weekend. Where the old senior's play ground used to be, there is new garden. The equipment has been moved to the field, where it has been rebuilt as an obstacle course. It has a water fountain and all kinds of flowers and trees. The entrance looks like a house. The Middle school has a lovely garden with a bench to sit on under the trees. It has some hopping and walking poles, too. The Juniors have a beautiful walkway with stone seats.

It was all done by Botany Life Church who got more than 100 people to come and make our old playground into a dream playground.

I can't wait for the cement to dry, so that we can have a go!

By LA
Photos by BT

Meeting Baby Joshua

2009-03-11T16:19:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday, after morning tea, Tania Newman came to room24. Melanie is our special guest with adorable baby Joshua.

He weighs six kilograms and his height is 58cm. He is nine week's old. Do you know what baby Joshua can do? He can lie down, make noises and he can burp a little. He can play with us and dribble. Oh,we forgot to tell you something about baby Joshua. He brings a smile when he looks at us.

When Joshua is calm he is happy. when he is not calm he screams!

Joshua sleeps alot. His mother said that Joshua sleeps 2 - 4 hours in the day. He sleeps 5 -6 hours in the night.

He can communicate with us and his mother. He listens's to his mother and us - that's why he smiles.

Roots of Empathy is a program that teaches children to care for one another and see the changes that happen as a baby grows. It fits in well with our theme of 'change'. We learn what his feelings are, and how it feels when he cries.

Joshua only drinks milk, because he does not have any teeth.

I think we all love Joshua.

By AS, DB and LA