The 3 R's by Jack Johnson

Three it's a magic number
Yes it is, it's a magic number
Because two times three is six
And three times six is eighteen
And the eighteenth letter in the alphabet is R
We've got three R's we're going to talk about today

We've got to learn to
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

If you're going to the market to buy some juice
You've got to bring your own bags and you learn to reduce your waste

And if your brother or your sister's got some cool clothes
You could try them on before you buy some more of those
Reuse, we've got to learn to reuse

And if the first two R's don't work out
And if you've got to make some trash
Don't throw it out
Recycle, we've got to learn to recycle,

We've got to learn to
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Because three it's a magic number
Yes it is, it's a magic number

REUSING!

This week Room 12 has been busy working with Simon from Waste Busters learning about all the ways we can REUSE things to help reduce the amount of rubbish we are putting into landfills. It has been lots of fun and really interesting for the children and the teacher. Today we got to create a desk tidy or a piggy bank by reusing items we had at home. We got some really creative looking contraptions!

We are also learning a really cool, upbeat song from the Curious George movie called the 3 R's - Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. It requires us to sing really fast (rap) which is so much fun! Ask your child to sing it to you. The words will be posted up soon.

Frog Brain Teaser Game

Have a go at this tricky brainteaser! Click on the picture.

Have a go at this Frog Quiz!

Click on the picture!

More Time Games - Click on the Pictures

Time

Click on the pictures to be taken to the websites

Statistical Investigations

We have been studying graphs, tables and surveys over the last few weeks. On our last day we presented our findings to one of our statistical investigations. Some children were independent investigators and they got to complete their graph using 'create a graph' which is a simple to use website that makes electronic graphs.
Click on the link to go to this website:

We worked really hard on writing detailed statements about what we discovered from our investigations. Here are some photos of our presentations.

Frog Booklets - thinking of questions

We completed a frog booklet to record our ideas about what we already know about frogs and what we want to know about frogs. We talked about fat and skinny questions and tried really hard to come up with fat questions for our inquiry. At the end we will complete the back page - what we have learnt about frogs. The booklet is a bit like a KWL chart.

Frog Life Cycles

Yesterday we looked at the Life Cycle of a Frog. We found out what an Amphibian is. It is an animal that needs both water and land to survive. Frogs are amphibians! We had to cut out pictures showing the different stages of their life, match them to the correct description and put them in the right order.

The Life Cycle of a Frog:
1. The female frog lays thousands of tiny eggs in the water. It takes about 10 days for the eggs to hatch.
2. The eggs hatch into tiny tadpoles. They swim, eat and grow. They use their tail to swim.
3. As the tadpole grows it sprouts back legs. It is now called a froglet. Its tail begins to shrink.
4. The tadpole continues to grow and front legs appear. At this stage the lungs are beginning to develop to help it breathe of land. The tail continues to shrink.
5. When the tail finally disappears the froglet becomes a frog!. Now it can leap onto the land and live out of the water.

Frog Descriptions

WALT: write creative character descriptions.

Today we described frogs. Lara and Hayley want to share their writing:

I live in swamps and on lily's. Splash! Into the light blue pond. Jumping on the lily pads. My skin is glinting in the moonlight.
By Lara

Hopping around on the bright green lily pads on a beautiful Summers day. Gliding through the light blue water. His skin is as lumpy as goody goody gumdrops icecream. His stripes on his body are like stripes on a candy cane. The frogs tongue is as rough as sandpaper.
By Hayley

First Day Back

Today was a great day in Room 12. We spent time getting to know one another. We learned that we all have different strengths and when we put them together, we can accomplish anything. We talked about why we have the day off on Friday because it is Waitangi Day and we are going to make our own class treaty tomorrow. We read an awesome story called "Chrysanthemum." Over the next few days we are going to look into our own name origins, where they come from and why they are special to us.

Our theme for the first half of the term is going to look at the Living World in Science where we will study FROGS! Click on the frog pictures to be taken to some fun frog games.

WELCOME to 2009 in Room 12

Welcome to Term 1 in Room 12 for 2009. I am very excited to get to know all the children in Room 12 this year. We have a great bunch. I am looking forward to hearing all about your Summer holidays. This term we will be busy getting to know one another for the first couple of weeks where I have lots of fun activities planned.

To the parents: I have an 'open door policy' where I invite you to come in and see me or make an appointment whenever you have any questions or queries about your child's learning. Keep checking out this blog throughout the year to keep up to date with what's happening in the classroom. I look forward to working alongside you all and your children in 2009.

- Raewyn (classroom teacher)