Christchurch Earthquake Disaster

In class this morning we have been having a huge discussion about the scary earthquake in Christchurch.  We feel sad that the houses have been broken and that some of them are being robbed.  We talked about how sad and upset we feel for people who have been hurt and for all the people who have lost a member of their family or a friend.  We have seen on the news how sad and upset people are who are waiting to hear about their friends or family that are still missing.  We heard about the hospital needing blood for people who have been injured and Mrs L talked about people who can donate blood.  We also saw on the news how the biggest building fell down and people were trapped in it.  One of the oldest buildings fell down too.
The school is having a mufti day on the 4th of March and we will all bring a gold coin to go to the Red Cross.  The Red Cross is helping people with food and clothes and somewhere to stay now that they can't go home.

Goal Setting

We have been focussing on setting goals and sharing them with our parents at the school picnic.  We have been learning about SMART goals; Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timeline.  Mrs L helped us to pull each of those words apart so we know what they mean because they are quite big words.  We made writing goals and basic facts goals - but the most important goal was about Life Long Learning.

Because sometimes we only look at stuff about school Mrs L asked us to write about a goal we would like for ourselves - it didn't need to be a school thing.  Here are some of the goals we came up with:

My goal is to learn how to do a handstand for 8 seconds! - Sarah
I want to learn how to ride a 2 wheeler bike. - Mya
My goal is to do a forward-flip on the tramp. - Nathan
I want to be able to do a back flip and land. - Ice
My goal is to learn to a handstand. - Paige
My goal is to skateboard. - Adam
My goal is to learn to whistle. - Jasmin
My goal is to practice catching a cricket ball. - Heath
My goal is to be able to do more than 13 backhand springs in a row. - Elleanor
I want to get better at playing the piano. - Kate
My goal is to learn how to swim at the pools. - Caitie
My goal is to do a backflip on the trampoline. - Noah
I want to learn how to ride a mountain bike. - Logan
My goal is to be able to do a backflip into the pool. - Jorja
I would like to learn to dive properly into the pool. - Alyssa
I want to get better at playing the piano. - Natalia
I want to be able to do a bunny hop on my bike. - Bos
I want to be able to do a backflip on the trampoline. - Levi
My goal is to be able to do a handstand. - Janke
I want to be able to do a flip on the trampoline. - Ethan

It will be interesting to see how you all go at working towards and achieving your goals!

Similes

We have been learning about using similes to compare one thing to another using 'as' or like'.  Here are some of our best ones.  We hope you like them:

She was as wise as an owl. - Kate
My lego is as light as the sky. - Logan
The butterfly is as orange as the sun - Elleanor
The clouds are as puffy as a nice, soft toy. - Sarah
The roof is as red as the Red Beach School t-shirt. - Adam
My cat is as black as the night. - Mya
Bananas are as yellow as the sun. - Jack
Her eyes are as white as a ghost. - Caitie
My feet are as white as a ghost. - Heath
The clouds are as soft as candyfloss. - Nathan
My hair is as dark as the mud. - Natalia
The sea is as blue as the sky. - Levi
The sun is as bright as a light. - Kaleb
Grandmas teeth are as brown as a tree trunk. - Paige
My teeth are as shiny as a light. - Noah
Ther sky is as blue as a sparkly river. - Alyssa
He was as scared as a cat. - Jasmin
A flower is yellow like the sun. - Ice
I am as hot as the sun. - Boston
The kitchen knife is as sharp as metal. - Riley
My legs are as high as a giraffe. - Jorja
I am as blind as a bat. - Janke
Simile song

Team Italy - Our 2011 Community

This year our class is in the Team Italy Community.  We already know all of these facts about Italy:

• The flag has a red, white and green stripe
• The food they make is pasta, pizza and lasagne
• They make a special type of icecream
• They make Ferrari's and Lamborghini cars
• Italy is shaped like a boot
• They are very good at football
• The capital of Italy is Rome
• 2.8 million people live in Rome
• The Leaning Tower of Pisa is in Italy
• Leonardo da Vinci was from Italy
• They speak Italian