Down to the Wire-Look Who It Is

Ha, ha, ha...not the best still shot Mr D.

http://downtothewire.co.nz/people-2008/

Oh, the Places You'll Go-Our Class Journey

Check out our production journey.

Oh, the Places You'll Go-BD Class Journey on Prezi

28/10/10 What's Going On in BD Class?

We started the day with looking at "Magic-e" This is when vowels go from a short sound to a long sound. We came up with HEAPS of words using "a" and "i" and "magic-e."

After reading today, we did some more procedural writing. We had to mime how to brush our teeth. Then we had to think about the steps. Mr recorded our ideas. We added LINK words and action VERBS to help things make sense.

28/10/10 Good Morning with Robert and Eddie

26/10/10 What's Going on in BD Class?

Robert and Eddie were still away on holiday today so we didn't get to see them this morning. But we did look at our blog to see all the hits we have been getting. We did some recount writing this morning about our long weekend. Mr D gave us feedback about putting detail into our writing using the 5 Ws (what, where, when, who and why.)

After morning tea we got stuck into some reading. Then we had a surprise. We had some Milo Cricket Skills with Mark and Pip. It was heaps of fun!

It was fun when we got to do little throws to our buddies. Our skills got better each time we did a drill.

Making Play-dough

We made some play-dough with Mrs Stewart the other day. It was lots of fun. Once we made the dough we wrote out the steps for the recipe. Check out the photos of what we did.

Oh, the Places You'll Go-Our final thoughts

Click on an icon and hear what we think.

22/10/10 Good Morning with Robert & Eddie

School Production

Hi Kids,

I went to the School Production tonight and I was very impressed! You all did such a fantastic job on stage with your performance and should be very proud of yourselves. Everyone looked like they were having so much fun too! Well done. You guys rock!

Lisa (Logan's Mum)

21/10/10 What's Going On in BD Class?

What a busy couple of days...we have performed 4 times in the past two days. And we have been amazing! Everyone has danced, sung and performed amazingly. Here are some of our thoughts about our performances so far.

After morning tea we got to watch all of the other items. They were SO cool. Where's Wally kept on popping up everywhere. Here is our performance from the Kids' Concert.

So it's our last performance tonight. Mr D is proud of EVERYONE. You guys have been awesome! 

Mr D thinks you all have the X-Factor.

20/10/10 What's Going On in BD Class?

It is production day! Everyone was so excited about performing today. We watched yesterday's practise and used our thinking hats to evaluate our performance.

Good points No-so good points Improvements

Here are our thoughts about performing in the show...we used our red hats.

It was very exciting waiting to do our performance. We practised our moves and our singing too.

Here we are waiting for our performance.

Enjoy the performance everyone and "break a leg."

19/10/10 What's Going On in BD Class?

WOW! We have been working VERY hard today. We had two dress rehearsals today. The first one was okay but the second one was really awesome. We were snappy, you could hear the words and we had a lot more energy. Well done everyone!

We did some recount writing today and Mr D was really impressed with the way that people are getting better at their writing. Lots of ideas... remembering fullstops and capitals...better sounding out with sounds in order...much, much better!

Mr D was going to put a video of our performance here but everyone said they wanted it to be a surprise! ("Fair enough," said Mr D.)

We also did reading this morning, We are working on these things this week;

WALT:

• read like we talk
• find information in the stories we read
• order the ideas from the story
• find little words in big words we know

Get lots of sleep everyone because we have a BIG few days ahead of us.

19/10/10 Good Morning with Robert & Ella

18/10/10 What's Going On in BD Class?

We had a great day with Mrs Stewart today. Mr D was away because Little Emma still has the chicken pox. He did pop in to help us with our production rehearsal on the stage. We are trying really hard to remember to move AND sing at the same time. Mrs Stewart did some cool procedural writing today too. We made play-dough! We got to put the ingredients together and then we got to play with it too. We wrote the steps you need to take to make the dough. Because the weather was so nice we took the kites out to have a play with as well. What a great day.

15/10/10 What's Going On in BD Class?

It has been a bit of a funny day today. We kicked off with power writing then did our poem of the week. In maths the groups are learning some pretty tricky strategies.
The "Circles" were learning to make groups of ten when adding numbers together.

4+2+6 is the same as 10+2 which =12

The "Triangles" were doing some work on counting backwards to solve subtraction problems using bigger numbers.

23-4=__ (23 in our head->22,21,20,19)

These are some really good strategies. Mrs Stewart did some more procedural writing with us after morning tea. We had a go at making milo, then we had to write the instructions for it. 

After lunch we had production practise in the lovely sunshine. We started our new inquiry topic today. We brainstormed ideas about environments and had a go at grouping some of them.

Next week is a busy week so make sure that you all rest and have a great weekend.

14/10/10 What's Going On in BD Class?

We have a had a very creative day today. We had our first production practise on the stage this morning. Jarden said it was like we were walking on the roof! We are getting pretty good at our actions and singing. After Kapa Haka this afternoon Mr D took the Library Card group and Mrs H took the Champions group. Now it is REALLY looking good.

Check out the video for our production song. Cool!

In our reading groups we are working in these things:

WALT:

• Read like we talk
• Read word endings carefully
• Talk about the characters in the stories we read
• Use our blends knowledge to work out words
• Look for little words in big words
• Find information in the books we read.

Everyone is working very hard in reading. The groups are also getting better at using the iPods for listening post activities. Keep up the great effort everyone!

14/10/10 Good Morning with Robert & Eddie

Mr D Isn't Here

Hi Guys
Sorry I can't see you all today. Little Emma is not very well today so I am staying home to look after her. We are watching Hi-5, Dora the Explorer and Bo on the Go on TV.

I have just about finished our video for our production items and I found a better version of the library card song. I'll be able to show you all tomorrow.
Have a great day with Mrs Stewart.
Mr D :-)

12/10/10 What's Going On in BD Class?

This morning got off to a really interesting start. Nadia told us about what was special about the 10th of October. The short date would look like 10/10/10. That got us thinking about the next time a date would look like that. Leo worked out that it would be the 11th of November 2011 (11/11/11). Then we all worked out that the next one would be the 12th of December 2012 (12/12/12). But that is it until the 1st of January 2101 (01/01/01).

Then...that got us talking about palindromes. They are numbers and words that are the same forwards and backwards like:

121

2442

Hannah

civic

deed

Check out this sentence!

A man, a plan, a canal, Panama

If you read the highlighted bits backwards you will find that it is the same. What a big palindrome!

Then that got us talking about ambigrams which are words that look the same upside down. Mr D showed us a signature that was the same upside down and right-side up. It belonged to a man called William H Hill. Check this out!

Here are some ambigrams from a book/movie that is very popular:

Now that's not all we did today. We did some very good reading today with all the groups making some really good improvements with their reading. We also got through some very good maths sessions and wrapped things up with some small ball skills with PE. So it has been an interesting day today. See you tomorrow.

12/10/10 Good Morning with Robert & Eddie

11/10/10 What's Going On in BD Class?

It has been a pretty tiring day. We are still recovering from the holidays. We did some writing this morning then we did our blends of the week:

We tried out our new reading levels today. It is going to be a bit more challenging for us now. We got to use the new iPod gadgets that let four people plug into the iPod. Mr D showed us the "Down to the Wire" website. He is not too sure when his interview is going to be on. But all of you parents might be interested in it. www.downtothewire.co.nz. We had a good production practise and finished off with our maths groups. Year 2s need to remember to do their spelling every night. See you tomorrow.

11/10/10 Today's Daily Writing

We are learning to write reports about things we have done. We need to make sure that we write in the third person.

11/10/10 Good Morning with Robert & Eddie

10th of October?

Hi everyone,
Can you tell me what is special about this date? Post it in the comments.
See you tomorrow!
Mr D :-)

My school holidays

I had the best holiday ever! I went to Taupo and saw my Nana and Grandad, there dog's names were Whiskey and Snoopy. I saw my cousins, we went to their school and me and my cousin William played in there ute.  I also helped my nana and grandad put branches on a bonfire on their farm and then had a swim in Lake Taupo because I was so hot! Now my sister has the chicken pox like I did.  See you all Monday.  From Keenan

We Are a Finalist!

Hi everyone. I got an exciting email today that said: "Thanks for entering this year’s INTERFACE Awards, I’m delighted to be able to tell you that you’re a finalist! Congratulations. The standard of entries was very high and you have done extremely well to reach the final five. You should be very proud of this achievement and the work you are doing. We’ve now invited INTERFACE readers to review the finalists and vote for their favourite. These results will go towards determining the final placings.
How cool!

Down to the Wire Launch Teaser

Hey everyone. You can see some our classroom here as well as Cassidy from Mrs H's class. Mackenzie, Taine and Jamie will be appearing soon. Or you can got to www.downtothewire.co.nz.