Halloween at our school!

With the first years we are making a ghost craft and going over basic Halloween vocabulary like ghost, vampire, pumpkin, scary, costume, etc.

Also, with the 5th and 6th year we are going to create origami bats. 

We will go over Halloween vocabulary as well as vocabulary that corresponds to origami-making, like the various shapes. 

Here is the link to the origami bat instructions: http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/sites/default/files/downloads/origami_bat_instructions.pdf

Halloween!

Halloween is a very popular celebration in the United States. People celebrate in a few different ways. Children dress in costume and go trick-or-treating to collect candy from neighbors. Teenagers and adults also dress in costume and go to parties with their friends. Some examples of popular costumes are vampires, pirates and zombies but many people dress in funny costumes like superheroes or celebrities.

People carve faces into pumpkins and make sweets from pumpkin as well. Some people tell scary ghost stories and play tricks on one another.

When I was in high school, I went to many "haunted houses" with friends. These haunted houses were farms or large buildings in which different rooms are decorated to be scary scenes. People who work at the haunted houses dress up in scary costumes and are actor in the rooms or jump out to scare you as you walk through the haunted house. It was always really scary but exciting to go to these haunted houses!  Here is a photo of my friends and I outside of a haunted house and two actors dressed in costume for a haunted house:

The Skeleton

In the sixth year science classes we have been learning about the human skeleton and it's most common bones. New vocabulary includes: skull, spine, vertebrae, ribs, femur, humerus, radius, ulna, pelvis, tibia and fibula.

We practiced identifying the different bones using a paper skeleton. Next, we played a little game where as I did movements with the paper skeleton, the students had to copy these movements at their places.

In our next class we will do a craft activity about the skeleton. In this activity the students will use several different dry pasta shapes to glue a skeleton on a piece of paper and label it. Here are some examples from the internet:

And here are some photos of the students completing the project:

And here is a photo of some of the 2nd years and myself after doing an activity to learn the basic bones of the human skeleton:

Learning the five senses

With the 3rd years we are learning about the five senses. Here is a link to a good video to review the five senses and examples. There is also a quiz at the end to practice!

http://www.abcya.com/five_senses.htm

After we watch the educational video and take the quiz together we are going to play two games.
In the first we will practice with the sense of hearing. Everyone will close their eyes except for one person. The person with their eyes open will make a sound using an object(s) in the classroom. (For example writing on the chalk board or opening the window. The rest of the class has to guess what objects the person is using to make the noise and describe the noise (loud or quiet).
In the second game we will practice our sense of touch. We will blindfold one classmate and another classmate has to lead this classmate to an object in the room to touch. The blindfolded classmate has to guess what the object is and describe it (hard, soft, smooth, rough, hot or cold). We can also do this with partners where one partner covers his or her eyes and the other leads him or her to touch something.

Meet Rachel, the New Language Assistant!

Hello, my name is Rachel! I am from the United States.

My parents live in a state called Pennsylvania. Their house is in the country where there are many farms and beautiful forests.

Pittsburgh is a city near to my parents' house. It has many bridges because it surrounded by three rivers.

Heinz Ketchup and the famous artist Andy Warhol are from Pittsburgh.

I lived with my parents in the country when I was younger but then I went to the university in New York City. I lived in this city for 4 years. New York City is the biggest city in the United States. It has many people from all around the world. It also has many tall buildings called skyscrapers. The most famous is the Empire State Building.

At the university I studied English literature and Anthropology. When studying literature I read many books. Anthropology is the study of people and their cultures.

While studying anthropology, I did an archeological excavation in Peru. My archeology team and I studied an ancient people called the Incas. We found skeletons, ceramics and stone tools.

I have a big family with 3 brothers, 1 sister and my parents. My sister lives in Alaska, one brother lives in California, another brother lives in Georgia and another lives in Ohio. Christmas is very special to my family because it is the only time during the year that we can visit each other.

I also have one dog and her name is Pepper (pimienta in Spanish!).

I like to travel a lot. I have visited Paris, Portugal, Morocco, Kenya, Peru, the Dominican Republic and many cities in the United States and Spain. Seville is my favorite city in Spain! I want to explore more places this year!

My Vegetable Garden

As spring arrives the children have been participating in a project that revolves around the vegetable garden. They’ve been planting different vegetables, herbs and flowers next to the school and then learning the corresponding vocabulary that relates to the planting and maintenance of a garden. To compliment this they also did projects so that they could learn more about the origins, history and benefits of their respective plant.

Here the children are looking after the garden, they have already dug holes for the plants with spades, most of the vegetables and herbs have already been planted, now they're digging holes with hoes and pulling out weeds.

 Here are some examples of the plants they have in the garden and some basic information about them.

The pumpkin is a round, slightly ribbed vegetable with yellow or orange skin. They are native to North America but are produced all over the world and are used for both food and recreation. They are rich in antioxidant vitamins such as vitamin A, vitamin C and vitamin E and minerals such as copper, calcium and potassium.  Popular methods of preparation are pumpkin pie or pumpkin soup, they are also used as decoration in the United States during Halloween in the form of jack-o-lanterns.

Tomatoes are red fruits that grown on vines. They are native to the South American Andes therefore they require a warm climate to grow well. The fruit is rich in lycopene which helps prevent neurodegenerative diseases. They are eaten all over the word and used in all sort of dishes such as gazpacho and pizza.

Lettuce is a leaf plant that was first cultivated in ancient Egypt. It requires relatively low temperatures so that it does not grow too quickly. Lettuce provides vitamins C, calcium, iron and copper.  We eat lettuce primarily in salads.

Rosemary is a fragrant perennial herb native to the Mediterranean region.  Rosemary can grow in many different climates and can withstand drought and long exposure to the sun. We use it for decorative, culinary and medicinal purposes. It is popular in Italian cuisine and is high in iron, calcium and vitamin B6.

Mint is a herb that is native to much of Europe and southwest Asia. There are many different kinds but the most common are spearmint and peppermint. It grows in wet soils and grows well in nearly all temperate climates. Mint is extremely rich in antioxidants. Typical uses of mint include Moroccan tea; it is also used frequently to accompany lamb dishes.

The leeks belongs int he same family as garlic and onions. They're very hardy and can stand cold winters. They have been cultivated since the ancient Egyptians. They are rich in vitamin K. They are popular in soups and also hold great importance for Wales as one of their national emblems.

My Family Farm

Today I was teaching some of the kids about life on a farm, specifically the farm my parents own, and showing them some of the activities that we get up to.

 The farm is located in Raglan which is about two hours drive south of Auckland.





We can see Mt Taranaki on a good day.

 We had a lovely river running through out farm called the Pakoka River.






We also have a swimming hole where you can enjoy a dip on a hot summer's day.

 This is the view from the farm house on a foggy day.

 We have sheep and cows on our farm so one activity we have to do is to shear the sheep.

We also have chickens and roosters for eggs production.

These are the beehives, where we get the honey from and below you can see the honey process.

Finally I leave you with a picture of our new sheep dog called Wolf and our new pet goat Sami.

More photos can be found on the Facebook page Pakoka River Station