Inside the Sensory Bag

We have been learning to write descriptions and we have been trying to use our sense of sight, touch, feel, hear and taste while doing this.

Today was a bit tricky because we had to use our sense of touch only to describe the object in the sensory bag.  We were a bit worried about what might be in the bag but Mrs Raj said it was safe to touch.

We put our hand inside the bag and felt around.  It was a bit strange as we couldn't see what it was.  We then had to write our descriptions.

Kiana's Description

Inside the Sensory Bag

When I put my hand in the sensory bag, I felt something spiky because it was sharp.  When I put my hand in the sensory bag, I felt something furry because it had small, smooth spikes.  Inside the sensory bag, I felt something rough because it felt like it had dirt on it. Inside the sensory bag, I felt something warm because it had fur on it.  Inside the sensory bag, I felt something cold.


Paea's Description

Inside the Sensory Bag

When I put my hand in the sensory bag, I felt something smooth because I felt the fluff.  It was hard because I couldn't bend it.  It was warm because of the fluff.  It was ticklish because of the spiky things on it.  It felt like a flower because it was curvy and fluffy.  It was pointy because it felt like a stick because at the bottom, there was a long stick.


Pearl's Description

Inside the Sensory Bag

When I put my hand in the sensory bag, I felt something hard.  It was also spiky, big and heavy.  It felt like a toy spider.  It felt like it had wings, legs and fur.  The legs felt pointy because my hand kept getting poked.  I think it felt like these because it felt like a spider.

This was what was inside the sensory bag.  It is a fake succulent plant.

Shared Writing

Writing is something most of us do independently but we found it more fun to do group writing.  We all started our story then we swapped it with another person in our team.  We added our ideas, making some story funny.

Mrs Folu's Pigeons

Mrs Folu brought her 4 pigeons to school today so we invited room 1, 4 and room 5 to come and see them too.  We all got a chance to look at the beautiful white pigeons and then she released them. 

At first they didn't want to come out but then they soared high up in the air, on their way home.  Mrs Folu told us that they always got home safely.

We then used the pigeons as our main characters to write our narratives.

The release of the pigeons!

How to Talona (Tongan Dance)

Today Aleki showed us how to talona.  Talona means to dance in Tongan.  First he showed us what to do then we copied him.  It was very tricky but fun.  We had to write instructions on how to talona which was challenging as we found it hard to describe some of the moves.

Aleki giving us instructions.

We tried to copy him.

How to Hiko (juggle)

The Tongan word for juggling is 'hiko'.  The Tongan women are very good at juggling with 5 balls so we decided to take the challenge of juggling ourselves with 3 balls.

We then wrote instructions on how to juggle.

How to Hiko (Juggle)

You will need:

Equipment

3 balls

Steps

1. Hold two balls in your dominant hand.

2. Hold one ball in your other hand.

3. Throw one ball to your opposite hand.

4. Throw the other ball to your left hand.

5. Repeat.

By Willie

Making Samoan Lolepopo

Mrs Folu has been teaching us a lot about Samoa.  On Friday she helped us to make 'lolepopo'.  It is a sweet treat made out of sugar and grated coconut.  She brought a strange looking equipment called a 'tuai'.  A tuai is like a huge grater which is used to grate coconut.

Amera's writing on how to make lolepopo

Making Lolepopo

A lolepopo is a type of Samoan lolly.

First we cracked a coconut.  Then we grated the coconut flesh.  We then put some brown sugar in the pan. After that we stirred the brown sugar and we waited for it to melt.  Next we poured the coconut flesh into the pan and we tried to cover the brown sugar with the coconut.  We mixed the brown sugar and coconut.

Charle's writing

Making Lolepopo

A lolepopo is a type of Samoan lolly.

First, we cracked the coconut and we scraped the coconut with a tuai.

Next, we put the sugar with the coconut. The sugar looked like caramel.

Lastly we put the coconut with the brown sugar in the electric fry pan.


We all tasted the lolepopo, some of us thought it was really yummy while others were not so sure.

Ula, the Samoan Necklace

Mrs Finau brought us some 'ula' , Samoan necklaces today so we decided to use them to write our descriptions.  These necklaces are made of sea snail shells, shells, seeds and beads.  

We wonder how long it took them to make each necklace!!!

What does a taro plant look like?

Today I took a taro plant to the class so we could look at it before writing our descriptions.  Taro and taro leaves are common foods in Samoa and Tonga and a lot of students grow it at home.

First, we looked at the leaf then the shoot and lastly the stalk.  We had to write what we could see and what they felt like.

Taro Plant

A taro plant is a type of island plant.

The leaf is green.  It's shaped like a heart.  The leaf has veins.  It is dark and light green.

It has a shoot.  It is small.  The shoot is thin and it is green.  

The stalk is long.  It is brown.  The stalk holds the leaf.  The leaf is soft.

by Ocean

Taro Plant

A taro plant is a type of island plant.

The leaf is shaped like a heart and it is dark green.  It is small and it has veins.

The shoot is green, fat, a little bit short and pointy.

The stalk is long, skinny and it is light green and brown.

by Otolose

Describing a Hibiscus

Mrs Pedersen and Mrs Hoebriggs kindly brought hibiscus for our class to look at so we could write their descriptions.  We learned some names of flower parts like petals, style, stigma and stamen.  We used our sense of sight, touch and smell to write our descriptions.

Hibiscus flowers are used a lot in Tongan and Samoan culture.  It is called 'kaute'  in Tongan and  'aute Samoa' in Samoan.

Willie's Description

Ariel's Description

DJ's description

Writing Descriptions

Our writing focus this term is on writing descriptions.  

We are going to use the following checklist to write our descriptions: 

- a title

- an introduction

- use describing words (looks like, feels like, smells like, sounds like, tastes like)

-have some interesting detail

-write a conclusion

Here we are working with our partners to describe the dinosaurs.

Acrostic Poems

Our focus has been pests and as part of that we have been writing about pests too.  We wrote some acrostic poems about flies and mosquitoes.  Acrostic poems are poems where a word in used to write the poem, here we had chosen 'Flies' and 'Mosquitoes'.

The wasp art work was by Ariel and had bubble wrap on top, like the nest.

The Pest Research Continues

This term we have been focusing on our topic about the pests in our community.  We are looking at what these pests are, their habitats, their diets, how to prevent them from coming into our houses and how to get rid of them.

This has required us to do a lot of research!  We have been using web sites, books, asking our families, making observations and collecting all these information to write reports.  We have been working in groups and we all have to do our part.

It is a great topic and we are enjoying learning about these pests even though there are some pests we don't like at all!!!

Garden to Table

We have been growing some vegetables in our garden so we decided to make a salad using the red lettuce that we had grown.  We also used carrots, capsicum and cucumber.  First, we chopped the carrot, capsicum, cucumber and shredded the lettuce.  Then we mixed them all together.  Lastly we added some salt.

We then ate our salad.  Some of the vegetables we tried were interesting!!!

Making Butter

We have been learning how to write instructions so we decided to make some butter and then write our instructions.  It was hard work shaking the jar full of cream but the butter was delicious with crackers!

Joseph's instructions on how to make butter.

Blowing Bubbles

Bubbles, bubbles, bubbles!!!!

As part of the science experiment, we made bubbles using washing detergent and water.  We then tried different ways of blowing it.  It was a lot of fun.

How to make and blow bubbles- By Tulialo

Meet Michael Jackson and Sasha Banks

There are 2 monarch caterpillars in our classroom and our job is to look after them.  First, we had to name them so each of us had to think of two names and why those names were suitable for our caterpillars.

Some of the names were Jamy, Jack, Lumpy, Bumpy, Jackson Bowie, T J Purkins, Rain, Maria Tutaia, Michael Jackson and Sasha Banks.  We wanted to give them names so they won't be teased by other butterflies and names they could be proud of. It was a hard decision so we had a vote and the winning names were Michael Jackson and Sasha Adams.

Silverbeet Soup

We have been growing silverbeet in our garden and today we made silverbeet soup using onion, garlic, coconut cream and oil.  We chopped, fried, poured, stirred, smelt and tasted our yummy soup.

Thank you Mrs Finau for helping us today!

For our writing today, we had to write about how we made the silverbeet soup.

This was written by Kaulave.

How We Made Silverbeet Soup

First, we picked silverbeet from the garden.  Next, we put the oil in and then we chopped  the onion and garlic.  We got the cooking spoon and stirred the onion and garlic.  We chopped the silverbeet and put it and the salt in then we stirred it again.  Lastly, we  put the coconut cream in.

World of Insects

We have been learning about insects and now we know lots of facts about them.  Did you know that insects have 3 body parts- head, thorax and abdomen and that there are more insects in the world than any other animals?  They also have their skeleton on the outside of the body and they belong to a group of animals called arthropods! 

We went for a hikoi to study some insects and we found bees, a monarch butterfly and ants. We studied how they moved, where they lived and what they looked like.  We were careful not to hurt them.

We also wrote letters to insects inviting them to our parties or giving them information.


21.9.16

Dear Fly

I am inviting you to a Stinky Dad's Shoe party.  The party is outside the steps.  The party starts in the afternoon.  I'm inviting a lot of flies, cockroaches and ants in my dad's stinky shoes.  We are having a a party because we want to surprise you.  It is on Friday afternoon.

From Christina


22.9.16

Dear Ant

I found junk food in the cupboard.  It was sugar that I had found but there was ant poison too.  I had a heart attack everywhere in the house and I nearly got trapped.  I looked somewhere else and suddenly I found something I liked.

It was my favourtie, it was a strawberry.  I ran back home to tell my mum and dad.

From Solomon


20.9.16

Dear Monarch Butterfly

I am inviting you to a flower party and I have invited the bees and caterpillars too.  You can come to the daisies on the field, in front of room 5 and come in the afternoon.  I am having a flower party because it is spring.

From Shayna

We Made Popcorn

We made popcorn today so we could write a description about it.  We looked at it, we felt it, we smelt it, we heard it and we smelt it.  Some words we used to describe it were white fluffy cloud, sheep wool, crunchy and munchy and buttery.  We watched it pop and the smell was delicious!

The best part: eating!!!

Wrapping Presents

As part of learning to write instructions, we decided to wrap 'pretend' presents using newspaper.  We worked in pairs and then wrote how to wrap presents.

How to wrap presents

You will need:

A present

Wrapping paper

Cellotape

Steps

1. Put the present in the middle of the paper.
2. Fold the two big sides.
3. Fold the two corners.
4. Tape the present.

by Ocyan