Water Safety - Corey the Penguin visits Tokomaru School!

On Friday we were visited by a water safety expert - Corey the Penguin!  Corey and his friend told us some water safety rules that we need to remember. 

What were some of the things they told us?  Leave your answers in the comments section...

Corey shows us how to use a hula hoop in the water.

We all gave Corey a 'high five' to say thanks for sharing his knowledge with us.

Matilda comes swimming with us!

We went for a swim at Linton Army Camp Pool.  Matilda got her tail wet but we think she enjoyed herself:

Cluster Athletics Day

Some photos from a great day of Athletics events:

It was great to compete against students from our cluster: Aokautere, Tiritea, Opiki, Linton Camp, and Linton Country Schools.

Congratulations to all those who placed in an event, and to those that participated.  We hope you all enjoyed the day!

Our Questions for our Travel Buddies: 2E

Here are some questions for 2E:

Mikah:
How many people are at your school?
What school is closest to yours?
Do you have a big playground at your school?
Do you have native bushes, trees, and flowers around your school?
Shayde:
What does your flag look like?Archie:
Do you have cities?
Have you got a lot of trees?
Do you celebrate Christmas?
Tyrone:
Do you do Spelling?
Do you go on computers lots?
Cameron:
Have any of you been to New Zealand?
Aymee:
What type of cars do you have in Australia?
Are you having fun with being our travel buddies?
Gianlucca:
Do you have pets?
Do you have people from different countries in your class or school?
Do you have many computers in your classroom?
Jordan:
What games do you play at lunch?
What do you do for Maths and Reading?
Do you have phones?
Meghana:
What type of animals are your favourite in Australia?
Do you like Halloween?  If you do, do you go trick-or-treating?
Have you ever seen a real kangaroo like Matilda?
Do you have a climbing wall in your playground?
How wide is your school?  How long is school?
Do you have any forests, and what are the names of some?
Charlotte:
Do you have homework?
Are you having fun with Taratara?
Do you have sunhats?
Domonic:
Do you have special hats you have to wear at school?
Do you have a sandpit at your school?
Tyler K:
Do you have friends from other countries?
Corey:
Do you have school uniforms?
Do you have other Skype/travel buddies?
Ryan:
Have you seen a snake before?
Lukaz:
Have you got any windmills in Australia?

Tyler S:
How big is your school? (land size)

Questions from our Travel Buddies: 2E

We got asked some questions about our school and our country by our travel buddies in Australia.  Check out the questions and our answers below:
Drew – Do you have cars in New Zealand? 
Tyler S:
Yes we do.  We have all sorts of cars like SUV’s. Landrovers, and trucks.
Clodagh – Are you having fun with Matilda?
Cameron:
Yes, we like Matilda.  She is cool.  We love her.  Thank you for Matilda.
Rhys – Where do you eat your lunch at school?
Tyler:
In Summer and Spring  we eat lunch in our shade area under the giant shade sail.  In Winter and Autumn we eat lunch inside on the lino.
Andrew – Do you have clocks in New Zealand?
Aymee:
Yes, we do have clocks in New Zealand.  We like to know what time it is.  If we don’t have a watch, we say it is ten past the freckle.
Jackson – Do you have a lot of land around your school?
Corey:
Yes we do.  We have dairy and sheep farms, and my Dad owns a sheep farm.  We have a whole lot of ranges around our school, and we can see windmills.  They are for power.
Zali - Why don’t you wear shoes and uniforms to school?
Meghana:
Room 1 sometimes don’t wear their shoes and sometimes we take our shoes off before we come into class.  We normally wear shoes, like when we have Athletics or PE.  We only wear uniforms for trips and school events.  We are wearing our school uniforms today, because we are going swimming to the pool at the army camp up the road.  I wear shoes to school sometimes too.
Cassidy – How old are you when you start school?
Domonic
When we are five.
Logan – Do you have PS2 and Wii games in New Zealand?
Lukaz:
Yes, we have PS2 and Wii games in NZ, and some of us have PS3 and X-Box.  Our favourite games are FX MX, Dirt Bike, Crash of the Titans, Real Mario, Summer Sports, Crash Bandicoot, and Burning Rubber 2.
Cory – Do you have an electronic whiteboard or a blackboard in your classroom?
Charlotte:
No, we have a projector, and a whiteboard. 
Baxter – Did you know your flag looks a bit like ours?
Jordan
Yes we do almost have the same flag because we’ve got four stars and a Union Jack and you have got six stars and a Union Jack.
Chelsea – Do you celebrate Easter in New Zealand?
Ryan
Yes we do celebrate Easter. 
Taylor – Do you have homework?
Meghana:
We normally have homework like Reading, Spelling, and Basic Facts.  It can be things we do on the weekend too, like a sport.
Abby – How do you get to school?
Mikah:

The ways we get to school in Room 1
Car	Bike	Bus	Walk
Meghana	Tyrone	Corey	Jordan
Tara	Gianlucca	Shayde	Aymee
Bailie	Lukaz	Archie	Charlotte
Mrs Bismark	Mikah	Tyler S	Domonic
		Annabelle	Tyler
		Cameron
		Ryan

Maddison – What are your native animals?
Tyrone:
We have quite a lot.  A good webiste to visit is http://www.doc.govt.nz/conservation/native-animals/Alyssa – Do you have cities in New Zealand?
Archie:
We do have cities in New Zealand, like Auckland and Wellington.  We live by Palmerston North.
Olivia – Do you have your own desk at school, or do you have to share?
Shayde:
We do have desks.  Everyone has their own desk in Room 1.  We have drawers where we put our stuff.
Riley – Are there mammals and insects in New Zealand?
Ryan:
Yes.  I like centipedes, lizards, funnel web spiders, penguins, tuis, and that's about it.  
Thomas – Do you have computers in your classroom?
Jordan:
Yes we do have computers.  We have 5 in our classroom, and 5 in the library that we use lots because our class is right next to the library.
Georgia – Do you have dogs and cats in New Zealand?
Corey:
Yes we do have cats and dogs in New Zealand.  In our class about half of us have cats, and half of us have dogs.
Connor – Do you have to wear hats at school?
Domonic:
Yes we do wear hats.  We wear red hats with Tokomaru School on them.
Stuart – Do you ever wear shoes to school? See Meghana's answers above.
Sterling – Do you have a laptop in your classroom?
Charlotte:
We do.  We have one that Mrs Bismark uses for her work and we sometimes use it.
Kelsie – What kind of food do you eat in New Zealand?
Mikah:
Fruit: kiwifruit, tomato, strawberries, apples, pears, and bananas.
Meat: Lamb, pork, and beef.
Protein: Eggs, milk, cheese, and butter.
Vegetables: broccoli, carrots, potatoes, and kumara.

Ag Day

Our annual Ag Day is on this Saturday 13th November.  We will be showing our animals as well as having a sausage sizzle, cakes, bottle tombola, photo competition, and gumboot throwing.  As you will already know, we made Christmas decorations that will be for sale on the day.  There will also be fudge and Christmas cards for sale.

We look forward to seeing you all there!

Taratara has arrived in Australia

Our travel buddy Taratara has arrived at Yugumbir State School. He has spent some time getting used to his new surroundings, and we all hope he has an enjoyable time with Room 2E.

Along with Taratara, we sent a calendar. We included photos of us all taken around the school and put them into a special calendar. We are really pleased that 2E likes it.

In the sandpit - a great place to have fun!

On the rock wall - one of our favourite places to play!

If you want to keep up with Taratara's adventures, go to 2E's blog and check out what he is up to!

Salt Dough Christmas Decorations

Today we made salt dough Christmas decorations as part of a financial literacy activity. Tomorrow we are going to paint and decorate them. We are going to sell them at Agricultural Day on Saturday 13th November to raise money for our end of year trip.

Tyrone, Ryan, and Corey measure out the flour

Charlotte and Jordan took the baking tray to the kitchen

If you would like to try making your own salt dough, follow the recipe below:

Salt Dough Christmas Decorations

Ingredients
• 4 cups of flour
• 2 cups of salt
• 4 teaspoons cooking oil
• 2 cups of water

Equipment
• Mixing Bowl
• Board
• Cutter shapes
• Rolling Pin
• Ribbon
• Paint
• Kebab Skewer (to make hole for ribbon)

Method
1. Mix together the flour, salt and cooking oil in a bowl using your fingers
2. Knead the dough until it is smooth
3. Roll dough out and shape it into shape required
4. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 120 degrees for about 3 hours until firm