A special message for Sahara's Dad

Sahara's Dad is in the Army.  He is away overseas at the moment.  Sahara misses him very much.  Here is Sahara's special story just for her Dad...

I love my Dad because he gives me hugs and he loves me.  My Dad is cool.  He doesn't wear shorts very often but I still love my Dad.  Hooray!  My Dad got me the BMX.

Happy Father's Day

It is Fathers' Day on Sunday.  We made cards for our Dads.

Shh ...... Don't tell them!

Milk in Schools!

Today was a great day at school!  It was the launching of the Milk in Schools programme.  We had a special surprise today...  a milk tanker came to school!  Did you know a milk tanker holds 26,000 litres of milk?  There are 500 milk tankers in the country servicing 10,500 farms.  Each year enough milk is collected to fill over 6000 olympic sized swimming pools!  That's a lot of milk!!!

Here's a few pictures of our day ...

Tell a T-Rex

Hi Kids

Here is a cool dinosaur reading game you can play!  First you will need to choose a level (I suggest you start with level 1).  Then you read the question and answer Yes or No!  If you answer it correctly, the T-Rex will get fed!

Enjoy!

Love Mrs Lunn

http://www.ictgames.com/tellAtRex_v3.html

Rhyming Rockets

Hi Kids...

Here is a new online game you can play.  You need to click the link below.  It's easy to play.  You just have to read the word and then shoot down the rockets that rhyme with that word.  There are three levels of difficulty, so you can choose how clever you want to be!

Have fun!

Love Mrs Lunn

http://www.ictgames.com/rhymingRockets.html

Conjunction Junction!

We have been learning how to write Explanations.  We found out that Explanations have conjunctions in them.  If you would like to know what a conjunction is, you can check out this video clip.  Feel free to check out our Learning Journey Wall in the classroom to see how busy we've been learning about the key features of Explanations.

Super Writer!

Check out this cool photo of Cameron and his amazing writing!   Photo kindly taken by Charlotte.

Mailla's Writing

Mailla was busy writing stories today.  She was super proud of herself.  We thought you might to have a look at what she's been up to.

Reading Buddies

Some bigger kids came to show us their amazing reading skills.  We loved them listening to them read.  We think that they will make great teachers!

Modern Learning Environments

Hi all

We thought you might like to know a little of the philosophy behind the change in layout in LC4.

Modern Learning Environments has been the focus of much research of late. There have been many studies that have shown that different children learn best when not constrained to the desk and chair, while others prefer it. Some children's brains are more focused when they can stand or wriggle. For some, their brain is switched on when they can lay down or squat. As parents, we know this makes sense. Each child is different and when you try and make someone fit into an environment that doesn't suit them as individuals, their brain power isn't maximised.

With research as evidence, we have taken away many desks and are teaching the children to choose (and recognise) the best environment for them, and their way of learning. We are aiming to provide an environment that is 'owned ' by the children. Future Focused Learning is a phrase you may hear more and more about. Part of that is to make the child the driver of their own learning. They have more choice and are aware of their learning preferences. It is Riverdale's philosophy that children should become independent learners who believe in their capability, and can make informed, responsible choices.

We have provided different levels, seating and spaces and the children will be scaffolded into learning how to make choices for themselves, and their learning. It is our hope that this will nurture the many different types of learners we have in LC4, encourage engagement, and ownership of their learning, and the space.

The children are very excited!

If you have any questions we are more than happy to talk about our new initiative.

Creative Maths Thinking!!

We could choose anything in the classroom to make a pattern of our choice. The success criteria  was that our Learning Partner would be able to know what comes next and continue our pattern.

Can you see what comes next??

Bradie made a vehicle shape pattern

Luke made a colour pattern

Sahara made a dice dot pattern

Hunter made a colour pattern

Charlotte made a front / back pattern

Pyper made a big / small pattern

Charlie made a colour pattern in the shape of a plane!

Cameron made a colour pattern 

Micah made several colour patterns on one base!

Harry made a colour pattern 

Tyrece made a number pattern

Our buddies were all able to continue the pattern, so we know our patterns were great!!  :)

Practice seeing patterns and continuing them!! :)

Have fun!

Here we were making patterns with criteria like "8 blocks and 2 colours etc.

Then!!! We were set the thinking challenge of making a pattern out of anything we could find in the classroom! We know that a good pattern is when another person will know what comes next!

Look how creative we are!