Last Friday we introduced the Forest Club to about half of the pupils at school.
The Forest school concept was started in Denmark with the aim of teaching children the skills to be successful in the outdoors.
Firstly, Mrs Rogers introduced the tools that we would be using and demonstrated how to be safe. She showed us how to use the hand axe and carry it. This was followed by the saw.
Then it was time to learn the knots that we would need to lash branches together to build two shelters. We learnt the safety and clove hitch knots.
Finally, we headed out to the bike track area to practice what we had learnt. This week we will be completing the walls of the 4 sided shelter and starting to use dead hedging to fill in the sides on each of the shelters.
We are hoping that the shelters that we build will be at Suburban School for the children to enjoy for a number of years.
For the remainder of the term we will be learning how to make a camp fire, mallet and gazzoo. We will also be making sound pictures and identifying species.
Please head out to the bike track area behind the school and check out our shelters.

tony anker

Sustaining Me

Today we were inspired by a visit from Tony Anker.
Tony talked to us about the importance of having a healthy body and setting goals.
He then managed the entire school through a good half an hour of physical training. Controlling the children by a mix of ‘attention’ and ‘at ease’ commands.
The children and staff thoroughly enjoyed spending time with Tony and came away remembering his message.
‘Mens sana in corpore sano’ – Healthy Body, Healthy Mind.
We thank Tony for giving up his precious time.
Please click on the ‘tony anker’ text in blue at the top of this blog, then the blue text on the next page to watch the video clip of our ‘PT’ session. Be patient it takes a little time to load before you get the play button.

On Thursday we were spoilt to host some 4 year olds from Barnados.
We welcomed them with our ‘Hello’ song and introduced them to our class puppet – Toucan.
We then learnt about the ‘y’ sound and were introduced to ‘Yellow Yo-Yo Man’ from Letterland before creating our very own ‘yellow yachts’.
We finished by playing together on the playground.

Fantails have spent the last three weeks planning and decorating masks for the 100th A&P show.
On the left hand side of the mask we have told the story of what is important to us now. We have used pictures and Das modelling clay to tell our story.
The right hand side of our mask tells the story of our future. We have used Das to model what job we want to do when we grow up. Some of us have drawn a picture of our car of the future.
The painted background of our masks show our favourite colours and patterns of the future.
We are so…. proud of our masks.
Can you spot who is wearing each mask in the photo??
Thank you for looking at our blog. We would love you to comment.
Love from the Fantails
We have had so…. much fun thinking about what is important to us now.
We found it a bit hard to imagine what it will be like when we are grown up like our mums and dads. However we could all decide what we wanted to be when we grow up.

Fantails arrived on Thursday to find lots of things from
‘Canada’ throughout the classroom. We had a huge flag, toy animals, maps, books, photos and much, much more.

It was Canada Day!

We spent the entire day learning all about Canada.

We started by flying from Kaikoura to Canada on ‘Google Earth.’

Mrs Chambers flew us to Vancouver because that is where she flew to when she visited.

Next we coloured in Canada on the world map and labeled Ottawa, the capital and Vancouver.

After play we looked at one of Canada’s most popular sports – ice hockey. We watched the highlights of an Olympic game on You Tube and then headed to the courts to play our very own game – it was a draw!

We came back to class and learnt about maple syrup and how it is collected from trees, again we looked at You Tube and watched a family collecting from their trees. Mrs Chambers told us that she would make us pancakes to have with maple syrup the next day – we couldn’t wait!

After that it was time to take a trip through the Rocky Mountains on the Rocky Mountaineer train – we went through tunnels saw moose, bears, waterfalls, mountains and learnt what a beautiful country it is.

Now we were excited to learn more about their animals. We googled National Geographic Kids and looked at Canadian animals.

Lastly we made animals masks – it was cool fun!

Here are some photos of us enjoying the yummy pancakes with maple syrup.

This maple syrup is yummy!

Delicious maple syrup and pancakes!

On Friday we enjoyed the first of many buddy reading sessions.

At Munch-time the senior  and middle school students moved to their younger buddies class to listen to and mentor them in their reading.

After their buddy had read to them they reciprocated by reading a book to the younger pupil.

Here is some reflections from both senior and junior students.

It was fun.  Taylor G.

It is good because we can share our reading skills with our buddy.  Gemma

It was good reading books. Solo

It is really good because you are helping them and teaching them strategies.  Zoe

Good.  I also think it would be great if I chose the books for my buddy to read to me. Tyler

Great! It let us connect with our buddy and have some quiet time together. Taylor