Google Expeditions!

Today, the Meerkats went to Africa, India, Cambodia, Canada, Mars, under the ocean, and a television studio. All in one day! Can you guess how we did all of that?

No, we didn't have a super fast jet airplane. We used Google Cardboard and went on a Google Expedition.

Google Cardboard is like a set of special goggles that you put a phone in. It makes everything look real, or 3D. You can turn your head and see up and down and all around. You can even zoom in to have a closer look.

Google Expeditions are pictures that people (or robots) have taken in all sorts of cool places, like Australia, the Moon, Mars and lots of other places.

We had so much fun we didn't want to stop. Even after we got dizzy from looking too much.

Please like this post (on Facebook) or write a comment so that we can win a Google Cardboard for our classroom! We want to see lots of other places!

Thank You For the Delicious Pizza!

Today we were given a free pizza lunch because we brought in lots and lots of our forms. It was delicious. We got to eat pepperoni, Hawaiian, ham & cheese, and cheese pizza.

Thank you to everyone who paid, ordered and delivered it to our classroom! Have a look at us enjoying our yummy lunch.

From The Marvellous Meerkats

Park and Walk Day

On Thursday, many of the Meerkats participated in the Travelwise Park and Walk Day. Many of us met at the park down the road and a few more met at the church, near the BP. We walked in a big group and even though it was raining we had a great walk together. We even got some hot chocolate for all of our work. Have a look at all the Meerkats who participated:

Puppet Pals Retelling of The Prince and the Lion

On Friday, Han, Natalia and William used Puppet Pals to retell the story they have been reading this week. They worked together and have made an interesting video. They have improved so much on the last time they did this. I can't wait to see their next Puppet Pals video! (You may even be able to see some of their other work on their blogs!)

GEG Student Summit

Yesterday, some of the Meerkats took a bus ride to Hobsonville Point Primary School for the Google Educator Group Student Summit. We made a presentation on how to make animations using Google Slides. Then we got to see what other students were doing in other schools. we learned how to make a blog and how to make a Google site (more on those later, or if you're clever, you'll see what we made). We had lots of fun and learned lots.  Here is the presentation that we made:

Here are some pictures of us:

Retelling a Story Using Puppet Pals

Last week, the Gorillas read the book: Consequences. They had a go at retelling the story using the iPad app Puppet Pals. Have a look at their work:

Assembly and Certificates

Congratulations to William and Phoenix. William was the recipient of our class' certificate this week. Phoenix got the Duffy certificate and got to pick a book! We hope you enjoy reading that at home, Phoenix! Well done both of you!

Fluency Practice

We've had some more children practice their reading. Have a look and listen to five of our students who have filmed each other reading so far this week:

Basic Fact Families Part 1

Recently, we used a Stop Motion app on the iPads to make some videos showing some basic fact families. Have a look at some of the videos we made (More to come soon):

Ordering by Long and Short

On Wednesday the Marvellous Meerkats learned about long and short.

First we each looked for one thing that was long and one thing that was short.

Next we got into our groups.

Then we put the shortest one down and the longest one down. They have to start at the same spot.

Have a look at the pictures we took:

International Dance Day

Friday was International Dance Day so all of the Year 1 and 2 students went to the hall to learn some dancing. It was lots of fun. We did so many dances and some of us even got to go up on stage to dance in front of everyone. Have a look at what we did:

Same Length Scavenger Hunt

Yesterday, when Mr Davidson was at a maths course, we did some maths of our own. Whaea Mele gave us eight blocks. She told us to find something that had the same length as the blocks. We found pencils, felts, scissors and books.

Writing

Here is the writing that we did this week after we had put the pictures in order. Remember, we hadn't read the story before we did this. We hope you enjoy reading them.

By Han & Koringoa

By J-Lynn, Jalais & Dizaliyah

By Ryley, Asafo & Soileti

By Sunday & Paris

Making Fourteen AND Fifteen

This week some of our groups were able to make Pic Collages showing all the ways we can make both 14 and 15! They had to be very clever and work together by taking different jobs. Well done. Have a look at all of our work:

Making Thirteen (Part II)

Here are the Pic Collages from the last two groups. We made 13 once again. Can you see all the different ways we made thirteen? Which number do you think will come next?

Unscrambling a Recount

This week Mr Davidson found a recount that was all mixed up. He needed our help to put it back together. We worked in groups to cut all the sentences up and put them in order. It was tough work but some of us figured it out. Have a look at the work from three groups. Which one do you think should be put up on our writing wall? Vote with the form below the pictures.