Amazing Authors in D2

On Thursdays in D2 we focus on writing interesting ideas and adding juicy words and sentences to make our writing interesting.  Today we read a poem all about a beautfiful butterfly and what it may do in a day.  D2 wrote some fabulous pieces and here are two pieces from two amazing authors.  Enjoy!

By Lusi 

Beautiful butterfly where have you been?

Oh my lovely butterfly I'll miss you.  Where have you been?  Did you fly flower to flower?  It didn't answer back.  I asked it how did you hatch?  Did you hatch in your chrysalis?  But still it didn't answer back.  Wait here while I am going to get my camera.  When I got back it was gone!

By Awhina 

Beautiful butterfly where have you been?  I've been in a garden that is where I live.  I fly away quickly to flower to flower.  My beautiful wings shine prettily in the sun.   I land on a leaf to rest in the morning.  I flutter my beautiful wings and fly off in the sky.  I come to a city.  People can see me.  I know the sun is shining on me.  I glide in the air.  A gentle breeze comes quietly pushing me away from the city.  I flutter to a safe place to hide.  I start to drop on a leaf to start all over again with a tiny little egg.  

Super Speller!

Bree's mum sent me a photo of Bree practising her spelling at home. Take a look!

Great work, Bree!

Bree has been using Bananagrams to practise her words - what fun! I think we will get a set for D1 too so we can do this at school as well.  Thanks Bree and Bree's mum! What a great idea!

Amazing Authors in D1

On Tuesdays in D1, we learn to use really interesting words and sentences in our writing.  We often look at a clever piece of writing and use this as a starting point for our own writing.
Today we read a piece about caterpillars turning into butterflies. We explored all the juicy words and sentences and then D1 started to write thier own  fabluous ideas.  Today Matthew Y and Jonny were chosen to publish on the blog.  Each Tuesday there will be more delighful writing to share :)

Matthew Y

A caterpillar is an amazing animal don't you know?  A caterpillar eats and eats until he can't eat another thing.  He waits and waits then he wraps his slippery skin and turns into a chrysalis.  Inside there are lots of juices.  The caterpillar sucks on them in his spare time. He forms into a butterfly then pushes out and look at that!  It is a beautiful butterfly.  

Jonny 

One day a caterpillar crept out of its egg.  Then it started munching away.  The caterpillar left lots of holes in the leaves.  The caterpillar got so fat and full.  It slithered its paint right off.  It dropped into the grass.  It formed a cocoon for two weeks.  Then it hatched like a new life was beginning.  Suddenly it flew away with freedom and excitement.  It was beautiful.

Toku Whanau

D1 have been doing some wonderful self portraits with Mrs Thompson on Tuesdays. Please do come in and see them if you can! The children have also been completing a mihi about their family and this is hanging below their portrait. Here is Jimin's work:

Jimin said "I look just like my mum!"

Ka pai, Jimin!

Our Second Art Lesson

Last Friday we went off to the high school art room again. D1 did a great job of remembering how to behave and what to do to be ready. I think Mrs Sneddon was pleased!

Our new learning goals...

...and another example of what we are aiming for!

Phoebe concentrating hard...

Samantha going from her practice page to the publishing card...

Sarah W doing a creative design...

Jonathan looks pleased with his progress!

Keep thinking about your letters and what you want them to look like, D1!

D1 Shooting Stars...

In D1, we have a special wall where we celebrate learners and their work. We put examples of work that show great understanding (what we are learning) and careful setting out (what we are doing) so that everyone can be helped to do their best for God.  Here are our first 2 'shooting stars':

Jonny and his reading work. Way to go, Jonny!

Matthew M's reading too. Keep shining, Matthew!

The reading work has a learning goal of finding information in the story. Jonny was showing his understanding by drawing and labelling the setting in the story and Matthew did it by creating a character web with information he had read. They both did their BEST for God in the way they completed their book work.

A trip to preschool for D2

D2 has been learning all about Respect.  They have come up with some fabulous ideas and have all been using their superpower of Respect.  They worked hard on making little books about respect for the preschool children.  On Friday, it was time to go and read to them. They all had a wonderful time and it was great to share our learning with others.  It was extra special to see some brothers and sisters over there.  Come and have a look at the little books in our classroom.

Have you seen anyone using their superpower of Respect this week?

Kingdom Kid Award

It was very hard to choose our first Kingdom Kid award person as all of D1 have been doing so well and really are CHOOSING to try and live God's way. Tayla was the one to get her award from Dr Ferrar at assembly though and here she is!

Well done, Tayla. We are all proud of you!

Tayla's award says:

Tayla has made a positive start to the year by being in the right place…at the right time…doing the right thing. Her choices show that she wants to live God’s way. Keep choosing to shine, Tayla!

Our very first certificates!

It was exciting to give out our very first certificates for the year,,,even though we didn't have an assembly! Everyone has been trying so hard with their learning and work so Mrs Sutherland just couldn't wait to say "Well done!"

Keep up the great effort, Madeleine and Noah.

Listening to God

We are very good at talking to God, but are we good at listening to Him? We read about Moses the other day and how he listened to God when the other people wouldn't. So God gave him the 10 Commandments to help everyone know how to live.

Everyone in D1 found a place to sit or lie down by themselves, we put some quiet worship music on...and listened to God speak to us. Some people found it easy to do and for others it was a new thing to try. At the end, some children shared what they had heard:

Matthew Y - Love one another as I have loved you.
Sam C - Have faith in Him.
Sam T - Come to me, Samuel!
Madeleine - Love your animals as you love yourself.
Jacob - Be yourself and don't be like other people.
Sarah W - When hard times come, have courage.

Well done, D1! You are great at listening to God!

We're going to the art room...

On Friday, D1 went up to the high school art room to have a lesson with Mrs Sneddon.

It's so exciting!

When we got there, Mrs Sneddon told us how to use the art room properly. She had written on the board what we were going to do.

Sounds good...

Next we played a game of 'Art Chinese Whispers'. One person had to put 5 letters of the alphabet on a piece of paper then whisper where they were to someone else. The whisper traveled up the team and the last person had to draw what they heard on the board.

This was really hard...but fun! Jimin checking her team's answer.

Finally we thought about our theme for the term - God is Number One. Mrs Sneddon said that we would be learning different ways to write this and make it into a piece of art!

Here is an idea of what we will end up with.

So we got to work...but our time was over all too soon!

William, Sam C and Mach all ready to work.

Thanks, Mrs Sneddon. We can't wait for next week!

Our caterpillar hatches!

It was a very exciting day in D2 on Friday.  We discovered our chrysalis had turned black and we all wondered if the butterfly would hatch before the weekend.  We watched during the day for changes and then just before morning tea,
Green table announced things were happening on the swan plant.  We all crept quietly over and watched the beautiful butterfly pop out!   The butterfly then hung his wings to dry.  Just before lunch, the wings started to open and close.  We took it outside and watched the butterfly fly away.  It did hop on Oliver's head before finding a new home.  We all loved watching God's amazing creation open for us.

This was a perfect example of how we need to treasure things from God.  We are learning about Respect and how we need to treasure God, everyone and everything he has given us. Thank you God for your perfect timing in D2.

Being Kingdom Kids

At Cornerstone, we talk about 'Kingdom Kids' a lot! At the beginning of the week, D1 had to look at lots of pictures and choose ones that they thought we could put on our class Kingdom Kids wall. This wall is what we all choose to live by - kind of like our class rules, but we WANT to do them!

These are the pictures the D1 children wanted on our wall.

Small groups of children had to think about what each picture meant. Here are their ideas for you:

1, The '6 Golden Manners' help us to remember to say the right words in a kind way. (Phoebe, Sarah W and Madeleine)

2. The 'Fruit of the Spirit' helps us to remember to do good things like just ignoring someone if they hurt you. (Jacob, Matthew M and Caleb)

3. The 2 questions help us to remember that we are Christians - part of God's family. (Bree, Samantha and William)

4. The 'WRT' sign helps us to remember the best thing to do if we are angry or think there might be a fight about something. (Jimin, Sarah L and Tayla)

5. The 'Be in the right place...' sign doesn't mean that we don't belong here, it just helps us to think about doing what is right! (Elina, Jonny and Tupou)

6. The tree with the school values on it reminds us to live in God's way - with respect, diligence, integrity, kindness and humility. (Sam T, Noah and Malachi)

7. The Armour helps us to remember that God is like our armour of love. He protects us and we can trust Him to fight for us and keep us safe. He fights against sin. (Matthew Y, Sam C and Jonathan) The Bible tells us to put on the armour of God and talks about what that means. (Mrs S)

WOW, D1! YOU ROCK!

Can we put God first?

We ended our devotions this week by thinking about ways we could put God first - just like Moses, Joshua, Noah and others from the Bible! These were the ideas D1 children came up with:

These were the words D1 children used themselves. They explained them all to their very impressed teacher!

We thought Integrity meant doing the right thing even when no one else was watching.

We thought being Holy meant choosing to live God's way by doing the right things.

We thought being Diligent meant doing our best and never giving up.

God is Number One!

D1 have done some great thinking this week about what our Devotions theme, 'God is Number One', means. Here are the ideas they gave me on the first day of school!

We collected all the ideas first then we put a tick if we thought it REALLY matched the idea "God is Number One'.
We put a question mark if we weren't sure.
Samantha's idea is in a bubble because we thought it was the best one - He is first...the King of kings!

Our next lesson had us thinking about people in the Bible who we thought put God first in their lives. We had lots of ideas and ran out of room to write them all down!

After we wrote the names, Mrs Sutherland asked the class "What did the people do that showed God was first in their lives?"
D1 children gave the answers that are written in green. These are their own words.
Pretty clever, aren't they!