The Wrecking Ball

We have been revisiting our popular experience of the wrecking ball. 

First of all we had to build the frame 

This was tricky as we had to line the pieces up straight to get them to fit. Leo and Chloe are using teamwork to meet this challenge. 

The next challenge was to build the block structures that were going to get knocked down 

Then it was time to swing the wrecking ball. We were not guaranteed a strike every time, in fact sometimes it took several tries to hit a building. We had to use our hand eye-coordination to be successful. We also had to think about direction, force and  where we positioned the items we built to be wrecked. 

We revisited the wrecking ball over several days and in different locations. Thsi was such a fun way of developing our working theories 

Toastie Snake Cafe

Our children made a cafe at Uxbridge today. Making and taking orders, choosing what they wanted on their toastie. Setting up the cafe sign and decorating the table. It was a thumbs up!
Many of our children tried beetroot today  and had different combinations of cheese, Marmite and creamed corn. Yum!

Library Time

The Uxbridge Library was a popular attraction here. Many of the children made their own library cards and enjoyed taking out and reading books before returning them into the return slot, just like real life!

Take a look at them in action:

Creating Props

You may have noticed your child come home with some super cool wood work! They have been enjoying time in the woodwork area designing and make their props!

Facial Expressions

A Visit to the Library

This afternoon as part of our Matariki celebrations for this year we visited the Howick Library for some songs and stories. We were very excited to see our friend Andy who had lots of fun things ready for us. The stories that we heard were Row Row Row Your Waka, Daniels Matariki Feast and Tāwhirimātea which is one of our favourites . We also did some dancing to the Haere Mai  song, Oma Rāpeti and Korero Paki Paki. At the end of the session Andy had organised a special treat, music and a bubble machine. What a great way to end a fun music and story time.

 We always love being invited to these events, and gain so much learning and experience by being involved in the community.  Developing and cultivating relationships with members of our local community is vital to the depth of our local curriculum, and look forward to these relationships continuing to grow in the future.

Celebrating Matariki

This year we celebrated Matariki in the traditional way with singing and Dancing, a delicious feast and a surprise visitor at mat time. Matariki is a very special Event for us at Uxbridge as we celebrate the appearance of the Matariki constellation in the sky which marks the end of the old year and the beginning of the new year for the Maori people

Making star art for Matariki 

                                                  

Making fruit Kebabs

Little Kiwi was our special visitor at mat time 

Pumpkin soup and fish and chips such a delicious feast!

Matariki Star biscuits

Today we made some yummy Star cookies to celebrate Matariki. 

The tamariki were super helpful with beating, mixing, adding, measuring, shaping and of course eating!!!

HAPPY MATARIKI EVERYONE

Happy Tanabata

Today we celebrated Tanabata. This is a special Japanese Star festival. It is a time for making wishes and hanging them on a tree. We painted Cherry Blossoms and name yummy udon noodles for lunch. the noodles were a huge hit with everyone enjoying them and trying out their chopsticks. 

Some of our wishes were:

*For a puppy - Gracie

*For a Christmas tree and to be a galaxy - Ava.S

*For a golden Spiderman suit and a gold t-shirt and golden pants and for gold. - Jono

*I wish for giant red ironman suit. - Tristan

*I wish for a real puppy and a real cat and a real bunny - Stevie

*I wish for a bunny - Miane

* I wish I could stay at Uxbridge all day - Marlo

*I wish for a lot of toys and to be rich - Leo.G

* To be a ballerina - Aria