Brydie's Summertime Riddle

My first is in ball but not in racquet
My second isn't in coat but is in jacket
My third is in float and isn't in sink
My fourth is in cup and not in drink
My fifth is in shade but not in sun

When we go here we have lots of fun.

Where am I?

Thanks Brydie for this wonderful riddle.

Please leave us a comment with your answer.

A Christmas Riddle

My first is in sand but not  in beach.
My second is in strawberry and also in peach.
My third is in naughty and also in nice.
My fourth is in cost but not in price.
My fifth is in eat but not in chew
And if you are good I'll bring presents to you!


Who am I?

Please work this out and post a comment with your answer.

Apollo 11 Revisited Part One

As promised, here is the first of two movies about the Space paintings. Children wrote their voiceover using deBono's Thinking Hats. They thought about the experience of the astronauts and their experience as a painter.

Taking our surveys on the road.

Finding out about Room 17's reading habits.

Surveys are fun to design and carry  out. The children had to design a question about reading and select 4 options for people to choose from. Next they had to make a prediction about what the results would be. They went to Room 17 to carry out the survey. When they got back to Room 16 they had to write statements about what they did discover. Some people's predictions were correct, but others got a surprise.

Some reading surveys

I'm looking forward to posting some of your reading surveys on the blog. It will be good to know where people prefer to read.
Today's FFF was Lola. Lauren Child's books are works of art within themselves.
DEAR at "the site where Bob the Builder would like to work" was a bit blustery but a nice chance to do some silent reading.

Surveys

We have fun designing and carrying out some surveys this week.
We have asked questions like: What is your favourite colour? What is your favourite shop? What is your favourite holiday?
We give four options for the people we ask to choose from, this makes it easier to do the next bit!
When we have asked 15 people and kept a tally of their responses, we look at the results and make three statements about them.
The statements usually have words like most, least, popular, more, prefer in them.

Why don't you try carrying out a survey with your family and friends this weekend?

The only sound was of cogs whirring!

This week we are writing narrative stories. The children have planned the stories and told them many times. These are photos of the children writing today. There was a great sense of purpose and concentration as they crafted their work.

Beware! Fabulous Writing Below!

At long last I have published the Spring Search Reports.
To find your report quickly go to your label on the side and click on your name. The post with your writing in it should come up at the top of your list of posts.
I hope you enjoy reading the posts and remembering that lovely walk in the Spring.

The Best White Bread Ever!

Today at school we made bread with Mrs Allen. Some of the ingredients were: water, salt and bread. When we put the bread mixture in and pressed start, the machine started to make a funny noise. After a while it stopped. Mrs Allen said that soon after morning tea, the bread will be ready. I'm looking forward to eating it.

by Kayla

Room 16 are making bread. There are two teams. The key ingredient is yeast, that makes the bread rise. I wish I could open the lid and eat it now! 

Mmmmm... what's that smell? It's the bread - it smells good. I wonder how much time until it is finished.

by Max

Today we made bread because it has to do with measuring and we're learning about measuring in Maths. 

Some of the ingredients we used were water, salt and butter. We used a bread machine. I got to put the ingredients in the machine and push the start button. The other group put too much salt in. I hope the bread is delicious.

by Samantha

Today I walked in the door and Mrs Allen told us that we were making bread. We got into two teams. We put water in a big pot with high grade flour, salt, white sugar and some other stuff.

It got quite messy, so, as always - the dumbest part of cooking (and why I don't cook), we had to clean up - boring!!!

I hope it's going to be ready soon. I'm hungry!

by Isabella

Today Room 16 made bread.  When I first came in I didn't know that we were making bread. I looked at the two machines, they were bread makers. We had to measure the ingredients carefully.
Wow the smell was really strong. Our class smelled like a bakery!
by Morgan

Mental note: remove formatting prompts before taking screen shot!

Thanks Mrs Allen!

The Poster Process

If you're wanting to find out about some different authors or find out more about some of your favourites, you could come and read the posters in Room Sixteen. The authors featured are: Dr Seuss, Roald Dahl, Lauren Child, Beatrix Potter, Mo Willems, Emily Rodda, J.K. Rowling, Kym Lardner, Lynley Dodd, Dav Pilkey and Korky Paul.

13 October
Room 22 and Mrs Glasson came to Room 16 today to look at our posters and give us some feedback. You'll be able to read their excellent quality comments when you come and see the posters for yourselves!
Thanks Room 22!

Another Sign Summer's On the Way

Today we went cricketing. Two people from Cricket Canterbury came to enthuse us about cricket. 

After tuning up our throwing and catching skills we split into two teams for a game of Speed Cricket. One team was batting and when the ball connected with the bat it sounded like a bomb! The bat made a hard jolt like an earthquake on your hands. Once you’d hit the ball you had to run around a cone and back to your team, running behind the wickets (except that most people forgot the BEHIND bit!). Next you had to pass the bat to the next player in the line. If the batter missed the ball then that team had to give up one bat. There were three bats altogether. Everyone had a turn at batting.

Meanwhile the other team were fielding. When the batters hit the ball the fielders had to catch the ball and send it back to the bowler. Everybody chased the ball. We looked like a swarm of bees in pursuit of a honey thief. Once the successful bee had thrown the ball back to the bowler the other bees spread out again.

We all had great fun batting, bowling and fielding. Each of us got given a bag of goodies about cricket. We wish the guys from Canterbury Cricket would come back!

Some Games about Writing and Reading

Click here to try out some games that will give you an opportunity to practise your spelling and punctuation.

Things Look Fine in Room Sixteen.

I've been into school today and seen our classroom. It looks fine, there were just a few books and crayons on the floor. Our computer got a broken screen, but otherwise it's the same old Room 16.
Over the next few days you could do some writing about your Earthquake experience. I can imagine some interesting articles, exciting stories and short, sharp and punchy poems. I'm sure you could think of some interesting similes to describe your experiences. Don't forget to use all your senses when you're gathering your ideas.
Keep busy and safe and don't forget to write, read and do some maths to keep those brains ticking over! Perhaps you have something interesting you could make an observational drawing of.
See you soon
Ms Ashby

Part Two As Promised

Here at last is the second installment of the calendar art. Enjoy...

... and don't forget to order a calendar, cards and a diary featuring the fabulous art work of your nearest and dearest!

Calendars, Cards and Diaries

You should have received an order form for the PTA Calendar fundraiser. The original art works are in a clearfile in the office so you can have a close up look at the work. We copied the style of art from Lauren Child. In the meantime we hope you enjoy the movie we've made using them. The children wrote and performed their own voiceovers.


Part two available now. Go to post of Friday 27th August.

A Great Poetry Blog

We noticed that most of the children who won their section of the poetry competition were reciting Kenn Nesbitt poems. They made us laugh. Today I found his website. It's full of funny poems and hints about writing your own funny poems.
Click here to have a look.

Fitness Fun

In Room 16 at St Albans School for fitness, the children are in groups and do different activities. Each group wrote some goals for each activity. The activities are; monkey bars to increase upper body strength, running and skipping for making hearts beat faster and crazy catch for hand-eye coordination. Monkey bars are the most popular and running is not very popular.

by Kayla

A Great Website

Paige from Room Sixteen says children must go on the www.city.lego.com website. It has the coolest games ever!

Click here to go there now

by Paige

The New Building Site

At St Albans School there is another building site. Rooms 1,2,3 and 4 will be knocked down, then children and teachers from those rooms will be moving into the new classrooms.
There will then be more room for two new playgrounds. That is very good because the children will have enough space to play in.

Story and photo by Michael

Soggy St Albans

This week St Albans School kids were delighted to go outside and play at morning tea and lunch. But the big field remained closed because it has been raining over night. The puddles have been turned to ice.
There are a lot less cars due to the fine weather too. St Albans pupils think that's very good.

by Heathcliff