Buttercups.

On our first journey up Mt St John for the term, we noticed that the girls were particularly captivated by the buttercups. The striking yellow flowers  were a huge talking point and many of the girls insisted on filling their hats with them to bring back to our classroom. There were beautiful encounters where the girls reflected the yellow from the flowers underneath their friends chins to find out whether they 'liked butter or not' and several of the girls commented on how the colour would sometimes rub off onto their fingers.

When we arrived back at the classroom the girls were invited to draw the buttercups which they had picked in black. Later we added yellow dye and also narrated and wrote short stories about buttercups. Here are some images of our encounters with the buttercups:

Week One Term Four.

We would like to say a huge welcome to our newest additions to the Foundation Class, and their wonderful families. We have had a lovely first week together and look forward to getting to know you all much better and growing and learning alongside you.

Farewell end of term three 2011.

On our last day of term three we farewelled five of our very special friends, as they moved off to begin a new journey in year 0 with the lovely Mrs Burson.

Harriet, Ella, Victoria, Priya and Alice, it has brought us so much joy working and learning alongside you all and we will miss you very much. We look forward to you coming to visit us and hearing all about your school days.

Kia hora te marino, kia whakapapa pounamu te moana, kia tere karohirohi i mua i tou huarahi.
May calm be spread around you, may the sea glisten like greenstone and the shimmer of summer dance across your path.

Our makeshift swing.

The girls had loads of fun pushing each other in our makeshift swing during the last week of term. The laughter could be heard for miles! Here are some great images which seem to really capture the joy of the occasion:

Handmade icecream!

During the last week of term we were so captivated by the sunshine that rather than baking something as we would usually do on a Friday, we decided to make our very own ice cream instead. The girls worked busily alongside our lovely Robin to make two batches, one of which was chocolate and one which was strawberry. We had the pleasure of eating the ice cream on Friday afternoon as part of our farewell ceremony for the girls who are moving up to year 0 and it was really delicious!

Constructing fairy houses from natural resources.

This week on our visit to Mt St John the girls worked to construct fairy houses using natural resources which they collected. The girls are very eager to find out whether their houses will still be standing when we return to the mountain after our two week holiday!

Here are some images of the girls and their fairy houses: