Our two last days of the year!

Our picnic day and our last day together for the year were so wonderful and we were very grateful to all the parents who joined us at some time during the day.

Here are some photos that the girls might enjoy seeing.

Deanna and I are finishing a two day PD course on Inquiry Learning so we will be starting our holidays at 4 this afternoon!  Bring it On!

Merry Christmas and we will see you all in the New Year!

Christmas Carol service

This year’s Christmas Video: 

http://diocesanjs.blogspot.co.nz/2014/12/foundation-class-star-in-this-years.html

What did the girls enjoy about the Christmas Carol Service?

Olivia: Going to the Cafe because my mum and dad were hungry

Halle: Seeing my mum and my grandparents

Caitlin: Baby Jesus, Mary and Joseph (surprise! surprise!)

Tania: The movie

Vita: Seeing Granny at the Carol service

Dakota: I liked my dad coming

Féline: Looking at all the costumes

Hollie: The singing

Tess: Hearing the Little Donkey song. I know all the words you know

Elizabeth: Seeing the Angels 'cause I was an Angel and I was on the book

Penny: Seeing my Nana and Poppa

Mariana: Sitting with my friends

Tess' Birthday Celebration

Tess celebrated her birthday at school last week with her mum, Oma and sister Sophie. 

To all Tess' family and friends from the Netherlands who

have shared in her time with us in the Foundation Class through our blogs,

we have loved being part of her life.

Happy 5th Year Tess!

Lunch at the Dio Cafe and the Year 6 graduation dinner

Our tradition of going to the 'Dio Cafe' at the end of the term, is always a hit with our girls, but more than that, it is a hit with the Senior students and teachers. The word 'cute' is heard a lot when we are there. On the way back to school the girls remembered our friends in the Support office so we popped in there to say hello!

We had a special invitation to visit the hall that was

ready to host the Year 6 girls graduation dinner on Friday night.

Our girls loved the idea that they would have a dinner like that too when

they moved onto the Middle school. Parents you have 6 years to prepare for it!

Christmas video

The girls have shown great patience during our practising and recording of the Christmas song and dressing up and being involved in videoing the story up on Mt St John and around the school.

We haven't got many photos as it was videoed but our friend Mr Edwards, cut a few from the footage to share with you. The video will be shown at the Cathedral on Tuesday night's carol service.

Thank you for your help in getting the girls to learn the song. They were BRILLIANT!

A great incentive to be there!

Exploring the Form of Trees with Plasticine

After our experience at Cornwall Park the girls were invited to explore the idea of of forming trees three dimensionally with the plasticine. It was interesting to see how the girls showed great concentration while moulding the trunk. Some of them found it a challenge to get their tree to stand up vertically and through many attempts and problem solving all the girls created very detailed trees. 

It was wonderful to hear the stories they had about their creations and how they linked them to their experiences at Mt St John and Cornwall Park.

 'A trunk an gone tree'

Created by Grace

 'Trees'

Created by Lauren

 'A tree'

Created by Hollie

 'A tree'

Created by Tania

 'A tree'

Created by Vita

 "This is the tallest tree I saw at Cornwall Park...
you know the one down the back."

Created by Dakota

 'A tree'

Created by Mariana

 "This is a big tree I saw at Cornwall Park."

Created by Elizabeth

 "This tree is blowing in the wind and the leaves are falling on the ground."

Created by Féline

 "These are two trees I saw at Mt St John."

Created by Tess

"This is a fat tree."

Created by Penny

"The leaves have fallen on the ground."

Created by Olivia

 "This is a Rimu tree with vines and a caterpillar.
This is a man to sell the harnesses so people can climb the tree."
Created by Halle

A Cornwall Park Adventure

What a wonderful day we had at Cornwall Park!

The girls enjoyed exploring the park and discovering the trees.

 We noticed how the trees had different types of bark.

"This one is spiky and has prickles...so watch out" said Dakota. 

"This one is bumpy" said Féline.

We climbed fences to look at cows and sheep.

We climbed more trees.

We found great big sticks.

We looked at the different shapes of trees and created drawings of them.

We made a beautiful composition of a tree with sticks, 

branches, leaves and daisies that we collected.

Our finished tree composition.

After a few hours we were feeling quite tired...

luckily it was time to go!

What a great time we had at Cornwall Park!
We look forward to see how this experience
inspires us in our current inquiry about trees.