BIG UNIVERSE - a GALAXY of READING!

2M, I know that you all love reading, so you're going to love this site - BIG UNIVERSE.

Big Universe is a fabulous site because not only can you read and purchase published books on -line (in a larger format than LOOKYBOOK) but you can also create your own!

At Big Universe I found a book about CHINA. I know that many of you are interested in learning about China's history of dynasties and emperors, so this book is perfect for you.

The other great thing about Big Universe is that if you really love a book you can share it with others. Simply send them a link to the book by email.

So explore BIG UNIVERSE - you'll be impressed and...I'm expecting lots of emails!

RUNNING WITH KITES

Recently, I spent a wonderful few hours at 'Running with Kites', an event that has become a regular part of a local 17 day festival.

It was a perfect day for flying a kite and children engaged in kite and chinese umbrella painting workshops. Displays of Chinese Lion and Dragon dances also enthralled the crowds.

Here's a snapshot of the day.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

A number of the GEMS were there with their families and a couple of them went straight home and blogged about it.
You can view an Animoto that Jarvis made to reflect on the day here then read
Ben M's post about his time there.
Great job, boys!

HOW CONNECTED WE ARE

Our 100th Day of school was made extra special by the arrival of this box - a box that had us extremely excited because this box contained a gift for us from Mrs Knee.

Trying to guess what the gift might be, got us talking about how connected we are (Jarvis' words!) - how others around the world are part of the conversations and learning that occurs in our room....that often it's because of these connections that learning occurs.


It all started with our post about Pancake Tuesday

Mrs Knee saw our post and left us this comment-






This comment really got us talking. What did 'tap the trees' mean? Johanna thought it meant putting a tap into the trees to get the syrup out.



Then we found a slideshow from last year on Mrs Knee's blog and then we understood.
We were fascinated and thought it so cool that Mrs Knee made maple syrup at her place!
Here was something we had never thought we would learn about this year or any year...but this is what happens when you connect with others- you share and learn amazing things!

At the end of last term, Mrs Knee and the Kinderkids made a VOICETHREAD to teach us more about how maple syrup is made. Mrs Knee invited us to join in the conversation by asking questions and leaving comments.

Mrs Knee told Mrs M that she was going to a conference where she would show other teachers how they could use Voicethreads with their class...and this is where the story gets exciting!


Sitting in Mrs Knee's workshop was Mrs Rablin from BCE, who had travelled all the way to America for this conference.

How amazing that out of all the people there, Mrs Rablin met someone connected to us.

Mrs Knee sent a gift back for us with Mrs Rablin and today, as part of our 100th day celebration, she came to hand it over to us.

We knew when Mrs Rablin was coming because she sent us a message on Twitter-

I'll be leaving work shortly... it's the highlight of my week! Need to find a shiny box for the 'gift' on my way.

First Mrs Rablin told us about how she met Mrs Knee

and then she handed over the gift. Mrs M got a gift too - Mrs Rablin's hat from Texas where the conference was.

And then came the magic moment. Sophia and Emily got to open the box because they had guessed correctly that Mrs Knee's gift to us was...

MAPLE SYRUP!!!
Can you see who else was present to see us open the gift?
MRS KNEE!!
She stayed up really late to be part of this special occasion too - by SKYPE!
To be able to see and talk to Mrs Knee made our day even more 'special'.

We all couldn't wait to have some maple syrup on pikelets.
Of course, we made sure Mrs Rablin had the first taste!

We knew there would be enough for everybody but wondered how much 1 pint was. Out came a measuring jug and we discovered 1 pint was about the same as half a litre.
Mrs Knee's maple syrup tasted NOTHING like the syrup we're used too - it was more like our 'golden syrup'.
We all agreed that it's the BEST maple syrup we've EVER tasted!!

Who would have thought, when we were learning about how Mrs Knee's maple syrup was made, that we would actually get to eat some.

Mrs M says "IT'S A SMALL WORLD" and we're glad we're 'CONNECTED'.
THANKYOU MRS KNEE!!

(2M, while Mrs Rablin was in Mrs Knee's workshop, she left a message on the maple syrup voicethread. Did you hear it? She also left us a comment on our Now We Understand post. I had to keep both of these a secret until today but now that the secret has been revealed, go back and check out the great comments she left. Mrs M)

100th DAY OF SCHOOL - YIPPEE!

Today we celebrated our 100th day - and what a special day it was!

We have been counting towards this day since the start of the school year, each day putting another body part on our 100 day worm.

Every 10 school days, we have been visited by ZERO the HERO, who has given us activities to help us learn to count by 1's, 2's, 5's and 10's. Through these activities, we've also learnt all about Place Value- ones, tens and now hundreds - which came in handy when we were making our collections of 100 things!

Our day was filled with lots of fun, from making 100 day crowns, glasses and fruit loop necklaces to playing a very noisy game of Balloon Bingo. We enjoyed looking at everyone's collections of 100 and of course we had a '100th Day' treat of cookies and an iceblock.

There was something else 'VERY' special about Day 100...'SO' special, that it deserves it's 'own' post!

Have a look at our Photoshow to see the fun we had. We're sure it will carry over into Day 101!

WHAT HAS MRS KNEE SENT US?

We made this VOICETHREAD to record what we think Mrs Knee has given Mrs Rablin for us. Have a listen.



Only ONE MORE SLEEP and we find out!
Whatever it is, it will be very special because it's from MRS KNEE!

UPDATE: 2M, Mrs Rablin has left us this comment:

Hello 2M gems,
I'm looking forward to seeing y'all tomorrow.

Your guesses are good.

HINT: It's not a book but there are still things to read on it... It's so special that it's delicious! :)

Mrs Rablin

Now you might want to change your guess. Something delicious....
If you have a microphone, sign into the voicethread (1mgems@gmail.com - you know the password)and leave another comment with your new guess, otherwise leave your guess in a comment below.

What could be delicious???

SOPHIA'S REFLECTION

Sophia has certainly been reflecting on her learning today.
Look what she just sent me!
BubbleShare: Share photos - Find great Clip Art Images.

If you want to see Sophia's 'original' slideshow (it's in a different player) go here.

Congratulations Sophia, for modelling one of the roles of the LIFE LONG LEARNER - a reflective self-directed learner. What a great start to the term!

Sophia has a number of 'lantern' images in her slideshow. Can you remember the purpose for each colour?

Leave your answers in a comment.

EYE ON CHINA

We are back!!... and straight into discussing where our learning will take us this term.

ALL of our conversations centred

around our holiday experiences and

for most of us...that meant

KUNG FU PANDA!

So the obvious choice for

our inquiry this term is an

investigation of the culture

and traditions of CHINA.

As always we started by brainstorming what we already know about China. Instead of showing you our mindmap, we have used a new tool called WORDLE.

You can see there's lots we already know but as we were sharing our knowledge, we were asking just as many questions like:

• How did they make the Great Wall of China? Why did they make it?


• What does 'ancient' mean?

Watch out for our VOICETHREAD containing ALL our 'inquiry questions'...coming soon.

In the meantime, you can watch this videos about CHINA.

FINALLY...SOME GOOD NEWS!

2M

There's finally some news to brighten your smiles...

our network and computer problems have been fixed!

When you return for the start of a new term tomorrow, we can once again be 'connected' and continue our conversationa about our learning. Boy, do we have some catching-up to do!

I know that you will have many stories and experiences to share about your holidays. Here's one I have for you.

Look who Mrs Rablin met at a conference in San Antonio, Texas... MRS KNEE!!!

How amazing that out of the many people there, Mrs Rablin met someone connected to us.

Mrs Rablin has a special gift for us from Mrs Knee. She is bringing it to our 100th day celebration on Thursday.

Can you guess what it might be?

AN ACTIVE DAY 70

Last Tuesday was a 'ZERO the HERO' day.
It was DAY 70!
As it was a slightly chilly day, ZERO had a plan to help us get warm and practise our counting at the same time!











We started the day by running up and down the netball court.
How many laps?... 10 of course!
Next was a circuit on the fort - up the stairs and down the slide 10 times.
We were up to 20 - 50 to go!

After lunch was our third activity, 10 star jumps... that made 30!...

followed by hopping - 10 hops on one foot... 40... then 10 on the other... we had reached 50 - 20 to go!

After Snack we did 10 big jumps like crickets... we were up to 60!...

and the last 10 - skipping.

WE HAD REACHED 70!

What a day! We enjoyed ACTIVELY counting to 70... and we were much warmer by the end of it too!

We wonder what ZERO has in store for us next?

(2M - there aren't too many more opportunities for ZERO to help you with your counting.

Do you know how many ZERO the HERO days we have left before we celebrate DAY 100?
What are your ideas for what ZERO might have you do next?

Share them with us in a comment... and while you're waiting for ZERO's next visit, there's a game you can play to help you practise adding on 10 - just scroll back up and click on the picture of ZERO. Mrs M)

WHY NO POSTS?

We've been quiet over the last week and it's not due to us not having anything to share.

We have been experiencing problems on our network for most of this term - problems that have been slowing down our 'conversation' to the point where, over the last week, our ability to view websites, to comment, post or access any of our files was severely restricted.

It's been a very frustrating time for myself and the children and the situation has not been helped by my computer at home also being out of action!

Our wonderful techie is working tirelessly to find the cause of our problems.

In the meantime, now that my home computer has a new hard drive, I can start uploading the posts the children have drafted.

They have missed sharing about their learning and can't wait for the 'conversation' to begin again.

Mrs M