International Talk Like a Pirate Day!

Ahoy me hearties!!!!!

Ahoy, me Hearties!

Wow! It's been over two weeks since I last posted an update about what we have been up to in Room 4. Yesterday we came to school dressed in our pirate gear and explored like pirates for our Pirate Discovery session. We dug for gold, walked the plank and jumped into shark invested waters, drew treasure maps, folded newspaper pirate hats, threaded bracelets with special beads, made eye-patches, and created hooks for our hands just in case we need them! Whew....

Tomorrow is International Talk Like a Pirate Day and the whole school is dressing up like pirates. 

Here is some of the 'Pirate Talk' I've been practising:

Ahoy! - Hello!
Ahoy, Matey - Hello, my friend!
Ahoy, me Hearties! - the same as saying "Hello, my friends!"
All hand hoay! - comparable to all hands on deck
Avast ye - stop and check this out or pay attention
Aye - yes
Booty - treasure
Crow's nest - small platform atop the mast where the lookout stands
Cutlass - short heavy curved bladed sword used by pirates
Doubloons - other coins or found in pirate hoards and stashes
Head - the pirate ship's toilet
Heave Ho - give it some muscle and push it
Jolly Roger - pirate's flag including white skull and crossbones over a black field
Lad, lass, lassie - a younger person
Landlubber - big, slow clumsy person who doesn't know how to sail
Old Salt - an experienced sailor
Pieces of eight - coins or found in pirate stashes
Savvy? - do you understand and do you agree?
Scuttle - to sink a ship
Seadog - old pirate or sailor
Shark bait - will soon join Davy Jones' Locker
Shipshape - cleaned up and under control
Thar she blows! - Whale sighting
Ye - you
Yo Ho Ho - cheerful exhortation to demand attention

And you can create your own pirate name with this Pirate Name Generator.

Spring Has Sprung

I can hardly believe it is the 1st September. We wrote stories about spring this morning and spent last week learning about spring for Discovery. Last Friday (29th August) was Daffodil Day in New Zealand and is a fund-raising and awareness day for the Cancer Society. So some of our Discovery activities were about daffodils and Daffodil Day.

The children painted watercolour pictures of a jug of daffodils.

 And we made our own daffodil badges with yellow and orange cupcake cases.

I like how one of my children described it this morning - "the daffodils are waking up."

Apple Fractions

 

We have been learning about fractions in Room 4, particularly 1/2 and 1/4's. 

We made sure to wash our apples before cutting them carefully into 1/2 then 1/4's. The children were excited to eat their pieces of apple in class and I was pleased to hear them describing their apple pieces using the fraction language we have been learning.

At home you can encourage the development of mathematical concepts like fractions by using words like 'half' and 'quarters' by using food. Asking your child if they want their toast or sandwich cut into half or quarters and the same with fruit or other types of food is a good place to start. One half is 'one out of two', and one quarter is 'one out of four'.

We have also made and cut up fairy bread as part of our learning about fractions.

Waffles and Bird Feeders

Last week for our Exploration Time Discovery session we made delicious waffles and delicious (for the birds) pine-cone bird feeders.

We had three waffle makers for our waffles and used this waffle recipe, it made close to 20 waffles so if you want to make less waffles try this website. We poured maple syrup or golden syrup over our waffles and the children enjoyed eating them up quickly before the syrup dripped everywhere. 

We have made these bird feeders before and the birds love them. Because we had lots of expired peanut butter donated to us the children coated their pine-cone in peanut butter before rolling it in bird seed. You can use margarine if there are concerns about nut allergies. 

 

The birds went nuts for their bird feeders and they were stripped of peanut butter and bird seed within 4 days. 

Fairy Bread Fractions

Yum, we love fairy bread. 

The children had a great time last Friday making and eating fraction fairy bread. We have had lots of discussions about fractions during maths time and I thought fairy bread would be a great way to encourage the children to make their own fractions. At this stage the children are just learning about halves and quarters, so they cut their fairy bread into halves or quarters before they ate it. 

  

Fairy bread is a New Zealand birthday party tradition, if you haven't made it before here are some step by step instructions.

 

Spread butter or margarine on a piece of bread. 

Sprinkle 100's and 1000's over the top of the butter.

Cut the fairy bread in 1/2.

Then cut it into quarters.

I really enjoy letting the children experience practical life activities like this one.Next week we are cutting apples into fractions.

Robots!

Look who came to visit us during our last Discovery session.....

A cardboard box robot!