29 November 2007

Oops! I made a mistake

I went to the bake sale to buy a cake
I made a mistake and I bought a cup-cake
I went to the party to blow a balloon
I made a mistake and became a cocoon
and I went to the park to see my friend
I made a mistake and found the end
Matthew D

I went to the store to buy lollipops
I made a mistake I bought a box
By Danah


I went to the kitchen to cut some peas
I made a mistake and cut some bees
By Christopher

I went to the seaside to swim in the sea
I made a mistake and ate a pea
I went to the farm to see a pig
I made a mistake and saw a fig
By Maya

I went to the bathroom to do a wee
I made a mistake and found a pea
By Matthew W


I went to the park to play
I made a mistake and said today
I went to the laundry to wash my socks
I made a mistake I washed a fox
By Swati

I went to the park to play
I made a mistake; I lost a day
By Justin


I went to the shop and
I made a mistake and I went to the party
By Michelle


I went to the house to get a mouse
I made a mistake and found Mickey Mouse
By Joe

I went to the park
I made a mistake and made a mark
By Sofia

I went to school to read
I made a mistake and saw a centipede
I went to the house to get a mouse
By Mats


I went to the beach to find the sea
I made a mistake and found a bee
I went to the kitchen to bake a cake
I made a mistake and found a flake
By Isabella

I went to the playground to climb a tree
I made a mistake and I saw a bee
By Naoya


I went to my dad to get a kiss
I made a mistake and bit my wrist
I went the kitchen to find my dad
I made a mistake and found a lad
By Evangeline

I went to the jungle to find a fox
I made a mistake and found a Knox
By Azri


I went to my room to find a pen
I made a mistake and found a hen
I went to my room to find a toy
I made a mistake and found a boy
I went to castle to see the king
I made a mistake and found a ring
By Patricia

I went to the lake to get a fish
I made a mistake and got a kiss
I went to the bathroom to brush my hair
I made a mistake and brushed a bear
I went to the toy room to find a pen
I made a mistake and found a hen
I went to the beach to lie in the sun
I made a mistake and lay on a bun
I went to the bathroom to wash my socks
I made a mistake and washed the cocks
I went to the kitchen to bake a cake
I made a mistake and baked a snake
I went to the kitchen to eat a bun
I made a mistake and ate a gun
By Dangi

I went to the lake to lie in the sun
I made a mistake and lay on a bun
I went to the king to chat with him
I made a mistake and gave back the ring
I went to the kitchen to bake a cake
I made a mistake and made a lake
By Giulia

I went to a party to have some fun
I made a mistake and had some rum!
I went to the king to chat with him
I made a mistake and gave back a ring
I went to the king to chat with him
I made a mistake and found a limb
I went to the kitchen to bake a cake
I made a mistake and baked some tape
I went to kitchen to eat a bun
I made a mistake and ate a gun
By Max

I went to my love to get a kiss
I made a mistake and got a fish
I went to the den to get a hen
I made a mistake and got a pen
I went to the beach to lie in the sun
I made a mistake and had some fun
I went outside to splash in a puddle
I made a mistake and got in a muddle
By Fiona


I went to the seaside to see the sun
I made a mistake and saw a bun
I went to the bathroom to brush my hair
I made a mistake and washed my bear
I went to lake to get a fish
I made a mistake and made a wish
By Tanmay


I went to friend’s house to play
I made a mistake and I had a bad day
I went to play in the school
I made a mistake and went to the pool
By Umar

I went to run
I made a mistake and I ate a bun
I thought I was holding a cat but
I made a mistake and I was holding a bat
By Per

Spirograph patterns

We had a look at some amazing patterns a little like the one you see below.











Created by Anu
Garg.






Ours were made using a machine called a ‘Spirograph’.
Some of our parents made the same kinds of patterns when they were young!
Patricia noticed that the name 'Spirograph' sounded a bit like the word spiral. That got us thinking and we all watched carefully as a ‘Spirograph’ pattern was made using the machine. As we watched we saw the pencil moving round in a curved, spiral shape.

We had a go at making our own but we made them in a different way.
How do you think we did ours? Look carefully.

Can you work it out?
You should be able to see one shape repeated lots of times
What shapes do you see?

27 November 2007

Weaving; in and out and in and out...

We were lucky enough to have a visit on Friday from Wendy, Joe's mum. She and Joe had been practising weaving 'Gods' Eyes' with wool and thought that we might be able to make some of our own.



Gods' Eyes are made using a frame of two crossed sticks. Coloured wool is wound around the frame to make a design called "Ojo de Dios" or "Eye of God".

It is thought they originated in Mexico; there, when a child is born the father weaves the central part of the eye. Then each year, another colour is added until the child is five years old.

We started ours with a black centre. Then we chose two different colours of wool so that we could weave the rest in a repeating abab pattern.

If you decide to make one of your own, you can hang it up as a decoration. We have used ours to decorate the classroom!

16 November 2007

Hooway for Wodney Wat - and a discussion on bullying

Imagine having the name Rodney and being unable to pronounce your Rs. Poor old Wodney Wat; he was teased mercilessly by the other rodents in the class. In the end of course, tiny shy Rodney triumphed by saving his whole class from Camilla Capybara, the big, bad bully. His classmates cheered for their hero. "Hooway for Wodney Wat", they shouted.



hooway for wodney wat



But it was the beginning of the book (Hooway for Wodney Wat by Helen Lester) that most interested us. From the illustrations in the book we decided that Wodney probably felt sad and shy.

Why does he feel like that? we asked ourselves.
Per said the kids were pushing him around. Max said they were teasing him and Dangi said they were being mean. Maya thought they were naughty, Chris said they were rude and Tanmay said they were unkind. Joe described their behaviour as bullying.

What is a bully? we asked ourselves next.
Maya: someone who laughs whenever you make a mistake
Swati: children who push and hurt you
Justin: sometimes they are rude and they never stop; each day they do it
Joe: someone who's mean to other people
Per: someone who bosses you around
Max: they are mean people and they don't listen. They push people. Sometimes they get sent to the principal
Danah: they can be screaming at you and hitting and kicking you
Sofia: they sometimes get time out
Evangeline: if you have something yummy to eat at school and there's a bully sitting beside you, they would ask for it and they wouldn't say please

We agreed that bullies can hurt you by hitting or kicking but they can also hurt your feelings. Max explained that there is teasing that is funny for everyone and a different teasing that is unkind. "It can make you scared," said Danah. "You might cry," said Dangi. Max said that you would feel frightened and Swati said that you'd be afraid.

These are things we thought you could do if you were being bullied.

I could tell them to stop
I could tell a friend
I could tell a grown-up
I could tell the teacher

What could you do if you saw someone else being bullied?

Cheesy jammy chequerboards

First take two slices of bread. Spread one thickly with jam and the other with cream cheese. Engage willpower and try not to take a bite.....just yet.

Next, cut each slice into three strips. Turn and cut again into three strips. You should end up with 12 white squares and 12 red ones.

Now use your squares to make a chequerboard pattern. Admire your work, pose for the inevitable photo and eat. Yum.

Sorry mum if appetites were spoiled!

15 November 2007

Patterns on my socks



If you look carefully at the photo of our socks, and then read what we wrote about the patterns on the socks, you might be able to work out who is wearing which sock! Have a go and see if you are right. What does that say about our descriptions of the patterns?

Which is Naoya's sock? Who is wearing the black and white socks? How many people have an ABAB pattern on their socks?

MAYA: Isabella's socks are pink, white, red, white, pink, purple, and so on. It goes snap, clap, jump, clap, snap, flick. That's it!

DANGI: Sarah's sock pattern goes white black, white black, white black, white black and so on. It is a zebra pattern but it was on a sock. It was made of wool. It's an ab pattern.

ISABELLA: Maya's sock was white but a pattern it had was lines and no lines, lines and on lines and so on. It goes 1,2,1,2,1,2,1,2

SARAH: My sock pattern goes like this - black white, black white, black white, black white. You can also say boy girl, boy girl, boy girl.

FIONA: I just needed pale blue to make this pattern. It is white, pale blue, white, pale blue, white, pale blue, white, pale blue. It is also a 121212 pattern.

MAX: My pattern goes like this - bump, flat, bump, flat, bump, flat, bump, flat. You can't see it very well though. It is an ababab pattern.

NAOYA: My pattern goes blue, light blue, purple light blue. It is an abcb pattern.

CHRISTOPHER: Danah's sock pattern is black and white, black and white and so on. Danah's pattern is a 1212 pattern.

MICHELLE: My pattern is dark pink and lighter pink and light pink and white and green and dark green and pale green and yellow and brown and dark red and then it starts again.

JUSTIN: My sock goes blue yellow, blue yellow and my sock is a good pattern. It is a dcdcdc pattern.

MATS: I made this pattern. This pattern is blue and yellow. It is Justin's sock.

GIULIA: My sock has a pattern. Blue, white, grey, white, blue, white, grey, white. 12321232. abcbabcb. My socks come from Japan.

TANMAY: Well the pattern is bump, flat, bump, flat, bump, flat and so on. It is a tricky pattern. We could also feel it. Max is my friend that's why he chose me to be his partner.

PATRICIA: I brought my sock because it was a pattern. It is an abcabc pattern. It can be a 123123 pattern.

PER: Bump, down, bump, down, bump, down. ABABABAB. Tick, tock, tick, tock. Sticky, nice, sticky, nice.

JOE: Matthew W's sock pattern is an AB pattern.

MATTHEW W: My sock pattern is ABABABAB...9, 10, 9, 10...

UMAR: Sofia's pattern is green and orange and a flower.

SOFIA: My sock pattern it's green and orange.

AZRI: Per's sock pattern is ABABAB

MATTHEW D: Giulia's sock pattern is 123 123 123 and abc abc abc. It has three colours. It comes from Japan.

SWATI: Patricia's sock pattern is a tricky pattern. It like it. I like it because it is so pretty. 1213 1213 1213

DANAH: It is an easy pattern; cdcdcdcdcdcdc

EVANGELINE: Michelle's sock pattern goes - dark pink, lighter pink, light pink, dark green, darker green, light green, yellow, brown, purple; dark pink, lighter pink, light pink, dark green, darker green, light green, yellow, brown, purple. 123456789, 123456789...

Publicising our Blog

It was Class 2i's turn for assembly this week so we asked opurselves what we wanted to share. Of course a veritable forest of hands rocketed into the air:
I want to share my spirals picture.
What about our vegetable faces?
I'm really proud of my maths.
I'd like to share my elastic pattern.
Can we show them our symmetrical patterns.
Let's read Lots on Top.
What about.....? Can we.....?


But you can't please all of the people all of the time........................or can you?

Well, it turns out that with a bit of planning, yes you can. Momo was summoned to set up screen and projector and KE found out to much relief that, somewhat surprisingly, the wireless connection in our assembling space is within reach of..........whatever it needs to be within reach of!

And so, at the assigned time we were off.

First we asked ourselves the question, What is a Blog? And although one or two outside the class had heard the word, no-one was able to give us a satisfactory explanation; so we helped them out.

First Danah explained that it is how we work on something in the class and then we put it on the Internet.
Max added that you get a camera, take a picture of something and then somehow (oh how I agree with that word choice) you connect it to the computer and other people can see it - and you can see it too.
Giulia told us that you can click on somebody's name and there will be a place where you can write comments to somebody else.
Per ended by saying that comments make people feel happy - and the person who pays the compliment feels happy too.



We got to share some of the different parts of the Blog; the slideshows of our art, some of our writing, our maths. We even showed Alya in Class 1o that she had received a comment from Harrison's dad. When we read it to her, she told us she felt happy. And judging by the huge smile on Harrison's face, he was feeling pretty proud of his dad too!

Why don't you make someone's day by looking at their work and paying them a compliment; it just might make your day as well.


09 November 2007

Diwali - and some new patterns

This year, November 9th, is the festival of Diwali. It is the most widely celebrated festival in India. Not only Hindus observe Diwali but also Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs.

To help us learn more about this special occasion, we were lucky enough to have a visit from Tanmay's mother. She first told us the story of how Prince Rama and his wife Sita were sent away from their home and how they had to go and live in the forest, along with Rama's brother Lakshmana. After 14 happy years there, Sita was kidnapped by the ten-headed demon Ravana, but she was eventually rescued by Rama, with the help of Hanuman, the monkey warrior. 'Divas' (oil lamps) helped guide Rama and Sita back from the forest to their home in Ayodhya. When they arrived, Rama was crowned as king.

Diwali symbolises the victory of good over evil; it means 'festival of lights'. On this day people light tiny candles or divas to fill their homes with bright light as a sign of celebration.

They also create lovely designs all around their home with colorful 'rangoli' art. Rangloi are traditional Indian geometrical patterns used to ward off evil spirits. They are usually painted on walls or the ground outside the house. Hindus hope that Lakshmi, the goddess of good fortune, will see the beautiful patterns and come into their homes.

After the story, we had a go at making our own Rangoli patterns. We used coloured rice to make symmetrical geometric patterns.

08 November 2007

Pass it on.....

Do you want to know how to play the game 'Pass it on'?

First, get together with about five or six friends. Then think of a shape or symbol that you can paint over and over again. Next choose the colour you would like to paint your shape. Then collect a long narrow strip of paper.

Now, paint your chosen shape onto one end of the paper (your friends will all be doing the same as you, but with their own choice of shape and colour). When everyone has finished, you all say 'Pass it on' as you pass your paper to the left.

You then have to paint the same shape on your neighbour's paper, right next to their shape and again you 'Pass it on' when everyone is ready. You should keep on going until the strip of paper is full of different coloured shapes and symbols; just paint your shape and 'Pass it on'.

When you have finished, see if you can spot any patterns. How many different symbols do you see? Are there the same number of different shapes as the number of people who played the game with you? Do all the strips look the same? If not, why do you think this is? How can you line up the strips so the pattern continues?

Here are some 'Pass it on' patterns that we made this afternoon.



Could you think of another way to play 'Pass it on'? Why not try it out with your friends?

06 November 2007

Vegetable Kebabs; a tasty end to the week!

On Friday afternoon we washed our hands, rolled up our sleeves and set to work with a battery of knives, preparing a mountain of vegetables. Some of us washed and de-seeded peppers, some of us sliced tomatoes and cucumbers into chunks and others opened packets of stoned olives. We heated vegetarian sausages in a pan of hot water and chopped these up too. Then we arranged plates of the different produce on our tables.

To make our kebabs, we were allowed to choose up to three different items. These we threaded onto wooden kebab sticks - in a repeating pattern. Then, once we had had our work photographed for the all-important Blog, we got to munch the results; delicious!



We now have great plans for a fruity version - watch this space!

01 November 2007

Spinning around.....in art


We noticed that spiral shapes are all around us:
Sunflower seeds grow in a spiral shape
Snail shells grow in a spiral shape
Sometimes the weather makes a spiral shape, like hurricanes.
Some fossils are spiral-shaped

What other things have a spiral shape?
Click on the link to find out.

This is how we made our own:

We chose red or black or white paper.

We had red, black and white paint.

We found interesting things to dip into the paint to make our spirals, like unifix cubes, clothes pegs, the 'wrong' end of the paint brush.

Lots on Top!

Today we read a verse called Lots on Top. We noticed that on each page the words made a pattern. We decided to have a go at making our own using the same pattern. When you read it, see if you can spot the pattern like we did!

Lots on top!

I like chicken with sauce on top

I like pasta with cheese on top

I like bread with honey on top

I like chips with ketchup on top

I like pumpkin with cheese on top

I like cornflakes with ketchup on top

Lots on top!

I like pasta with sauce on top

I like chicken with cucumber on top

I like chocolate with bread on top

I like bread with jam on top

I like cake with strawberry on top

I like pancake with chocolate on top

Lots on top!

I like cucumber with olives on top

I like ice-cream with cream on top

I like bread with cheese on top

I like butter with chips on top

I like crackers with melted cheese on top

I like chicken with broccoli on top

Lots on top!

I like chips with ketchup on top

I like bread with chocolate on top

I like ice-cream with raspberry sauce on top

I like ice-cream with chocolate sauce on top

I like bread with butter on top

I like chips with salt on top

Lots on top!

Snap, clap, snap, clap...

In maths today, we made a pattern of a snap followed by a clap then a snap again and then another clap...(we decided three dots would mean ... and so on... because we thought that a pattern should continue)

We then tried to see if we could make the same pattern using other body parts.
here are some we thought of:

clap, click, clap, click...
clap, slap, clap, slap...
head, shoulders, head, shoulders...
stand up, sit down, stand up, sit down...

Then we made the same pattern in other ways, like:

sun, moon, sun, moon...
star, rectangle, star, rectangle...
1,2,1,2,1,2,1,2...
red, yellow, red, yellow...

Then we built the same pattern using cubes. Afterwards, we had a go at making some new patterns. How many different patterns can you see? What different ways can you find of describing your pattern?

A new unit of inquiry begins.....

With the start of the second half of the term, so begins a new Unit of Inquiry, the title of which is "Pattern, Rhyme and Rhythm".
It falls in the transdisciplinary theme of How We Express Ourselves, with a central idea that states 'We can find pattern, rhyme and rhythm all around us. ’

During this unit, children will inquire into:
· what pattern, rhyme and rhythm are
· how pattern, rhyme and rhythm work
· how pattern, rhyme and rhythm are connected to each other and the world around us

We began by asking ourselves the question 'What is a pattern?'

This is what we thought.....

Sofia – a pattern is something you put around your neck and then you don’t get cold on your neck; is any colour like blue pink yellow orange
Maya – a pattern is something like yellow green yellow green
Tanmay – I think it is the same as Maya and it can also be triangle square triangle square
Patricia – a pattern can be a boy and a girl a boy and a girl
Justin – a pattern is sometimes something on a t-shirt that is blue green blue green
Danah – you can get cubes and do a red blue red blue pattern
Azri – a pattern can be lots of different colours
Fiona – a pattern can be anywhere; look around and see how many different patterns you can see
Giulia wondered – can a pattern be white white blue white white blue?
Max – a pattern can be three different colours like blue white red blue white red
Joe – a pattern can be green blue green blue; it could also be with numbers like 1 2 3 1 2 3
Evie – a pattern could be like if you draw red blue red blue
Sarah – if you see a house that is pink and yellow that is a pattern
Matthew D – a pattern can be stripy
Swati – a pattern can be if you take one block of one colour and then you take a different colour and then you can make it into a pattern; we can make a pattern with a pencil and then a pen and then a pencil and then a pen
Chris – a pattern can be a hat or a kind of tree
Per – a sunflower and a rose can be a pattern; you can use yellow and red to make orange
Isabella – a pattern can be blue yellow green blue yellow green