Monday, 30 July 2012

The American Swim Team- Maybe

Competing at the Olympics requires lots of long hours of training. However no matter what you do in life you need to have a little bit of fun every now and then. Just ask the American Swim Team.

Saturday, 28 July 2012

The Olympic Games are on!!!

The wait is now over. The Olympic Games have begun. Did you watch the opening ceremony? What did you enjoy the most? You might like to watch this video re-cap of the Opening Ceremony.

The Official NZ Olympic Song 2012

During the week we looked at the lyrics from the song "Stand Tall". We were asked to draw what we visualised when we read the words. Our teacher did tell us it was about the Olympic Games. This meant we could use some prior knowledge to help us gain meaning.

Friday, 27 July 2012

Sarah Ulmer

This week we read about Sarah Ulmer. Prior to reading this text we explored what prior knowledge we had about Sarah Ulmer and cycling. We discovered that we didn't know that much about the topic. Finn did know that cyclists race at a valendrome. What do you know about Sarah Ulmer?
Sarah Ulmer became the first New Zealander to win an Olympic cycling gold when she was victorious in the women’s individual pursuit in Athens in 2004. She recorded a world record time in the final. When she left Athens at the end of the games, Ulmer held the Olympic title, the Olympic , Commonwealth and World records, and the Commonwealth Games title for the 3000m pursuit. Ulmer’s strength in the individual pursuit was that she held her speed so well, whereas others tended to blast out of the blocks and then wobble home. In the Olympic final, against Katie Mactier, Ulmer trailed by a second after 1000m. After that she was remorselessly efficient. When she was done, she had recorded 3min 24.537s and had won by a staggering 3.113s, this in a sport that is measured in thousandths of a second. Her games team-mates tended to seek her out before their events, cherishing her positive attitude, experience and encouraging manner. She was captain of the 2002 Commonwealth Games team and given the honour of carrying the flag at the Athens Olympics closing ceremony.

Thursday, 26 July 2012

Visualising

Room Two have been learning about the visualising reading strategy. We were asked to explain in our own words what visualising is. We have learnt that to learn we must truly think about our thinking and explain our thinking. Have a look at Marshall's powerpoint. Mrs Donnelly and Miss Read were really impressed with his thinking.

Monday, 23 July 2012

Official Maori Language Week Song

You might like to check out this waiata. Today in Room Two we talked about how important it is for us to cherish the Maori Language.Te Reo is an important part of our New Zealand identity.

Friday, 20 July 2012

Wednesday, 18 July 2012

Origins of the Ancient Olympics

For reading we have been learning to Connect with Prior Knowledge. We know that good readers use what they know to help them make connections with a text which helps them understand what they are reading. This week for shared reading we have been reading a factual text about the origins of the Olympic Games. We discovered very quickly that we didn't have a lot of Prior Knowledge about how the Olympic Games began. We do now! The Olympic Games began in ancient Greece.The first Games were in the year 776 BC. The first Olympic Games were part of a religious festival to honour the god Zeus.

Saturday, 14 July 2012

An Inspirational Story

The Olympic Creed: "The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well."

Friday, 13 July 2012

Monday, 9 July 2012

Official Olympic Song 2012

What sports are part of the Olympic Games? Watch this clip and see how many you can name?

The Mascots of the London Olympics

Do you know the names of the Olympic Games Mascots for London 2012? Watch this video clip about how they came to be.You will also find out their names.