Casting Magic With Worms

The Year 2 and 3 English Language Learners visited the Curator's House at the Botanical Gardens to learn a bit more about reusing and recycling. We teamed up with the Christchurch City Council to make our own worm farms out of recycled materials. 

 First we had to use spades to dig in the garden to find the worms for our worm farm. We learned that their are special kinds of worms that we needed to use, called tiger worms. 

Next, we made our worms farms out of a bottle and old newspaper. We covered the bottle with newspaper. We had to tear strips of newspaper and make them wet to put into our worm farms. Worms like dark, moist places. 

After that, we had to find worms to put into our worm farms! There was an old bathtub filled with soil. We had to dig into with our hands to get the worms out. We had to hold the worms by ourselves. That is okay, because worms don't have teeth so they can't bite us. We added five worms to our worm farm, and put the lid on so they couldn't crawl out!

These are our completed worm farms. We put soil and grass seed in the lid. We need to feed our worms regularly. In the school holidays we can take them home and add them to our compost or garden. We wonder how many worms we will have in our worm farm by then?

We had a great time on our trip, and we learned so much about worms. A big thank you to our wonderful educator Katie from the Christchurch City Council, who made the topic come alive for us. 

Clothing

As a preparation for our Wearable Art inquiry. we are looking at clothing. We have been studying includes the names of different kinds of clothing, materials that the clothing might be made out of, and words such as sleeves, buttons, zips, velcro, belt, laces, etc. We have been dressing up in different clothing. Today we looked at clothes we might wear when it is cold outside. Look at our funny photos!

Welcome back to Term 2

So far this term the ESOL team have been busy testing all the children that attend ESOL lessons. We have checked on their reading and writing vocabulary, listening, speaking, and writing. Week 3 has been busy as we meet up with parents to discuss the results of the testing. It has been great to meet some new parents, as well as catching up with the parents we already know. If you have missed your interview, please contact us to reschedule as we would like to talk through your child's testing with you.
ESOL lessons will begin again in week 4. This term our writing and topic groups will be learning about water. This will include some walks around our community to visit local water sources. Reading groups will continue from last term. If your child is not bringing home a reading book regularly, please see us or the classroom teacher. Children should be reading at home every night to ensure they make progress.
Please remember to contact me at kirsten.aaron@ilam.school.nz if you have a problem you wish to discuss. I am looking forward to another great learning term with your support!

Ilam School Cultural Day 2015

Thank you so much to all who attended our Cultural Day on Thursday. What a fantastic day! The children looked amazing, we had a great turn out of parents, and the weather was perfect for us!
Our day started with an assembly of the whole school. We stood behind our country's banner and sang the National Anthem. We recited the New Zealand creed, then marched behind the flags around our neighbourhood. Thank you to the Kirkwood students who cheered us along!
After morning tea we had a Cultural Concert, with outstanding performances by some of our talented International children. This was followed by a delicious shared lunch in our team areas.
In the afternoon classes took part in various cultural activities around the school.
The day had a wonderful community feeling, as we celebrated the 59 cultures that Ilam School is so proud of.  Thank you again for being a part of this day with us, what a special school we belong to!

International Lunch 2015

What an amazing turnout we had at our international lunch! Many of our new families came, as well as our returning families, and it was great to see the amount of conversation between everyone there. As usual we had a fantastic array of delicious food. Thank you so much to the parents who made such an effort to provide a dish that is specifically from their culture. The children were especially happy sampling the treats on display!
After our lunch we invited the parents to stay for a brief overview of what is happening at Ilam School over the next few terms, some procedures to follow, and how to help your child at home. We had some excellent questions from the parents. Please do come in and see us if you have any queries about life at Ilam School.
Thanks again to the parents who came along to our international lunch.  I hope we see  you again at the next one!

Chinese New Year

At Ilam School the Junior Team celebrated Chinese New Year, with Lantern making in room 14.
Some of the children told us about the importance of Chinese New Year, and some of the important symbols. Then they showed their beautiful lanterns to the rest of the children. Thank you room 14!
HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!

ESOL Orientation Trip

On Tuesday afternoon we took some of our new students on a trip around our local area. We caught the bus outside the university to the Waimairi Road shops, where we bought an iceblock. Each child had to ask the shopkeeper "Can I have an iceblock please". Next we walked to Ray Blank Park where we ate our iceblocks and had a play in the playground. Lastly we caught the purple bus back to university and walked back to school. It was great to watch the new students interact and communicate with each other. Thank you very much to the new parents who came with us on the trip, your help was much appreciated!