Come stroll with us in the Orchard. We are joyful friends growing and learning together. Here are our thoughts and ideas, dreams and adventures. Stay awhile and enjoy. Please comment. Peace to everyone.
Article posted April 4, 2007 at 08:14 AM GMT0 •
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As of now this blog is no longer being maintained. No new posts will be added nor will comments be published.
I am moving off to St Matthew's School, Marton and you will find us on blogmeister soon.
Many thanks to all of the blogosphere who have dropped by over the last two years. Thanks for reading, commenting and being our audience. I can honestly say that blogging has changed my life. I am grateful for the support I have received from my colleagues around the world.
Thanks to the children and families of The Orchard class. It has been a pleasure exploring the world of blogging with you. Thank you to Jacinta Cousins, Principal at Lourdes for allowing us the opportunity to blog.
Thanks to Jody Hayes of Voyagers. You have been a great supporter and co-learner as we have pioneered the use of blogmeister in NZ. We can always say we were among the first !
David Warlick - THANKYOU for this most amazing of gifts - blogmeister is fantastic and I am excited about my whole school beginning blogging over the next few months. I hope they love it !
Tom
ps - I can't link to the St Matthew's blog yet but check back in a while !!
Article posted April 4, 2007 at 08:14 AM GMT0 •
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Article posted April 4, 2007 at 08:04 AM GMT0 •
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This Thursday is Holy Thursday and also my last day at Lourdes.
I started here in February of 2000 having come from Taranaki. It took me quite a time to adjust to life in Palmerston North but now I can call it home.
Home is what Lourdes has been to me also. A good home. Lots of things to do - and lots of opportunities to learn and develop.
I have really enjoyed and benefitted from my time here. Lourdes will always be part of who I am. Energetic and enthusiastic children and caring and diligent staff have made this a great place to have spent the early part of this century.
Goodbye to everyone and thanks.
Article posted April 4, 2007 at 08:04 AM GMT0 •
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Article posted April 4, 2007 at 02:45 AM GMT0 •
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Today we modelled with plasticene. I asked the children to make an alien and then tomorrow will write about what it looks like and what it does.
The modelling clay is Jovi brand plasticene which I have never used before this year. We have found it to be very good to model with and create mini sculptures.
The designs were varied but popular aliens were slimy worm types and spiny creature types. It was a lot of fun and quite challenging from a skill point of view. A creative way to spend a morning.
Article posted April 4, 2007 at 02:45 AM GMT0 •
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Article posted March 30, 2007 at 04:57 AM GMT0 •
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I'm going to miss many people and things about Lourdes but there is one thing I won't be missing and that is the heat in the afternoons.
The Orchard is an upstairs room and it is very hot. We have windows and fans and they help a little. But it has been an unusually hot summer and now into autumn it is continuing - today was forecast to be 26 degrees. So upstairs it would have been into the low 30s.
"Enough !" I said this afternoon and we went out onto the grass under the trees and found some shade. Here are Martin, Emerson and Courteney looking closely at some bees while the picture below shows Jacob trying that classic summer skill of using a magnifying glass to burn a leaf (or paper)while Cameron looks on. We drew some of our finds and talked alot about small animals. A question was asked "Is an insect an animal ?"
Unfortunately one person got a bee sting but apart from that it made a nice end to the week.
I'm running the Waitarere Marathon tomorrow so I hope it isn't quite as hot. The race begins at 7.00am which might be a bit cooler.
Article posted March 30, 2007 at 04:57 AM GMT0 •
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Article posted March 26, 2007 at 02:38 AM GMT0 •
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It's almost Easter and a time for new life. In the southern hemisphere we are having an unusually long summer with higher than normal temperatures and mild evenings. In the northern hemisphere winter is departing and spring is beginning - (I imagine)
Easter is a great Christian festival - parts of the story are not all that child friendly but tells of love, courage and understanding. For me it is all about the will to do your best.
And so it has been with interest that I have watched the new gardens at Lourdes taking shape. A time for planting and watering. New soil and new ground opened up.
A little ponderous perhaps but some thoughts as I begin my last two weeks here at OLOL.
Article posted March 26, 2007 at 02:38 AM GMT0 •
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Article posted March 23, 2007 at 09:26 AM GMT0 •
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We played with the rainbow balls for a while today. These are some tennis balls I have with ribbons attached to them. You can throw and catch them and use them as rhythmic gymnastic equipment to twirl, twist, swing, rotate and move with. It was another gorgeous day here in the Manawatu. Sean threw his ball high for me and I managed to snap it on the way down.
Article posted March 23, 2007 at 09:26 AM GMT0 •
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Article posted March 21, 2007 at 11:01 AM GMT0 •
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Today we began to experiment painting onto shredded paper canvas's. We had glued some shredded paper onto a piece of A4 size paper last week and today using various brush techniques we practised painting our faces onto the paper.
It was quite different from 'normal' painting and involved much dabbing, prodding and squishing of brushes to apply the paint. Some people found they had not glued enough shredded paper onto theeir canvas and somepeople found they had glued too much. We will review our work again and then prepare another canvas to do a wall quality art work.
Article posted March 21, 2007 at 11:01 AM GMT0 •
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Article posted March 20, 2007 at 08:46 AM GMT0 •
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Today we began some kid pix pictures telling the Easter story. We have all chosen a different part of the story to tell and are trying to make our pictures as quality as possible.
We are also trying to plan our pictures using the rule of thirds which will help with the overall effect. To do this we use the kid pix planner to design our pictures on.
We will be showing these at assembly next Friday morning.
Here is a link to an online version of the story.The Easter Story
Article posted March 20, 2007 at 08:46 AM GMT0 •
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About the Blogger
In my spare time I love to run. So far I have completed 10 marathons. My big goal this year is to complete a 24 hour run in Auckland in October ! I have a wonderful family who are growing up far too quickly. I love Apple computers and have three iPods ! (I love my wife Louise too !)
