It was lovely to welcome back the children along with their impressive building models which they made in the holidays.  There was quite a lot of excitement as they proudly showed their model and spoke of their building journey whilst also listening intently to their peers.

We have begun our Process and Strategies math main lesson and have spent time revising number grouping and place value by practising our earlier understandings in an array of math games, which has been lots of fun.  The children have begun the often difficult process of carrying and borrowing and the majority have now become quite competent with both the addition and subtraction components.  We are now concentrating on multiplication vertical sums using our new mathematical thinking skills.  Numeracy forms a large balance of our morning circle as we become more fluent in our times tables.

I do enjoy teaching the numeracy curriculum as it ebbs and flows within the series of main lessons.  Strategies and processes are introduced then put to sleep allowing the children to process and use the information and newly acquired skills during practice lessons.  They are then brought back again to consolidate their skills and to enable them to understand the next process, always strengthening their mathematical thinking skills as they journey through the curriculum.

We are very close to finalising our current writing exercise using the Talk for Writing program.  Initially the children will ‘talk the story', which they performed beautifully at last weeks assembly.  The children really enjoy this aspect of writing, which also supports their use of punctuation and compliments our grammar lesson each week were we have had lots of fun playing charades with verbs and nouns.

 The children are working hard at completing their crochet cushions, thanks to our wonderful craft extraordinaire Jewels.  Here is a photo of some of the finished top covers.

Each week the children participate in a painting session and a drawing exercise, attached are some examples of a guided drawing exercise where the children follow step by step instructions to complete a drawing using only a red, blue and yellow block crayon. 

As the Spring Festival approaches we have begun to practice the Maypole Dance and there is already a steady excitement as the children realise it is in fact their turn to dance the maypole this year.  It is a wonderful gift that a Steiner Education gives the children, waiting!…..Waiting to begin knitting and recorder in class 1, waiting to learn Violin and crochet in class 3.  Through this they learn patience and with that comes a wonderful appreciation.

I was fortunate enough to join my class for a lovely long table lunch where we dined on baked potatoes, with an array of toppings to compliment the red capsicum sauce and sautéed broccoli all grown, harvested and cooked by the children.  We are fortunate to have a wonderful horticultural program at our school.  The children ate beautifully, conversing and sharing dinner time stories over a lovely lunch.  Thank you Neal!

We  have welcomed a new student to our class this term, Mana Karcher who joins us from the West Coast Steiner School.  Mana has a sister Maelia in Class 1 and we welcome their parents, mum Rangi and Dad Ali to our school community.

Robyn