In Class 2 we have been continuing with our Place Value main lesson.  We have been counting and adding large numbers of gems and sticks by using the rules of Number Land to give order to our counting and our numerals.  We are practicing trading games, number dictation, and the processes - addition, subtraction, divide and multiply - as well as lots of times tables practice!  It's great to see the children master their recall with their times tables facts.

We had a wonderful day last Thursday learning about Columbia.  It was amazing to see photos of Kevin and Ana's recent trip to Columbia, see photos of their family and learn a little about the culture and history of Columbia.  Ana made the dough for the children to make arepas in class - a corn bread that is eaten for breakfast with butter and cheese - yum!  And Ana had also very generously made Kevin's favourite - bunuelos.  The children also really enjoyed eating these.  It was a lovely morning - thanks Ana and Kevin.

The children have been busy making our winter lanterns and practicing our songs for the Winter Makuru Festival.  Many thanks to Brooke, Ros and Theresa who have been helping the children construct our winter lanterns - this year we have used animals from the Fables to create our wax paper lanterns.  The children were excited to test these in the classroom on a dark, rainy day and they look beautiful.  It was great to put some of our broken crayon pieces to good use. 

We have enjoyed more pet visits recently with Phoebe's guinea pigs staying for a day and receiving lots of cuddles and carrots!  We also had a visit from my little dog Pippa, who loved the pats and was so exhausted by all the attention that she snoozed all through our craft session on Monday afternoon, while the children knitted away.

In handcraft the children have been practicing their knit and pearl stitch on their chickens and rainbow ball projects.  The children are gradually finishing these and moving on to begin their knitted gnome - our big Class 2 project!