Specialist CRT teachers

Learning to feel the beat was today’s music focus. We revisited keeping the beat with our bodies, as we sang a variety of songs. We then moved onto using the percussion instruments as we played and sang the song ‘Pongo the Pirate’. Children were eager to repeat songs and loved playing their instruments at the correct part of a story to make sound effects.

We had a very exciting day in STEAM making bird feeders! This was a lead on from our previous session where we made bird houses. Teretere 1 & 2 made their bird feeders using pinecones and Teretere 3 & 4 used netting. We filled our bird feeders with lots of yummy goodies for the birds and are looking forward to hanging them in our trees at home.

The children continued following directional language as they took part in PE activities. This language is great to incorporate into daily activities at home as well as at school. Today the children began using small balls which they held with cup hands, rolling and catching to each other.

In Drama, we continued to weave in the stories of Hairy McClary using body language and facial expressions to become the various dogs in the book. It was wonderful to see the children using their imaginations and pretending. The children also worked together as a whole class to create sounds and patterns. As we repeat different exercises, the children become more confident performing and leading. 

Teretere have had their first CRT session this week and thoroughly enjoyed their day. Here the children experienced lessons in Drama, PE, Music and STEAM.

In Drama the children have been learning about spatial awareness and self-control. We have a focus on New Zealand literature this term and used the story Hairy McClary as a starting point to become dogs and move our bodies. 

In PE the children are learning to coordinate and follow directional language eg: forwards, backwards and sideways. We are using bean bags this term to learn about balance, catching and throwing; and hand-eye coordination. 

During our music activities, the children were introduced to a range of percussion instruments and sang some ‘getting to know us’ songs. They passed the wooden apple around the group in a circle while singing the apple tree song. Everyone tried to stay in time to the music using body percussion. When they got out, they collected instruments and became part of the percussion band. 

The STEAM challenge for today was to build a birdhouse out of blocks, Lego, magnet shapes and other classroom materials. We looked at Whaea Megan’s old birdhouse, which needs some fixing up, and talked about what we could add to make it better. There were so many amazing ideas such as slides, bird baths and picnic areas - what lucky birds they would be to live in Teretere’s bird houses!