Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Laptop Fun


We had our first session with the laptops today and learned how to use Tux Paint. It was so much fun and we learned a lot about the programme. We worked in pairs and spent a lot of time exploring all the different tools and buttons we could use.

We learned:
  • there are different backgrounds we can choose and some are plain colours and some have scenes, like the beach
  • how to erase parts of our picture, or undo the last few things we did
  • how to change the size of things
  • how to make lines of arrows, stars and bricks
  • that there are pictures of animals, trucks, the sun and other objects we can add
  • how to save our work
Mrs N asked us to make a picture of ourselves. Here are some of them!



Taj, building a bug

This morning, we also took turns using the Smartboard to Build-a-Bug! We chose various insect and spider parts and created our own special bug. Mrs N said she's glad our bugs aren't real, because they looked pretty scary!

We've started using Tutpup for addition practice, because Mrs N wants us to become superstars at adding in our heads. On Tutpup, we have our own special login name and we get to have Maths races against children from other parts of the world. Today, some of us played against China, New Zealand and India. The more we practise, the better we'll get!

This afternoon, we went on a word hunt. We were each given three words on separate pieces of paper and we needed to find a set of three words that rhymed with each other. We had to ask the other Smarties if they had words that we needed. When we all had our three words, we glued them together (they fitted together like a jigsaw) in our scrapbooks and wrote as many other words as we could that rhymed with our set of words.

We discovered that sometimes words can sound similar, even though they are spelled very differently. For example, the words eight, wait and gate rhyme, and so do blue, you and zoo. Look how differently they're spelled!

There are also some words that look like they should rhyme because they have the same spelling pattern, but they don't when you read them aloud. For example, are and stare don't rhyme and neither do fear and wear.

On the hunt for rhyming words!
There is lots to learn in Year 2!

Love from The Smarties and Mrs N

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