Rainbow Fish ART in R4

R4 working in R8

R4 have been working with Mrs Ashe in R8 on our Rainbow Fish
Please come back tomorrow to check out our pictures and leave a positive,thoughtful and helpful comment.

EOTC to Kelly Tarlton's

Certificate recipients in R4 Week 1 Term 4

Congratulations to Astyn, Naia and Reupena

Making Mixtures And Observing Changes

During Science Week Rooms One, Four, Six and Seven spent Tuesday - Friday afternoons in each others' classrooms learning about science. When the classes visited Room Four we looked at materials and the way they can change. 

We began by looking at mixtures. We looked at a selection of fruit that had been cut into pieces and noted some changes after the fruit had been cut. For example, we saw that the apple had become brown and that the kiwifruit slice had lost some juice because it had leaked out. 

We put the different pieces of fruit together to make a mixture and noted that the individual pieces in the mixture could still be separated out. 

We then worked in groups to look at different materials including coffee, Milo, sea salt, Raro powder and water, noting their properties (colour, shine, smell, texture and shape) before they were mixed. Daniel, Astyn, Galila and Vaha thought that the Raro powder was 'crystally' and they noticed that the water was transparent. 

When we mixed the water and Raro the powder dissolved into the water. Some of us thought it had disappeared but we knew it was still there because the water changed colour. Trelia from Room Six explained that "when the powder was mixed in, it stayed in the water...it would look clear if it goes away."

Room Seven students discussed how mixtures can be changed back (reversible change) or not (irreversible change). One of the students, having observed a mixture of sand and water, said the materials could be separated by using filter paper. We thought about how irreversible change might occur during cooking. 

You could involve your children in the kitchen and see what irreversible or reversible changes you notice when baking or cooking dinner together. Let us know what you discover by commenting on our blog below!

Futsal Fun

Today was our second session of Futsal with coach Martin. He is pleased that our skills are improving and we are starting to work as a team. Some of us need to remember that it's not the same as soccer and we need short, controlled kicking. 

It is fun playing an indoor ball game when the weather is wet. We'll keep you posted on how the rest of our sessions go!

Congratulations Rafael!

Congratulations to Rafael for presenting a wonderful speech on Friday to the whole school. Rafael presented his speech with clarity and confidence, choosing our unsung heroes the police as his topic. 

All the students in Room Four worked hard to write their own speeches and presented them with confidence in class. It was pleasing to see such progress from last year and it was very difficult to choose the finalists. Well done to everyone for such a great effort.

Some Maths Highlights From Term Two

In Maths we began the term by exploring place value. We worked with a buddy and used ice-block sticks to show groups of ten. 

 

Caela and Elsie, and Reupena and Vince working collaboratively.

Next we were challenged to imagine 1000 small objects We worked with a partner again to count this many objects. Many of us counted in tens, some of us counted in twenties and one group counted in fifties. 

Jireh, Vaha, Sione, Naia, John Paul and Astyn quickly reached 1000, followed by others.

Each group had a different set of one-thousand objects to work with. Misganow and Liana are counting cotton buds.

Later in the term we learnt how to measure length using rulers. We used both metre rulers and 30 centimetre ones. One group decided it was easier to use centimetre cubes. 

 

Mikaile, Kanan, Liana and Galila measuring with centimetre cubes. Rafa is experimenting with how to use a ruler.

At the end of the term we looked at multiplication problems. Many students used simple strategies such as repeated addition and using their knowledge of double numbers. Some students solved problems using complex strategies which involved breaking numbers into parts and using their knowledge of multiplication tables. 

We enjoyed using different equipment and solving maths problems. Maths is a popular subject in Room Four.

Term 2 DISCO created by Melianna

Paying it Forward in Room 4

In Room four we learnt about volunteers who work for Communicare.
We decided that we wanted to show that we care too.
We have also been learning about Matariki which is a time to plant and care for our environment.
 Room 4 thought it would be nice to give a plant to each of the carers who work at
Communicare in Remuera and perhaps they might Pay it Forward someway too?
When Mrs Driver was purchasing the plants the nurseryman heard what they were for and
Paid it Forward himself by donating free pots to enable this to happen.
In Room 4 we enjoy learning, creating and sharing.

Art & Craft in the Library

HIP - Junior Digital HAPPY video

Click on this image to view the imovie

Swimming Highlights From Our Budding Photographers

Towards the end of Term Two all children in our class had the opportunity to participate in swimming lessons at Dean Greenwood Swim School. The lessons were fun and engaging. Children were placed in a group according to their ability and taught at their level. Our three groups each had their own instructor who used a variety of activities and equipment to teach swimming skills. The children especially enjoyed the large mat on which they could learn skills as a group.

   

Throughout the sessions children gained confidence and improved their skills in the pool. A few children weren't able to participate in every lesson but keenly monitored the progress of their peers and recorded their progress through photos and video. You can see some of these in the slideshow above. It was great to have some parents join us for some of our sessions - thank you.

Beautiful Birds With Busy Beaks

For the last couple of weeks we have been studying New Zealand birds as part of our rich concept 'Identity'. In science we have been thinking about how the features of our native birds help them survive in their different habitats. 

The birds we talked about came from different habitats including the sea coast, the forest, wetlands, gardens, rivers and mountains. Mrs Driver had laminated colourful photos of New Zealand birds from different habitats. We sorted them by thinking about the habitats they belonged to and then by putting birds with similar beaks together. We got better at this as we learnt more about how birds use their beaks.

We used different utensils, which imitated the shapes of different beaks, to pick up models of different types of food. 

 

We found the scoop (bill) was good for picking up small shells in water.

We could also pick up items from the water using tongs (long, wide beak) and chopsticks (long, pointy beak) but the scoop let us pick up more at once. 

The chopsticks were good for poking into sand to find shells. They were also good for picking up plasticine shapes (soft-bodied creatures like worms). We made connections between the chopsticks and the long, narrow beak of the kiwi.

We found out lots during our study. One thing that really interested us was the wrybill. It's the only bird in the world that has a bill which curves to one side at the end. This helps it to find insects hiding under river stones.

I is for 'Injera'

In Room Four we have been learning about the different cultures of our classmates. On Monday we looked at a book about Ethiopia called 'E is for Ethiopia'. The book had a page for each alphabet letter and we read lots about different customs, places and food in Ethiopia. On the page for 'Ii' we read about injera. Injera is a round, flat bread. The next day Mikaile surprised us by bringing two freshly made injera that his mother had baked especially for us.

Some of the children from Ethiopia recognised the injera straight away and were excited to share their food with their classmates. We looked at it and noticed the tiny bubbles. We talked about how it is baked on a flat surface.

Mikaile passed the injera around for people to break a piece off and taste. Fresh injera has a sour taste. It is often dipped in sauce or eaten with meat but we tried it plain. It was a new taste for most of us and it was nice to try something we hadn't eaten before. Thank you Mikaile for sharing your special food with us!

Portraits

Outer Space Rhythms

Pasifika Families FREE Community Event 6th April