Science

Matthew showed how pepper will move 

Donations to the Kaikoura community

Here is a photo of Aidan with the donations from his family for the poor people of Kaikoura after the earthquake.  Thanks to everyone who donated so generously towards the Kaikoura community.

Learning about Kitchen Chemistry

This term we are learning about Chemistry reactions and also about the 3 states of matter; liquids, gases and solids.  The children have been presenting a variety of experiments to the class.  Click the links to find out the science behind the experiments.

Matthew presented Pepper and Water


Aidan made Lemonade

Miss Douglass made a lava lamp


We made Naked Eggs

Life Saving

We had the best time at the pool learning life saving skills.  We walked and swam through seaweed, we climbed into an inflatable dingy, were pushed out and had to find the air pocket.  It was great fun, thanks Wai-swim and the Dudley Pool instructors.

Science websites for finding experiments

Our Inquiry this term is Science - Chemistry.

Children all need to demonstrate a science experiment to the class and explain the reaction that occurs and why it happened. Experiments will be demonstrated on Mondays this term.
Here is a list of great websites to find experiments.

http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/experiments.html

http://www.kidzone.ws/science/

https://sciencebob.com/category/experiments/

http://www.kidspot.com.au/things-to-do/collection/science-experiments

http://redtri.com/classic-science-experiments/slide/1

http://www.schoolofdragons.com/how-to-train-your-dragon/science-experiments

http://www.hometrainingtools.com/a/science-projects

http://mentalfloss.com/article/53612/15-science-experiments-you-can-do-your-kids

http://www.abcteach.com/directory/subjects-science-experiments-3675-2-1

http://www.education.com/worksheets/simple-experiments/

The Mad Scientist

   

Today we had a visit from the Mad Scientist (Mrs Adamson in disguise!).  She demonstrated an experiment using sugar, boiling water and food colouring.

1. Put 1 cup of water in a saucepan

2. When boiling, add sugar in half cup lots and stir

3. Stop adding the sugar when it starts floating and will no longer dissolve 

This is a saturated solution.

4. When it cools poor into a cup or glass

5. Suspend a skewer into the solution

This experiment is called "Rock Candy" 

How does it work?

When you mixed the water and sugar you made a SUPER SATURATED SOLUTION. This means that the water could only hold the sugar if both were very hot. As the water cools the sugar “comes out” of the solution back into sugar crystals on your skewer. The skewer (and sometimes the glass itself) act as a “seed” that the sugar crystals start to grow on. With some luck and patience you will have a tasty scientific treat! Enjoy!

Holiday Letters

For our holiday recount we wrote a letter to a friend.  Our focus was on ‘hooking’ the audience through use of figurative language.  Here are some highlights that made me smile.

“You will love to hear about my holiday, it was so cool you’ll be sad to have missed it.”

“You wouldn’t believe how much fun I’ve had these holidays.”

“I like that you’re as nice as ice-cream and as beautiful as a flower.”

“I jumped as high as a leopard, it was as much fun as a spectacular birthday party with suspicious jumping people on the trampoline.”

“The movie Storks was so funny I nearly fell out of my seat!”

“We went down the giant slide as fast as a rocket, wheeeeee”

“I went to the little penguins and they were so cute, and one stared right at me!”

“The hot pool was so hot it nearly burned my pants off.”

“I went dirt biking and I went as fast as a flash!”

“We played a family cricket test match and I bowled incredibly.”

“We went to the Pancake Rocks and it was as pretty as a Monarch Butterfly.”

“I saw the Secret Life of Pets and it was so funny I got the hiccups.”

“We were treated to see the hilarious movie Storks.  If you saw it you would pee your pants with laughter.”

“I had a flipping good time at Flipping Out.”

Orana Park Visit

The Rua Team had a fabulous day at Orana Park learning about the endangered animals of the world, their habitats and the dangers they face.  Hopefully this generation will do their bit towards protecting the endangered animals so they too move from 'endangered' to 'vulnerable' like the Panda recently has.

Photo: Anthony Turnham

Image by Alison Bjork

Photo Anthony Turnham

Helping your child with Reading, Writing and Maths

I found this site that I though was worth sharing.  It's a NZ Education site for parents.
http://parents.education.govt.nz/primary-school/learning-and-development-at-home/ideas-to-help-with-reading-writing-and-maths/

An Olympic Disaster

Our motivation for this weeks writing came after a visit from Nicola Coles, Olympic Ambassador. Nicola discussed her journey to the Olympics as a rower in a coxless pair with Juliette Haigh and how letdowns and disappointments made her resilient and more determined than ever to prove she was at an Olympian standard.  After telling the children of their most embarrassing Olympic moment when they 'caught a crab' and fell from the boat during a final, we decided to write about an Olympic Disaster.

The Own Goal

What could be worse than something embarrassing at the Olympics?

It was the first game of football at the Olympics and I was ecstatic. When the whistle blew for the start of the game I sped off as fast as a cheetah.  The other team was pushing us back like a solid wall.  I thought that we were going the other way so when they quickly passed to me I sprinted to what I thought was my goal, out skilling everyone and I smashed the ball into the net.  Kapow! Past our goal keeper.  I shouted as loud as a lion, “Yessss!!!”

The crowd booed and booed!  Then I suddenly realised that I had scored an ‘own goal’.

I felt as red as a ripe tomato.  Luckily for me it was half-time just after that.  I ran off the pitch and cried for ever and ever.

“That was the worst day of my life,” I groaned.

By Finn

The Swimming Disaster

What could be worse than your pants falling down?

I was swimming as fast as a shark and I could hardly breathe until something so embarrassing happened.  I dare not to tell you but my swimming pants came off as I was quickly swimming as fast as I could.  Everyone was laughing and shouting as loud as monkeys could in a rainforest.

I felt so embarrassed that I just wanted to tuck myself quietly in a coccoon and then fly away free.

“Phewee, I was just dreaming thank goodness, if I wasn’t I’d be so, so, so embarrassed, more than anyone could ever be”.

By Bella

The Running Disaster

Why did I want to go because it was the worst day of my life?

I was running like a cheetah, the other runners as far away as infinity but then the most terrible thing happened to me.  I tripped over and fell and all the other runners stampeded past me.

I felt upset.  I felt silly but most of all I felt extremely embarrassed.  It was the most embarrassing day of my life!

“I think that I’m never going back because I don’t ever what that to happen again!” I cried.

By Annabel

The Worst Dream

What could be worse?

At the start of the race I was ready and feeling ecstatic.  The whistle went, run!  I definitely was going to win, of course I always win, but then suddenly my pants were down at my knees.  I kept on going and then went my underwear!  I was nudey!

Everyone laughed. “Haha, shame!”

I came 14^th place.  I was as angry as a caveman.  I felt embarrassed like a pig.  I walked out disappointed I didn’t win.  A tear dripped down my face to my toes.

I cried, “I can’t do this anymore.”

By Luke

Olympic Verb Poetry

As part of our Olympic Unit we have been writing verb poems relating to the Olympic Games.

Olympic Verb PoemShouting Running Whacking Fighting Hurrying Passing Shaking Wobbling Panicking Hurray! Winning Celebrating Hugging Crying Happy! Hockey

Olympic Verb PoemPlaying Running Bowling Mauls Rucks Tries Tackling Kicking Boom! Banging Dirty Shouting Fighting Winning Celebrating Rugby Sevens

Olympic Verb PoemSplashing Kicking Flipping Passing Turning Diving Breathing Rushing Hurrying Puffing Panting Winning Gasping Cheering Waving Shouting Gold Medal! Swimming

Olympic Visitor

We were really privileged to have Nicola Coles, a rower who competed in Athens in 2004 with Juliette Haigh, and the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Their top achievements were coming second at 2006 World Championships and first at the World Rowing Cup in 2007. Nicola spoke of her career highs and how her disappointments gave her the determination to reach her childhood aspiration to be in the Olympics.

Because of Winn-Dixie

This week we made a class 'Mistake Tree'.  We wrote down the mistakes we'd made in life and hung them from a tree.  We were very pleased to see our picture was pride of place on the chapterchatnz.blogspot.com Blog!

Finger Painting Characters with our Buddy Class

Because of Winn Dixie

S5 are following @ChapterChatNZ - have a look at what is happening around NZ relating to this book.  We made some fantastic kennels for Winn Dixie.  Today we had Jason who us a Pastor come and explain what a Preacher's role is in the Community.

Matariki Art

We are very proud of our beautiful Matariki pictures.  We used koru designs in pastel to show the early morning sky.  

Stained Glass Matariki Art

We used wax crayons and dye then we oiled the back of our pictures to make them see through.  We painted them with PVA so they aren't too sticky and they feel a bit like plastic.

Our Art shows the 7 stars of Matariki.

Fabulous Perspective Art - City Scapes

I am delighted with the way these City Scapes have turned out.  We have been learning about using a vanishing point to make objects appear close up or far away.  The art was completed using vivids and water colour paints.
They look like they could come out of a Dr. Seuss book.  Well done S5 - they are awesome.

Yr 3 Big Tree Writing

I was so very proud of the Year 3's who wrote some amazing work about what they think the Big Tree at RBS represents.

Sharing poems at Assembly

Bella, Saffron and Matai stood proudly to share their poems at assembly.

Term 2 swimming

Mother's Day

The children were really proud of their Mother's Day cards.  They wrote fantastic metaphors about their mothers to go in the card.

Mum is a garden.  She is pretty like a flower and smells like roses.

Mum is vacuum cleaner.  She cleans up after me.

Mum is a rainbow.  She is colourful and beautiful.

Mum is a jewel.  She sparkles and shines.

Mum is a teddy bear.  She is soft and cuddles me lots.

Mum is a family photo.  She gives me lots of memories.  

Mum is a friendship bracelet.  She is always my friend.

Mum is a heart.  She gives lots of love.

Mum is a star.  She lights up my life.

ANZAC Day

We wrote senses about War to develop our understanding of what it was like to be a soldier in the war.

We worked in trenches - there was a sound track of war playing.  If we talked we went to hospital. If we talked again we were dead. We read lots of ANZAC stories and talked about our feelings if we were a young soldier.

Buddy Class Fun

We really enjoyed reading and playing word and maths games with our Buddy Class J7.