Thursday, May 31, 2012

Do you know what this is?



Today while we were in the Allen Centre Mrs Steadman gave us this rather strange object to bring back to Room 9. She said it would be helpful with our weather investigations. What can you find out about it?

Back to the Allen Centre we go!






We raced to the Allen Centre today. After we had chosen and shared our new books there was time to explore this wonderful place. Chess was popular today and so was the coin collecting that we talked about last week. Already Fynn and Lily have started their collection while Ted and Ethan were busy cleaning and inspecting coins.

Today we made clouds



Condensation
Today we had another science rotation in the classroom. One of the activities was to make clouds. We put warm water in a jar and put ice cubes in a bag at the top. We could see clouds forming inside the jar. Can you tell your family why this happened?

A new flag challenge for you


Here is another flag for you to investigate. Can you find out which country has this flag? Can you also tell us an interesting fact about this country? Happy hunting!

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Watch us dance!


We used Jump Jam music at the disco and the dancing was great. There was even a teachers' dance! Matthew was chosen as best boy's costume while our very own Olivia was judged as the best dressed girl. Well done everyone!

The Junior Syndicate Disco







It was the Junior  Disco time again tonight. The hall was decorated with a fluoro theme and everyone looked amazing as they arrived wearing bright brilliant colours. We danced, did the limbo, had competitions and loved being together. Thank you School Council for organising this event for us.

The Water Cycle



We have been talking about the water cycle so we decided to watch "Wonders of Weather" with the Magic School Bus. We found out that the water cycle just keeps on going.

We watched a storm arriving



We were busily writing our stories when suddenly out the window we saw the blue sky disappearing as storm clouds arrived.  We raced outside and sat and watched the huge clouds roll in.  We knew it was going to be a cold day because we had seen it on today's weather map.  Brrrr.... it's nearly winter!

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Look at these ball skills





Today it was two against two with our ball skills and it really made us work at our throws and our catches. We learnt to dodge quickly so that we could get the ball.

First thing in the morning



Meg was first into the classroom this morning and quickly checked out her barometer. Mmm  the weather outside is cold and stormy and the pointer on Meg's barometer has dropped.  Ezra arrived with more pictures for the class today. Gosh thank you Ezra!

Saturday, May 26, 2012

Extra for Experts



The 'Extra for Experts' challenge this week was to make a weather vane to find out  wind direction. We all enjoyed watching the weather vanes in action. What excellent experts!

Welcome Jasmin


We had a lovely surprise today when Jasmin came down from Christchurch to visit her cousin Demi. She took part in all our activities and even brought some of her treasures to share with us. Come again soon Jasmin.

We all made barometers





We all made a simple barometer to see if we could notice changes in air pressure. When the air pressure is high it will push down on the balloon and the pointer will go up. This will be fine weather. The pointer will go down when air pressure falls and the balloon bulges outwards. Great work everyone.

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Investigating money!






A new learning adventure is unfolding for us in the Allen Centre with Mrs Steadman - investigating money. If we wish we can make a money collection. We were shown how to clean the coins and then Ted used a magnifying glass and found that this coin was made in 1990 in America. On one side was a building and on the other was a man. It was good that we had our American visitors with us to help with the investigation.

Visitors from America


Today Jonathan and Caroline visited our classroom. They are part of a large group of American students who visited our school today. It was good to share our learning adventure with them.

Yesterday we watched town verse country. It was very fun to watch it. Town won the rugby.
We loved to watch Sam's big buddy.

Photographer: Olivia
Reporter: Edith
Web Master: Lily

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

What is the area of this table?


We decided to find out the area of one of our classroom tables. We used the one centimeter blocks. It was a very big job counting up how many square centimeters were used - 2076! If you are buying a new carpet, you need to know the area of the room.

Photographer: Syardhana

Evaporation





The sun was shining today so we were outside investigating evaporation. We made puddles and drew around them with chalk.  Right through the morning we made frequent checks until finally all the water had evaporated. Mmm I wonder where that water went?

Back to the Workshop we go.





Last week we painted a winter landscape with cold colours. Today we chose warm colours to paint with. We are going to add a figure wearing warm colours to our landscapes.

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Make a hungry hen








Today the Penguins reading group read the article, "Make a Hungry Hen" independently. They then had to follow the instructions carefully and make the hungry hen. Finally they each had to teach two or three of their classmates to also make a hen. What a busy classroom and what great teachers!