Sneezesafe!

On Thursday afternoon Room 20 had some special visitors - the students in the newest class at school, Room 7.

We have been assigned Room 7 as our buddy class and everyone was looking forward to being the "big buddies" and meeting all the new students.

We decided that it would be a good time to remind students about staying healthy and ways we can prevent germs spreading.

We started by reading a Charlie and Lola book called "I'm really ever so not well" and talking about ways that Lola might have caught her cold.  Then we simulated a sneeze by spraying water from a bottle on the students - this helped us see how many people were "touched" by just one sneeze and it also allowed us to see the "sneeze" droplets floating in the air.  Next Noah and one of the Room 7 students washed their hands dried them a little and then they cupped their hands as though they were sneezing into them and we sprinkled glitter on their hands.  The glitter was our sneeze germs and they shook hands with 3 other students to show how far germs spread.  Those 3 people then shook hands with another 3 students and so on until our germs had spread a long way.

Next we discussed what we could do to stop our germs spreading, and how to be "Sneezesafe", including watching this cool video:

Sneezesafe Video


Finally, we conducted our own experiment using bread.  We put a piece of bread that no-one touched into a sandwich bag.  Then Brianna from Room 7 washed and dried her hands and picked another piece of bread into a second sandwich bag.  Finally we passed a third piece of bread around the class so everyone touched it and put that in a third bag.

We asked the students which piece of bread they thought had the most germs and what they thought would happen to the bread.  In total 26 students thought the bread which everyone touched would turned really moldy and 2 students were undecided.

The 3 pieces of bread are now on our classroom wall and we will keep track of what happens to our bread as the days go by!

Keeping Ourselves Safe

The Keeping Ourselves Safe programme will start in class over the next couple of weeks.  A letter went home with information for parents and caregivers last week, and there is an information evening tomorrow in the staff room from 6.30pm to 7pm for anyone who would like to come along and find out more.

If you are unable to make the meeting there is a lot of information at the following website which explains the programme to parents / caregivers.

Keeping Ourselves safe Info

If you have any questions at any point please get in touch and I will do my best to answer your questions.

Certificates

Congratulations to Lola, Ava, Mayer and Tessa who all received certificates in assembly today.

Congratulations also to Indie who was awarded the Walking School Bus trophy for this week.

Great job everyone - Ka pai!

Science in a Van

This morning Emily and Alan from Science in a Van arrived at school to show us all some great science activities and engage our brains in predicting and observing.

We sat in the hall with the Year 4's and watched as Alan created some amazing bubbles.  Then Emily explained mixtures to us by saying how we take different items - like when we make a cake - and mix them together.

First she showed us how to create bubble mixture.  Then she mixed blue food colouring with water and asked for predictions.  Next she added vegetable oil to the blue water and asked whether we thought it would stay blue, turn green, turn yellow or do something different.  Many students predicted that it would turn green, but what actually happened was the two separated and formed two different layers in the bottle.  Finally she mixed baking soda and vinegar and talked about reactions.

Alan then did some more experiments with bubbles - this time talking about and filling the bubbles with different gases and explaining about density.

The students really enjoyed the session and there was lots of great thinking occurring as we made our predictions and observed the reactions.

You can find out more about Science in a Van here -  Science in a Van Website

Rhythm Interactive

Yesterday we were really excited to host John from Rhythm Interactive at school.

The Year 3's and 4's all went down to the hall at 11am for an hours drumming session.  Sitting in rows, with a drum each we waited.  Then John started chanting to us and we had to chant back.

He led us in a variety of drumming rhythms, putting words to the beat to help us remember.

He also told us a story of two African tribes and how they used music to communicate with each other from the mountain top to the valley.  He talked about how he was passionate about conservation and about how we can make a change.  He also explained about the different drums and instruments he was using including djembe, claves, guiro and a harmonica - he told us we were NOT playing bongos!

The students were really engaged with John's stories and the music we were all creating.  It was great to be involved in this activity.

Rhythm Interactive on PhotoPeach


When we got back to class we did a "Moment in Time" piece of writing where we wrote sentences with I saw, I heard, I wondered, I touched about our drumming session.  There was some fabulous writing including the following:

"I heard kids singing their hearts out.  I wondered if I was good at drumming.  I touched the smooth drum"  - Nicolo

"I saw lots of Year 3 and 4's.  I heard lots of beautiful singing.  I touched the rough top of the drum."  - Lola

"I saw big and small drums and other interesting instruments.  I heard laughing and happy voices.  I wondered how the man could do such good drumming.  I touched the smooth wood on the cool drum." - Bede

"I saw lots of drums lined up.  I heard lots of people drumming with drums.  I wondered what it will feel like to be a star.  I touched the drum and it was cold then I almost felt like it made me go to sleep."  - Reeve.

"I saw amazing beautiful drums.  I saw a man on the ginormous stage.  I heard people drumming up and down."  - Isla.

If you would like to find out more about John and his drumming you can visit his website - Rhythm Interactive  and you can also watch TED talks that he has presented.

Keep on Running!

This morning, in beautiful sunshine, we headed out for our daily Cross Country practise.  The students are busy building their fitness and stamina in an attempt to be able to run or jog the whole course. 

We start every morning with a warm up stretch to make sure our muscles are ready.  Then we set off running past Rooms 17, 16 and 15, past the big tree down  the bank, along the fence and past the bandstand, across the bottom field, back along the bank by Rooms 7 and 8, up the hill by the car track, across the junior playground and the top courts and then around the whole course twice more.

We are lucky to have some great runners in Year 3, and I think that this year competition for the top spots is going to be tight in both the boys and girls races.

The Junior Cross Country race is due to be held in Week 5 - don't forget there is a Parents/Caregivers race too!

Kelly Sports

We were very lucky today to get the chance to have a taster session of a variety of different sports with Jeremy and Libby from Kelly Sports.

Rooms 20 and 19 joined together to try our hands (and feet) at Soccer, Hockey, Basketball and Dodgeball as well as a game of Toilet Tag.

We had to dribble the ball around some cones in soccer.






 For hockey the students learnt to push the ball and score a goal by getting it in a bucket.

In basketball the students had to dribble the ball using their fingers and then bounce it off the ground up into the air and see how many claps they could do before catching it again.





In Dodgeball the students played against each other to try and dodge, dip, duck and dive and dodge out the way of the balls whilst trying to throw their own at their opponents.


As you can see from the photos lots of fun was had by everyone.  If  anyone would like to take part in Kelly Sports after school activities, there is a notice coming home today with all the details on it.


 

Photos

Reminder that tomorrow (Friday) is school photo day.

In the morning we will be having individual, sibling and class photos taken.

Please ensure students are in the correct school uniform.

Many thanks.

May the 4th - Star Wars Day

Yesterday was a special day in Room 20.  We used the power of the Force to complete our work, because in honour of it being May the 4th, it was Star Wars day in class.

In the morning we started with cross country and then completed a Star Wars handwriting task.  Next it was time for Star Wars maths including problem solving, a basic fact BB8 colouring sheet and some R2D2 multiplication and subtraction games.

 




After morning tea  Mrs Dawe came into class to start on a space themed art project using fibre and fabric.  There will be several more sessions working on this piece of art over the term.


After lunch it was time for our reading tumble, as well as our usual reading groups, during which students helped Yoda and R2D2 find rhyming words and blend and digraph words.

In our writing session students were given the option to write a story based on two different writing prompts / photos.  The first was a photo of C3P0, R2D2 and an Ewok on Endor with the prompt - write a story about what would happen if you met these three in the forest.  The second choice was a photo of a Super Star Destroyer with the half completed Death Star in the background with the prompt - you're the commander of the Star Destroyer what do you do when the Rebel Alliance attacks.

The students were really enthusiastic about all the activities and we had a really fun day.

Term 2 begins!

A huge welcome back to Term 2 to all the students and families in Room 20.  I hope you all had a fantastic holiday and are ready for an exciting term ahead.

This term we will be investigating the Solar System as part of our inquiry, we will be getting fit by doing cross country, learning about road safety and keeping ourselves safe and having the opportunity to learn some cultural dances and songs.  All this on top of our usual learning programmes.

We are reminding students this week about showing their CARE values at school, whether that is sharing and helping in class, being responsible for our books, showing respect to teachers and friend or always doing our best - all are important.

Students have received a new spelling list today and a simplified Home Learning sheet will be handed out on Friday.


Have a great week.

Ronald MacDonald's Visit

This morning the Year 0-3's met in the hall for a visit by Ronald MacDonald.  He came to Torbay to remind students about road safety including crossing the road safely, wearing your seat belt in the car and your helmet on your bike and scooter.

The students laughed, sang and answered questions and had a great time watching his show before morning tea.

 

Future Manolo Blahnik's!

Today the students arrived with an amazing variety of materials to begin making their shoes - thank you!

After morning tea we went into Room 21 and reminded the students about being able to modify their designs if what they were trying to do wasn't working.  We also reminded students that they were meant to build the shoe they had designed and not get distracted and make something totally different!

Once their designs were finalised we put them up in the class so they could refer to them but have more space to actually create.

Soon the room was a hive of cutting, sticking, gluing, material swapping and trading, and problem solving as the trickier aspects of making a shoe came to light.

 

 
 

It didn't take long before the shoes started to take shape - from jandals to sandals, high heels to boots.

Well done Room 20, you've done a fantastic job!

 

Dotty about Maths

This morning in our maths time we learnt to play a new game called Dotty 6.

First of all the students watched a short video which showed someone playing the game.  The challenge for the students was to work out, from watching the game being played, what the rules were.  We watched the video twice to help us understand how to play and then I went over the rules and played a game on the board with Julia as my opponent.  

Many students observed that it was a little bit like Naughts and Crosses.  The object of the game is to get three boxes in a row filled with 6 dots.  It is played in pairs and each player takes turns at rolling a dice.  The number you roll is the number of dots you are able to draw in each box up to a maximum of 6 dots.  If you roll for example a 5 you have to put all 5 dots into 1 box, you cannot put 3 dots in one box and 2 in another.  The winner is the person who completes a line of 3 boxes full of 6 dots.

I paired the students up and they sat down and began to play.  I had suggested they keep a score of how many games each player had won so they drew a chart to keep track.

Before the lesson ended everyone came and sat back down and we discussed whether it was a game of luck or skill, whether there was a number that was rolled more than others (5!) and whether that made the game harder or easier.

All the students agreed it was a really fun game to play and we will add it in to our maths tumble as an activity for groups to play.

If you would like to have a go at home this link takes you to the video the students watched and the rules. Dotty 6 video and rules

Self Portrait Update

I am very pleased to be able to say that our first self portraits are now brightening up our classroom wall and they look AMAZING!

This afternoon the students worked hard finishing the dot painting and the blocks of colour for clothes and hair.  The next task is using vivids to outline features such as eyes and noses, before finally cutting around the heads and sticking them to brightly coloured card.

Here are Hazel, Tessa, Julia's and Nicolo's portraits in pride of place on the back wall.  I can't wait to see everyone's completed portrait.  Ka pai everyone!

The dots looks really effective when combined with the block colour of clothing and hair.  I think Roy Lichenstein would be really impressed.

These boots are made for walking...

Today the whole class had a special Inquiry session with Mrs Northover.  We gathered in the new Inquiry area next to the library and were introduced to our topic of shoes.

 First Mrs Northover showed us all a video of shoes through the ages - including Greek and Roman sandals, clogs, cowboy boots, platforms and Crocs.  Then she told the students what their task was - to design a pair of shoes that had a purpose, for example to be worn to a dance or going to the beach, and that were unique to New Zealand.

To provide some further inspiration we watched another video showing some fantastically creative shoes - including some worn by Lady Gaga.  Then the students got into pairs and had to come up with a name for their design, decide how it was going to fit the set criteria and start drawing their design.  They had to make sure that it would fit an actual foot and they had to think carefully about the materials it would be made out of.

 

 

The students were really engaged in the task and were quickly coming up with ideas.  Soon everyone was busy drawing and creating and as I walked around the room I discovered lots of amazingly creative ideas.

The challenge on Friday is to make one shoe following their design.  I can't wait to see the results.