Wednesday 18 December 2013

Shannon has been busy...

Shannon and Rachelle have been busy the last couple of mornings making a treat for us.  This gingerbread house complete with residents and landscaping will be a yummy pre-morning tea treat for us to share tomorrow.  Thanks guys - fantastic job.


Sunday 15 December 2013

Russell has cool toys to share

Russell came to russell street because we earned some epic fun rewards. Jacob liked going up on two wheels. Hannah liked today because it was a monday fun day,. Kaylana said it was an awesome epic day especially when we went up on two wheels.  Tabitha liked going really fast in the sidecar.  Shannnon like when he went on two wheels too, he felt lucky to get two rides.  Shaiv said it was really fast and he likes fast things...likea speed boat.  Harriet liked when he turned fast round the corner...it gave her tummy tickles,. Katie liked when she went fast but felt a bit sick at the start. Logan liked when Russell did a u turn. Arisha said he went so fast it was awesome.  Houston said he liked going fast and putting his hand out to feel the wind. Gaby liked it but before she even got in she started to shiver. James said this was the best day ever!  Grace said it was the best ride she ever had. Max liked when he did the wheelies and then went faster and faster.  Tayla felt quite scared but she liked it anyway! Devin felt a bit homesick but then it got fun and she started to laugh cos it felt like being in Santa's sleigh. Yassmine said when he did the turn it felt like flying.  Rebekah said when they went past the hills that he might go over them and she liked the tricks.



Thursday 12 December 2013

Dear Santa

We have been pretty good all year. Joy said so. She made us write letters to ask for what we want for xmas and we have told you all the ways we have been good. We even made a list of things we will work on next year too.
Love
6sess

Sunday 8 December 2013

Super's Reading Projects

This term the Super's reading group has been working on individual reading projects on subjects they personally found interesting.  They are reading to learn rather than learning to read.  Today they made their final presentations to the class.  What a marvelous job they did too. Tane expanded on his theme of the impact of the human population on the planet, Tabitha compared domestic cats and their wild cousins, Jayden made a clear and succinct explanation of the origin and creation of the rocks our planet is made up of, Katie told us all about service animals, Devin explained why fossils are important to out understanding of life in the past, Cooper had been exploring the impact of dairy farming on the environment, Kaylana has learned about Pukeko and the in place in the environment, and Gracie explained how they celebrate christmas in spanish countries.
Here are some of their examples.

Tane   - Population issues

Jayden  - Rocks

Thursday 5 December 2013

Sinterklaas

Today is St Nicholas Day, or Sinterklaas in Holland. Sinterklaas arrives by boat with his helpers, Black Pete. Black pete will chase naughty children with his stick.  The children put out their shoes for presents. If they put out carrots and hay for Sinterklaas white horse they will get sweets.

Monday 2 December 2013

Christmas reading

Arisha said " we are making St Lucia's crown. Se is a Swedish saint remember ed for helping Jesus' followers and was killed by the romans. Se needs a crown with candles so she can see her way in the dark.
Max and Tom "they have coffee and special buns for breakfast on christmas day. The littlest girl in the house brings it dressed as St Lucia. And if she is too young the boys will help her dressed in white shirts and known as "star boys"

Sunday 17 November 2013

A new kid at school!


Shannon  said "I liked it when the dog jumped up and tried to keep the toy in her mouth. Daisha had sharp teeth that could keep the toy in her mouth. I liked it when Brendan got the toy off Daisha and he threw it up in the air, and it landed on the ground. Daisha did a side skid and got the toy. Brendan took Daisha down to where the sand pit is and got her to jump over the wooden hurdles."

We were lucky enough to have Brendon and Daisha come in this morning to help,the Excellents reading group understand the way police dogs work as they are reading a book about Police Dog, Rogue.  It was interesting and exciting to watch them working together. In the photos you can see how strong Daisha's jaws are as Brendon lifts her off the ground by her toy...which she loves and found even when it was hidden in his pocket.
 Max found this link to an article about Rogue and his handler...and his son and grandson!

Buddy BP Challenge


Today we worked with our buddies to create some clothes. The scenario was that we needed new clothes and only had newspaper and cellotape to make them. We had to negotiate, cooperate, discuss, and evaluate our way through the challenge. Hannah and Jayden worked well together with their little buddies to get the most points for their costume. Rebekah and Kaylana and Gaby worked together and everyone was always being busy helping.

Monday 11 November 2013

Our bean germination investigation conclusion.

We have been growing our beans since 23 october. Now they are tall and growing their second set of leaves.  We found out the answer to our question - how long does it take for a bean to germinate?  It takes an average of 5 days or a median of 7 days so we said it takes from 5-7 days to germinate and grow a bean seed.  Today we got to repot them into yoghurt pots to take home. Joy said they had got a bit too tall and some of them got bent but we will plant them at home and see what they do.

Tuesday 29 October 2013

3D shapes

We have been learning about the attributes of 3D and 2 D shapes this term. Today we made skeletons of a cube out of toothpicks and plasticine. This et us see the way the faces, edges and vertices work together to create the cube.

Friday 25 October 2013

HELP!

Athletics is on in 2 weeks on Wednesday 6 November and i am running the hurdles. If you are planning to come down to watch,  or ned a good excuse to skip work for the day could you consider helping me out on the hurdles recording winners and generally keeping me sane?  Drop me an email or catch up with me at school. Thanks in advance.

While i have your attention Seed 2 Table starts next week on Friday and we can always use more help. So if you can be free to help from 9- 12.30 ish to cook or garden i would love to hear from you.  You don't have to be any sort of expert...just keen.  Your child will be in Seed 2 Table in year 5 so it would be good practise for you. 

Have a wonderful weekend.  See you on Tuesday.

Thursday 24 October 2013

Tweet of the week

Tane, Tabitha and Gracie have been learning how to Tweet with Steven on Kidsedchat.  This week Tane won Tweet of the week. A great feat considering that some of the kids at ther schools are year 7/8's!  Here is what Steven had to say:
Congratulations goes to Tane of R6 who won Tweet of the Week at Wednesday's Kidsedchatnz session!

800 tweets were recorded by 25 classes across NZ. The judges thought Tane's tweet stood out from the bunch!

As a reward Tane gets to wear the ultra cool Kidsedchatnz badge for the week and has his tweet posted on the Kidsedchatnz blog! http://kidsedchatnz.blogspot.co.nz

Here's the winning tweet!

Inline images 1

Tuesday 15 October 2013

Max made a letterbox.

I made the letterbox in the holidays with my dad. We worked on it each night. I included the door from the cassette player we wrecked(explored) in science last term! Can you see it?


Thursday 12 September 2013

Musical Talent

All year Arisha and Tabitha have been going off to music lessons. Today in school singing we got to see what all their hard work has been about. Arisha and her friends played and sang " the wheels on the bus" with sound effects!  They played several other tunes on their ukeleles. Arisha also accompanied Emily from Rm 2 when she sang the sunshine song.
Then Tabitha had her turn playing her recorder with her friends and giving us a lovely tune. What a relaxing way to end the week.

How is paper made?

We are trying to find out how paper is made by examining different types of paper when it is ripped.  Today we got out the magnifiers and had a really close look to see what the fibres the paper is made of look like. Are the fibres the same is different paper?  Katie also asked  what is it about paper that means our marks stay on it?
We found out and we think that
- tom - the black paper has white in the middle which shows the black paint or dye is just painted on the outside.  When you tear them the fibres stick out and may be darker than the outside of the paper
- Katie - the tissue looks softer than the paper towel thru the magnifier, the paper towel looks rougher.
- gracie - it depends which kind of paper but all the rips look different under the magnifier so that probably means the fibres are different too and maybe from different trees or other materials
- Jacob - when i ripped the tissue paper it looked like it had hair poking out

Monday 9 September 2013

What makes a good paint binder?

Today we began making our own paint in earnest. We have concluded that paint is basically made of two parts - a colour and a binder that is sticky and dries out.
Today we tested toothpaste, vinegar, honey, conditioner, hand cleansing gel, liquid soap, peanut butter, glue, and mayonnaise.  
The results we got show that:

Honey - 4
- too sticky not good spreadability
- looks like paint and can spread well
- doesn't dry
Rating - X

Toothpaste - 2
- dries very well
- sticks well when has water added
- spreads better with a bit of water
- hard to mix, lumpy
Rating - 1 tick

Mayonnaise - 2
- too runny for some
- sticks to the paper
- dries slowly
- mixes easaily but doesn't cover super well
Rating - 1 and a half ticks

Vinegar- 4
- dries quickly
- looks like dye but covers ok
- really runny
- sticks on the paper
- spreads nicely
Rating - 1 and a half ticks

Peanut butter- 0
- smudgy - not easy to paint with, too stiff and lumpy
- doesn't dry
Rating - X

Liquid soap -3
- dries properly
- good coverage
- sticks on the page
- mixes well
Rating - two ticks

Conditioner -0
- may need to check as second batch mixed well and stayed on the paper well which the first batch did not - the second batch had some water in it.
Rating - X

Hand gel -0
- comes out dark - and covers the paper well
- dries well
- nice and spreadable
Rating - one and half tick

Glue -2
- stuck well
- dried well and fast
- covers well
- the colour comes out well
Rating - 1 tick

After discussion we think we will try liquid soap as it is thinker and stickier than vinegar which would be the other choice.
When we have chosen our paint colours we could try them both and see which is best.



Wednesday 4 September 2013

Check out the science..how many can you do?

This is an amzing piece of science inspiration.  Makes me wish we had done it....ooh assembly is coming up...!!!

Monday 2 September 2013

Colour wheels

Today we had a go at making a colour wheel. We had lots of things to learn about.
How to handle the brush - concnetrate to stay in the lines - go slowly, follow the outline of the space,  press lightly or stroke the paint on
How to use the paint - how to load the brush properly, don't mix the dippers up as it messes up the paint colours, don't splat it everywhere - you have control the brush, 
Mixing colours - be carful to put each one in the right spot on the wheel so it makes sense, some primary colours aren't as strong as the others eg. When you mix the red with another colour it makes a dark colour and the red sort of takes over. So it made sense to have a bit less red in a mixture so that it didn't take over too much.

In conclusion
- shiav said it is weird when you mix colours because you can't be sure what you'll get at the end
- gracie said when you mix red with the blue it sort of comes out brown - so Joy asked - how can we make sure we get purple?
- grace said how come the red is so strong?
- shannon thought it was fun because it was fun to mix the colours and making our own..i had to think hard to get it right.
- logan said it was cool to mix yellow and blur to make green and actually seeing it happen.

Sunday 1 September 2013

Making real egg tempura paint like the old masters

To write an explanation the ideas nned to be in order.

How to make egg tempura.
First separate the yolk and the white into a bowl.  We pinched and ripped  the yolk bag and let theyolk out into the bowl. We dropped the paint powder in and stirred it wildly. When the mixture looks really red and yoghurty it is ready to paint with.
Tabitha doesn't really like the colour and it was too sticky.  Shannon liked to paint with it because he had other colours mixed in from the brush.  Arisha found that when she touched thepaunt with the brush she could scoop it up.  Yassmine didn't like the paint because it had other colours in it from the brush.  Logan dosn't think he would use this oaint again becuase it takes too long to dry. Tayla noticed it went crinkly like crayon mark. Tane wouldn't use egg paint agin because the smell is horrible. annah said the paint was gooey and really and not nice to apint with because it was lumpy.
  

Thursday 29 August 2013

Happy Father's Day

As a special thank you to all the dads whomake the 6sessful kids so awesome we have been busy making presents.  Here we are making cards and gift bags to wrap up....ooh that would be telling! Wait until Sunday!  Thanks to Nicki for helping out this morning.



Wednesday 28 August 2013

Awesome excerpts

We have been writing descriptions that show not tell what we are writing about so our reader can have the same picture in their head as we do.
Day at the beach.
When I got out of the car I said "ouch, ouch, ouch" as I tiptoed across the burning yellowness. It felt like I was stung by a bumblebee. I poured the cold, dull, rough stuff into my tall, blue circle. Plop, plop, plop went the cold stuff as I made the base.  I patted it into shape and watched some of it crumble down the slope.  Pushing down that cool shape....Bye bye ...the bright yellow stuff, as crunchy as dry cereal blew, into my eyes.
While I gripped my fluffy drier in my teeth I squiggled and squeezed into my shiny swim skin. I cut the ocean like a knife and the cold smashed my face. Even though it was freezing I was warm immediately I splashed in the freezing salty pond like a dolphin. I bombed into the freezing liquid. SPLASH!!
The tiny, gritty dust flicked in my face as I ran for the goal. Yellow crispies stuck to my feet while I was goalie. My black and white, bouncy friend flew in the air one way and then the other.
I smelled the sweetness coming from the box of sticky, tiny goody monsters Mum had packed.

Climewords.

 Clime words.

Climes are lists of words that all mean the same thing but with varying degrees of emphasis. Here are Harriet's sentences to show the appropriate use of this clime about cold.

It was a frosty morning.
Later it cooled down.
Last night it was icy.

Today it was chilly.
Maybe tomorrow it will be cold.

Sunday 25 August 2013

How do you make a bubble snake?


We wrote this explanation of the Bubble Snake experiment together.  We are trying to use good description, logical order and time indicating words to write a clear explanation.

 First you have to dip the cloth in the bubble mixture.  Then you have to blow through the hole.   The bubbles come out when you are blowing.  It was like a bubble storm exploding out of the cup.   I can see the bubbles are bouncy when they go in the bowl.  It has millions of bubbles foaming out.  The bubbles are as puffy as a fluffy cloud.  The bubble snake is as long as a python.  The bubbles are like a fluffy toy.

Now we put some red food colouring on the cloth.  I could see foamy red bubbles flowing out of the tiny holes.  The bubbles came out like red, fluffy candy floss.  It was like a long, red snake.

Cooper thinks that heaps of little bubbles come out because there are heaps of tiny holes in the cloth. Katie thinks the bubbles go through really small holes in the cloth and join together to make a big pile of bubbles. Harriet thinks it happens because hundreds of tiny holes had bubble mixture on them and Tane thinks that when you blow, it blows the bubble mixture out and that makes the bubbles. Gracie adds that when you blow in the cup it goes out through the holes and that makes the bubbles.
Then the bubbles turn red because the food colouring is spread on the bubble mixture when it comes through the holes, thought Shannon and Yassmine.  Gracie thinks the bubbles look pink not red because the colour molecules are stretched out across the bubble.

Monday 19 August 2013

Scratchy art

,
First you draw lines on white paper. Then you colour in each space a different colour with pastel. Next you paint over the top with black paint so the colour is all gone!
When the paint dries get an ice block stick and draw the picture. You aren't really drawing because you have to scrape the black off to show the pretty colours underneath.
Max said "i think it is cool becuase when you scrape it it becomes colourful!"
Katie said" i was away so when I did the drawing colourful patterns came up and i got a surprise!"


Wednesday 14 August 2013

Devin found out about acid rain

Come and have a look at Devin's investigation of acid rain based on something she read. Check out this website.
www.epa.gov/acidrain/education/site_students/whatisacid.html

Monday 12 August 2013

Matariki oops put it in the wrong place - remember this?

Jayden said "This afternoon we opened our new pou for the community. Tabitha remembered we unveiled a memorial plaque for the pou. Even Shannon who was feeling ill in the sickbay was part of things as he could hear lovely singing through the window.
For kotahitanga we went with our buddies to the hall to get some delicious soup and some maori bread. Joy and Marj and Jacqui and the mums and room 14 worked all morning to make enough for the WHOLE school and we had another 30 litres to give to a church to share with the families that come to their soup kitchen. 
We have had a great day, an amazing chance to share across the school. 

Ideas for writing

The staff have been spending a lot of time learning about teaching their children how to be better, more capable, more enthusiastic writers. One of the people whose ideas we have been studying is Ralph Fletcher. He has a wonderful website and this is a link that has lots of encouragement written for children to help think about how to be a writer, and how to put themselves into their writing.
Give it a try
http://www.ralphfletcher.com/tips.html

Thursday 8 August 2013

Lava lamp science

We have been learning how to conduct a science experiment this week.  We need to watch closely and record EVERYTHING we see. It is hard work.  We watched what happens when you pour oil into water. We saw what happened when you put slat in. Then this week we changed one thing to see what happened. We were in groups and each group got to see one thing changed. For three groups the liquid was not water. It was lemonade or vinegar or hot water. The other three groups had oil and water last week but used washing powder, sugar or baking soda instead of salt. There was so much to see and we were surprised by some of the action happening in the jar.  As us how to set it up and have a look at home!

Hub day

On Monday we had a celebration and opening party for the Hub (formerly called the library).  We all came dressed up in costumes depicting our favourite book characters. We had the pleasure of seeing the whole school's costumes when we had a parade in the hall. Have a look at the pics of us in our costumes.

After morning tea we had a visit from Renee from the More FM.  She came to read to us and tell us what it was like to work at the radio station.
What a cool day.

Tuesday 9 July 2013

Joy is at Steve Spangler

I hope you can see the video. This is really cool and i already have a bottle of unbreakable bubble mixture! Who has the next birthday.
J

Friday 5 July 2013

The recipe is out 365 cereal recipe

365 cereal -  a delicious breakfast every day of the year.
The Recipe
Granola - make, allow to cool and store in an airtight container
3 cups of old-fashioned rolled oats
3 tablespoons brown sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cinnamon
1/3 cup honey
¼ cup oil
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 180C.  
Combine all the ingredients in a wide shallow baking dish or roasting pan. Stir well and spread out evenly in the bottom of the pan. Place in the oven for 10 minutes, stir, and cook for another 10 minutes. Continue until all the oats are toasted and golden brown. It needs stirring so it doesn't burn on the top or bottom and so all the flakes are equally toasted.

Other ingredients
Rice bubbles/ ricies
Yoghurt covered raisins
Dried mango snipped into small pieces

This cereal can be made by the bowl.  The ratio of ricies to granola is 4 measures of ricies to 2 measures of granola.
One bowl = 4 large spoonfuls of ricies
                   2 large spoonfuls of granola
                   6 yoghurt raisins
                   One spoonful of mango
                   Milk and spoon!

Good health!


Thursday 4 July 2013

Buddies Imaginz

Yesterday we spent the morning improving our kotahitanga skills by working together to build a house and a massage table!  Today our buddies came to play and had a great time learning how to build with Imaginz too.  It was quite loud but everyone shared really well and the little budies added some windows and roof to the house.

Tuesday 2 July 2013

Life in the 365 cereal factory

It has been frantic for the last few days. We have teamed up with room 5 and 3 to actually get the cereal made.
We split into groups in our room and with bright blue smurf hands (gloves) we snipped up dried mango and counted out 100 portions of yoghurt raisins.  A group worked with Suzanne to work just how much we could fit in a packet (Joy had to work out how much it cost - she said it made her brain hurt!). And one group worked with joy to make granola. That was a big day....
THEN some kids from all three classes worked together to create a production line in the hall on Friday morning.  It was interesting to have to do one job all morning (even if it got a bit boring - at least you could get very good at it!). We had to make the boxes, insert the bags, fill the bags, zip them up and put them into boxes for storage.  We got 40 bags filled and then we ran out of granola.
Since then the rest of the bags have been filled and soon they will all be sold. Want to buy the recipe?  I wonder if Mr Hubbard would like it?






Saturday 29 June 2013

365 - a delicious breakfast everyday of the year



During this term Rooms 3, 6 and 5 have been working together to produce their very own breakfast cereal. R6 are making the product, R3 are packaging it and R5 are marketing it.

The ingredients we have used for the cereal are granola, puffed rice, mango, yoghurt covered raisins and sweetened with stevia and honey.

If you would like to purchase our cereal we will be selling it in Week 9 at 8.30 outside the school office. The price is $6.

We appreciate your support and all profits raised are going towards the school art space.