Thursday 27 October 2016

Getting Ready for Market Day

Breaking news! We have now begun to make our actual jewellery to sell on Market Day. We have made advertisements to get people to come to our stall (check some of these out on the next page - Galaxy's Learning on Seesaw).  In maths we worked out how much our piece of jewellery will cost. We had a shopping list and we checked it and chose only the materials we needed for our piece of jewellery.  We then added all of the prices together. The most challenging part was working out how much string or elastic we needed.  This was the hardest part because we had to make sure it would fit the audience we are selling to and we had to measure how much we needed because Mel, Kerri , Bridget and Ebony were only selling it in 10cm long - and this is not long enough for a necklace or bracelet, even for a child!  We hope to see you at our stall on Market Day!

Sunday 2 October 2016

Can you guess the colour?

WALT: Investigate like a scientist

Kerri asked us "can we guess the colour of the jellybeans when our eyes were closed?"

As scientists we made a prediction... 
  • Most of us (16 people) think it will be easy to tell the colour and flavour with our eyes closed. 
  • Some of us (6 people) think we will not be able to  tell the colour and flavour with our eyes closed.
As scientists we carried out our experiment...
We got into groups of 3.
1 person had the blindfold on (so they couldn't see the colour), 1 person recorded the results and the other person put the jellybean into the blindfolded persons hand. Luckily we all got a turn at each job!
   
Max is tasting... Will he get it right?
Can Reagan guess the flavour?

Very careful recording Luka.
You guys were a great team of scientists!
Millie is thinking super hard!
As scientists we gathered our results... 

We all had little charts to fill in so we could collect our data.
We found this very tricky!
As scientists we have a conclusion...
We can tell some flavours but not all. It is easy to tell the black jellybeans. We were also pretty good at picking the blue and white ones too.

Our biggest learning was about collecting honest and reliable data (information). It doesn't matter if our prediction is wrong, what matters is that we learned something. 
Peeking is cheating and means we cannot trust all the information. Perhaps we could try again!

Thursday 22 September 2016

Roald Dahl Picture Competition


Last week it was Roald Dahl's 100th birthday celebration.  We all entered the drawing competition.  You can see our fantastic artworks up in the library.  Ryder won a prize and Jorja and Noah got a highly commended prize.  Wow - three people from Galaxy!  

Market Day

It was very exciting because we got a letter from David inviting us to take part in Russell Street's first market day.

We were curious to find out more.

First we started finding out about market days.  We found out that people say nice things about what was getting sold. There were really great displays so people can see everything.

Secondly we made a big mess discovering different materials that could make jewellery. After this we drew some jewellery.

Next we used lots of different types of materials to make jewellery and found out which materials would be the best to use for us.

Then we got a design brief and made our very first designs.  We have to choose one of them to make for market day.

After the holidays we are going to be making a practice one which we call a prototype.   We also need to make posters to advertise our product.


Monday 5 September 2016

Tui Having Brunch.

Today, just now we saw a tui in the kowhai tree right outside our classroom window.  The kowhai tree has a lot of blossoms now - bright yellow flowers.  The Tui was probably in the kowhai tree because it is spring and they like sucking the flowers.  They suck the flowers to steal the nectar from inside the flowers.  They suck it up their beak like a straw.  Leila wonders do Tui eat anything else?  We are going to keep an eye on the kowhai tree and try and take a photo of the tui - it flies away very fast each time we try! 6.9.16 10:50.

Wednesday Star of the Week - 'Guess in the Bag'

Ella brought along a snow globe/glitter globe with a castle inside it.  She put this in the kete for us to guess what her special thing was.  We have had many different special things this year like; trophy, rattle snake, aeroplane, ornaments from China, jewellery box, bey blade, soft toys, a tiara, pumice, spy gadget/compass, snake puzzle, sticker of the Eiffle Tower, a silver hippo, toys and we have some more to come before the end of the term. Yesterday the castle reminded Alec of Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria, Germany which many Disney castles are modelled off.  We talked about what would be good about living in this castle and what would not be good about living in this castle.

Sunday 21 August 2016

Kiwi Kids news


Check out this cool site for some olympic reading. Read though some of the stories so you can add some information to your haiku deck...

Sunday 14 August 2016

Have you filled a bucket today?




What is a bucket filler?

  • Someone who says and does nice things
  • Someone who is kind
  • Someone who uses manner
  • Someone who listens

How can we be bucket fillers at school?


  • Be kind to other people 
  • Sharing our stuff
  • Saying please and thank you
  • including and inviting everyone to join our games
  • Holding open
  • Letting others go first
  • Listening when people are talking
  • Helping the little kids to walk into class
  • Saying kind things like - good job Gordon!
  • Helping little kids in the playground by playing with them
  • Help people with their learning

How can be bucket fillers at home?


  • Doing what mum or dad ask - the first time
  • Help mum or dad or someone do jobs like feeding the dog, doing the dishes.
  • Hold the door open for mum or dad and let them go first
  • Use manners like please and thank you
  • Remember our table manners
  • Move out of the way on the footpath so people can get past
  • Help people who are hurt
  • Play nicely with our brothers and sisters


Sunday 7 August 2016

Cats Make The Best Pets

This term we are learning to write persuasions (persuasive text).  This is our first shared writing for Term 3.  Each day we will add some more as we finish editing and publishing it.

I think a cat would make the best pet for me.

Firstly cats are very cute.  When you come home from work or school and see you your cat they make you feel good inside. Cats are cute so you look forward to seeing them when you come back home.

Secondly cats are active.  It is wonderful cats are active because if a dog was chasing it, the cat can jump up somewhere high like a tree or a fence to be safe from a dog.  This will save you getting sad from your cat having an unfortunate accident.  Cats are active so this makes them ideal pets to play with.  Their playful antics are highly entertaining and joyful to watch - better than T.V!

Finally cats are warm and soft so you can snuggle and cuddle with them. When they purr they make you feel happy on the inside. Also because they are warm and soft they can keep themselves warm in winter, saving them from freezing to death and money on heating.

I feel I need a pet.  A cat would make the best pet for me because they are cute, active, soft and warm.

Tuesday 5 July 2016

We are creating our own kowhaiwhai


Where do you find kowhaiwhai patterns?
What do they mean?

What the kowhaiwhai mean.

More info about kowhaiwhai

Sunday 19 June 2016

What is our big Question?

We are scientists and a scientist has questions

I wonder... do we know what our big science question is?

After a lot of chat we decided we have learned about:

  • Water going up and down, evaporation...
  • Rain
  • Wind
  • Clouds
  • Directions (NESW)
  • Temperature
but what is our big question?
Is it...what is wind? what is weather?

How can we use this information? Why have we learned all about the weather and the clouds and meteorologists?

Our big question is: 

Can we eat out lunch outside?

A scientist makes predictions:

we can use what we have learned about
  • Temperature
  • Wind (direction and speed)
  • Clouds
to make a prediction 

A scientist makes observations:

When we make an observation we are looking very closely and noticing... for example: There are 5 weaved stars on the wall, or Siena has a purple sweatshirt.
Our science question observations might be:
is it windy? is the deck wet? is it cold outside? what direction is the wind coming from? is it raining (hard)?

A scientist shares (reports) their ideas:

We need to record how often we can eat inside and outside, how often are our predictions correct?

Wednesday 15 June 2016

What is wind? part 3

Our Big Science Question:

Can we predict if we need to eat inside or out - is it going to be a wet lunch time?



Why do we need to measure the wind?

So we know if we can eat inside or not,
We need to know the wind direction, is the rain going to blow onto us? Like north south east or west.
We might be able to predict the weather for the rest of the day

We need to measure how fast the wind is so we know if it is going to move the rain... 

If it is going be really cold, is it going to blow the wind hard?


Can we make a wind vane? (to measure the direction of the wind?)



We gathered our materials: plastic plates, straws, a pencil, a paper cup and some sand. We had a close look at the picture of what a wind vane looks like and then in our groups we had a go at making them. 

 
We are being creative with our design
Our Wind Vanes,
They are fantastic!

Where do we need to put it?... Why?

Can we make an anemometer? (to measure the speed of the wind?)

 

The kids in Flo7ish have made anemometers so we borrowed one and had a really close look. Using straws, paper plates, a pencil and some sand we had a go at creating our own!

Very fiddly and delicate work!


We are working together!



Where do we need to put it?... Why?

We can use our tools to help us predict the weather!
SaveSave

Friday 10 June 2016

What is wind? part 2

Our Big Science Question:

Can we predict if we need to eat inside or out - is it going to be a wet lunch time?

We have looked at the clouds and can make some weather observations and predictions using the clouds... what about the wind? We know that wind is an important part of the weather, so we have another question...


Does the wind effect wether we can eat outside and get some fresh air?


Do we want to measure the wind? 

Yes

Why?

So we can be safe - is the air pressure right for tornadoes to form (Reagan) or if storms are coming
So we know if it will be nice at the beach (Lucy)
So I can get my washing dry (Kerri)
For planes so they can be safe (Oliver)
Post people need to know the weather (Alexander)
So we can predict what the weather is going to do…


What do we want to measure?

We need to measure how fast the air is moving (that is the speed of the wind)
We need to measure where the wind is coming from (that is the wind direction)

What do we need to know?

What is north, south, east and west - the compass points



Can we make our own wind vanes?


Tuesday 7 June 2016

What is Wind?

Our Big Science Question:

Can we predict if we need to eat inside or out - is it going to be a wet lunch time?

We have looked at the clouds and can make some weather observations and predictions using the clouds... what about the wind? We know that wind is an important part of the weather, so we have another question...


Does the wind effect wether we can eat outside and get some fresh air?


What is wind?

Wind is air that you can feel (Lucy) because it is blowing (Max) it is air that is moving
“Air that is in motion” and motion is moving (Oliver)
Hot air goes up and cold air goes down (James and Ryder)
There is a land breeze and a sea breeze (Reagan) it is to do with warm air and cold air moving

Can we see the air moving and the warm air rising and cold air sinking?

no... so can we make a model?  

We used blue ice and warm water with some red food colouring.

Prediction: 

Galaxy think the cold air (water) is going to move to the top ….
Ice is cold - it is solid water (Alexander), 
We will see a little bit of purple (Lucy)
The ice will melt and turn into liquid (Reagan)
Blue is cold and water from the hot tap…. Red (hot)

Investigation:

We put the warm water in a big glass container and Kerri added some blue ice, Then Kerri added some red food colouring to the warm water.

Observations:

We could see the cold blue water sinking to the bottom of the container.
The red drops kind of went down a bit first and then the red spread out really fast towards the top.
We could see the blue spreading and moving across the bottom of the container and the red staying on the top.
After a while the water went purple becasue the cold water got warmer and the warm water got a bit colder.

Conclusions:

Cold water sinks and warm water rises. This is like in the movie, where the warm air form the beach rises and the cold air sinks over the sea.
The cold air moves into the space where the warm air was.
Moving air is wind!

Here is a link so we can try this again at home Model of warm air rising...

Sunday 29 May 2016

Monday 23 May 2016

Our thoughts after Sarah's visit...

My favourite bit was:

  • Screen Shot 2016-05-22 at 8.08.29 pm.pngWatching the lightning fingers on the movie (Emilee and Siena)
  • Looking at the model of the satellite and touching the weather balloon (Tahu and Max)
  • Screen Shot 2016-05-22 at 8.10.37 pm.pngLearning that the size of a satellite box is about the same as a washing machine (Reagan)
  • Watching how the satellite gets up in space (Freya)
  • Learning about how the clouds come and the different types of clouds (Miracle)
  • Learning about the flat cloud (Gordon)
  • Holding the anemometer - it was really heavy (Harry)
  • Seeing the cumulus clouds and learning the new words for clouds (Lucy)
  • Talking about all the different types of weather (Jemma)


What I learned:

  • Screen Shot 2016-05-22 at 8.21.00 pm.pngA satellite goes into space on a rocket and then it takes photos of the earth so we can see the weather (Leila and Freya)
  • A weather  balloon is a big balloon and it is filled with a special gas (Helium) that makes it float. It flies high into the sky and takes lots of measurements (temperature, photos). It has the measuring thing on the bottom. (Harry, Lucy, Reagan and Max)
  • Screen Shot 2016-05-22 at 7.38.20 pm.pngA weather map has cold fronts with blue triangles and warm fronts with red semi circles on it (Siena)
  • There is an H for High and a L for Low. If it is a high the weather is sunny. If it is a low the weather is rainy and cloudy (Richard, Tahu and Ella)


Thank you Sarah! You were awesome and you taught us a lot!!



Sunday 22 May 2016

Visit from Sarah the Meteorologist

We had a visitor at school today. Her name is Sarah and she is a meteorologist. She came and taught us all sorts of stuff about the weather and what a meteorologist does.


Why do we want to know about the weather?
  • Planes and ships need to know so they know where it is safe
  • Farmers need to know so they can look after their animals and crops
  • Mums and dads need to know so they can get the washing dry
Screen Shot 2016-05-22 at 7.46.52 pm.png
  • Schools need to know so they can plan and change things like cross country


Meteorologists look at lots of observations and make predictions about what the weather might do.
The observations come from ships, airplanes, satellites, weather balloons, webcams and radar.
This is a weather balloon. It is made of very thick rubber and a measuring instrument is hung off the bottom. It takes photos and sends information back to the meteorologists.
Screen Shot 2016-05-22 at 8.11.43 pm.png


They can be photos and video and graphs.
Meteorologists need to know what is going on up there in the atmosphere.
After looking at all the observations, meteorologists tell the lady or man on the T.V. what to say about the weather.
How do we measure wind?
Anemometer - if the wind is moving slowly then the anemometer turns slowly
How do we measure sunshine?
Screen Shot 2016-05-22 at 7.59.48 pm.pngWe use sunshine hours
How do we measure temperature?
We use a thermometer. When the liquid is high up the thermometer it is hot, and when it is down low it is cold.



Clouds
There are lots of different types of clouds. Check out the poster in class to see all the different types and their names.
Screen Shot 2016-05-22 at 7.42.07 pm.png
Fluffy clouds are called cumulus
Screen Shot 2016-05-22 at 7.41.26 pm.png
Flat clouds are called stratus and they often sit on the hills
Screen Shot 2016-05-22 at 7.43.30 pm.png
Cumulonimbus - really big clouds. 
They stretch from quite low down 
to very high up

When there is a mix of fluffy and flat they are called stratocumulus.
But there are lots of other types of clouds… Alto
is in the middle.







Screen Shot 2016-05-22 at 8.37.49 pm.pngWhat is precipitation?
Stuff that falls out of clouds
Rain, snow, and hail
Visibility - this is how far you can see. When it is very rainy you cannot see very far.


Weather Maps
Warm Front When there is a warm front, it means warm air
is coming - it is going to get warmer.
Screen Shot 2016-05-22 at 8.04.13 pm.pngOn the weather map a warm front has red semi-circles.
There are lots of fluffy clouds.
Cold Front When there is a cold front, it means cold air is 
Screen Shot 2016-05-22 at 8.04.24 pm.png coming - it is going to get colder.
Very convective - lots of wind and rain cloud.
On the weather map a cold front has blue triangles.
There is a big sharp line of where the weather is coming from.
Screen Shot 2016-05-22 at 8.04.03 pm.pngStationary Front Mix of red semi-circles and blue triangles.
High This is shown by an H on the map

The weather is likely to be sunny with not much cloud
Low This is shown by an L on the map
The weather is likely to be rainy and cloudy

Screen Shot 2016-05-22 at 7.38.20 pm.png
Can you read this weather map?