Smudge

We had Smudge, the lamb, come and visit us at school. He was hungry and some of us were able to feed him from his bottle.

Digital Cameras

This term we are learning how to use the digital cameras. We have taken lots of photos. Some of the photos we are scrapbooking.

THE ANT AND THE GRASSHOPPER

Yesterday Bears performed their play, "The Ant and the Grasshopper."
Ant gets stuck on a rock in the middle of the river. Grasshopper has to go and ask all the animals for help. FInally tiger says he will move so mongoose can get the eggs. When mongoose moves from the well cobra can get a drink and then parrot can get the bananas. Parrot gives grasshopper a vine so she can help ant out of the river.
Bears did an awesome job on the play.

ANYONE FOR TENNIS?

On Thursday, 18th September Room 6 had some tennis coaching. Three coaches from Wakapuaka tennis club came and taught us some skills. We all did really well and improved in a short time. Lots of us are keen to have another go.

Hippo's Hiccups

Poor hippo has the hiccups. All the animals try to help him but it's crocodile who gets rid of hippo's hiccups by giving him a big fright!
Hippos reading group performed this play in Junior assembly and did a fantastic job. Well done.

PLAY TIME!

Today Tigers performed a play in Junior assembly. The play was "Home Comes the Hunter." All the children used very clear speaking voices and acted the play out so well. Great job!

Cross Country

Our school has just completed the cross country. We ran in our age groups. Lots of our families came to cheer us on. We all did really well and had lots of fun.

FITNESS

As part of our study on the Olympic Games we designed fitness

cards for our class to use. We decided to do a fitness circuit so 

each  group made

 an activity for the circuit. We made cards explaining the activity and listing any equipment needed.

MASK MAKING

This term, in art, we are making masks. At the beginning of term 4 our school will be going in the Mask Parade. We are looking at using symmetry in masks. 

We made these black and white masks this week.

WHAT A DRAMA!

There's been drama in Room 6! We've been writing about and dramatizing The Three Billy Goats Gruff. We've been practising our movements and facial expressions.We had some very fierce trolls!

Some of our reading groups have also been doing plays. One group did their play for the Junior assembly on Friday. It was a funny play called "No Excuse." The children all read with clear voices and expression. Carol was very proud of them.

Shazzlewogs

We have been designing homes for a shazzlewog.

Shazzlewogs are small pets. They are about 10 cm high, have short legs with three toes and have small wings but cannot fly. They have a trunk which they use for drinking water. When we designed a house for them we had to remember that they are shy and like a place to hide. Also, that they sleep in a nest and like to splash in water. Shazzlewogs eat carrots and like to climb. 

Emma made this shazzlewog. You can tell it is a female because of its colours. Male shazzlewogs are purple and yellow.

To Room 6

We've had a great term Room 6. We've come a long way with learning to work together and get along with others.

Have a great holiday. Here are some challenges for you over the holidays. Leave a comment and tell me how you go and how your holiday is going.

See you next term.

Carol

CHALLENGES:

1. Visit the public library
2. Play a game with your family
3. Tell someone in your family some interesting facts we learned about the kakapo
4. Go for a bike ride or a walk
5. Do some baking or cooking
6. Tidy your bedroom without being asked
7. Do the dishes
8. Do something kind for someone in your family
9. Read lots and lots of books
10. Be happy!!!

P.S. Here's that great web address for practising your basic facts: http://tutpup.com 

KAKAPO

We have been on a Virtual Field Trip to learn about the kakapo. We have watched the scientists who work with these amazing birds through videos and diaries on the net. We learned lots about these endangered birds. Did you know . . .

• Kakapo means "night parrot."
  
• There are only 91 kakapo left in the world and they are only found in New Zealand.
• The kakapo live on Whenua Hou (Codfish Island) which is an island near Stewart Island. This is the island we visited on our Virtual Tour. 16 kakapo live on Anchor Island.
• Scientists have been trying to save the kakapo for years by helping look after them and learning about them.
• Kakapo are nocturnal.
• They feed on leaves, seeds, fruit and nuts.
• The male kakapo makes a hollow and sits in it and booms trying to attract a female kakapo.
• Only the mother kakapo look after the chicks.
• The kakapo is the heaviest parrot in the world.
• Kakapo cannot fly.
• They can live to about 60 years old.
• Kakao breed when there is lots of Rimu fruit. This only happens about every 20 years on Whenua Hou.
• Females lay 2 to 4 eggs which take about 30 days to hatch.
• 7 chicks that hatched this year were taken to Nelson to be looked after. Some of us saw the chicks at the Brook Reserve.
• Predators of the kakapo are cats, kiore (rats), stoats and possums. People have worked hard to get rid of these predators from the islands.
• All kakapo have a microchip and a radio transmitter so scientists can keep track of them.

We hope scientists keep learning about the kakapo so they do not become extinct.

Folk Dance

On Friday we had our school folk dance display. Lots of family and friends came to watch us. Our class performed the Jiffy Mixer, a folk dance from America. We practised very hard to get the steps right and to keep in time. We also danced Jibidi, a folk dance from France, with the rest of the Junior school. 

ELGREGOE

On Wednesday morning our class went with the rest of the school to see Elgregoe. 

Elgregoe did amazing magic tricks. He made rabbits disappear and birds appear. He had a great macaw named Zaza. Elgregoe talked about how to make our school a great place to be by being students who are caring, honest, helpful, respectful, fair and responsible.

At the end he handcuffed Sue and put padlocks on this box. In 3 seconds she had the handcuffs off and was inside the box! It was an amazing show.

By Room 6

Wind Power

Today in Science we talked about the possible power cuts this winter. There is not enough water in the lakes to make power. We talked about why we use more power in winter and what we can do to save it. 

We then looked at some pictures of wind farms and how they work. We made our own windmills using stiff paper, bamboo, beads and pins. 

MANA - The Spirit of Polynesia

On Tuesday afternoon, we saw a cool and exciting dancer named Bernard Mangakahia. He has lived in many countries and knows many interesting dances. He showed us an American Indian Hoop Dance. During the dance he twirled around very fast. He made animal forms with the hoops. He made a butterfly, an eagle, a flower and some more. It took Bernard five years to learn to do the dance without falling over. 

During the performance he changed costumes two times. He wore a Maori skirt called a pui pui and drew on his face to show us how a Maori tattoo looks. He led the whole school in a Humpty Dumpty haka.

He blew in a shell and we could feel it in our bodies. Two students from our class, Jacob and Millie, joined Bernard on stage. 

We thought the performance was really great. We hope Bernard will come back to our school again.

Written by Emma, Jessica N and Michael.

Helicopters

This week in science we looked at the seeds of the sycamore tree. They have a wing on them and twirl down to the ground. We made our own helicopters from stiff card and flew them from the adventure playground. They flew better with a paper clip attached to the bottom.

Magnets

This week in science we experimented with magnets. We all thought that the magnets would be attracted to anything metal. But when we tried the magnets there were lots of metal things that they weren't attracted to. We're going to see if we can find out why.

FIZZ

We mixed some powders today and made sherbet. Here is the recipe we used (although we times it by 30!)

1 tablespoon icing sugar

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon citric acid

1 teaspoon jelly crystals.

Mix all the ingredients together until there are no lumps. Make sure you keep everything dry so there is no reaction before you eat it. Best eaten with a lollipop.

When the sherbet hits your mouth there is a chemical reaction with your saliva.

May 23rd

Today in Science we looked at "Splitting Inks." We each drew a snake with felt pens. We used lots of different colours. We then dipped our pictures in water and watched the ink spread. Different inks travel at different speeds making patterns. This is called chromatography.

We learned that our banknotes use special inks that are hard to copy. If the police suspect someone has made their own banknotes they can use a chromatography test to see what ink has been used.

SCIENCE

Every Friday we've been going to the science room to do different topics around science. This week we looked at crystals.

We dissolved washing soda in boiling water. We kept adding more and more washing soda until no more would dissolve. Then we hung a paper clip in the water and we're waiting for crystals to appear.