If I Could Change the World!

We have joined a Global project called "If I Could Change the World". This is where kids from all over the world investigate the issues of pollution, poverty and violence. We look at ways at which they can make a difference at a local, national and international level.

We decided that we would start looking at pollution and we are looking at ways that we can tackle rubbish in the playground.

You can check out the Change the World, we have added a link at the top of the page. We would love other classes to join us.

Andy Warhol, Marilyn Monroe, Mrs C-B!

One of my favourite artists is Andy Warhol and as I am sick today (unfortunately), I was playing around in the new Photo Booth after installing the new oxs Leopard operating system onto my computer.

Well as you can see there is a likeness between me and Marilyn Monroe he he. Leave a comment and tell me what you think kids!

Do you like my hair?

When I get back to school this is our project we will be working on, exploring the new Photo Booth!

Making our Amphibious wish list!

Here we are making our Flying Amphibious wish list.

You can see that Billie, Douglas and Olivia L are constructing the motor. Danny and Madison are making the propeller for the back. These children did a great job and listening to the conversations about the construction ideas was fascinating.

You can also see that the Flying Amphibious got a paint job. We had a class vote and red and black were our colours. Some children painted it and Lily came up with the idea of painting koru patterns on the wings of which she and Tayler did.

Leave a comment and tell us what you think!

Folk Dancing!

On Wednesday the 24 of October Rooms 5,6 &7 had our Folk dancing celebration in the hall. We celebrated our learning with a small barn dance with live music provided by Sky Bus.

The children all danced with smiles on their faces and it was delightful to watch. They moved well together and laughed, danced and tripped over their left feet (particularly the parents in the final dance).

We had lots of wonderful parents come along and watch and they did a GREAT job of joining in on the spur of the moment. You can see on the slide show the delight in their faces!!

Thank you to Sky Bus for playing and Mr Bryant for organising the band. Thank you to those parents who attended. We hope you had fun!!

Leave a comment and tell us what you thought of our great celebration.

Artistic Wonder!

Leave a comment and tell me what you can see!

Our visit to Greg Inch's and neighbour Tom!

All 95 middle division pupils from Rooms 5,6,&7 were lucky enough to have Shannon's Dad Greg Inch organise a trip to his Earth Moving business to see the large machines he uses in his job. Also we were fortunate enough to get to visit his neighbour Tom to see two full scale replica aeroplanes.

This was such a FABULOUS interesting trip as our topic is all about how things move, the children were entranced in the big machines and Greg explained the way they worked in kid like language. The children got to see diggers in action, a gear box, big trucks, loaders and bull dozer's. They had some great questions to ask and found that Greg answered some of their wonderings they had had in the classroom on the previous day.

Tom showed us his two aeroplanes and talked to us about how the wings worked, and told us some history of aeroplanes in combat in World War 1. The children were animated and enthralled by his wonderful stories of aviation in World War 1. He also answered questions about the different parts of the aeroplane that the children had wondered about.

This was a wonderful trip and well worth it as part of our Tuning In part of our Inquiry.

Thank you so much Greg, Susan, Joe, Tom and Jeanette you were super duper! Also thank you to the parent help.

Room 6 leave a comment about what you enjoyed the most.

I-3-6

1-3-6

Room 6 had a challenge of coming up with a Flying Amphibious wish list that would help make it a better vehicle.

To do this we did an Inquiry concept called 1-3-6.

This is where we started off on our own writing 5 things down on our own list. Then we got with 3 people and had to decide on our top 5 wishes between us. We then got into a group with 6 people in it and decided on our top 5 wishes.

This helped us all to group and classify ideas and statements.

This is what each group came up with.
Group A
Wheels
Gear Stick
Steering Wheel
Petrol
Motor

Group B
Steering Wheel
Motor
Gear Stick
Seats
Seat Belt

Group C
Number Plate
Engine
Paint job
Spoiler
Motor


Group D
Motor
Steering Wheel
Petrol
Key
Fan

We then tried going to consolidate our wish list into 10 top ideas as a class, we found this challenging because we had to separate our ideas into wants and needs and identify which was which. We ended up with 12 needs and 4 wants in the end.

We found this activity to be a thought provoking and rewarding experience as the children really had to think, discuss and analyse. We are now going to add these things to our Flying Amphibian (Triple W for short)!

WATCH THIS SPACE!

Leave a comment and tell us what you think.

It Moves - But How?

This is our Flying Amphibious, my husband Iain made it (who is my amazing helper). As you can see it has wings, wheels and a front of a boat. It is unfinished and we will be completing it over the term and turning it into a wonderful Room 6 creation. We are making a wish list of things that it still needs.

Room 6 came up with different names and we voted on the one we liked best. Flying Amphibious is Douglas McMurray's idea. We think it is a wonderful name, we are going to put triple w on the number plate.

WATCH THIS SPACE!

A question for us to answer for homework.

How do plane wings work?
Leave your answer on our blog under comments.

It Moves - But How?

It Moves-But How? is our new exciting Term 4 topic. The title is Wheels, Wings and Water things and the key understandings we will be looking at are:

1. Force is an energy which causes movement.
2. Motion and movement have changed the way we live.
3. Transport / toys have always had a place in our world.

We were very lucky to have Mrs McFadgen pop into our room to show us a treasure! Read below and hear our recount.

Mrs McFadgen came to our class to talk about her doll and how it moves.

The doll was made in 1910, which makes it just about 100 years old. The doll crawls along the floor after you wind it up.

We first of all had a look and then we got to each look at it one by one. We then had to talk in pairs about how we thought it worked.

Here are some of our thoughts:

The cogs are attached to axles which might make it move – Cameron

There is a wheel spinning around it – Mikayla

There were wheels spinning around on the bottom, there is little metal bits, they make the arms and legs move – Christian

It is just like at rock climbing with the string and the metal bits, but the metal bits are much smaller. It turns around and around and moves the legs and arms. – Bradford.

The cogs are for up and down and attach to the feet, and they go up and down – Abbey

The cog went up and down and the legs moved them – Madison

The cogs make the wee arms move inside the legs, and it moves like a punching bag. It hits the legs to make it move. – Hamish

The wheel spins around and there is a little stick beside it, and the stick is attached to the keys and the legs move.

This is what actually happens, Mrs McFadgen drew a diagram which you will see in the below photo. You will also see Ava McFadgen holding her Mums precious doll.

Thanks Mrs McFadgen, we loved your doll!

Leave a comment and tell us what you think!

Taking Action!

The last stage of the Inquiry process is Taking Action. For our 'Who are our neighbours' topic Room 6 decided that we would take up Mrs Woods suggestion of buying something and bringing it to school to put in our Christmas Child care package. This will be sent over to under-privileged children who have never received a Christmas gift before.

We had a great response and even had to get Mrs Wood to give us three boxes. We decided to give to a girl between 5-8yrs old.

I was impressed with the response and we thought it was a FANTASTIC way to conclude our topic. Thanks to all parents who supported this!

Thanks Mrs Wood!

Leave a comment and tell us what you think.

Who are our neighbours podcasts

We have made some reflective podcasts about our "Who are our neighbours" topic last term. We made them in Garageband, and they are completely unrehearsed! Have a listen and tell us what you think.

We will be trying to improve our podcasting skills over the term so check checking in to see if there are more to listen to...