Syndicate Jump Jam

We had Jump Jam with the whole Senior Syndicate today.  Jump Jam is really cool because it keeps you nice and fit.  All that jumping really gets your brain working!

by Jerome and Jack R.

Bird Beaks

To start the term we became birds and carried out an experiment to see which type of beak worked best for different food types - insects in a log (rice in plasticine), small fish in water (macaroni), worms in dirt (cooked spaghetti),  flesh (marshmallows on a stick) and sunflower seeds.  We had some fun and worked out that some beaks are quite specialised for a specific food type while others work for multiple foods.  From this we discussed how birds have adapted to suit their environments.

Fab Five Arts & Crafts Businesses

After some careful planning, Fab Five have enthusiastically started production of our products to sell at our market with VALT on Monday.  Each group has a budget and have had to place orders for all their materials and rent equipment such as glue sticks, scissors and pencils.  We can't wait to see the finished products ready for sale!

Auction Time!

Fab Five ready to bid in our class auction this afternoon.  There are a few class bank balances sitting at zero following the bidding frenzy!

Korowai of Knowledge

Fab Five have been busy creating feathers for our Korowai (cloak) of Knowledge.  The feathers have the te reo Maori vocabulary we have come across in our Matariki readings and research that were new to us.  Each student worked on their individual feathers and they looked pretty neat but when all our hard work was combined into the cloak, we thought it looked pretty amazing!

                        

                                                 

Sun Art

As part of our literacy priorities in Fab Five, we have been doing arty activities including sun art! I know it was new to me too! I bet you want to do this super fun activity at home!  Well, here’s how you do it...

Go online or to your nearest stationary store and ask for ‘sun paper’ if they have any, they will give it to you in different sizes. It will normally be a A5 or A4 but they might have more different options. Oh, and by the way, if you’re thinking of doing it with your 4 year old, THINK AGAIN! (It’s ages 6+ and it’s $19.50)

Once you have your pack(s) go home and start finding random objects to make your artwork look interesting. Or, if you’re wanting a picture you can collect things that makes up a picture.

Now, go to the kitchen and get a container,  (preferably a few inches bigger than your size of paper) fill it with water, and squeeze some lemon juice in it. By the way, you need to plan first, cause if you put the objects on and don’t know what you’re  doing,the light will start absorbing straight away. So get out your practice paper!

Once you’ve got your design, quickly but carefully transport it onto the sun art paper. Then, you must go outside (if it’s sunny) or go inside to a place that’s sunny.

As you wait, the paper will get paler and paler and paler. Once the paper is light blue, almost white, you carefully remove your objects from the paper. Go back to your water filled container, push it under the water and watch that white paper turn dark blue! Leave it out to dry for an hour, and there you have it, your very own SUN ART!!!!!!!!!!!!!

By Eilidh  and Madeleine

Planet Placement

We have been learning about the Solar System and have been trying to get an idea of the distances between the planets.  We imagined that the sun was just 5mm big.  First we used our hands and then our bodies to show our estimates of the distances between the first planets and the sun.

We had to move outside for the last planets because the distances were too large for our classroom!

Then we found out the actual distances of the planets from the sun and measured rope to match each one.

 The first four planets we could fit inside with the tip of Mickey's finger doing a brilliant job of being the sun.

  We had to move outside to fit in all the planets and saw how the first planets (on the right) are close together and the last few are REALLY spread out.