Welcome Back!

We have had a FANTASTIC start to term 3. Our renovated classroom is looking AMAZING! Now our job is to work hard so that we can fill the walls with our BEAUTIFUL artwork, our CREATIVE writing and of course, our TRICKY maths!

Please come and visit our new classroom!

Reminders:

Spelling Testing is now on Tuesday afternoons
Basic Facts testing is on Fridays

Jumping Frogs!

Today we learned about STATIC ELECTRICITY.

First we cut up tiny paper frogs:

Then we brainstormed the different ways that we could make the frogs jump using a balloon. Some of us thought that we could rub the balloon with our hands to create electricity. This didn't quite work but it was still a great idea!


Then we tried rubbing the balloon on our heads! This created static electricity and made our hair stand up!

We then rubbed the balloon on a buddies head and placed the charged balloon near the frogs, it was fun to watch them jump!

Science week!

We have had a fantastic start to term two with science week. Earlier in the week we made our own classroom circuit. We learned that energy flows through a loop but if there is a break in the loop, the energy stops flowing.

Mr Dobson and Mr Ray then shot a rocket into the air on our school field. It was funny watching them get soaked!



On Friday we made oobleck with our buddy class. We had a great time exploring the oobleck!

Welcome Back!

I hope you have all had a restful and enjoyable holiday!

We have a lot to look forward to this term!

Our inquiry focus this term is science. We will be exploring electricity, sound and magnetic forces. For the next few weeks we will focus on electricity, we will even make our own electrical circuits! If you would like to practice online please visit:

http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/gamesactivities/electricitycircuits.html

Just a few reminders:

Hats are no longer needed as the winter season is setting in. Please ensure that your child has a named pair of slippers at school by the end of the week.

We will continue testing spelling rockets with our buddies every Friday.

Please visit our blog regularly as we love reading your comments!

Super Drumming!

Today we were very lucky to have Eddie Quansah visit us at school. Eddie put on an entertaining African drumming show for us and even invited children to play some music. Eddie is originally from Ghana, and has been playing his beautiful music around the world! Eddie explained the importance of music and drumming in African culture.
Thanks Eddie!

Grandparents Day!

Grandparents Day was a tremendous success and a great conclusion to our inquiry unit! We were so proud to have our grandparents and grand friends visit our classroom, we loved sharing our work with them and learning all about their special objects. We surprised our grandparents with our knowledge about how things used to be in the past! They especially loved the photos of us dressed up like they used to when they were children.

A huge thank you to all the parents, grandparents, and grand friends for coming and sharing this special afternoon with us. The memories from our wonderful afternoon will stay with us for a long time.

Thank you!

Pataka Fun!

As part of our inquiry, "Here's Our History," we went to Pataka museum. We had a fantastic time. We got to experience how people lived 100 years ago! We washed clothes with a washboard and mangle, practiced writing with ink pens, and played games like marbles. These are just a few of the things that we did. We realized that life has changed a lot over time! We found some of the games that children used to play quite frustrating and slow-paced. We also noticed that day-to-day appliances (like pots and irons) used to be very heavy! We think that people must have been very strong and hard-working. We can't wait to share our experiences with our Grandparents on Grandparents day!

One of the funniest things we did was dress up like children did 100 years ago, we practiced making very serious faces because we noticed that in the photos from the past, people didn't seem to smile! We found out that people didn't smile in photos because it took so long to take just one photograph!

Soccer Fun!

Pat and Fraser came to Muritai School and taught us how to do soccer exercises. We had a great time dribbling the soccer ball and doing the soccer relays. On Friday we played a soccer game with room 5. We all showed fantastic sportsmanship!

An afternoon at the beach!

On Monday the Junior classes visited Rona Bay Beach. We had a blast! We practiced using our senses to observe what we could see, smell, touch and hear. We collected beach treasures, built sandcastles and dug deep holes together. We had such a great time that we decided to write recounts about our afternoon at the beach. We hope to visit the beach again while the weather is fine.

Meeting our Buddies in Room 15

On Friday we met our buddy class. We asked each other questions like "what's your favourite colour?" and "what do you want to be when you grow up?"
We found out some interesting things about each other!
Then our buddies in room 15 read us stories. It was great fun! We can't wait for our next buddy day!