Super Scientists

We have been discovering what a Scientist looks like and what a Scientist does. After this we discussed the different types of energy eg solar, wind, water, fuel, food etc and talked about the flow of energy from the sun to make the grass grow, which feeds the cows, that give us dairy products and finally, when we eat cheese, butter, milk etc, give us energy to live a healthy life.

From there we participated in the making of butter from cream, icecream making (and eating!) and doing research on how milk goes sour. We left milk in 3 different places, in the fridge, in the sun and on the bench. Guess what? After 6 days the milk in the sun separated into curds and whey and smelt very cheesy but the milk on the bench still looked OK to use though it smelt quite sour. Now we are seeing what happens with pure milk from the cow. (Not the Supermarket variety.)

Here are a few photos of some of our work.......

Leaves

Recently Room 4 was talking about Autumn leaves. One of the children collected lots of leaves and brought them along to school. We all had a lot of fun feeling the leaves, looking at the leaves and noticing how they were the same and different. We wrote a story together about the leaves.

On another day we went out into the school playground to look for lots of leaves. We found some behind Room 11. The children had a lovely time walking through them and throwing them into the air.
Following  this they wrote and published their own stories. You can read these up on the wall in Room 4.

The Spirit of Polynesia Show

Last Friday The Spirit of Polynesia show was performed at Birchwood in the school hall. This was a one man show and the performer was called Bernard. What an excellent show this was, children and adults were inspired by his performance. Some of the children in Room 4 used photos of the show for writing this week. Bernard spoke about his family and where he came from which related well to our current unit called Same, Same but Different.
The children particularly enjoyed the shapes Bernard made with hoops, the Humpty Dumpty haka which included everyone and the long poi.
These photos were taken during the performance.

Learning About Life in Kenya

On Monday we were very fortunate to have Amelia's Mum and Grandma (Rebecca and Bev) in our class talking about living in Kenya. First we looked at a world map and found Kenya in Africa...... a long way from New Zealand! We looked at carvings of wild animals and Bev had a woven basket full of beautiful bright coloured fabrics that some of the girls were able to put on. We talked about the Masai men and how they hunted with shields and spears. We looked at Rebecca's amazing photos of wild animals and saw Ms Tennet's slide show of photos from Arusha, Tanzania when she did some voluntary work at St Jude's School there.

Lastly we did a worksheet about giraffes and put a poem about vultures in our Poetry books.
A BIG thank you to Bev and Rebecca for coming and sharing their experiences with us.

Reading Fun with our Buddy Class

We have developed friendships with Room 9 children, our Buddy Class. On three different occasions we have got together with our Room 9 buddies for shared reading and help with a school survey on the playground. We are planning on having weekly get-togethers, usually on Fridays. Room 4 children have had so much fun sharing books and chatting with these older children who take on a nurturing role. Look at the gorgeous photos of them reading together!

Photos from the Tabloid Sports held before the Easter break

Room 4 children had lots of fun at the tabloid sports. Check out these photos -

Week 8

As I write this I'm enjoying the Easter break and I know the children of Room 4 and their families will be doing so too. Happy Easter to you all.
During the week Constable McKitrick has been working with the children in the Junior Syndicate. This involved a lesson each day working on car parks, sneaky driveways and crossing the road with and without a patrol. All the children enjoyed these lessons.
What a great time everyone had on Friday at the Tabloids. The senior children set up and ran some awesome activities for the rest of the school. We'll publish some photos next week.

Homework-
Because we have two short weeks we won't be testing spelling until next Friday. The children have six words to learn but a longer time to learn them in.

Reports-
Jan and I had time out on Tuesday when we wrote school reports for those who are receiving them this term. We are also busy preparing the samples for the Learning Journals which everyone will receive at the end of the term.

Welcome to the Room 4 blog, our first post for this year.  Technical issues stopped us from doing this before now. Everyone has made a great start to the year with many exciting experiences for us to share.

So far this year we've had three swims at Nayland Pool which everyone enjoyed. Photos were taken  and these are on the wall in the classroom along with a story we composed together.

The photo above was taken to go on the front of a large Thank You card for the Stoke Cycle Centre. The Stoke Cycle Centre advertises on the back of our newsletter.

Today Chris Fortune brought his Kids Can Cook mobile kitchen to school. All the children went to view and take part in his presentation. Caitlin was the Sous chef at our presentation. The photos below give you some idea of how it was set out. We all had the opportunity to taste a piece of crepe at the end.