Geologist Visit

Today we had a very special visit from two geologists from Massey University, Jon and Natalia.  They came to talk to us about earthquakes and volcanoes.  They shared a wee experiment, talked about the rock samples they brought, and showed some amazing videos and photos.  We learnt heaps! 

How Was The Earth Formed?

In order to understand the concept of tectonic plates, we had to go back to the very beginning.... the creation of Planet Earth.  After discussing how we thought Earth was created, some of us were brave enough to share our ideas with the world...

 

The Rescue Helicopter Visits Halcombe School

The Student Council were ready to make a significant donation to the Palmerston North Rescue Helicopter, so a secret visit was arranged!  We were given 12 minutes warning that the helicopter was going to stop for a visit after dropping off a patient at Whanganui Hospital.  It was so exciting!

Rescue Helicopter Facts:

• costs $1500 per hour to run
• they average 3-4 rescues per week
• usually travel at 230km/hour
• costs approx. $1.5million a year to run
• covers the whole of the lower North Island
• there are lots of rules to help with the safe operation of the helicopter
• has a winch that can pull people out of hard-to-reach places
• is operated by a pilot, crewman and paramedic

Our Thoughts:

• It was cool to see the grass waving wildly as the helicopter landed and took off.  Jasmine.
• It was a great surprise!  Juliet.
• Sitting in the cockpit was awesome!  Elen.
• I learnt about where the exhaust pipe of a helicopter is.  Logan.
• I found it interesting to see the helicopter land - it wasn't how I expected it to land.  George.
• It was a great experience watching a helicopter coming in to land and taking off.  Molly.
• I loved the opportunity to sit in a helicopter.  I've never done this before.  Victoria.
• I was not expecting to see a helicopter today!  I gasped in surprise!  Holly.
• It was awesome to be able to look around the helicopter - we don't get to do this everyday!  Aaliyah.
• I enjoyed learning about the helicopter and hearing about how it works.  Trevor

Prior Knowledge Of Earthquakes And Volcanoes

We knew this question was coming... what do we already know about earthquakes and volcanoes?  We discussed the answer to this question with a partner, and wrote all our ideas down.  It's obvious that most of us on the right track, but still have plenty to learn over the next few weeks!



Science - Earthquakes And Volcanoes

Science time!  We are going to be learning all about earthquakes and volcanoes.  This is an important topic for all New Zealanders to understand.  We don't have much time, so we are going to cram in as much learning as possible over the next three weeks!

Here is a list of the big ideas we'll be learning about:

• The Earth is very old and is continuously changing.
• Earth’s landforms are the result of natural processes.
• Landforms are continuously being built up and broken down through the process of tectonics and volcanism.
• The outer layer of the Earth is called its crust.  The crust consists of tectonic plants which are in constant, gradual motion.
• If we understand the processes that have formed our environment, we will be better able to protect our Earth in the future.

Check out this wonderful video - a great introduction to our topic!

Senior Team Book Sharing

Today marked the end of our learning about Ancient Egypt.  The Senior Team got together to share all the wonderful learning and activities they've done during the past seven weeks.

Here we are showing off the page in our Theme Books that we are most proud of:

Tech Update

Today we started our second Tech activity!

Spanish

As well as learning Japanese with Miss Campbell, Miss Humphrey is teaching us spanish!  Here is a summary of some of the things we've learnt so far - it was good to be able to share this with others in assembly today:

By Aaliyah, Holly, Victoria, Olivia C, Jago, Trevor and Cody

 

 

This video shows Grace introducing herself in spanish:

 

 

Playing With Sound

Creating a soundscape using body percussion is lots of fun!  Today we experimented with different sounds and beats, with the challenge being to put together a 60 second performance.  Here is what we came up with:

 

After that, we used this super cool online programme called Incredibox to make really interesting mixes of beats and sound.  Click on the links below to see what we came up with:

Aaliyah and Victoria - Click Here

Olivia D and Juliet - Click Here

Stefan, Daniel and Kyle - Click Here

Logan and Trevor - Click Here

Hilary, Hannah and Olivia C - Click Here

Cody and Quaid - Click Here

Alex and Jago - Click Here

Holly and Jasmine - Click Here

Grace and George - Click Here

Measurement Challenge

We have just started a new unit in maths - measurement!  We kicked off with a measurement challenge!  We had to work with a partner to find out if the statements below were true or false.  It was lots of fun!

• The circumference of your wrist is half the circumference of your neck.
• Your foot is the same length as the distance between your elbow and wrist.
• Your thumb is half the length of your index finger.
• The span between your thumb and index finger is the same as between your index finger and pinkie.
• The length between your knee and the floor is twice the length of your foot.
• The circumference of your wrist is the same as your ankle.
• The distance between your shoulder and finger tip is longer than the distance between your hip and ankle bone.
• The distance around your waist is double the distance around your calf.
• The length between your hip and your knee is the same as between your knee and ankle.
• The combined length of all your toes is the same as the length between your elbow and wrist.

Winter Sport - Basketball

We're into our third winter sport rotation now - today we had basketball with Miss Campbell.  It was cool to be able to learn some of the basic basketball rules, as well as practice some key skills - passing, catching, moving and shooting.  Check out the photos:

Photographer:  Tammy

Final Independent Research Projects!

These people finished today!  Now everyone has at least one of their research projects displayed on our blog. 

Congratulations Room 6 - you have all worked really hard on this project.  Impressive!

Queen Hatshepsut - Elen - Prezi

 



War In Ancient Egypt - Trevor - Poster

Mummification - Jasmine - Poster

Farming - Tyler - Poster

Slaves - Aaliyah - Powerpoint

 

 

 

Akhentaten - Alex - Powerpoint

 

 

 

War - George - Powerpoint

 

 

 

Mummy E - Grace - Speech

 

 

 

Appearance Of Ancient Egyptians - Hannah - Powerpoint

  

 

 

Ramses II - Olivia D - Powerpoint

 

 

 

Farming - Victoria - Powerpoint 

 

 

 

Cats - Nelly - Glogster

 

 

Farming - Kyle - Powerpoint

 

 

 

Family Life - Molly - Report

 

 

 

Fishing - Logan - Report

 

 

 

Mummification - Quaid - Report

 

 

Farming - Stefan - Report

 

 

Independent Research Projects

We are still working really hard on getting our Ancient Egyptian projects finished before the end of the week.  These people finished today:

The Afterlife - Hilary - Poster

 

 

 

Ancient Egyptian Weapons - Logan - Speech

 

 

 

Cats - Grace - Poster

 

 

Ancient Egyptian Gods - Tammy - Popplet

 

 

 

The Afterlife - Alex - Poster

 

 

Ancient Egyptian Entertainment - Juliet - Powerpoint

 

 

 

Weapons - Jago - Powerpoint

 

 

 

The Gods - Cody - Powerpoint

  

'X Marks The Spot' - Joan de Hamel

We are half way through a great book called 'X Marks The Spot' by New Zealand author Joan de Hamel. 

Share you opinion about this book by commenting on this post!

All Blacks vs France

Everyone is excited about the second test match between the All Blacks and France, being played on Saturday night!  We've all taken a guess at the score - the closest person wins a pie for lunch on Monday!  GO BLACK!

Tech - End Of Rotation One

Today we had the final session of this rotation in Tech.  What an awesome six weeks it has been.  Here is what each group had to say about their experience:

CO2 CARS

Things we learnt:

• about drag, friction and aerodynamics.  Grace.
• how to label different parts of the car.  Olivia D.
• about the design process.  Molly.
• how easily balsa wood chips.  Alex.
• how to use equipment safely.  Olivia D

Challenges:

• using a craft knife!  Juliet.
• making the wheels touch the ground.  Alex.
• making the slot for the axle straight.  Hilary.
• not breaking the balsa wood.  Logan.
• making sure the wheels went around.  Olivia D.
• leaving enough room for the connector to go in.  Grace.

Highlights:

• seeing the finished product.  Logan.
• when we first started carving and sanding the block of wood into shape.  Molly.
• making the prototype.  Hilary.
• painting the car.  Logan.
• putting the lacquer onto the car.  Elen.
• making the poster.  Juliet.

HARD MATERIALS:

Things we learnt:

• how to use the skill saw.  Hannah.
• different types of wood.  Tammy.
• that measuring and planning is the most important part of building.  Kyle.
• how to use the hacksaw.  Holly.
• that you should always take a break when drilling a hole into wood.  Kyle.

Challenges:

• assembling each product.  Holly.
• measuring pieces of wood.  Quaid.
• ruling a straight line.  Hannah.
• using a skill saw to cut straight lines.  Trevor.

Highlights:

• making the bird house.  Quaid.
• making the puzzle.  Olivia C.
• painting all the things we made.  Holly.
• using different types of tools.

FOOD TECHNOLOGY:

Things we learnt:

• how to fold the mixture when baking.  Cody.
• how to simmer.  Jago.
• how to follow a recipe accurately.  Aaliyah.
• about different measurements.  Stefan.

Challenges:

• tasting things I didn't like.  Tyler.
• making cookies properly!  Tammy.
• keeping safe in the kitchen without cutting or burning myself.  Jasmine.
• measuring accurately.  George.

Highlights:

• making chocolate hedgehog slice.  George.
• making stuffed baked potatoes.  Victoria.
• eating the macaroni and cheese.  Jasmine.

We look forward to starting our second rotation next week!  Bring it on!

More Independent Research Projects

Check out the awesome work of the students who finished their projects today!

 

Akhenaten - Nelly - Poster

 

 

 

Ancient Egyptian Cats - Daniel - Popplet

 

 

 

Mummification - Olivia D - Poster

 

 

 

Farming - Olivia C - Poster

 

 

 

War - Kyle - Popplet

 

 

 

Clothing, Jewellery and Hair - Juliet - Poster

 



Interhouse Nukumball Finals

What an awesome afternoon!  The whole school turned up to watch the much-anticipated final games of nukumball.  Matai took out 3rd place, beating Totara in a tight match.  In the final, Rimu won in another fierce battle against Kauri.  Congratulations to all those who took part!

Photographers:  Trevor and Victoria

Rimu - the nukumball champions for 2013!

And then... Rimu faced the mighty teachers! 

Civil Defence

If there is a major emergency or disaster, Halcombe School will be a place where the Civil Defence will set up a base to take care of people.  Today we had a visit from Mr Brannigan, the Emergency Management Coordinator for the Manawatu District Council.  He talked to us about his job and the kind of disasters that might effect us in Halcombe.

Jasmine and Kyle have been chosen as our radio operators.  Each week they will use the VHF radio to practice 'signing in' with the Council.  Lots of other rural schools are involved in this programme too.

For more information about what to do in a disaster, click here:
www.getthru.govt.nz

Melted Crayon Art

We decided to experiment with melting old crayons!  Aiming to create a wonderful piece of modern art, we choose our colours, glued them to the cardboard and turned our hairdryers onto full blast!  It was good fun trying to make cool wax patterns!

Young Leaders Day

Yesterday, Alex, Elen, Nelly and Molly represented our school at the National Young Leaders Day in Palmerston North.  It was an awesome day - very inspiring!  The key message was around how you can be a hero and a leader to others.  Here is a summary of what each speaker said:

Billy Graham - Elen

Billy is a former champion boxer and is now a boxing coach.  He talked to us about the importance of keeping your mind and body healthy, and that you should always give things a go!  He also entertained us by playing the harmonica and showing us a really cool push-up trick!

 

Charlie Laumatia - Nelly

Charlie is an Attitude Presenter and was a very informative, funny and inspirational speaker. Charlie believes that to be a successful leader you have to be confident to seek help from others.  He reminded us that it is normal for us to make mistakes, though you must always own up and take responsibility - don’t hide your mistakes from people that have the potential to help.  Charlie says that to be a leader you have to be good friends with everyone!

 

Sam Johnson - Alex

Sam is the leader of Christchurch University’s Student Army.  He was living in Christchurch when the earthquake struck.  He rang the council and said, “I want to help, what can I do?”  From that point, Sam helped to mobilise and coordinate thousands of volunteers to help with the clean-up.  His story was very motivating and inspirational.

 

Allison Mooney - Molly

Allison is a well-known speaker and author.  She talked about how everybody is different and that our personalities are very unique.  She gave us some tips about how to get on with people who are different to ourselves.  If you want to be a great leader, you need to be able to get on with and understand others.

 

Cam Calkoen - Molly

Cam has cerebral palsy, but has never let that stop him from achieving his goals.  He talked about dreams and that no dream is too big to achieve.  He encouraged us to never be scared to give something a go. Cam’s favourite word is AWESOME.

Ancient Egypt - Independent Research Projects

After choosing an area we wanted to learn more about, we've been working very hard on our Independent Research Projects.  We are using all kinds of information and ICT skills - it's a great way for us to really show what we're capable of!  We are able to present our information however we like!  Check out these examples - the first three finished!

 

Family Life - Aaliyah - Poster

 

 

 

Childhood - Stefan - Popplet

 

 

 

Cats - Holly - Powerpoint





Buddy Class - Capture The Flag

We had another epic game of Capture The Flag during Buddy Class today.  We were happy to be outside on this beautiful day - what a great way to end the week!

Interhouse Nukumball

After several days of round-robin competition, the Interhouse Nukumball Tournament is nearing the final games.  Each house competes against the other houses, winning points along the way.  We are all excited for the finals, to be held next week.  Matai will play off against Totara for 3rd and 4th, and Rimu will face Kauri in the battle for 1st and 2nd.

It has been awesome to see such wonderful team spirit among the houses, as well as some killer tactics.  Good luck to all teams!

Photographers:  Kyle and Emma

ICT Buddies

On Wednesday afternoons, most of the Year 7's head off to one of the Junior classes to help them with ICT projects.  They have been making movies, using iPads and creating displays using Comic Life.  It is lots of fun helping the younger kids and sharing our ICT knowledge with them.

Winter Sport - Rippa Rugby

Today we had our first class rippa rugby session in FREEZING conditions!  We didn't mind too much though, and were keen to get stuck in!  First we warmed up, before practicing our ripping, running while passing and try scoring technique.  After that we played some games - congratulations to Team 4, who won the final by one try!

Cybersafety Popplet

Today we had our second cybersafety session with Constable Hayden.  We've learnt a lot about how to keep ourselves safe online, as well as what to do if something goes wrong!  We used Popplet to create these charts showing some important cybersafety rules:

Jago, Hilary and Trevor:

Hannah and Logan:

Literature Circle

The Red Reading Group has been working their way through a wonderful book called 'A Winter's Day In 1939', by Melinda Szymanik. 

We have Literature Circles once or twice a week.  This is where we have a super in-depth discussion about all sorts of things within the text. 

Usually we have a discussion, but today we tried something a little different.  Using a site called www.titanpad.com, we had an online discussion.  Even though there were a couple of glitches with the system, it was great to be able to discuss our thoughts in a unique way. 

 

Here is the copy of the text we wrote:

 

WELCOME TO THIS VERY SPECIAL LIT CIRCLE USING TITAN PAD.  First we're going to take a look at some of the wonderful vocab using in chapter 11.  Please turn to page 119.

 

What do you think 'stand' of birch trees means?

 

I think that it means a group of something.

 

I think it means a group of trees that are near each other.

 

I think it means a big group of trees unless they have been cut down.  A group of trees standing together.

 

I think it means like a large group, or a clearing.

 

I agree, it means a group of trees.  On page 121, there are two words to discuss.  'slunk' back to the clearing and 'protruded'.  What do these words mean?  From now on, please type your initials after your messages.

 

I think protruded means poking out and coming out of something JB.  I think slunk means hunched back and quietly exited the area JB.

 

I think that the word 'slunk' means walking back, somewhat defeated.  I think that 'protruded' means the opposite of intruded like leaving. NS

 

I think that 'slunk' means walking but a bit hunched and kind of slow. I think the word 'protruded' means to stick out. OD

 

I think the word slunk means walking slowly embarrassed and a bit hunched over. I think protruded means to stick out. MA

 

I think that 'slunk' means that he was embarrassed as he came back to his father and was almost hunched over.  Protruded means like it is sticking out of something on a funny angle.  AB

 

I think that slunk means that you are slouching and walking slowly hiding in the clearing. I think protruded means it shows.  GT

 

I think that slunk means you walk hunched over, I think that protude means sticking out of something JW.

 

I think that slunk means that you are slouched and I think that protruded means that it is sticking out EB

 

I think Nelly's description of SLUNK is the best.  It also describes the way you would walk if you felt guilty.  It is not the way a proud person would walk.  Protruded means to stick out.  Well done to those who got that one right.

 

Moving on... back on page 120, why do you think that Adam left his dad's clothes in a 'tidy pile'?  What is the significance of this statement?

 

I think that since there is not much to do you find something to do such as, in this case folding clothes neatly to fill in time. NS

 

I think that it is because he is almost frightened of his father and doesn't want to anger him.  It could also be because he respects his father and wants to impress him so that he would be trusted with "the best" saw. AB

 

I think that Adam wanted to impress his Dad so he would let him help cut a tree down.

 

I think it means that he is bored and has nothing better to do. It also shows that he is trying to think about something else other than the war that is going on. It shows that even though there is a war going on that you can still can carry on with things that you do at home.  MA

 

I think it means that he is bored and has nothing to do.  It also shows he is a perfectionist.  I think that it means that Adam is sorry and feeling guilty and that he does not want to make his father any more angry than he already is. EB

 

There is not much left in these times to be grateful for so every little thing has significance.  I think that the significance of this statement is that it shows that he reallty really wants to impress his father and also it could show that there isn't much to do.  OD

 

Well done Olivia.  This is exactly right.  Life is so depressing right now... even the little things are important of trying to maintain normality.

 

How about turning to page 121.  I would like to ask why you think Adam's father reacted so strongly to his dropping of the saw.

 

I think that his father is stressed and is taking his anger out on his family/others.  NS

 

I think it is because that if the saw is damaged, Adams father would be punished by the Russian guards for damaging the saw which there might only be a few of.  AB

 

I think it is because the father is stressed and the war is getting to him, so that little things get on his nerves. I think in a way he is trying to make Adam stronger and more diciplined, so if anything happens to him Adam can run the family. It also tells you that life is so hard at the moment and every second wasted means another penny lost from their family and counts towards buying food. MA

 

Because life and survival is so hard now.  Living and trying to eat is so hard and Adams dad has so much pressure on him and he is now getting agitated easily. GT

 

I agree, the question "Do you want to eat tonight?" proves just how desperate the situation is.  MS

 

Because life now is really hard and they have to work for their money to pay for food and when Adam stopped he made them slow down and that means they will earn less money because every tree they cut down is more money and they have to cut lots of trees down to have a chance of surviving the camp.  JB