Tech ICT

As well as making some awesome animations with Go Animate, today the ICT group worked on their photography skills and then experimented with adding cool effects to their photos.  They used Be Funky to do this.  Check it out!

Jack Flash Show

Today we were entertained by the New Zealand Playhouse Group, who performed a very entertaining play - we loved it!  Please read our student blogs to find out more about what thought of the performance.  Thank you to our PTA who helped pay for the show.

Science - Electricity

Today we learnt about how to use symbols to draw simple electric circuits:

Next we learnt about conductors and insulators.  First we predicted which materials would in fact conduct electricity, then we created electrical circuits using lots of different materials.  We knew that if the bulb still lit up, then the object was a conductor of electricity.  If it didn't, the object was an insulator.

Gymnastics - Handsprings

Quite a few people attempted handsprings in gymnastics today.  Some were awesome... some need more practice!

School Uniform?

Basketball

Today we had the first of our basketball sessions with Miles.  Miles is the assistant coach of the Manawatu Jets, and will be coming in to teach us some basketball skills.  We started off with learning some basic skills around dribbling and moving with the ball.

Next, our four basketball teams had some time with Miles too.  They worked on passing, shooting and knowing what to do at different times during a game.  Hopefully these skills will come in handy when our basketball competition starts next week!

Science: Electricity

Today it was time to complete some practical activities as part of our learning about electricity.  We talked about simple electrical circuits - then we had to play around with bulbs, wires and batteries and figure out how to make the bulb light up.  It was lots of fun and there was a lots of great discussion and problem solving going on!

We also joined some of our groups together so we could make some massive electrical circuits!

Gymnastics

Now that we've got back into the gymnastics groove, most of us were confident enough to try two new moves on the box horse today - the 'frog' and the 'straddle'.  It will take a bit more practice before we're really good, but we made an awesome start!

Tech - Rotation 3

We have just started the third rotation in our Technology programme.  Exciting times!  Here are some highlights from our first session:

The ICT Group was hard at work exploring online art sites, and a comic strip programme called Storyboard That.  Check out some of the things they made:

Rad Rhythm

Today we had an awesome session of Rad Rhythm - we're getting pretty good now!  Check it out!

Maths

This week, we've been learning all about time!  We finished with a practical activity where we learnt to work out the exact speed we could run.  The formula to work out speed is:  

SPEED = DISTANCE divided by TIME

So, we ran some lengths of the netball court - about 120m in total.  We timed ourselves using stopwatches, then did some quick calculations.  Most people found that their speed was around 4 or 5 metres per second over this distance.  That is about half the speed of the world's fastest man, Usain Bolt, who runs at 10.4 metres per second over 100m.  Amazing!

EPIC!

Miss Simpson is going to make a promise... if you are good little girls and boys and work hard and be nice to each other, we are 100% going to play this game at the end of the year.  When it's summer.

Electricity

Over the next few weeks, we'll be learning all about electricity.  We started off by thinking about where electricity comes from and how it might be made.  We all wrote down ideas.... here is a sample!  Some of us were on the right track!

• It is made from friction.  If you rub two heavy pieces of metal together, electricity will coexist.  MIA.
• Electricity is made from lightning.  BETHANY.
• Electricity is made from a huge generator that pumps it all around the houses and towns.  DANIEL.
• I think electricity is made from potatoes, soil and the sun.  CATHERINE.
• It is made from wind turbines.  GRACE.
• Electricity is made from the sun.  SHANE.
• Electricity is made by a satellite on top of the roof which collects power and energy from the sun.  GREER.
• Wind turbines collect wind and turn it into electricity.  JED.
• Electricity comes from water.  SETH.
• It is made from fuses underground which connect to the power box outside your house.  LEAH.
• I think it is made from big machines somewhere in the world which brings power to our houses.  DANIELLE.

Gymnastics

Our PE focus for the first five weeks of this term is gymnastics.  We had our first session today, starting with an awesome warm up that Greer and Catherine made up.  Then we spent a few minutes at each activity - it was quite new for lots of us.  We're looking forward to challenging ourselves and learning lots of new skills.

Photographer:  Mya

Term 3 Begins!

Despite a frosty start to the day, we are all looking forward to Term 3 - bring it on!

Holiday Time!

Special Award

Mr Minnell, the manager of Westpac Bank in Feilding was at our assembly today.  He presented the Sir Peter Blake Leadership Award to Sophie.  This award is presented to young people around the country who are wonderful role models and leaders.  Congratulations Sophie!

Tech - Rotation 2 - Done!

Today we finished our second rotation in Tech.  That's two down, two to go!  We are so lucky to have the opportunity to experience such awesome activities, and we're already looking forward to moving onto our next activity in Week 1 of Term 3.

The Hard Materials group has been working really hard on a piece of furniture.  Check it out!  What a clever bunch of kids!

Special Message

We received this postcard from Darian today.  Darian and his family moved to the Cook Islands a few months ago.

Super Rugby Final

We're all looking forward to watching the Super Rugby final between the Hurricanes and the Highlanders tomorrow night!  We have all had a guess at the score - wonder who will win?

Senior Team Book Sharing

The students in the Senior Team have been working super hard on their inquiries over the past few weeks.  Today was an opportunity for us to share our learning with students from the other classes.  We mixed everybody up, and each person spent a few minutes talking to our groups about what we had learnt.  It was awesome to so many great discussions happening and wow, there has been some pretty amazing learning happening in our team!

Interhouse Quiz

Today we held our annual Interhouse Quiz!  Students were divided up into teams and had to answer all kinds of questions on topics from books to movies to sport to music to animals and lots more!  There were some spot prizes too.  After an intense 90 minutes, the judges added up all the scores.... congratulations to Matai - the winning house!  We also had a winning team:  Levi, Fritha, Ffion and Tommy from Kauri.  Well done everyone, what a great afternoon!

The winning team:

Wheels Day!

Inquiry: Antarctica

Over the past few days, we have completed our student inquiries.  We chose to work with a partner or on our own, and also chose what we wanted to find out more about.  This was an intense process of gathering, processing and presenting information.  Keeping track of all our notes and information was a challenge, and so we used big sheets of paper to keep everything organised.  We've learnt HEAPS about Antarctica over the past few weeks!

We also chose how we wanted to present our information.  You can see some awesome examples of our work below, and if you'd like to read more, check out our blogs!