Bridge building

Mrs Ware read us a cool big book last week about the 'Three Billy Goats Gruff' and in the back it had a report on different types of bridges. We thought it would be cool to try building some of our own.

Mrs Ware found another book called 'The Impossible Bridge' which we all read.

Then we got into groups and made a plan. The leaders had to make sure everyone had a chance to share their ideas.

We had to decide on the type of bridge we would build and what materials we would need.  We also thought carefully about what sometimes made us upset when we were working with a group and how we could work together well. 

Yesterday and today we worked really hard on making our bridges. Sometimes it didn't quite work out as we thought and we had to have a group meeting to come up with a new plan.  Mrs Ware was REALLY impressed and how well the teams worked together :)

Last of all Mrs Ware put blocks on the bridges to see if they were strong. 

Well done Room 12. What awesome team work!!!

Coke experiment

As part of our proccedural writing in class we did a science experiment.

Mrs Ware asked us what we thought might happen if we put some coins and a tooth in coke for a few days.

We know about only changing one variable in an experiment so we made this plan.

We used what we knew about coins, teeth and coke to make some hypothesis (guesses) then we took some 'before' pictures.

Then we put them all in coke for a day.  The next day we took them out and looked at them, took more photos and made some observations in our writing books. 

We saw that the coins were shinier and the tooth looked all brown. The next day this is what they looked like. 

We concluded that the acid in the coke had eaten through the enamel coating on the tooth, and then the food colouring in the coke had dyed it brown. 

The acid had also eaten away all the dirt and grime on the coins making them nice and shiny again. 

Hopefully this experiment should put your child off drinking quite so much coke this summer ;)

New Zealand Authors

Ruby Reading group are doing some reserach on NZ Authors. Here are some good links to get you started!

christchurch city libraries

storylines

book council

Persuasive Writing

Mrs Ware has introduced us to some new kids of writing...... persuasive writing. This means trying to get someone to agree with you.

First we read lots of different examples and tried to find all the reasons the authors thought we should agree with them. They were funny stories like about how 'Kids should go to the Moon' or 'We should have school at night'

Then Mrs Ware aked us if we thought we should have to do Cross Country every year. Some of us thought we should, some thought we shouldn't. So we wrote down all the reasons why.

Then we wrote about what we thought. Mrs Ware said we had to use
- a different paragraph for each reason
- an intoduction at the beginning saying what we thought
- a conclusion saying our reasons again at the end
- lots of detail for each reason

The next week we were allowed to write about whatever we wanted. Some people wrote that we thought kids should have ice cream for breakfast. Others thought we should walk to school each day.
Here are some of our stories... are you persuaded????

I think we should go to the pools everyday.

The first reason why we should go to the pools is that it keeps you fit and healthy. This is good because you will not get sick and it gives you energy.

The next reason is that it's useful. It is good because you could save someone's life and you can learn to be a lifeguard. 

The last reason is you can learn to be water wise. This is good becasue you can be sensible around water and in the sea. 

In conclusion, we should to got he pools everyday to keep fit, save lives and learn about water safety.

By Brad Single Owens

Learning a new Language

Last term we had a student teacher who showed some of our class a new language..... sign language!

They all showed us how to 'sign' the alphabet and Mrs Ware found a poster she had about it too.
This is the New Zealand Deaf webpage which has lots of cool things to learn http://www.deaf.org.nz

Here are some of the people in Rm 12 'saying' their names.

Matthew 

Millie

Logan

Lydia

Learning about our origins

Next week we will be looking at which countries our families come from.

Here is a very basic family tree Mrs Ware has made.

Her Father Tony came from England when he was 3 years old in 1951. So she is English

On her Mother's side her Grandfather came from Wales in the 1920's so she is Welsh.

Her Grandmother was born in New Zealand but her ancesters came to NZ from Scotland before the Treaty of Waitangi was signed in 1840, so she is Scottish.

However Mrs Ware was born in New Zealand so she is a KIWI!

ALL BLACKS!!!!

WOW, how exciting was today. We all looked awesome in our 'black out'

First the girls welcomed in Cory Jane and Wyatt Crockett.

Then the Kapa Haka boys did a Haka. The All Blacks told us a bit about themselves and we asked them some questions.

Corey is really funny and a bit silly. What a great day, good luck tomorrow night boys!