Mrs H @ St Francis Xavier

Writing motivation

2012-02-16T08:01:00.001+13:00

AV Monitors

2012-02-16T01:39:00.001+13:00

Being an AV monitor is an important job at SFX. Here are Noah and Sam making sure we had music and the words at our first Senior Syndicate Waiata practice.

Whanau Leaders 2012

2012-02-16T00:27:00.009+13:00

Room 19 is in Puriri Whanau along with Rooms 1, 8, and 10. Last week we held an election to find our new whanau leaders for this year. What a difficult job that turned out to be. We had 9 applicants and they all did a brilliant job presenting their election speeches to the whanau group. It was a really close race but in the end the results are as follows:

Billy and Zahna are the Puriri Whanau leaders for 2012

Noah and Brylee are the Deputy Leaders and Finn, Leah, Sam, Sophia and Evan will make up the committee to help run our whanau. Congratulations to all of you.

Welcome to Room 19 - 2012

2012-02-16T00:14:00.003+13:00

Well we have had a fantastic start to the year. It is going to be a very busy term with our trip to Waitangi along with loads of activities planned to support our learning concept of My Story - My Culture.

Our learning concept this term is My Story - My Culture. Our enduring understandings are:

Culture is kept alive in the traditions, beliefs and stories

of a group a people.

Jesus has stories to tell which teach us how to live.

We will be exploring these ideas by finding out about our story and culture as New Zealanders through the Treaty of Waitangi as well as sharing our individual stories and cultures represented in our classroom and school. It would be really great if you can share stories that are special to your family and culture with the children.

Keep a look out for the regular school newsletter along with special Gala notices.

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Our Paintings

2012-02-15T22:48:00.001+13:00

Hundertwasser 2011

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More Hundertwasser 2011

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Hundertwasser 2011

2012-02-15T22:11:00.005+13:00

We studied many of the buildings designed by Hundertwasser. We found his use of line, colour shape and often gardens very different and very interesting. Looking at his buildings closely inspired us to create our landscapes. First, we designed and sketched our own buildings. We then black lined our sketches with glue and black dye. This was really difficult to do as we had to use a bamboo skewer. Some of us were worried that we were a bit messy at this stage. Fortunately, the final outcome was enhanced but the 'mess'. Finally we used dyes and washes to 'colour' in our work. We used silver or gold here and there to represent the domes that Hundertwasser often included in his buildings.

Soundscape

2012-01-08T23:54:00.004+13:00

Here are our actual soundscape scores that we used to help us when we were performing. As you can see we are created our own musical notations and that they are all quite different. Not many of us can read formal written music but we could all do this.

And More Photos

2011-12-01T12:43:00.003+13:00

Soundscape

2011-11-29T20:42:00.007+13:00

We have been using our imaginations to create a piece of music using sounds we could find in our environment. First of all we had to explore our classroom to find a range of 'found' sounds that we could use to make music. We ended up rubbing, hitting, banging, shaking and tapping all sorts of things. This was a pretty noisy stage of the process. We then read this poem called 'Two Day Wonder' written by David Hill. We had to interpret the writing and use the sounds we had found to write a piece of music that reflected what was written. This is not as easy as it sounds. We had to create symbols to represent each sound and then use these symbols in a pattern that we could read and repeat as a performance piece. A lot a teamwork was involved here and everyone in the groups had to contribute. We all had to perform our 'soundscapes' which were really good. Everyone could read their music and it showed that we had all worked hard to represent the poem. We figured out a few things that we could do better next time, the main thing being to play more sounds at the same time like a band or orchestra. We are now going to use the same poem to write a piece of music using GarageBand. We will be able to use what we have learned when making our soundscapes to help us.

Writing Blog

2011-11-16T22:22:00.005+13:00

Have a look at our Writing Blog to see what we have been up to lately. Please make a comment if you enjoy reading our work.

Cartoon Generator

2011-11-08T02:04:00.005+13:00

Cartoonize.net is a really cool site that converts your photos into a cartoon.

Book Character Day

2011-11-07T23:39:00.006+13:00

Last Friday nearly everyone turned up to school dressed as their favourite book character, including the teachers. In Room 19 we had a set of Santas, a pack of pirates, an Athena double act, a couple of witches, a band of merry men, a smurf, 007, Pippy Longstocking, Little Red Riding Hood, Captain Underpants and a rag tag old mummy!!! (No - not the teacher).

Have a look at this video to see how imaginative some of the teachers got!

Whacky Hair Day

2011-11-07T23:11:00.004+13:00

Another day we had a Whacky Hair Day, where we really used our imaginations and came to school with some seriously odd looking hair.

Outrageous Hat Day

2011-11-07T23:01:00.005+13:00

One of our immersion activities was to meet on the courts at lunch time to use our imaginations to create an outrageous hat. Heaps of people turned up and you can only imagine the amount to paper and sticky tape that was used to create many fantastic hats. Here are some Room 19's creations

Cricket

2011-11-07T22:36:00.004+13:00

We started the term running - literally. We were really lucky to have four coaches from the Cricket Association come and teach us some cricket skills and an awesome fast paced modified version of cricket. We didn't have to imagine that we were good cricket players - we were good cricket players! The rules of this new version of cricket means that anyone can play and make a positive contribution to the team. Imagine that - it has to be a great game and it is!

Saints and Inspiring People

2011-11-07T22:23:00.003+13:00

Term Four - Imagine

2011-10-30T20:59:00.004+13:00

This term our is learning concept is IMAGINE.

The enduring understandings are:

"Imagination is to dream and to wonder which leads to many possibilities."

and

" Saints imagined a better world through their sacrifices for God and for people."

Our essential questions are:

"Why do we imagine?"

and

"How do we use our imagination?"

Completed Mihi/Pendant Presentations

2011-10-30T20:58:00.002+13:00

Here are some of our complete mihi/pendants presentations.

The Real Deal - Our Prayer Stones

2011-10-30T20:52:00.004+13:00

Here are our completed Prayer Stones. Some of them are quite different to our original designs and prototypes. This is because we had to adapt to a range of issues and problems. Sometimes it was just because we had a better idea .

Taonga - Mihi and Pendants

2011-10-30T20:31:00.006+13:00

Watch the following video and see our work in progress. As we worked through our ideas we decided that we would frame our work using corrugated cardboard. Some of us decided to weave paper as a back ground to mount our mihi and pendant on. This was after we had used harakeke and found it would not be suitable. We had to publish our mihi onto a another background that suited the colour of our weaving, pendant and frame. At this stage our work is in several pieces.

Pendants

2011-10-30T20:07:00.004+13:00

We wanted to make a pendant that looked like a bone carving or pounamu using salt dough. We knew that we had to be more consistent with the shape and thickness of our work so it would dry better than our prayer stone prototypes. We all experimented with some designs. We found some were too complicated or intricate and didn't work well with salt dough. Shapes that were similar to mere or patu were the best. From our previous experience working with salt dough we knew it was quite fragile and was easy to break. So we decided that actually wearing our designs as pendants was not really a good idea. That is when we thought we would present them as wall hanging. As we had written our mihi earlier on in the term we thought putting the two things together would be even better. Here are some photos of the beginning of the whole process.

Tangaroa's Gift

2011-10-30T19:36:00.002+13:00

Mrs Smith read us Tangaroa's Gift when she was teaching in our room. We used the story and the artwork to inspire us to create our own art. We had to create a blackline drawing that reflected Tangaroa, the sea. We used patterns to give the feeling of movement. We had to choose colours of the paua shell and used dye and cotton buds to apply those colours to our work.

Our Completed Prototype Prayer Stones

2011-10-30T18:56:00.005+13:00

Have a look at our finished prototypes. We learned a lot from making these as to what we can and can't do. It will be interesting to compare them with our original designs and our final 'real' prayer stones.

Salt Dough Prayer Stones

2011-10-30T18:13:00.003+13:00

Once the dough was dry we painted them with metallic paints. This gave them a shiny finish. We found the red paint difficult to use because it did not cover very well. People who chose red had to do several coats to get a good result.

Once the paint had dried (which was pretty quick) we started to add our writing and decorations. Then the next lot of problems started. Some of us used glitter glue pens to write with and they were a disaster. The solution was to wipe the glitter writing off before it dried and then use a vivid marker instead. It turned out to be quite tricky to place our writing so it was even and looked right. Working on the prototypes helped us to get our 'real' prayer stones right.

Some of us put too many decorations on and that made it hard to read the words. The saying ' less is more' certainly applied during this part of the process.

The last part of the process was to varnish our prototype stones. We found that we had to apply the varnish very carefully. If we put to much on it 'puddled' in the dips and grooves and dried white. Also, if too much varnish was used, the excess would drip off the stone and make it stick to the paper it was drying on. This meant a few of us had to repaint and start again.

Prayer Stones

2011-09-18T21:40:00.002+12:00

We are making prayer stones. We have designed how we want our stones to look and are making prototypes out of salt dough. We will use the prototypes to develop our painting skills and to make sure our designs will work. We are also going to make pendants and through our work with the salt dough so far we have worked out how to make that process easier.

Mr Harvey's Visit

2011-09-18T21:24:00.003+12:00

Over the last few weeks our homework research has been about our environmental taonga - the bush and the sea. Holly's dad works for Northland Regional Council (NRC) and came to talk to us about his job and how the NRC look after the environment and especially what they do to protect the sea and beaches from oil spills.

More Pompallier Exhibits

2011-09-18T21:21:00.002+12:00

Pompallier Catholic College Science Fair

2011-09-18T21:12:00.002+12:00

In Week One we visited Pompallier Catholic College to have a look at their science fair exhibits. We were very impressed with the standard of the entries and really enjoyed reading the different projects. Some of us had older brothers and/or sisters exhibiting so here we are with their work.

Gymnastics

2011-09-18T21:08:00.001+12:00

At the beginning of the term we took part in a gymnastics programme with Ben. We had to work through a range of different exercises using the floor, bar and beam. There were different levels which if we did well helped us to learn more complicated moves. In our last session we had an assessment to try and qualify for a interschool competition.

Leonardo's goat horn

2011-09-18T20:33:00.004+12:00

Leonardo's special family treasure is a goat horn from Switzerland which is were his family originated from.

Mrs J and her family taonga

2011-09-18T20:24:00.006+12:00

Mrs J came to our class to share her family taonga. Mrs J's family has a special box that contains her grandfather's letters, postcards, medals, dogtag and photos. Mrs J's Pa fought in World War One and her family really treasure the items they have from him.

Emily's Memories

2011-09-18T20:17:00.004+12:00

Emily has a special lolly bag that her great grandmother made when Emily was little. It is special to Emily because it helps her remember her great grandmother and the special times they spent together.

Harna's Family Crest

2011-09-18T20:13:00.003+12:00

Harna's family has a special crest which came from Scotland. Harna has found out that her family name has changed over the years and she wants to find out more about her family history because it sounds really interesting.

Will' Swiss Arny Knife

2011-09-18T19:59:00.005+12:00

Will's swiss army knife is really special to him because it belonged to his grandfather, Bob. If you look carefully are the photos you will see that the knife is engraved with both Will's and his grandfather's names.

Finlay's Family Treasures

2011-09-18T19:47:00.004+12:00

Finlay showed us his grandfather's sporan, his family crest and a piece of tartan that represents the clan his family belongs too.

Our Special Taonga

2011-09-18T19:40:00.002+12:00

Over the last few weeks some of us have brought our special taonga or treasure to school to share with the class. Everyone's treasure or taonga is quite different but they all have the same things in common and that is that they have been handed down through the generations and they have special stories or connections to special people in our families.

Taonga Art

2011-09-16T16:24:00.003+12:00

Taonga Art - Nearly There

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Taonga Art - And Some More!

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Taonga Art - More fabulous work

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More Taonga Art

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Taonga Art

2011-09-16T15:53:00.005+12:00

Over a period of weeks we have been working really hard with Mrs Smith to create our Taonga inspired art. We had to use a range of skills to get this effect and Mrs Hepi thinks we have done a fantastic job. We use the technique of hatching as a method of building up darker shadows to make our taonga appear solid.

Healing

2011-08-14T14:14:00.004+12:00

In Religious Education we are learning about HEALING - how Jesus healed people, how we are healed and can be part of others healing. Click on these images to read further. There is a lovely blessing that you may like to pray with your family.

Homework T3 W2

2011-08-10T18:51:00.002+12:00

Beekeeping

2011-08-04T13:39:00.004+12:00

Last term we wrote an explanation about honey, bees and beekeeping. Michelle's dad use to keep bees and she brought in some beekeeping gear to show us. It was really neat to see the real thing and it helped us understand better.

Our Taonga - Our Treasure

2011-08-01T23:42:00.006+12:00

Our concept this term is 'Our Taonga - Our Treasure'. Our enduring understandings are:

A Taonga is a gift, belief or belonging that is treasured.

Sacraments of the church are treasured gifts from god

and our essential questions are

What are Taonga?

how can taonga be created?

Surface Tension

2011-08-01T23:24:00.002+12:00

Meghan added three different food colours around the bowl of milk so they were not touching. Next she dipped the skewer into some dishwashing liquid. Then she dipped the skewer into the milk a few times. Suddenly the food dyes moved through the milk even though she did not stir it. She did the same thing with a bowl of water sprinkled with pepper. When she put the dishwashing liquid dipped skewer into the bowl the pepper literally zoomed to the outside of the bowl.

So what’s happening?

Dishwashing liquid reduces the surface tension of the milk. This lets the particles of milk at the at the surface to spread out more. As the particles spread out they push the food colouring/pepper out as well. The dyes then merge together to make patterns.

Crystal Star

2011-08-01T23:15:00.003+12:00

Rosemary made the star first. She had to carefully dissolve the borax and food colouring in the hot water. She then placed the star into the jar of borax mixture. Now it is the waiting game. We still have to have a look to see if a crystal star has formed. We predicted that the same process of evaporation would happen just like Michelle, Ryan and Malachi's crystal experiment. The only difference is that the others use a shallow dish or mirror and Rosemary used a jar. We decided that it would take longer for crystals to form as it was take longer for the mixture to evaporate. We will make another post when we have checked Rosemary's mixture.

What's happening with the Crystal Extravaganza?

The water from the plates evaporates into the air and turns into water vapour - tiny particles of water that are spread so far apart that they are like a gas. Leaving the plates in a warm room speeds up the evaporation. Once the water has evaporated, only the crystals are left.

Super Fast Growing Crystals

2011-08-01T23:05:00.004+12:00

Ryan and Malachi mixed their epsom salts with hot water and then added some food colouring. Malachi put his mixture onto a mirror and Ryan put his on a plate. As you can see the crystals that formed were really big.

The epsom salt mixture also turned into crystals really quickly, much fast than the sugar mixture that Michelle made.

Crystal Candy

2011-08-01T22:53:00.004+12:00

Michelle mixed the sugar and food colouring with hot water until the sugar had dissolved. She then the liquid on to the a tin foil plate. Then we all had to wait a few days to see what happened.

Foaming Monster

2011-08-01T22:43:00.002+12:00

Emma made the monster at home before starting this experiment. First Emma half filled the bottle with the

vinegar and then she added a squirt of dishwashing liquid and food colouring. She then had to swirl the bottle gently to mix the ingredients together. Next Emma added the soda which was wrapped in tissue paper to the bottle. After a couple of minutes the monster was foaming at the mouth.

So what’s happening?

When you mix vinegar and bicarbonate of soda, it makes a gas called carbon dioxide. This forms bubbles in the vinegar. The bubbles of gas react with the dishwashing liquid to make foam. The whole combination reacts so much that the foam pours out of the monster’s mouth.

Egg Update

2011-07-31T17:20:00.000+12:00

What happened: On going observation

25/05/11 (8.45) Day 21: So far the surrounding bubbles are rising slowly to the top. Jacob

For the first few weeks there were lots of bubbles in the vinegar which we think were caused by a reaction between the vinegars and the calcium in the egg shells. A lot of scum rose to the surface of both jars but it was easier to see it in the brown vinegar. The egg in the brown vinegar also appeared to be absorbing the vinegar as it turned brown. By the end of the term both eggs had no shell left.

In Week 11(in between the rain) we took the eggs outside to test out our predictions. Both eggs:

-felt really rubbery

-neither bounced (they were not originally hard boiled). The type of vinegar did not make a difference to the ‘break-a-bility of the eggs.

-the yolks were still soft and a normal colour

-the eggs were not rotten - as vinegar is used to preserve other foods we think that these eggs were also preserve. We thought that they could still be used in baking but would have a strong vinegar flavour.

Static Electricity Update.

2011-07-31T17:00:00.003+12:00

Leonardo completely redesigned his experiment. He used a plastic jar with a plastic lid but didn’t change the wire.

This time the tin foil moved. Leonardo still used his polo fleece to create the static electricity which means our previous thoughts about needing woolen fabrics was not the problem.

What's happening?

Rubbing the balloons against your hair creates static electricity. This involves negatively charged particles (electrons) jumping to positively charged objects. When you rub the balloon against your hair it become negatively charged. The balloon has taken some of the electrons from the hair and left them positively charged.

They say opposites attract and that is certainly the case in this experiment. Leo’s positively charged hair is attracted to the negatively charged balloon and started to rise up to meet it. This is similar to the aluminium foil which was drawn to the negatively charged balloon as the area near it became positively charged, once again opposites attract.

Ripening Fruit

2011-07-31T16:54:00.003+12:00

Coco brought two very green and hard kiwifruit and an apple. She pricked the apple and left it with the kiwi fruit to ripen.

So what’s happening?

Fruit produce a hormone called ethylene which helps fruit to ripen. Damaged fruit release the hormone into the air which speeds up the ripening process in other fruit near it.

Term 2 may be over but...

2011-07-31T15:26:00.002+12:00

I still have lots of posts to make about the work we did in Term 2. Watch this space!

Room 1 and 19 Get Together

2011-07-31T14:50:00.005+12:00

Last term, everyone in Room 19 took turns to help out Room 1 with PMP (Perceptual Motor Programme). Two or three of us would go to the hall and supervise the children while they took part in a variety of physical activities. It was a big responsibility and we really loved helping out.

To thank us, Whaea Jacqui and the children invited us to their room for a presentation. They gave us a lovely thank you card and a bag of lolly pops! We had to extend our visit due the torrential rain that day so we also had an impromptu Jump Jam session. Normally, we run Jump Jam for our Puriri Whanau group but this time the Room 1 kids taught us a new routine. They were pretty good.

Abraham and Sarah

2011-07-13T14:55:00.003+12:00

We have been learning about God and how he will stick by us even if we don't always do the same. Abraham and Sarah were two people who were always faithful to God. Holly and Stefani have made a newscast about their journey. You will notice that they have changed a few things but essentially the story is the same as in the Bible. After learning about Abraham and Sarah, they decided to write a news item to tell people the story. After a lot of writing, and practicing they were ready to 'broadcast'. We made this movie by filming Holly and Stefani with a green screen and then used a feature in iMovie that allows an image to replace the green screen. We hope you enjoy the movie and learn about Abraham and Sarah at the same time.

Counter Change

2011-07-06T00:36:00.003+12:00

Here is some more art. It might look simple but in fact it was quite difficult to do. We had to section our paper into 6 parts, use stencils, and make a change which we then had to repeat to create a pattern.

Holy Spirit

2011-07-06T00:32:00.001+12:00

Earlier on in the term we were learning about the different symbols used to help us understand

the Holy Spirit. We chose our favourite symbol and created these artworks. The symbols you will see in our art are Wind, Water and Fire.

Writers Blog

2011-07-05T21:40:00.007+12:00

We have posted our poetry about autumn leaves on our writers blog. We think our writing is pretty fantastic and would love it if you could read it and leave a comment. To find our writers blog look down the sidebar of this blog until you find the heading My Blog List or click here:

Mrs H's Awesome Writers Blog

Change over Time

2011-06-14T06:46:00.005+12:00

Have look at this awesome website showing how creatures in the sea have changed over time. You will also see how the earth has changed

Rubber Eggs

2011-05-27T00:52:00.006+12:00

We are watching our eggs very closely. One is in malt vinegar and the other white. We put them in on the 24th May and already lots of changes have occurred. We have predicted that malt vinegar will work better than the white to create a rubber egg. As we are leaving them in the vinegar for a couple of weeks most of the class have predicted that the yolk and white of both eggs will be hard when we test out their bounciness.

We will let you know what happens later on.

These photos were taken about two after the eggs were placed in the vinegar. As you can see there are loads of bubbles which we think could be the acid in the vinegar breaking down the shells which we know is made of calcium. The malt vinegar has also changed the colour of the shell. We will keep posting any new developments as we keep observing the changes. When we first put the eggs in the vinegar they sunk to the bottom but now they are floating and there is lots of scummy stuff in the vinegar.

Paper Making

2011-05-27T00:42:00.006+12:00

Emily showed us how to change waste paper into 'new' paper. First she made a pulp (she had one prepared as this takes time if you want a good result) out of scrap paper and water. Then she poured the pulp into a tray and gave it a good stir. Next she used a special tray to collect the pulp which she covered with gauze. After taking it off the tray she sponged the new paper to remove the excess water. The last step was to remove the gauze, wrap the paper in a towel and leave it to dry.

So what’s happening?

As you know, new paper is made from trees. Trees and all plants are mainly made up of cellulose fibre which is great for making paper. So when using recycled paper mixing it with water to make a pulp means you are extracting the cellulose fibre.

This is a great site that tells you about the history of paper and how to make it.

http://www.funsci.com/fun3_en/paper/paper.htm

Making a Slushy the Scientific Way.

2011-05-27T00:32:00.007+12:00

This experiment takes time to work. Jacob mixed some salt in with the ice and then put a cup in the centre of the bowl and surrounded it with ice. He then poured the orange juice into the cup and he had to stir it every 10 mins. After a couple of hours the ice had started to melt but not as much as we thought it would. The orange juice was really cold but had not changed. So we got some more ice and put a lot more salt in this time. After about 1/2 hour the orange juice started to freeze. After another 3/4 hour quite a lot of the orange had turned into ice. Jacob really enjoyed his slushy before he went home today.

So what is the science behind this? Well, adding salt makes the ice melt at a lower temperature. In the bowl there is very cold salty ice and water. This mixture absorbs heat from the fruit juice, making the juice colder and colder. Eventually it will freeze solid if left alone. Jacob stirred it up to break up the ice so he could make slush instead.

Change

2011-05-27T00:11:00.005+12:00

This term our learning concept is CHANGE. Our enduring understandings are:

By responding to the Holy Spirit we are guided, sustained and renewed in life's changes.

Change is a process of action and reaction that can be explored for new ideas and innovation.

At the moment we are conducting loads of experiments that show change and then finding out what caused those changes. This means we will be learning about matter, solids, liquids, gases, changes of state and chemical reactions. Keep reading our blog to see what experiments we have done and what we learn from them.

Soccer

2011-05-26T22:18:00.004+12:00

Oooops! Just found these photos. A couple of weeks ago Owen visited our school to teach us some soccer skills. He taught us some new games that everyone could play even if you had never kicked a soccer ball in your life before. We had a lot of fun.

Room 19 and 16 Camp Evening

2011-05-19T08:37:00.003+12:00

Last night we had a lovely time together with our parents. We met in our new staffroom and enjoyed a slideshow of all the photos taken at camp. Afterwards we shared a lovely supper.

Static Electricity

2011-05-19T08:36:00.004+12:00

My experiment was to use static electricity make a folded piece of tinfoil separate using positive and negative forces. I had some problems getting the experiment to work but I did have some ideas to solve these problems. The first problem was the lid that held the wire (which the tinfoil was attached to). It was metal and it seemed to absorb the power that was meant separate the tinfoil. So I made a paper lid but this one wouldn't support the wire. Finally, I made a lid from cardboard and this appeared to have solved the problem.

The next problem was I couldn't create enough static electricity. Everything available material in our classroom was manmade and didn't work as well as wool would have.

Another problem seemed to be that the wire I used was really thick and it probably caused the same problem as the lid.

Although my experiment didn't work, Mrs Hepi said I was thinking like a scientist because I had to think of solutions to all these problems. I am going to try again making some changes. These changes will be to bring something woolly and to replace the wire with fuse or light craft wire. Watch this space!

By Leonardo

Floating Carrots!

2011-05-19T08:33:00.005+12:00

Nicole asked the class to guess why the carrot in one glass of water floated and the carrot in another glass of water didn't. Eventually we guessed that she had put salt into the 'floating carrot' glass. We discussed what we thought was happening and decided that salt water had more buoyancy. We knew that the Dead Sea ,which is really salty, is really easy to float in so we thought having the salt in the water made it easier for the carrot to float. But as we were not sure we looked on the internet to check out the science knowledge and this is what we found on http://www.sciencekids.co.nz. - Salt water is denser than ordinary tap water, the denser the liquid the easier it is for an object to float in it.

Making Gloop

2011-05-19T08:29:00.003+12:00

Finlay decided to make some Gloop. At first it didn’t really work because the measuring was not very accurate. The mixture was really runny so Finlay added some more cornflour. Once he mixed all the ingredients together completely the Gloop formed. It changed from runny to quite solid. When Finlay went to get a handful of Gloop it went quite hard. But as soon as he held it above the bowl it went runny again. The mixture looked shiny and felt quite cool to touch.

The science: Cornflour is made of lots of long stringy particles. They don’t dissolve in water but they do spread themselves out. This allows the gloop to act both like a solid and a liquid. When you roll the mixture in your hands or apply pressure to it, the particles join together and the mixture feels solid. But if it is left to rest or is held up and allowed to dribble, the particles slide over each other and it feels like

a liquid.

Keeping Ourselves Safe

2011-04-04T05:59:00.005+12:00

This term our learning concept has been Hauora - Healthy Me. One of the programmes we took part in was Confident Kids. Constable Marni came in to take one of the modules and to help us understand and learn how to keep ourselves safe in a variety of situations. We had fun learning even though it was serious stuff.

Christchurch

2011-04-04T05:50:00.004+12:00

On Friday 11th March, we had a red and black mufti day to raise money for the people of Christchurch. Mrs Batchelor drew a picture of the cathedral and we wrote our message of support in coins. We raised over a thousand dollars.

Don't forget to keep the people of Christchurch in your prayers.

Jump Jam - Whanau Fitness

2011-04-04T05:47:00.002+12:00

Our whanau, Puriri (Rooms 19,10,8 and 4), decided to have regular Jump Jam sessions most mornings as part of being healthy. Children from Room 19 were awesome leaders and everyone joined in. Room 2 came along as well because it was a bit noisy for them.

Swimming

2011-04-04T05:26:00.005+12:00

Finn and Jacob did really well at the interschool swimming sports. Way to go, guys!

Self Portraits

2011-03-09T21:58:00.003+13:00

We have just finished our self portraits. We had to have a good look at ourselves (in mirrors!) so we could get a better idea of the proportion of our face. Once we sketched our faces we had to blackline and pastel to complete our face. The background of our portrait is a mosaic of our favourite colours - that took a little time and we had to be really careful not to paste our mosiacs over our faces! We are really proud of our work and so is Mrs Hepi.

Sister Rachael's visit

2011-03-09T21:47:00.003+13:00

Mrs Webber's sister, Sister Rachael came to visit us to tell about her life and work in the Philippines. She works with young people who haven't had a great start in life and helps them to become healthy and happy. The good thing is that the young people she helps then help others who have found themselves in the same position.

A super healthy lunch box

2011-03-09T21:33:00.004+13:00

Today I made a healthy lunch box. It is made out of flax, it has no rubbish in it and it has some grapes, an egg and a sandwich. I made this healthy lunch because today we are having a healthy lunch on the back field and we can have no rubbish.

By Rosemary

Boomerang Test Flights!

2011-03-09T21:09:00.003+13:00

One of our homework tasks was to make our own boomerangs and then bring them to school to see if we could get them to fly and actually come back to us. We had a lot of fun making our boomerangs and even more fun flying them. Having fun is an important part of being healthy.

Healthy Picnic

2011-03-03T06:21:00.004+13:00

Today - Wednesday 2 March - the whole school had their lunch out on the field. Everyone sat with their whanau classes and enjoyed a lovely, healthy picnic. Our whanau, Puriri, organised the event and challenged everyone to bring the healthiest lunch possible while creating as little rubbish possible. Rimu whanau won that challenge but considering how many people we have in our school we all did a good job at reducing the amount rubbish we create at lunch time.

RIde a bike to school day

2011-02-22T09:58:00.002+13:00

Last wednesday, we had so much fun. Why? Because it was....... Bike day! What is Bike day? It's a day when everybody rides their bikes to school or work. Lots of people brought their bikes to school. There was so many bikes we had to put them all out on the field! We had so much fun riding our bikes around the course the teachers had set up. There were blue bikes, red bikes, green bikes, grey bikes, black bikes and white bikes! Nearly everyone bought their bikes. It was so cool! Well, I hope we have another bike day coz the last one was so much fun!

By Nicole

This is it!

2011-02-16T21:31:00.001+13:00

Nearly There!

2011-02-16T21:27:00.003+13:00

More 'Name' Art

2011-02-16T20:54:00.003+13:00

How we made our awesome art work!

2011-02-11T11:47:00.004+13:00

One cool day Mrs Smith came into our class to teach us. She said she was going to do some art with us! We were all really excited because we all love art. At first we didn't have a clue to what she was talking about but then we got it. So I'm going to tell you how to do it! So first of all, you need a big piece of black paper and a big piece of white paper. Then you need to choose the colours you want your name to be. Pastel or crayon is best. Also grab a pair of scissors and some glue. When you are all set up you need to get your crayons or pastels and do some stripes on your piece of white paper. The stripes should be at least a couple of centermeters long. When you have filled your white paper up with stripes fold it in half so it looks like a long rectangle. Then when you have done that write your name across the paper but the letters must be touching the fold. Do it in whatever font you want. Make sure your letters are touching. Then cut out your lettering. When cut out, unfold and then glue on the black paper.

There it is!

By Nicole

And some more!

2011-02-08T18:30:00.002+13:00

More Art

2011-02-08T18:24:00.005+13:00

Art using reflection and symmetry

2011-02-08T18:16:00.004+13:00

Today the children created a piece of art based on their name using reflection and symmetry. Here are some photos showing their fantastic work. More photos will be posted tomorrow along with some of the children writing explaining what they did and how they did it?

Welcome Back - 2011

2011-02-08T17:47:00.004+13:00

Well we have had a fantastic start to the year. It is going to be a very busy term with camp along with loads of extra activities planned to support our learning concept of Hauora - Healthy Me. Keep a look out for the regular school newsletter along with special Kawau Camp newsletters.

Our learning concept this term is HAUORA - HEALTHY ME. Our enduring understandings are:

- Making the right choices helps to create a Healthy Me

- Jesus guides us to lead a healthy balance life.

We will be exploring these ideas by finding out what exactly does being healthy mean and how as individuals we can take responsibility for our own health. During the term we will be involved in the Confident Kids Programme and Life Education to support our classroom learning.

As part of trying to be healthy we will be devising a fitness trail so we can get out for short bursts of exercise. Our PE focus this term is STRIKE/FIELD/THROW so we will also be playing games like T Ball and cricket as well as learning the skills needed to play these games.

We have been learning about Cyber Safety using a site call Hector's World. The children are learning how to identify safe internet sites, how to create strong passwords and why they should not give out their personal details.

Beach Education 2010

2010-12-08T11:50:00.001+13:00

Every year the Year 6 students from St Francis Xavier go to Ruakaka to learn how to be safe at the beach. Not only did we learn how to be safe but we also learned what lifeguards do. Did you know that no-one has drowned in New Zealand when swimming between the lifeguards flags? That has to be the most important thing we learned - SWIM BETWEEN THE FLAGS. They also told us how to be sun smart, what to do if you get caught in a rip and where to buy the best ice creams!

After morning tea we played some beach games. That sorted us out. You had to be pretty fit to play Beach Flags. Anya from R17 won the girls challenge and Ezra from R19 was first in the boys. Anya then had to challenge Ezra to find out who would compete against the teachers and parents. What was really amazing was that Anya just kept on winning. She is a really fit person, that is for sure.

After lunch we had a swim using the boogie boards as well as taking part in some rescue drills. Luckily, the water was warm and we were able to have a good long swim. All in all, it was a fun and fabulous day.

X Challenge

2010-12-08T09:53:00.005+13:00

Last Thursday, some of the Year 6 students went up to Pompallier College for their orientation day. It turned out that there was a lot of us left at school with Mrs Gunson, Mrs Smith and Mrs Hepi. Now the challenge for the teachers was how to keep lots of people engaged and doing something worthwhile, when they didn't have all of their own classes and lots of extra people from Room 17, 20 and 21. Well, this is what they (the teachers) came up with - The X Challenge.

The X-Challenge was made up of 12 fun and challenging games. Theses games required the participants to work as a team, to keep going even when it would have been easier to give up and some of them needed a little bit of courage. The Year 6 students (obviously the ones that didn't go to Pompallier) had to lead each challenge game. First, they had to teach the Year 5's the game, then get them to play it and give them a fair score. The X- Challenge took two whole periods and even then we didn't get to play all the games.

We had a really great time. The teachers said the Year 6's were excellent leaders and could easily run one of the school Whanau Days. The Year 5's played hard and fair. They worked well in their teams and encouraged each other to do their best.

Kite Building

2010-12-02T00:15:00.004+13:00

Another homework challenge was to build a kite to a specific plan without help from our parents. We then had to bring them to school and see if they would fly. We build some pretty cool kites but we did have a bit of a challenge to get them to fly. Have you ever tried to fly a kite will little to no wind. Well, we were so excited about making our kites that we were determined to get outside and have a go even thought the weather was very clam.. We did a lot of running which certainly got the kites off the ground. The problem was when we got puffed! You've guessed it. They crashed! (So did some of us after all the running!)

Even More Tower Photos

2010-12-01T23:46:00.004+13:00

More Tower Photos

2010-12-01T22:11:00.003+13:00