Launching the rocket car.

This week we finally launched our rocket car. We put together the rocket last term using coke bottles, wheels, rods and lots of tape. Our rocket car was powered by the gas that is made when vinegar and baking soda are mixed inside the bottle.
Can you put together the puzzle of us and our super powered rocket car? Have a go!


fancygens.com

Soccer Skills With United Soccer

This week we had a soccer skills session with the United soccer experts. Unfortunately the weather meant we were inside in the hall but that was perfect for playing Castles and Knights. Salmaan and Percy especially enjoyed this game where you needed to defend your ball from the knights who would kick it away.
Look at us giving David Beckham a run for his money!!

Funky Eye Friday

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At the end of the term we made glasses for a Funky Eye Friday parade. This event is organised by the Royal NZ Foundation of the Blind to promote awareness about eyecare and help make wearing glasses cool! We took the outline off Ha Eun's glasses for our eye holes. This meant we could design our frames from these holes and the frames fitted our eyes. Clever!!! If you want to see students from other schools glasses for Funky Eye Friday visit this link.

Certificates Awarded At Assembly

Three students from Room 3 were awarded certificates at assembly this week. Molly and Kyle have been superstars this week, using their fingers to join sets. Salmaan is taking risks in his writing and using lovely language particularly when his character speak to one another. Keep up the hard work- lets see those brains continue to smoke!!!!

The Students Take On the Teachers At Netball

On Friday the annual teachers verses students netball game was held here at school. The student team was made up of the top netball team who have recently finished their competition for the year. The whole school came out to support the event. The students had some difficulty getting the ball over the tall teachers but they certainly could move faster than the teachers! It was a fun event which ended in a draw. Can you spot the unique netball uniforms of some of the teachers.

We Learn About Being Environmentally Friendly

This term our topic has centred around the footprints we are leaving on our environment. We have had Rosie from the Northshore City Council visit. She taught us about the pollution that comes from a car's exhaust. We caught particulates from a car exhaust in a sock.

We have also mapped the route everyone takes to get to school. This helped highlight where we need crossings. We also listed problems we face along the route like dogs, uneven concrete paths.

Worldvision Talks To Us About Child Labour

The whole school saw a presentation from Worldvision last week. It was highlighting the fact that not all children in the world go to school. In some places children are forced to make money to survive. School and play is not an option for these children. We saw children making fireworks in factories and collecting paper to recycle for money. The presentation involved students from our school acting out the story. The WorldVision speaker is narrating. Haven't they got on cool costumes!

Puppet Show

A visiting group of puppeteers from Australia came to perform for us. They used a type of puppetry from Japan called bunraku. In bunraku the puppets are controlled by strings. The puppeteers wear dark clothing even over their faces so they blend into the background. They retold the story of Peter and the wolf. The music used in the show was written over 100 years ago. Each piece of music was attached to a character. So as a character appeared on stage the music changed. How clever is that!!!

Making Bread

This week we have made bread. The mixture was very sticky to begin with. It is made of flour with yeast added. The yeast gives the bread air bubbles and helps it rise. The honey and water help to wake up the yeast so it can go to work making air. We kneeded the dough and shaped it into the letters of our surname.

Room 3 Argues For Chalk

Our writing focus this term is on persuasive language. We have written arguments to Mrs Harris, our principal, convincing her to let us use chalk outside Room 3 at lunchtime on Tuesday. This came about after an incident in the playground where we were making the wrong choices and fighting. We brainstormed the issue as a group and decided there was not enough to do if junior and senior students wanted to play together. Below are our letters trying to persuade Mrs Harris to let us use chalk.

They were obviously very persuasive because she wrote back letting us do it!!!!! In the photos above we are working co-operatively at lunch, both junior and senior students, playing with the chalk.

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Using The Camera To Write

The camera is a good way to storyboard our writing. As a class we made up a story about a dog and Miss C. Next we took the photos for each part. Then we each sequenced a set of the photos so they were in the right order to tell our own story. Finally we labelled each photo with the action. Read Salmaan's writing below.

A Loud Crunch Came From Room 3!

Yesterday we followed a recipe for chocolate rice bubble cakes. We wrote about the process. You can see our writing if you click on the links below. Can you hear the crunch?

Kyle's writing

Molly's writing

Bill's writing

We Can Use Similes

This week we have found similes in other authors' writing. A simile makes a picture out of words. A simile uses 'like' or 'as' to compare the object to something else. Similes are a good way to build pictures in the mind of the reader. We decided to write about our classmates using similes to describe what they look like, act like and love to do. What pictures have we made of us in your mind?

Making Gloop

This week we tried out a recipe for Gloop. Gloop is kind of a mixture between slime and playdough. It feels really weird. We talked lots about how it feels and recorded our ideas in the movie above.

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Mapping our Transport Routes

Takapuna Primary has been working with parents and the council on a transport survey. We have highlighted problem areas on the way to school. Hopefully these will be considered when future transport decisions are made.

1) Two ladies from the council told us to find our house on the Takapuna Map.
2) We had mini, green monopoly houses to put on the map.
3) We wrote our address next to our house.
4) We coloured the stickers to put next to the our houses to tell how we get to school.
5) They gave us some cards to write on so they know if there was any danger around our streets like dogs, a big crack in the street, or problems crossing the road.

The Zoo

At free time Shaveen and Ha Eun made a zoo with blocks and animals. We split the zoo up into carnivore and herbivore areas. It took a long time and we used lots of blocks. We made a King Kong area that was really exciting and fun. The zoo has a patting zoo for little children. After we finished it we demolished it. That was the best part.
Written by Shaveen and Ha Eun.

Sherbet

We made sherbet at school this week. We used juice powder (Raro), baking soda, icing sugar, tartaric acid and citric acid. The acid makes the fizziness when it mixes with the baking soda. This acid doesn't harm people like the acid in movies.
We put the mixture in the cutting machine (food processor) so it didn't take ages to stir. We shared the sherbet out into plastic bags. To eat it we licked the spoon and dipped it in the powder. The powder stuck to the spoon. We also had straws so we could suck up the mixture.
We used the sherbet to write an imaginative story. This is Salmaan's one.

Jin was the naughtiest student in her class. She never listened and always says "Get a grip". Today she was inside at lunchtime. She peeked into Miss Cleveland's cupboard and discovered a strange powder.
It looked like the baking powder she used to cook with.
She held it up to her nose. It smelled like a medicine.
She put her finger into it. It felt gritty.
Finally she tasted it. She said "Yum".
Suddenly she transformed into a cat.
By Salmaan

Selling Ice Cream

We raised money by selling ice cream to the other classes in the school. The money went towards camp. Camp was very expensive. Room 2 made filled rolls. Room 5 made hamburgers. But our ice-cream was the best!
First we made posters to advertise our homemade ice-cream. Ice-cream is not hard to make. It is made of sugar, cream, and milk. We put in vanilla essence to make vanilla ice-cream. We put in melted chocolate and chocolate chips to make chocolate ice-cream.
Percy's Mum also made us a huge banana cake to sell. It filled a massive tray!!
On the big day we all had a job. Some people put the money in a container, some handed out the cake, some put the scoops on the cones and others put on the sprinkles.
Over 100 people were in the line for ice-cream. It went out the door, across the pavement and around the lunch area. Some people missed out on our delicious ice-cream.

Camp Challenges

Looking Through The lens of the Digital Camera

Above is a slide show we made after Miss C read us the book you can see. This is Room 3's very own version of it. We searched our playground looking for numerals hidden in every day things. We went outside in pairs taking turns with the camera to take a photograph. Back in the class we sorted through the photos choosing the best ones. Finally we painted numerals over top of the picture so you out there could also see the numerals we could spot hidden amongst the things in our playground.

Camp Photos

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During week 3 of this term our Year 5 and 6 students went to Carey Park camp. It was 4 days packed full of fun. Look at the photos above to see us in action.

Room Three Discovers 'Comic Life'

Miss C has found a really cool programme called 'Comic Life'. Over the last week we have turned events that happened in our classroom into comic format. Read all about a pukeko (a native New Zealand bird) that flew from the lake into our playground.
If you would like to read more about pukekos visit this site. http://www.tiritirimatangi.org.nz/Fauna/Pukeko.htm

Easter Fun

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Easter Fun
In the lead up to the Easter holidays we celebrated Easter by having an Easter egg hunt and decorating eggs.
Sneaky Miss C hid chocolate mini eggs all around the class before we came to school. She put them under tables, above the door and in the middle of displays.
We searched the room with our ice cream containers looking for eggs.
She hid them so well we are still finding them around our classroom now!!

In the photos you can see us blowing out the insides of the egg so only the shell is left to decorate. It looked really gross and was funny to watch the others blowing so hard.
We painted melted wax onto the shells of eggs and then dipped them into dye. The parts covered in wax didn't take up the dye and stayed white or brownish. It was hard to keep a pattern all the way around the egg.

Making Orange Dough

First we put the 2 tablespoons of oil in the pot.

Next we measured a cup of flour into a bowl.

After that we put 1/2 cup of salt in the bowl as well.

Then 2 teaspoons of cream of tartar.

Finally mixed the colouring into a cup of water.

We added the dry ingredients into the pot and then the water.

We needed to stir the mixture. It got really hard to stir so we knew it was ready.

After it cooled down we played with the orange dough.
It was slimy, warm and awesome fun to play with.

You could have a go at making your own dough at home.

Room Three looks into the Worm Bins

Last week we followed up a class discussion by taking a look into the worm bins. Our topic this term tracks the journey food takes through our body. We looked into how worms take in food and give out worm poo or worm casts. Did you know...

A worm's mouth parts come out of its mouth to grap food and then pull the food back in.
A worm uses stones to grind food in its gizzard just like some dinosaurs used to.
A worm makes use of saliva to break down food just like we do.

http://yucky.discovery.com/noflash/worm/index.html