Harper's Discovery

Today Harper shared some awesome news.

Here is a video of Harper sharing news.

She discovered a Woolly Mammoth has been found in a swamp.  It is 39 000 years old!  The scientists think the Woolly Mammoth probably died in the swamp by drowning.  Then it froze.

We did some RESEARCHING

Israa had a book with some information about Woolly Mammoths that she shared with us.  One thing we discovered was
That Woolly Mammoths lived in Alaska, Canada, Siberia and Northern Europe.

Then we looked on Google and found this article with a video of the Woolly Mammoth.
We learned that to do a Google Search we type in a question and then Google gives us lots of links that might have the information we are looking for.

We also discovered that sometimes Google gives us links that are not so helpful so we have to be WISE to figure out which information we are looking for.

Woolly Mammoth Discovery

Finn used his inquiring mind to to ask a great wondering  He wondered if Mammoths were mammals.  To find an answer to this, Israa looked in her book and we looked on Google.  We all decided that YES, mammoths were mammals - this means they had warm blood like us.

Wearable Arts

Wow, Room 16, I was SO proud of you all at the Wearable Arts Show.
You all did a brilliant job of presenting your work to a huge audience, you looked fabulous and you walked like true models on the runway.
The lighting was magical, so much fun.

Huge congratulations to

Fatai
Finn
Emma
Nethasa

Who were selected as prize winners from our class.

This is a video clip of the dress rehearsals and on the night - thanks to Bronwyn and Jaz for the great photos.

Fairy Tale Fun

Today the children presented their Fairy Tale Reader's Theatre to our class and some wonderful parents who came along to watch. I was very proud of the children who did their best to use a loud, clear voice and speak slowly and with great expression. We used these to follow on from presenting our poem in the poetry competition - I was very impressed with the improvement the children showed. Special mention needs to be made of Finn - Finn was so confident and presented his lines clearly and proudly today. What a HUGE confidence boost in such a short time - I was very proud of you Finn. Charlotte, you also did a superb job of presenting your lines with confidence and expression, I loved it. Hayden, you were excellent at presenting your lines with expression. YOu followed the script well and always knew when it was your turn to speak. Lily and Grace - you had both learned your lines off by heart - and you used wonderful expression too.

Super Sewing

Today we continued with our fantastic sewing project. We stitched our button flower onto a piece of fabric and made a stem and some leaves. We learned how to do backstitch to make the stem and leaves. I am so impressed with the perseverance the children have shown and also that so many children can thread their own needle and sew independently. Finn took these photos for us.

Fabulous Finn

Finn is a super special wee guy and we all love him to pieces.

Finn has a form of epilepsy that causes him to have absences.  The children in Room 16 are AMAZING at caring for their special friend and they all understand that sometimes Finn has absences. Recently Finn's absences have been getting a bit longer.  Finn doesn't let them stop him doing ANYTHING, he is a very sporty boy and hard to keep up with.

Finn is also a big rugby fan and an expert player.

Today we presented Finn with a special rugby headgear that has been signed by all of the Crusaders.  The Crusaders heard about how cool Finn is and also that he has been having absences that sometimes make him lose his balance.  They all wear headgear when they play rugby to keep their head and brain safe.  The Crusaders thought it would be a good idea for Finn to have his own headgear to wear at school and at home.

Finn looks amazing and is very proud of his head gear - what do you think?

Finn's Mum has some photos of us presenting Finn with his head gear.  I will add them when she has had a chance to send them to me

The Theory of Water Displacement

Today we learned about another famous scientist called Archimedes.

We discovered that Archimedes is famous because he discovered a very important theory known as the Theory of Water Displacement.

We listened to a story about when Archimedes climbed into the bath and noticed the water level rose.  He called our Eureka when he realised he could use this to check if the kings crown was made of real gold.

We used Lily's drink bottle to explore this theory.  We filled it to the very top with water and then added cubes to the drink bottle.

We noticed that the water rose with each cube we added and eventually it overflowed.

Ask us to explain why this happened.  We are very clever at being able to answer this BIG question.

We learned what a hypothesis is too.

Finn took these photos for us.

Is it SCience or Magic?

Today we did a really cool science experiment.

Mrs Pelham put some water in a bucket. She told us she was going to spin it around.

We had to predict is we thought she would get wet.

Some of us thought yes and others thought no.

Then we did the experiment.

WOW, Mrs Pelham didn't spill a drop!

We had a turn too......all of us managed to do the same!  No water was spilt, only Finn got a tiny bit wet as he stopped spinning the bucket!

Mrs Pelhan posed this BIG QUESTION to us

Why didn't we get wet?
Was it Science or Magic?

You did it too fast and the water needs some time to drop out of the bucket - Bryn

The wind was pushing against the water to make it go back into the bucket because we were spinning it fast - Tiaan

When we spun it the air got into the water to stop it from getting out - Bina

it didn't spill because you were spinning the bucket too fast.  When you stopped it didn't come because you were swinging it too fast - Ahsley

Gravity stopped it coming  out - Charlotte

when the  bucket was spining the water was spinning too - Poppy

there was gravity, without gravity it would float in the air and come out of the bucket - Emma

the water stayed in because we swung it too fast and also it meant all the air made it stay in almost like a feather except it's like water in a bucket and you twirl it around - harper     

Assembly

Room 16, you made me so proud today.
You presented a wonderful assembly and I think the children and parents enjoyed it too.

I will add some photos soon....until I get my new phone it's a bit tricker to add photos!

Sam Bear will look great in our classroom too..... congratulations to Tiaan and Riley who won the lucky prize draw for the ball and clip and climb ticket.

Well done to
Harper who received this week's Heart of Achievement.  Harper, you are a beautiful, energetic and enthusiastic learner.  I love your sense of fun and the way you are a careful thinker.  I especially loved the way you played Marley in your movie....you were fantastic.

Elenoa- you are a kind, caring and wonderful girl.  You have outstanding manners, you are willing to help others all of the time and you are an excellent role model of St Albans School values.

Finn, you received your award because you are working so hard to learn your basic facts....and you are making great progress too.

Dinosaur Collage Completed

Today these children finished their dinosaur murals.

They look fantastic.

Dinosaur Mural

Cillian, Tiaan, Ashley and Finn read a great book called Dinosaur Mural.

The book has instructions for how to make a dinosaur mural.

Today they made their own mural by following the instructions.

Happy Birthday Finn

Today Finn turned six years old.  Finn had a great day.  He made an awesome monarch butterfly that he shared with us.
Finn also brought along some cup cakes to share with our class....they were delicious!

Thanks Finn, we hope you had an awesome day.

Have a go learning

Have you discovered the kids blog tab at the top of our blog?  You can write your own blog entry.
Miles, Finn and Ava have had a go already, they have done a great job.

Also, on the tab that is called SMARTS and Current topic there are some challenges for keen learners....have a go and see if you can do some great discovering.

Love

Mrs Pelham

Amazing Home Learning

Today Finn brought along some special treasures from his holiday in Picton. 
We loved the tiny starfish he had found and we had some interesting discussion about the clam shell he found.

Finn also brought along a fantastic book about butterflies.  We absolutely loved learning about the different butterflies in this book.

Self Control Bubbles

Today we learned about Self Control.

This means we know how to control ourselves.  

Mrs Pelham blew lots of bubbles.... we were so excited, we all jumped up and popped them and made lots of noise and had great fun.

THEN......

Mrs Pelham talked about self control.

This time when she blew the bubbles we were not allowed to touch them or pop them....even if they landed on our nose!

It was tricky to control ourselves, at first we wanted to pop the bubbles but we quickly learned how to show self control and we managed to let the bubbles pop by themselves!

We are very proud of ourselves.

We can show self control by

• "staying still on the mat," said Miles
• "not popping the bubbles," said Riley
• "doing as you are told to do," said Cillian
• "doing the right thing," said Ava
• "not touching the bubbles," said Lily

When we have trouble showing self control we can think of the self control bubbles and it will help us to remember how to show self control.

Thanks to Finn for being our photographer today.