As part of our literacy programme we are looking at song lyrics. Emotions are hard to convey with literal language so song writers often use figurative language to convey them. Often song lyrics can be confusing and unclear because of this, so they provide an excellent opportunity for us to explore language features and identify what was being conveyed.
We started off with a Ben Harper song called, 'Oppression'. We looked at his use of personification. We saw that song lyrics/poetry often don't follow the rules of grammar and punctuation. We explored the meaning of different sections and then rewrote a verse in a different tense to identify why Ben Harper chose the tense he did. The students then wrote their own verse personifying the emotion of fear.
We have started our inquiry into visual arts. It is going to be a fascinating journey into art history, colour theory, as well as the learning of artistic skills, especially in sketching and digital art.
We started off by watching an inspiring biography of Jeremy Cowart and his journey of being a photographer and digital artist.
We discussed the quotes: "Art changes throughout the ages, but it doesn't get better." and "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder." We have started looking at famous artists over the last 500 years beginning with the most famous painting in the world (The Mona Lisa) and the incredible man who painted it, Leonardo Da Vinci.
The students will be learning to do doubles exposures using an online photo editing programme (similar to photoshop) called Pixlr editor. Here are a couple of images I created which the students are learning how to do.
Howick college came today with about 30 musicians and gave an awesome performance in the den. They brought brass, percussion, piano, a variety of stringed instruments and also some singers. They played a real variety of music and it was such a great thing to finish the term on. After performing for audiences all week in our production the students got to be the audience. They loved it! Kiran was lucky to be chosen to be the conductor for a song. She rose to the occasion and even managed to finish with some 'jazz hands'. Here is some video and photos of the performance.
What a great week we have had. The production all came together and it turned out to be an awesome display of talent and practice. Well done to everyone! You really developed in your skills and confidence throughout the whole process. I have heard so many good responses from parents on the humour, musicianship, and the variety of talents. A special mention to Bevan for all the hard work he put in. It is such a massive task and he did an outstanding job.
There will be some videos coming but here are a few photos to start with.
We have had a bit of a poverty theme over the last week or so in oral language. It has been fascinating looking at the extremes in our world as well as some of the things being done to combat it. We looked at how there is a 'big picture' approach which is when people are trying to change things at a government level. There is also a 'small picture' level where people try and help individuals, families, and groups to alleviate poverty. We looked at some definitions and statistics around poverty. This also included how over the last 15 years extreme poverty has dropped. It has been great for the children to realise that our 'normal' is not everyone's normal and most people in NZ are very privileged (though not all). This website puts things into perspective Global rich list.
I shared some of my travel experiences including my visit to a rubbish dump in Cambodia where people live. We looked at various photo essays and an organisation called KIVA that sets up interest free loans for small business owners (these loans come from us - whoever is willing to join in). Here are some of the resources we used.
Nicholas and Sophie have done a science fair project which has sought to support those in need. They have done very well at the Waikato Science fair and managed to place second. Well done guys! Such a clever invention and you put in so much work. You can be very proud. It was in the invention section of the fair and is called Cloud Juice Guttering. It is a flexible guttering that attaches by velcro to gazebos and awnings. It could be used in refugee camps to collect water and prevent mud. They have even been asked to speak on a radio station about their invention.
We had a great day on Monday at the Whakapapa skifield on Mt Ruapehu. It was a first time experience for a lot of the class which was great. We didn't get any sun but this meant the snow was soft and we all still had lots of fun. The weather helped us gain respect for alpine environments and also helped us see the importance of being prepared for all weather. The lessons went well and all students managed to learn the basics. Well done guys! Great to see the perseverance in learning the skills as well as the big smiles (even if it was because you had landed a snowball on my head!). Here is a video of the day.
Speeches! One of those things that brings up a lot of fear in people. The fear is normally greatest in the lead up and, for most people, they are surprisingly relaxed during the speech and often say afterwards that they almost enjoyed it. Developing self confidence in speaking in public (even in group or class situation) is really important. The more you do it the easier it is.
We have watched and read some really inspiring speeches and have discussed what goes into a great speech. Our focus is persuasion so we have looked at what persuasion is, techniques used in TV adverts to convince viewers, and the strategies speakers use to convince their listeners.
We have discussed 3 main techniques:
Include emotion – make it personal, include stories, use emotive language, use lots of personal pronouns.
Include rational arguments – make the listener think your argument makes sense and is backed up by evidence, research, and science.
Include moral arguments – Make your listener think that it is not just a good idea but the right thing to do.
We also discussed the importance of humour, a good hook, and not telling the listener what they already know.
This week we have looked at classifying materials. The students examined a bike and identified all the products used to make it. This included everything from the paint to the foam inside the seat. They grouped these matarials into metals, plastics/synthetics, and other.
We then looked around the room and classified as many things we could into the following categories:
Wood
Plastics/synthetics
Composites
Ceramics
Metals
Natural fabrics
We took a deeper look into metals. We examined a variety of metals and then the students researched a particular metal and shared back their expertise. The students looked into the metal's melting point, conductivity, malleability and all sorts of other information. Mercury and titanium were fascinating metals to look into. Georgia made a clever link between melting point and malleability. Nicholas asked a great question around why mercury is a metal when it is liquid. This led to a great discussion around what is a metal. This is a definition of a metal:
Any chemical element that is an effective conductor of electricity and heat can be defined as a metal.
Some definitions:
Alloy - a metal made from a combination of metals, e.g. steel (iron and carbon), brass (copper and zinc), Bronze (copper and tin).
Galvanised - coated in a protective layer of zinc.
Stainless steel - steel with a high amount of chromium which stops it from corroding.
Malleability - how easily its shape can be changed.
We have looked at what combustion is. Simply put, it is the burning of something. In more detail it is the rapid chemical combination of something with oxygen. When this happens heat and light is produced. Oxidise means to combine chemically with oxygen.
We looked at some examples of spontaneous combustion, such as linseed oil when it is exposed to oxygen. We also did an experiment combining potassium permanganate and glycerine which combusts.
The most important ingredient for combustion is oxygen. The main product of combustion is carbon dioxide (CO2) which is not good for our environment. There are other products though.
We burnt a candle and put a spoon in the flame which got black all over it. We discussed how the fuel (wax) has carbon (C) in it and the wax doesn't completely burn up (incomplete combustion). Small particles of carbon are released which gather on the spoon or as black smoke. We also covered the candle with a container. The candle went out as the oxygen in the container got used up.
We also identified some flammable things in the home. If something is flammable it easily oxidises/combusts.
We had a great discussion today around personalities. We looked at what introverts and extroverts are. It was great for the children to identify where on a continuum they see themselves fitting.
We also discussed how people's personalities will affect how they interact and participate in groups during class. We talked about how sometimes extroverts need to give time for introverts to contribute. We also discussed how introverts need to acknowledge that they will need to push themselves to take risks in sharing in groups.
We watched a couple of videos to help us understand the two personalities. Here they are.
Today we split a molecule. This is called decomposition. We had hydrogen peroxide and separated it into water and oxygen. We used a catalyst to cause a chemical reaction to break them apart. The catalyst was potassium permanganate. We explored what both chemicals are and what they are used for.
Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) - is a naturally occurring substance that can be found in every living thing (including people) as well as in things like snow, rain, lakes, and rivers. We use it for all sorts of things such as bleaching our hair and as a disinfectant.
Potassium permanganate (KMnO4)- is a substance created by scientists. It is used for things such as preserving fruit and treating water.
The reaction was quite spectacular. Because of the heat generated the water escaped in its gas form - steam.
We did a second experiment where we added detergent and water to the same reaction. The detergent trapped the steam and oxygen as it escaped creating lots of bubbles that looked like 'elephants toothpaste'.
There was quite a lot of heat generated (one feature of some chemical reactions). When heat is generated it is called an exothermic reaction.
Here are a couple more pieces of stunning writing from our authors. These are from Nicholas and Ieuan.
The Wait - Nicholas
The only sound was that of my heart softly beating inside my frozen chest. Our coats were blanketed in thick layers of pearly white snow. Creaking pine trees frowned down at us with thick clumps of white hair upon their frosted heads. Our fingers, stiffened by the icy winds that swept around us, painfully reached at the triggers of our silent guns. Snow fell softly around our still, black figures slowly stiffening our cramped and aching muscles. There was no sound, except that of our ragged breathing that sent plumes of steam into the frosty air.
My strained and tired eyes swept across the deathly still terrain that imprisoned us. We were all still thinking the same thing, They must be out there, somewhere beyond this frozen landscape. I knew that the ice with it's frozen piercing teeth was slowly sucking the life out of me.
Behind me I could hear the quiet muttering of my friends.Then in the distance I heard gun fire and shouting which shattered the stillness.
I smiled grimly.
The wait was over.
The Wait - Ieuan
...
“Its them” I whisper. "The Russians." I catch a glimpse of a green over coat as rifles dart through the trees.
Still I do not move. Then Hans spun around and sent a round through the trees. I hear shouts and the splintering of wood and then I see the 50 Russians coming at us. Bringing round my gun I send barrage after barrage cutting them down left right and center. I catch a bullet in my arm and fall back hard. Hans grabs my gun and fires them both simultaneously. But it isn’t enough. He is hit first in the neck and then square in the head he falls back dead as a door nail. I roar springing up. And my flesh is mutilated by bullets. I fall back and think “Hans, Fritz the wait is over."
We had some fun yesterday with spoonerisms. We looked at some poems by Shel Silverstein in which he used spoonerisms to create humour. A spoonerism is when you accidentally get the first sounds in a couple of words mixed up. The students translated a poem, created a spoonerism with their own name, and then wrote a poem. It was lots of fun and the students created some hilarious poems.
We were lucky enough to have an Olympian visit today. Alison Shanks is a world and Olympic champion in the 3000 meter cycle sprint. She told us about her story towards becoming an Olympian. She also got us excited about the upcoming Olympics in Rio, Brazil.
She told us about her dreams of becoming a netballer and how they got redirected to cycling. We learnt about all the training that goes into the sport. She also talked lots about the mental battle of a race. Using your mind to control your performance, nerves, and body. She inspired us towards dreaming big. She bought her bike along and Sydney got to play act being her in a race. Here are some photos from the session.
We had an amazing session with Mrs Graham exploring dry ice today. Dry ice is the solid state of carbon dioxide. It is -78.5 degrees (So gloves were essential). It is an example of something that goes straight from a solid to a gas (This is called sublimation.). There is no liquid state of it.
We had a meths and dry ice solution which can freeze flowers. We put in a piece of fern which froze.
We also ate some grapes frozen in dry ice which had turned fizzy as the CO2 had seeped inside the grape.
We also each had a cup of dry ice which we put detergent into. We then put in hot water which created some amazing fountains as the solid CO2 changed to the gas form of CO2.
CO2 is heavier than air so this helped with blowing some really big bubbles.
Today we followed the process of a scientific investigation and explored different ways to get rid of fish smell from hands. 10 students got fish smell all over their hands and then each one tried a different product to get rid of the smell. We then had some 'smellers' who went through and voted for the most effective product.
Here are the results:
No product - control (no votes)
Lemon Juice (9 votes)
Block of soap (13 votes)
Vinegar (4 votes)
Watery detergent (8 votes)
Toothpaste (10 votes)
Salt (no votes)
Baking soda (2 votes)
Water (no votes)
Stainless steel (1 vote)
We then had a discussion around the variables and the quality of the experiment. We realised that there was lots of variables that made the experiment not very accurate and reliable. These included:
The amount of fish smell on each set of hands could have been different.
The fish could have being contaminated by previous hands leaving oils, etc.
Peoples hands could react differently to the smell and the products.
How well each person washed with the product and then rinsed clean.
Peoples ability to smell or how 'controlled' their smelling was.
We then discussed how this experiment could have been improved. Here are some of the ideas:
Use an eye dropper and put the same amount of fish oil on each hand.
Wash all hands before the test.
Increase the sample size of the testers and the smellers.
We did some creative writing on Friday titled The Wait. Here are two great sentences from a couple of students. A droplet of icy snow landed on the back of my neck and slowly slithered its way down my spine. -Declan As the sun sunk down the moon shot up creating a white shimmer on top of the snow. -Kiran
Here is a stunning piece of creative writing by Madeline.
The Wait No one told me it would be like this. Silver icicles hung silently from the rich smelling pines above. My hands were frozen to the icy rock that shielded me from the deep sound of bullets coming from far away. I tried to move my feet but it was hopeless they were practically glued to my boots with gaping holes so if I moved an inch they would fill with snowy water. I started to shut my eyes from exhaustion but they wouldn’t budge. suddenly our General Curtis said in a quiet whisper “Move forward men, and stay low” I tried to move but my legs were refusing, I needed to eat. Soon my legs gave in and started to move with the men, then we stopped again and began another long wait. I looked up to the dark cyan sky and began thinking about my family back home, when a bright yellow object caught my eye. It was a banana! The eye of food gave me the strength to move. I started to slowly climb up to pine towards it, But I wasn’t even half way before Curtis screamed at me “Get down from that tree!,’ I didn’t understand so kept climbing I reached the banana, but as soon as I grabbed the banana a shot hit me right in my gut, and I went toppling to the ground. I landed with a thud, Curtis came running over to me just as I had pealed, and slipped the banana into my freezing mouth and started to wait for the bullet to kill me. Madeline
We had a great discussion today around Autism and Aspergers syndrome. I discussed some of the work I have done with autistic children then we watched the below video to prompt some discussion. It is a real life interview between a boy with Aspergers and his Mum. We discussed all sorts of things from the video, such as what it means to be 'your own worst enemy.' The discussion then turned to parenting and what they perceived the difficulties of parenting would be .
We had a great day in Rotorua being inspired to live as inspiring leaders to others. It was great to hear so many good messages about pointing yourself in the right direction, living for others, and getting the people around you to help you achieve your dreams. There were many stories of overcoming challenges and the importance of resilience and believing in yourself.
Look our for the students personal reflections on their blog posts.
Here ares some great bits of advice from the day:
Good relationships produce good things. Choose your friends well. People are like elevators – they either take you up or down.
Success is 90% hard work and 10% talent.
You don’t have to have a badge to be a leader. Don’t be a leader at school if you can’t be one at home. Leaders lead all the time.
Always do the right thing even if you want to do the left thing. Do the right thing regardless of who is around.
Be a leader even when it is hard. It is more important how I feel about my actions that what my friends feel.
The obstacles in your life don’t have to define who you are or who will be.
We can’t achieve goals by ourselves – life is not meant to be lived alone. Tell people your dreams.
Celebrate and focus on the good.
Learn how to communicate. Get the information where it needs to go. Use manners!
Build bridges – when we build bridges with people different from us we both become richer.
Leadership is catchy like a cold, but much more fun.
In science it is important to be able to identify the difference between a physical change and a chemical change.
A physical change is when:
There is a change in state or shape but there is no chemical change. The chemical formula remains the same.
You can also reverse the change.
When water changes to either ice or steam it has undergone a physical change. It is still H2O in all three states. We could also change the ice or steam back into water. Here is a video of what happens when H20 changes into the different states.
Other examples of physical change include heating gas, bending metal, or melting plastic. They change their state or shape but nothing changes at the atom or molecule level.
We did the mentos and coke experiment and discussed how it undergoes a physical change (it is often mistaken for a chemical change). The mentos actually just speeds up the release of the carbon dioxide because its bumpy surface makes it easy for the dissolved CO2 to form as bubbles. We could, in theory, gather the released CO2 and the spilt coke, put it back together again and get our fizzy coke back.
We have explored what a molecule is. This is a video that explains it really well.
A molecule is two (or more) atoms that join and form a bond. This bond is formed by the atoms sharing their electrons.
Some molecules are quite simple like water which is H20 (2 hydrogen atoms and 1 oxygen atom)
Some are more complex like table sugar which is C12H22O11.
We had a great question from Antony about how they find out how many of each atom are in the different molecules. This will be a great question for us to explore.
We also briefly talked about how they make molecules - another great question to explore.
A great explanation from Lola about the differences between simple, compound and complex sentences.
Simple- a sentence with a subject, verb, and one idea.
Compound- two simple sentences joined into one sentence with a conjunction. Both parts of the sentence can stand alone.
Complex- a simple sentence that has an extending phrase. It has a part that makes sense on its own and a part (the extending phrase) that doesn't make sense on its own.
Today we did a few experiments to explore density. We explored how heat affects density and makes substances expand and retract because of temperature.
We put a small bit of water in the can. As it boiled it turned the water into a gas state which pushed out the air in the can. When the can was turned upside down in the cold water the gas quickly cooled and condensed back to a liquid pulling in the metal as it did so. A cool experiment!
We also looked again at how when atoms are heated they 'shake' more violently. We were able to see this in action when we dropped some food colouring into both cold water and hot water. The food colouring spread more quickly through the hot water as the atoms were more active.
So we have seen that heat affects density, but we also looked today at how different things have different densities just because of the way they are structured. We looked at how salt water is more dense than fresh water. This gave us lots to think about in terms of things like boats, swimming, survival in deep water, and free diving. Could you dive deeper in fresh water as it is less dense that salt water?
I showed them this photo of me in the dead sea in Israel to help explain differences in water density because of salt content.
We looked today at how atoms are always moving. When you heat them they shake more. Because they shake more they need more space to move so they spread out. As they spread out they can no longer remain as a solid so they turn to a liquid. If you keep heating them they spread out more and the liquid becomes a gas. If you keep heating them then you will get plasma.
When you boil water the bubbles that rise are actually the H20 turning into a gas as it is heated. They start at the botto of the jug because that is closest to the heat.
We also looked at how condensation is the opposite action of a gas turning to a liquid as it is cooled down.
Today we started to look at the periodic table - the ingredient list of all matter. We looked at how each element consists of a different atom. We explored atoms more and learnt that atoms are different from each other because of the number of protons in each one. Every element has a different number of protons (it is written on the table as the atomic number). Some elements have over 100 protons (most atoms also have the same number of electrons as it has protons). There are still some unknown elements. But scientists already know how many protons they will have because of the place they will have in the periodic table. Currently there are 118 known elements.
We looked at how humans have about 40 different types of atoms in their bodies.
We looked at which elements we are familiar with and discussed questions like why steel is not on the table (it is a metal made from a combination of elements).
It was so good to see the curiosity of the students about the atomic world.
We started to discuss atoms today - the smallest part of matter. We watched some great videos to help us get our heads around the size of atoms and their structure. We discovered that all matter is made up of atoms. Everything - trees, stones, air, eyeballs! Atoms are also constantly moving, so even a rock is constantly moving. We started to raise the question of how scientists know all about atoms when they are so small. A big question! We discussed how we can't see the wind but we can learn about wind by looking at the effects of the wind and how it affects objects in different situations. It is a bit like that with studying atoms.
The structure of an atom.
Atoms are ridiculously small. The photo on the right is a photo of the shadow of an atom. Scientists directed a laser beam at a suspended atom and this was it's shadow. The first visualization of an atom. We watched the below videos to help us get our head around how small they are and how they are structured.
We also noted that electricity is when the electrons in atoms flow (swap)between electrons in other atoms.
Our inquiry this term is on the material world and we started off by looking at whether a box with no object in it is actually empty. Is air something or nothing? We learnt that 'matter' is the world all around us. We can tell if something is matter by whether it, TAKES UP SPACE and WEIGHS SOMETHING. So we tested this with air and found that, yes, it does take up space and it does weigh something. Here is a video of some of the things that helped us learn this. Jorja helped us see that it is impossible to blow up a balloon in a bottle as the air in the bottle has nowhere to go. We shrink wrapped some students to explore how air takes up space and we used some balloons to see if air weighs anything.
We also looked at how air moves and watched this cool video.
Wonderings: I wonder if there are places with no matter at all? Does air weigh the same when it is polluted?
We have also had a great discussion around which of these (below) are matter and which are not. The ones that really got us thinking were smell, electricity, anger, heat, a shadow, and sound. A great discussion for helping us understand what is matter and what is energy.
We are going to explore all sorts of other things about the material world, including zooming into the particle level of atoms and molecules. It is going to be great fun!
