Leadership - Preschool

Here are some photos of the students showing some great leadership attributes. You were really awesome guys. You stayed focused on the children and interacted with them really well. They would have loved having you come. You have a bigger influence than you know!

Calendar art

These are the images that the students have chosen for their calendar. CA on PhotoPeach

Double exposures - Fete

Here are the final portraits that are being entered in the Fete on Saturday. You can be very proud guys. You have really developed your skills and have produced some stunning portraits.

Double Exposure on PhotoPeach

Lower Waipa athletics

Here are some photos from Lower Waipa athletics. Some awesome results guys.

Screen time quality

Today we looked at this article and discussed its message. The author discussed how although the length of our time on screens is important we should really spend more time talking about the quality of things we are doing during that time. We get to choose how we spend our time on the internet and some things will numb our minds and some things will grow and develop us. So let's (students and parents) take a check over this next week on the quality of things we are doing with screen time.

Art history

We have looked briefly at art history over the last 500 years. It has been fascinating learning about the interesting lives, stories, and habits of various artists. It has also been interesting to look at how art style has changed through the inventive and creative risks artists have taken. The students were encouraged to relfect on the art and identify their personal taste.

This is the powerpoint that we have worked through.

Art history from Room7tp

Technology - less is more?

Today we watched a TED talk of an 18 year old inventor who discussed her story and why she believes that having less makes you more creative. She was given very few toys as a child and instead was given a hot glue gun. Out of necessity she had to create her own toys. She also discussed how following the latest craze and immersing yourself in technology took time away from being creative.

We had some great discussion around this, especially in relation to technology. Students shared their stories of being creative when they were in a situation of having 'less'. We also discussed boredom and if it can be something that leads to creativity. Here is the TED talk.

More double exposures

The skills are developing and the students are getting more creative and producing some stunning portraits. Here are a few more.

Reflection and rotation

The students created some kaleidoscope art to help develop their understanding of reflection and rotation. It was a lot more tricky than it looked and some images needed some very careful consideration. Well done guys for persevering!

First double exposure portraits

We have had an awesome start to our double exposure portraits. We have been learning to use Pixlr editor (Online photo editing programme). There has been lots of learning around the process and the students have made excellent improvement. Here are some of their first completed portraits:

Ag day

We had a great Ag day yesterday. The weather ended up being not too bad and everything went ahead as planned. Well done to all those who had animals. It is such a valuable learning experience and process. It was great to see the training pay off, even though animals are not robots and do sometimes want to do their own thing.

Well done to those who completed the home challenges. There were some inspiring and complicated marble runs, as well as some clever masks and decorated footwear. I am sure you have learnt lots from those activities. Here are a few photos.

Slack lining

Today we had an awesome demonstration and introduction to slack lining. Jim Morrison kindly showed us his skills of balancing and walking on a slack line and then we all had a go. Having a go made us realise just how skilled he was (he had made it look so easy). It is a sport that develops such good balance skills and muscle control that transfers to so many different sports. It was amazing to see the improvement with each turn on the slack line. Wouldn't it be great to get our own slack line permanently set up at school!

Screens

As part of our literacy programme we are looking at digital technology and it's impact on us, including its advantages and disadvantages to the way we are living. The internet is with us to stay and it is shaping us whether we like it or not. We want the students to take control of how it shapes them and make good decisions that will ensure it is a positive influence on them.

We started off by viewing the Nigel Latta episode Screenagers. This had some hard hitting information which is a great springboard for the discussion we will be having. Using various articles and videos we will particularly look at screen time and the various ways you can spend on screen.

Using song lyrics to explore figurative language

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.

Here are the lyrics:

ART

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 band

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.

PRODUCTION - GO FOR GOLD!

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.

Oral language - Poverty

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.

Snow trip

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

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.

The Olympics - What do you know?

Created with Padlet

Classifying materials

 

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. 

Combustion

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.

Introverts and Extroverts

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.

Breaking up a molecule

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 is a video of the reaction.

Some more stunning writing

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."