Ethan's guitar

Cameron took this video too. Ethan is picking out a tune on his guitar. It sounds great - maybe you can play the whole piece to us next time!

Reporters: Cameron and Lucy

Janae plays the violin for Room 3

We have been looking at different types of art. Here is an example of musical art. Janae brought her violin to play for us.

Cameron was the camera person for the week. This is an example of his great camera work.

Reporter: Cameron

Sour Worm poem with similes

Eating sour worms

Sour worms are like a sweet sour kick

That make you cough.

They get stuck in your teeth like toffee.

When I eat sour worms

My mouth explodes

Like a volcano of sourness.

By Jack B Year 4

Should our school day be longer?

During a Skype call with Carol this morning, Mrs Scarlet said there were so many exciting things to fit into our school day, but there wasn't enough time to do them all!

So, Carol asked the 4 or 5 students on the call if they thought the school day should be a little longer - say an extra hour and finishing at 4 pm. Most of those students thought that might be a good idea!

So, if you are a student, we'd like to know what YOU think! Please post a sticky on our Wallwisher wall. Please watch your spelling :-)

And, if you are a parent or a teacher, please post us a comment at the bottom of our blog post!

What is Art? Our first thoughts...

We have just begun a new inquiry - What is Art? We brainstormed our ideas, and then made Wordles with a partner to share our ideas. The Wordles were put together in iPhoto to make a slideshow.

What do YOU think art is? Please leave us a comment!

Kick Off For Kaiapoi Kids

Our inquiry about Children's Rights took on a new turn after the recent earthquake. Rooms 3 and 4 decided to raise money to help the children in Kaiapoi have their rights met in the next holidays to have fun and friendship together.

We organised stalls, and a kick-off with a signed and used ball of Daniel Carter's, and a mufti day at school. We raised $498 by selling books, toys, baking, sausages, sushi and homemade sweets. We decided what we were doing and organised it all ourselves!

The day was fine, and much fun was had by us and all those who attended. The money is going to go to the Kaiapoi Community Trust who are organising children's programmes in the next school holidays.

Alice's Descriptive Writing

Alice is reading her descriptive writing to the class. The class are drawing the picture as she describes it.

I wonder how close it will look to her word picture?

Molly's descriptive writing

We have been learning to use describing words when writing narrative stories. Molly is reading hers to the class.

Would you be able to draw an accurate picture from her description?

Random Acts of Kindness

Today was Random Acts of Kindness Day.

Matthew was feeling sad thinking about his Grandad who had died. James came along and talked with him. He shared how his Grandma had recently died as well. They cheered each other up by playing a game together.

What a wonderful act of kindness!

Matthew was caught randomly being kind to Janae who had hurt her knee and needed a plaster to cover her wound. Matthew even had a spare plaster in his bag which he gave for Janae to use.

What random acts of kindness have you spotted around you?

Please leave us a comment.

African Art

We have made these African pictures using only brown and black paper to imitate the way they are made in Africa with materials available.

Through this we have been learning about perspective. Somethings are in the distance and others in the foreground.

Our Wondering Wall

Reporter: George

Room 3's Wondering Wall

Reporter: Cameron

Cameron the Learner

Reporter: Ethan

Wonderful Work

Reporter: Sophie

Wonderful Singing

Reporter: Janae

Cameron's Learning Conversation

Reporter: Scott

Kai Bag

Make a toy from rubbish

Pictures from our Literacy books

This is an example of some of the work we do in our Literacy books - we are really proud of our pictures.

Room 3 Working Hard

We have been working really hard in class.

Extraordinary icecream

We have been making icecream. Jackson made a video of it. Come and see!

Kindness is..... By Sam

Sam finished his slideshow today!

It was made in iPhoto. He took some of his own photos, and found others to use from Galleries on the network. Sam put the photos in the order he wanted and then made captions for the different parts of the slideshow. There are some fun random transitions between the photos.

Sam really likes the music he chose to go with this slideshow. Perhaps the words of the song show that kindness is really about being a friend to everyone!

Sam's iPhoto Slideshow

Here is a photo of Sam, working on a slideshow. He's been out and about taking photos in the playground and now he is learning how to use iPhoto to put them together to make an interesting slideshow, with some captions and music.

He hopes to have this ready to show you on the blog next week. Look out for it on Thursday 20 May - there might be a photo of YOU in the slideshow!

A 'New' Old Maths Game!

Today Carol brought along her old disk for the computer game 'The Logical Journey of the Zoombinis'. This game was very popular several years ago and, from the reactions of the class when they saw it, it is just as popular today!

The boys, especially, were fascinated with the game (as you can see by the photo and video), but the Zoombinis series of games are ones that girls will enjoy, too!

The 'Zoombinis' games are wonderful examples of how games can be a lot of fun, but also have enormous educational value. Here is a list of just some of the maths covered in this game: attributes and combinations, sets, matching and comparing, sequential logic, graphs, sorting and ordering, algebraic thinking, balancing equations, problem-solving, forming and testing hypotheses, collecting evidence strategically, organising and analysing data, pattern finding, logical reasoning, statistical thinking - WOW! You can view the introductory scenes of the game here.

Actually, reading is part of this game as well - you'll see the game manual being referred to in the video clip! I wish I'd been a bit quicker with the camera, too, in order to capture the amazing conversation that was taking place about how to solve the puzzles/challenges.

Angus, the Inventor

Angus (age 7) went to One Day School (ODS) this week and he was learning about Toilets Through the Ages. So he used clay to make a model of his idea for a Toilet of the Future. Angus is keen to tell you how it works.

Our Inquiry Display

Room 3 visited Science Alive as Forensic Investigators to help them to answer their wondering question: Imagine what could happen! We experimented with evidence and we solved a crime using chemistry. WOW, it was exciting!

This display shows our wondering question and other questions we are asking and researching to find out about kitchen chemistry. Sophie, Molly, Lucy and Anna helped us to decorate our wondering question.

What we did in the holidays!

We have just finished two weeks of school holiday. The students have done lots of interesting things. Take a look at our wall to see what we did!

Results of studying and graphing the numbers and colours of M&Ms in a 49g packet

Back in March we did a post showing how we were learning about graphing by comparing the numbers and colours of M&Ms in a 49g packet of M&Ms.

Learning how to make graphs on the computer (10 March)

Here are our results in a spreadsheet:



Here are the graphs we made:

Here are the total results in a graph:

• The most common colour in a packet of M&Ms was Blue, by far!
• The least common colour in a packet of M&Ms was Red.
• The colour the students liked best was Blue, and that was the most common colour in most of the packets.
• There are different numbers of M&Ms in each box.
• There are different numbers of colours in each box.
  
• You can see from our graph that some people got 5 more Pebbles than others! That seems like a lot!
  

Why do you think there is such a difference in the numbers of M&Ms between the different boxes?

Please post a Comment below, with your ideas about why this might be.

Clip and Climb

This is Ben and James at Clip and Climb. We had lots of fun. Ben and I climbed the big walls. It was a big challenge to get to the top. We didn’t make it the first time. But we never gave up. We had lots of fun. It was difficult.

Happiness of Duck Shooting - Jack's Poem

It is the smell of rain,

when the colour of red rises,
and it looks like it is paradise.
it tastes like duck for dinner.
it sounds like the guns.
MY BIG DAY!

(Age 7 years)

Our 'I Am Everyone' Video

Some of the Icebreakers (Year 3 and 4 students) have created a video called 'I Am Everyone'. They were inspired by a YouTube Video of the same name.

After seeing the video, the children realised that they become a little part of everyone around them, or of the things that happen to them, or even of their pets or toys. They wanted to create their own video, so some of them brought photos to school and were able to record their favourite ideas into iMovie 09 to create this video.

We'd love to hear your comments, below, on WHO or WHAT has made YOU who you are?........ I am...........?

Workings of the Brain

We have studied how we learn. We have discovered how important our brains are to our learning. There are many thousands of messages sent from the brain to all parts of our body at any one moment. This art work of Ben's is to show how many messages are moving around by dendrites at any one time.

We made ten dots on both sides of the page and then connected them all together with a ruler. It wasn't easy to get the lines straight but Ben persevered to the end. What an interesting pattern he created! Of course, the brain has millions of connections like this.

Naomi at Clip and Climb

When my class went to Clip 'n' Climb I was so excited. I am an Adventurous girl. I had a try first on the big cheese. I went as high as I could. I like Clip 'n' Climb. It is really fun.

Janae tells us about the Springston School Triathlon

At the triathlon we were waiting for our turn. I was Adventurous taking a risk and being a Springston School learner.

George at Clip and Climb

This is me climbing blindfolded up the wall at Clip and Climb. I felt happy with what I achieved. I've never done this before blindfolded. I am a Springston A+ Adventurous learner.

Clip and Climb - brave teacher!

"Are you really climbing that wall Mrs Scarlet?"

But you haven't got your safety harness on!

"Are you being an A+ Springston person?"

Learning how to make graphs on the computer

Today a group of Year 4 students from class was learning how to make a graph on the computer. They were using software called 'Numbers' on the Macbooks. The numbers were put into the cells on the spreadsheet, and then a graph was made. They will be talking more about their graphs and what they found out about each box of Pebbles in the next week or two.

Here they are, busy counting the numbers of each different colour in a box of Pebbles. It was amazing watching the graphs appear and it was fun changing the colours of each part of the graph. It was even more fun being able to eat the Pebbles afterwards! These students were great A+ students who shared their Pebbles with others back in class, without being asked to!

Sam's writing targets

Get a Voki now!

Springston School Triathlon

We did a triathlon. We had to run two times around the field, ride our bikes and swim in the pool and it was cool. Then we had iceblocks.

Macaulay

Springston School Triathlon

The triathlon was fun because I liked swimming, running and biking. We had to bike four laps of the field.  We got ice blocks after we had finished.

Imagine an Icebreaker...!

We would like to introduce the Icebreakers! They have imagined what they might be in the future. Nothing is too big for them to aim for.