Pinatas

As part of our Celebrations Inquiry, Room 1 have learned about Piñata’s. Here is Cathy's information:

The Piñata’s History

The piñata idea originated from China. In China people would break tiny clay pots with seeds in it to welcome spring.  It is also played in Greenland to welcome summer. Mexico and America play the game on birthdays. By Cathy

We made our own piñata from boxes and paper mache. We worked hard with our creative brains and come up with amazing designs.

Cathy's Pledge

How does this help the environment? If you reuse things less resources are used and there will also be less rubbish. Cathy

Doreen's Pledge

How does this help the environment?
This won't waste petrol as there is not an unlimited supply, there will be less pollution and less cars on the road.

Tread Lightly Learning

After our session with the Tread Lightly Caravan we brainstormed all our new learning.

• Put soft plastic rubbish (plastic bags, chip packets etc) in a soft plastic rubbish bin found in the supermarket or The Warehouse
• Cell phones in the landfills do not break down and can last more than 100 years
• A cell phone has poison in it and if it breaks down in a landfill then the poison goes into the soil, sea and rivers
• Hard plastic bottles can be made into clothes - polyester
• Cell phones are made with gold, silver, copper, iron, plastic, tin
• An old old cell phone can be given to Spark or Vodafone so they can recycle it
• We can all take shorter showers because it will save energy
• LED lights take less energy than other lights and are also a lot brighter
• Turn the tap off while you brush your teeth
• If we keep using more energy than we need we will need more Earths but we only have one!
• Phone companies and factories make their products and intend them to break or not last long so we buy more
• Electricity is the same as solar power - it makes things work like lights
• Some materials can make other things like - tin cans make paper clips, soft plastic makes plastic timber, hard plastic makes polyester for clothes, glass jars can make other glass jars
• Glass is made from sand
• Wash your clothes in cold water
• Solar power is from the sun
• Use the washing line instead of the drier
• When you have takeaways keep the plastic boxes and reuse or recycle them
• Recycle using your green bin
• We may have 78 cell phones in our lifetime if we change them every year
• Plastic is made from oil
• Don’t litter because the sea, lakes, rivers get all the rubbish that goes down the drains and some animals think it is food and then they either get sick, die or have to live with plastic ties in their mouths or on their body
• There are two different types of plastic - soft and hard
• Wash your car on the grass so soapy water doesn’t go out to the sea through the drains

Tread Lightly Caravan

Today we had a visit from the Tread Lightly Caravan to make us aware how some of our everyday life style choices have environmental consequences which are not sustainable.
By doing some fun activities we learned how we can make some small changes in our daily lives that will reduce the impact that our activities can have on the environment.
Room 1 are all inspired to live more environmentally responsible lifestyles and are eager to share their new learning with their families/whanau at home!

Bikes

On Tuesday Room 1 had another amazing day at Sunnyhills School as we were lucky enough to have Hamish and Adrianne from Big Foot Adventures  teach us about bike safety.

We had our own bikes and helmets checked. It was interesting to know that 21 helmets were either the wrong size, had straps that weren't fitting correctly or helmets had cracks. Hamish and Adrienne helped us with fixing them up. To have a helmet that is a correct fit we learned to do the cyclist salute and got to know how straps need to be a 'Y' and not a 'V'. We made connections to our learning about the brain earlier in the term to wearing our helmets as they protects and keeps the brain safe from injury.

We learned about how to check if our bike is safe to use. We must check brakes, tyres, rear red reflector and make sure the quick release leavers are done up properly.

We learned the three legal requirements that a bike must have to go on the road are; two brakes, a rear red reflector and the rider must be wearing a helmet.

Character Parade

Another highlight of Literacy Week was our Character Parade this morning. Room 1 was filled with Alice in Wonderland's, Tin Tin, Cruella De Vil, the White Rabbit, a Mario brother, pirates, Aladdin, Snow White, Harry Potter, Little Red Riding Hood, Slinky Malinki, a witch, Emma Rose, a detective and many more! 

The Writing Process has Begun

Room 1 are collaboratively writing picture books.
The writing process began by reading a number of picture books and discussing, characters, settings, problems, resolutions, endings and illustrations! We then brainstormed our own ideas and when final decisions were made for characters and story line we made storyboards to plan out our books. When these were finished we began writing! We will continue next week producing our picture books.

Literacy Week

On Wednesday we were entertained by New Zealand Playhouse with their show, "Fairest of Them All". Room 1 thoroughly enjoyed watching the show while laughing, singing and pulling faces!

Literacy Week

On Monday we had a visit from author Des Hunt. He used his passion for science to show us the writing process of a narrative. Des demonstrated how to begin with a hook to get our reader excited, develop the story line and then build up the story before reaching the end.
Room 1 enjoyed watching Des demonstrate some very cool science experiments.

The Brain

Yesterday Dr Melodie Barr a Psychologist and Mr Mac's better half, came to speak to the Senior School about the brain. 

Before we went to the library to listen to the presentation we discussed what we knew about the brain, which wasn't very much, although we did know where it is located!

After hearing Melodie's talk we brainstormed together what we learnt. 

Here are some of the statements that we made:

The right side of your brain controls your left side, and the left side controls your right side - Matthew D

The brain isn’t able to feel any pain - Trelise

In the brain there are neurons that connect with other neurons  - Na’eemah

When you learn something different neurons send the new information to a ‘draw’ - Matthew Y

The more times you use a pathway in your brain the stronger they get and if you don’t use a pathway it slowly becomes weaker - Neil

When you hurt yourself a message goes up your spine and into the brain - Isabella

You lose neurons when you get older - Callum

The brain can change over time - neuroplasticity - Cathy

The back of the brain is where your vision is controlled - Andrew

The brain has liquid around it to protect it and so it is not too heavy - Mark

The liquid around the brain makes it lighter - Emily

The size of the brain is the same as your two fists held together - Sophie

The brain is split in half, there are two parts to it - Aya

If a part of the brain is damaged or taken out other parts of the brain can take over and new pathways are created - Neil

People can be awake during brain surgery and they can even answer questions! - Cathy

It is important to look after the brain by eating good food.

We all enjoyed listening to Melodie and learning about the fascinating brain.

What is your choice for the New Zealand flag?

Rooms 1 and 11 met today to have a vote!. We talked about what it means to vote and looked at the two flags.We had a voting booth set up in the back of the room where we could place our vote.
The results were:

Room 1 -   new flag 11 votes - old flag 14 votes
Room 11 - new flag 16 votes - old flag 3 votes

Voting on PhotoPeach

Looking for Insects

Our buddies are learning about insects. They are very knowledgeable about insects and invited Room 1 on a 'Bug Hunt'. We had lots of fun together exploring Sunnyhills School for insects either up in the air, on trees or on the ground.


Looking for Insects on PhotoPeach

What is Room 1 Most Excited About this Year?

Created with Tagul.com