Last week we started off our science unit with an exciting experiment that showed us how the human digestive system works. We will use the notes and diagrams we created from this experiment as content for our writing unit (explanations). Enjoy the following photos that show the food being “digested” from “gums to bums”!

Wow – the school holidays absolutely flew by – and now we are into our learning for term 2! It has been wonderful to see so many happy faces in and out of the classroom already – and so much enthusiasm showed for our learning.

So far this term we have finished reflection art, created an ANZAC reading wall display, and have been practicing squash skills. For our art we had to cut out a silhouette figure that illustrated a challenging moment for us from term 1. Then we had to cover an A4 piece of paper with beautiful and interesting patterns and colours – we are really trying to practice accurate and careful drawing skills.

We are loving learning squash skills with a Matt from North Otago Squash. We have practiced throwing, catching, and working together in teams through a variety of games.

In writing, we have been working on editing our work with the DRAFT process, and we have started work for the 100 Word Challenge. Make sure you read our 100WC entries we have posted on individual student blogs.

On Thursday, we were lucky enough to have some visitors from the University of Otago and Otago Museum come to teach us about science.

At one of the stations we learnt about the acidity and PH levels of different substances; vinegar, baking soda in water, coca cola zero sugar, lemon juice, and coca cola no sugar. We used PH strips to test the acidity of these liquids and observed the following:

• That soda is bad for you.
• Both coca cola drinks, the vinegar and the lemon juice had the same amount of acid in them. The baking soda in water was less acidic.

We also learnt about how scientists usually do not sniff substances to find out what they are – because they could be poisonous!

At another station, we made models of neurons and discovered how they connect and send signals around our brain when we learn different things. The adults teaching us also explained how there are different parts of our that control different bodily functions. It was really interesting to find out how when some parts of our brain are not working, other parts cannot function properly.

Many students found the 3rd station to be the most exciting. This was because we got to wear goggles that made your vision go crazy! When you looked through these goggles, it made part of the world go upside down! We tried to throw hacky sacks into buckets, and tried to walk in straight lines whilst wearing these goggles – it was very entertaining!

At the last station, we also learnt about the PH levels in our urine. We tested how drinking more or less water affects the colour of a human’s urine using water with food colouring (not real urine – thank goodness!).

Questions we had after this session:

•  

  How does your kidney influence so much or your health?

• How did the goggles hurt my brain so much

  Were the adults interested in science when they were young? What was their favourite part of science? How long had they been working in science? Who were the adults’ biggest supporter when they started showing an interest in science.

On Friday morning, room 3 joined room 10 to learn some more about how to blog. We enjoyed learning more about how to…

• Comment and reply to comments
• Write more interesting posts
• Add images and media to our posts
• Customize our blog pages
• Link our new posts to the edublogs Google form, so that other people can find and comment on our posts.

In doing this, room’s 10 and 3 were practicing the Maaori value of tuakana teina – teaching and learning with each other.

Thank you to room 10 for teaching us so much about blogging!

Make sure you check out Ms May and room 10’s blog at http://msmayois.edublogs.org/ .

Three things i learnt during Tongan language week were  the octopus and rat myth, that Tonga have a king and a prime minister, that while over 100,000 people live in
Tonga over 200,000 Tongans live overseas.

The easiest part was probably coloring in the puzzle pieces. The most challenging would have been ether cutting out or sticking it together.

Another place i want to learn about is Scotland because my Nana is from and i would like to learn about it.

I think something i would do next time is work and sit on my own so i don’t get distracted and so that i can finish in the given time.

Autumn

Leaves crunching under feet

Vibrant colored leaves falling

Happy for netball

by Lilly Clarke

Otematata Holidays

It was a time to remember the dreading sound of the drop saw. Kirsten, Jan, Loui and Peter all came around for the outing of the door, which Dad was replacing and putting wood around it to hold it up.

Meanwhile Zoe and I were tucked up in our newly made birds nest chair. Blankets, pillows and devices filled the nest. After that we covered the nest in blankets.

Then the drop saw started up again cutting wood for the fitting of the door. it was getting hot in our cave and I could feel the frustration of Dad heating up and the old door got removed. I was joking to Zoe that we might have to sleep outside because the door might not fit and the mornings in Otematata are FREEZING! The only thing Zoe and I could hear everyone saying was ” what is this door made of?” , ” its so heavy”.

After that hours work and the door was  fully in and in good working order it was time for some good bit of  home baking and a nice cold drink. Dad was relieved and so was I that it would be a nice warm cozy night.

Who ever knew that a sheep (ram) could jump a fence well I never did. I was just feeding my cat and dog when I glanced up and saw this ugly beast charging towards me from down the back of the section. I sprinted to the hot car which had been sitting in the sun all day and jumped in fast  the air was so humid. The ram stomped at Missie my cat and then at Tia my dog. Then the ram ran into the garage and knocked Dad’s motorbike off the stand then sprinted back outside. Then the garage suddenly stared to unfold and come down by that time my heart was about to jump out of my skin. Luckily enough it was only Mum and she had hauled the ram back down to the paddock and got me carefully out of the sweating car. I was just so shaken about what had just unfolded in front of my eyes.

By Sophie Notman

Thursday 27th September 2018 

Did you know that earthquakes are created by giants? They beat the ground hard with there feet. Here’s the ingredients  they use to make waves. Big steel cap boots to make the sound  loud , a red Te-shirt with a white love heart and green three-quarter shorts. Their hair is shoulder length and all ways wears their hair up in a bun. They pound the ground only twice a year all over the world . The giants are called Soft Teddy Bears. Although they send gigantic waves knocking people to their feet. The sound proof  walls and doors they have has a massive impact  on how big the earthquake is. So there you have it how earthquakes are invented.

By Sophie Notman

Wednesday 26th September 2018 

BULLING SHOULD BE BAND??

I think bulling is bad because it makes a lot of people get upset and angry. Bullies call people name