Maths in action

As a class we love getting outside when we’re learning. And lucky for us the weather was stunning (if not a little chilly!). 

Learners have been investigating measurement in the classroom (using personal benchmarks, estimating and learning about units of measurement). 

They used these skills to find out more about their outside learning environment. 

Galileo! Galileo! Galileo!

 On Thursday the 3rd of June we went to the Waikato museum and saw many things.

Here are some of our favourite parts of our trip:

Discovering and learning about Galileo - Samantha. 

The ginormous kaleidoscope - Sophie. 

Building simple machines like the pulley - Amelia and Moss.

Pulling the balls on the Newtons cradle and watching them swing - Lily.

Putting the balls down the ramps and making them roll down - Andie.

Making the space puzzle - Eden.

The spinning solar system - Naomi and Isabel.

Lifting the weights using a pulley - Kelly-May.

Making balls race on the ramp - Jaden. 

Making kites

The windy weather lately has been perfect kite flying weather. Except we didn’t have any kites. 

We collected some natural resources that we thought would be useful for making kites and spent the day designing and constructing kites. 

Did they fly? Not as well as we had hoped, so back to the drawing board to see where we can make changes. 

Daffodils in autumn

On a sunny Friday afternoon room 16 helped to plant some daffodils in the garden underneath the massive oak tree at the front of the school. 

We learned that they had to be planted a certain way or their shoots would go down instead up up. We also learned that they will sleep under the dirt while it’s cold and wintery, to bloom in the warmer months of spring.

 

"The Garden's Secret's"

 This afternoon we met Sarah Johnson, who is an author. 

We did a role play of the Garden's Secrets, which is a book that she wrote. She also showed us some keys to a castle in Scotland. 

We thought about what questions we would like to ask Sarah. 

Q: How long have you been an author? 

A: 26 years. 

How many books have you written? 

Q: What is your favourite book?

A: The Borrowers

Q: How many illustrators have you worked with?

A: Two or three. 

Q: How do you get good at writing?

A: Practice. your brain is like a muscle. 

Q: Why was there a peacock in the book?

A: The people from the garden's wanted a peacock in the book. 

We really liked meeting Sarah.

Hamilton Gardens

On a warm Thursday morning Room 16 took the bus to the Hamilton Gardens. While we were at the gardens we walked around the trail from the book "The Garden's Secrets". We sketched in our books and did a scavenger hunt. We had morning tea at the amphitheatre in the Italian Garden. To finish our trip we played on the playground. We were hot, sweaty and tired coming back to school on the bus.  

The Italian garden was very colourful and smelled like beautiful flowers. Sophie and Sophie

I saw a spider and it was scary and it looked poisonous. Kelly-May and Flynn

The Chinese garden was nice because it smelt like peaches. Winter and Elias

The opening and closing door was bright yellow and very unique. Isabel and Kanishka

Our favourite thing on our trip was doing the scavenger hunt. Safwan and Jaden

Our favourite place was the Chinese Garden because it was very calm. Andie and Amelia

Our favourite place was the Italian Garden because we liked the fountain. Cooper and Eden

The spider in the Italian Garden was our favourite. Cooper and Lexus

We went to the Gardens. Our favourite part was the giant hands. Moss and Zach

The place we like the most in the garden is the waterfall in the Italian Garden. Naomi and Samantha

The best thing in the Hamilton Gardens is the Egyptian Statues. Spartak and Akshay

Hikoi ki a Hukanui Marae

On a bright sunny Monday morning, Hamilton East school took a trip to Hukanui Marae. 

Learners, teachers and whānau were welcomed in to the marae with a traditional powhiri. 

We then got a chance to sit in the wharenui (Tuturuapapa) and hear some of the history of the marae. 

Following that we sketched some of the sights of the marae that we found interesting. 

The Cool Bean.

This week for Play, Make, Create our book was “The Cool Bean” by Jory John. Learners decided the moral of the story was its cool to be yourself and that it’s cool to be kind. They had a fantastic time making and creating and exploring the dress ups that were part of the book provocation. 

Kahuku

Amelia bought in two chrysalis and a butterfly for Akomanga 16 to observe. We have watched them hatch and we ever able to hold them before they were ready to fly. The class have learned about how long it takes for a caterpillar to weave its cocoon, how long they stay in the chrysalis for and what butterflies need to survive.