Tuhituhi/STEM - Character & Diary writing

Over the past two weeks we have been making characters and bringing them to life. First, we planned their personalities, appearance and experiences. Then, we created them using polystyrene balls, hot glue, tooth picks, googly eyes, pom poms, paint, wool and pipe cleaners. After, we wrote a diary based on the perspective and experiences our character had during the day. 

A few examples of what our characters like to do in a day are, art and getting creative, going to the lego supermarket, making new friends, playing handball and other games, eating lots of yummy and healthy food and then going to bed at the end of the day in their 'houses' made by us. 
This has been a fun and enjoyable experience and we will bringing our characters home for the holidays to meet our whānau. 

Welcome back to school!

Small Places Process by Emily Speedy

STEM Learning - Small Places

STEM: Small World! by Emily Speedy

Make your own Rain Gauge!

Create a by Emily Speedy

Home Learning - Sunflowers!

 

Week 2 by Emily Speedy

Welcome Back! Term 4, Week 1

 

Rūma tekau ma rua - Term 4 by Emily Speedy

Up, Up and Away!

This week we explored the definition of flight! We looked into which objects can fly and how. 

We first explored this by creating different paper planes that are made to do different things. Our planes either glided, went really fast, or spun! We introduced fair testing by identifying who made the best plane for its purpose. We thought about what defined 'best' and how can we measure that? We also created objects that required wings and tested the best shape for creating lift. 

Fireworks Science!

From 'fireworks' in a test tube to changing the colour of a candle flame, room 12 loved the the exciting activities we did this week! We had the opportunity to predict, observe and explain natural phenomena, in the context of fire. What is the fire triangle? What are the different zones in a candle flame and what is happening in each zone? What creates the colours in fireworks? We explored these questions but in a safe an engaging way. 

Check out the pictures of our experiments below!

Digital Technology - LEGO Robotics!

Room nine were recently given the opportunity to work with new technology in our classroom! They were given a series of problem solving tasks that range in complexity. This tested their ability to follow instructions and problem solve with the opportunity to learn from their mistakes.

In the pictures below are some of the examples of what we did!

Robotic LEGO: 
The robotic lego was a popular choice. We were given instructions to follow to build a small robot which we made alterations to. We also made a robot that was able to break dance! We found this particularly challenging however, when we finished it we were so proud of our determination! Hopefully we get another opportunity to use this one day and learn how to programme it to break dance.

Duplo:
Some of us used the Duplo blocks to create structures that completed different tasks. This was fun as we got to fire canons at blocks and create an interactive theme park!

Unplugged robots:
We also had the opportunity to play with unplugged robots. This meant we didn't need a device and they are programmed to follow certain tasks or courses we set for them. We were able to programme these robots by either using images or by drawing the track using different colours. We learnt that the robots are programmed to react to a certain path or colour. We programmed our robots to move in different ways and complete certain tasks.

Sharing our Science Learning!

In term 2 we have been learning about the scientific perspective of how our world was created and how species have changed over time. This is called Evolution.

First, we did experiments, research and activities which provided us with knowledge about many different topics within Evolution. Examples of topics were; Extinction, Adaptation (Natural selection), Human evolution, The big bang theory,  Timeline of Earth, Humans adapting to live in space, and so much more.
We then were able to choose the topic that we found interesting and therefore wanted to further explore and research about.
Next, we gathered and interpreted data and became experts on our chosen topics. We then had to come up with a creative and interesting way of presenting our information. We had to think about what was going to be interesting to our audience and then think about the best way of presenting the information in order for our audience to learn. We decided that making our projects interactive was a great way to capture our audiences attention and would be something they are more likely to remember. 
All of our finished projects were fantastic and we were given great feedback from our Kauri team friends saying they were exciting and interactive. Each group or individual had so many positive things to reflect on and also something they could work on next time. The great thing about doing these projects is that it is the perfect opportunity to make mistakes, and learn from them. 

In term 3, we will have the opportunity to make our own Genius Hour projects where we will have more freedom, and be able to choose a topic about ANYTHING! Genius hour is a movement that allows us to explore our own passions and gives us a set time to learn about what we want to learn. We will then share our finished products with our whanau and reflect on our experience.

Leave a comment below about what you like about our Evolution projects! Did you see them in real life? What did you enjoy? What else would you like to know about Evolution?

Room Nine's Evolution Projects!

Science! Big Idea: Evolution

Science Big Idea: The diversity of organisms living and extinct is the result of Evolution

We are learning about the scientific perspective of how our world was created, this is called Evolution. We know that Evolution is change over time. This could be the change in organisms, land, and/or technology.

We have learnt so far about adaptation. Adaptation is when species learn to survive in their environments and often change/adapt. Sometimes natural selection (survival of the fittest) means that only the species that can learn to adapt to their environment will survive and therefore evolve.

As a part of our research about evolution/change over time we have looked at fossils! 

Fossils are the remains of the organisms that are no longer alive. Some of the fossils we have been looking at show us organisms who are now extinct. We have learned that the further down the layers the older the fossils are. Fossils also show how species have changed over time. Scientists are able to gather and interpret data and compare fossils from then and now to notice the differences.

We even had a go at making our own fossils!