It's been great!

It's that time of the year to look back on all of the special times we have had and to say 

"Merry Christmas, have a safe New Years

and a well earned holiday!"

Huffing and Popping

Last week we (finally) had out Huff N Puff running races.  We had practised over the last few weeks and we were ready to go! Everyone did a great job.

Last week we also said goodbye to Mrs Townsend who had been working in Room 5 as a student teacher. We all loved her enthusiasm and teaching us a new fitness game. We will miss her.

To finish off our inquiry unit we explored the changes that happen to corn kernels when we heat them. We hypothesised that it might only be a temporary change if we put popped corn back into the microwave or left it in some water. In the end, we found out that it is a permanent change.

On Wednesday, the Takapuna Librarian came to school to show us some New Zealand authored books and to tell us that we can go to the library in the holiday.

Materials Can Change

Welcome to Ella and Maia to Room 5 this week.

Over the last few weeks we have focused on this concept for our inquiry.

Materials can be changed by applying different processes

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Last week we looked at how water can change when we heat or freeze it. We discovered that water can turn into steam or ice and that it can has a temporary change.

We saw that tea is a permanent change.

This week, based on Sophia's suggestion, we inquired into paint.

Our question was, If we mix paint can it change back?

We first mixed red and white to make pink.

Our prediction was that we could turn it back to red paint if we added lots of red to it again.

In the end, we decided that mixing paint creates a permanent change as we couldn't make it turn red again.

We mixed white and red paint.

We mixed them and it made pink.

We added more red paint to change it back to red.

We kept adding more red paint but it didn't go back to red.
It was a permanent change.

A week of super visitors

On Monday Room 5 celebrated 100 days at school!

We had a fun filled day which started with making our One Hundred Days Smarter crowns.  We completed other 100 day activities while we waited for our super hero friend, Zero the Hero to arrive. Finally, after counting all of our pieces of food and having our shared morning tea, Zero the Hero flew through the air to congratulate us on knowing all about the number one hundred and his special number - zero!

We also had a visit from Ronald McDonald who talked to us about keeping safe while walking and putting on our seat belt while in the car. Stop, Look and Listen and Make it Click!

On Friday we had an author come to share with us his books.

Lastly, congratulations to Albert and Sylvester for becoming independent writers and gaining a certificate during our syndicate assembly.

OUR ENVIRONMENT

This week we had a focus on How we live in the world. 

First of all we looked at the environment with the help of the teachers at The Tread Lightly Caravan. We learnt that we can help our environment such as planting a seed or how keeping our land and seas free from rubbish makes for a better world.  
Our class goal is to pick up rubbish if we see it, even if it's not ours.

To end our fire safety unit, we met and talked to the firemen. They were very impressed that we knew how to keep safe, where to go and what to shout if we were in a fire. We practised how to stay low and go to the safe meeting place.

 On Friday, we participated in the school's Respect Our Community day. Two teacher's brought in their dogs and we learnt how to be safe around dogs.