2013 Collage

The students have been creating collages of their 2013 year at Parkvale School. Elijah and Lily put this collage together from pictures chosen by each student from their own blogs. I think they did a great job. They even managed to include a Movember mustache! Each student chose two pictures: one of the pictures had to show their face. The collage will appear in the school magazine.

Our learning adventures continue tomorrow with the Year 6 cycling camp and the Year 5s cycling on the road for the first time! Check out the NZ Cycling Road Code and a neat safe cycling post by Room 17.

Mathletics 2013

Here are our five finalists from Room 16 for Mathletics 2013.

We were learning to use geometric designs to create a poster. It involved a lot of accurate measuring and drawing.

Create a Symmetrical Mathletics Poster:

We will know we can do this when:
 Used a ruler to accurately measure and draw all straight lines
 Our design is symmetrical (balanced) from the centre or rotated
 Any curved lines are drawn with a compass
 There are no free drawn lines
 Has Mathletics 2013 carefully drawn 
 Black and white only- (sharpie)
 All unneeded pencil lines are rubbed out. 

Joshua, Year 6

Tyrone, Year 5

Elijah, Year 5

Hannah, Year 6

Cameron, Year 5

Imaginary Cycling

We are learning about safe cycling. These pictures are not examples of safe cycling! Instead, we are using them to motivate some creative writing. Which one is your favourite? Why?

Sky Rider

My First Training Wheels

Your Turn First

Here are some entertaining sentences:

I get pushed on my way! “AHHHH you idiots!” I scream. Ben

I closed my eyes and found that my tummy was feeling a little sick. It felt as if the food and stuff inside it was floating amongst the gravity. Hemani

‘I want to ride my bike, mum,’ I said. ‘Well... ride off a cliff then,’ she replied. ‘Ok, I will then’. Zach

My tummy feels weird like its got butterflies flying around. Imaan

I waited to go to the toilet.4 minutes later. Hurry up! Hurry up!!! Come out. NOOOOO! Shivom

I hope I don’t fall down and get hurt. Emma

This is awesome! Nikitah J.

“Hey,” I say to Elijah, “Do you want to play? ‘I dare you’.” 5 minutes later... Tyrone

I knew I shouldn't of put the helium in my tyres. But there was 10 bucks on the line. Do you know how many cool things you can buy with 10 bucks? Not many, but still it’s 10 bucks. Elijah

Adrenalin rushing. I've just invented the new  MAGIC flying bike!!! Let’s GO! Zeb

“Ahhhhhhh!" I can't believe what I am going to do! Am I crazy? Nakita

I am getting there, I am trying my best to get there. Tracey

Wow this is amazing but there is one problem, how am I going to get down? Bree

I feel like I am going 100 miles per hour! Not. Hannah

I finally reach the top of the ramp, 1km above the ground, adrenaline was pumping, my heart couldn't stop beating. Inderpreet

So I take some deep breaths and say “hasta la vista, baby” as I push off. Marcus

It’s now or never! Cameron

New Trailer for Joey Pigza Swallowed The Key!

We have been reading the book Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key by Jack Gantos. It is a very special book because it is funny, moving and really makes you think. It also helps us understand the challenges that people can face.

Bree is a fantastic Joey Pigza!

Last week, Hannah, Bree, Olivia and Lily created a trailer about the book so far. I thought it was great and it really showed their creativity and how much they understood about key events in the story.

Joey pigza Swallowed The Key from Room16 Parkvale on Vimeo.

How Much Science Can You Fit Into 6 Seconds?

Watch the video below. Which experiments would you like to try? Have you got any ideas to create your own six second science video? Have a try!

 

Race a Speedboat

Goal

Can you make a paper boat race across the water just by gently touching the surface of the water?

Gently does it...

Hypothesis (What I think will happen)

Crighton: "The washing liquid will make bubbles and push the boat along the water."
Hemani: "I think that as you touch the water gently with a little dish wash on your finger the water might get a little bubbly and it might make the water push away. Just like how I wash the dishes at home. As I put the dish wash on any plate or glass the soap starts getting bubbly."
Marcus: "I think that the dishwashing liquid would make bubbles and when the bubbles pop it would let out air and then the air will push the boat."
Bree: "I think the dish washing liquid will make bubbles and the the bubble will make wave and the boat will move."

Materials

Coloured card, washing up liquid, pencil or sharpie, scissors, large container of water.

Method (What we did)

1. Drew and cut a boat shape (bird's eye view) out of the cardboard.
2. Teva: "We gently put our boats on the water, and tapped the water with washing liquid on our finger." 

Observation (What happened)

Elijah: "When we put our fingers in the water, the boats moved." 
When I did it with Room 18, the boats moved across to the other side.

Speedboat from Kieren Moriarty on Vimeo.

Conclusion (Why I think it happened)

The water surface tension is broken behind the boat. This means the surface tension is stronger in front of the boat and it pulls the boat forwards.

Short Experiment to Follow Up: Make Metal Float

Gently place a paperclip on the water’s surface.

Heavy metal?

What will happen? Will it sink or float?

Does air weigh anything?

A powerful chop!

We have been doing science experiments around air, movement and force. Check out the wonderful science reports on our students' blogs like this one by Marcus. Yesterday we did a fun little experiment to prove if air weighs anything or not.

 Equipment: 

Ruler, newspaper, table, volunteer (who can karate chop).

 Method:

1. Place table on ruler so it balances with some of the ruler off the table.
2. Karate chop the ruler (to the side of the table).
3. Pick the ruler up, place it back where it was.
4. Screw up a sheet of newspaper, place it on top of the ruler on the table side.
5. Repeat step 2.
6. Repeat step 3.
7. Place a flat sheet of paper so that it covers the ruler on the table side. Smooth it down so that there is no air between the ruler and the piece of paper.
8. Repeat step 2.

 Hypothesis: 

 The ruler will flip with the force of the karate chop. When you put the screwed up bit of paper on, there will be a catapult effect. However, when you flatten the paper down, the weight of the air on the ruler acts like a counter force. When you karate chop this time, your force is met by the weight of air now holding the ruler down and the ruler smashes.

 Results: 

 Look and see!




Ruler Smash! from Kieren Moriarty on Vimeo.

Here is a clown doing the experiment:

 

Nala and Zippa

On Friday, the Tree of PRIDE were visited by two mischievious labrador puppies. Nala and Zippa are from the same litter. Their owners, Henry and Joshua are both proud daddies.

Nala, Simba's playmate 

Room 16 thought they were so cute, except for Teva who thought "they were a little terrifying." They definitely were excitable and curious. You can see for yourself by watching the video below. Sharyn (Josh's Mum) said that "they are the most photographed puppies in the world." Joshua also wrote a neat story about the arrival of Nala which is definitely worth a read.




 
Nala and Zippa from Kieren Moriarty on Vimeo.
Music: Don't go down the mine, Dad by Frank Miller used under licence through Creative Commons.

Number Power Lines

For a starter in maths today, we tried playing Number Power Lines. It is a fun game and Room 16 enjoyed competing against each other. The idea is to make each power line match a given total using all the numbers that you are given. Our main strategy was guess and check. However the best learning was to come later...

Look I am on Level 8, Mum!

Play Time

Crighton certainly got ahead of me when we were playing the online game, as he raced through the levels. Then Henry worked out how to get on to Phase 2, using the password that you earn in Phase 1.

Creating

Following the game, the students had a go at designing their own algebra power line. For the first challenge, the students had to have three connected power lines that added to 16. You were not allowed to use a number more than once. Here is a collaborative Google drawing of some successful creations.

Look how different each pattern is to each other. Do all the lines add to 16?

The next challenge was to create four connected power lines that all add to 24. Again, not using any number more than once. Do the lines below all add to 24?

One of these patterns is not quite like the others.

What phase or level can you get up to in Algebra Power Line? Can you create your own Algebra Power Line pattern for others to work out?

Holiday Highlights

   
       












We have enjoyed our holiday and it is great to be back in Room 16! Here are some holiday highlights that the students will be sharing on their blogs soon. Our highlights were pasted into Star Wars Crawl Creator and Tagul to produce the word displays. If you scroll over the Tagul word cloud, the text is highlighted and then zooms out so you are able to read the smaller words.