The Great Marble Challenge

 In Te Ngahere we did a Marble Challenge. We did this Marble challenge because we were learning about a scientific method. Also we were getting ideas for our science fair project. My class divided themselves into  groups of three. I was with Ashlyn and Jade-O. My group did really well with the practice testing because we almost got the same numbers but the marble ramp wasn’t what we expected so if we get time later we could make it better. The whole class had to finish on Friday because we had a marble ramp test. We didn’t come first but at least we worked out what we did wrong. 

Here are some pictures of us enjoying our work: 

Have you ever made a marble ramp???

The Interesting Scientific Method

 We did an amazing process called the Scientific Method that scientist use for experimenting and investigating. We did an  Infographic using  Google drawing, Canva or Easelly. the scientific steps are :

1. Ask a Question 

2. .Gather information or data 

3. Make a hypothesis means make a guess

4.Experiment and test your guess

5. Inspect your test result 

6.Modify your hypothesis or guess, if necessary

7.  Present a conclusion 

8.Retest( often done by other scientists) 

 We are doing this Scientific Method because this week we will be doing a science fair project

Have you ever heard about the scientific method before????

Astonishing Mosaic Art

 Last week we learnt something very creative and innovation the Mosaic Art. A Mosaic Art is an image made of different size of coloured pieces of stone or glass covering a surface. First we have to choose a picture of our interest, then with the help of polyline tool we covered the picture with random shapes. Once the entire picture is covered with different sized shapes, we removed the picture from the background. Now we are ready with our colourful mosaic art.I really enjoyed doing this, as I am a creative person and always eager to learn new art forms. I made a Pikachu mosaic art. Next time I will make this art with a background of an animal picture and cover it with colourful shapes. The thing that found hard was that how we had to make the shapes again and again to fill which took a while because we did it on our chromebook .The easy part was that I choose an easy picture to start with cause I have never done this before.  

Do you know any famous Mosaic Artist.  

 

Smart Surfing and its Importance!!!

In Te Ngahere we have been learning about Smart Surfing. In this learning a video was shown to all of us where a girl made an unacceptable poster of her and post it publicly on her online account. After seeing such a poster one of her classmate bullied her and one stranger also wanted to take an undue advantage of the information she shared. We have to make a Dlo with are buddys or make a poster alone of our learning on this topic. Through this activity we got the awareness about using the online apps safely, so that we can protect ourselves from bullying and strangers can’t use our information for inappropriate purpose. I made an informative poster on this topic informing everyone that what can happen if we are not alert and ways to protect yourself while using any of the social media apps. Next time if given a chance I would like to do a role play on this topic with my classmates to spread more and more awareness about it. Do you know any other measure to protect your online account???

The Astonishing Trip Urupukapuka

In Te Ngahere the year six’s went on an amazing trip to Urupukapuka one of the islands in the Piperi. We went with the Project Island Song team and they showed us the islands and made us understand how to keep the pest away from these islands, because the animals living on the islands can get extinct by the pests like: rats, stoats, possums and red ants. These pest kill the birds and the insects that live on the islands. Before we began our journey by ferry, two people from biosecurity checked our bags and we had to scrub our shoes to prevent the entry of any ants or pest to pest free islands. It was so exciting to be on board for such an adventures trip, Ria our host gave us booklets and clipboards to find the islands on the map. After reaching the island we were divided into two groups to do two different tasks, one group built trapping for pest and the other went up to hills to plant trees. After lunch these tasks were swapped. When we were climbing up the hills we saw cute sniffing dogs to smell the pest in that area. We also got to learn about different types of trees, the two trees that i liked the most were “Hanuka” & “ Manuka”. I liked their rhyming names. Difference between the two is “Hanukkah” has spiky leaves but no flowers whereas “Manuka” has spiky leaves, flowers and seeds. The most amazing and surprising part of this trip was Dolphin watching when we were near the boundaries of Paihia.

Have you ever been on the Urupukapuka Island???

The Learning of the Ngahere

In Te Ngahere we have been learning about plants and animals in the ngahere. We learnt about what type of plants and animals we have in the ngahere. We were divided into a group of two. Me and my group member researched about a bird named “Kereru”. We had to find their habitat, what they eat, what they get eaten by (threats), their scientific name, how they look (physical features) and what job they do in Ngahere. Further we had to make a slideshow and screencastify our work to show the facts we found. Our first attempt to screencastify our work went wrong but further with the help of and pictures we successfully made the facts more interesting to read. With the help of picture slide show we tried to explain all facts that we learnt about this beautiful bird. Have you ever seen a Kereru???

Building a Bridge Challenge

In Te Ngahere the year six’s have been doing another epro8 challenge. We were divided in a group of three to build a bridge out of ice-cream sticks and circle shaped sticks. In this activity we watched a video about different types of bridges: Truss bridge, Suspension bridge and Cable- stayed bridge, their structure, their strength and their weakness. In my group, we were not able to make a bridge as we didn't do a proper discussion about what job everybody has to do and how to do it together and we all ended up with different ideas. From this activity I learnt the importance of clear communication among different group members, to complete the given task. Overall this was a fun challenging activity and I enjoyed working with them. Have you ever made a bridge before with ice-cream sticks???

Maths Time

In Te Ngahere we are doing Maths and we learnt about fractions. We were three members in a group to do problems about fractions. The question was to find out how many seats are there in the restaurant. We learnt that the denominator (the bottom number) is how many groups we were splitting into. The numerator (the top number) is how many we are dividing into each group. For example if we have ¾ fraction so the denominator is showing that we are splitting into four groups and the numerator is showing that we are taking three parts from the given groups. We enjoyed solving this fraction problem together but i think we could have explained it more. Here is are working out:

Do you know any more things about fractions???

Outstanding P.E.

Last week our class along with the year five’s and four’s did fitness together. We were split into are house groups Kowhai,Rimu,Karaka and Pohutukawa. I was in kowhai (color yellow) and we were playing touch it means that we were playing rugby. We did this to have fun and to learn about new sporting activities. These activities help us to remain physically fit. Through this game I learnt how to throw the rugby ball from different angles. Next time when I will get a chance to play rugby game again, I will try to catch the ball better. Have you ever played touch before??

Fun and Challenging EPRO8

In Te Ngahere the year six’s have been doing this Epro8 challenge. By this challenge we learnt there are 2 types of energy, Potential energy and Kinetic energy. 1. Potential energy- is when the object stays still. Ex ball, books and cup etc. 2. Kinetic energy- is when you move the object with something. Ex pen, pencil and ball etc. These two energy work together to move the things surrounding us. The first task we did was to build a catapult. We had 30 sticks, 30 rubber bands, one measuring tape, one scissor, one electric tape and a ping pong ball. We were three members in a group and the challenging part was how to share the ideas. We didn’t read the instructions properly and we ended up doing the first one wrong. We did not mark the spot where the ping pong ball landed. We immediately corrected it and got total 50 points. It was because then we worked it out with the right measurement. According to the second set of the instructions we were not supposed to untie the rubber bands from the sticks, although, we did it. Later, we realized that we could have made it stronger by reconstructing it. The best part I liked was that after the reconstruction we did the right measurement and got everything set right then we got are ive points back. With this I learnt that by doing the things on our own the things work in right direction. It reflects that every object in our surrounding moves with both, Potential energy and Kinetic energy. Have you ever made a catapult???? The Instruction of the EPRO8

The Confusing Reading Test

In a new term in Te Ngahere we did this confusing reading test. The title was Can You Follow The Directions. This test was basically about reading the whole test carefully and you only had 4 minutes but the teacher’s were nice and gave us more than 4 minutes. Before we started the teacher told us that to read it carefully because it is really easy. We got a piece of paper where the questions were written,now the first question was - Read everything carefully before doing anything like the teacher told us. I did read every sentence but couldn’t understand the last one so I just went through the questions and kept doing it all. After a while the teacher called us on the mat to ask that we did follow the direction properly or not, we basically found out that we just had to do the question 1 and the question 2 you know how because the last question said: Now that you have finished reading everything carefully, do only sentences one and two! Then draw quietly on the back of this paper while you wait for everyone else to finish! I felt like my brain said to me why didn’t I read the last question CAREFULLY! Now I will read everything carefully before doing anything in the future. Have you ever done a reading test like this before?

The Interesting Topic about the Coastal Seas!!!

In Te Ngahere we have been learning about coastal seas and how they work to survive. Coastal Seas is all about sea animals and where they live how they eat and how they migrate to different places. I learnt lots about sea animals and the ocean that I didn’t even know like I didn’t know that Bottlenose Dolphins make rings out of sand to capture their prey to eat them let me tell you properly bottlenose dolphins are a part of the Dolphins family they live near the Sea grass to look for their prey. Now how they catch their prey basically they work as a team first one of the dolphins make a sand circle to capture the prey and when the fishes try to escape by jumping over the sand circle the dolphins try to capture them and swallow them. Do know anything about Bottlenose Dolphins??

The Hard Task Master

n Te Ngahere we have been doing task master, which means working together. How this game works there is one drawer and two runners in a team. The teacher put a picture outside the class and the two runners take turns to tell the drawer where to draw. But there are few rules: 1. The runner can’t point to the paper to tell the drawer where to draw. 2. The drawer can’t move from it’s seat. 3. Also the drawing have to draw accurate as the teacher drew on the paper. I was the runner in my group it was really hard not pointing on the paper some people were putting there hands behind their back.The task was hard but super fun we also did this two times. Have you ever done something like this in a group?

The Lined up Food Web

 This week in Te Ngahere we have been learning about Food Web. A food web is a interconnection of various kinds of food chains.

Difference between my food web and my teacher’s food web:

 

Teacher	Mine
Coloured arrows	Single colour arrows
More food chains	Less food chain
Scattered pictures	Pictures are in a line

The Teachers Food Web  My Food Web

 

Arrows in the food web represents the flow of energy moving from one organism to another.

I learnt who eats who in the food web. In future would like to know more about it and how the energy is flowing from one organism to another among various food chains.  Do you know what an ecosystem is?

Have you  ever studied Food Webs?

A Famous Artist Called Roy Lichtenstein

 

   In Te  Ngahere we have been learning  about Roy Lichtenstein.

 I found out that Roy Lichtenstein was born in  New York in 1923.  We are learning about Roy Lichtenstein because  he is a famous artist and we used his technique.  He also used a technique called Ben Day Dots these are small dots that gives texture to his paintings.My class has been doing self portraits using Ben Day dots. Did you know that Roy Lichtenstein also did sculptures too? His first sculpture was called house.

The Unknown Tsunami Evacuation

 When I arrived at school everyone was lining up,I was so confused because I didn't what was going on. Then suddenly Mrs Lindsay told me to come with her up the hill behind the school. I was so blank, why were we  going up the hill? So I went up the hill with the whole school. When we reached up the top of the  hill my legs were sore and i was dizzy . I saw everybody was worried  I asked my friend what is going on? She said there’s a  tsunami alert  in Paihia, my brain went upside down. I have only seen tsunami evacuation in movies  but not in real life I was totally blank, I shook my head and then closed my eyes tight. I just said it is a dream but when I open my eyes it wasn't a dream. Then I asked her why is there a tsunami alert here? My jaw dropped when I heard what she was saying, there was an  earthquake down south  which was very strong. This  lead to a tsunami, I was so terrified and scared.This was happening to me for the  first time in my whole 10 years of living on earth!!!! Some of the kids were calling their parents to check  if they're  ok, after a while i didn’t hesitate and asked  Whaea  Becks to call my mom. I was really happy that she was coming, after 1 hour my mom picked me up and we went to KeriKeri to a safe place because it is hilly. Have you been in a tsunami 

Evacuation? Thank you for listening to my Tsunami blog.