Science everywhere

This week Caitlin organised for her Aunty Sheree to come and visit Room 1. She is a Scientist with 'Plant and Food Research.'

 Sheree came to visit us on Monday and Tuesday to talk to us about micro biology.

 We are going to use our photos to make a special blog entry about Sheree's visit....so be on the look out!

 How cool is this....Mrs Black brought an electric car to school.

 Don't tell the other classes but we got to go for a ride in it!

 It was very quiet because it did not have an engine. It runs for 120km on electricity before it needs to be plugged back in.

 Monique one of our youth workers, brought her puppy Chester along. He gave us a all a big lick.

 Chester loved Jacob in his new snazzy glasses.

 We are writing about Chester and Monique at story writing time.

Thanks Sheree, Mrs Black and Monique for your kindness!

Term 4 Mihi Whakatau

On Friday 17 October we had our Mihi Whakatau to welcome new staff and children.

Hinewai gave a Karakia to open the Mihi Whakatau.

The Kapa Haha group welcomed everyone.

Ms DR gave a Mihi ki te kaikarakia to thank Hinewai for giving the karakia.

Ms DR shared her mihi with us.

Miss Patterson spoke on behalf of the visitors,Manuhiri.

The Manuhiri sang the waiata 'Te Aroha.'

The Year 5 and 5 children sang a song of welcome and thanks.

The staff and Kaeas joined to hongi manuhiri.

This was a very warm and special assembly for Merrin School.

Traditional Japanese Games

This morning Maho came to Room 1 to teach us some traditional Japanese games.

Maho is on teaching placement with our Senior Stars.

Maho showed us 5 different games that we could move around and try.

 Caitlin and Sophie put on a blindfold and tried to place eyes, eyebrows, a nose and a mouth on the face without looking!

 Here is Artu wearing a traditional mask.

 Doesn't Jacob look great. The mask is called fuku warai meaning 'happiness' and 'to laugh.'

 Tessa and Mia are playing a traditional game called daruma. You have to try and knock the blocks out without the top face block falling off.

Harrison is blowing up a paper ball called kami fuusen.

Harry did a great job of placing the mouth in the right place.

Seth laughed and laughed when he saw he had put the eyebrows on the nose!

Thank you very much for visiting us Maho! You are a great teacher.

Happy Spring

What is one of the most beautiful sounds in the world?...

children giggling!

 Thank you to Daniel in Room 8 who brought his lambs to meet us.

 Alex and his Mum brought along bottles of milk to feed the lambs.

 Rosie and Snowy are only 12 weeks old. They have been abandoned by their mothers.

 We laughed and laughed when they wiggled their tails. 

 Look at that tail go!

Daniel brought in newspaper...just in case!

Thank you for visiting Room 1.

Volcanic Lava

Our experiment today was called 'Volcanic Lava.'

To do this experiment at home you will need:

play dough

film canister

red and yellow food colouring

vinegar

baking soda

liquid dish washing soap

2 small plastic cups

 Mould the play dough around the film canister to make the shape of a volcano.

Collect your equipment.

  Place 2 teaspoons of baking soda in the film canister.

Add 1 teaspoon of liquid dish washing soap in the canister. 

Use the eye dropper to drop in 5 drops of food colouring.

On your marks, get set, go!

Tip in 1/2 cup of vinegar.

Does the temperature of the vinegar affect how fast the volcano erupts?

Does the shape of the volcano affect the direction of the lava flow?

What can be added to the lava to slow it down?

Gloop experiment

Here is our experiment from Thursday....

You will need:

- 1 cup water

- 1.5-2 cups cornflour

- a few drops of food colouring of your choice

-a mixing bowl

Liesl is Super Scientist #2. She mixed the cornflour with the water.

Here is Group 3 working together as a team.

Oliver is Super Scientist #4 for his group. He added in the food colouring.

Gloop or Oobleck is a non-newtonian fluid. (We love big words!) That means it is a liquid when you pour it and a solid when you touch it.

We took the gloop outside to play with.

The Oobleck was solid when we held it in our hands and then it dripped through our fingers.

We have recorded our findings in our Science Notebooks.

Thank you to Andrea for coming in to help with the experiment and also with cleaning us up!

Afterwards we shared our findings and our Science Notebook with some buddies.