On Friday, both Middles classes invited their families and the rest of the school to join us in celebrating our learning about Science.
Many of us did experiments outside, whilst others had slide shows or posters to display how much we know about the four branches of science (Physics, Chemistry, Biology, and Earth Science)
We hope everyone enjoyed our Expo and learnt at least one thing from the Middles.
Yesterday, Dani came in to share her experiences of working as an ecologist. She explained what an ecologist does (studies the homes of plants, animals and people) and then helped us to find out how healthy the soil at our school is, particulalry the soil in our vegetable garden.
We made a solution from red cabbage that would help us work out the ph of our soil as well as some other substances.
We discovered that washing powder, which is a base, went green and then yellow. Orange juice and lemon juice turned a pinky-red colour because they are quite acidic. But, the soil in our vegie garden went only a little bit blue which means its ph is neutral which means we have healthy soil.
Today James took our art class and instructed us in the art of making avatars. James then went on to shoot and produce an iMovie of the session for you to enjoy.
Can you tell what the inspiration is for some of our avatars?
On Tuesday, we were
visited by a very clever scientist, who goes by the name Professor Bunsen. He told the
Middles all about physics and chemistry and showed us many different
experiments. Some of the things we did look like magical tricks, but Professor
Bunsen explained the science behind every thing he did.
Some of the things
we learned include: I learnt that when
you rub a balloon on thin hair, your hair will spike up and then if you get
some tinsel and put it in front of the balloon, the tinsel floats up because of
the build up of energy -Tessa I learnt how air is
so important and why we need it. We need air because we need to be able to open
containers. I know this because Professor Bunsen took all of the air out of a
container and it was impossible to take off the lid - Amber
Professor Bunsen said that if you are a scientist you never
say, “impossible”. I also learnt that cotton is very flammable – Riley
With different chemical you can make different colours. I also
leant that ping pong balls are made of cotton, not plastic – Dan S
If you put water in a bowl and then fill the rest of the
bottle up with air, then overfill it with air, it will fly high in the sky and
it will have a cloud inside. Ping pong balls are the only thing that’s explosive
that’s allowed at the Olympic Games – Matt G
Chemistry isn’t about overflowing, bubbly things, it’s about chemicals,
reactions, solids, liquids and gases - Laura
Chemistry is basically in everything – Gemma
A nappy is made of lots of chemicals and if you put turmeric and
detergent together it changes to blood! – Ciaran
If you have one cup of hot water and one cup of cold water
and you get a special fan in the cups it will generate power – Joe
Last Thursday, the Middles were lucky enough to have a guest speakercome in. Cate (one of the student's mothers) came to talk about being a microbiologist. Cate bought in some plates with different bacteria in them. Cate also bought in some plates without anything in them for the Middles to keep. Microbiologists study little tiny bits of bacteria. With the bacteria the microbiologists look at them and see what it is and then they tell the patient what is wrong with them. Microbiologists also test the bacteria against different antibiotics.
This term the grade 3/4's are learning about science and the many different areas of science. This unit of inquiry will culminate in students pursuing personal or group based projects into an area of science with which they're most interested.
Here are some of Middle S' intial wonderings and discoveries...
On Friday Ben, Luke & Riley ran a really tight basketball clinic for Middle S. They had three rotations of drills that targeted specific skills required to play basketball in a team, followed by a short game of half court (the class was split into 4 teams).
Yesterday, we continued to celebrate the 50th anniversary of our school, with a Mass, sausage sizzle and tree planting.
We also invited all our grandparents to join us in our classroom and share our learning! So many of them joined us on this special day, where we were blessed with glorious weather!
Here's a slideshow Middle S created that shows us with our grandparents
In 1985 John Fulton moved next door to our school.
John grew up with 9 siblings and his mum and dad. He takes care of our school doing
important jobs such as mowing the grass or taking care of the office.
When John grew up he had 40 kids in his class.
His family used to go to church in the school hall
because they didn't have the church to go to. John got the free bus to church
with his family.
When he moved here he said that the shops were
still here.
Also, John said that there used to be horses in the
area, as he once found a horseshoe in his backyard (he brought it along to show
us). There were also lemon trees and black berries.
