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Friday, May 18, 2018

Term 2, Weeks 1 - 3 Highlights


Hi parents,

Here's a couple of highlights from Term 2 so far...

Maths

In our first week back we continued to explore measurement and how it connects to decimal numbers.

Thomas measures the width of his belly button?
Harper and Tiger try to wrangle an unruly tape measure 
Oscar realises that letting go of the tape measure measures gravity, not height. 


Science

For science, we've been looking at states of matter (solids, liquids and gases). In Week 3, we looked at how chocolate can melt when it's sitting on a plate placed on top of a bowl of heated water. 
In groups, the students planned and conducted an experiment in which they changed one factor e.g. "will the chocolate melt faster if it's cut into smaller pieces?"

 Luke and Daniel exploring how different liquids melt at different rates
 Ethan, Sienna and Luke wishing the experiment was "how much chocolate can I fit in my mouth?"
 Ethan wishing the experiment was "how many marbles can I fit in my mouth?"
Poppy worries about the experiment's effect on her last pedicure. 

Writing

For the last three weeks we've exploring the conventions of effective storybooks, and using what we've learned to plan our own. 

It's required our full creative powers to come up with good ideas that are original and entertaining. The students have been sharing their ideas with the class, getting feedback, and improving their ideas where necessary. 

Most of us are now at the stage where we are ready to start the first draft of our story. 

Aston ponders the metaphysical themes in the great literary piece: "I Want My Potty". 

Grandparents Day

On Friday of Week 3, we had our annual Grandparents Day. We performed some songs and dances as a whole school and then went back to our class for some learning about the past. The year 4's asked the grandparents about what school was like in their day. Using that information we compared and contrasted using Venn diagrams. 

Amongst other things, the students were fascinated to learn that left-handed students were punished if they didn't use the "correct" hand!