Saturday 25 June 2016

Noah's Adventures

Our classmate Noah went to Thailand and Cambodia for a holiday with his family.
Noah enjoyed sharing his photos with us when he came back.







The children in Ruma Piwakawaka were very interested in Noah's adventures.
They asked him lots of questions.
Noah did a great job of talking about his travels with the class.

We decided we would write about Noah's adventures.

Anja

Alanna



Tahlia


Mia
If I had an elephant I would
call it Trunky  If Elsie
saw my elephant she would
be so surprised Elsie will
wish she had a baby elephant
too

Thank you for sharing your photos with us Noah.
We found out so many interesting things about Thailand and Cambodia.




Friday 24 June 2016

Open Mic


Open Mic Lunchtime

Every second Friday, Mrs Bertrand holds an Open Mic lunchtime in the hall.
This is an opportunity for all children at Goodwood School to have a go at getting up on the stage. 
They can sing, dance or just give a performance of any kind, to a supportive audience of children.

This Friday some children from Ruma Piwakawaka decided to give it a go.
Mrs Bertrand was overwhelmed with their courage and creativity.
They loved performing, and asked when they could get back on the stage!!

Well done Isla, Charlotte, Elizabeth, Tui, Alanna and Mia!!











Fun with Oobleck


Is it is a solid or a liquid?

Today in Ruma Piwakawaka in our science inquiry lesson we explored the substance - oobleck


We needed cornflour, water and we added food colouring to make it blue.

First we touched the cornflour to see what it felt like:

it is soft - Elizabeth
it feels tickly - Charlotte
it's dusty - Tui
it is smooth - Riley






Then we mixed in some water and the food colouring to make oobleck.








The oobleck behaves like a solid and a liquid depending on the forces or pressure applied to it. When you hold the oobleck loosely in your hands or slowly stir it, the water particles can easily mix with the cornflour particles, making the oobleck behave like a liquid. When you force the oobleck into a ball shape, the cornflour particles are pushed together so that the water can’t get in between. In this case, the oobleck acts as a solid.

We had so much fun investigating the oobleck!!

Saturday 11 June 2016

Science - inquiry about matter and changes of state

We are learning all about matter and changes of state

Our first inquiry idea is that water can exist in 3 states: solid, liquid, or gas.

Mrs Bertrand asked the children in Ruma Piwakawaka:
What do you know about water?

Here is what we know:

Charlotte - water is heavy
Zach - it's wavy
Alanna - it is light blue
Anja - you can't hold it
Noah -  it's cold
Charlotte - some water is hot

Harry - some water is hot, like hot water beach
Harry - steam is actually water
Tui - you can heat water in a jug
Alanna - if you put it in the freezer it will turn to ice

Harry - steam can turn into a cloud

Wow...we already know so much about water!

Then we took some water and we tried to pour it into our hands to hold it.
Do you think this worked??

No.  The water flowed right through our hands and we couldn't hold it.
We said this happened because it is a liquid.

Next we got an ice cream container and filled it with water (a liquid).
We put it in the freezer.
The next day we took it out, and it was frozen into a solid.


We put a plastic pig in the big ice block so we could see what happens when it melts.







The solid ice slowly started melting.

When the sun came out we saw the ice melting faster.

It took 3 hours for our big ice block to completely melt away.

Some of us said - where is the water????

What do you think happened to the water?







Blowing up a balloon

Science Experiment 

The children in Ruma Piwakawaka were asked the question "Can we blow up a balloon without blowing air into it?

About half of the children said "Yes" and the other half said "No"... 
How could we do it?

First, we looked at some ingredients we would need for our experiment.


We had a balloon, an empty bottle, vinegar and baking soda.

Next, we made a funnel out of paper so that we could put some 
baking soda inside the balloon.


Then we poured some vinegar into the bottle.


After that we carefully put the balloon onto the neck of the bottle.
We knew that the baking soda would fall down into the vinegar.

What do you think happened next?


The vinegar and baking soda mixed with each other and start to fizz and foam.
There was a gas that was made from the chemical reaction, called carbon dioxide.
The carbon dioxide had nowhere else to go except into the balloon.

And that is how our balloon inflated.

Afterwards, we wondered - why did the balloon stop blowing up?


Also, we answered our original question 
- Yes we can blow a balloon up without blowing into it!