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Tuesday 23 June 2015

Recycling

We have been learning about how important it is to reduce, reuse and recycle.

 Did you know that not all plastics are the same? 
We looked at some different plastics items and grouped them according to the numbers found on the plastic. The recycling number for plastic is found inside a triangle. It was easy to spot on some things but we had to look carefully to find it on other things. Some plastic items did not have a recycling symbol or number and this means it can not be recycled. 
Katie and Damarco looking carefully for the recycling number

All of these items have a number 1 on them

Ruben found a recycling number on this big bucket
then everyone began looking at all the plastic items around the classroom
to find out they can be recycled
James hunting for a recycling number but he couldn't find one
Even though these milk bottles look different they are both a number 2 plastic



Mac checking the lid and bottle have the same recycling number
Number 5 was found on all these items
Some lids and bottles had different recycling numbers.
We thought this was strange.
Blake found out that plastic shopping bags do not have a recycling number but
the small plastic bags have a recycling number of 4.

This is from the Hastings District Council website and shows what you can recycle and where it can be recycled. 

Fraction Game

We are learning to write fractions and order fractions that have the same denominator 
eg. 1/4, 2/4, 3/4 4/4 
1/3, 2/3, 3/3

We played a  game where we had bean bags or sock balls and we needed to work out the fraction we threw that landed in the hoop. Whoever had the highest fraction won the game. 
Competition time




James aiming.


Maia recording the fraction of her bean bags that landed in the hoop.
2/4 is more than 1/4
Janice and Marcus competing against each other
1/4 of the bean bags landed in the hoop. Can Jack beat that? 
Riley aiming


2/4 of the beanbags landed in the hoop

Marcus writing the fraction of how many bean bags
landed in the hoop.  

Friday 19 June 2015

Celebrating Matariki

We are learning about Matariki. Today, we read a story called Kahu Ora.

Kahu Ora means living cloaks - its a story about a girl called Marama who visited Te Papa to look at the korowai exhibition.

We learnt that korowai are very special cloaks that can be handed down through whanau. We found out that most korowai are made from feathers and white muka (white flax fibre that is inside green harakeke or flax leaves).


In Room 1617 we are a learning whanau so we decided to make our own korowai from recycled paper. We used our blending skills to create colourful feathers. We also made some feathers with ripped or scrunched up paper to add texture so the korowai looks soft and feathery.

Room 1617's Korowai
This Naomi's Great Great Grandmother's korowai. It lives at Te Papa just like in the story. 
It is a special toanga to Naomi's whanau. 



This korowai is made from kaka, pigeon and kiwi feathers. 
Wow, look how old the korowai is. 
Thank you Naomi for sharing such a special toanga with us from your family. 

Gymnastics

Parkvale gymnasts performed at the Hastinsg Gymnastics Festival with PRIDE. The children worked really hard to refine their routines over lunchtime practices on Monday and Wednesday showing amazing commitment and determination. 
Each gymnast performed on the vault, beam and floor. Mrs H and Mrs Ramsay are so proud of all the children who represented Parkvale so well. 

Untitled from kathy ramsay on Vimeo.









A huge thank you to Mrs Wallace who supported us every Monday and Wednesday lunchtime. We really appreciate all the encouragement you gave to the children. We could not have done it without you. 

Thursday 18 June 2015

Storms

We are learning to use specific vocabulary to help create a vivid picture in the readers head - so they can imagine themselves in the story!

To help create a vivid picture for the reader we can describe what we hear, see and feel. We listened to the sounds of a thunderstorm then wrote about what it would be like to be in the storm, what we might hear, see and feel.


Author Holly

Drip drop was all I can hear as the rain crackled down from the clouds. It started to get heavier and heavier until BOOM! BANG! It's not a little shower anymore it's a big lightening storm. Oh no! There's a puppy outside, someone has to go outside to get it! It's too wet and windy for me to go outside and get it but it's wet and shaking. Ok, I unlocked the door and got the puppy. It was soaking wet so I got a towel and dried the puppy off and lit the fire so the puppy could stay warm. Achoo! Achoo! The puppy was sneezing a lot so I gave it a blanket and cuddled it to keep it warm.

Author Maddie

Boom! Flash! Flash! Swish! Swish! Woosh woosh woosh! The rain is so hard now that I don't think we will be going to the farm tomorrow. Boom bang flash bang neigh flash bang! What? I thought that sounded like a horse. Where could it be and what could it be doing in the country? Boom bang. I want to help. But you can't I gasped, you don't know one miniature tiny thing about the absolute best best thing ever which is animals. Without one more word I ran out to find out what was going on. The noise of the rain and the animals got louder and louder. I think I need to turn right one more time....Oh wow, I am going to have a gigantic problem to take one pony, one dog, one calf and foal home with lightening bolts that would be attracted to the bridle of the horse besides the animals will also get spooked. This is the most gigantic amazing troublemaking problem in the world! Well, I thought I only had one idea, it is a bizarre troublemaking idea but it just might work!! So, I did it. I broke off some flax and weaved it into a bridle again. It took determination and trust but I did it. Now I will ride the horses leading the foal calf in front and the pup in the back. Oh, I just spotted a very little duckling. I thought I will take it in my pocket and I did. I rode and rode and rode all the way to the farm. Then when I reached the horse paddock.... boom bang swish flash flash. It was still very stormy in fact it was raining even harder so I quickly dropped off all the animals except the duckling. To get to her place I had to run and run and run then I jump and stowaway on the trailer of a fancy tractor. It was dark and thundery. Lightening and rain was closing in on all angles. All I could do was wait. Cheep cheep said my chick sadly. "Out now," I whispered. I snuck out and sprinted to the pond. There was lots of ducks. I put the duckling right next to one of them. Now that I know that all the animals are safe I curled up in the barn for the night. I wonder when the horrible storm will end.

Author Bailee

Plip plop plip plop BOOM! Hail started to come bucketing down. BOOM BOOM slush. Aahh everybody started to gather around to keep safe but a tree fell over them. It nearly hit them. The tree caught on fire and everybody started to scream. I heard my cat in the burning tree. Meow meow meow. I quickly grabbed a fire extinguisher and pushed so I grabbed Meow and put the fire out. The people cheered for me. We all had a big crazy mess to clean up but we had to leave the clean up till later when it stopped raining. It was hard work cleaning up everything and it took us hours. Everybody was so tired. We had to sleep outside.

Author Janice

Plop plop the rain was sprinkling down onto the ground but suddenly BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! it's thunder. So I covered my ears CRASH! CRASH! here it comes. The lightening was flashing. Suddenly, the roof came off the house and the lightening flashed smashing onto my window. Crack! Quickly, I rushed outside and climbed one of my apple trees. It had a tree house. I got some apples, opened the door and then I shut the door and ate the apples. Finally, the rain and the thunder were gone so I went back into my house but my window was still broken. I called the builder to fix my window and he arrived one hour later.

Author Damarco

Scratch scratch scratch. I can hear the car going fast with the rain on the road. Outside the dogs were howling and howling because they are scared of the darkness. The thunder goes boom bash boom bash and the lightening goes crack crack. Swish swish swish the wind makes the leaves blow down. I was in my bed and there was a loud cracking sound and the glass from the window fell on me. Now I am stuck in my bed because I am surrounded by glass. I need to climb down the bottom of the bed.

Author Tyler

Pitter patter pitter patter went the rain as it poured down on my rooftop. I was tucked up in my bed. I heard loud thunder and lightening. By the middle of the night the rain got louder and louder. The rain grew heavier and heavier. The lightening struck the house. Just then I heard a loud SMASH. I looked up and I saw a big hole in the ceiling. Water was pouring down onto the floor. Just at that moment there was a strike of lightening in the sky. One minute later..... The house was 3 meters under water. I had to swim to stay alive. I held my breath and swam down to the bottom and when I was at the bottom I grabbed the rug and swam back to the top and pushed the rug into the hold and then I told Mum to open the door. When the door was open all of the water poured out and I fell onto hard ground. "Ouch," I said. "Well at least all the water is gone," said Dad.

Sunday 14 June 2015

Matariki


At Parkvale, we are celebrating Matariki. 

We were very lucky to have the Kahurangi NZ Maori Dance Theatre visit and perform for us. They were very funny and talented. The taught us about legends and told us some different ways we could celebrate Matariki.


We learnt that Kia Ora can mean hello, goodbye, be well and thank you. 

The Kahurangu Dance Company performed a legend that is special to the people of Hawke's Bay, Pania of the Reef.


Matariki from Kieren Moriarty on Vimeo.


The Rataka reading group read a book aboout Matariki.
Ashley and Sienna read the book to us all. They did a great job reading for the audience with clear voices and expression. 



During the performance we were taught a game called Paki. Paki means clap. Watch the video to find out how much fun it is. Who else could you teach to play?


Paki paki from sansam on Vimeo.

Kia Ora Kahurangi Dance Company, we love this game!

Saturday 13 June 2015

Blending

We have been learning to blend colours.

When we blend colours we overlap the colours just a little bit.

We use one colour to pull another colour into it.

We use colours from the same part of the colour wheel, for example a dark blue, medium blue and a light blue. With any colour we blend with we use white. 

We have been learning about how important it is to reuse. We reused magazines and used paper to make out bugs.
Artist Mac
Artist Ruben


Artist Jack C

Artist Niamh

Artist Caitlin

Artist Naomi

Artist Whetu
Artist Coopa


Artist Rain

Artist Sam

To make our flowers we reused old CDS and plastic bags. When we went to the landfill we noticed how many plastic bags were in the landfill. 
Artist James
Artist Tyler


Artist Nevaeh

Artist Joseph
Artist Chahat


Artist Emily
Artist Riley
Artist Bailee



Artist Louisa

If you would like to see more of the fantastic art and blending the children from Room 1617 have created come on in to our classroom.