Room 15 - Miss Su

Welcome to Room 15's 2020 blog page! 

This is where we will be posting notices or updates for our class.
If you would like to email the teacher with any queries: leannes@pakurangaheights.school.nz

Our Collaborative Korowai

This is a picture of us with our collaboratively made korowai (Māori cloak). To make our Korowai, we needed to work together and use mahitahi (working as one, working together). We firstly coloured in our paper feathers with colour pencil and outlined them with felts to make them stand out. After we had coloured in our feathers, we cut them out and gave them to Miss Su to glue onto the background layer of the cloak. We love our Korowai! It can be found hanging above Miss Su's working space in Room 15. 

Our Classroom Space
Please come through to Room 15 and visit our classroom. We have been working on presenting our work so that it can be displayed around our classroom. We currently have our Maths and Writing on display. 

Term One Swimming 

One of Room 15's favourite activities in Term One is our swimming lessons that we have every Tuesday at Lloyd Elsmore Park Pool and Leisure Centre. We are learning to be self managers and responsible students by remembering to bring our togs, towels and goggles, as well as getting changed during morning tea so that we are ready to get on the bus as soon as the bell goes. Our awesome swimming instructors teach us how to blow bubbles and how to stay afloat in water by using different swimming strokes. It is so important that we know how to swim as New Zealand is surrounded by water. 

On Tuesday 10th March, we had an extra special lesson where we learnt how to use life jackets. We learnt how to fall back into water safely, how to stay together in water with our life jackets on, and how to keep warm in a large body of water. Here is a picture of us in a giant doughnut circle! This shape helps keep us from floating away from each other, and it also can keep us warm. 

Why do we use soap?

With the recent events around COVID-19, we are using a surface tension science experiment to help us understand how using soap while washing hands can keep us safe and germ free. Miss Su needed milk, pepper, and soap to do the experiment. We firstly poured the milk into a bowl and sprinkled on some pepper so that it covered the surface of the milk. We then dipped our fingers into the milk and pepper mixture to have a look at what the pepper did. When we took our fingers out of the mixture, the pepper was stuck to us. This represented what germs would do if we washed our hands without soap. Next, we dipped our non-peppered fingers in soap and re-dipped our fingers into the milk and pepper mixture. When we did this, we saw the pepper separate and repel from our fingers! This represented what germs would do if we washed our hands with soap! Stay safe and take care everyone! 

 

Here is a video by Nanogirl further explaining "The science behind how soap destroys coronavirus"  

Mangere Mountain Trip 

On Wednesday 18th March, Room 14 and Room 15 went on a school trip to Mangere Mountain. We learnt about the land and the history of the mountain through guided walks up the volcanic region. We also explored the uses of different plants in traditional Māori medicine, and we even got to try some Kawakawa balm and tea. Lastly, we used Harakeke (flax) to make beautiful hand-weaved bracelets. 

We had such a wonderful day exploring and learning about Mangere Mountain! A huge thank you to the parent helpers and guides that helped us with our trip.

 

Middle School's New Shade Sail

Room 15 are so excited for the new shade sail! After returning back to school after lockdown, the Middles'  courts have been closed off for the construction workers. We have seen enormous trucks, cranes and diggers drive onto our courts to prepare the area for the gigantic structure. Room 15 really enjoyed watching the workers plan and construct the sail, we are so lucky and thankful! Here are some pictures of the shade sail.

Stretches for Hauora / Wellbeing

Our Term 2 inquiry was about being Healthy, physically and mentally. During the term, we learnt about being healthy by eating well, and taking care of our mental health. It is so important that we look after ourselves and treat our body and minds with care! 

Here we are as a whole syndicate underneath the new shade sail doing stretches for Hauora (wellbeing) with Sammi, a student teacher from Room 17. We felt so relaxed and calm after this session! 

Mathematics - Learning About Fractions

During the last few weeks of Term 2, we focussed on fractions! We found fractions quite tricky but we worked very hard (we'll be revisiting fractions again in Term 3). Here we are with our fraction walls showing a whole, halves, quarters and eighths with coloured paper.

Last Day of Term 2 

Mufti Day

Woah! Don't we look weird and wacky! On the last day of Term 2, Pakuranga Heights School had a mufti day where we dressed up in weird and wacky costumes! We had such a fun day, admiring the different hair styles, hair colours and outfits. Happy Holidays everyone! See you in Term 3!

Term 3
Science Inquiry 

This term, our inquiry was all about science! We had so much fun learning about chemical and physical reactions through experiments! Some of our favourite memories were making borax crystals and playing with Oobleck! Below are some photos of our experiments.

We also researched, planned, designed and created a marble run to show the science behind the forces. The whole process took about a week, starting with careful planning, painting, creating and finally presenting. Here is one group with their galaxy themed marble run! How amazing!

Our Learning

Room 15 love learning together. We have recently enjoyed using the mini whiteboards during mat time with the teacher. Can't believe that we only have one Term to go! 

Sun, Sun, Glorious Sun

We are absolutely loving the weather! Summer is on it's way and we are so excited to be going out for sports more and more. Our favourite games are Ultimate Paper, Scissors, Rock, and the other one is Scatterball. Here is a picture of us playing Ultimate Paper, Scissors, Rock. We get very competitive! 

Top Kid

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, we had our very first assembly over ZOOM! Our lovely member of Room 15 Karishana Udayakumar recieved the very prestigeous award of TOP KID. We are super proud of her. Ka pai Karishana!