Cottage Cheese

On Tuesday we made some cottage cheese as part of our technology unit.
We mixed milk powder with some milk then heated it gently until it was just luke-warm. Then we added rennet and left it for 15 minutes to set.
After that Mr Haste cut it into 1cm cubes to let the whey separate from the curds.
Then we poured it into cheesecloth for two hours.
The next day we tried some on crackers.
We used the recipe from
http://www.nzwomansweekly.co.nz/food/nanas-pantry/homemade-ricotta-and-cottage-cheese/

Can you see the whey that has separated from the curds overnight?

A quick sample of the students:
7 really liked it
6 thought it was ok
6 didn't like it at all

Given that it was cottage cheese and children I call that a victory!

Xtramath

This term we have been trialling Xtramath - learning our 100 addition basic facts from 0+0 to 9+9 and then moving on to our subtraction facts.
Four students - Hannah, Charlie, Lidia and Emily have moved on to subtraction. Well done to them.
We have another group sitting in the 90s working on those last few addition problems - Arama, Benjamin, Izzy, May and Rachel. There is another big group just behind.

For me as a teacher, I see all the students' growing confidence in their basic facts knowledge in class at maths time. They are moving up the basic facts ladder too. I am confident that this increased knowledge  will help them learn new strategies in the future.
Thank you to all the parents who have been supporting the students to practise at home.

Viewing An Eclipse

Today we talked about viewing tomorrow's partial eclipse.
We had a long discussion about never looking directly at the sun.
We also made a pin-hole camera to use when viewing the eclipse. Here are two videos that explain how to make your own pinhole camera and some background information about eclipses.

http://www.space.com/15737-safely-sun-build-shoebox-pinhole-camera-video.html
Here is a Bill Nye version - I really like his way of teaching science.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmfkskZfT_E

Making Butter

Today in Room 1 we made butter as part of our food science unit. 

We poured some cream into a clean jar and added a pinch of salt. Next we had turns shaking the jar like crazy, this took quite a long time. Eventually we saw the yellow blob of butter separate from the thin buttermilk. Then we gave the butter a taste test on crackers.

Our butter

The left over buttermilk.

The butter tasted delicious - Charlie

It was different from usual butter but oh so yummy - Hannah

I didn't expect it to taste like that - Lily

It tasted like a buttercup - May

It tasted milky and creamy - Christopher

It was yummy and delicious - Rachel

Xtramath

This week we have been trying out Xtramath.
It is a free on-line tool to help us learn our addition, subtraction, multiplication and division facts. We want to practise every day and the program targets the next facts we need to learn.

The children brought home their own passwords today on a flyer, please help them to login the first time from home. Use the Enroll tag as it will link them to their class account.
Parents please watch the videos (indicated on the flyer).
Here is the link, it is also added to the sidebar.

Xtramath

Please contact me if you have any problems.

Science Night

What a great evening we had sharing what we are learning in Science with our families. In Room 1 we have been learning about light and colour. We shared some of the experiments we have done in class. I liked hearing some of the 'science' words being used by the students explaining things to their parents.

Mixing coloured light.

Laser target - using reflection.

The disappearing coin.

Using a water prism to make the spectrum.

I liked going to Room 8 and being blindfolded to taste chocolate - Rachel
I liked the laser target but I kept getting it in the wrong place - Zoe
I liked the laser target because I kept getting it on the sides and middle -Arama
The Magnets were cool especially moving the paperclips with the magnet under the table - Izzy
I liked the electricity in room 8, Mya used 2 lemons and 2 oranges to make electricity - Lidia
Alex's big volcano was cool - Keanu
I liked the ice-cream experiment in Room 7, we got to taste it - Zoe
I made a volcano in a cup and I still have red food colouring on my hands - Maggie May

Please check out our photoblog in the meantime for some pictures from last night.

Cricket

Last week we had some cricket training with Chris from Wellington Cricket. Unfortunately the weather meant we were confined to the hall. We could only practice throwing, fielding, bowling and running (no batting).

However it was all action as the photos show. There was plenty of moving and developing our cricket skills.

Lining up a throw.

Running.

Friday's Assembly

Here are our videos from Friday's assembly. What a great job all our presenters did!
What a shame the technology was not as well behaved.

Light and Colour

We have started looking at Light and Colour in Room 1 as part of our Science topic. Here is a selection from the things the students want to know;

How do we see light?
How is light different colours?
Why does light shine from the sun?
How is it made?
Why does light travel so fast?
Why do shadows make a picture of you?
How does light stay being light? What happens when it stops?
Why is this crayon brown when I look at it and not blue?

I think I have my work cut out and 'because' probably won't cut it.

Here is a collage of the spectrum that we have made in class. Special thanks to the main gluers - Olivia, Liam and Maggie May as well as all the colour finders.

Swimming

We had our own little Busby Berkeley moment at swimming today.

Our classes have a photo exhibition "Normandale - Through The Lens". The photos are on display in the hall. There are a few more to go up but they will all be there by the end of the week. Here is a sneak preview of Room 1's photographs.

Swimming

Yesterday we had our first day swimming. Some of us were in the main pool. We watched as they made the pool shallower so that we could all touch the bottom of the pool.

Warm up games.

Practising kicking.

Telling Time

Last week we were telling the time. We used the whiteboard to show o'clock, half past, quarter past and quarter to. Here are some of our students using the board.

Here is the link to the clock so you can have a go at home.

http://www.teacherled.com/resources/clockspin/clockspinload.html

Netball Practice

Some people had so much fun on Pyjama Day they didn't even change for netball practice.

Thanks to Sam for the photo.

Holiday Quake

Who felt that earthquake last night? At our house it was very noisy (bit like a big train going past) and went on for a long time but the shaking wasn't very strong. It was more of a gentle rocking with a couple of small judders mixed in. It didn't wake up my boys.
Tell me what you felt or if you slept through it as well.

It is great seeing that there are so many having a go on Superclubs Plus. Every time I log on there is always at least 1 person logged on from Room 1.
I like your home page Lara.

Junior Transport Trip

Today the Junior Syndicate travelled into Wellington to look at and experience all the different types of transport.

We travelled by bus...

by train...

and by cable car.

Some students got  to help drive the cable car or ring the bell (lots of times!!).

Sometimes the weather wasn't too great but we still had fun.

We saw air transport.

We saw water transport.

We saw a lot of different types of land transport.

We were lucky that the Wellington Train Station was having its 75th birthday and some of us got balloons.

We also got to see a steam train leave the station. It made lots of smoke and steam. Its whistle was very loud and made quite a few people jump.