Ancient Egypt

We are so excited about our inquiry this term.  It's all about ancient Egypt.  Watch out and follow our learning journey!

Numeracy Family Video

Learning to Split Numbers rather than Count On

Pt Betsy Lighthouse

Above the trees, I saw raging clouds trying to kill the sun. I looked to my right and saw a two-storied house, with a lighthouse as still as a statue. I walked forward and saw freezing cold ice, like a wall of rock. The trees felt like sticks of rough sandpaper and looked like water pipes. The waves were as small as ten ants stacked on top of each other. The ground was cold, like in a deep down cave. Icicles hung to the shore like vines on a tree.

The Old Lighthouse

In front of me, I saw a spooky house. The house was behind a black wooden gate, that was guarding the house. There were tall rustling trees, as tall as giants. The sea was cold, with icicles hanging on the side, dangling down like silver vines. The sky was as dark as a wardrobe with no lights. The house was white and it was connected to an old deserted lighthouse. When I was staring at the sea, the waves crashed right into me. The raging sea was roaring like lions.

Scary Story!

As I jumped out of the car with excitement, I was thirsty for air. I saw the clouds eating the sun. It was like a nightmare in real life. It was frightening and it felt like my heart had exploded. The house reminded me of Dracula's house. I stood on the ground and felt my feet sinking into the icy, cold ground. On my way to the house, lots of trees shot up in front of me. "Is this a trap?" I said to myself. "It must be!" said an evil voice coming from the sea. I walked over, as quiet as I could. I dipped my hand into the sea. Suddenly, something pulled me in. It kept me under the water for ages! I couldn't hold my breath for any longer. I got out at last and the evil voice came back again, but this time it wasn't really a sentence. "Oh Oh!" "What was that?" I said to myself. "Oh Oh!" There it was again. SCARY!

The Old Lighthouse

Above me, I saw the sky. It was patchy, with dark grey clouds bowling in, to ruin the bright blue sky. Below the sky, I saw the trees, towering over the house like soldiers. The bare naked trees swayed from the wind, coming in from all different directions, like fairies arriving for a secret meeting with the Queen. Left of the trees, I saw the frozen lake, the ice four times thicker than a seal's blubber. The waves lapped like dominoes collapsing.   Beyond the waves there was an old deserted lighthouse, as white as a page from a book. The house was standing as still as a statue. It was old, hagged and dull.

Above the trees there were clouds as far as the eye could see, like stampede of running antelopes. As I stood by the sea, I saw a never-ending darkness. The giant trees guarded the house in the distance.

As I stared at the raging clouds clouds, swarming across the sky, I shivered. Icicles hung from the bank of solid rock. To the left of me, I could see a huge ghost-like house. I stared at the horribly big lighthouse beside the house. Above me, I saw towering trees, like twisty vines. As I trudged closer to the humungous house and suddenly I heard a big crash. I was scared to death, but when I turned around it was only the waves lapping against the ice on the slippery rocks. I gazed at this huge house again. It looked as if was deserted. Suddenly moonlight shone down on the house and moths danced on the window panes.

The Old House

In the distance, I saw a house that was guarded by an army of naked trees. When I looked up, the clouds were invading the sky, until every gap was taken. I looked back at the ugly house. The sea was crashing into the house like a ton of raging bulls. On my left, I saw bubbling waves jumping out onto the land. I looked down at the rocky ground. I was scared to death. I didn't want to go inside the house. My heart was pounding like when I bounce on the trampoline.

The Old Lighthouse

As I approached the lighthouse, I was alone, like I had never met anyone before. Icicles hung down from the side of the house. On the fence, the gaps were filled with ice. The light on the top of the lighthouse went on,off,on,off. It was like I was in a horror movie! The trees were very old. I know because some bark fell on my head. The clouds were swirling around the top of the lighthouse. Moths were dancing around the light. The waves were bashing against the side of the ice. The sea was floppy and wavy, and really, really cold! The sea danced hopelessly across the rocks.

LEOTC Day

EOTC

Fossilisation

WALT... sequence pictures and explanations to show the fossilisation process Here is an example of today's lesson. We had to put the pictures in order then match the explanation.

Fossilisation

How Fossils Are Formed

What's A Fossil?

Fossils

We are learning about fossils.

Fossils

• Fossils are traces of things that happened long ago
• Plants and animals can become fossils
• We have only discovered a small number of the plants and animals from the past
• Fossils are not the original, only a copy 

Animals

• The most famous fossils are of dinosaurs
• There are also fossils of sea creatures and mammals
• Sometimes many fossils are found in one place because of a flood, earthquake, or other disaster

Plants

• The most famous example of fossilised plants is petrified wood
• Ferns, tree leaves, and other plants have been found, too

How are Fossils Found?

• Fossils are often found by accident
• Paleontologists and geologists use clues in the rocks to find good places to hunt for fossils
• Excavating fossils is hard work, and must be done carefully

How is a Fossil made? 

• A fossil is made when a plant or animal is covered quickly with mud or ash
• The organism’s tissues are replaced over a long period of time with minerals from the soil it was buried in
• Fossils can be dated by the layer of rock they were found in, or by radiocarbon dating

Clues to the Past

• Many fossils give us an idea of what life was like long ago
• Plants give clues about the diet of animals
• Animals give clues about the availability of plants and the climate when they lived
• Many clues fit together to make a more complete picture of what the world was like long ago

Can We Ever Really Know?

• No matter how many clues we have, we can never really know what life was like long ago
• We can make an educated guess, and fill in the gaps using what we know about life today
• It’s fun to imagine what it was like when the dinosaurs lived.  Try it next time you feel bored!

Mascot Madness

Olympic mascot Wenlock went to the London zoo and let out a tiger and a crocodile. He also stopped cars near the Olympic stadium. We don't know why Wenlock is acting weird.  Mandeville said recently that he has been great at the events, but now he has been acting weird.  Wenlock thinks it is fun being bad.
Reported by Otis Harry

Wenlock Goes Wild

Wenlock was being mischievious this week. He was riding a crocodile yesterday and letting out dangerous animals from the zoo. There is reason for this outstanding behaviour. He said, "Would you like every move watched and commented on?

READERS SHOULD NOT WORRY HE'LL BE BACK BEFORE THE GAMES START!

Reported by Evie Simonsohn

Cross Country at Hawea

Cross Country at Hawea on PhotoPeach

Wire Sculpture

Today we learned a lot about how to bend and join wire when creating a sculpture . We looked at lots of wire sculptures on line, done by famous sculptors. We all thought they were AMAZING!  We also made a sketch of a sporting pose then used this to help us make the sculptures.  On Wednesday we will cover the wire with tin foil. Watch out for our creations.

Neve's Blabber

Scarlett's Blabber

Olympic Sport Pictograms

Pictograms are a familiar form of Olympic imagery. They convey meaning through their pictorial resemblance to a thing e.g. a sport, a person.

LEOTC Walk up Mt Iron

Yesterday was our school's LEOTC day. Most of the school were off skiing for the day at either Treble Cone or Cardrona. Some went to the Snow Farm. Those who stayed behind had a special programme. Pods three and four walked up Mt Iron. They had a great time. Thanks to those parents who helped.

Want to find out something about the Olympics?

Sewing the Olympic Rings

This week we started a fibre and fabric unit.  We learnt to thread a needle, tie a knot and use back stitch.  We drew the Olympic rings on to hessian then used these as a guide for our stitiches.  Some of us found this sewing very hard but others like Jack and Heath had excellent skills. 

Olympic Popplet

Vote Below For Your Favourite Olympic Sport

A Babberize

I created this Blabberise to show us how we can publish our writing this week. Look out for our presentations.

Harry's Voki

Kate's Voki

Ethan's Voki

Eligh's Voki

Nikita's Voki

Olympic Ring Dance

Today we created Olympic Ring Dance routines and shared them. We learned about accepting each others ideas, working as a team and respecting each other. The dance performances were great. We only had a short time to prepare our dances so we all had to focus and support each other.

RSPCA

At the end of the term 2 Neve,Samara and Georgie organised a fund raising day for the RSPCA. Children wore mufti and brought cat or dog food, jerseys, towels or blankest. They raised hundreds of dollars of food and collected materials to make the animals comfortable( towels, blankets, jerseys). The girls organised the whole thing. They even managed to get in the newspaper! Neve also received a letter from a Labour member of Parliament thanking her for her empathy and care. Well done!

Olympic Rings

Can you make the Olympic Rings out of things at home. Photograph these and email them to school or bring the photos into school to share. Here is a montage of some ideas. Be creative

Making the Olympic Rings

We all experienced the linking of the Olympic rings and how it connects us .

Reading Activity

Tao and Roman followed instructions well and made these great boats. Well done boys. Great photographs you took!

Olympic Mascots

Meet  Wenlock and Mandeville.  They are the official mascots for the London Olympics and the Paralympic Games 2012.  Watch these videos and follow their adventures. The story is written by one of Room 16's  favourite authors, Michael Morpurgo.

London Olympics Emblem

What is an emblem?
The dictionary says...
1.special design or visual object representing a quality, type, group, etc.
2.a visible symbol representing an abstract idea


The London Olympics Emblem is based on the number 2012.
This is the year of the games. The word London reminds us of the host city.
The vision at the heart of the games is that London 2012 will be ‘Everyone’s Games’.

Fractions are Fun!

This term we are learning about fractions. Fractions are parts of a whole. Each part must be equal. Watch these videos to learn more.

Learn more about fractions by making an origami dog.
Play Turkey Terminator. It is a fun fraction game! Throw pies to get turkeys. When you run out of pies, answer the fractions question to get more. How many turkeys can you terminate in two minutes?








Meet Zeebo. He is the King of the Fractions!
Duh. Can you see why? Zeebo lives this stuff, so he's the guy to show you how to work them. Really, fractions aren't as bad as you think. In fact, they're pretty fun once you get the hang of them. Visit Zeebo to learn all about fractions.

The Olympic Flag

This is what we learned today...

• The Olympic rings are a symbol of the Olympics


• There are five interlacing rings


• The colours of the rings are blue, yellow, black, green, and red on a white background


• The colours were chosen because at least one of these five colours is found on the flag of every nation


• The rings are interlocked to show friendship among the nations


• The rings represent the 5 main land areas of the world (continents) - Asia, America, Europe, Africa and Australia


• The Olympic motto is Citius, Altius, Fortius. This means Faster, Higher, Stronger in Latin

Tomorrow we are going to get into groups of 5 to make the rings by interlocking our arms, forming a circle, so that we can experience how the rings interlock and unite us.

Then we are going to make up a short dance. Our starting position will be a ring, then move outwards and around, twisting and turning, then coming back to our starting positions.

Olympic Games 2012

This term we will be learning about the Olympic Games. To start the inquiry we will be learning about the Olympic rings. We will complete a visual art unit on sewing and will stitch the Olympic rings. Watch out for photos of our sewing. The 2012 games will be held n London. Visit these websites to learn more and play some games.







Games

Miner's Huts

Last term we made miner huts as part of our inquiry.  We went through the design process, making plans, testing materials, changing or modifying our plans, building our prototypes then reflecting on and sharing our final product.  They looked great! We photographed them amongst the tussocks in our school garden and they looked very authentic.  What do you think?

Arguments

We are learning to persuade people. It's important to be able to get your point of view across because we don't always agree with what we're told, what we read or what we hear. We learned all about writing a balanced argument.
We watched this Bitesize movie. It helped us understand more about an argument and how it is written. It was all about ... Should Teddy Bez leave the Big Babies toy shelf? We had to help Private Popper construct a balanced argument for and against - and we watched some of Teddy Bez's best dance moves! We loved it.





Then choose a topic and then argue against your opponent's point of view.