On a Friday afternoon, students can choose what they learn. This year we have been very fortunate that Maria has given up her time to teach us Spanish. These students chose to be part of this group.
Today we learnt about things in the kitchen through song and dance.
Here is the song that we learnt:
Students have also started to run their own workshops. Last week one of our students ran a workshop about how to draw a superhero.
Today a couple of our students ran a gymnastics workshop.
We are loving the learner agency. It's very exciting!
Today we carried on with our raising agent pizza dough experiment. We made one pizza base with yeast in it and one with four eggs in it. This was the pizza base with yeast in it. The dough looked puffy and white.
This is a cup of yeast. It looked like little seeds in water! We had to wait five minutes for it to get puffy and frothy.
The pizza dough with eggs in it looked yellowish and bubbly. It had little green herbs in it (oregano).
When the egg pizza base was in the oven it looked like a bubbly volcano. It wasn't as yellow as before.
We got to taste test our pizza bases. Most people liked the pizza base with yeast in it. It was nice and soft. We discovered the pizza with yeast rose the highest. The one with no raising agent rose the least.
Scott and Susie's maths groups made pesto yesterday with mint, parsley, garlic and lemon skin. It looked delicious. Today we got to taste our pesto on pizza bases and it was super yum!
Clem thought she would like to make some at home. Katherine thought the pesto was really good and tasted minty! Kate thought it was really minty and looked squishy.
Our Year 3 students have been working in Matariki and Mahutonga. We have been working in different groups to get ready for next year. Today in our transition time we did an experiment. See the clips below to find out what we did and for the scientific explanation.
Predictions
Leola: It is going to make a rainbow.
Alastair: The colours will mix together in different shapes.
Nela: the milk will change colour.
Lily Ji: I think it will explode.
Rim: I thought it would turn brown.
Elliot: It will swirl around the bowl because of the chemical.
This is what we think about transition: Georgina: It was fun and I like connecting with the people in Mahutonga.
Eva: It is fun. We meet new people and we get to do experiments.
Eden: I liked working with new people in a new space.
Liam: I thought that it was fun. It’s good to make new friends and get to know the space more. Next year I will know what to do when I am in the seniors.
Talia: It is helpful because next year we will know other people. We know who we can play with and we might make new friends.
Lily Ji: I really like "wake up your brain". It really does wake up my brain.
Ridley: It is good because we did experiments and milk spread into different colours.
Katherine: We got to know the space more.
Kirsty: It was fun. It is helpful for next year because we get to work with new people.
Matilda: I like transition time. I like to choose what to do for exercise. Drama was really fun.
Shona and Susie's base groups have been learning and wondering about raising agents. We found out that raising agents make food rise. The four raising agents we have been talking about are eggs, yeast, baking powder and baking soda.
Today we experimented which pizza base would rise the most. We made two pizzas one with baking powder and one without.
Mitchell thought the pizza base with baking powder would rise the most.
Leola was curious to see which pizza rises the most.
In a big bowl we had:
- flour
- 1 tablespoon oil
- baking powder
- salt
- water
In the little bowl we had:
- flour
- salt
- 1 cup oil
- water
Then we had to put them both in the oven. We had to flatten it down with a rolling pin, a spoon or our hands.
We think the pizza needs to bake for around 30 minutes. We think it will be ready to eat when it looks stiff, a little burnt, golden brown, tan, maybe black around the edges, a little hard, crunchy or smooth.
We took a vote...24 people thought the pizza with baking powder would rise the most. 2 people thought the one with no baking powder would rise higher.
Z are holding an annual Safety Day in late November. They would like us to help them to understand more about reducing waste...
Message from Emily Watt, "This is an event that brings 600 Z staff and friends together to share lessons about our company’s values and changes we can make in our lives to benefit people and the planet.
We’re aiming to make our event a Zero Waste event this year, and use the day to inspire our staff and guests to continue to reduce their waste. We’ve been looking for an inspiring speaker/s to help get the message across, and wondered if some of your students would be able to help? As a Zero Waste school, and champions of the plastic bag free peninsula, we can’t think of better ambassadors and educators for our guests!"
Students will create a short, fun video (made by a professional company) with the students explaining the importance of recycling and how to do it and urging people to do better."
If you would like to be part of the video and are passionate about recycling and environmental issues, then please apply to be part of this event.
Please write to Nicola and explain:
1. Why you would like to be part of this?
2. What environmental issues are you passionate about?
3. What skills can you bring?
Applications need to be in by Tuesday 25th October.
The Year Threes have been learning about planting. We will be planting gardens down at bottom grass. They have been measuring, persevering and using teamwork.
First we went into groups and decided to come up with what they wanted to plant in their little piece of garden.
Next we told the teachers what we wanted to plant in our garden.
We also made a grid and tried to fit everything in our pieces of land.
Then we had to tell our teachers what the size of our garden was.
Today we did some weeding and started to flatten the soil...
