This week we are looking forward to...

I am looking forward to cross country because the whole school is going. There will be different schools and lots of new people. I will have to be brave because I feel nervous when there are lots of people. By Max

I am looking forward to ukulele jam because I haven't played ukulele before. When I am playing ukulele it makes me feel happy and excited. If someone gets stuck I could help them. By Alaysha

I am looking forward to the Geology museum because I have never been there. I wonder what is going to be there? By Cooper

I am looking forward to the university because we are going to be doing a scavenger hunt and its my first time going there. By Shakira

ICC cricket gear/game

this is an action shot of Tamati bowling!

ICC cricket gear

this is Harry and Seth showing some of the new cricket gear 

from ICC

this is Harry showing Ben  how to bat, now he is a star!!

                                             

The Great Egg Parachute Challenge!

As part of our Inquiry learning about Inventions, we have been learning about Leonardo Da Vinci. He invented many different machines and contraptions, most of which no one knew about until after he died as he had kept them hidden. On his death he left his notebooks to an apprentice who shared them with the world. We learned that he wrote a lot of his ideas in code or used mirror writing. Tamati tried some mirror writing at home and brought it to school - great job Tamati! It is pretty tricky!
One of Leonardo's inventions was a parachute. Mrs Jackson set a challenge for Room 1 & 2. We had to create a parachute that would protect an egg when it was dropped from the highest part on the playground. Because Leonardo had to work with limited material, so did we! We used - one plastic bag, 3 pieces of string, a sheet of newspaper and 10 pieces of sellotape.
Our values this term are 'Integrity & Inclusion'.This challenge was a great opportunity for the seniors to work with the juniors and vice versa, building relationships and working cooperatively. We focused on listening to each other's ideas and making sure that everyone was included in the creating and testing of our parachutes.
It was great to see and hear everyone being enthusiastic, encouraging and working together.
Here are some photos from our challenge.

Elsie and Evie all smiles as they work on their invention

Nathan and Cooper showing great concentration

Wiremu and Michael putting on the final touches

Oh no Elsie! Its an egg-cident!

Amber and Max's interesting invention

Seth and James used a modified paper plane in their invention

Tom & Madeleine had a very technical design!

Like any great inventor we had to test our prototype. We had some successes and some failures but we know that all inventors need to have great perseverance. We had great fun counting down to each egg drop and then rushing to see if it had worked! (please note - some eggs were hurt during testing)

Tamati and Jack M showed great team work with their invention

The before...

And the after - oops! 

Shakira, Ethan and Sean's invention was a success!

Ryan and Jack G made a great parachute!