Room One Sail the South Pacific Ocean!

Jack M, Jack G, Beatrice and Evie are fishing for food.

Yesterday Room One made pretend sail boats out of classroom furniture because they were learning about how the first Polynesian sailors came to NZ. Children split up into 3 groups and made a boat each. They used drama to explore ideas, thoughts and feelings in response to a story that Mrs Lunn told about how the Polynesian settlers made their way down to NZ.

Preparing to sail.

Lets make a plan for traveling to a faraway land.

Sailing on the South Pacific!

The Giant Pumpkin

Last spring our favorite school friend and neighbour, Jean, who helps us with our gardens, challenged the families and the school to see who could grow the largest giant pumpkin. Madeleine, Elsie and Beatrice's family brought their pumpkin along to school to be weighed. We had great fun weighing ourselves and then the pumpkin to see who was lighter, heavier or the same as the pumpkin. The pumpkin weighed 21.2kg and Evie was the closest weight to the pumpkin!

Elsie, Beatrice and Madeleine, proudly show off their giant pumpkin.

Elsie, Mrs Timms Madeleine and Beatrice with the giant pumpkin which unfortunately can't be eaten.

Making Boats

Max, Ben and Dorothy are busily constructing their boats.

We are 'Tuning In' to our Inquiry, Sailing the Seven Seas, by making our own boats and then testing them to see if they float.

Jack G, Evie, Jack M, & Beatrice are on task and absorbed in their work.

My boat is called Zombie Striker. I made my boat water proof. My sail is yellow and my boat is pink.

Charlie

My little boat fell over in the water when we floated it. I made a colourful sail.

Beatrice

My boat tipped over because the mast was too heavy but it still floated.

Evie

I made a pirate ship and the cannon is going to fire at another boat.

James

This is my boat and it is a pirate ship. My pirate boat is going to sail the seven seas.

Dorothy

I am happy that my boat floated.

Michael

I made a boat with Jack G and I hoped it would float but it didn’t because it had a small hole in the back of the boat.

Jack M

The pirate is driving the ship to the treasure.

Ben

Welcome to Term 1 2015!

 We hope you enjoy reading about our cool learning on the  Blog.

This Term, our Inquiry learning topic is " Sailing the Seven Seas".

Our Big Question is:

How has ocean & water travel, and exploration affected people's lives?

We will be learning about some of the early sailors and explorers that came to New Zealand. Also, we will be thinking about how boats are made, and how they and other objects float and sink.

Room 1, 2015, holding the produce from our EE garden.

Bee Swarm Stories

After the bee swarm experience we did lots of talking about what we had seen and learnt. We checked out information about bees and the way they go about their daily lives.
Marcel told us why the bees were swarming  - which was because of the cold weather they are hungry and want to make a new colony somewhere else.
Here are our lovely stories - 

by Max

WDS Whole School Camp

Last week our whole school went to the local Waihola CYC camp for a two day, overnight camping experience. We enjoyed heaps of interesting, new experiences. The top favourite for Room One children was the flying fox! Other activities included the team challenge course, Geo caching, the assault course, rifle shooting, archery, sailing & canoeing. Not to mention new games such as Sardines & Meteors. Later at night some of the older children were treated to rabbit shooting & spotlighting. We had an action packed, awesome time. Thank you to PTA, parents & community for making our camp awesome!

Thumbs up Team. Check out our pyramid!

James fell into the crocodile pit.
 "Mark saved me," said James." Phew!"

Looking for clues during  Geo-caching using  G P S.

Helping each other to move along the pole.

The Day of the Bee Swarm

Yesterday we found out that there was a bee swarm opposite Charlie's house. Charlie's Mum helped to transport the school up to the spot to have a look.
What a sight... and just when we are asking questions and finding out all about bees. Only last Friday we had read a book called Nana's in the Plum Tree which was all about a bee swarm.

Six thousand bees are swarming on the  wooden post.

Marcel is looking for the Queen Bee. He found her!

Marcel is shaking the swarm into the bees' new home.

We were lucky to see a bee swarm