21 September 2018

Pompeii Assembly Item

This is a copy of last weeks Pompeii performance that we performed in our assembly.

Nearly 2000 years ago, in the year 79 AD, an extreme natural event changed a city forever.


An ancient Roman city, Pompeii, lay close to the bottom of one of the worlds most active volcanoes -Mt Vesuvius.


The village people began their day, as if it was any other day, hoeing their gardens, farming,  teaching children, building, cooking and cleaning, bartering at markets, being artists, training as military -the list goes on.


As the morning rolled on, Mt Vesuvius began to prove it had other plans for the day.

Let’s see how the next 24 hours unfolded.




The day Mt Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD buried the ancient Roman city of Pompeii in ash. Many years later the city began to be re-discovered, dug up and restored. Today you can visit Pompeii and see parts of the old Roman city. If you are lucky enough to ever visit this place, as Miss Simpson has, you will see some amazing history, get really dirty feet from the ash and dust, and probably get really hot from the extreme heat!

18 September 2018

Drama Shark 2

Drama Shark!

Today, while many of the students in our class have been at drama dress rehearsals, we decided we would create our very own versions of the current trend song, Baby Shark!
We used our very own drama skills, including our wonderful sense of humors and this is what we made!








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04 September 2018

We are ROCKING our learning!

Today we had the chance to look at, touch and feel nearly 100 different types of rocks! We grouped these rocks in a range of ways based on colour, weight, appearances, texture etc. It was interesting looking at them and identifying unique and interesting parts or types of rocks. We worked on explaining ourselves when we made a comment to justify our thoughts. We then identified that rocks are all different and for different reasons.

We learnt a bit about igneous rocks/ Volcanic rocks, as our science focus is volcanoes.

It was so cool being able to physically touch all these different kinds of rocks and learn about where they come from and why they are all so different!






Igneous Rocks

https://easyscienceforkids.com/all-about-igneous-rocks/

30 August 2018

PJs... Hot Chocolates... Popcorn.... AWESOME!!

Yesterday we had a fun day in our Pjs! Thanks Totara Year 8s for organising this fun day! Whilst we all felt a bit lazy in our Pjs we still managed to dance, learn and enjoy our yummy treats at lunchtime!




Keeping a lid on the heat!

This week we looked at how boiling a pot of water creates great analogies for what different parts of volcanic and geothermal activity looks like and how it happens. The students observed what was happening at different times in the boiling process and compared that to volcanic activity. Some of the key things we discussed were: The interior of the earth is far hotter than the outside, steam creates pressure, and in some places the molten rock inside the earth can spill out.
In this experiment we did lots of observing, discussing, thinking, comparing, drawing representations,  explaining, predicting and critiquing the experiment.
We recorded our results and analogies in tables like the ones below.



Building representations

Earlier in the week we looked into the different types of volcanoes and researched a bit about them. Following this, in their groups, the students built a model of their volcano type to show other groups. They built Cone, Caldera and field volcanoes. Who would have thought that these kids would love to 'play' in the sandpit so much!



20 August 2018

Friday Fun with Mrs Lintott!

On Fridays, Room 5 year 6 students spend their mornings with Mrs Lintott. Last week they took part in a couple of technology challenges, where the students had to build a structure that would hold a drink bottle, and a parachute to sail from a set height. The kids loved building their creations even though some structures didn't quite turn out too well.














16 August 2018

ANZ Netball Fun!

We had an amazing week at Halcombe School thanks to ANZ! Wednesday morning was an absolute blast and a 'once in a lifetime' type experience. Our netballers certainly enjoyed featuring on the TV and doing some fun drills with Casey. We were absolutely blown away with all the amazing prizes we received from ANZ and got the surprises of our life when they presented us with tickets to the ANZ Premiership Grand Final! PULSE vs STEEL!
We were over the moon and really enjoyed our time at the game. There was an awesome atmosphere and it was a real nail-biting game in the end!

Thanks to ANZ, TVNZ and Casey Kopua for being so generous and awesome!


Our earth!

Over the last week we have been looking at how the earth is made up and what layers make up the structure of our earth. We did an activity that allowed us to see a model of the layers. Miss Fleet boiled us some eggs and we cut them in half, which was a representation of a cross section of the earth. It became very easy to see the different layers -The yolk being the core of the earth, the white being the mantle and the shell representing the crust. This was really interesting and we drew comparison representations of the earth and egg. To finish off we discussed what other items would model the same layers/structure. We came up with avocados, apples, and nectarines.





06 August 2018

Tough Kids

On Friday we had a large number of Room 5 kids attend the tough kids challenge at Linton Army Camp. They had an awesome day getting stuck in, climbing under and over obstacles, trudging through mud and a bog, finding their way through a dark tunnel and getting totally and utterly filthy!
Check out the wonderful photos! Don't they all look fantastic!




26 July 2018

Volcano Science!

This term we are looking into VOLCANOES! We are going to be learning some scientific skills and building our knowledge and understanding of volcanoes and their processes.
We began our unit by looking at some pretty magnificent photos of volcanic action and then did some brainstorming. We jotted down all the stuff we already knew and also all the questions/ wonders we have about volcanoes.






Gymnastics has begun!

This week we have started our gymnastcis PE focus. Check out our 'beginning' skills.




Lets gather some ideas for this year's speeches.

Made with Padlet

03 July 2018

Nga Hakinakina -Sports!

Today we finally had fun playing each other's Te Reo games! It was awesome to see what other teams had come up with and what they had created. There was such a range of games -snakes and ladders, The Chase, Cludo, Mazes, and even spinning wheels. We reflected on others' games creating a PMI then feeding back our thoughts about their game, how clear the instructions were and the general make-up of the game.
This was a really good way to learn our vocabulary!






02 July 2018

Halcombe Card Competition!

This morning we are helping our little buddies with brainstorming ideas, and planning their picture for the Halcombe Card Competition. Already there are some awesome pictures coming along! Stay tuned for the finished products!


Sunset Silhouette reflection art

Last week we created these piece of art. We looked at what happens on the horizon when the sun goes down. We noticed that when there is water in the fore ground, the light often reflects onto the water. We also noticed that things such as trees and boats turn to silhouettes when the light is behind them. Using paint we worked hard to create some blended pieces showing different types and colours and reflections that appear when the sun goes down.