Slippery Slidey Fun!

Today, as a special treat, everyone got to bring their togs to school.
Room 6 kids set up a couple of large sheets of plastic and paddling pools and WEEEEE! Slippery, slidey fun!




Thanks Miss Simpson for organising this awesome event

Fun Athletics Day

Today was the Halcombe School Athletics Day. Everyone headed out to the field for some fun games and challenges in group rotations.  One of the activities was the Egg and Spoon race. (Well ... actually, more like Tennis Ball and Spoon Race)...

Here are some pics (along with the Tug O War challenge from yesterday)

A Special Visitor

On Friday, Room 3 were very excited to have Mr Julian Atkins (a National Fingerprint Training Officer based with the NZ Police) to come and talk to us about his experience working in Thailand after the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami.

We have been learning about natural disasters, and Julian explained what his role was in helping identify victims of the Asian tsunami. He also explained how tsunamis are caused and how we can tell if one is coming towards a beach.

Did you know if the sea water suddenly recedes (goes back out to sea) really quickly - this is a sign a tsunami could be on its way?
Don't stand and stare!  Run away from the beach. Get to higher ground - tell others on the way.

Thanks Julian for your talk. We learnt a lot.

Discus training

Room 3 have been practising athletics skills. Today we were out on the field throwing the discus.
We are working on leaning back, and bending our knees, and to hold the discus correctly.
We have to throw with a straight arm.
It looked like flying saucers on the field today!

Wellington Zoo Trip

On Friday, Room 3 went to Wellington Zoo for the day. We met up with Thom, the zoo educator, who showed us around some of the carnivores. We got to see him feed Narla and Sasha - two of the lionesses. It freaked us out when one of them growled for her food!

It was a gorgeous day, and we got to explore all the animals in the zoo. Thanks so much to all our lovely parent helpers who provided transport.

Pet Day

On Wednesday, it was Pet Day at Halcombe School.  There were cats, kittens, chooks, rabbits, calves and heaps of lambs. We enjoyed making apple head dolls and pet rocks for art in the two weeks leading up to Pet Day. Here are some photos of our day ...

Cross Country Practice

We've been training hard for the past week for the school Cross Country this Friday. Today the whole school practiced running over the paddock and through the creek.

Only 2 more days until the REAL DEAL! Here's hoping we have good weather on Friday ...

Bunnies, Bunnies, Bunnies!

Today we had a special treat. Brileigh brought her five baby rabbits into the class.
We sat in a tight circle so they couldn't escape, and we were allowed to pet them if they came close.
They were sooooo cute and were very friendly.
Thanks Brileigh for sharing your news today.

School Disco THIS Friday!

Disco this Friday!  $3 only! Get your ticket at school by Friday. See ya there

BLACK DAY

Today is Black Day. Everyone came to school dressed in black to show our support for the All Blacks for the upcoming Rugby World Cup.



GO THE ALL BLACKS!

Maths with Miss Viles

Miss Viles is teaching in Room 3. We've just finished our Fraction unit and now we're going back over addition and subtraction strategies.

Here's what the Mean Multipliers maths group did yesterday ...

Miss Viles

Room 3 are very lucky to have Miss Viles, a training teacher in our room until the end of term. She has been teaching groups in Reading, Writing and Maths.

She's also an AMAZING dancer! And she's been teaching us some cool moves as part of our PE dance focus. Stay tuned for further pics ...

BLACK DAY COMING UP

CRAZY DAY!

Today is CRAZY DAY! Everyone got very imaginative and dressed up in CRAZY clothes.
We are very proud to have raised $210 for the Feilding SPCA.

Here are some photos ...

Creating Pitch

In our Science topic - Sound, we have been learning about pitch.
Higher pitch is caused when sound waves move through the air causing FAST vibrations.
Low pitch is caused when sound waves create SLOWER vibrations.

We experimented creating different pitch - using various objects. eg; we filled jars of water and hit them with a spoon to create lower, higher and highest pitch.

We used cardboard boxes and rubber bands at different tensions to create different pitch. And we hung up tins and filled them with water. Did you know ... the more water you put in a tin - the LOWER the pitch! Most of us predicted it would make a higher pitch!

We even created the song 'Mary Had A Little Lamb" - this was very challenging, but some of us did it!

We also made plastic cup telephones. We discovered, if you attach two plastic cup together with string, and pull the string tight ... the vibrations of our voice travel through the sting, right to the ear of our buddy! We even heard our buddy WHISPER to us from about 10 metres away! It really works ... you have to try it!!!

Maths Week Fun

It's the second day of Maths Week!  Yesterday Mrs Bowles taught us. We had a fun Maths Trail with rooms 4, 5 and 6. We had to hunt for clues around the school to answer all sorts of maths questions.

Today was all about discovering and exploring tessellating shapes. We split up into 3 groups. First we made cool tessellating shapes using equipment. We mixed a variety of shapes to create unique patterns. Then we went on a hunt around school looking for tessellating shapes, which we drew pictures of. Our last activity was to go onto the maths website 'nrich maths'. We practiced making tessellations with a variety of shapes. When we make something amazing, we can print our pictures.

Check out the nrich maths website. The two activities we did today were ..
Tan's World - making animal, rocket shapes
Tessellation interactive

Crazy Day Coming Up

Very Funny Jack Flash Show

Today we saw a fantastic show put on by The Playhouse Theatre group, based in Christchurch.
It was based on the classic tale of Jack And The Beanstalk, and performed entirely by only 3 actors!

We laughed a lot at the silly characters, but also understood the hidden message about the importance of the Three R's - Recycle - Reduce and Reuse.

Here are some photos ...

Exploring Sound

For our Science topic, we are learning about sound.
What is sound?
How does sound travel?
What are different types of sound?
What makes high pitch and low pitch?

All these questions and more!  Today we learnt about VIBRATIONS. Two children held a piece of paper over a speaker and Miss Jeynes sprinkled sand over it, When she turn the volume up .. the sand 'danced'!

Then we went on a sound hunt around the class. We scraped, scratched, banged and blew on different objects to create different sounds. We recorded what we did and whether the sound we made was a HIGH or LOW pitch.

Here are some pictures ...

We are looking forward to doing more experiments with sound

Wheels Day

Weeee! On Wednesday, the whole school had a blast scooting and rollerblading around the school. And to make our day even better, the Student Council also organised burgers for lunch!
That was so much fun!

Coach House Museum Trip

Today we went to the Coach House Museum as part of our Early Settler topic.

We broke up into small groups and did different activities: We learnt how to make rope, how to set a table and about table etiquette,  we learnt about how milk was produced and transported, and how to use a machine that crushes corn for use in baking.

Then it was off to Kowhai Park for fun on the playground!

Thanks so much to our wonderful parent/grandparent helpers for providing transport and sharing our day with us.

Burger Day & Wheels Day Coming Up

Next Wednesday the Student Council are having a Wheels Day. Bring your scooter or roller blades on the 1st of July for lots of fun zooming around the school. Also, you can buy a burger! See the advertisements below ...

DODGE BALL

Today Room 3 kids joined up with our buddy class, Room 6 for a fun game of dodge ball.

We had lots of fun biffing the ball at the opposing team, trying to hit them below waist height.
We liked how our big buddies shared the ball with us and encouraged us to have a go.

Thanks Room 6!

Solving Unknown Timestables

Some of our children have been learning to solve unknown times tables problems by using times tables we already know.

eg; To work  out 4 x 6 - Some of us thought (2 x 6) + (2 x 6)
                                                                      = 12 + 12
                                                                      = 24
                         (we called this strategy 'doubling the double')

        Some of us used our 3x knowledge.
             So 4 x 6 = (3x6) + (1x6)
                           = 18 + 6
                           = 24

These are some of our Daring Dividers working using 2 different strategies.

Super Hero Day

Today was Super Hero Day! Everyone came to school dressed up as a super hero, including the teachers, teacher aides and Mrs Otter!

After each class paraded around the court, some children were awarded with a treat for their costumes. Then the whole school had a bit of a boogy - just for fun!

The gold coin donations the children gave go to the Make A Wish Foundation, which raises money for very ill children to do something they've always dreamed of doing. What a good cause.

Thanks to the student council for organising and running this event.

Buddy Class

Yesterday Room 3 teamed up with our buddy class - Room 6. We had a Trust Walk challenge.
First our  big buddies blindfolded us, and led us through an obstacle course. We had to listen to their instructions carefully.

Then it was OUR turn to lead our big buddies. There were a few little 'bumps' here and there when we forgot to tell our  buddy to 'duck' or 'lift your leg', but we all had lots of fun. It was great to interact with the older kids in our school.

Thanks Miss Simpson and Room 6 for setting up the course and being great role models.

SUPER HERO DAY!

Measuring in Maths

We have been learning to estimate and measure length and capacity using cm,metres, millilitres and litres.

We started our unit by measuring our smiles, then using our 'smile lengths' to measure objects in our room. Then we used our rulers to measure objects. We estimated and measured distances outside. We are now learning to estimate and measure capacity (how much liquid containers hold) and are using millilitres and litres as our units of measurement.

It gets a bit messy, but it's fun!

Welcome to Ngakau and Taonga

This week Room 3 gained two new students who have come from Marton Junction School in Marton.
A big welcome to Taonga and Ngakau.

Taonga is Year 4, and Ngakau is Year 3.
Haere mai!

ANZAC DAY

On Friday we had a special visit from some people from the army. They brought in some of their vehicles and let us climb on board to have a closer look. They showed us a massive gun and talked to us about their jobs in the army.

We had a special ANZAC service at the end of the day to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the soldiers landing at Gallipoli.

Thanks Miss Simpson for organising this special event.

Asking FAT and SKINNY Questions

We are learning to ask FAT questions to get information. Yesterday we did a fun activity to explore WHAT IS a fat/skinny question.

Miss Jeynes explained the purpose of using Fat questions and the use of Skinny questions, and we practiced asking questions with our Learning Buddies.

We read the poem "Humpty Dumpty' and then got into groups to brainstorm creative questions based on the poem. Some of us came us with very creative questions that went 'beyond' the poem...

The 'Triple A' School

Halcombe School is a 'Triple A' School.
We are going to talk more about this at the start of Term 2 .... stay tuned!

A Very Special Visitor

Today the junior classes had a very unexpected visitor to the school hall. .... Ronald McDonald!

He talked to us about how to be safe when walking and travelling in a car.
We learnt about 'sneaky' driveways, and how we should STOP, LOOK and LISTEN before walking past driveways and before crossing the road.

Ronald McDonald was so hilarious, and we had a lot of laughs. Especially when his sock was stuck to his back!

Thanks Ronald for your great road safety message.

Emily's Shadow

We have been learning about Space - and have been learning about what causes day and night.

We traced around Emily's shadow during the day. 

We know the sun DOESN'T move. It just looks that way because Earth is turning towards the sun. The closer we turn to the sun, the shorter the shadows get. As we start turning away from the sun, shadows become longer.

Here's a picture of our observations ...

Fun At The Gala

On Saturday, we had our school gala. Thanks to the efforts of many Halcombe School families, the PTA and many, many other volunteers, we managed to raise a whopping $19,000 for the school!

The weather was kind to us, and there were lots of things to do, yummy treats to eat, and good bargains to buy.

Well done to the Halcombe School Idol contestants who practised hard for the competition and all performed wonderfully on the day. See the photos below ...

Eating Tomatoes

Our tomatoes have been ripening on the vine in our garden. Today Miss Jeynes chopped some up and we ate them on crackers (with a bit of salt for extra flavour).

We still have a lot left, and will have of other ways to enjoy eating them.

We are planning to get stuck into the potatoes next. Most of us want to have wedges!
We love eating food from our garden.

Bike Safety

Today Constable Cree came to visit Room 3. She talked to us about how to be safe on our bikes, and how to make sure our helmets fit correctly.

We learnt how to use hand signals to show we are turning left, right, and to stop. Then we practiced going in and out of cones. It was tricky at first, but we got better with practice.

Thanks Constable Cree, it was a very important lesson on bike safety and we learnt a lot!