Room 3 2017

On Friday, Room 3 came to school dressed in colours of different countries to welcome the start of the World Cup. Can you guess which countries we were representing?

Have a look at our families and pets that we have drawn using felt pens and dyes. These fabulous pictures are for our calendars.

As part of our inquiry we have been searching everywhere for magnets both at home and at school. Have a look at some of the magnets we have found at home. This week, we have also been sharing our ideas about magnetic forces and discovering the properties of magnets. Ted's uncle made an electromagnet and he also gave us a strong neodynium magnet as well to use. We had fun trying to move the iron filings around in the container using these different magnets.

Have a look at the model chair that Felix made and the hedgehog that Ella made. They did a fantastic job. Brodie can write heaps of numbers. How many can you write?

Our Science inquiry last term involved magnets. As part of this we made our own fishing game with the help of our buddies. We made fish with the numbers from 1 to 10on them, attached them to a magnet and then tried to fish them up. We are using the game at home to help us to recognise our numbers. This term in our inquiry we are using magnets as part of technology. We are going to explore all the ways we can use magnets and then design our own magnet using different materials. The one we make must meet differnt criteria especially the one that says - it will be strong enough to hold our reading and spelling homework on our fridge.

Room 3 took full part in the Peace Week activities that had been organised by the students in years 5 and 6. They had their face painted, learnt some origami, coloured pictures, played sports and watched a talent quest and cooking demonstration. They had so much fun they want to do it all again. Ned had a t shirt with the peace sign on it and had his face painted to match.

On the last week of the term we went to the library each lunchtime to listen to stories read to us by different staff members. On Friday we dressed up as our favourite book characters and brought along some money so we could purchase some library books for the Orphans in Nepal. Can you guess which characters we are?

One afternoon we went across the road to visit our friends in Years 7 and 8. Mr Eames talked to us and then we went into the 'Greenhouse classroom' and saw the fantastic sustainable houses that the seniors had made. We were absolutely amazed and very impressed by the wonderful models that had been done. After that we visited the worm farm and the garden. Ana, Merlinde and Maija have been coming over each week as part of the gardening group so they proudly showed us their garden and the compost and spoke about the work they had been doing. We lcved exploring the senior school and will visit again soon.

In Maori Language week Whaea Arini came to school. She showed us a slideshow featuring Pania and her two brothers performing at Te Papa during Matariki. She showed us some precious taonga, how to use the poi and she read to us. We loved having her. One morning our kaumatua, whanau group and all the children and staff gathered around our pou. We had karakia, waiata and special speeches. Later that day our precious pou were removed and work has begun to restore them.

Room 3 have been using wires with alligator clips, a bulb and a battery to create a circuit. We love doing Science.

Room 3 have been learning about the Colour Wheel. We have been mixing the primary colours together to make the secondary colours. We also made different tints and shades. One day we read the book "Biscuit Bear' and then mixed white, brown, black and gold paint together to create our paintings of him. We also have been learning different brush strokes. Welcome Fraser, Yoshiki and Ned to school.

On Friday Room 3 were the hosts of our Junior School Assembly. Merlinde and Jacob were fantastic presenters. Marcus, Amber and Alexa shared what they knew about magnets with everyone. All of room 3 then sang the 'days of the week' song that they have been learning about during mathematics.

This week we have continued with our science inquiry about magnetism. We discussed what we knew about magnets and then we made a list of objects from around our classroom that we thought the magnet would or would not stick to. We then each explored our classroom with magnets to see if our predictions were correct or not. On Tuesday we had fun in the magic sand with the wands. Many fun patterns were created. After that we played the magnetic fishing game and are now creating our own magnetic game to play in mathematics and at home.

Wow! What a great first week back we have had. We welcomed eight new children to our class on Monday and they have all settled in very well. It was Science Week and on Tuesday we joined the rest of the school for the launching of a rocket. We have also begun our inquiry about magnetism. All of the children were very excited on Friday as they finally got introduced to their big buddies from room 7. Room 3 also worked together well and earned the Assembly Bear for the first time. The week finished with them dancing and having fun at the disco.

We sketched a piece of watermelon and then used pastels for the shading. We also welcomed Jack to school this week.

Monday was certainly a memorable day for the children and also for their visitors. Grandparents and Grandfriends from all around New Zealand and overseas came to school for this special occasion. We welcomed the visitors and then the children entertained the visitors with songs, art, stories and a slideshow of what they do at school and then were hosts in their classrooms proudly sharing their work with the adults. The visitors brought special items to share with the children and then we all had a lovely afternoon tea together. We all enjoyed finding out about how life has changed since the grandparents were at school. Thank you very much to everyone who came. We welcomed Marcus to school and discovered that he is the fourth generation of his family to attend our school.

On Thursday, we were treated to a great performance by Eddie Quansah. He had the children mesmerized. They were fascinated by the different instruments he played and they thoroughly enjoyed moving to the various rhythms. Some of our class stood up in front of the whole school and had a turn on the instruments too!

This week we had our class photos taken and we also had a tsunami practice. We did very well to walk up to McKenzie track from our classroom in less than seven minutes. We said fond farewell to Sophie and hope she is enjoying her new school. We said hello to Bobby as our newest class member. Room 3 have also been using the large balls to practice their throwing and catching skills.