Room 19 Under Sail

A highlight of our visit to the Maritime Museum was an hour's sail on Auckland Harbour. 

We all helped put up the sails.

We saw a brave person bungy jump from the harbour bridge as we sailed underneath.

Nathan A stored the ropes safely so we could walk around the deck.

Maritime Museum

On Wednesday we went to the Maritime Museum with Room 18 to find out about the sea that surround us in Auckland; how we can care for it and how we can enjoy it.

We travelled from Howick to the City by bus.

We identified sea creatures you could expect to find on the coast line.

We found out what it would be like to be caught in a fishing net, as catch or sadly as by-catch.

We had to wear life jackets when we were in or near the water.

We could try our hand at sailing in the museum. 

We looked closely at sea life under the pontoon.

Nappy Science

We fused Science and Maths together to investigate the capacity of disposable nappies to hold liquid.  We decided to dye the water pale yellow so it would look more authentic.  The girls slowly poured water in small amounts of 200ml.  Their girls' nappy held 1,000mml or 1 litre before it overflowed.  The boys poured water in  larger 500ml amounts  They found that their boy nappy held 950ml before it overflowed.

Afterwards we shredded a nappy and found tiny crystals hidden in the fabric of the nappy.  We collected these crystals together into one plastic cup and left the other two empty.  Then we poured water into all three cups and switched them around.  Some people were unlucky and choose the wrong one - water poured out of the plastic cup onto their hair, but a few people choose the one with the crystals.  These had absorbed all the water and formed a white gel.  We enjoyed playing with this in our fingers - it felt cold and squishy.

Terrific Triangles

In Science Week, we fused Science into our Maths programme.  We used forces (which can be a push or a pull, although in this case we used a pull) to make triangles of every shape and size using elastic bands and string.  We knew our shapes were all triangles because, no matter the shape, they all had three straight sides.  When we had finished making triangles, we drew them using our rulers to keep the lines super straight.

Each person in our team pulled on their string to make a group triangle

We had to divide the string into thirds so we could cut three pieces which were all the same length.

We had to mark the elastic band into thirds, and then tie a piece of string on each mark.

Classroom Science kits

Room 19 checked the Science kits before they were sent out to all the different classrooms at Cockle Bay.

There were 30 Science kits to check when we came to school on Monday.

Cockle Bay Beach Picnic

It was decided that everyone in Cockle Bay School should visit Cockle Bay Beach.  Eight hundred people (students, teachers, teacher aides and parents) walked their and back with their buddy class. After our picnic lunch, we sketched some observational drawings of cockle shells we found on the sand.  Then the whole school posed for a huge group photo with the sea in the background.

It was getting a little chilly and looking rather menacingly like rain, so we walked back up to school earlier than we had expected.  This gave us time to have a school picnic to finish off our lunch in the Nature Walk.  A special thank you to Daniel's Mum (who also took these photos), Ashley's Mum and Kiera's Mum who accompanied us on our walk.

This is the biggest Art Studio we have ever been in!

We used our lunch boxes as little art desks.

Daniel used an information chart to help him with detailing his sketch.

We were such a big group, it was hard to fit us all in the camera viewer!

It was great extending our outdoor experience with a picnic in the Nature Walk after we returned to school.

Easter Treasure Hunt

On Thursday afternoon, we had a Easter treasure hunt .  Everyone got into a group of three and set out to find their clue.  The last group found the treasure - a cache of golden eggs - enough for one each.  (Hoover didn't eat one though, just in case it was a distant relative).

Everyone read the their clue carefully before they set off around the school

One of our clues

The last group came triumphantly back with the Easter treasure!

They kindly handed out the eggs after they had broken into the box.

Most people ate their egg right away, but some people took theirs home for someone in their family to share.