Greetings Parents,

This week B1 went with the rest of B Pod to the Alfriston Botanic Garden in Manurewa. The children had a guided tour with one of the educators there, followed by a self- guided tour with me.

Your child will have brought home a small pot with 2 succulent cuttings in this. These require only a little water. It was amazing to see the beautiful plants that had been grown from cuttings in the garden.

This term we are looking at Sustainability as our Inquiry topic. The trip to the Botanic Garden was an introduction to this. The children learnt about “How plants survive in harsh environments”. This links in directly with what has already been covered this year in RE-Climate Change and its effects.

Our Sustainability topic will follow on from this. We will link back to Climate Change and children will be given the opportunity to ask their own questions in groups and look for their answers with support as needed.

It would be very beneficial if you could follow up with your child at home about this topic.

Here are a few photos from our trip.

Regards,

Sue Williams

Greetings Parents,

Science Fair was a great success. Please find some photos below that we would like to share with you.

Thank you to all those who submitted items.

Science Fair    

HERE IS THE EXPERIMENT FOR B1 AND B2 TO COMPLETE AT HOME. GOOD LUCK!!!

-What melts ice faster?

1. Get the salt, sugar, sand, and measuring teaspoon ready to use nearby.
1. Once you have set up the ice cubes in their bowls, you will want to quickly add the substances to the ice cubes so that they do not melt before adding the substances.
2. Into each of the four bowls, quickly place three ice cubes. Arrange the ice cubes so that only the corners are touching, forming a triangular shape, as shown in Figure 2, below.
1. Tip: If you are using ice cubes from a tray, it helps to let the tray sit at room temperature a little (for about five minutes) so that the ice cubes more easily come out of the tray and do not break into pieces.

Figure 2. Arrange three ice cubes in each bowl so that just the corners of the ice cubes touch each other.

3. Carefully sprinkle ½ teaspoon (tsp.) of salt over the ice cubes in one bowl, as shown in Figure 3, below. Then sprinkle ½ tsp. of sugar over the ice cubes in another bowl, and ½ tsp. of sand over the ice cubes in the third bowl. Do not sprinkle anything over the ice cubes in the fourth bowl — it will be your control.

Figure 3. Sprinkle salt, sugar, sand, or nothing over the ice cubes in each bowl.

4. Move each bowl to an empty shelf in the refrigerator. If any of the ice cubes no longer form a triangular shape in their bowl, gently nudge the ice cubes to make a triangle again.You are doing this experiment in the refrigerator because it is easier to see the effects of colligative properties at colder temperatures. To think about why this is, imagine melting an ice cube on a hot, paved road compared to melting it in the refrigerator. The hot temperature of the road will make all of the ice cubes melt very quickly, which makes it harder to see the relatively minor effects of colligative properties on how fast the ice cubes melt.
5. Note the starting time in your lab notebook. Tell other people who may use the refrigerator that you are doing a science project and to not leave the refrigerator door open long as this could change the temperature of the refrigerator.
6. Check on the ice cubes every hour. When the ice cubes in one of the bowls have become at least half melted, take out all four bowls from the refrigerator and move on to step 7. (Be sure to take the bowls out before the ice cubes in two or more bowls have completely melted.)

Substance	Amount Melted (mL)	Amount Remaining (mL)	Total Amount (mL)	Percentage Melted
Salt
Sugar
Sand
Nothing

1. Depending on how cold your refrigerator is, it may take about four hours for the ice cubes to become at least half melted while you are waiting, make a data table like Table 1 in your lab notebook.

Table 1. Make a data table like this one in your lab notebook to record your results in. Note that the liquid measurements should be recorded in milliliters (mL).

7. Carefully pour the liquid water from one of the bowls into a cup with a spout, such as a large measuring cup. Make sure the ice cubes stay in the bowl, but get as much liquid into the cup as possible. Then carefully pour the liquid from the cup into the graduated cylinder. Record how much liquid was in the bowl (the amount of ice melted) in the data table in your lab notebook. After recording your results, clean out and dry the cup and graduated cylinder.
1. Alternatively, you could use a funnel instead of a cup with a spout and funnel the liquid directly into the graduated cylinder from the bowl.
8. Repeat step 7 with the three other bowls.
1. When pouring the liquid from the bowl with the sand, try to leave as much sand in the bowl as possible.
9. Now let the ice cubes completely melt in their bowls (you can leave them at room temperature). Once all of the ice cubes are melted, repeat steps 7–8 (but this time you will not need to worry about keeping the ice cubes in the bowls). Record the amount of liquid remaining in each bowl in your data table.
10. Calculate the total amount of water (originally in ice cube form) that was in each bowl. To do this, add the "amount melted" to the "amount remaining" for each bowl. Record the total amount for each bowl in your data table.
1. For example, if the amount melted was 65 mL and the amount remaining was 25 mL, the total amount would be 90 mL.
11. Calculate the percentage of ice that was melted (when you first took the bowls out of the refrigerator) for each bowl. Do this by dividing the amount melted by the total amount.
1. For example, if 65 mL was melted, and the total amount was 90 mL, dividing 65 mL by 90 mL would give you 0.72, which is the same as 72%. This means that 72% of the ice melted.
12. Clean out and dry the bowls. Then repeat steps 1–11 at least two more times so that you have done at least three trials total.
13. Did any of the substances you tested consistently speed up the melting of the ice (compared to the melting rate of plain ice cubes with nothing added)? If so, can you explain your results?
14. Now you are ready to create your science fair display board! If you need help making your display board, a downloadable display board template for this project is available for purchase below. The template provides step-by-step guidance for creating all the usual sections of a display board: title, abstract, background information, question, hypothesis, variables, results, conclusions, and acknowledgements.

Variations

• Does the melting rate depend on the amount of solute added? Design an experiment to find out.
• Investigate the effect of temperature on how colligative properties melt the ice cubes. To do this, try your experiment at different temperatures, such as room temperature or outside on a hot day. Be sure to monitor the temperature regularly throughout your experiment.
• Do other substances help melt the ice cubes more quickly or slowly? Identify some substances to try and then repeat this experiment.
• For a related, more advanced experiment on freezing point depression, see the Science Buddies project Chemistry of Ice-Cream Making: Lowering the Freezing Point of Water
• Do you think salt would melt ice in your freezer? Why or why not? Try it and find out.

Greetings Parents,

Please find some photos below of our latest explorations in Science Fair.

This week the children will be given the opportunity to explore some simple experiments at home.

Week 3 (7 August – 11 August)

Greetings Parents,

This week B Pod went to MOTAT. It was a great trip. It provided a wonderful introduction to the Material World which we are currently looking at in Science. The children have been learning that the Material World essentially refers to the physical world where we live, work and play.

The children attended a session with one of the MOTAT educators. They looked at 5 simple machines and were then given the opportunity to work with materials to create machines and identify items from the past that used these 5 simple machines.

Here are some of the machines that the children looked at.

In Science in the classroom this week, we looked at the Water Cycle and conducted some simple experiments to help build understanding. Here are some photos of one of the experiments which highlighted condensation and absorption for the children.

Next Friday is B1’s assembly. Please do come and share in this with us.

Term Three 2017

Term 3

Greetings Parents,

This term we are looking at Material World in Science. In Week 1 of this term, the students looked at what science is and how it affects us. Please feel free to check out the videos that have been used in class and discuss these with your children.

Week 1 (24 July-28 July)

 Frontloading

Introduction

1.)   What is Science?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=de8OzOmUD7c

2.)  What is Science? How does it affect us?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BO67pHMx_nc

 We will be preparing for Science Fair in Week 6.

Week 2 (31 July-4 August)

We are now looking at The States of Matter.

WALT identify the 3 states of matter

3 States of Matter- Solid, Liquid, Gases

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjZSMu2SXt4

Science Hub Water: solid, liquid and gas

https://www.sciencelearn.org.nz/image_maps/4-water-solid-liquid-and-gas

  

Mathematics

Basic Facts Tests- Please follow the link below for the tests need to learn for your 

Basic Facts Tests in Week 3. Your child must select which test they are going to study for.

http://www.waimataitai.school.nz/1/newsletter_sets/7-basic-facts/years/2015

Stage 4 Number 5

Stage 6  Number 1 Subtraction

Religious Education

 B1 is now looking at the Communion of Saints strand. The first lesson deals with sad times. 

The Bible reading associated with this lesson is shown below. We have discussed sad times in class. Please do follow this up with your child. Read this text with them. They have looked at it with me.

   ^{Mark 14: 32-41}

³² They came to a plot of land called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, 'Stay here while I pray.'

³³ Then he took Peter and James and John with him.

³⁴ And he began to feel terror and anguish. And he said to them, 'My soul is sorrowful to the point of death. Wait here, and stay awake.'

³⁵ And going on a little further he threw himself on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, this hour might pass him by.

³⁶ 'Abba, Father!' he said, 'For you everything is possible. Take this cup away from me. But let it be as you, not I, would have it.'

³⁷ He came back and found them sleeping, and he said to Peter, 'Simon, are you asleep? Had you not the strength to stay awake for one hour?'

³⁸ Stay awake and pray not to be put to the test. The spirit is willing enough, but human nature is weak.'

³⁹ Again he went away and prayed, saying the same words.

⁴⁰ And once more he came back and found them sleeping, their eyes were so heavy; and they could find no answer for him.

⁴¹ He came back a third time and said to them, 'You can sleep on now and have your rest. It is all over. The hour has come. Now the Son of man is to be betrayed into the hands of sinners.

Greetings parents,

We are now in the Season of Lent. Lent is a season of change.  What does change mean for us as Catholics?

Here is a lovely little video about Lent by Lego. Please enjoy it with your children.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAFO61FRV9I

As part of our Religious Education, this week we have looked at the Story of Zacchaeus. We have discussed how Zacchaeus changed because of God’s love.  I have attached the URL for the video which the children watched at school. Please do look at this with your children if you wish to so and discuss it with them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHXqI1-RA1c

Reading

Some of you were concerned about how to work with your children when you hear their reading. Please look at using the following guidelines.

When a child comes to a word they do not know, ask them to read on until the end of the sentence and then consider what might make sense.

Tell them to look at the picture. See if that helps them.

 Ask – the following -Do you know a word that looks like this one? 
What does the word begin with? 
Can you see a smaller word inside the word? 
Can you find a blend? Use wait time- allow them time to think. 

Please use the following sound with your children daily for practice.

Song of Sounds - 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XddZMF1jAgo

Homework

I have now introduced a weekly homework sheet. I ask that this come back to school every Friday please. Also note on the homework sheet, that I have asked the students to choose some words of their own to learn as well as the ones that I give them.