Which chocolate should Mr Willy Wonka use to build a castle?

Today we got to read chapter 3 of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. 

This chapter was all about how Mr Willy Wonka once built a castle completely out of chocolate for Prince Pondicherry. 

The children had a selection of 6 different types of chocolate. They had to complete a science investigation to find out which type of chocolate would be the best to use to build Prince Pondicherry's castle.

Which chocolate type do you think is best?

Next we had to write up our science investigation. We had to pose a question that we wanted to find out, record the steps to take to complete our investigation, what we were going to keep the same and also what we were going to change in our investigation. 

Finally, it was time to put our chocolate outside and see what happened. Luckily, it was a 33 degree day so it didn't take long for us to notice changes. 

Lastly, we were able to see if our predictions were correct. Most of us thought that dark chocolate or milk chocolate would last the longest but that was first to melt. The Bubbly chocolate some thought had more structure therefore would be nice and strong but the bubbles soon melted. Others thought the Top Deck chocolate with a mixture of dark and white chocolate would be best- it did hold its shape for longer but the milk chocolate below melted too quickly. 

The verdict: We finally came to the answer of our investigation! Caramello chocolate stood the test of the 33 degree heat and that is the chocolate we would build a castle for Prince Pondicherry. 

Perfect Perimeters

In maths this week we have been learning all about perimeter. 

The children have learnt about measuring and using a ruler correctly so now was time to face the challenge of perimeter. 

The children were given a shape with only 2 sides that had recorded lengths. Look at our amazing maths that came from this discussion. 

Then it was time to put our new knowledge to the test and find perimeters of other shapes. 

Measurement Magic

Our maths topic lately has been all about Measurement! 

Every day the children do fitness and at the moment that is a run and the obstacle course. One day I asked the children, "So how far did you run?"

The learning was fantastic! Some children measured the running track with 1m straws, some in strides, some with tape measures and others with a long rope which they then had to measure. 

Children counted how many times it took to get around the course with their chosen equipment and then had to work out the length by multiplying the amount of times by the length of equipment. 

The next days rich question was, "Who can jump 1m?" the only catch was they had to measure their jump in centimeters. 

The children were in small groups taking turns to complete a standing jump and measuring the distance. 

Once everyone had their distance we discussed how many cm were in a metre. From this we could then work out if we jumped 1m or more.

Art Deco

HNPS had an Art Deco dress up on Friday (19th Feb) to celebrate all the Art Deco activities going on here in the Bay over the weekend. Unfortunately, I was home sick but check out these wee super stars in the Art Deco spirit.

Any more photos please feel free to send them my way :-)

Thanks Cassandra for these beauties!

More photos thanks to the lovely Mrs Genett 

Principals award

A big congratulations to.....

Sofia!

Welcome to HNPS Sofia. You have settled in so well into our classroom. You are kind, polite, have made lots of new friends, eager to complete work and a pleasure to teach. 

We wish you all the best at your new school and look forward to watching your balloon fly high. 

Tough Kid

Tough Kid is coming up.. what a fantastic event! 

There is a mud slide, a fire hose, inflatable water slides and many more. 

Watch the youtube clip below and see what all the excitement is about. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pU_AewUEa8E

Children can have a blue top or HNPS performance shirt plus bring along a change of clothes incase you get too muddy during the event. 

Any questions, please do come in and ask me or send me an email. 

Room 14 Update

Well a lot has been happening in Room 14 over the last week but we have been having a blast! 

We have been focusing on the word: 

Whanaungatanga

1. (noun) relationship, kinship, sense of family connection - a relationship through shared experiences and working together which provides people with a sense of belonging. It develops as a result of kinship rights and obligations, which also serve to strengthen each member of the kin group. It also extends to others to whom one develops a close familial, friendship or reciprocal relationship.

Whilst learning about each other and the way which we work, what we like doing and setting goals for 2016. The first task we did was self portraits. We created images of ourselves and what we look like. Together these have been put on the wall to symbolise the group and connection we have as a classroom working together this year.

We were then lucky enough to have Cassandra come in and design a classroom waka for us! It looks fantastic so thanks Cassandra so much. The children decorated a person as themselves to put inside our waka. Our waka represents our learning group and that we are on a journey through our learning this year. Next we will create oar's with what value or attribute we bring to our learning waka. 

He waka eke noa.

We are all in this together.

Finally we have completed a piece of work about, "Where did our shoes take us this Summer?" The children had to think about what they could see, smell, hear, taste or touch while visiting a place they went to over Summer. There is some excellent writing here and all pieces provide us a benchmark to start with for our writing for the year. 

Come in and see all of our amazing work- we would love to share it all with you.