Weeding and Raft-testing

Morning Group:

We spent the morning at the Garden of Memories, helping with some weeding of Tradiscantia. 

I am SO proud of how hard all the children worked. I forgot to count all the rubbish bags we filled but it was definitely more than fifteen!

It was fun to be in the bush together, doing something helpful and enjoying each other's company. (A little piwakawaka / fantail enjoyed our company as well.)

Ideas for home:

- If you enjoyed weeding here, why not see if there is any new way you can help in your garden at home? Have you got a space where you can do your own planting?
- Why is Tradiscantia a problem? What other weeds can you identify?



Afternoon Group:

The big Raft Challenge is next week, so today we had a final test of our rafts in the water. It was great to see that all the rafts floated and we found that each raft had a few things that could be tweaked to make them more effective next week. Stability was a big factor, especially with the challenge of not making the rafts so wide that they can't fit into cars for transport to the beach and home again!

I am excited to see the finished products in action next week.

NEXT WEEK - BEACH DAY!

We will meet at the beach next week, where both groups will combine for a day of fun together on the land and water.

Remember to be sun-safe.

Along with the rafts, some people are talking about bringing boards and small boats. I will bring some personal floatation devices for kids to use with them - if you have any, feel free to bring them along. 

Let's hope the weather will be great too. If it really is horrible, we'll meet in the room instead.

How To / Rocks and Crystals

Morning Group:

Time to get our imaginations in gear again this morning. Before reading today's book, 'How To' by Julie Morstad, we played a game. It started when I asked everyone to clap - and we all clapped in the same way. The challenge was to find a way to clap that was still clapping but totally different to everyone else's way. Wow - some creative clappers in this group! 

We then drew cards from a hat and each used our imaginations to complete each 'how to' action in a unique way - making sandwiches, being mermaids, going fast or slow, washing socks and so on.

The book deals with all these things too and we talked afterwards about how special our imaginations are and how sometimes it's good to pause and think of different ways to approach things instead of doing what we always have done.

We then went down to the beach to enjoy the stunning weather and incoming tide. Remembering last week's story about building walls to stop the sea in Kiribati, some of us had a go at building one. In the end, the tide won, even though we put a lot of work into it.



The water was cool but warm enough for some to stay in for a long time!


'How to' make a luxury spa resort - complete with hot pools for feet!


For home:

- Play the 'how to' game with your family and see what people come up with.
- Is there are learning project you are working on at the moment? Think about a new way to tackle it. Try the 'how to' game with your work!


NEXT WEEK: we plan to go back to the Garden of Memories and help Whaea Taini with some weeding there.

THE WEEK AFTER THAT: Beach Day to celebrate end of term! Families welcome.


Afternoon Group:

It was great that so many of you brought rocks and crystals to show us all today. We discussed what we knew, shared ideas and spent a long time looking closely at the specimens through a portable microscope, magnifying glasses and loupes.





Then it was time to watch crystals growing.
We mixed a third of a cup of Epsom Salts with half a cup of hot water and a small squirt of dishwashing liquid, (to help me with clean up later!)



With cotton buds, we then painted some of the solution on a panel of glass, then watched carefully. Our writing and drawings crystallised before our eyes!







I had intended for us to go for a beach walk to discover different rocks, but the crystal painting was obviously too much fun, so for most of our session, that's what we did.

It was also good to see people asking questions of each other about their rocks and looking in the reference books for answers.

I will upload another experiment in the next few hours - the one that E asked for from the geode book.


Ideas for home:
- I know some of you want to make more Epsom Salts crystals! Try incorporating them with Christmas decorating.


Raft testing next week, so bring along what you have. The week after that is Beach Day!

The Rising Tide / Birdwatching

Morning Group:

Time for a geography lesson. I told the children about the island nation of Kiribati, between New Zealand and Hawaii. We created our own island nation from dough in a clamshell pool and imagined what it would be like to live there. 

Of course, we had to add some sea to make it feel more realistic!

We read the book, Teaote and the Wall, by Marita Davies, and acted out what happened in the story - building walls on our little islands to keep the rising tides away from our houses.

At the end of the book, we read that Kiribati might be completely underwater in fifty years time because the tides keep rising. Why do you think that is happening? Is there anything we can do about it? This might be a good thing to find out more about at home.

Of course, we flooded our island nation to see what the sunken islands might look like as well. (But we imagined that all the people got off safely first!) 

Then we went down to the beach to play in the water and sand, in the mud and on the swing. Lots of fun.

Ideas for home:- Find out more about Kiribati and the problem they have with rising tides. What is the cause and what solutions can you think of?

Afternoon Group:We had decided last week to watch birds today, so after looking at some feathers and discussing our previous questions inside, we headed down to the beach to see what we could discover. Some were more excited about bird-watching than others, with two of the group taking detailed notes on their observations. We all noticed things though, like how the gulls ran before taking off and lifted their feet like landing gear on a plane. At the beach, we spotted seagulls and oyster catchers. Along the walk, we also saw tui and sparrows. The tide was out and the reef demanded exploration, so we went there as well. While it may not have been the most completely bird-focussed afternoon, it was good to spend time on the beach, watching things carefully.

Float

Morning Group:

When I saw the book, 'Float' by Daniel Miyares in the library the other day, I thought it would be a great one to explore on a gloomy day. Well, that was today!

Anyone could read the book because there were no words, but the pictures stirred our imaginations about a boy and his paper boat.

So, of course we had to make our own! There were instructions in the book cover and some of us tried out our own designs as well. 

We went down to the beach, where the wind and waves were busy! There was a stream coming from a storm drain that we tried our boats out in. Many got waterlogged pretty quickly, but it was still fun!

We made sure to not leave any paper behind when the boats sank or fell apart!



Some of the group went for a paddle in the sea while others worked together to create a dam.



A few children said that with the wind today, it would have been perfect for flying kites instead. If such a day comes again, that's definitely what we will do! Still, floating boats was still fun.

Ideas for home:
- Can you make a stronger boat design - perhaps one that can carry a small waterproof toy for a ride? On our last day of term, (December 17th), we want to have a beach day together, where the afternoon group will test out the rafts they have been building all term. We could also have a small boat course for any boats you make for toys. (Plus, if it's sunny, we can have a swim, make sandcastles, have a picnic lunch and enjoy our last day together on the beach.)

Afternoon Group:

A big challenge today - making 'cocktails' - trying to get different colours to sit on top of each other in a glass. All we had was a mixing glass, spoon, warm water, food colouring, salt and a display glass each.

Lots of conversations about what the salt would do with the water and I enjoyed seeing people explaining what they thought would happen and why.







Tadaa! We had some success - with salt water on the bottom and fresh water above it. WHY?





We then spent a while talking about our understanding of floating and sinking, before deciding to look at birds next week.

Then it was time to check out the latest with some group members' rafts before our time together ended. Remember not to bring your rafts for the next two weeks... we will give them a final test the week before Beach Day!





Ideas for home:
- Experiment more with separating colours in water. Try using a clear straw and try a few different salt to fresh water combinations to see what happens.
- This website, http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/fiords, talks about fiords. We have a layer of fresh water over sea water in fiords because of the heavy rainfall. You might want to learn more about these massive cocktails and the sea life in them!
- Think through the questions we hadn't covered in the group - What makes the sea salty? What happens to different items in salt or fresh water over time?
- Some of you talked about making videos. Here's a challenge - create a video for the morning group to explain why things float or sink. Have fun!
- If you have any ideas about our bird inquiry from next week, let me know!