Parihaka and Science in the Sea

Morning Group:

"Remember, remember, the 5th of November." That rhyme is said by children in many countries on this day as they celebrate Guy Fawkes. It does seem strange to celebrate a failed attempt to blow up parliament in another country many years ago, so today was a day for us to learn about something else that happened on this day in New Zealand.

To help learn about Parihaka, we went down to the beach straight away and build a sandcastle village. We imagined that we lived many years ago with a mountain behind us and the sea nearby. This place was the home of our parents and grandparents as well. We built beautiful houses and planted gardens - in fact, it was hard to stop the building to tell more of the story!

What would we do if someone wanted to kick us out of the village? How would we feel?

A real village like this existed in the 1800s. Parihaka was known as a place of peace, even though there had been a lot of fighting for land in New Zealand at that time. The chiefs of the village wore white feathers as a sign of peace and everyone was welcome there.

Sadly, the government wanted to take their land. The people of Parihaka didn't want to sell it or give it away, but they also didn't want to fight. 

We read the book, 'Remember That November' by Jennifer Beck and Lindy Fisher, which explained more of what happened. Instead of fighting, the leaders went to prison and people were given many troubles.

Today, people remember Parihaka and the way that the people there believed in peace. Isn't that a more special thing to remember on the 5th of November than Guy Fawkes?

Of course there was time to play afterwards - you can see we had fun at the beach!

Ideas for home:

- Why not do some research to find out more about Parihaka?

- White feathers were worn as symbols of peace. Do you know of any other symbols that have been used for peace?

Afternoon Group:

In continuing our exploration of floating and sinking, we recapped what we understood so far about what makes things float. Remember that an object's weight will always be displaced by the water it is in - how much space it covers makes a big difference. Think of one person holding a big weight versus many people sharing the load.

We went with some fresh water in bottles down to the beach, where we looked for a number of small items to test for buoyancy. We predicted what each item would do before testing it out and had some interesting conversations about how scientists are always open to new possibilities and learning.

Then it was time to replace the fresh water with salt water to test the hypothesis that salt in water increases buoyancy. Sure enough, one leaf that had sunk in the fresh water now floated. Magic? Then why?

One of the group was ready to test out their raft - success! Now to think about how to stay a bit more dry on it!

We also had a challenge to find the largest possible natural object we could that floated. A huge branch won.

The tide came in so we went back to base to look at another group member's raft so far - some great ideas are happening here!

Ideas for home:

- Keep working on those rafts. I already have some extra bamboo poles in my car for next week.

- Look into why salt helps things float. Look up the Dead Sea - the floatiest place there is! 

- You might want to watch this video by Bill Nye, the Science Guy. It's a bit old but might help with your understanding of floating and sinking.

Clouds, Friends and Experiments

Morning Group:

The weather report was for heavy rain on the way, so we made sure to get outside as soon as we could before it came.

Today's book was The Cloudspotter by Tom McLaughlin. We talked about shapes we imagined in the clouds, as well as how we sometimes like to be alone and at other times, with friends.

The sky was full of clouds, dark, grey and thick. So there weren't too many shapes to find, unless a blanket shape counts. But we had another mission today - to enjoy time with our friends and see how playing with each other made things more fun.

Friends up high

The Rubbish Catcher, designed and made by friends

Look at the hole in the ground we found!

Brooding clouds

Friends in high places!

The tide was high

Problem solving - how can we cross this water?

Problem solved with lots of team work

Swing discovery on the other side 

Some of us saw a little eel in this tunnel. It will need some serious exploration later!

For home:
- Enjoy looking up at the clouds one day. What shapes can you find? Why not make up a story, picture or song about what you discover?
- Think about your friends and why you like them. Who are your best friends and why? (Family does count too!) You might want to make something nice for one of them.

Afternoon Group:

Picture books can also be helpful for us older ones. What Floats in A Moat by Lynne Berry was a good story to help us think more about what actually makes things float and sink.

We experimented with floating 'barrels' like those in the story - full, empty and half filled, then discussed the results.

Another experiment was to see how much water was displaced when different objects were placed in a full tub. We also noticed that when we put our hands straight into the water, fingers first, there was much less resistance than if we submerged them horizontally, palm down. Everything displaces its own weight in water. The space it takes on the surface is what determines if it floats or sinks. If it can displace its weight in water before it sinks, it will float.

Our challenge for the afternoon was to work in teams with limited materials to create a boat that could hold the heaviest weight. Both teams worked hard and their boats were each able to float while holding half a jar of water. Well done!

For home:
Continue thinking about your own rafts - are you covering enough surface to ensure they float with your weights on them?
If it's sunny next week, bring your rafts so far so we can check them out and help out if needed.

Holes and Testing Theories

Morning Group:

Two of our group members brought a huge spade to the group last week and we were all impressed with how it made digging holes in the sand so much easier.

So when I found 'Sam and Dave Dig a Hole' by Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen at the library, I knew we needed to 'dig deeper' and think about holes this week!

After reading the story, we talked about holes. If we were to dig through to the other side of the world, where would we end up? What would we find along the way?

We also discussed how deep we thought we could dig. Time to pull out the measuring tapes and rulers to talk about measurement and centimetres. We had a practise with estimating and measuring items around the room before we got ready to go to the beach for our challenge - dig the DEEPEST holes we could!

Practising estimating, then measuring lengths.

We got down to the beach and enjoyed a good dig and play. We measured the size of the holes we made along the way and collected any 'treasures' we discovered along the way. One really interesting find was a large brick about 45cm deep in one hole. Could it have been a part of the boat sheds that were destroyed in a big storm in the 1920s that we learned about from Alan last term?

We had a great time at the beach, digging and playing. All too soon, our time was up and we headed back to base for lunch and to end our time together.

Already, we can see differences in the sand with the very first dig!

How do we fairly measure a hole's depth?

Helping each other measure

It wasn't all about holes - we found mud and bugs too!

Playing with sand is fun!

Brick archaeology

The mighty brick!

Water at 60cm depth

Digging IN the hole!

What made this hole?

Mud art

Time to create a kingdom for little people!

A mini playground

Path to a little house

The kingdom for little people from above. See the butterfly shape?

Filling in the holes before we leave. Can't have anyone fall into them!

Afternoon Group:

After deciding last week to focus on Floating and Sinking, this week was all about figuring out what made things float or sink.

We created a Venn diagram of things that floated, sunk or did both. Some of our initial predictions, such as, 'Light things float and heavy things sink' were questioned. (A light pebble sinks and heavy ships float - why?)

Words like 'surface area', 'density', and 'air' came up as we tried to explain why we thought some things floated, some sank and some did either both or hovered mid-way in the water - what's that called?

It was time to test some of our theories by collecting items, predicting what they would do, then seeing whether they floated or sank.

Predicting what will float and sink - then trying

Many discoveries!

We then got given a piece of paper each and used ideas we discovered in our experimentation to try and create a 'super boat' that would stay afloat the longest, even when the water got rough!

The paper boat challenge. Which one will survive the whirlpool and storm?

We ended our time together by discussing our ideas for making rafts and making designs on paper. Wow - some fabulous ideas! Plan to make your rafts at home and we will use class time to experiment more with floating and sinking at first, then fine-tuning our rafts as the term progresses. The plan is to have a raft day at the end!

To think about at home: What makes things float or sink? Try and be as specific as you can. You may want to do some research and more experimentation to help you find out.