Science & Maths
Negative numbers
6th Class are considering negative numbers in Maths. We asked “How can there be a number less than zero, if zero is equal to nothing?” Is there a quantity less than zero? How can we have less than nothing at all! What a conundrum to debate! We turned to real life problems to answer the question, including looking at negative temperatures and landforms beneath sea level. There is of course an infinite number of integers ‘going left’ on the number line and 6T have been investigating them all week. We will finish up today with our weekly assessment and online Kahoot quiz. It is fascinating listening to the children discuss their Mathematical understanding. Justifying their answers and reasoning with …
Exploring Shapes in Maths and Space in Science
In Maths this week, 3S were learning to identify and describe the features of a range of 2D shapes using correct classifications such as whether the shapes are polygons, quadrilaterals, parallelograms and so on. On geoboards they made a variety of regular and irregular 2D shapes including isosceles, scalene and equilateral triangles. Exploring Space in 5th Class Being the end of term, many students presented their projects and assignments to their classmates today, including everyone in 5I and 5K who gave their multimedia presentations on Space. …
Talking about COVID-19 in Health
This week in Health in 3B we discussed Covid-19. What it is, why we are taking precautions and how we can keep ourselves safe and healthy. We did an experiment to show how soap effects germs. We put ground pepper (representing the germs) into a bowl of water. A student stuck their finger in and the pepper stuck to their finger. Next a child dipped their finger into soap and then placed their finger into the bowl and the soap repelled all the ‘germs’ away. Next the children asked what would happen if we tried hand sanitizer. We tried it again and the same thing happened! With so much change and difficulty in the community our focus is on …
Making sense of Mass
Mass was the Maths topic for the week in 2nd Class the children created a Language of Mass word bank and worked practically using balance scales to discover what Mass can tell us. In Health, the topic is Protecting Me – the children have been exploring what to do to keep themselves safe – going to a trusted adult, knowing parents’ mobile number and their address, ringing 000 in an emergency etc. In Science they have looked at the Constellations in relation to their topic Changes on Land and in the Sky. It sparked much enthusiasm.And in Philosophy we are discussing and reading on Easter. The children doing this as their ‘Celebration’ topic are very keen to offer …
The week that was in 4th class
In Maths class we have been reviewing multi-step multiplication word problems and taking part in multiplication Boot Camp. We have quite a few Specialists, Corporals, Sergeants, Staff Sergeants and Lieutenants already, and I m sure we will see some students promoted to Captain, Major, Colonel and 4-star General over the coming week! In History, we have learnt about the Portuguese explorers Dias and Magellan and their contributions to the discovery of a trade route to India. In Science, we constructed our own whirligigs and tested their effectiveness against gravity when we made minor alterations.In Literacy, we have begun to look at characterisation in narratives. In Grammar we looked at plurals and pronouns and in comprehension we practised our ability to …