A fraction of our maths learning...

We have been learning about fractions over the last few weeks.  We have had lots of fun dividing shapes into quarters, halves and thirds.  We have learnt the symbols 1/4, 1/2 and 1/3.  We know that 2 halves make a whole, that 4 quarters make a whole and 3 thirds make a whole too.

Today we made Fraction Fairy Bread, following a recipe (a 'plan') we wrote in writing yesterday...

Spreading butter onto our bread...

Putting sprinkles onto our bread... 

We cut our fairy bread into halves...

Then we cut our bread into quarters...

It's a dinosaur kind of world...

After we'd come up with our wonderings about dinosaurs and fossils, we came up with a bit of a plan as a class for what we needed to learn and how we could show our learning. In Week 7, we're having a Dinosaur Stomp through all the junior classes to showcase our inquiry learning for the term.  I suspect we'll still be in the middle of it ... we looooovvvee dinosaurs!

We decided we would make a Dinosaur World.  As we learn about different dinosaurs, their habitats, lifespan and the meteor that lead to their extinction, we will present what we have learnt through books (we will write stories and make books), a display (showing facts and information) and models of the dinosaurs we have studied.  We also thought it would be great to make a meteor and a volcano, as there were were lots around when the dinosaurs were alive.  Be sure to check out our growing display in our classroom, and of course on own blog.

This week we've been learning about the Tyrannosaurus Rex.  We have read lots of book and used the internet for our research.

We watched this great little video too ...

We wrote a class book about the Tyrannosaurus Rex.  You can read all about them next time you are in our class.

Today we started making our T-Rex cardboard model for our Dinosaur World. He needs lots of paint and we need to think about how to make his teeth look sharp and scary.

We also learnt more about meteors.  Many of the children in our class are really interested in this.  We know from what we've been told and from scientific research, that it is likely the dinosaurs were killed as a result of a humongous meteor hitting earth.  We wanted to know what a meteor was, what they looked like, their size, how big the one was that hit the earth and when that happened.  We found out...

We are making our model meteor out of paper machē over the top of a big balloon.  It is lots of fun layering the paper and glue and we like making a big mess.  It's looking good and will need a few more layers yet.  Faisal has suggested we use paper circles and stick over it so it looks like holes or bumps.  Georgia said we could just paint it 'fancy' so it looks like a real meteor.  

We also made a very cool volcano today.  We wrapped black paper around a bucket and the boys chose the colours they thought would be best - red, dark green, light green and brown.  They spent a long time carefully painting all the paper and then suggested we use some red and orange shredded paper for the eruption.

Check it out - what an awesome job they did...

Our Dinosaur World is growing ...  what dinosaur will be next?

Can you see our book on T-Rex hanging on the wall?
The children painted the board last week.
We think our Dinosaur World will be very cool.

We did an experiment to see what it might have been like when the meteor hit the earth. We took a big bowl of flour and scattered some dinosaur toys around it.  Mrs P threw a tennis ball from as high as she could reach and as hard as she could, into the flour.  The flour went 'poof' everywhere.  A big cloud of flour went all over the dinosaurs and all over us sitting in a circle.  We could see a big hole in the flour where the ball had landed.... just like the crater from the meteor.  You can see ripples the flour ... the earth must have shook hard when the meteor hit.  We thought it was unlikely many dinosaurs would have survived from the impact if they lived close by, and could see how the sun got blocked afterwards.

The 'calm' before... dinosaurs grazing, stomping around the earth...

The zone of impact ... see the ripples in the flour and the huge crater?

Eastern Hutt School Cultural Show...

Egg-citing news...

Look what Cooper brought in for sharing news today...

It's an egg shell.  He found it at his home on the driveway.  We wondered if it might be a dinosaur egg, but someone commented that after seeing the fossilised ones at Te Papa, it is too small.

We decided to do some research ... we found out that it is likely a Thrush's egg.  A Thrush is a New Zealand songbird, commonly found in domestic gardens.

You can find out more about these special birds here.

Thank you for bringing in your special find Cooper.

Happy Diwali...

We've enjoyed learning a little more about the special festival of Diwali this week. Diwali is celebrated by a number of students in our class and across the school.  It is a Hindu festival also known as Divali or Deepavali and the "festival of lights".  It is celebrated during October-November each year.  It is particularly associated with Lakshmi, the goddess of prosperity, and spiritually signifies the victory of light over darkness, knowledge over ignorance, good over evil, and hope over despair.

Here is a little video we've watched to help us understand more about Diwali...

Making Rangoli with our buddy class, A7

During buddy class on Tuesday, we coloured Rangoli patterns to display on our classroom door.  Rangoli is a traditional Indian art form often associated with Diwali. A Rangoli is a brightly coloured design created using different materials such as coloured powders, seeds and grains, flower petals, pencils, pens and paint.  We made ours on paper with brightly coloured pastels, then finished them off with sparkly glitter.  

Anvesha's Mum Anila, brought in some very tasty Diwali treats for our class on Friday, which we all enjoyed trying.  There was a mixture of savoury and sweet treats.  The students described them as: spicy, tasty, crunchy, crumbly, yummy, delicious, hot, donutty, sweet, sticky.  Thank you Anila.

We love celebrating the diversity of our class and school ... thank you for celebrating with us.  Happy Diwali E7 friends and family.

Dinosaurs and Fossils: What we know and want to know....

After our awesome trip to Te Papa a couple of weeks ago, our heads were full to overflowing with all that we already knew about dinosaurs and fossils...

It has surprised us (class and teachers) how much we all know, but we want to know more.  We all came up with some questions we'd like to explore the answers to...

• "I want to know how the dinosaurs died and I want to know how big was the meteor that came down?" ~ Jerome
• "I want to know how T-Rex ate other dinosaurs?  I want to know what dinosaurs eat?" ~ Kaydi
• "I want to know what a fossil is?" ~ Jalisa
• "I want to know how the dinosaurs died and if there were any in New Zealand?" ~ Peter
• "I want to know wher the rock came from that killed the dinosaurs?" ~ Tanishka
• "I want to know what time the big rock came down and hit the earth?" ~ Faisal
• "I want to know why the big rock came out of space?" ~ Cooper
• "I want to know which dinosaurs eat plants and meat?  I want to know if there is dinosaurs still around?" ~ Violet
• "I want to know how the dinosaurs turned into fossils and I want to know if T-Rex is the strongest dinosaur?" ~ Mohit
• "I want to know how did dinosaurs die and when did they die?" ~ Ollie
• "I want to know how a T-Rex is stronger than everything. I also want to know how big the meteor rock was?" ~ Luka
• "I want to know how the dinosaurs really died and how they turned into fossils?" Alex
• "I want to know how big the dinosaurs all were? I also want to know how big the meteor was?" Rory
• "I want to know how the meteor killed the dinosaurs?" Dehan
• "I want to know if there are dinosaurs still alive?" Georgia
• "I want to know what killed the dinosaurs and what it would be like if dinosaurs were still alive?" ~ Sophia
• "I want to know how did dinosaurs die and become fossils? And how did thay big meteor come down and the dinosaurs die?" ~ Anvesha

Stomping Dinosaurs...

and this term we're learning all about dinosaurs and fossils .... Stomping Dinosaurs.

We already know lots about dinosaurs.  Here are some of our first thoughts about these exciting creatures...

Today we were super-duper excited (and a little bit scared) to go into Te Papa, the National Museum and see the visiting Tyrannosaurus exhibition.  

We travelled by bus into Wellington...

We had the opportunity to explore Te Papa, following a Dinosaur Trail...

We found out all sorts of interesting facts about dinosaurs on our 'treasure hunt'.  After lunch we went outside and played paleontologists, looking for buried Messosaur fossils in the sand pit...

When we'd finished having a dig around and had unearthed a skeleton, we headed back inside and met with one of the Te Papa Educators, Mikaere, who took us through a fun bundling exercise where we thought about the different things groups of dinosaurs have in common, and sorted them into 'family groups'.  We learned that the Tyrannosaurus is a family group of dinosaurs, and that's what the visiting exhibition was all about.  We went inside and took a look around.  It was both exciting and scary...

We saw real fossils of dinosaur bones, castings of original ones and had a go on some fabulous interactive activities that demonstrated the strength and might of dinosaurs and reenacted their demise with the impact of a humongous meteor.

What a wonderful visit.  We learnt a lot, but now we've got so many more questions. We're all set to explore and discover the world of dinosaurs and fossils ... come along for the journey.

Holidays and sunflowers...

Hello E7 friends and family...

I hope you are having awesome school holidays, wherever you are and whatever you are doing.  Last week I went to Ohope with my children.  We loved going to the beach and on bush walks and saw some very beautiful places.  I sent our class a postcard from Ohope, so hopefully this will be there when we go back next week.

We went on a walk through the Mount Tarawera scenic reserve.  Mount Tarawera is a volcano that last erupted 128 years ago.  It threw huge boulders into the air and they landed throughout the reserve.  They look dangerous but they are very solid and secure. We all enjoyed climbing over them. Here is Ethan and Lulu (and our friend) pretending to hold up the rock.  Underneath is like a cave.

We also saw an amazing waterfall which was coming out of the rockface, which was formed from an eruption over 11000 years ago.  It is called the Tarawera Falls. 

While we're all away from school, our sunflowers have started growing nicely in the terrarium we made them before we left.  You can follow their progress on our Sunflower Diary (see tab above, or click here to go to it)...

I am looking forward to hearing about your holidays when we go back to school next week.  I wonder if you have been keeping your holiday journals?  Or if you have sent us a postcard too?  (Room E7, Eastern Hutt School, Kings Crescent, Lower Hutt 5010).  

Remember we have our class trip to Te Papa to see the visiting dinosaur exhibition in our first week back.  We still need 2 parent helpers.  If you can come, please let Mrs P know. Thank you.

Happy holidays E7,

Mrs Pescini