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Toys

Room 4 has been learning about simple machines. Last week we learned what an inclined plane is and then we designed and made a toy with an inclined plane. We made slides, ramps and waterslides. After that we shared our work with the class and also visited other rooms to show off our toys.

Churn butter churn song

Last week, our class received a blog comment from Room 22 at Point England School. They read our blog post about our Howick Historical Village trip and asked if we could sing and record the Churn butter churn song. Therefore, here we are singing the song just for you Room 22. Thank you for visiting our blog and we hope to see come comments from you soon.

School trip to Howick Historical Village

The school trip to Howick Historical Village

 

Room 4 went on a trip to the Howick Historical Village on Tuesday to look at how people lived long ago. 

 

When we arrived the junior school took a picture together and then we were put into three groups. 

 

First our group went to play with some old toys. The toys were made out of wood because that was the only thing they had. The toys were also very fun to play with. They were very different from our toys today, they were made with wood and strings and our toys are made with plastic. They were made by boys and decorated by the girls with paint. 

 

Next we went to go make butter. We had to add cream to a bowl and then we had to sing a special song “churn butter churn, everyone is waiting at the gate, waiting for some butter cake, churn butter churn”.  We then had to separate the butter from the buttermilk and wash the butter clean. The butter was made into a square shape and then we spread it on crackers and enjoyed it. It was very delicious!

 

After that we went to look at the old houses and buildings. We saw  old family pictures, old shoes, old beds, a baby crib and their clothing. Then we went into the general store. We saw dead birds for sale as well as fruit and pumpkins. It all looked very real. We walked down the path and went into the old classroom. We saw a very old black board with words written in chalk. There was an old piano and very old wooden desks. The tables had names carved inside it. 

 

Finally we went into the big two-storey house. There was a big kitchen and big bottles and orange and white pumpkins. The house had big stairs and upstairs were their bedrooms. Downstairs was a massive lounge and it was all very old but beautiful. 

 

We loved the trip so much and cannot wait to go back again!

School trip to Maungarei

Room 4 went on a school trip to Maungarei on Tuesday to climb the Mountain and to learn about the history of Panmure and the local landmarks.

First the junior school lined up and gathered under the canopy. We sat and sang a song, while we waited for the bus to arrive. As we waited we did some stretches to get our bodies ready to climb the mountain.

Then we got onto the bus and sang a song. The song we sang was “The Wheels on the Bus”, it was so much fun and we all enjoyed the short trip to the mountain.

When we arrived ,we saw a sign it said no cars allowed. Then we took a class photo in front of the rock wall at the bottom of the mountain. We started climbing up, it was quite steep but we all managed well. On our way up we saw houses, the Tamaki river, shops, trees, cars and the busses parked down at the bottom.

Then we got to the top. It was so beautiful and amazing! We could see the Sky Tower and Auckland Harbour and all the neighbourhoods around Panmure.

Next we walked up some stairs to get to the top where we had to meet a man that was going to tell us about the mountain. When we got to the top, we all sat down around the trig and started listening to Mr Peter who told us about the history of Panmure and the mountain. He called the mountain “his mountain” and said it was “our mountain” too.

After that we went down the mountain we saw Mr Johnston sitting at a table waiting for us. We all called out “Hallo Mr Johnston!” and waved at him, he waved back at us. Then as we were walking we saw the mountain made a smiley face a us.

Then we walked back down the mountain and we saw some old red rocks, they were lava rocks or volcanic rocks. We know this because Maungarei used to be a volcano that erupted 10 000 years ago.

Finally we walked back to the bus and returned to school and had our lunch. We were so tired but happy after a nice trip.

I had a wonderful day and I can’t wait for next time!

Self Portraits of Room 4

Last week Room 4 started their self portraits. The self portrait we chose to do was easy and fun.

First we watched a video and step by step folded our papers for guidelines and then drew half of our faces.

Next we wrote our names as stick figures and then outlines it with block shapes.

After that we outlined everything with a sharpie and then erased any pencil marks that was left.

We then had to colour our faces and hair and our names using crayons. The reason we used crayons was that after colouring our faces, we used dye for the background, so using crayons was important not to stain our faces  accidentally  with the dye.

Finally we could dye the background. It was important that if we used warm colours for our name then we would have to use cold colours for the background and vice versa.

Everyone had so much fun and made beautiful self portraits.