Singing Cicadas

The cicadas sing outside our classroom.  

How do they make their noise we wondered?

The cicada... 

rubs it's two back legs - Anna

calls out - Logan

rubs it's wings with it's legs - Nicholas

rubs it's front legs on it's face - Sam

Buzzes when it is hot - Ezra

We found out ...

• male cicadas have 2 drums called tymbals on their abdomen. They use them to call to the females
• nymphs can live underground for up to 17 years
• some cicadas have red eyes
• nymphs suck on the roots of the trees
• nymph is a baby cicada that has no wings
• cicadas can damage trees because they suck all the sap out of the tree
• the female cicada lays her eggs in the bark of the tree
• an adult cicada only lives for about a week
• cicadas have 2 large compound eyes and 3 little eyes
• the cicada sucks it’s food through a tube called median ocellus
• the shells of cicadas are really their old nymph skins
• cicadas have 3 parts to their bodies, a head, the thorax and an abdomen
• 2 small antennae, 6 legs and 4 wings
• cicadas don't like water

Art-Self Portraits

We used glue to draw our faces on black paper.  

The glue spread everywhere!

After it dried we used pastel to colour our skin and clothes.  We looked closely at our eyes and mouths using mirrors.  We chose three colours to make a background pattern.  

Lastly we talked about adjectives.  We each used the computer to write a list of adjectives to describe ourselves, changing the font and size.  We added these to our backgrounds.

Statistics

We have been finding out about ourselves and each other for Statistics. 

We looked at different types of graphing to share the information we have found.

We investigated and sorted what kind of shoes we wear to school.

We made a Pictograph to show what we found out.

We wanted to find out if we had more girls or boys?

We made a Bargraph.

We investigated where our favourite places to play were.

We asked each other and kept a Tally Chart.

Then we put our information on a Bargraph.

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Co-operative Games with Project Energize

Wonderful Erin from Project Energize, came to teach us some new co-operative games. Here we are trying to get a hoop all the way around our group without looking or letting go our hands.

Our Garden

We went for a walk to explore our class gardens.

It was very exciting to find so many vegetables busy growing over the holidays.

Look what we found...

plump tomatoes

juicy, red strawberries...

and a GIANT pumpkin.

We hope Room 16 wins the Pumpkin weigh in at our Harvest Festival.

Welcome to Room 16.

It's so lovely to be back at school. 

A big welcome to our new students and families to our Totara Team. 

This is us going 'CRAZY' under our wonderful totara tree.

We are enjoying cooling off in this hot February weather. 

Remember to pack those togs each day, with a named towel in a bag please. We are swimming everyday.

World Cup Fever

 Congratulations to our mighty All Blacks!

It was so exciting watching the 

All Blacks win the World Cup 2015!

Imagine if you were there,
You might get to meet your favourite All Black...

I jumped over the fence and ran! Faster than the speed of light. I trip over on the cold grass.  There they were, the All Blacks.  Sonny Bill picked me up. "What were you thinking?" he said as he took me back to my dad.  Sonny Bill gave me his medal.

by Ben

Bam! I fell to the ground. Incoming! Wham! Someone came out and tackled me.  Ouch! I look up to the foggy sky and there standing before me is Sonny Bill Williams.  He helps me up and gives me his medal.  He walks me back to the crowd.  I'm finally back with my family. I am amazed, and I am still shivering because it was Sonny Bill's medal.

by Detroit

In my seat listening to all the shouting, cheering and whistling from the fans. My heart is beating really fast, then...

I leap over the fence as the All Blacks come by, I get tackled by a security guard. But I didn't cry, Sonny Bill helps me up. My heart is still beating really fast. My mouth didn't know what to say because I was so excited that I couldn't even walk properly.  Sonny Bill brought me back to my seat. But as we are nearly there he did something very nice, he gave me his world cup medal! I nearly fainted but inside of me I said "How nice of him."  

He said to me, "You really should have just stayed in your seat, have a nice night."

Now that time I really did faint. I was really happy.

by Zaria

Whoosh! I jump over the fence like a fantastic eagle.  Then, flying out of no where, a security guard comes chasing after me. He is one inch away from me, bang! He tackles me down to the ground. First my shoulder hits the ground like an earthquake. Sonny Bill picks me up and takes me to my parents. Liam Messam gives me his beanie and Sonny Bill gives me his medal. He says to me, "You are a really good kid, have a good day." 

"What a good day," I say to myself. I went home and thought to myself again, what a very fantastic, amazing, marvellous day!

by Devon

I run on the open field. I shiver and shake. Bang! I fall to the hard ground. But suddenly...

Something grips my hand, it is Sonny Bill Williams. He wraps a medal around me and takes me safely to my nice family. I can feel the sweat when he pulls me up.

by Micah