Static electricity experiement

As part of our Metals and Magnets unit, we looked into static electricity. Once everyone had had a go with the different materials (balloons, plastic rulers), we had a class discussion. 

This resulted is us realising that static electricity will only pick up light things, to which Anika H said that she was able to lift the heavy A1 sugar paper that was being held on the whiteboard with a magnet strip. So out came the balloon again and she was right.

We had another class discussion on how this could happen as the paper is heavy? See our thinking below. Then we used a magnet to test out some of the thinking and decide if it was true or false. 

Great hands on learning, great discussion and great opportunity to test our new knowledge.     

 

Why did the balloon lift the paper on the whiteboard but not on the floor?

Darryl: The whiteboard is magnetic and the magnet goes through the paper and it lifts the paper up from the whiteboard. Then it sticks to the balloon. FALSE

David: The balloon couldn’t lift up the paper on the floor because the floor does not have iron in it. FALSE

Deysharn: The floor isn’t magnetic. TRUE

Ella: The balloon has lots of magnetic stuff in it but the floor doesn’t. The whiteboard has iron in it. FALSE

Mia: It is hanging up on the whiteboard. On the floor it can’t go up because it is lying flat on the ground.

Katelyn: On the board it is easier for the balloon to get it but on the floor it is not that easy.

Ella: On the whiteboard it is light because it is hanging up. On the floor it is heavy because it is lying flat. 

Odd or even?

We have been looking at odd and even numbers in Room 16. 

Did you know that if a number ends in 0, 2, 4, 6 or 8 then it is an even number. This means every digit has a buddy and no one is left out. But if a number ends in 1, 3, 5, 7 or 9 then it is an odd number. This means that one digit is left out as it has no buddy.

We made predictions, solved the problems in buddies using blocks and came up with conclusions about what happens when you add an even number with an even number. 

 (Can you spot the not so delibrate mistake by Whaea Eve? Room 16 noticed it straight away!)

We did it again for odd plus odd. 

Then odd plus even or even plus odd and it will always give you then same answer, no matter which way you add it. In fact, in Room 16 we try to add from the biggest number. 

This can help us to make predictions when adding big numbers together. So if we solve this problem: 26 + 48, and get the answer 73 then we must have got it wrong as an even number plus an even number = an even number. So we know to go back and check out workings out as we MUST have made a mistake (answer is 74 in case you were wondering!). 

The magic of Raglan sand

The Connected Film Festival

On Thursday many of us were lucky enough to go to the first ever Connected Film Festival at Southwell School. We watched movies made by students from schools all around the Waikato. Hamilton East School had four movies in the festival. 

We hope you enjoy this movie of our Film Festival journey! 

Clay

This week we have been working with clay. 

On Wednesday we had a practise session trying to make pinch pots. 

On Friday we tried to make taonga pots. First we rolled the clay into six long even worms and then made the extra long worm that we then turned into a spiral for the base (bottom) of our pot. 

The other clay worms were then put one on top of each other and any cracks or holes were filled in. 

It was hard work and sometimes the clay didn't do what we wanted it to! But we all had fun and enjoyed the experience. 

Meet our Buddy CJ

We are taking part in Buddy Day this year. This week we have been talking through ways to decide on who our buddy is. We decided on a secret vote to determine if Buddy would be a boy or girl but the results were equal. So Ella suggested we put all the votes back in and pick one and that would be the decider. Everyone agreed it was fair and that is how our buddy became a boy. 

On the back of the piece of paper students had put the name they wanted our buddy to be. Out of the boy votes there were four options; Nick, CJ, Roxy and (tbc - Whaea Eve has forgotten and needs to ask the class!). We named each corner of the room one of those names and showed our preferred name by standing in that corner. CJ won hands down!

To decide on CJ's story, who he is and what he likes doing, we all wrote the answers to the following questions:
Who does CJ live with?
What does CJ like to do at school?
What does CJ not like to do at school?
What does CJ like to do at home?
What does CJ not like to do at home?

Whaea Eve then pulled our names from our lolly pop name jar and that person's writing became CJ's story.

CJ lives with his mum and dad.

At school CJ likes to play soccer with his friends.

At school CJ does not like doing handwriting.

At home CJ likes to play in the garden.

At home CJ does not like making his bed.

We all designed CJ's look; t-shirt, pants (trousers), shoes and hair / face. To decide on what our real CJ's look would be, we put our named lolly pop stick on the design we liked best for each part of CJ.

Zahaad designed the most popular t-shirt.

Anika H designed the most popular pants / trousers.

Elias designed the most popular shoes.

Nirmal designed the most popular hair / face. 

Next week we will be making our buddy following these designs and showing CJ around our school. 

Brave - Room 16's music video

In Room 16 we love dancing to the song Brave by Sara Bareilles. We also think it has a really great message - to be who you are and be brave. 

We when heard about the Connected Film Festival we decided to make our own Hamilton East School music video - although the original music video is pretty good too! 

After brainstorming all the things that can be scary at school, we looked at what someone could do in that situation to be brave. We picked three of the ideas and made it into three seperate storylines, mixed in with words that hurt us slowing turning into words that make us strong. 

We hope you enjoy it and that it inspires you to be brave!