Probability DLOs

Kia Ora All

You may remember this post from a few weeks ago talking about the probability unit we were about to start. We finished it up this week. Here are some photos and a couple of videos showing us learning about probability.

Rock On,

Mr M

The Final Countdown

Kia Ora All,

Welcome to the final week.

• The BTB points auction runs this week, as usual, please send items along with your child for the students to bid on. Nothing too big or expensive!
• On Thursday, there will be a school trip to Taupo Point. 
• Check out the blog for Science Fair recounts. The students worked in pairs and focussed on getting some interesting vocabulary into their pieces, as well as using a paragraph technique we've been working on lately. 
• Here is a little initiative I've put together with the aim of developing a school song. The final date for submitting lyrics will be early next term, not on Friday as specified... It might be a fun home learning task over the holiday break!
• Thanks to all those who viewed and commented on our science fair recounts - the students get a big kick out of every comment so they are much appreciated.

It's been a great team and I've loved every minute of it.

Rock On,

Mr M

Science Recount - Sonny

Science! Yesterday was science day. We did lava in a cup and it was incredible.  There were also other experiments like the balloon flying one & the lava lamp. My favourite one was the atomic water one.                                                                                              

Science day is when every class does like four or five experiments and people come and look at them. I think that it was marvellous. Science day is fun for your parents and grandparents. It was fantastic & I enjoyed it. And you should come next year & the next year and the next one too. Hope you enjoyed and see you next time!

By Sonny

Lochie & Mav’s Stunning Science Day Recount

Bananas! It’s science day. What is science day you might ask? Well, it’s when each classroom puts together an astounding science experiment and we work on them for a week or 2. The science day is fun for the family and for the grandparents who come along to look.

My favourite experiment was the fantastic balloon rocket and Mav’s favourite was the balloon inflater.  The balloon rocket was good but when the balloon rocket spewed air it was the best. The balloon inflator was amazing! I liked the way it blew up the balloon impressively fast. It was funny when the people doing the science experiment failed. The balloon popped sometimes!

By the fantastic Lochie and Mav.

Motupipi Science Fair - Carmyn and Emily

On Wednesday the 20th of September Motupipi School had the extraordinarily phenomenal SCIENCE FAIR !!!!

The science fair is when all the classes make mind-blowing projects!!! Then when everyone’s projects are ready parents, grandparents and kids come to see your breath-taking astounding experiments. It lasts the whole afternoon

Our favourite experiment was the tonic water. The tonic water glowed in the dark because of the chemicals in the water!!! The lava lamp was pretty cool too. It didn’t glow, but it still was awesome. We liked because blue and orange bubbles popped from the bottom in a startling way.

The science fair is a fantastic opportunity for us to learn more about the thrilling science. One day we could be scientist and make flying cars and stuff like that!!!

So the science fair is the best idea in the WORLD !!!

By Carmyn and Emily H.

Motupipi School Science Fair Recount - Taylor and Rian

The outstanding science fair  

Yesterday was the awesomely wicked motupipi school science fair!

The science fair is when the whole school comes together to do the most mind blowing experiments. they are so amazing, they will very likely blow your mind!

One of our favorite experiments was the balloon hovercraft. it was one of the coolest experiments because they hovered about two millimeters off the table because there is a thin layer of air that keeps them up. They can slide across the table with ease.

The glowing tonic water was one of the best out of all of them to learn about. It was really cool because you could tell what was tonic water and what was not the tonic water. Tonic water glowed because it had a special chemical that made it glow.

The room 3 lego experiment was making lego fidget spinners. It was super cool because you got to make your own. making a lego fidget spinner is all about the design and the base and how stable your spinner is. The best time was one minute five seconds.

The Motupipi science fair was so awesome that we think that it is the best out of all the science fairs we’ve had.

By Rian & Taylor

Science Fair Recount - Trey and Aonghus

Yesterday was the mind blowingly fantastic Motupipi Science Fair!!

The science fair is when everybody makes an experiment and a stunning display. The science fair is also a time for kids to show their parents and grandparents what they have worked on. Everybody loved the breathtaking day.

Our favorite experiment was Room Four’s UV Light experiment. I ran in. I was so excited to see this experiment. When it started I had to be super quiet.  The glow was incredible.  Everyone that had a white T-shirt on glowed.  They tried to confuse us with the tonic water and the normal water.  They switched the bottles around.  But I already knew!  

The whole science fair was astounding.  We are looking forward to trying one of the other experiments next year.

By Trey and Aonghus

Science Fair Recount - Jack and Teru

Yesterday was the fantastically legit Motupipi science fair. The science fair is a stunning place to show off your best and greatest science experiments. We invite families to come and see our marvellous science experiments.

Our favourite experiments were Ooblek and the vortex. The Ooblek was squishy, but when you put force into it, like punching it, it feels really hard. The vortex span like a tornado in a bottle!

Our stalls were the Balloon of Greatness and Super Duper Hoopers. The Balloon of Greatness is where you put white vinegar in a bottle and baking soda in a balloon. Then you put the balloon on the bottle and the force of the baking soda and vinegar creates stunning carbon dioxide which creates the champagne like fizz. We felt like we had just won the America’s Cup.

The super duper hoopers are a little hoop stuck on a straw that flies through the air. They have a small hoop on the front of the straw to stop it turning off track and a big hoop on the back of the straw to create the drag to make it fly.

It was an incredibly breathtaking day.

Science Fair Recounts - Kiyo and Brody

Yesterday was the marvellous mind-blowing Motupipi School Science Fair. The science fair is when the school gathers around and shows cool science projects like Brody's balloon inflater and Kiyo’s balloon rocket! The science fair is a perfect opportunity to show off how good we really are at science.

My balloon inflater was incredibly fun. I learnt that when vinegar and baking soda mix it creates carbon dioxide. Jack, Rian and I mixed them both in a sprite bottle with a balloon as the lid instead of a cap. It started to blow up the balloon with the force! - Brody

Lochie and I did the balloon rocket. We were going to try to make a balloon on string go 4.5 meters. So how does it work? It’s all about the air and thrust. The air rushes out of the balloon and creates a forward motion called thrust. This makes the balloon float across the room!

My favorite project was the vortex in a bottle!! Brody’s favorite experiment was blobs in a bottle!

By Kiyo + Brody

Aliana and Auroras awesome science recount!!!!!!!!

Aliana and Auroras awesome science recount!!!!!!!!

Yesterday was the outstanding science fair of the incredible Motupipi School. The science fair is when kids put together awesome science projects to show off to other kids how fantastic they really are. Parents and grandparents can come, mainly anyone can come, to watch your kid’s phenomenal science. It is very mind-blowing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My name is Aliana and my favorite was the lava lamp in room 5 that was run by Aurora, Louis, Trey and Mav. It looked like an awesome rediscovery of life. It was so mind- blowing!!!!

My name is Aurora and my favorite was the lava in a cup in room 5 run by Aliana, Sonny and Gabriel. It looked like real lava to me. All the oil and food colouring bubbled round and was really extraordinary.

Here is a pick of a science experiment

Again the motupipi kids are AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!

Science Fair Recount - Louis Kahu

Yesterday was the flabbergasting science fair. The science fair is when all the classes break into separate groups and do different experiments. Then we invite adults and outside people into our school for a thrillingly mind-blowing science fair day.The science fair is a thrilling opportunity to learn about science experiments that the other kids have been doing for the past week.  

Our favourite experiment was the phenomenal lava in a cup. Lava in a cup was when a group got orange food colouring, water and mixed it up in a cup. Then they put palm oil on top of the water. Then they poured salt into the and it looked like breathtaking blobs in a bottle.

By Louis and Kahu

Motupipi Anthem Lyric Writing Competition.

Last weekend I booked some time in Glenview Road Studios and recorded a backing track for a school anthem. I recorded myself singing an idea of some lyrics, but I think it would be much better if the lyrics were written by you guys so I'm going to run the Motupipi Anthem Lyric Writing Competition.

The Rules Are Simple

1. The lyrics must be about Motupipi School and reflect the positive nature of the school and unique environment here. 
2. The lyrics must include the school values: Believe in yourself, be caring, take the challenge, succeed. 
3. The lyrics should include other things such as our motto: Making A Difference Together and generally paint a picture about how awesome this school is.
4. You may have to be prepared for suggestions about to make your lyrics BTB (Better Than Before) before we record if you win. 
5. We will take the best bits of your submitted lyrics and make them into a final superlative school anthem of greatness. 
6. Lyrics must be submitted to me by Friday the 29th of September 2017 by 2.48pm - in a digital format. 

Mr M's Tips For Songwriters

1. Check out my lyrics. You are welcome to keep any parts that you really like if you wish. Personally I can't see how you can make the chorus do a better job of making it clear that the song is about Motupipi School, so personally I would consider keeping this in your version. It's up to you though. 
2. Sing along with the backing track as you write your lyrics. Your lyrics must fit in with the melody of the song. See me if you don't understand what I mean by that.
3. Have fun, music is awesome

What's It For?

What will we do with your lyrics you may ask? Well, I plan to record some of the talented singers at Motupipi singing the final song and we'll put their vocals with the backing track. In term four we'll make a music video that includes the whole school and share it with the world!

Motupipi Anthem Demo with Mr M's Sample Lyrics

Motupipi Anthem Backing Track with Melody

Rock On,

Mr M

Week 8 Update

Kia Ora All,

We're plowing through the term at a phenomenal rate! Here is a heads up as to what to look out for this week.

• On Monday R5 will be heading down to the golf course for a coaching session. We'll leave by bus at 10.30 and return at 11.30.
• The school science fair will be upon us in a couple of weeks. If you have any nifty science experiments that you know of, feel free to pass that knowledge on to your child. I'll have plenty of experiments for them to wow you with, but new science experiments always make life a bit interesting. 

Rock On,

Mr M

Week 7 Update

Kia Ora All,

Welcome to week 7!

We're currently in the thick of a persuasive writing unit. A couple of parents have talked to me recently about wanting to do more writing at home as part of their child's home learning. Persuasive writing is a fun genre, so here are some ideas to help you out at home. You could even submit your argument to the Golden Bay Weekly! 

The basic structure of an argument is:

• Tell us what you are arguing about e.g., Dear So and So, I think we should ban...
• Firstly, a paragraph backing up your argument with some ideas / facts.
• Secondly, a paragraph backing up your argument with some ideas / facts.
• Lastly, a paragraph backing up your argument with some ideas / facts.
• A conclusion summing up what you want to happen - this should basically be your introduction e..g, For the above reasons, I think we should ban...

To make it even harder / more interesting, here is the paragraph format we've been looking at: 

Statement - open your paragraph with one sentence statement which has the key idea/the point of what this paragraph is about.

Explain - you need to explain and expand on the statement in detail using specific …...

Examples - from your source of information, e.g. quotes, names, date, events, statistics (often this can be within/built into your Explain part of the paragraph)

Conclude - finish your paragraph by saying how this paragraph answers the question.

Here is an example

In the school holidays I went to the Tahuna Hydroslide. A hydroslide is a long and twisting pipe that has water flowing through it. You sit on a mat and slide down, landing in a pool at the bottom. I went on it with my daughter. At first she was scared, but once she got going we went again and again. The hydroslide was sick.

Here are some possible topics:

• Should we wear school uniform?
• Should there be a compulsory bedtime for primary aged students?
• Should Homework be made compulsory?
• Should schools bring back the strap?
• Should we have a ban on all junk food at Motupipi School?
• Should the police be armed?
• Should we have KFC or McDonalds for school lunches?
• Should we ban 1080?
• Should the Takaka Grandstand be kept?
• Hats should not be compulsory at schools.
• Life is easier today than in the past.
• Dogs are a better pet than cats.
• Cats are a better pet than dogs.
• Every child should have a pet.
• School uniform should be compulsory.
• All children should have to play sport.
• Boys and girls should not be allowed to eat sugar.
• Lollies- should they be banned at school?
• Recycling is the most important thing we can do as a family.
• Computer games - are they a waste of time?
• What is more important - friends or family?
• Caged or free - should animals be kept in zoos?
• Reading books is better than watching TV.
• Everyday people waste power, we should save electricity when possible.
• It is better to live in the city than the country.
• It is better to live in the country than the city.
• School should run seven days a week.
• Sharing - we should share everything with everyone.
• Fresh air - every child should spend half their day outside.
• Rest is important - every student should go to bed at 8pm.
• Stop school break time - we should have more time studying.

Rock On,

Mr M

Class Speech Video 2017

Kia Ora Koutou Katoa,

Here is a video that includes a small part of many speeches from the recent in-class speech competition. Everyone worked hard on their speech, and for many it was a real challenge getting up in front of the class to present it. Well done to all those future orators from the mighty Ruma Rima!

Rock On,

Mr M

Week 6 Update

Kia Ora All,

Welcome to a new week. As usual, here is a heads up:

• Daffodil day was awesome, the students had a blast. Thanks so much to all those who donated ingredients, baked with their children, lent kitchen appliances, and came in to help out - we couldn't have done it without you. 
• Hockey was a ton of fun. I thoroughly enjoyed coaching a year 5/6 mixed team on the day. Again, thanks to all who came along to help out. My favourite part of the tournament was seeing many students start from humble beginnings on the hockey field and improve at an astronomical rate to be playing with enjoyment and confidence by the end of the day. 

• Please make sure spelling notebooks come to school on Monday.

Maths - Probability

• This week in maths we will be making predictions about "what’s in the bag?" by drawing cubes of two different colours from a bag (and then returning them). The more turns you take, the more you know about the cubes in the bag. You can then use this knowledge to make a prediction about how many of each colour there are in the bag. We'll be linking this in with the work we've recently been doing around fractions.  

Instructions for: What’s in the bag?

Put a total of six buttons (or counters) of two colours in a paper bag or container that you can’t see into. Ask your child to try to work out what colours the six buttons are by drawing out the buttons one at a time. It is important that the button is put back into the bag each time. Let your child do this as many times as they want until they are ready to predict the colours (drawing a diagram is an excellent way of keeping track). Ask them to explain their prediction and then let them look in the bag. Next time let your child make up a bag for you to work out. Enjoy making your predictions and seeing if you are right!

Rock On,

Mr M

Bottle Rockets

I think it's safe to say that the bottle rockets were an epic success. The students designed and built their rockets in pairs or groups of three. We then busted out the hot glue guns and glued the designs together as best as we could - there was plenty of opportunity to adjust our plans and problem solve along the way. I enjoyed watching the students working together and figuring out how to build a rocket that they were all happy with. Here is a short video and some pictures of the launch. Thanks to Kiyo for some super camera work.

Rock On,

Mr M

Welcome To Week 5

Kia Ora Koutou Katoa,

This week looks like it's going to be a big one.

• On Tuesday the Y4's head to Nelson for hockey and on Thursday the Y5's head over. If you're able to come along and provide transport, please let Mark or myself know. 
• Picasso art is in full swing. Most students have finished one portrait using pastels and are moving into using the same compositional technique again, but on a larger scale using paint. I'll get some pics up soon.
• Friday is the Daffodil Day Gala. The students in Room 5 have been working on their stalls. They've had to fill out an application form designed to help them think about what they need to do to run their stall. I'm looking forward to seeing it all come to fruition. Hopefully momentum continues and they don't stall. Here are some images of the students beavering away in preparation. 

• In science, we're designing and building our own bottle rockets this week. This involves measuring our bottles and drawing a plan of our rockets, then constructing our amazing designs using state of the art materials such as ice cream containers and cutting edge tools such as scissors. It should be a blast (off). Here are some photos of the design process thus far. 

Rock On,

Mr M

Welcome to Week 4

Kia Ora Koutou Katoa,

• As part of science, we'll be doing some experiments that involve plastic bottles - soft drink bottles such as 700ml - 1.5 litre Coke bottles are ideal. I'm sure you could convince your child to take one for the team and drink some Coke this week. Sorry parents, beer and wine bottles aren't needed! If you have any to spare, please send them along to school. 
• We've going to be hitting a persuasive writing unit hard from this week onwards. If you are looking for a home learning task, you could get your child to put together a short speech to share at oral language convincing us of something they are passionate about e.g., ban homework, why should everyone own lego, skateboarding should be banned etc.
• The year 4 speech finalists will be heading off to the competition on Monday, the year 5's on Tuesday. Good luck guys, you've worked hard!
• Last week the students continued to beaver away making DLO's about compound sentences, which we've been touching on periodically since last term. If you want a home learning idea that fits in with our writing programme, you could see if your child is able to explain a compound sentence to you. You're hoping to hear things such as: two sentences joined together, conjunction, subject and verb. Here are a some DLO's.

Week 3 Update

Kia Ora Koutou Katoa,

Welcome to Week 3, a.k.a the week that the fledgling speech writers get to unfurl their wings and leap into the great unknown - wish them luck.

• Speaking of luck, some of the students need a little more just than luck: a few of them still need a finished speech... If your child is amongst this group of optimistic procrastinationers, could I respectfully suggest that you give them a gentle nudge this arvo if you get a chance. They may be able to access their speech via their google account if they typed it last week, if not, I know that quite a few students did take their writing books home on Friday. 
• The final flurry of speech preparation happens tomorrow. Then all names will go into a hat and the order they come out will decide the order in which students deliver their speeches. I'm aiming to film them and hopefully put some of them up on the blog if the sound quality turns out good enough.
• The sports that we're playing at school presently are hockey and miniball in preparation for some tournaments coming up. 
• The fractions juggernaut continues to roll along. This tends to be the most confusing area of numeracy for students. Any cooking / cutting up of fruit etc you can do with your student is beneficial. 
• Here is a short video that suggests another fraction activity for home learning.

Rock On,

Mr M