Warepa School :: Balclutha

Yesterday a group of kids went to an iPad course in Dunedin. They used iMovie to make a movie about what it would be like being a gigabit connected school. It was heaps of fun and we learnt lots about iMovie.

Science Investigations in the Senior Class

Science Investigations in the Senior Class

Yesterday we had Mrs Schieving visit our class to take a lesson on ‘cause and effect'  in science.  We discussed why a glow stick glows when snapped to a crack.

Some of the explanations our students came up with were:

• The glow stick glows because when you break it, it breaks a glass barrier letting two chemicals mix causing a chemical reaction making it glow. By Tim and Brendan.
• I wonder if the glow stick glows because when they are bended the chemicals wake up and have a fight to make static electricity. By Cameron.
• I think its because if you bend it in the right place it will have an effect and glow. By Antonio.

We learnt if you were unsure of the answer we can write ‘I wonder if it is because……’

We also learnt when writing explanations we should use words like:

• ‘Because’
• ‘If’
• ‘Unless
• ‘So that’
• ‘Even if’
• ‘Even though’

In our sentences.

Our next activity was to see who could make the biggest bubble by blowing it with a straw.

Here several students are experimenting making bubbles and bubbles within bubbles.

We also learnt how to write our experiments up properly using:

• Titles
• Aims
• Methods
• Results
• Conclusion

Recipe for bubble mixture:

1. Put four cups of water into a bowl
2. Add half a cup of detergent
3. Add a teaspoon of glycerine
4. Practice blowing bubbles with your straw until you are  good at it.

We made predictions about whether we could blow bubbles on a dry surface or on a wet surface and why.

Here is Macleod, he made the biggest bubble so far in Otago schools, it measured 49 centimetres in diameter, wow!!

So, Why do bubbles pop?

Bubbles pop because the water in the bubble evaporates or the bubble makes contact with a dry surface.

Last week we in Maths we learnt how to use a compass to draw a circle, we have been looking at radius, diameter and circumference. We measured wheels using tape measures and string and then we looked at using a formula to work it out exactly by using the radius or diameter.

The formula we used was 2 x radius x 3.14 (pi) = circumference or diameter x 3.14 = circumference

Measuring the circumference of the unicycle

Unicycle - 2 x 24 x 3.14 = 150.72cm

In art we are also using circles to make planets we used pastel to shade these to make them look 3D. We are beginning to add space junk out of pictures from magazines.

Rippa Rugby Tournament

On Wednesday the whole school went to the Rippa Rugby tournament in Balclutha. The year 1 & 2's didn't play, they were supporters. It was icy and freezing cold in the morning but cleared up in the afternoon.

The teams were the Warepa Wildcats, Warepa Winners, Warepa Warriors, Warepa Waddlers and Warepa Weasles.  It was a fun day and we all had to play hard and showed our great sportsmanship on and off the field.

The Waddlers, Winners and Warriors made it to the quarter finals with the Warepa Winners making it to the finals against Rosebank. It was a hard fought game, with everyone cheering loudly from the sideline, it was also very intense for the players. At full time the score was equal so the teams had to drop a player off and the game played for an extra two minutes. Unfortunately Rosebank scored the first try making them the winners of the Year 5 & 6 section at the tournament with our team coming in a close second.

Fingers crossed the team get to compete at Forsyth Barr Stadium in the Otago Competition and we are all hoping that we get to support them for the day!

Go Lachlan!

Vaughan running hard!

Warepa Warriors - Yr 7 & 8

GO WAREPA!!!

Winners running hard!

   

Warepa Winners - 2nd in Year 5 & 6

Warepa WildCats

What we have been up to already this year.....

We  thought we should share with you some of the things we have been up to this year already!
In Term 1 we had athletics, sailing at Waihola & our School Camp. 
This year we went to Cromwell and stayed at the Holiday Park, we investigated Central Otago's gold mining history, visited Gabriel's Gully, walked to Stewart Town which was the home of the old sluicing grounds, we panned for gold at the Goldfields Mining Centre & also got to experience Jet boating on the Clutha River. We also had a day sailing on Lake Dunstan and biked from Clyde to Alexandra on the Otago Rail Trail then back to Clyde on the River Track. Another highlight was of course Mock Court and the super big bouncy pillow at the holiday camp.
We had a great week with our friends, parents and teachers, not only learning about Otago history but also having heaps of fun!

Sailing on Lake Dunstan

Walking the plank across the kayaks on Lake Dunstan

We even got to go biscuiting - so much fun!

Having fun on the kayaks!

Mini Golf Fun

River Track - this was a fun bike track!

Otago Rail Trail - look at the scenery - amazing!

Just a little tired after our bike fun!

Welcome

Welcome to the Senior Class Blog.
Our class is made up of 21 Year 6 - 8 students, our teachers are Mrs Hyslop and Mrs Adcock (who is also our Principal) and our teachers aide is Mrs Wilson.
Warepa School is a small rural school with 52 students and three classrooms. We are very lucky to have a fabulous new classroom (2 years old), it has an interactive whiteboard, quite a few computers, 3 iPads and a break-out room.
We have begun to use Google Docs for some of our work, this is heaps of fun and we are all learning new skills.
Our class also likes to do art and play sports.
We are feeling excited about our new blog and looking forward to showing you our learning journey.

Warepa School Senior Class - Camp Cromwell 2014