Science Roadshow

On Friday 6th November a group of 7 year seven and eight students went to South Otago High School to see the Science Roadshow Expedition, when we arrived they were doing a show about water, and they showed many different experiments including some about surface tension and the amount of water on Earth. After that we were able to look at many many different experiments and models located all around the room, all exploring different science concepts. Some of these had flags and if we explained these to somebody we were able to get a mark on our cards, if we got 2 or more marks we could go into the draw to win a bookmark from their 3D printer which had special light/heat reactant properties. After that they did another show, this one called “Arcs, Sparks, and Gherkins,” which was all about electricity, they also showed us a Tesla coil, which made some really cool lightning.

What is a Warepa Learner?

One of our writing tasks this week was to write a paragraph about what it means to be a Warepa Learner, we could refer to anything we have been focusing on this term and include that in our paragraphs. Our new 're-vamped' Warepa Learner Quality graphics are colourful and eye catching and form the basis of our learning.

Once we had scripted our paragraph we placed the text onto a website and it formatted it into a cool pattern. Here are some photos of us displaying our Warepa Learner Qualities working on the task and some of our explanations.

                             

Pet Day

We had a fantastic day last Friday at out Pet Day, this week we have been following up with writing and maths. These are copies of our newsletters we created in groups. Hope you enjoy reading them!

Newsletter #1

 

 


                      Newsletter #2

 

Newsletter #3

 
 
 







                  Newsletter #4

 

    

Tennis with Rory

Yesterday Rory came to teach us some tennis skills. We started off with a relay in the relay we did blanching the ball on the racket, bouncing the in the air and onto the racket, bouncing the ball off the racket and onto the ground and bouncing the ball up twisting the racket and then bouncing it again the purpose of this was to help us focus on the ball. Next we got into pairs and hit the ball to each other while counting how many you could do, then Rory got us to go between a net and then hit to each other. Then Rory and Mrs Hyslop would do hits to us and we had to do backhand or forearm depending on what line you were in. We all enjoyed learning more about tennis skills.

Warepa School Family Social

Last night was the Warepa School family social. The whole school had to do folk dancing and all the girls wore dresses or skirts (some boys even wore ties!), everyone dressed up nicely!
Each class had to practise two dances each, we started off with Snowball Waltz and then went into a demonstration dance from the Junior class. Other demonstrations dances were Hinky Dinky Parlez Vous, Continental Drift, Durham Reel, Virginia Reel, Lady goes round the Lady and Oh Susannah. We also danced to the Gay Gordons, when all of the children swapped partners four times the adults then had to join in, it was a bit squashy! The last dance of the night was the Supper Waltz and then off to supper, each family brought a yummy dish. 
We all enjoyed showing the parents our amazing dances and we all had lots of fun.

       

 

The Catlins Soap Company Trip

On Tuesday we went to the Catlins Soap Company and visited Purakanui Falls. We all arrived in excitement and were greeted by Jude and Ross McNab. We sat down to listen to Jude tell us about how the business started. We told them about our mini businesses and looked for advice.

We looked in the shop and bursted out to play a noisy game of tag. We settled down to have some lunch before we headed off to Purakanui Falls.

We did the ten minute walk. We took some photos and went back to school.

By Leah & Lachlan

Senior Class Science Lab

Today we had a science expo and we all had to show a science experiment.

Callum M  and Tom did mentos in a bottle  to found  the difference between diet cola and cola, the diet cola was the best because it went the highest.

Holly and Keeley did fake blood, it looked like a lava lamp but it was just food gel and oil.

Macleod and Lewis made a hovercraft, they stuck a bottle top on a CD and a balloon on the bottle top then blew it up and it hovered on the table.

It happens by the air flowing out evenly under the CD and makes it hover.

James and Lachlan's experiment was about penny cleaning. They put white vinegar and salt together, stirred it, then put the penny in for ten seconds and it cleans the penny but it must be copper.

Lucy and Isla their experiment was called avoiding pepper. You need pepper water, a dish, dish washing liquid, you put the liquid on your finger with water and pepper in the dish then put your finger in the middle of the dish and the pepper flies to the side. It happens by the liquid breaking down the stuff in the pepper  to move to the side.

Next was me and Blake, we did coloured water. You put a match in blue tak, stick it in the middle of a dish, pour in some water, light the match, then put a cup over the match and the water will rise up the cup.

Aidan and Morgan did tornado in  a bottle,  it was two bottles on top of each other with water in them with tape around them. When you  twirl it around and watch the tornado.

By Laytun

Science Expo @ School

Today in advance to the South Otago Science Fair that eight of us are going to we had a class science fair. Everybody had to stand up in pairs and show an experiment and give an oral presentation on the subject.

Before we did our experiments we had to develop some success criteria to teacher and peer assess each other with. We had to include what we would be doing if we were excelling in the subjects.

The experiments shown and explained were:

• Raining Blood
• Cleaning Coins
• Hovercraft
• Lava Lamp
• Balloon Rockets
• Exploding Coke
• Yeast Balloon
• Rising Water
• Avoiding Pepper

Keeley and I did an experiment called Raining Blood, it showed how the density of different things worked. The food colouring (densest liquid), dragged the oil (least dense liquid), down through the water (in the middle) and then sat on the bottom. The oil then escaped and rose back up to the top, it ended up settling into layers.

Some science concepts we explored were:

• How friction affects movement.
• Which chemicals and acids react.
• What these reactions do.
• How density works.

And much more…

The class science expo was a good learning experience for all.

Written by Holly

Hokey Pokey Popcorn Crunch #6

At about 10am today the class went up to the multi-purpose room and then in our groups we helped to prepare the food and took photos for our own slideshows and blog posts.  We had to pop the popcorn first, and then we pulled out all the popcorn kernels that had not popped open and put the popcorn and nuts into a dish. We then made the hokey pokey and drizzled it over the popcorn and mixed it in. Then we had to wait for it to cook while we organised our slideshow, after it cooked we drizzled chocolate over and got to eat it. We also learnt about a few cooking terms and the science behind them including caramelization, and the maillard reaction. The hokey pokey caramel slice was really really delicious.

While doing all this cooking, we had to think about the science behind it and then learn why things happen, popcorn pops because of the following…

• The kernel was heated up and then popped open.
• The kernel splits because of the pressure the heated oil makes.
• It popped open because the heat caused too much pressure in the kernel and it had to go somewhere.
• The popcorn pops up into the air because when it pops out it acts like a muscle and then  the popcorn piece jumps up.

and hokey pokey is made by…

• The golden syrup and caster sugar are cooked together in a pot.
• Then they get very hot and the sugar starts to melt into the golden syrup, the 3 kinds of sugar molecules in them, begin to join, they are sucrose, fructose, and glucose.
• When they are joint together, you make them even hotter and then add baking soda.
• When you add baking soda, it breaks down and produces Carbon Dioxide, which releases into the mixture to form the bubbles in the honeycomb.

Holly, Morgan and Daniel

Hokey Pokey Popcorn Crunch #5

On the 10th of September we were put in Groups and we made hokey pokey crunch from the little kitchens recipe. After we made it we had to look at the science behind it like why the popcorn pops and what makes the hokey pokey bubbles. We looked at some videos to explain it and to help us understand why it happens.

Then in our groups we had to make our own video to show the science and how we made hokey pokey pop corn crunch. After we ate it and it was delicious.

By Isla

Hokey Pokey Popcorn #4

Today we made hokey pokey popcorn crunch the ingredients were popcorn, glucose syrup, almonds, baking soda, butter and dark chocolate chunks. After the popcorn was cooked we had to separate the uncooked kernels from the cooked kernels, then we added the caramel topping to the popcorn and mixed it together and cooked it for a while in the oven to make it chewy and lastly added the chocolate over top it tasted so good.

Here's the recipe

Pams Hokey Pokey Popcorn Crunch

Ingredients

• 1 x Pams Butter Popcorn 3pk
• 75g Pams Roasted Unsalted Almonds
• ½ cup Pams Brown Sugar
• ⅓ cup Pams Butter
• ¼ cup glucose syrup
• ½ teaspoon Pams Baking Soda
• ½ cup Pams Dark Chocolate Chunks

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 100⁰C.
2. Pop one pack of popcorn, according to pack directions.
3. Spread popped popcorn and almonds into a roasting pan.
4. In a saucepan, combine brown sugar, butter and glucose syrup. Cook over a medium heat for about 5-6 minutes, or until mixture comes to a boil.
5. Continue boiling for 2 minutes.
6. Remove pan from heat and stir in baking soda.
7. Pour warm mixture over popcorn and nuts and stir well so that the popcorn is coated.
8. Bake for 20 minutes, or to desired crunch.
9. Remove from oven and transfer to baking paper, don’t break into chunks.
10. Allow to cool completely.
11. Once cooled, melt chocolate chunks in the microwave in 30 second intervals on 50% power, stirring after each burst.
12. Using a fork or spoon, generously drizzle chocolate over the popcorn and let stand until chocolate is set.
13. Break into pieces and enjoy.

Don’t forget to create, make or bake your own experiment, film it, upload it and be in to win a year’s worth of groceries!

Hokey Pokey Popcorn Crunch #3

Food Science

Today we have been doing some food science to learn about the science behind food.

At the start we did the work on the computer to learn about the science from the videos that Mrs Hyslop sent Hugh and Hugh sent everyone else in the group.

The bag with less vinegar puffed up less because it made less Co2 (carbon dioxide) we got this from ‘Sick Science, CO2 Sandwich’ and the piece I learnt the most from the videos was the popcorn

The hard shell splits because of the pressure of the heated water, then the expansion works like a muscle, vaulting the kernel into the air but the cool thing is that it is the vapour that makes the pop sound.

Written By Vaughan

Video Made By Vaughan, Hugh and Antonio.  

Hokey Pokey Popcorn Crunch

10.9.15

Today at school we are learning the science behind food. The food we are making is hokey pokey popcorn crunch. We got the recipe from New Worlds mini shops. One of the things we learnt was that the popping of the popcorn was caused by heat putting pressure on the kernel, causing it to crack open. The vapour is what makes the popping sound. Some science we learnt from the hokey pokey is that the water and the syrup take a slight change of the mixture burning because most of the energy into the evaporating molecules. 

Lucy

                            

Hokey Pokey Popcorn Crunch #2

Today we did some science and at the same time we made hokey pokey popcorn crunch. It was really fun and amazing because we learnt how popcorn pops and why it jumps up in the air. Now if your wondering it does pop well the popcorn has moisture inside of it and when it gets heated up the moisture expands so much that it pops the shell of the kernels, when the moisture escapes out of the kernel it makes a popping sound and it has such force that it sends it flying up in the air and turns it inside out. Once we had taken all of the kernels that hadn't popped we poured hokey pokey that hadn't set all over the popcorn. It was really fun because we get to eat it and I'm sure it will be delicious.

By Macleod

 

Visit from a Surgeon

Mr Panting comes to school

Today (Monday 24th August) Mr Panting came to school, he was a orthopedic surgeon but is now retired. We learnt about the body and bone breaks. We also learnt how he become a surgeon and how he was good at math top of the class.
Facts we learnt:

• Did you know that when a bone breaks it bleeds, this makes the bone heal.
• One of the most common bones to break is your collarbone.
• Orthopedic surgeon stands for straight children.
• It takes nearly 15 years to become a qualified orthopedic surgeon.
• The smallest bone is in your wrist
• The femur is the longest bone in your body
• Breaks in the joints are harder to fix than a normal break
• Some breaks may leave long-term swelling but it does disappear after a while

This is Keeley's Nan's hip

This is a metal hip joint that Keeley's Nan will now have

School Swimming

7/8/15

Today we did school swimming there are many different groups that are working on similar things like backstroke, freestyle, stream line and breaststroke. 

School swimming is an occasion that only occurs for a week twice a year. All of the children love it, they enjoy being able to swim together as well as knowing that learning these skills they will be safe if anything bad happens like a boating accident. The helpers are enjoying it too, being able to help children develop good swimming skills. 

The support group has also got a professional swim coach to come and help people to swim her name is Mrs Mckinnel.

Written by Keeley

Kapa Haka

Kapa haka with Miss Smith is pretty fun! Today we practised the waiata from the past two terms for Mrs Hyslop because she hasn't seen us perform anything. She thinks we are tu meke at the waiata!

Science with Henrica

On Tuesday Henrica came down to see us from the University of Otago and showed us some cool science experiments, the first one she showed us was one with coke and milk, she put some milk into a glass of budget coke and we left it till later. When we looked after we did our other experiment we saw that the acid in the coke had eaten all the calcium out of the milk.

We also did a fun spud gun experiment where we had a long straw and a skewer and and we stuck a piece of potato in each end and then pushed one end up the straw to shoot the front piece out. This happened because of the air pressure that built up in the straw and the friction on the pieces of potato. 

After we finished we talked about taking our results and making tables and graphs to record what we found out, then we had to scramble around the tennis court to find the pieces the birds hadn't got, so they wouldn't grow into potato plants on the turf. 

We all thought our experiments were really fun, and we are now thinking of doing a follow up spud gun experiment to finish.

Holly

Science Words

Expanding in Science

Today we did some science experiments involving ice and heat. We were focussing on observing the reactions and making predictions about what was going to happen.

The ice is melting inside the cup of water, the level of water didn't increase as much as we predicted because when water freezes it expands.

We placed a balloon over the top of an empty bottle and then put the bottle into a bowl of hot water. We predicted that the balloon would rise because the air in the  bottle would hear up and expand which in turn will make the balloon rise and grow in size. We also predicted that the small bottle would have a bigger balloon as the area was smaller. The boiling water makes steam which acts like a hot air balloon and makes the ballon expand, both balloons rose to the same diameter and height.