Week 11 Term 4

Monday fun day was enjoyed by all especially when we went to the watch The Bee Movie with the rest of the school.

Tia told us about a great activity she did when she was at kindy and here she is with some of the class having a great deal of fun. Its great to be able to share our knowledge with each other.

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As we close for the year we wish you all a very Merry Christmas and thank- you for sharing in our learning.

Week 10 Term 4

We have watched with interest as some of the flowers have begun to change colour – in particular the carnations which had red and yellow food colouring have changed the most. There was great excitement when a circle of colour was spied around the sun, of course we then all had to go and have a look being very carefully not to look directly into the sun.



Our final assembly was a great successful. We looked stunning in our colourful head gear and we sang about water and colours.

Week 9 Term 4

We are busy getting ready for the end of year assembly next week.



Logan found a great experiment for us to do in a science book from home. This week we have set up the experiment- adding food colouring to the water we have placed the carnations into. We will watch with interest to see what happens.

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Week 8 Term 4

A world without colour was the topic of this week’s discussion. After reading the book what can I see which is illustrated in only black and white we drew black and white pictures similar to those drawn in the book. However this time we decided which animals we would draw and hide amongst the scene. Marie spent a lot of time on hers and it is quite spectacular (see below)




On Thursday we dressed in only black, white and grey and no coloured jovis were allowed to be used all day! We painted pictures with black, white and grey paint and wrote poems about ‘night time ‘.




When it was time to go home we weren’t too sure if we’d like to have to wear black, white and grey everyday but one thing was for certain we had had a fun filled and interesting day.

Week 7 Term 4

Our colourful rainbows and stunning poems are on display.

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This week we have enjoyed mixing colours. We have had a great deal of fun painting our hands with different colours, recording our handprints on paper then rubbing our hands together to see what colour it made. Very messy but lots of fun.




Similarly we have experimented using paint and paintbrushes with selected colours.

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Later in the week we talked about how the felts we use have different colours within them – so using filter paper and water we investigated.

We are all still fascinated with rainbows and the computer has come but just another place to make one – one of our class members was delighted to make this one.

Week 6 Term 4

This week we have finished our handprint rainbow and wrote a poem about the colours in the rainbow.
Photos of our individual rainbows and poem will be on our blog next week.

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Scientists once more we watched as hot water was poured on to a red cabbage. It was great to watch the water change from clear to purple.

Once we had 5 glasses of purple water we used 4 of them to experiment with.
Glass 1 we added baking powder
Glass 2 we added lemon juice
Glass 3 we didn’t add anything
Glass 4 we added vinegar
Glass 5 we added small pieces of soap.

We ended up with glasses of purple, green and red water – fascinating.
Glasses we added an acid to turned red
Glasses we added alkaline to turned bluey – green

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We have also displayed the work we did on the story ‘Just like me’ – our paintings are delightful. The story ends with
Look at the rainbow. Come and see. The rainbow is colourful and so are we!

Week 5 Term 4

This week we ran the school assembly. It was a fantastic experience as each of us had at least two opportunities to speak in front of the whole school using the microphone.





We joined up with rooms 2 and 3 again and had some fun making rainbow pictures, painting butterflies and making handprints so we can make a large rainbow in our shared space between our classrooms.

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There continues to be a lot of discussion about rainbows in our classroom and how a lot of rainbows we see in story books and even on our alphabet chart are not scientific. Rainbows have 7 colours not 6!


We are finding rainbows everywhere even on the computer.

Week 4 Term 4

This week we have enjoyed being scientists along with the children from rooms 1 and 2 as we have undertaken a few simple experiments and made some discoveries about rainbows.


We started by wandering outside with prisms and were excited to find rainbows on the ground. When we came inside we discussed what we’d seen and read about prisms in a book. We learnt that the bending of light through a prism is called refraction.





Next we did an experiment with a torch, mirror and water and by shining the torch on the mirror we could make a rather faint rainbow on the cardboard.





We have learnt that when you see a rainbow in the sky, it is caused by the sun shining through water droplets in the air. The water droplets are acting like tiny prisms. They cause the light to refract. The light spreads apart into the spectrum, the colours of the rainbow.


Later in the week we went outside and blew bubbles in the sun and kept a keen eye on them to see if we could see rainbows within them. It was so much fun we laughed a lot and chased the bubbles around our playground.

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During one of our discussions about rainbows I told the children that when the sun shone through my bathroom window in the morning a rainbow appeared on the bathroom wall and that it was circular in shape. Cate from our class suggested I take a photo of it so I did! The children were fascinated.

Week 3 Term 4

This week we have all been trying to walk to school. Every day we walk to school we get a clip on ‘the foot’ attached to our school bag. We are aiming to walk for 20 days within a calendar month. Those who do will go in a draw for some special prizes.



On Friday those children who walk on the walking school bus got to walk to school with some very important people like – Mrs Heasman, Mr Peel, Police officers and members of the council as we launched our school involvement in the Travel wise programme.
All the children on the ‘walking bus’ got to have hot chocolate and a muffin. Below is a photo of the children in our class who catch the bus enjoying their morning treat.



Friday night we ventured out for the school’s Halloween disco. I think you’ll agree we all looked quite scary.

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Week 2 Term 4

Book week has been a fun filled and busy week-




On Monday afternoon we all went to different rooms to do a book week activity. Every room had children from across the school which was great fun.

On Tuesday the librarian from Northcote Public Library came and told us stories using a felt board and read us a new book.



On Wednesday we went back to our cross group and finished the activity we started on Monday. Here we are proudly showing some of the things we made.

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On Thursday Lyn Kriegler came and showed us the illustrations she painted for the story Seadog. They were stunning. Lyn also used puppets to tell us stories and we laughed and laughed.

She also showed us how we could draw a dinosaur starting off with an eye and then drawing a rugby ball around it and a lion starting off with LYN. It was so interesting to watch her draw. Lyn brought along her teddy that she had when she was little, a teddy she use to tell stories to.

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On Friday we joined in our traditional book character parade. It’s always such a fantastic event. Even some of our younger siblings joined in the fun as well. Clifford made an appearance and later came and saw us in our classroom.

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Melissa ( Jamie N's mum) came in and read us one of Jamie’s favourite stories.



By Friday afternoon we were exhausted.

Book week at Northcote primary is always a lot of fun and we can't wait to do it again next year.

Week 10 Term 3

This has been a very busy week. On Monday the Northcote college kapa haka group preformed for us in the hall. They showed us the difference between a boy and girl haka as well as preformed a song with poi’s

Tuesday we tried our hand at weaving. It really is a little tricky to remember when you’re only five to go under and over one way and then over and under on the next.





Wednesday we went to the marae- Wow what a wonderful time we had. This was a unique experience for most of us as we took part in the powhiri and watched the carver in action

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Week 9 Term 3

Here is a photo of the taniwha’s we painted last week.


This week we have been learning about Marae protocols as we prepare to visit the Awataha Marae next week. For many of us this will be our very first experience of entering a Marae

We have also continued to write information reports. This week we wrote one about the wood pigeon as they like the moa were used by the early Maori people as a source of food and their feathers used for cloaks. Two new podcast have been added on the right hand side of the page as two children ( Tor and Marie ) share their knowledge about the moa with us all.


The children are very proud of their art work and it can be viewed in the library this week . Orders to make these wonderful pieces of art work into cards and/or calendars need to be placed by the end of the week.

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Week 8 Term 3

Here we are working on our calendar art. We have painted our trees using cardboard and sponges. The finished piece of work is made into a calendar and is available for sale later in the year.


This week we have read poems and books about the taniwha. We have written a description of our own taniwha and painted it. Below is a story we have read and enjoyed about the taniwha so much so that we have made a wall story about it.

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Our art work on the koru is now finished and on display in our room. We are all very proud of our work. It looks amazing.

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Daffodil day week 7 Term 3

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On Friday dressed in green or yellow and wearing our amazing daffodil hats we took part in the daffodil day concert.

Week 7 Term 3

Below is our very first V-cast. We recited one of our favourite poems - The Huffing Giant. We tried to use lots of expression! Hope you enjoy listening.

Week 6 Term 3

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This week we took part in the school cross country. This involved running around the bottom field, up the steep hill, through the playground, along the footpath and back to the finish line. Cate and Jeremiah won the race for the year one girls and boys respectively. Jamie N and Gena won spot prizes.


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We also spent time exploring the koru design using a range of materials and textures. We had a great deal of fun and made some spectacular korus as I’m sure you will agree.

Here we are standing beside the cherry tree that was planted by the children of the Kowhai team at the end of last year. This tree was planted as the children decided to leave a ‘treasure’ for future generations of Northcote primary children. When this tree was planted it was blessed by the elders of the Awataha Marae.

Week 5 Term 3

This week we have added to our display with room 2 as we have looked at the types of houses that were first built by the people who settled in New Zealand as well as where they built their settlements.




We have also read some Maori legends about Tane – God of the forest and have made a display of the legend Tane and the stars.

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Since week two we have learnt a lot about writing narratives. Each week we have looked at some pictures of a cat that obviously has a problem and have written a narrative about them. These are on display in our room.

Maria’s Nana (Jeanette) brought our korus back to school. They are now ready to be painted.

Week 4 Term 3

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This week Maria’s Nana (Jeanette) came to our classroom and showed us how to make korus in clay. Everyone enjoyed working with the clay and we made some very impressive korus. We took some home to show our families while Jeanette took our favourite pieces home with her to fire.

We have also spent the week investigating how the first people came to New Zealand . We discovered they came in waka’s and were guided by the stars and planets, as well as the migration patterns of the birds and whales. We recorded our new learning by making a wall display with room 2.

Week 3 Term 3

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This week we had a half hour session with a united soccer coach. He taught us some soccer skills and then we put these into action as we played some games.

We have also continued to enjoy reading stories about Greedy cat. This week we read the story – Greedy cat is hungry. Dearest Katie thought Greedy cat was hungry and fed him the sausages from the fridge!. We thought this was very funny as the cat food was on the shelf above the sausages. We painted our own greedy cats using sponges and decided what they like to do or eat. These are on display in our room.

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Week 2 Term 3

Above are our favourite ice creams.

With this week being Maori Language week we have shared as a class what language we knew. A lot of us knew how to say the colours, simple commands and hello. Over the term we hope to build on this through songs and general classroom conversations.

This was a great lead into our topic this term which is celebrating how NZ is an island nation and that people came to live in New Zealand from other parts of the world and this continues to this day.

We sat and talked about what we thought New Zealand would have looked like before any people arrived here. Jamie N informed us that all the countries were together once and that they split. That people came over time first there were bugs, then dinosaurs and then people. Tor added that the tuatara is a living dinosaur. Lots of us thought there would have been a big forest and that there would have been no houses, no schools and NO TOYS.

Stories about Greedy cat have become a bit of a favourite in our class this week. Joy Cowley has written a number of books about Greedy cat and for the next few weeks, as a class we will be reading a number of the books she has written about him.
We predicted what Greedy cat liked to do and eat – and were surprised to find that although he liked mice he didn’t like them for dinner instead he liked to eat chocolate cake!!

On Wednesday one of the children from room 15 brought in her 12 week old kitten to show rooms 2 and 3. We all gathered together and sat in a circle. Initially the kitten called Clyde was a little bit scared however we all sat very quietly and before long he began to wander round finally settling next to one of the children in room 2 where he enjoyed all the attention he could get! We found out that Clyde likes to sleep in his special ‘cat house’ and his favourite food is fish. We decided Clyde wasn’t a greedy cat but that as he grows into a cat he might change his ways and become one!

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Week 1 Term 3

It was great to see everyone back at school after the holidays and we welcomed four new children into our room. It has been an action packed week as we have settled back into school routines.

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On Thursdays we went the Bandwagon show where we got to see a lot of different types of instruments, sang and some of us even got up to play an instrument.


Every day this week we have read the story the ‘Giant’s ice cream’ It’s a great story and we particularly liked the part which said Ice cream ice cream yummy stuff, ice cream ice cream makes me tough. We wrote letters to our parents for permission to eat ice creams at school. On Friday we sat together as a class and ate the most delicious ice creams. In fact some of us thought they were scrumptious. It was a lovely way to end the first week of the term. We have also painted our favourite ice cream and these are on display in our room.

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Week 10 Term 2

This week has been so busy. On Tuesday we visited our principal Mrs Heasman and asked her permission to place the posters we’d made up around our block. She was most impressed with our work and said we could put them up – we felt so proud of ourselves.

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On Thursday all the children in the Kowhai team wore blue to school and put on a badge that reminded us how important water is. We went to the hall and each class shared something they had learnt this term – we chose to share our posters. After our turn we got to place our gold coin in the wishing well. As we left the hall we all got to pass by the wishing well and look at all the money we had raised to help others.




On Friday the Kowhai team presented the money we’d all raised to Judy – from world Vision. Judy talked to us about how the money we raised would make a difference to people in countries where access to fresh water is a problem. The stories she told us were so very interesting and it really was a fitting end to our unit on water.



As we headed off on holiday we once again were drawn to the window to see a wonderful rainbow - what more can I say -

Week 9 Term 2

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Wow! This week we have watched with interest as the seeds have grown within our water cycle terrariums and talked about what we saw. E.g. Tia said “The water evaporated up to the top of the cup. It got stuck, it couldn’t get out and it rained”. Marie said “The soil got hot, water evaporated and it rained – the water got cold on the top.”


This week we have also looked at the Water Aid website. We looked at photos of people who in the past only had access to dirty water but who now have clean water in their villages thanks to the financial assistance of others. We looked at the children who had the job of collecting water and the time it takes for them to collect it – one girl spends 5 hours a day waiting for enough water to seep from the ground.

We can make a difference by helping to collect money to support projects to get water into villages in countries where water is scarce. Next Thursday all the children in the Kowhai team are going to wear blue and bring along a gold coin to place in a wishing well.The money we collect will be given to world vision.

Week 8 Term 2

This week we have worked on our posters – making our message simple and effective.
We have begun to think about where we would like to put our posters, how we can keep them from getting dirty, and who we have to ask to put them up.

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On Friday we had a visit from Sally who works for watercare. We had a most enjoyable session with her making water run downhill, building a stream and lake- all by using stones and a sheet of plastic. She also talked to us about how important it is to make sure that only water goes down drains as all the drains lead to the sea.

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Week 7 Term 2

This week we have had a look at how precious water is and how vital it is to our everyday lives.





On Friday using the school set of digit camera’s we wandered around the school to take photos we could use next week to make posters about ‘being careful with water.’ The sheer fun of having a camera in our hands resulted in a lot of photos being taken and not all of them involved water!. I’m sure you’re be impressed as all the photos in the bubble share were taken by 5 year olds.

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Week 6 Term 2

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This week we have looked at books and the metro water website to learn how the water from our dams is cleaned at treatment stations. We found out that aluminium sulphate is added to the water and any dirt clings to the particles of alum. The water is them sent to settling tanks where the dirt and alum form a layer of sludge. This sludge is then drained off.

We made sludge in our classroom using water milo and flour. We sprinkled the milo on the water and then added a layer of flour. The milo clung to the flour and sank to the bottom of the glass. We were fascinated.

Week 5 Term2

This week we have looked at how water always flows downwards because of an invisible force called gravity which pulls everything towards the centre of the Earth. We went outside and had fun watching the water flow downhill. Some of us poured water down existing drains and some of us made a dam and a waterfall with the blocks.

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Week 4 term 2

A week of looking at the water cycle.

The book Mrs Wishy washy day has become a firm favourite in our class this week. We have laughed every time we have read it. We washed not animals but clothes, put them outside to dry and predicted what would happen to them and WHY? Our knowledge of the water cycle was at our finger tips and words like evaporation and water vapour rolled off our lips. We really enjoy being scientist in room 3.

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Friday we ventured off on our trip to the rainforest express. It was a magical place with so much to see and do – we saw a lot of water- puddles, streams, river, waterfall, drains, water pipes, and dam. We also saw a wood pigeon and fantail. On the train trip we collected water from the stream, saw cave wetas and glow worms. It really was an action packed day.

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Week 3 Term 2

This week we have looked at how water is the only thing in the world that can be a gas, liquid and solid.

We watched water boil and put a mirror by it to see the steam. We made ice blocks, watching water as a liquid turn into a solid. We ate them and they were so yummy. We also put a balloon fill of water into the freezer. It froze and then we watched it melt. Most of us thought it would melt by morning tea (that’s one and half hours) but in fact it still hadn’t melted by the time we left school for the day. When Miss Cousins and I left school at 6 o’clock at night it still hadn’t completely melted!

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We wrote down what we had seen.

We filled up a balloon with water and put it in the freezer. The next day the balloon had frozen. The skin of the balloon popped. The ice was ‘Antarcticish’ and smooth. It began to melt.
By Jamie

We put water into the kettle. We saw the steam. We put the mirror near the steam. The mirror got wet. It rained.
By Logan

We made ice blocks. We ate the ice blocks. The ice blocks were yummy.
By Maria

Rain on the window

Last week we rushed to the window to watch the rain on the window. It was a great start to our inquiry on the water cycle.

We all shared what we knew about water.Marie told us that water has a surface and that it breaks when we swim.

We did an experiment-to show that water has a surface. Oh the fun we had

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