Weather Skype with 1D in Texas

We skyped with a class from a suburb of Dallas, Texas, USA to talk about the weather.
In New Zealand, it was 8.30am on Tuesday - our day usually begins at 8.50am so we had an early start. 
In Texas, it was 2.30 pm on Monday! 

What did we find out?

In New Zealand it is spring.

In Texas it is fall (autumn).

We measure temperature using degrees Centigrade (˚C).

They use degrees Fahrenheit (˚F).

In summer, an extremely hot day in Reefton might be 35˚C (about 95˚F).

A really hot day in Dallas, TX might be 100˚F.

This morning in Reefton the day was quite cool, and the temperature was about 10˚C (50˚F).

The temperature in Dallas, TX was about 80˚F (27˚C).

We had some time to compare notes about our classes.

We have 20 students. We are Year 1, 2 and 3s, and we are mostly aged 6 and 7, with one 8 year-old.

1D has 22 Grade 1 students, all aged six.

Both classes love doing Daily 5 at reading time!

Winter is the favourite season of Brooks, from 1D

Braedyn from B4 said his favourite season is summer.

We live in a community of just over 900.

1D live in a community of 35,000.

We live one hour away from a beach, but we have a school pool, a town pool and the river.

The children in 1D would need to drive for nine hours to get to a beach! However, they have a rec centre, and lakes, and backyard pools.

Which place is generally hotter - Reefton or Dallas?

What is your favourite season and why?

Autumn Poems

What is your favourite season of the year?

Our World, Our Numbers: Topic 7 Seasons and Temperature

We've reached the seventh and final topic 

on Our World, Our Numbers. 

It's been a lot of fun sharing our mathematical lives with the other classes.

This week we’re talking seasons and temperatures.

In our inland town on the west coast of the South Island of New Zealand we get quite distinctive seasonal changes.

 Summers are usually hot and dry; spring is often wet; and winter brings frost, fog and sometimes (if the children are really lucky) some snow.

Right now in the southern hemisphere it is autumn. 

The weather is getting cooler and the colours of the trees are changing.

One of the oak trees at our school.

This year many areas of New Zealand suffered drought over the summer and for the first time ever drought was declared on the South Island’s west coast!

Here is some temperature and rainfall information for our town over the past few months:

Can you see which months we were in drought?

We searched out some information about 

weather extremes for our town.

Can you share some weather data about the place where you live?

All of the classes are keeping track of this week’s midday temperatures on this   Voicethread.

Are there seasonal changes where you live? 

Which season is your favourite? Why?

Why don't you head on over to Our World, Our Numbers to check out the other posts and the comments.

Using Action Words to Bring Our Writing to Life

We're learning that strong action words can bring 

our writing to life. 

Action words are verbs. 

They tell what someone or something is doing.

We've written about our favourite seasons and tried to think about our action words.

How do you think we did?

Which words did you enjoy the most?

Observational Drawings of Our Beans

We've been keeping a close eye on our bean seeds. 

Some have finally germinated.

The seeds that have germinated are the two sets that are facing out the windows.

The two sets of beans seeds facing into the room have not changed at all!

Why might the outward-facing beans be growing and not the inward-facing beans?

Full of Beans

We've been invited to join a bean-growing experiment. 
All the other classes taking part 
are in the Northern Hemisphere, 
where it is spring.

We are in the Southern Hemisphere and it is autumn.

We thought it would be fun to take part, even though it is not growing season here.

We are keeping track of our observations and results 
on the Full of Beans wiki.
Our beans are growing on the windows.

Two sets have been placed on the window above the radiator, and two sets have been placed on the door window, 
away from the heat.

Will our beans germinate as well as those in the northern hemisphere spring?


What does germinate mean?
Do you have winter vegetables growing in your garden?

Autumn

Choral reading and artworks about autumn. We tried hard to read together and speak clearly.
We made our artworks with Mrs Wistrand. We are happy for anyone to add a comment to the VoiceThread on the last page. You could record your voice or type a message.