Grand Opening of the Compost Bins.

Two of our B4 students belong to the school 

Enviro Rangers group.

The group has been looking at ways to minimise the amount of rubbish in the school, and one solution the group decided on is to compost food scraps.
The senior students in the Hard Materials technology class built an impressive compost bin.

The whole school met for the 
Grand Opening of the compost bin. 

Local gardeners, Marg and Rex Crook, were invited to cut the ribbon, as the Enviro group had visited their garden to learn about composting.

What do you do at home to reduce the amount of rubbish going out on rubbish day?

What does your school do to minimise the amount of rubbish being dumped?

Wearing Onesies for 100 Days of School!

It's two days into the third term of our school year, and today is our 100th day of school.
We have been using our classroom calendar and a 10-frames chart to count the days.

Part-way through, we started a new chart as well, to collect the number pairs that make 100.

Can you see any patterns?

We wore our onesies or our pyjamas for maths.

One of our activities was to choose a number and see if we could share 100 objects into equal groups of that number.

We made ...

10 groups of 10

2 groups of 50

4 groups of 25

100 groups of 1

5 groups of 20

50 groups of 2

 
20 groups of 5

Some numbers didn't work out exactly and

there were some left-overs.

4 didn't make equal groups

6 didn't make equal groups

3 didn't make equal groups

9 didn't make equal groups

11 didn't make equal groups

12 didn't make equal groups.

Here is a challenge for you!

The answer is 100.

What might the question be?

Year 3's play: Little Monster goes to School

One of our school's annual events is Repertory for Kids. 

The primary classes prepare plays - the guidelines are 

no more than  three props, and the students 

have to take charge of getting the plays ready.

This year the plays are around the theme of anti-bullying.

B4's Year 3 present their play 'Little Monster goes to School'.

In our play, Little Monster's classmates stand up for him.

It's important to stand up against bullies. 

What are some other ways of preventing bullying?

Visit our school Repertory page to see the plays from the other classes.

Year 2s play: Snail of the Century

All term, the Year 2s have been practising a play.

They have had to remember their lines, stay in role as their character, and speak in a clear voice. 

Now they have presented it at assembly.

Snail of the Century

Compost in a Bucket

Our science unit on Soil has led us to ask how soil can be improved.

We found out that many people use compost to improve their soil, so we did an investigation into compost.

We learned about green matter and brown matter.

We learned that some things are bio-degradable and can go into the compost. 
(Biodegradable means it can be broken down by bacteria or other living things, to end up as part of the soil.)

We learned that some things are bio-degradable but should not go into the compost, 
such as dairy products, meat, and diseased plants.

We learned that some things are not bio-degradable, and they should definitely not go into the compost, 
such as plastics.

Now we've made our own compost mix.

Can you see the layers?

We will watch our bucket of food scraps, soil, leaves and sheep manure.

We expect to see it break down and change.

Do you make compost?

Where do you make it?

What do you put in it?

What do you do with the compost?

Chocolate Maths!

The B4 children were excited to walk into the classroom before school and find blocks of chocolate sitting on some of the tables!

One table had one block, one table had two blocks and one table had three blocks.

Mmmm, mouths were watering!

At maths time, some children were invited, one at a time, to think about this question then choose a table to sit at:

"If the chocolate on the table I sit at is to be shared out equally when I sit down, which would be the best table to sit at?"

After six children had chosen a table, there was: 

one child at the 1-block table, 

three children at the 2-block table, 

and two children at the 3-block table.

At that point, the class had to figure out how much chocolate the children at each table would get.

At the 1-block table, the child would get the whole block.

At the 2-block table, the three children would get less than a whole block but more than half a block each.

At the 3-block table, the two children would get a whole block plus half of another block each!

Then, one-by-one, children were invited to think about the question and choose a table to sit at.

It didn't take long for the children already at the tables to realise that when others came to their table, their share of the chocolate decreased!

Looking very pleased to have a whole block to himself!

Oh no, I'm only getting half a block now!

Four people sharing now - that's only a quarter of a block each.

A fifth share is not going to be much.

Oh heck! Only going to get a seventh!

Meanwhile, the other tables were also getting a bit crowded, and the potential share of chocolate were also 

getting smaller.

Luckily, when we finally shared some of the chocolate, everyone got a fair share, plus we have some to use another day!

If there is one child sitting at the 2-block table, one at the 1-block table and two at the 3-block table,

which table do you think Child 4 should sit at?

Note: This Chocolate activity comes from nrich.org

Students from Auroa School Investigate Our Soil Question

In our Secrets of the Soil posts, here and here, we asked what the soil is like where YOU live.

Mr Webb and the Rm 3 students from Auroa School on the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand 

decided to investigate the soil at their school. 

Now we will have to compare notes.

 Do you think soil from the west coast of the North Island will  be similar to soil from the west coast of the South Island?