Intriguing Insects

With summer here the crickets and cicadas are singing up a storm. A small group of children are working to find out about the insects around us. Below there are several links to some short videos explaining the life cycles of different types of insects.
 The Life Cycle of a Butterfly
The Amazing Life Cycle of a Cicada
The Life of a Praying Mantis
Once you have watched the video clips see if you can complete the Metamorphosis Quiz to reveal a close up picture of one member of our intriguing insect world.

And we're off...

Today some of us wrote a short statement about what we hope to achieve through the GATE programme this term. You can view our ideas through the Kidblog icon at the top left of the page. We have also made a start on our Inquiry topics. You can see the Year 5/6 inquiry task here and the Year 7/8 inquiry task here. I am keen to see how the Year 7/8 groups manage their shared task and look forward to the Year 5/6 group developing their research  skills. It was exciting to hear the enthusiasm of the students as they set off on these tasks today.

Competitions Galore

Many of you love to compete in your area of expertise and unfortunately there is not enough time in the GATE programme to enter everything that comes our way. Below is a link to the TKI site which lists all sorts of competitions you may be eligible to enter. Some of them need to be run through school so if you are interested in them please come and discuss the possibility of entering. If the competition is limited to a particular age group, then that is noted beside the link. Competitions galore!

Student Page 2011

The two posts below have been added so the Student Work and Science Fair pages can be emptied for current work. The entries from these pages have been added as posts so they will be archived rather than lost.

     Emma's blog raising awareness of those who show academic excellence

Rani's blog advocating Free Range Frog Farming




                            Caitlyn and Courtney's Video on fighting for animal rights.

Science Fair 2011

Every year interested students from Years 7 and 8 can enter our school Science Fair. This year 14 students thought of a variety of projects. They ranged from creating natural dyes from a variety of vegetables to measuring the effectiveness of liquid and bar soaps in removing bacteria. Everybody worked extremely hard on their projects and can be congratulated on their efforts. The projects, along with scientific drawings of native plants by children from all levels of the school, were displayed in the School Science Fair on Wednesday 10th August. Thanks to Mrs Dunn and Mrs Elvin who acted as judges.

And the winners of the School Science Fair were:

 1st Place Bubbles Vs Bacteria by Kirsten Maclaurin and Sonya Fenton

 2nd Place Making the Cut by Emma Harris and Caitlyn Dawbin

3rd Place Trick or Treat by Courtney Creighton and Elena Stephen Rouvi

These people took their projects to the Waikato Science Fair held at the Hamilton Gardens Pavilion on Thursday 18th August. We were thrilled to hear that all three projects were to be awarded prizes at this regional level. All the girls attended the prizegiving held at the University of Waikato on Friday 19th September where they were awarded the following prizes:


Third Place Making the Cut by Emma Harris and Caitlyn Dawbin
Highly Commended Trick or Treat by Courtney Creighton and Elena Stephen Rouvi
Highly Commended Bubbles Vs Bacteria by Kirsten Maclaurin and Sonya Fenton
Congratulations and well done to you all. You can be very proud of your achievement.

Welcome back

2012 is well underway and I am looking forward to another exciting year working with the students involved in the GATE programme. Follow our blog and see what we get up to in the weeks ahead.

Sir Ken Robinson and his Amazing Ideas

I stumbled across this amazing, thought provoking video by the world-renowned education, creativity and innovation expert, Sir Ken Robinson. Take the time to watch and think about what he is saying about educating students for the future. What do you think? I would love to hear your comments.
If you are interested in his ideas you can read and watch more about Sir Ken Robinson on his website.

Published Author in Our Midst

Huge congratulations to Emma whose poem Gumboots was selected from among 4500 entries to be published in the NZ Post Children's Writing Anthology "Submerged". You will see from an earlier post in April that some students were working on pieces to submit to the NZ Post Story Writing Competition. What a thrill for us to hear Emma had been successful. It is exciting to see students developing their skills and being recognised for their talent. Well done. You can purchase copies of Submerged at NZ Postshops or on-line.

Under Pressure

Today students presented the work they have been doing on pressure groups. Having compared and contrasted two existing pressure groups the students' task was to create their own pressure group and design a way to share the new group's message with the public.Some students made videos using movie maker, adding photos, video recording and backing music. Quite a few students created wikis or blogs with embedded code, avatar messages and links to other sites to promote their cause, and yet others created pamphlets, posters and clothing. There was a very impressive array of presentation methods utilised to convey the messages these new pressure groups were advocating. Check out what we've been doing on the Student's Work page.  

3rd World Farmer

Most of us think we are hungry just before the bell rings for morning tea at 11am. All around the world there are people who really know what it is to be like to be hungry. About 24 000 people die every day from hunger or hunger related causes. There are many organisations whose aim it is to provide some relief to these people. 3rd World Farmer is just a game but it can give you a taste of just how difficult life can be in some parts of the world. To actually make a difference while you play you can try the activities on free rice  and for every correct answer you enter 10 grains of rice is donated to the World Food Programme. Be sure to challenge yourself by varying the subject and increasing the levels. What are you waiting for? Feed a hungry child.