The dirty truth about nappies

It's a $4billion industry in the USA and there are over 1000 patents on how they are designed and constructed.

Nappies are quite incredible.
Their ability to absorb and retain moisture is very clever. Using synthetic polymers, today’s state of the art disposable diapers will absorb up to 15 times their weight in water. This phenomenal absorption capacity is due to the absorbent pad in the core of the nappy. This pad is composed of two essential elements, a hydrophilic (water loving) polymer and a fibrous material such as wood pulp.

After a bit of research on the history, technology and science as well as an explanation on what polymers are, we experimented with nappies looking closely at the chemical reactions that take place when water meets nappy.

Exploring the final frontier

On Tuesday the Yr 7 & 8's trekked off to boldly go where no other School has gone before......the newly re-opened Carter Observatory. We were treated to an exciting workshop which looked in detail at the different conditions, and statistics of each of the planets in our solar system.. Did you know that Pluto is now called a dwarf planet? And there are at least 35 other dwarf planets out there which are the same size as Pluto!!

After the workshop we went into the planetarium, this is a high-fi digital movie theater where the ceiling is the screen and you feel as though you are flying through space! We looked at the physical stress astronauts go through when in space, and at our very own unique view of the night sky. The photos were amazing and the educators were really interesting. The kids came back buzzing with questions and debating the existence of extra-terrestrial life in the universe! Another knowledge gathering success!

Budding scientists...

Today as part of our Science fair scaffolding, Room 21 explored the question, Which bread is best? We created a hypothesis (a guess of what we think the result might be) and then we set about testing the bread on a variety of variables; What it cost, how long it lasted, how healthy it was, the texture and most importantly what it tasted like...

Exploring the unknown...

‘Becoming Meaning Makers’ - Term Two Science unit

Take a bit of the world….

Play with it, poke it…

Observe it - Watch it, listen to it, touch and smell it (maybe taste it)

Explain, discuss, examine and question. Predict and test..

This term’s unit is about ‘thinking with evidence’

Landy Lands

Today some of our year 6 and 7 students got the opportunity to go and listen to Derek Landy talk at Wellesley School. Derek is an Irish authour and very well-known for his series of books called ‘Skulduggery Pleasant’.
Derek was a fantastically funny speaker who kept the audience entertained for half an hour. He had us all laughing from the beginning until the end.
The students who took a book along to get signed also received a pack of game cards. The library was also given some great prizes. Sue is running a competition to win a great prize pack that includes a t-shirt and other super prizes!
To win the prize pack you must write an amazing recount about going to Wellesley to hear Derek speak. GOOD LUCK!!

Inquiry help...

Bibliography:

Books

• Te Tupuna Maunga o Parihaka: The Ancestral Mountain of Parihaka by Keith Tonkin

• Parihaka by Kathryn Rountree

Becoming inquirers of the future

Over the last few days Room 21 has been going through the process of our inquiry homework.
We started with exploring the success criteria to see what is expected and how to achieve to it. We then looked at how to create a 2 minute cover page and contents page and what is expected to be in the bibliography. We also looked at an example of what makes a level 5 introduction (below). As a class we will be creating and publishing our introductions on Monday/Tuesday.

You may use this as a guide for your own introduction. But remember you must use your own words, and you can add or remove parts that don't work for you.

"This Term’s Inquiry unit was called ‘Standing Strong’. The main idea in this unit was all about standing up for what you believe in through empathy and integrity.
Empathy means having an understanding for the ideas and feelings of other people. While integrity means sticking to your own principles and making honest choices based on what you believe.

We have talked about many different people who have had to fight to stand up for what they believed in such as Martin Luther King and Gandhi. Often standing strong can be really hard and cause many issues such as discrimination, mistreatment and often imprisonment.

As a New Zealand Example of Standing Strong we focused on the invasion and annihilation of Parihaka in 1881. The reason for using Parihaka is that it was the birthplace of ‘Passive resistance’ and the idea of non-violent protest.
This is a good example of people Standing up for themselves in the face of oppression, violence and injustice. It would have been easy for the people of Parihaka to fight the Pakeha, however they believed that acting in war would only bring more war upon the people of New Zealand. I will discuss the events at Parihaka more in section 2.

The intention of this Inquiry unit is to give us a better understanding of the importance of standing up for our beliefs and ourselves. It encourages us to consider the struggles of those who have gone before us in order to make our lives the way they are today. And helps have empathy for Maoris grievances about land confiscation and Parihakas huge loss of lives."
~By Ms Berry

The world according to Lex

Over the last few weeks the students of Room 21 have been studying Lex Benson Cooper (LBC). His style of painting and artwork has been the inspiration behind our recent art attack. LBC's life has also been unwound into the students reports. Click on the students links to their blogs to see the second draft of their Lex Benson Cooper reports.

A picture is worth a thousand words

Shaun Tan’s Picture book ‘The Arrival’ is an amazing story which is told through wonderful illustrations.

Yesterday with Mr Bird we explored the many images and pieced together the fascinating story.

“The Arrival” tells not an immigrant’s story, but the immigrant’s story. A young father leaves his home to create a better life for his family in a distant land of opportunity. He struggles to find a job, a place to stay and a sense of meaning in his new existence. Along the way he befriends other, more established immigrants. He listens to their stories and benefits from their kindnesses. The young father reunites with his family as “The Arrival” draws to a close, and the distant land finally becomes home.

On Friday we are lucky to able to see a show of ‘The Arrival’ which is on as part of the Wellington festival of the arts.

Swimming Sports makes a Splash!

Yesterday the year 5-8 students competed at Huia Pool in their annual Swimming Sports competition. This was a great lead in to the zone and inter-zone swimming events that are coming up throughout the term.

All students gave it their all while swimming their separate events and it was fantastic to hear the students supporting each other throughout the day.

This year the winners of the house relay was sadly Cook, with the glorious Sanson House coming third. Even more disappointingly was that Ms Berry's class was the winner of the year 7/8 class relays...maybe next time Room 21.

Picture perfect

Over the last few weeks Room 21 and their buddy class (Room 9) have been getting to know each other much better and have been practicing their art skills at the same time. Check out the amazing results:

Will you be my PAL?

Becoming good role models, fair play and active, responsible students. This is what the physical activity leaders (PALs) are.

On Thursday and Friday a large group of enthusiastic year 7/8
students explored the concepts associated with being positive leaders in physical activity.


With guidance from Georgina from Sports Wellington, students were involved in a range of activities designed to develop:

• Leadership skills

• Good role modeling

• Skills needed to run physical activity sessions with younger students

• And to encourage fair play and build confidence

Strike makes a lot of noise!

What a wicked show!!

Today we got the opportunity to see the awesome and famous percussion group STRIKE
They were fantastic! The sound rocked the hall, the thumping beats and catchy rhythm kept everyone spellbound.

Blogs Away!

Today in Room 21 we updated our learning logs/blogs with our four goals for Term 1. Our goals had to be SMART goals which means they are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and have a Timeframe.

We wrote our draft goals straight onto our learning logs/blogs and then working in groups we had to comment on other students goals giving feedforward to help them have four quality SMART goals. We then re-Published our final goals for all to see. ------>

Inquiring about Parihaka

"Parihaka? Whats that?" and "What happened there?" were a couple of the questions that the students of room 21 tackled while they were creating a timeline of the events that occurred before, during and after the worlds first recorded campaign of passive resistance took place at Parihaka.



Over the coming weeks, the students will be exploring many of the different aspects surrounding what happened at Parihaka and exploring how it fits into our Big Idea; Standing up for what you believe in through integrity and empathy.

Little People Ahoy!

On Friday Room 21 went and met their buddy class for the first time this year. Room 9 was really keen to show us their monsters that they had created. Then they shared their favourite book. We hope to do lots of fantastic things with our buddies and show them some of the things we get up to on the senior side of the school as the year goes on.