Rockin’ Resolutions

Happy New Year everyone. In 3rd and 4th class, we hope you have a peaceful and enjoyable 2016!

To start our year off, and coming back after the long break, we decided to look at the different goals we were going to set ourselves this year. We looked at different resolutions that people normally make, and we brainstormed a list of resolutions that we could choose to do in our class.

Everyone was given a guitar template. We wrote in our goals and resolutions onto the lined piece of paper and assembled it to the guitar.  Now we can see our goals anytime! Check out some of them in the gallery below!

Winter Quilt

3^rd and 4^th class really enjoyed creating their January notice board.  3^rd class created a numeracy Winter quilt using double digit addition and single digit multiplication.  4^th class created a literacy Winter quilt which included a Winter Poem, A Perfect Winters Day, How to Build a Snowman, A list of Snowman Alphabet Adjectives, If I Lived in an Igloo and Facts & Opinions About Penguins.

The Human Body

3^rd and 4^th class were very interested in learning all about the human body in Science this month.  We now know that our body is more than what we see when we look in the mirror – there are different parts that have different jobs, but each part works together so we can eat, sleep, sit in class and play with friends.  Our body is a pretty amazing thing!

We looked at some key concepts including:

• Your body is supported by a skeleton.
• The skeleton protects important organs.
• Bones protect important organs.  The brain is protected by the skull, eyes are protected by bony sockets and ribs provide protection for the lungs and heart.
• Most people have 206 bones but some people have an extra pair or ribs (13 pairs).
• Joints are where your body bends.
• Bones contain a lot of calcium.  This give the bones rigidity.
• Vinegar can remove calcium from eggshells and as a result they go soft.
• It is recommended to eat certain foods that contain calcium in order to keep bones strong g and healthy.
• Even though bones are strong they can still be broken. The arm bone and the collar-bone are broken more often than the thigh bone.

Take a look at our human body classroom display.

Teeth – an eggcellent experiment

Last week we were learning all about teeth.

We watched a very informative and fun video and learnt many new facts about our teeth including how old we are when we cut our first tooth, how many baby teeth children have, how many permanent teeth adult have, and we even explored the inside of teeth and all the important parts of a healthy tooth.

We discussed important things we need to do to keep our teeth healthy. We had many very helpful ideas and we showed how much they know already when it comes to minding our pearly whites!

To help us see the effects of different liquids on teeth we carried out an experiment. We used 4 hard boiled eggs which represented the delicate enamel on our teeth and used 4 different liquids; water, fanta, coke and vinegar. The class recorded their predictions and the experiment was set up in the classroom.

After 24 hours in the different liquids, we were able to see what effects the different liquids not only had on the egg shells, but also how they effect our teeth.

The egg in the water, as predicted, stayed the same – unchanged! So we came to the conclusion that water is ok to drink!

The egg in the Fanta/coke had become fizzy and full of scum. The eggshell had also begun to dissolve! We concluded that fizzy drinks are not good for our teeth as the sugar damages our protective enamel!

Finally, egg number three in vinegar had fizzed up straight away. After 24 hours in the liquid, the eggshell had totally dissolved and had even become a brown scum on the top of the liquid line. We decided that the acid in the vinegar had burnt away the shell of the egg.

We all agreed, we definitely won’t be drinking vinegar anytime soon!

Problem Solving

4^th class were in their element with problem solving this week. They were given the opportunity to use a packet of M&M’s in order to answer some fractional problems.  Questions included guessing the total number of M&M’s in the pack, opening the pack and counting the M&M’s, calculating what fraction represented the number of each colour sweet in the pack, calculating which colour M&M represented the largest and smallest fraction in the pack. Step 8 allowed students to eat the M&M’s.  There was certainly no complaints with this maths lesson!

Stepping into Spring

St Brigid’s Day marked the first day of Spring.  To celebrate the feast, 4^th class created a St Brigid storyboard detailing key events in St Brigids life which hang proudly in our Sacred Space.  Students were very interested in the background of the cross.

Making a St. Brigid’s cross is one of the traditional rituals in Ireland to celebrate the beginning of early spring, 1st February. The crosses are made of rushes that are pulled rather than cut. They are hung by the door and in the rafters to protect the house from fire and evil. According to tradition a new cross is made each St Brigid’s Day, and the old one is burned to keep fire from the house. Many homes have several crosses preserved in the ceiling the oldest blackened by many years of hearth fires. Some believe that keeping a cross in the ceiling or roof is a good way to preserve the home from fire which was always a major threat in houses with thatch and wood roofs. St. Brigid and her cross are linked together by the story that she wove this form of cross at the death bed of either her father or a pagan lord, who upon hearing what the cross meant, asked to be baptized.

Moasic Hearts

Before you speak

Think and be smart

Its hard to fix

A wrinkled heart

This beautiful message hangs proudly in our classroom.  Each student had the opportunity to decorate a mindfulness letter.  As part of our Valentines activities we also created mosaic hearts.  Take a look…

As a class, we looked at the history of mosaic art.  We cut a symmetrical heart.  We positioned triangles, rectangles and squares to form a mosaic.  We maintained a “grout” line or space between the shapes.  They look pretty impressive in our classroom.

Valentine’s Day Activities

3^rd class were very interested in creating their own Valentine agamograph.  An agamograph is a series of images that change at different angles.  This work is named after the Israel sculptor – Yaacov Agam.  Take a look at their designs.

4^th class were each given a Valentine statement to complete.  The end result is very impressive.  Well done to all.

Pancake Tuesday

We had a ball eating pancakes in class on Tuesday.  With the amount of toppings that were spread on each and every pancake I think they may have consumed a month’s worth of sugar in one go!!  Enough to keep them going until Easter Sunday!!