Diary of a wind turbine!

                                

                                  1 of  November 2013

Today wind turbines are competing against each other to create the most electricity in a week.  Inside the nacelle is a generator which produces electricity. The base of the turbine weighs 600 tonnes.  The towers weigh 120 tonnes.


                                         2 of November 2013

Wind turbines work with 3 blades that catch the wind.  It turns a shaft that is connected to a gear box which make electricity.  There are more than 300 steps to the top of the tower!  It is very scary being 68 metres off the ground.

What is a Wind Turbine

A wind turbine is a windmill that makes electricity.The bits on the turbines like the blades, controls and steel towers, came from  all over the world .There are more then 300 ,steps to the top of the tower.  They are really big because the wind is stronger up high.  They have to big enough for the blades so they don't bang into the ground.

Igloo Persistance

We are learning a lot about persistence and hot glue in Room 13 this term.  What seemed like a great idea at the time has turned into quite a big job!  A picture says a thousand words...

 

The rebuild has commenced, this time with a frame to support it from the inside and silicon rather than hot glue.

Toku Papori and the Lei Project

Our leis are finally on display at E Hayes and Sons and look fabulous.  Today our display was mentioned on the front page of the Southland Times!

Emma has been for a closer look, you should too!

Ancient Egypt

Over the first two weeks of Term 3 the Year 4, 5 and 6 students have been going to Splash Palace for swimming in the afternoons.  The Year 3 students have had a great time learning about Ancient Egypt. We had a go at writing using hieroglyphics and learned how to play Senet, even making our own boards and throwing sticks.

We mummified apples, burying half in a natron mixture like the Ancient Egyptians used to mummify the dead and left half to decompose naturally.  This is how they looked a week later.

Next we wrapped the mummified half in gauze.

Then, just for fun, we mummified each other in toilet paper!

Rugby

When I play a game of rugby it feels like I am playing in the finals like my uncle Campbell. I scored 2 when I played against Blues and they’re hard. My uncle plays in the Southland Stags. Once I saw him playing for the BNZ, he got two good tries and I got to get signatures by Jamie Macintosh and Scotty. Mum and nanny and Grandad and other people supported them. They got 11 and the other team got 7 points. They tackled good too they got the ball off them a couple of times and he still plays for Marist.

My Wish...

My wish is to have a  pony. Main thing is riding them.  The one at my house is a  horse  she  is  called  Hap, well that  is  a  weird  name.  I like walking them, I go down the bumpy road at my house. I like brushing ponies and horses. The person that owns it lets me pat her. Sometimes I go down to R.D.A but  not  all  the time.  Do you  now  why  I  like  horse’s and  ponies?

Because they are COOL.

Campervan Holiday

Last year we went to Australia for a holiday and we hired a campervan.  When we got to the place where we hired the campervan. We waited for a long time then finally we could go.  We got into the campervan and drove of.  One of the drawers weren’t locked and then the glass fell out and SMASHED!!!!!  So we drove back and cleaned it up and drove off again.  On the way we got very car sick.  At night we would stop and watch a movie because in the campervan we had a T.V.  In the campervan there were two beds and those two beds were big beds.  One of the big beds was on top of where mum and dad drove the campervan. Because the big bed was high we had to climb up on a ladder.  Mum and dad slept on the other bed at the end of the campervan.  One day we stopped at a beach and played.  In the campervan there is a T.V, two beds , a table, a kitchen, another table that can turn into a bed.  Next  holidays I would love to go in a campervan again.

Toku Papori

We have been collecting information about Otatara from our parents.  Please take a moment to complete the survey online if you haven't already sent a copy in to Mrs D.

Otatara - Our Community

Carissa Explains Addition using Place Value

Place Value Strategy - Addition

Follow this link to hear Carissa's excellent explanation of using place value to solve an addition problem.  Ka pai Carissa!

Outdoor Education

Last night we shared some of our learning from Outdoor Education Week.  Thank you to everyone who came out in the rain to take a look.  If you missed it, or would like to share with someone who wasn't there, the video is posted below.  The students writing and photos are on display in class, please stop by and check them out too.

Scary Beasts

Early St Patrick's Day in Room 13

Today we had some fun singing, dancing, reading and eating about St Patrick's Day.

We learned a new song called Irish Music, once we have mastered it we'll put a clip on here for you to see.

Before Bible in Schools we made a sweet treat.  Lime popcorn!  It wasn't to everyone's taste but we all had a try.  After popping the popcorn we kept it warm in the oven.  We combined a can of condensed milk with a packet of lime jelly and stirred over a low heat until it thickened slightly.  We tipped the green goop over the popcorn and put it back in the oven for 20 minutes.  We had to stir it gently every 5 minutes to make sure all the pieces were coated.  Mrs D was pleased that Bryce had made a good job of oiling the tin foil in the roasting pans as it was pretty sticky to pull out!

Here they are looking sad and hungry for some green popcorn.

 Yay!

 Blarney Stone!

Spelling Practise

This Week in Room 13

Once a week Mrs Rodway takes students on a walk in the bush looking for interesting things like blackberries, piwakawaka, spiders, plants that grow in trees and blackbirds.  Robert and Thomas especially enjoy it!

Meanwhile...

One Tuesday after school something odd happened in Room 13.  

Paua Shell

I remember holding, for the first time ever, my yummy smooth bumpy paua shell. Paua shell shines like the sun.  You have to wash  it or it will stink.  I reckon I could catch a paua shell.  I would feel amazed if I caught one.  The bit inside is slimy, sticky and yummy.  Bruce, my pops friend caught them but we only got the shell.  I got it because I was coming  back from collecting  firewood.

Gymnastics

I remember wearing, for the first time ever, my orange, sparkly, shimmery, rough gymnastics leotard.

"Does it fit?"yelled mum from the kitchen.

"Perfect." I yelled back.

I felt great!  I am a gymnast, I go to the Invercargill Gymnastics club.  I like doing gym because it makes me feel special.  I'm lucky because I have three coaches who are Jacky, Emily Henderson and my Mum!

I like Jacky because she encourages us to do great things.  I like Emily because she has a bubbly personality.  I like Mum because she gives me confidence  That's why I love gym!

My leotard is new I'm sure I'm going to wear it a lot. In fact I'm probably going to wear it next gym lesson!

Ireland

I  remember  my Ireland flag.  The flag is very special because my friends gave it to me.  It brings a lot of memories back to me.  My friends loved to play with me in Ireland.

The flag is green, white and orange.  I went to a school called St Peters in Ireland.  My Grandad gave me a model ship that has an Irish flag.  I love Ireland, lots of people live there, my mum comes from there.

My Helmet

I remember putting on, for the first time ever, my helmet. I was 5 years old.  It was new and fresh back then. I still have it, it's in my ski bag.

The bag is light blue with red stripes. My helmet is ultimately ultimate awesome. I felt the wind swishing past me while I was going down the snowy hill. It's a hassle to put on the gear and take it off but at the end of the day when you are driving home you think what a fun day you had.

Week 2 Term One

This week we read Mythological Monsters by Sara Fanelli.  There were some very scary monsters in there!  We enjoyed the illustrations so much we decided to have a go ourselves.  Please come to Room 13 and look at our monsters.

In maths we have been sorting data to find out more about a group of people.  We have written our own questions to survey each other and made some predictions on what we will find out.  Next week we will answer each others questions to see if we were right.

We have started writing about one of the things we brought in for homework last week.  We wrote in our treasure books some ideas for describing what we brought in.  We used this to help us start our writing.  We are learning to write in complete sentences that start with a capital letter and finish with a full stop.  We are also making sure we don't have too many capital letters!

Happy Birthday Mrs Livingstone who turned 50 today.  We made her a cape with an S on it because she is so super and gave her tonnes of beautiful flowers from home.  She gave us all a balloon.

Welcome to Room 13

We are a hard working bunch of Year 3 and Year 4 kids in Otatara, Invercargill, New Zealand.  This week is our first week back at school and it has been good.  Mrs Donnelly has really enjoyed getting to know everyone.  We have chosen our Key Competency Goals and made birds to show which one we are working on. 

We made a poster of a key to show all the ways we use our manners. Mrs Donnelly tells us that we are pretty awesome at using our manners.

We have practiced working with others in a group and taking on a role.  The roles are Leader, Materials Manager, Reporter and Recorder.

Miss McLean is really helpful and nice and always has a happy smile on her dial.  She will be working with us all year in her last year of study at Otago University in teaching. 

We have lots of mini Brain Breaks during the day which we choose from a lucky dip pottle.  Our favourite ones so far are the Pretzel and Cowboy.  We are also really enjoying all the interesting clips on The Kid Should See This which we watch while we are eating our Brain Break food.

Today we shared some special items from home that showed our new friends some interesting things about us.  We learned that we have rock climbers, bakers, dog trainers, skiers, campers, horse riders, rugby players, swimmers, tennis players, artists, readers, writers, dancers, gymnasts and bike riders in our class.  What a clever and busy bunch we are!!