This week, the Preps were in charge of running the assembly and our topic was 'Water Safety'. Students at Moreland PS had their first of eight swimming lessons on Wednesday, so the Preps wanted to help everyone be water smart. Below, you will find videos of the performance, our 'Three Little Fishies Book' and our video about water safety. Feel free to leave a comment below for the Preps and we will read them to everyone on Wednesday.
P.s. Don't forget to bring your bathers on the following dates:
Week 5: Wednesday and Thursday (6th and 7th of November)
Week 6: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday (11th to the 14th of November)
This term we will be leaving the school each week for a walk to explore our local area. We will be focussing on participating in activities such as wearing protection from the sun, saving energy, saving water, and recycling to develop their awareness of environmental issues. Some of the skills that children will develop through this unit of work include: making and reading maps and models, safe and responsible behaviour while on local excursions, recording ideas and observations, collecting data, asking questions and using good listening skills. They will also learn to link cause cause and effect – understand those terms and some situations in which they apply.
Below you will find a collection of photos and videos from our first three walks. Week one focused on getting students to make and record observations about the different kinds of litter in their local community and who/what will this rubbish hurt. Week two focused on the rubbish in our school, students split into groups and sorted the rubbish they found into groups. This data was analysed during our maths lessons. Week 3 was centred around water and students went on a walk to record various sources of water. To end our walk, we stopped at the local car wash, where the students were lucky enough to see a car being cleaned, which was very exciting.
Our topic for Asian Studies for Semester 2 is Indonesia. In the last week of school, the Preps were learning about volcanos, which are very common across many parts of Indonesia. Students created diagrams, watched a David Attenborough documentary and finally got to create their own volcano. During Developmental Play, some Preps helped us create our volcano using sand and a bottle which went in the centre. In the afternoon, Ben showed us how to make the volcano erupt using baking soda, vinegar and red food dye.
As you can see in the pictures and the video below, the Preps were VERY excited. Next time, we are hoping to create an even bigger explosion.
If you would like to do this at home, we recommend the following website for instructions: http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/experiments/vinegarvolcano.html
The last day of Term 3 was a day full of celebrations and goodbyes. In the morning, the whole school participated in a Football Parade and in the afternoon the Preps sadly said goodbye to Ben, who will be looking after his baby full-time during Term 4. Our two SRC members presented Ben with a book, which included memories and reasons why he is such a fantastic Teacher. We had some fun with our parachute and ate some delicious fruit sticks that we prepared during Developmental Play. Also, we were lucky enough to meet Ben's son and his lovely dog Percy. Parents and siblings came along to help us celebrate a fantastic term and to say their goodbyes and best wishes to Ben. We are looking forward to having Ben back next year to teach us Science and Japanese and until then we are lucky enough to have Natalie joining us for Term 4. Below are some photos of the day...
