Our Magnetism and Electricity Questions

Mrs Chrystall set up some activities for us to try.  We had a lot of fun but there were also a lot of things we wanted to find out.  Here are our questions we want to find the answers to.

Justus, Osyris and Portia want to know "How do you make the bulbs light up?"

Peter wants to know "How does electricity work?"

Justus and Peter want to know "How does a magnet work?"

We know that lots of things that are metal are magnetic but some metal things are not magnetic.  We want to know "What is in the metal that makes things magnetic?"

We know that plastic, wood, clothing (material) and glass is not magnetic.

Portia wants to know "How does the magnet make the paper clip move through the bubble wrap?"

We keep hearing this word "circuit" so we want to know "what is a circuit?"

Justus wants to know "How do you do the activities and quizzes on the computer?"

Portia wants to know "How do you match them together to make them work?"

This website has big words like "conductor" and "insulator" on it so we want to know "What are conductors and insulators?"

We have found out that magnets work through bubble wrap but we want to know "How many layers of bubble wrap can our magnet work through?"

We found out that magnets can work through wood so now we want to know "How thick does the wood have to be before the magnet stops working?"

Osyris and Portia want to know "How do you make the buzzer go?"

Jimi wants to know "Why does the buzzer need cords?"

Justus wants to know "Why are there different types of buzzers?" and "Why do we need to use buzzers?"

Some of us made a complete circuit using a cell (battery), wires and a bulb.  We made the bulb light up.  But "What would happen if we used two cells (batteries) and one bulb?" or "What would happen if we used one cell (battery) and two bulbs?"

We had fun with Tiber's magnets.  They are oval magnets and when you throw them in the air close to each other they join together, spin around and make a rattling sound.

Sativa wants to know "Why do magnets go away from each other?"

We have this cool UFO ball although we don't know why it is called an Unidentified Flying Object when it does not fly and we know it is a ball.

Yawden, Justus and Osyris want to know "How does the UFO ball work?"

Portia wants to know "Why does the UFO light up?"

Jimi wants to know "What is in the UFO ball to make it work?"

Osyris wants to know "Why doesn't the UFO ball work when you push it with only one hand?"

Room 1 stood in a circle holding hands while Mrs Chrystall touched one metal piece and Sativa touched the other metal piece.  We made the UFO ball light shine and buzzer sound.  Now Mrs Chrystall wants to know "Will the UFO ball work with everyone in the school joined together?"

We are going to find out the answers to our questions and then we will post our answers.

Construction at the Swimming Pool

The concrete truck drove past our classroom door and went to the swimming pool.

Stones and concrete came out of the truck down a slide.

The concrete went into the wheelbarrow and the men took it to the holes where the poles were.

There were two different sized poles.

The men poured the concrete into the holes.

They needed lots of concrete.

The man used a pole to push the concrete down into the hole and get all the air bubbles out.

Making Gingerbread Men

On Friday Room 1 made gingerbread men. I had flour and lots of m and m’s on my gingerbread man. I had icing for my mouth and silver circles. I stirred the butter and sugar.

Yawden

I put a snake on my gingerbread man and metal balls, M & M’s, jelly smiley faces and icing. It was tasty and sweet.

Justus

I put the icing on. I liked the gingerbread man.

Tumahuki

I put m and m’s on my gingerbread man. I liked making my gingerbread man.

Jake

I put honey in the bowl. We liked the smell of gingerbread.

Peter

We made a gingerbread man and we made it out of m and m’s. Then I gave it two arms, two eyes and a nose and a mouth. I put the m and m’s on its tummy.

Portia

We had fun making our gingerbread men but the best part was when we got to eat them.

Mmmmmmmmm YUM!!!!!!

Check out the photos of all our gingerbread men on our class wiki. 

http://otoprim1.wikispaces.com/Gingerbread+Men

Magnet Fun

We are finding out about magnets and trying to answer the questions "What is magnetic?" and "What makes something magnetic?"

We designed a Fair Test to find out what things were magnetic.  We used the same magnet and the same amount of pressure to test things in our class.   

The frame of the mirror was magnetic but the mirror was not magnetic.

The magnetic black board was magnetic.  We already knew this though because we put our magnetic letters and words on this board during reading time.

This blackboard is not magnetic but the screw on the board is magnetic.

The paper towel cabinet is magnetic.

It was fun using the magnet to make the arrow on the compass spin around.

Our sandpit trucks are magnetic.  The metal shovels we use are magnetic too but the plastic shovels are not.

We found a lot of things that were magnetic in our classroom, even the staples on our walls.

Our Camp - 22nd and 23rd April 2010

We stayed at Te Kotahitanga Marae.

Jimi's Dad caught an eel in the hinaki.  He took it home and smoked it for us.  We ate it back at school.  Room 1 agreed that smoked eel is YUMMY!!!

 We learnt how to weave flax and made necklaces, headbands, flowers, wristbands and slappers. 

We had a lot of fun playing with the noisy slappers.  Thanks Nana T.

We used our peelers to peel some potatoes for our dinner.  We were so careful we didn't need to use the plasters we brought.

It was great fun rolling down the big hill.

We made our own poi and learnt how to perform "Rere Taku Poi".  

 

We all slept together in the Wharenui. 

We walked to the big cross at the top of the hill.  We looked down and saw our school.  It was just after lunch time because Room 7 & 8 were going into the hall for J-Rock practice.  We shouted "Hello" to them.  When we got back to school they told us they had heard us.

 

Our camp was fun.  We can't wait for camp next year.

Introducing Room 1 at OPS

We belong to Room 1 at Otorohanga Primary School, OPS for short.  This is our very first class blog. 
We will try hard to blog each day about things that are important to us.