Sundial pavers

Warning!:

Please wear a paint shirt, a breathing mask and some glasses in this experiment

Pavers

Today Mr Forsyth taught us how to make cement pavers, the reason we’re making cement pavers is because they’re for our sundial that we’re making. We’re also putting clay tiles inside the cement block, but we’re not going to talk about that now.

Firstly, I’m going to tell you how to make white cement. The reason we’re making white cement is that it looks more decorative. You have to grab all the materials, a screwdriver, a hammer, gravel, a bucket, smooth white sand, sunflower oil, coloured glass (You’re only allowed 3 colours), white cement powder, a mould* to put it in, a trowel* and water.

We put the oil around the inside of the mould so the cement won’t stick to the mould. Then we put the coloured glass in the bottom of the mould. Then we put 3 litres of smooth white sand, 1 litre of black gravel, 1 litre of white cement powder and 1 and a half litres of water in the bucket and mix it all together. Next you have to scoop the mixture out with the trowel and place it in the mould not fully to the top. Then tap around the edges lightly to get rid of the air bubbles. We fill the rest of the mould up with some grey cement so then you don’t run out of white cement. Tap around the edges again. Finally smooth the mixture with the trowel.

Leave it somewhere not too hot and not too cold for about 30 hours and then after that, it will be hard as rock. To get the cement out of the mould you use the screwdriver and unscrew all the screws. Sometimes you have to use the hammer to separate the wood from the cement. Done.

*Mould* A mould is a wooden box with a hole in it where you put the clay block in.

*Trowel* A trowel is a piece of metal that you use to smooth wet stuff with.  

Sam

empty mold

mixing cement

filling the mold

Friday Sports Coaching

Friday Sports

On Friday’s we have been going out for sports. The sports are Hockey, Basketball, Rippa rugby and Turbo touch. Alex, from the event centre has been teaching us the rules and others that are very good at each sport. On the July the 8th schools all around Queenstown will compete. There is me on the right. My favorite sport is basketball.

By Harrison

Lanterns for Matariki

For the last couple of weeks of Term two and three Room 11 were making some lanterns to celebrate Matariki.

This is how we made them ….........

Firstly we got 4 pieces of cardboard and got our ruler and a black marker and ruled four lines down the side of the cardboard. Then we got a craft knife and carefully cut along the lines in marker.

Next we got two pieces of A4 paper and drew a picture on it that has something to do with matariki. Then we very carefully glued them onto the piece of cardboard.

Then we got a hole punch and punched several holes along the side of the cardboard. Next we got some ribbon and started to thread it into the holes when we had finished we had a box shape. After we made a bottom bit out of cardboard then we had to glue gun it to bottom of the lantern and then we had to make a circular piece of cardboard and stuck it onto top of the bottom piece. After if we wanted to we could buy a electric candle from Mr Forsyth to put in the bottom of our lantern..

                                            By Molly

Raisins and Lemonade

In science we have been using raisins and lemonade.

First we poured lemonade into a measuring cylinder.

then dropped three raisins into it.

The raisins will start gathering bubbles, then once the raisins have enough bubbles the raisins will rise.

Once the raisins reach the surface, the bubbles will pop and the raisins will sink back to the bottom of the measuring cylinder. This will repeat over and over until theres no more bubbles and the lemonade will taste kind of like lemon juice  

By Samuel

Molly's science

Egg and Vinegar

A few months ago I did a science experiment on an egg and some vinegar. First I put the egg in vinegar then waited for 5 days. On the fifth  day I touched it and it was really squishy. I took it out of the vinegar and I saw all the skin that had peeled off the egg.  I took it to school to show my teacher (Mr Forsyth),  the rest of the skin peeled off and there was just a delicate layer of thin skin covering the squishy egg. If that skin come off there will be nothing but the yoak and white. Mr Forsyth said that it was a reaction with the vinegar which made it lose it’s shell.

Molly

Buddy Reading

Buddy reading!!!

Most Fridays we go to buddy reading with room 16! My buddy’s names are Amele and Lily. I love going to buddy reading because I enjoy reading to younger children. I always read them books that are written and illustrated by Bill Pete.

A few of the books I have read to them are Merle the High Flying Squirrel, Jennifer and Josephine and Drufus the Dragon who lost his head. Going to buddy reading also includes helping them with some of their activities like weaving and colouring in pictures. Their Teacher’s names are Mrs Horn and  Mrs Stuart.

By Hanna Cerecke

Matariki

                            LANTERNS FOR MATARIKI

As part of reading tasks we are making lanterns for the Matariki celebration. Some people bought electric candles from mr forsyth for their lanterns. Some people finished then they went to Miss Neill’s room  to get photos.

We have also been learning how to write a good set of instructions in our writing time.

Now I’m going to tell you to make one.

You will need four pieces of cardboard 15cm long. Then we need to cut a square in the middle of the cardboard. You have to make it as skinny as a skinny ruler.

Then make a design on a piece of paper then stick the design on the cardboard. Then you need to get some hole puncher to make holes. Then get 4 strips of string and tie them together.

by james on  computer.