Big Buddies

This is one of the BEST parts of life at Russell Street School! We have now had two sessions with our big buddies from 6SmallBubbles: Kate, Renae, Emma, Mason, Billy, Cohen and Bella. We designed T-shirts using different kinds of lines. Our buddies are kind, encouraging, supportive and FUN! Here are some photos of our times together:

 Hard at work!

Working side by side, Kate and Emma getting to know each other.

 Cohen providing some guidance and encouragement...
Billy and Vann hard at work, creating!

Emma and Sophie, sticking together!

Matrix, Mason, Bella and Ryley all concentrating hard!

Sally and the Daisy

Emma read "Sally and the Daisy" Click here
to watch a daisy waking up!

What's Inside?

TODD MCLELLAN is a photographer who takes photos of things that he has pulled apart. Today  we looked at some photos in a calendar Carolyn has. Can you figure out what these things are?

We are going to make some photos based on Todd McLellen's work.
We made Duplo creations and took photos of them. Tomorrow we will take a photo of all the bits arranged in an interesting way AND a photo of the bits all laid out in orderly way. Carolyn made one to show us, using a car Stephen made today:

Why Don't Gorillas Need Umbrellas When It Rains?

We read this curious question in a book today and had a discussion about what we thought the answer was.
Ryley: Gorillas don't mind getting wet because they need a wash because they don't have baths.
Sophie: It would be funny if they went to sleep when it was raining!
Lane: They need to be in the rain.
Vann: Otherwise someone would come for adventures and see the gorillas with their umbrellas and LAUGH at them!
Ryley: They might go under a leaf when it gets rainy or hot.
Lyric: They have fur.

Then we turned the page and read the answer to the question - it turns out our thinking was pretty accurate and imaginative!

What's inside a cricket ball?

 Last time we found out what a netball looks like inside and we wondered what the cricket ball would look like. Here's a small sample of our conversation - thanks, Nicole!

Do you think this ball is going to be the same inside as the netball was?
No - its going to be made out of wood because wood is hard.
Metal
There might be a hard ball inside there - the cricket ball might be solid

When you cut it through the middle it might just break open. 
Does it bounce? Yes… 
It might have stitching inside it…
Do you think there will be some empty space inside this ball? Some said no and some said yes. 

So Carolyn started sawing! The saw blade became very warm and the inside had a smoky smell!
So we thought maybe there was wood in there, just like our guess.
Then half came off and look what we saw!

We could pull the middle "ball" out:

There was plastic inside the red outside part. Then we cut the middle ball in half to see if anything was in there:

No - all wood (Carolyn told us it was cork, which helped it be a little bit bouncy!) all the way through.
It was crumbly. Liwan said that it needed the plastic to stop it from going soggy.
Ryley said it "protected it" - good thinking, girls!

I wonder what might be inside a ball like this? Perhaps you and your family could find out!

Our theme this term is "What's Inside"

We have been asking curious questions.
We have been thinking hard.
We have been using clues to figure things out.
Today, Carolyn had a netball in a box, but we didn't know that. We had to ask questions and figure it out.
Here is how the conversation went:
Can you keep it? Yes
Can you please shake the box? It sounds light and soft. It touches the sides of the box. It is as big as the box.
Maybe it’s a cube…
Is it blue? No but it could be. It comes in all kinds of colours!
Is it a hat? No
Is it shaggy? No
Is it a book / big book? No
Can you…
Does it…
Is it made of fabric? No, but it does have stitching like when you put things together.
Is it a teddy bear? No
Is it made of glass? No
What colour is it? It is pink but it could be any colour.
Can it do something? No, but you can do something with it.
Is it a learning toy? If you keep using this thing you will get better and better at using it.
Is it an i-pad? No
Is it duplo? No
Does it have arms, legs and a head and a tail? No
CLUE: It’s a learning toy that you can use outside.
Is it a ball? Yes

THEN we looked at the ball, once we had it out of the box:
I can see it.
It is soft.
It has stitching.
It is bouncy.
It’s got air in it.
It's got a hole in it where you can pump it up.
It has a word on it - Gilbert
It’s got stars on it.
It’s got the ‘buy it’ on it - (That was the bar code - but I like your name for it better, Shannon!)
It’s got little rubber bumps.
What’s inside in the ball?
Air
The stitching is where the lines are…
We are cutting the ball.
We can hear the air in it…
It doesn’t bounce any more because it doesn't have air in it.
Now Carolyn is reaching in and pulling something out:

There’s a balloon inside the ball!
It is attached to the hole.
When you put the pump into the little black hole the balloon blows up…
When Carolyn turned the ball inside out it looked  like the fabric our school bags are made of…
so Carolyn was wrong - it IS made of fabric!

If this is full of air and is all round, why don’t we just play with the ‘inside balloon’?
Because if you played netball with it and you stand on it, it might pop.
What did people invent to help look after the inside…
They used the same material as our school bag to protect the bit inside…
The material is strong…there are pieces that are stitched together…
It smells like a rubber band…
Sophia noticed the stitching on her tights looked like the stitching on the ball!

Great spotting, Sophia.
Now - what does THIS ball look like inside?

We will find out tomorrow! Watch this space!

Lyric Meets a Clown

What a lovely moment! Some of the older students did a drama at school singing. They were clowns, and after their drama was done, they came to sit near us in the hall. Lyric was entranced by their make-up and I had to take a photo - I love to see wonder on children's faces!

More Production Photos!

Handwriting With Carolyn - on TV!

 Carolyn has made 26 little movies, each one teaches us how to write a different letter.

The movies are on the handwriting tab of our class blog - so you can practise at home, too.

We have been practising using the movies to work on our handwriting.

It's amazing how quickly we are improving at forming our letters.

Next week, we are going to do this all by ourselves while Carolyn does reading groups.

We Are Learning Facts to 5

 Emma and Ryley had a chocolate shop today. 

The chocolate bars had to have 5 squares...

 ... but they could have two flavours.

Their flavours were banana, kiwifruit, strawberry and blueberry.

Emma and Ryley wrote the different ways they could make 5.

They made bars with:

2+3

3+2

1+4

 4+1 

Great maths, girls!

Playing in our "Back Yard"

 We have our own little backyard outside our room. Today we took the chalk outside and had a play.
Vann brought a basket of books out under the shade sail and read them while the rest of us chalked the concrete. We hope to make good use of this space in Term Four when it is nice and warm.

 Emma used LOTS of yellow making this golden rainbow!