Felt Making

Today we were invited by Room 13 to go and make felt with them. This was an extremely exciting activity for us, as it was a time to experience more opportunities with fibres and create exciting pieces of art.

Room 13 students had already done a bit of research about felt making and had an attempt at making it yesterday. They were great teachers, and we all enjoyed learning how to make felt.

The main points in the process to make felt are - heat, cold, pressure and rubbing. To achieve this we followed these steps....

Materials
-Wool (a number of different colours and types makes it more exciting)
-Cold water
-Hot water
-Dishwashing liquid

Method
1 -  Get a small amount of wool and gently tease it apart. Lay it flat on the table. Take another piece of wool and gently tease it apart and then layer onto of the other piece of wool. (Continue this step with as many pieces of wool as you wish). Tip - tease them apart as much as possible to make them nice and flat.
2 - Using the palm of your hand, gently pound down on the wool, causing it to be compressed nice and flat on the table.
3 - Pick up the layered piece of wool in the palm of your hand, add two small drops of dishwashing liquid to the wool. Roll the wool into a ball.
4 - Drop the woollen ball into cold water, roll it around so it is completely wet. Pick it up, squeeze out the excess water, and then begin rolling tightly in between the palms of your hands. Roll for about 10 times.
5 - Drop the woollen ball into boiling hot water, scoop out the ball from the hot water. Be careful to wait for the ball to cool down enough to touch, then squeeze out the excess water, before rolling in between your hands.
6 - Repeat the steps of dropping into cold water, and then hot water (steps 4 and 5) until the ball becomes hard and firm, and is no longer squishy to touch.

Hints - the hotter the hot water the better. Replace both cold water and hot water when they get soapy, clean water is best. Apply firm pressure when rolling. The more flat and well teased out the wool is at the beginning, the better, as this will help the different woollen fibres to blend together, and not split.

Have a go at felting at home. We would love to hear about your experience and see your photos. Come and have a look at ours in the classroom.

Cricket

We started our week off this week with a fun filled cricket session.

It was fantastic to see all members of the class out giving it their best effort, trying to improve their ball skills, batting skills and team work.

There were some particularly impressive trick throws, with some students able to successfully throw the ball in the air clap ten times and then catch the ball again. Whilst others were trying to throw the ball, then complete a cartwheel before proceeding to catch the ball once more.

Check out some of our photos to see the fun we had.

Room 10 Assembly Item

Last Friday saw Room 10 the centre of attention, with their class item at Assembly.

We had been busy rehearsing throughout the week, and we are all very proud of what we achieving.

Aiming to blow the audience away with our fantastic knowledge of the Olympic Games, our incredible drama skills and awesome singing, we went above and beyond and blew the socks of them.

A video of our performance is still being created, so watch this space. But for now check out these photos of our Kids for Kids Performance with Room 13.

Athletics Day

Wow weren't we lucky with the weather for our Athletic's Day?

With a torrential downpour just before 8.30am, as everyone was on their way to school, there was a lot of wet and cold students waiting for athletics to begin. But they were quickly given a change of clothes, and we were on our way down to Herries Park.

All 8 year olds and above competed in 3-4 events throughout the day. There was a range of different events to choose from - 60m, 100m, 200m, high jump, long jump, discuss, shot put and the relays.

Everywhere you looked there were students giving it their very best. It was fantastic to see so many happy, red, puffing faces.

Congratulations to all winners and place-getters.

Here are some pictures from the 12+ year old boys high jump event.

Livestock Day

Stanley Avenue School was a hive of activity last Friday, with the back field covered with lambs, calves, goats and very proud owners. 

Students have been busy preparing, training, grooming and loving their animals for the past few weeks/months, to make sure their animal was ready for Livestock Day. It was fantastic to see the bond they have formed with their pet (just check out the photo's below for the evidence!), and the knowledge they have of them.

Well done to all participants, we loved seeing your hard work paying off. 

Olympic Visitor to Room 10

Throughout this term we have been busy learning all about the Olympic Games. We have had a blast learning all about the Ancient Olympics, the motto, the values, the Olympic Events and Athletes.

This week we had a special event in our Olympic learning journey - we got to have a real New Zealand Olympian in our classroom! It was extremely exciting to talk with someone who has represented New Zealand at not 1 but 2 Olympic Games.

Robbie Manson is a Rower - who has represented New Zealand at the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Olympic Games in the Double Sculls Event.

He spoke with us about the training required, the importance of setting goals, working hard, enjoying what you do, respecting others, what is required and what it is like to be a top level athlete.

We were all shocked to hear about the intense training that is needed - 3 training sessions a day, 6 days a week! It is a full time job to be a top level rower and train to represent New Zealand at the Olympics.

It was also interesting to hear how athletes are selected to represent New Zealand at the Olympics. With rowing there are a lot of steps to achieve to be selected to go to the Olympics - first the boat needs to be qualified and then the people need to be selected. This means that you might win a race at the World Championships and earn the boat a spot in the Olympics, but this doesn't mean you have a spot in that boat. You still need to trial for that spot to earn yourself a spot in the boat!

The two most important messages we can all take away from Robbie's visit are:

1 - There is a sport out there for everyone. Keep trying sports until you find one that you enjoy.

2 - To be a successful athlete it takes hard work, motivation and determination. You need to enjoy what you do and be motivated to go out there and better yourself every time.

Classroom Newspaper

We have been very busy journalists in Room 10 this week.

To be able to write an article, we learnt that you have to learn the facts, and write a piece that is easy to read and factual.

Here is a copy of our first Newspaper. We are very proud of it, we hope you will be too.

Training

Welcome back to Term 3 in Room 10 at Stanley Avenue School.

During this term the big event of focus within New Zealand and all around the world is the Rio 2016 Olympics.

There is a lot we can learn from the Olympics, and the countries and athletes involved in them. Over the term we will be looking at what it takes to be an Olympian - not only the commitment it takes to be an outstanding athlete, but the values that they must show: Friendship, Respect and Excellence.

We will be working hard to demonstrate these values ourselves, as we strive to "#betheinspiration" at our own Olympic Games, being held in Week 7.

Every athlete knows that the first step is having a dream and setting goals. So that is exactly what we have done in Room 10. Cross country is only a couple of weeks away, and we are going to be training hard to run to the very best of our ability. To help us determine how fit we are, and set realistic goals for ourselves we had John Muir, from Sport Waikato, come and time us around a 550m track. Unfortunately the weather didn't play its part, so we had to be timed around a small track in the Rec Centre.

Being on an inside track proved to be insignificant, with a number of our class providing very fast times. John has a record of times from students all around the Waikato, and was able to tell us that 2.30 minutes is a very quick time for an 8 year old. We had two students go under this time - Justin recording a 2.27 minutes and Harry a 2.30 minutes. A number of others were under the 2.40 minute mark - which is also very impressive.

Now that we all have a starting point time we can begin setting goals for us to work towards, learning about what food and training is best going to help us achieve these goals.

Keep checking back in to see how we are getting on working towards achieving these goals throughout the term.

Here is a short clip of us during our self reflection with John Muir following our 550m run.

Wig Wednesday

Wow what a fantastic day Wig Wednesday was!

It was wonderful coming to school this morning and seeing all the bright, wacky and exuberant wigs swarming the school. The school was a sea of colour as we supported Child Cancer.

Today was extra special for us at Stanley Avenue School as Olivia from Room 13, was selected as a Wig Wednesday Ambassador. We were extremely proud in Room 10 to be part of this amazing fundraiser, where we raised over $600!

Have a look at some of these fantastic photos from our big day.

What was your favourite part of the day?

Who do you think had the brightest coloured wig?

How much money did each House raise?

How long was the coin trail?

Auckland Museum

Wow - what a day we have all had at the Auckland Museum!

As part of our Middle Syndicate Inquiry this term, we headed up to the Auckland Museum to learn more about our history and culture.

We had a wonderful time exploring the museum and learning about Ancient Civilisations in a lesson with Josh. Josh talked to us about some different Ancient Civilisations - Maori, Vikings, Romans and Egyptians. We enjoyed getting to have a hands on experience with ancient artefacts and getting to know more about some gods and goddesses.

Some of the highlights from our exploring was the WWI exhibition, the volcanoes and dinosaurs. It was extremely humbling to wander around the WWI exhibit, and get a feel for what the soldiers and their families went through. The conversations being heard around the display was fabulous, with every discussing what different items were, and who would have had them. It was clear how much learning everyone has achieved through our ANZAC unit, and it was great to be able to finish up all this learning in such an exciting way.

We are now inspired to learn more about our history and cultures. Now armed with plenty of questions, and ideas, look out on here as we work hard to find the answers and explore new learning! How exciting it will be to continue being archaeologists.

A huge thank you to all our parents and grandparents who made this day possible, being amazing team leaders.

Check out some of our photos...