Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Otago Science Fair - Prize Winners

Well we have had some great successes at the Otago Science Fair which has been held down at the Otago Museum this week. Balmacewen has scoped up a large number of the awards at this. From Room 13 we had 4 pieces of work go to this and everone has won a prize or mrizes in some cases!!! A super effort. the awards are listed below. The prizegiving ceremony wil be held this Sunday at the Museum. Awesome effort and results!!!!!

Prizewinners
Meg McKay – Does breakfast make a difference?
  • 2 X Children and Young Persons Research
  • Cluster Group Award
  • Aurora Award
Joel Smith – Sea or Sewage
  • 2 X Department of Marine Science University of Otago
  • NIWA Award

William Pelet – Skateboard stand

  • Aurora Award

Will Davidson – No pain no gain

  • Asthma Award

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Check out this cool site...Brain Pop

This cool site has some great info relating to some of the learning we are doing about the human body at the moment. It has interactive quizes as well which are great o test your knowledge.
The address and login/password are below. (the log in is for a one week trial) Once this trial expires i will load a new one to use.
www.brainpop.com
user name: room13balmac
password: attack

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

They are fast!!!

Hicham El Guerrouj (Morocco) 3:26.00 Rome 14 July 1998 The world record for the 150m run is 3min 26sec. We went out as a class today and ran 100m each in relay style until we had ran 1500m, our time with 15 students running 100m each was 4min23sec, not even close to the fastest individual for this event!!

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Beijing 2008 - Homework 1 Athlete/Team Study


Homework – Olympic Games Athlete/Team

You are to carry out and complete a project on one of our athletes at the Beijing Olympic Games and produce a wonderful piece of work to show your findings and followings of the athlete/team.

Include
1. Name(s) and Profile – beginnings/history, past successes, photo/drawing an info on the athlete.
2. What sport/events entered for Beijing 2008.
3. Info-graphic (full page)
4. Results – follow through all the events of this athlete/team recording their results and reports on events (this may also include information and reports from papers, websites etc). You need to write your own summary of the athletes performances (at least half page).
5. Add and include any other interesting information and findings relating to this athlete and there sport at the Beijing Games.
Timeline/Guide of Sequence
1. Decide on Athlete/Team.
2. Read/listen note take in exercise book.
3. Write up information to present – NO power points.
4. Presentation to class 2 days after games conclude.
You must
1. Show evidence of research and following of the athlete/team – in your exercise book you should have paper clippings and info found.
2. Notes recorded in book.
3. Work written in your own words
4. Neatly and clearly presented in an organised way.

Friday, August 1, 2008

Our Bones




We were lucky enough to have a look at and name some real human bones today, these bones are about 120 years old and have been passed through several doctors while learning human anatomy, ver interesting seeing all the detail of real bones!

Thursday, July 31, 2008

New Date for Longbeach Rockclimbing Trip

Well hopefully the rain will ease soon! We have booked a new date for climbing and hope that this date will be sunny and fine! We are now going to be going to Longbeach on WDENESDAY 27th AUGUST. We are still looking for some more helpers, so if you are available and would like to join us for the day it would be greratto have you accompany us!

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

The Human Body - Homework Task Due 6th August

Your task is to choose a body part, organ or system.
Gather all the information you can on this body part, organ or system.
You are going to have to present your findings about this on an A4 sized page.
You will need to include on your page:
· DEFINITION of the body part, system or organ.
· DIAGRAM/DRAWING of the part, organ or system.
· EXPLANATION of what this part, system or organ does for us and its importance and relationship to other parts of the body.
· DID YOU KNOW BOX with some interesting/possible uncommon knowledge facts.
You need to be prepared to share your sheet of facts and information with the class on Wednesday 6th August.
A high standard of presentation is expected along with a detailed knowledge of all of your information.

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Rockclimbing postphoned...

As you will be aware we have postphoned the rockclimbing due to weather related issues, we are in the process of rescheduling these trips and hope to confirm new dates asap. It is likely they will be in week 6-7 of this term

Monday, July 28, 2008

Did you know..... Some interesting facts about the human body!

Some interesting facts listed below, possibly all true?
Your ears never stop growing
The human thigh bones are stronger than concrete
The human body is 75% water
The heart can squirt enough blood 30 feet
Your brain is 70% water
The strongest bone your femur is hollow
Blood isn’t red it is yellow and called plasma
People who have a high number of moles live longer
1 drop of blood is made of 5 million red blood cells 7,000 white blood cells and 300,000 platelets
You can lose 90%of your liver and still live
Your lungs contain 750 million tubes and capsules
Your heart beats 2.5 billion times in 66 years
Some people have over 206 bones
People who spend most of there time riding horses grow extra bones in there thighs
An average person farts 16 times a day
You lose 60 hairs a day
Pound for pound human body produces 5 times more energy than the sun
You can cut the brain directly in half and not fell anything
You shed 600,000 particles of skin every hour
It takes 15 months for the body to fully recover from even a moderately bad sunburn
If you unfold and flatten a set of human lungs they would cover a tennis court
All babies are born colour blind.
Urine is made up of 96% water. The rest is protein and salt.
Babies are born with 300 bones.
If you took out all of the water in your body then you would weigh 40% of your body weight.
Your thigh is stronger than concrete.
Each eye weighs 1 ¼ ounces.
In a child there are 600 miles of blood vessels.
A new born baby’s brain weighs 3 ounces.
In the 1850’s, a man from Paris had a brain injury and all he could ever say ever again was tan.
The brain weighs 1.3 kg.
The left side of the brain controls the right and vice versa.
Ancient Greeks thought that the heart did the thinking.
The world sneezing record is held by a girl that in the 1980’s sneezed 1,000,000 times per year for 2 ½ years from 1981 to 1983/
Stomach acid is strong enough to melt through copper.
Nails are made out of protein called keratin !!!
More than 2,500 gallons of air flows through the average of a adults nose in a day!!!
The human body has 6 ponds of skin!!!
Each hand has 27 bones: eight in the wrist five in the palm and 14 in the fingers!!!
A newborn baby has300 bones, some of which fuse together to make the further 200 in the adult!!!
Every day your fingernails get longer by 2 hairs a day and if you did not cut them they would get up to 28 meters of nail during a life time each piece of hair grows 1 centimetres per month!!!

Friday, July 25, 2008

Class trip to Longbeach!! Copy of Notice

24 July 2008

Dear Parents/Caregivers

As part of the outdoor education programme the year 7 classes will be looking at self confidence and communication skills through rock climbing.

Classes will be split into three groups. Rock Climbing, where a professional rock climber will
take one group, a cave challenge activity and a third activity involving photography and sand sculpting. These are all held at Long Beach and the students will take part in each of these activities throughout the day.

We will be leaving school at 8.45 sharp and will return to school approximately 3.30pm. Children will need to take their own lunch, drink and suitable outdoor clothing.

The need for parent support, in order to keep our students safe, and also the need for transport is very important. Busses now cost between $200-$300 dollars per day, in an attempt to keep the cost down, I was hoping that we could use private vehicles and the school van rather than a bus.

The cost for this day without the use of a bus would be $14. If you are available to help on this day please return the form as soon as possible.

Room 3 = Tuesday 29th July
Room13 = Wednesday 30th July
Room 11 = Friday 1st August
Room 1 = Monday 4th August
Room 7 = Tuesday 5th August
Room 5 = Friday 8th August
Room 10 = Monday 11th August

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Push Play!!!


Push play
It is recommended that kids try and do 60 minutes of push play (physical fitness) every day.
Room13 is going to participate in the push play classroom challenge.
The classroom challenge is to record 4 weeks of the fitness we do each day e.g. one person might do 20 minutes of fitness and another might do 30 minutes of fitness.
We will all try to do 60 minutes of fitness or more, at the end of the 4 weeks we will hopefully be fitter and ready for the school cross country!

By Jessie Sims

Friday, June 27, 2008

Term 3 Parent Interview Notice

Students should have come home with a notice outlining interview times for the start of next term, here is a copy of the note just incase it is still in the bottom of a school bag!!

27TH June 2008

Dear Parents/Caregivers

An important part of our reporting programme is the mid-year parent teacher interviews. This is an opportunity for you and your child’s teacher to discuss the progress and achievement of your child and to further home /school communication.

Interviews are at the following times:
Tuesday 22 July – 1.30pm - 5.30 p.m.
Wednesday 23 July – 3.15 p.m. – 5.30 p.m. and 6.00 p.m. – 8.00 p.m.
Thursday 24 July – 9.00am-10.15am and 3.15 p.m. – 5.30 p.m.

Please complete the form below and return it to your child’s teacher as soon as possible. Your child will bring home the attached confirmation slip with your interview time. If none of the above times are suitable, please contact the school.

Well Done to Our Award Winners!!!


These People won school awards for their Science Fair Projects today...


Joel Smith - Best year seven project - well done Joel!!!


Award Winning Projects

William Pelet

Meg McKay

Will Davidson


Highly Commended

Alex Phillips

Gemma Lowden

Paddy Ou

Jessie Sims

Gabby Norton-Poole


Class Effort Awards

Meg McKay

Gabby Norton-Poole

Monday, June 23, 2008

Science Fair is Here!!!!

Well it is great to see so many wonderful science fair investigations arriving at school today. We have begun our presentations to the class and there are some wonderful projects that people have been working hard on as part of homework over the last 7-8 weeks.

Science Fair Projects will be on display in the hall for viewing from Wednesday this week. You are more than welcome to com ealong and view these from 3.00pm - 7.00pm on Wednesday and 3.00pm through till 7.00pm on Thursday and on Friday morning up until 10.45am.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Science Fair....

Well I imagine this could be a very busy week for some people. Science Fair Projects are due to be at school at the start of next week for presenting to the class and they will then go on be displayed in the School Hall from Wednesday 25th. As this has ben the major homework focus for the last 7 weeks the quality of these pieces of work is expected to be high. I am looking forward to seeing what investigations have been carried out and the resuls and conclusions that have come from the work!

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Two puzzles for the week...

Puzzle 1.
What am I.....

I know what my job is,
The point has been made.
You say I have a big head,
And you're right, I'm afraid.
So put me in my place,
And then leave me alone.
What I need most,
Is someone to drive me home

Puzzle 2.
As fast as an eagle, as slow as a slug. As tall as a tree, as small as a bug. Sometimes in front, sometimes behind. Never on top, and always aligned. What is it?

Email your answer to asloan@balmacewen.school.nz or give me a note with your answer on it before friday 13th June

We have a winner.... Jessie Sims!!


Well only one person was able to solve our brainteaser correctly (I was a little disappointed at the lack of people engaging their brain to solve this one!!)


Jessie managed to get the correct answer!!!

So it goes like this..... Today is January 1st, Jenny was 7 the day before yesterday(December 30th) her birthday is on December 31st where she turned 8, this year (as it is Jan 1st) she will be turning 9 so that means that next year she will be 10!!


A tricky one but yes it was possible!!

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

A Brainteaser to work out...

See if you can work out the answer to this one, you can email your answer to asloan@balmacewen.school.nz or give the answer to me on a piece of paper by friday 6th June! get thinking!!

The day before yesterday, Jenny was 7 years old. Next year, she'll turn 10. How is this possible?

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Healthy School Canteens

Today the Government introduced new guidelines for the sale of food in school canteens, ruling out some of the fatty/sugary unhealthy options. the link below is an article on the tvnz website relating to this.

http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/1825639

What are your views on the food that is being sold in school canteens, especially in our canteen here at Balmacewen? Feel free to leave you thoughts in the 'comments' part of this posting. You can also vote on the poll at the side of the main page.

Science Fair Project Progress.....

Well it is great to hear and see so many students under way with their testing, investigations and work related to the Science Fair. Just remember this is a major piece of work and needs a decent effort put in for homework to come up with satisfactory projects and findings. By now you should be well under way with your testing and starting to plan out how you will present your findings and conclude your work. (Science Fair begins on Wednesday 25th June).

Display boards are available for purchase from the school library for $10.00 - these boards are perfect for displaying your work - I will up-load a couple of example photos asap of some previous boards for you to view.

Remember you need to have completed and sent off "Ethics Approval" forms along with permission slips and an explanation of your work if you are using human or animal subjects in you work/testing.

Remember if at any stage you are unsure of what you should be doing - just come and ask for help and guidance!

I am looking forward to seeing these wonderful investigations when they are complete!

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Harry Potter Science Experiments

Today we did some Harry Potter science experiments, we were in 5 groups and the experiments were; swirling milk, table tennis water balls, magic layers, quidditch and floating letters! below are some photos of the experiments.

By Gabby

Some Camp Photos From Term 1


Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Some Photos of Our Water Quality Testing

Below are some photos of us down at the Kaikorai Common carrying out some of our water quality testing. To find out a little more about what we are doing down there you can click on the link at the right of this page.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Science Fair

It has been great talking with students this week and hearing about their plans and progress with their investigations, testing and inventions. By this stage students should be well under way with their preparation and testing, remember any difficulties with ideas of how to create fair tests or even get ideas going in the right direction JUST ASK!!

Monday, May 5, 2008

Helpful Website for Science Fair Projct Ideas....


This website link has heaps of ideas and examples of projects you might find useful.
http://www.all-science-fair-projects.com/

Science Fair 2008

Balmacewen Science & Technology Fair 25th - 27th June 2008

The Science Fair is designed to help you develop your scientific knowledge, skills and attitudes, and further develop your investigative abilities.

Your Science Fair project is the biggest and longest homework assignment for the year. It is due by WEDNESDAY 25th JUNE and it is important to realize that NO extensions are possible due to the School Science Fair beginning on that day.

In class we will introduce the science fair and teach you the skills needed to complete this project.

It is important that you have chosen a topic you are interested in and begin your investigation, model or invention by the end of week two Term two. If you have any questions regarding appropriate topics please consult your class room teacher.

In class we will discuss the setting out and presentation of projects as well as viewing videos on past Science Fairs. Planning sheet, hint and guides will also be provided to students.

HELPFUL HINTS
Think ahead and get your project well underway in the next two weeks.
Place all your ideas, background research, scientific data, notes, sketches and planning in a log book that is to accompany your final project.
Ask questions that you are interested in and look for real answers
Remember you are the scientist in this project and you will be required to present your ideas to the judges and your class.

YOU MUST GET ETHICS APPROVAL FOR PROJECTS INVOLVING ANIMALS OR HUMAN SUJBECTS – PLEASE SEE THE TEACHER IN REGARDS TO THIS.

Sunday, May 4, 2008

Term 2....!!!

Well Term 2 will be another busy and exciting time for students at Balmac.

This term our Topic focus is Science, the first half of the term we will be looking at some chemistry and carrying out experiments and scientific investigations. A major teaching point of this work will be the concept of carrying out fair testing and hypothesising about the results and outcomes students exprect from their scientific experiments. Alongside this the major Homework focus is going to be "Science And Technology Fair" Students will have to find something of interest in relation to science and technology and from this write an Aim, Method, Hypothesis, carry out an investigation and finally write a conclusion and summary of findings. This work is always challenging yet rewarding as the process is carried out. (More info will be posted here and sent home with students soon).

The Second half of our Science focus this term we will be looking at "Weather" and all the science and technology associated with this.

Writing - Narratives & Procedural Writing
As part of my own professional development this year i am carrying out some action research relating to childrens writing. The topic of my research is "How can we use blog-pages to enhance students writing" We will be using a blog page as a place for students to post draft writing and have peers read and help with editing and feed-forward ideas to improve their final pieces of work, I will have more on this as the process of this research develops. We have a class writing page (the link is on the top right hand corner of this site).

Maths - Multiplication/Division, Statistics(related to Science & Technology Fair)

Physical Education - Large Ball Skills and applications to various sports.
Fitness - Personal Goal setting and fitness improvement plan!

As always lots will be happening and you support is always welcomed so if you feel you have any skills you are able to offer us at any stage please feel free to gret in touch!!