Hands on Science incursion

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 Sound Makers- with Corey and Sienna L

Today we did our Hands on Science project. The first thing we made was sound makers. To make them we needed a cup and string and some masking tape. First we fed the string through a hole in the cup. Then we put masking tape on each end of the string to stop it sliding off. Then we wet our fingers and pulled the string to make a squeaky sound. It made chicken sounds and monkey sounds as well. It was surprising that it made animal sounds! We didn’t know that by wetting our fingers and pulling the string would make a sound. We felt really happy and surprised.

Click on the audio link to listen to our animal sound makers in action!

Propellors- with Jade and Cameron

Our next activity was to make a propellor toy. There were rubber bands, a little container and lid with holes in them, an icy pole stick, and a toothpick. We took the lid off the container. Then we threaded the rubber band through a hole in the lid. Next, we got an icy pole stick and got a toothpick and put one at each end through the rubber band. You wind the icy pole stick around and let it go and the sticks will spin around. It was hard to make at the start but I got used to it. I felt proud.

2MO Science of Toys from Cherry Montgomery on Vimeo.

2MO also learnt all about toys that move and make sounds. What is your favourite toy that does something? We’d love to hear from you in the comments (don’t be shy!)

Creative Science in Grade 2

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We have been having an amazing time in Grade 2 this term! We’ve also been very busy… hence the lack of blog posts lately!

On Wednesday, 2MO participated in some creative science activities as part of our learning about inventions. There are four activities altogether, two of which the children did yesterday.  First, 2MO began by working on a challenge in their own room. The challenge was to build a tower using only masking tape and up to 40 straws, that was able to hold a unifix at the top.

Working in teams of 3 or 4, the children learnt a lot about teamwork, thinking creatively, and also about the process of trial and error as they encountered problems with their construction. At the end of the session, each group had managed to make a fabulous tower that successfully held a unifix at the top. They have made some fotobabbles explaining their towers which unfortunately have not uploaded for me, but I’ve made an audio recording which you can listen to and hear them talk about their tower, the task, and their teamwork. (Each group has a photo and their audio clip is directly underneath it.)

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I’m sure you agree that these are some very creative towers. I personally loved watching how the teams worked together to solve problems and share ideas- things like that make a teacher happy!

After building their towers, the class went to a second challenge activity with Miss Males. Their task was to work out a way of slowing down a marble that was being rolled down a tilted desk. You can see by the pictures that they got very creative in that task, too. Great work, 2MO inventors!

2MO are looking forward to their next activities with Miss Eastwood and Miss Mason. Watch this space!

 

More hot air balloons!

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This morning there was a bit of excitement on the ovals before school began.  2 hot air balloons landed on the OGPS ovals, while a giant flying bird (balloon!) tried to land on the main oval but had to fly on at the last minute. It was pretty cool watching the balloon get closer and closer to the ground but it was a bit close to the edge of the oval so moved on quickly on with the wind. It was very exciting stuff!  A lot of the kids saw the balloons flying low over their houses this morning, and were surprised to hear that they landed up at school! Some photos for you… (thanks Miss Males for the last 2 photos of the successful landings!)

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3D Shaper Makers

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IMG_3984Well done to 2MO (and 2JM, too!) for a fabulous assembly performance yesterday. You looked like such cool dudes up there in your caps and sunnies.

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For those who weren’t at assembly, 2MO sang a song called ‘3D Shaper Maker’ to the tune of Troublemaker by Olly Murs. We’ve been practising since the beginning of term, learning words to the song and making up little dance moves to go with it. I think that all our work really paid off- the assembly performance was awesome!

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On Wednesday we made our 3D shape ‘bling’ which hung around our necks during the performance. The pyramids and cubes were easy to make, but the cylinders were a real challenge!

IMG_3990Thanks to Miss Males for choosing the song and writing the lyrics to the verses. You’re very clever!

IMG_3986Finally, when we were creating our 3D shape bling we watched some nets being transformed into 3D shapes beforehand… you might want to have a look at the videos here.  We had fun guessing which nets would NOT turn into 3D shapes and which would- I wonder if you can guess them correctly!

http://nrich.maths.org/6307

 

 

 

Lego Creations

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The children have been very excited this week about a homework task which involved creating a design using Lego. The whole school participated in this, as we are all focusing on ‘Creativity’ during our Integrated Studies sessions.

The task was as follows:
-You had to build something out of Lego and bring it to school, but you had to make it up yourself (Remy)
-We were making Lego without instructions- being creative! (Jack H and Lucinda)
-The Lego creation could only be as big as a shoebox (Tiffany)

This afternoon the Grade 2s have been looking at (and drawing) their Lego structures from different perspectives- from the front, the side, the top, and below. When you look at the detail in some of their structures below, I think you’ll understand how tricky the drawing task was!

Do you enjoy being creative with Lego, or do you prefer following the instructions to build things? 

If you’re a grown up- did you play with Lego when you were a kid? What was your favourite thing to build?

Grade 2 Green Thumbs

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IMG_3896This is Sue Berkeley, who is the wonderful horticulturalist who takes care of The Grove and the OGPS gardens. Mrs Berkeley is always looking for ways to improve our school environment and also helps students learn about taking care of the gardens around our beautiful school.

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During National Tree Week, Mrs Berkeley was able to arrange for some tree planting to be done around our school, and the Grade 2 students were lucky enough to be selected to assist her! Each Grade 2 child went and planted some hardy native plants in garden beds around the school. This group of 2MO champions planted some plants right outside our new Grade 2 building!

The garden outside the Grade 2 Hub.

The garden outside the Grade 2 Hub.

On Wednesday last week, the children worked on planting out the garden beds outside our old learning space, the Longroom. I have to say, it was a perfect morning for getting dirty in the garden- so bright and sunny!

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Thanks Mrs Berkeley for your work with the Grade 2 children last week!  They had a great time.

Do you enjoy working in the garden?  Let us know in the comments!

Circus Stars

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Circus superstars

What a huge week it’s been!  We’re a tired bunch in 2MO today- we’re still recovering from the massive circus performance we did on Tuesday night.  I’m so impressed with the persistence that the class has shown in learning new hula hoop tricks, and it was great to see all of their hard work pay off.

Waiting to go on stage

Waiting to go on stage

Circus.

By Sienna.

Last night, we had our circus performance. We have been practising for about 10 weeks! I was so excited to get my sparkly bib on. My bib was yellow.

First, Mum and Dad dropped me off at 6:10. We had to take the secret shortcut to get there. I had to come in black.

The show started at 7 o’clock. I was in ‘Junior Jugglers’. Our tricks were: ‘balance on head and turn’, ‘spin hoop spin you’, ‘around the world’, and ‘around the waist’. Backstage you got to play games!

A remarkable recount!

Well done, Sienna- what a great recount of the evening!

Playing quiet games while other classes are performing.

Playing quiet games while other classes are performing.

Today the class has been busily writing letters to send off to Amy and her team (Oscar, Ben and Serge) at Little Devils Circus.  Amy really helped 2MO build their skills and confidence, and the kids are very appreciative of all of her hard work. As Amelia wrote- “I never imagined I could have this much fun!”

CRAZY CLOWNS!

CRAZY CLOWNS!

Did you come along to the OGPS circus? What was your highlight for the night? Are there any tricks you would like to learn?

 

More Perfect Procedures

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We have really been enjoying procedure writing in in the past week or so.  If you visited 2MO this morning you would have seen butter, sprinkles and bread around the room.  The 2MO kids worked out pretty quickly that we were going to be making fairy bread!  Yum!

After making their delicious bread, each student wrote up a procedure for how to make fairy bread.  Here are some of the work samples, though I have to say it was very hard to choose which pieces to put on the blog.  I saw FANTASTIC work from each and every child. Well done 2MO!

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What great work, Jack C.

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Awesome work, Corey!

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A perfect procedure, Cameron.

Here are the steps we followed:

Great job, 2MO !  And a huge thanks to Martine, Natalie and Tess who stayed to help today.  There would have been sprinkles everywhere without you!

Do you have any ideas for recipes that we can try in the classroom this year? What’s your favourite thing to cook at home? We’d love to hear from you- leave a comment for us!