Thursday, October 21, 2010

Sewing




Today we spent the afternoon learning how to sew a 'double stitch'.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Plate Tectonics

This week we have been investigating how Nepal was created. We've found out that:
  • The surface of the world is broken into large chunks called 'plates'
  • These plate slowly drift around ontop of the liquid mantle that is below the surface of the earth
  • Sometimes these plates collide, and can force land up or down, making either mountains or deep trenches
We saw on 'Google Earth'  the  plate boundary that runs through New Zealand. We could see the deep ocean trenches and big mountain ranges, where two plates were pushing against each other.

We then looked at Nepal and saw the great Himalayan Mountains. We watched an animation that showed how, over time, the Indian plate collided with the Asian plate, forcing land that was once the ocean floor, many kilometres up into the air. Wow!

We broke into small groups and made our own tectonic plates out of plaster-cine, and made a small stop-frame animation of our plates colliding.






As soon as we finish our animations we will post them on the 'Class of 2010' Student blog. Head over there to have a look (link on the right hand side)

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Term 4 about to begin!

What wonderful weather we've had for the 2nd week of the school holidays! Who would have thought a Wellington spring could be so warm and sunny? I hope all of you have been able to get out and enjoy it- a walk in the bush, a bike ride to Pencarrow, or lazing on the beach at Days Bay.

In Term 4 all Year 3-4 classes are going to explore our school's relationship with Bistachap Orphanage in Nepal.

This relationship has been ongoing for many years now, supported through "The Orphans of Nepal Trust"
We will spend a lot of time throughout the term learning about Nepal, and working out 'how we can make a difference' in the day-to-day life of the children in Bistachap orphanage.

The first two weeks of this study will explore how Nepal was formed.....
PLATE TECTONICS and EARTHQUAKES!

Visit the Y3-4 wiki to get a head start on what plate tectonics are, and how the Himalayan Mountains were formed.