How cold can it go?

Today we investigated the effects of adding salt to ice.

We added 2 tsp of salt to a plastic cup of ice and measured the temperature. Most group's ice temperature fell to well below minus 10 degrees Celsius.

We added 2 tsp more of salt and measured the temperature. It fell to between minus 15 degrees and minus 18 degrees. The plastic cups started to frost over!

Why did this happen?

Clue #1: We knew that salt helped ice to melt.

Clue #2: We also remembered that for ice to melt, the water/ice molecules need to be excited and start moving about more. That means the molecules need to draw in energy from somewhere, in order to excite and start moving...

After LOTS of discussion we worked out that the energy to excite the ice was coming from the air around the ice. If ADDING energy warms things up, then removing energy must make things COLDER! So the air around the ice was becoming colder, not the ice. The thermometer was measuring the temperature of the air, not the ice.

And boy, was the air around the ice COLD! Minus 18 degrees Celsius was the coldest reading we made. Did I mention that the plastic cups were frosting up?

What does this mean for Antarctica?

The salty ice all around Antarctica is melting, and energy is needed to keep the process going. That energy comes from the air, and as the energy transfers from the air to the ice, the air temperature drops! Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr..... No wonder it's so cold down there!

Freezing Cold!

The Physical Nature of Ice
On Monday afternoon we experimented to find out what temperature salt water (sea water) freezes. We measured the temperature of normal iced water and found it was close to 1 degree Celsius. But when we measure the temperature of the salt (sea) water, the temperature dropped as low as -3 degrees Celsius.

What does this mean?

It might mean that...
Sea water needs temperatures lower than zero degrees celsius for ice to form.


Below are some other questions we are inquiring into this week:

What are the three states of matter?

What is the difference between a solid, liquid and gas?

What happens to molecules of water as they freeze? (see the two links below)

• Liquid Water
• Ice

Where does the energy go as water freezes?

History of Antarctica

As part of the 'excite and explore' phase of this term's inquiry on "Antarctica', we have been learning how Antarctica has, over time, gone from being a warm continent to a cold continent at the bottom of the world.

We learned that Antarctica was once part of a 'super-continent' called Gondwanaland.



We looked at the different shapes of the present day continents and how they might have fitted into the jig-saw of Gondwanaland.

Did you know that Dinosaurs once roamed the ancient forests of Antarctica, when it was part of Gondwanaland? Neither did we until yesterday!

Readers Theatre

For the last 3 weeks, students in Room 7 have been rehearsing 3 'readers theatre' plays. 'Readers Theatre' plays are designed to be listened to, rather than watched.

Room 7 is proud to present three plays: "The Enormous Turnip", "Rumplestiltskin" and "The Gingerbread Man".

You can listen to these plays on Voicethread by clicking on the links above.

Mr Dobson got this email from Matthew in France...



Bonjour room 7..

I could not access the blog so I am writing on email.

I arrived in Pouzolles on the 1st of Septembre and started school on the 3rd. The teacher is much more strict, we have to do dictations and the play area is 68 times smaller than in NZ.

Every few days Oliver and I run down to the bakery to buy baguette and croissant. Yet on Wednesday (no school) we have pain au chocolat as a special treat.

I have just joined a football team which has been going really well. The coaches are really experienced and strict.

In most weekends we go swimming in rivers, streams, lakes or the the Mediterranean sea. It's warmer than in NZ (and lots of ladies don't wear any tops!!).

It's a shame that we have missed the season of the snakes but we still see lots of lizards.

Au revoir

KEEP WORKING HARD FOR MR DOBSON EVERYONE!!!!

Matthew

P.S the photo is in front of my school

Listening to the first audio-conference

At 1.30 today we listened to the first "Kakapo" audio-conference. Andrew and special guest, DOC Ranger Steve Horn answered questions from Ashburton School and Rosehill Intermediate. The topic being discussed was "Quarantine for kakapo on Codfish Island".

The audio-conference lasted about 30 minutes, and 10 questions were answered. After listening, we made a basic 'Question + Answer' mind-map on wallwisher to help us remember the information we had heard.

Here is our mind-map:


Tomorrow's audio-conference topic is "Kakapo - a unique parrot".

P.S. We were really amazed to see that Andrew, the LEARNZ teacher leading the virtual field trip, posted a comment on our blog. Thanks Andrew!

We're going on a (virtual) field trip

We're going on a (virtual) field trip to look for Kakapo. We will learn how the Department of Conservation have tried to rescue the Kakapo from extinction.



The virtual field trip is organised by LEARNZ and will take us to Whenua Hou (Codfish Island), where there is a Kakapo sanctuary. We will listen in on 2 audio-conferences, where children will ask special DOC guests questions about how the Kakapo was saved from extinction. These Audio-conferences will be held on Wednesday and Thursday this week. We will also be able to email the LEARNZ teacher Andrew with our own questions during the week.

From the LEARNZ website:

The kakapo field trip plan

Tuesday 15 September: Travel day

Join Andrew as he sets the scene. Get on the plane and take off to one of the most southern cities in NZ and the world, Invercargill. It's our destination in preparation for our trip to Whenua Hou tomorrow. We'll take a look at the sights on the flight down from Christchurch.

Wednesday 16 September

Get your gear and bags checked at the southern islands quarantine store in Invercargill. Take a plane trip to Whenua Hou and land at low tide on Sealer's Bay beach. Get to know the restrictions for visitors and the quarantine requirements needed for access to this special island sanctuary. Then help check traps around the coast line.

Thursday 17 September



Spend the day caring for kakapo chicks. Learn about their dietary needs and whip up a tasty treat for them. Take a close look at their vital statistics as they are measured and weighed during a health check. Check out the track and bowl systems on the high plateau. Find out about how to locate kakapo using triangulations from transmitter signals.

Friday 18 September

Finish off Conservation Week with a look at how the kakapo recovery programme is saving these amazing birds from extinction. Examine some of the gadgets used for monitoring kakapo. Catch a plane on the beach as we leave Whenua Hou and head back to the mainland at the end of our adventure.

Our Visit to Te Papa #2

The interest generated from our trip to Te Papa has been amazing!

Most children have presented to the class something that they found 'fascinating' during the day. The classroom 'newsboard' is chocka-block full of posters, mind-maps and visual aides that children made to support their mini-presentation.



The 'Colossal Squid'exhibit really seemed to catch our imagination! I found the online version to the 'create a squid' activity at Te Papa. Click on the link below to have a go!

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http://squid.tepapa.govt.nz/build-a-squid/interactive

Clean up New Zealand!

This week is "Clean up New Zealand" week.



The Year 3-4's went down to the beach and helped by spending half an hour looking through the dunes for plastic and paper rubbish.




There actually wasn't that much rubbish so people must be really getting the message that littering is really really wrong!

New Homework blog

I have created a new homework blog to help inform you and the Room 7 students of any 'different' homework that might be set this year.

As you may have noticed, sometimes the set homework is a little different from the usual 'spelling and basic facts' routine.

This new blog is designed to help answer any questions about any 'special' homework that might be set.

It can be viewed at

http://room7homework.blogspot.com/

or by clicking on the link on the right hand link bar.

Upcoming visit to Te Papa

Tomorrow (Tuesday) we are going to visit Te Papa museum.

One of the experiences we will have will be at the Te Papa marae. We will learn about the protocol for being welcomed onto a marae. We have prepared a song to sing as part of the welcome.

We will also get to explore the museum in small groups. One of the places we will visit is the 'Awesome Forces" exhibit. This is where we can learn all about how New Zealand/Aotearoa came to be.

"What Now" visited Te Papa and made a really fun 'tour' of Te Papa that you can watch...

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We have been finding out about our Family history.

Every Family has an exciting story to tell. We wanted to find out why our family ancestors came to Aotearoa/New Zealand.

Have a listen to our "Family Stories" here.

"Giraffes Can't Dance"

Some photos from our item "Giraffes Can't Dance" which we performed at ArtSplash 'Schools for Schools' last week.

Buddy Class

Each week Room 7 visits our buddy class, Room 4. The children in Room 4 have just started school and really enjoy visits from the 'older' children of Room 7.

Today, we helped the Room 4 children during ICT time. We taught them how to use a mouse properly, and how to draw a picture using KidPix. It was really great seeing the excitement of the 5 year-olds in Room 4 as they realised they could make the computer draw and write things. There was lots of laughter!

Thanks for being such great buddies this week, Room 7!

Early Aotearoa

Mr Dobson was talking to us about the way some of the polynesian people
had come to Aotearoa ( New Zealand ) and made it their home. They had survived the rough seas and stopped on all the islands that had never been discovered. For example the cook islands were discovered by the polynesian people. I think this is truly amazing and to be out sea for so many days thinking you may not survive is quite tough.

By Sally.




For inquiry we are talking about the timeline of New Zealand. Today we talked about how the people got to New Zealand and who they where.
We learned that the polynesians came to stay from other places/countries. When one place was filled up they moved on to the next. They found New Zealand by sending out well trained explorers who followed the stars. (a type of compass or map) They used clues like birds, the cloud, things floating in the water and wood floating past to find New Zealand.

By Harry!!!!

"Music Room" classroom music

Today we started our classoom music programme "Music Room". Over the next 8 weeks we will be learning about beat, rhythm, pitch and tone colour. Check out this link to play 'the welcome song' again and add some of your own beats!

First Moon Landing 40th Anniversary

As you all know, Mr Dobson loves anything to do with outer space. Monday 20th June 2009 is the 40th anniversary of the first people landing on the moon. Isn't that amazing! 40 years ago. That's from a time even before Mr Dobson was born!

Watch out for special TV programmes on Discovery, Nat Geo and the History Channel this weekend, that celebrate this amazing human achievement.

If you were the first person to step foot on the moon, what would you say? (You can hear Neil Armstrong saying "that's one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind". Not what I would have said!)

It cost BILLIONS of dollars to get astronauts to the moon back in the 1960's and 70's. In todays dollars, it is estimated to have cost about half a TRILLION dollars ($500,000,000,000)

Do you think it is worth the cost to send astronauts back to the moon by 2020?

Harry's Blog

Harry has been very busy on his blog and has recently posted all about Room 7's worm farm project. You can visit Harry's blog by clicking the link below, or by going to the Room 7 publishing blog and clicking the link to the right.


http://harrycrawfordblog.blogspot.com/

Homework games

A couple of weeks ago, Room 7 students were set the task to design a game that would teach a skill to another child. We had some amazing creations. Some games were designed for children to practice basic facts or spelling, others were designed for children to learn a new language or to play a musical instrument. They were all fantastic and we had so much fun playing them on "Game Day".

Vegetable soup!

Remember when we planted the vegetable plants earlier in the year?



Well, some of them have grown realy well!



Today we harvested dome of the veges and made a big pot of soup for the Year 3 and 4's to have at Morning Tea time.