Learning

The latest in the Junior School... Term Four

Spotlight on Year 1: Edible Gardens

In Term Four the Year One the girls have been learning that trees are a valuable resource.

To support their inquiry into, How the World Works, the Year One girls planted their garden boxes.  They made these into an edible garden. This action is in response to questions relating to the interaction between people and their environment..

We decided to grow a garden to put our knowledge about the needs of plants into practice.

First we had to take the weeds out of the planter boxes. We showed the weeds to Mr Crofskey and asked him to buy us some new soil and compost to help our plants grow. 

Then we asked our parents to help with the planting.

We have watched our plants grow for four weeks. We did not have to water them because it has rained every Wednesday and some days in between. The marigolds are flowering and make our gardens look pretty.

We tasted our vegetables, the lettuce was sweet, but the rocket was prickly and the nasturtium was hot and peppery. We liked the parsley.  We found out that the radishes are not ready to eat yet!!

Here is what we wrote about our planting day:

On Friday Year One planted vegetables. My dad came to help me and my friends too. We will water the plants two times a week and watch the plants grow. I planted radishes. Rowan

 On Friday we planted seeds. My mum helped me plant some marigolds and lettuce. Neve planted some lettuce too. We planted at the back of our classroom. I watered the plants in our group there was Neve, Rachel, Hannah and Georgina I planted radish.  Emily

 On Friday Year One planted seeds at the back of the classroom. There are three boxes. Some parents came to help. In our group were Julie, Alison and Wayne. We planted marigolds lettuce and parsley.  Hannah

On Friday Year One planted some vegetables and seed behind the classroom. My daddy came. Our vegetable was lettuce and our seeds were radish and our flowers were marigolds and I watered them all.     Alana   

 

Spotlight on Year 6: PYP Exhibition

At the end of Term 3, the Year 6 girls graduated from the IBO Primary Years Programme by celebrating their learning journey through a Sharing the Planet Exhibition. The students worked all term to develop their own central ideas, lines of inquiries, conduct research and take action. They became very passionate about their learning and many girls took action by making brochures, writing pictures books, starting a recycling project and a worm farm, picking up rubbish to protect habitats, making posters, board games and much more. 

 All of the girls were very excited about developing their questions and researching their information. Some girls went out to interview experts and find information from places such as World Vision, Te Papa, Wellington Zoo, supermarkets, Trade Aid shop and a rubbish tip to see the recycling centre. The girls met regularly with and were supported by a group of mentors which included parents, various teachers and our librarian. The mentors did a wonderful job of encouraging and supporting students to achieve their goals.

 The girls created an interactive exhibit that demonstrated their learning journey. These are now displayed in various places throughout the school for you to see such as the library, Little Chilton and School House.  We had visiting speakers come in to talk to the girls from the Wellington Fisheries and young girls that started the use ECO bags in supermarkets. We also Skyped an author about New Zealand endangered animals, pollution and recycling.

The girls had a wonderful time completing these displays and we showed off our work in School House over a period of two days. They were very confident in communicating their knowledge to all the visitors we had. We had a variety of visitors through ranging from parents and family members, senior management staff from CSJS, junior and senior school students, junior and senior school teachers and invited teachers from other schools. We also had some of our experts visit as well.

 All of our visitors were very impressed with the work our girls had achieved and the quality of the end results. What was most impressive was the knowledge the girls were able to share with them about their individual displays and the enthusiasm and excitement the girls had. The following photos show the presentation of the Exhibition and all of the girls enjoyed this experience and love sharing it with you.

Comments from the girls include:
When we first began the exhibition I felt worried and I wasn’t sure what to do because it was too big. Then once we started I felt better and I began to understand it more. At the end I was relieved it was over and really happy. I am very proud of my work. Sochetha

At the beginning of the exhibition, I was very excited. I couldn’t wait to get started. During the exhibition, when we were looking for answers to our questions, it started to get quite hard. When we started to near the end of the presentation of our exhibitions, I was so stressed because I didn’t think I would be able to finish. But in the end I think I did really well and I am very proud of what I did. Amira  

When we began our exhibition I felt scared and I wasn’t sure about what to do. Then when we started I felt a bit better and I began to enjoy and understand it a bit more. At the end I was so relieved and I was so happy because it was over. I am very happy and proud of my work. Leigh

 At the start of the exhibition I was so excited about learning something new. As the exhibition went on I felt more worried that I couldn’t get it done, but I also became more knowledgeable during the process. I think the exhibition has changed the way I think and feel. Before the exhibition I had never been pushed so hard to complete something. I think the exhibition did have its ups and downs but overall it was a worthwhile project. Azmarah

 I felt the exhibition was a big challenge for me. I had to mix all the learner profiles together in order to finish the task. I had to be a risk taker and a communicator talking to different people for information. At the beginning of the exhibition, I struggled and I wasn’t on task. But once we were given our check list and had several mentor meetings, I was on the right track. Overall, I enjoyed the exhibition because I was able to take my learning from the past five and a half years and display it on my board. Anna

 When we started the exhibition I was excited to learn something new that I was interested in. I especially enjoyed finding out new information. I found the exhibition a challenge with lots of different decisions to make. When we were nearing the end of the exhibition I started to get a little worried and stressed about getting it finished. Overall I think the exhibition went really well and I was happy to showcase my learning to anyone interested in my topic. Amber

 

Spotlight on Year 4: Crepe Day

On Tuesday in French class we were celebrating Bastille Day. Bastille Day was when the King and Queen’s heads got cut off by a guillotine.

How we celebrated was on Monday after school we made crepes and on Tuesday we brought them to school and ate them in French class.

When my mum and I were making them I burnt my middle finger on the fry pan while I was flipping the crepes. When we finished my mum and me tried one each and they were delicious!

On Tuesday when we had French the table was full of toppings and most of all crepes. Some people had unusual toppings but everyone said the crepes were delicious!

Sam - Year 4

Spotlight on Year 5: How We Express Ourselves

Our Central Idea is: People express their beliefs through artistic mediums.

By focusing on the key concepts, Perspective and Reflection, we have learned about what people believe in. We reflected on our own beliefs. Here are some beliefs that 5EN has:

§  Jesus

§  Santa Claus

§  Tooth Fairy

§  God

§  Greek Gods

§  Fairies

§  Ghosts

§  Hairy Merry Monster

When looking into how we express ourselves, we examined our feelings and how we felt when we thought of what we believed in. From this inner reflection, everyone chose an artistic way to express their feelings and their belief. The following pictures are what the girls created:

Term Two

Chilton Fantasticals

Imagine leprechauns from Ireland, Coca Cola bottles and surf boards from USA, bagpipes, haggis and thistles from Scotland, buzzy bee, kiwis and pavlova from New Zealand, pancakes with maple syrup, beavers and the Niagara Falls from Canada, Queen Elizabeth II, Big Ben and a double-decker bus from England, sumo wrestlers, geisha girls and cherry blossom from Japan, les petites tricolors from France and let’s not forget the Loch Ness Monster! Now see the colours of the costumes made by each student, the steps in their choreographed dances and the joy on their faces. The reality was the outstanding performances of the Junior School Chilton Fantasticals celebrating the countries involved in the 2011 international rugby tournament.

Congratulations to every student in the Junior School for making both evening performances such wonderful occasions.

 

Year 6 Trip to Capital E

Year 6 is enquiring into How the World Works focusing specifically on extreme weather. Our inquiry question is: how weather has a negative effect on people.  We researched three different natural New Zealand disasters related to weather: The Wahine Disaster, The Wellington Floods and The Tangiwai Rail Disaster. We used their research information to write a news broadcast and scripts for survivor’s interviews. At Capital E we filmed our broadcasts and interviews to show our learning. Everyone had a job to do either in front of the camera or behind the camera.

Click here to see our news broadcast.

 

Mother/Daughter Service

 

This week the Junior School held the annual Mother/Daughter Service at St James Church. It was time to celebrate the importance of mothers, but at the same time an opportunity for mothers to treasure their daughters. The service was followed by a morning of activities at the Junior School and morning tea.

Spotlight on Year 2

Under the theme of How we Organise Ourselves, Year 2Sg have been inquiring about where food comes from and the changes it may go through before it reaches our table.  The Learner Profile focus is Balanced and this has enabled the girls to explore healthy eating choices.  They have collected data and presented a graph to show the contents of their lunchboxes.

To inquire about food at its source, there were trips to Lindale Farm to learn about where milk and honey comes from.

 And a Blueberry farm to pick some blueberries.

We brought them back to school.  The language focus of our inquiry is writing and following instructions.  We wrote the instructions and followed them to change the blueberries and milk into a blueberry smoothie.  Delicious!
 

We made blueberry muffins and orange juice and invited our parents along to enjoy the results to celebrate the end of our unit of enquiry.

 

 

Easter Service

For the first time this year parents were able to attend the Junior School Easter Service.  Held in the Jubilee Centre and hosted by our School Chaplain, Jean Malcolm, every student from Preschool to Year 6 played a part in presenting the Easter Story, either as a reader or a performer.  A highlight of the service was the two-part harmony introduced into the singing of Jesus is the Light of the World.

The Pre-school children were all resplendent in a brilliant array of Easter bonnets while Year 6 students set the scene with their walkway and arch of palm fronds.  Thank you to the Parents Association for hosting the morning tea in School House afterwards.

 

 

Spotlight on Year Four

Year 4 have been learning that it is important to follow rules and instructions.

We made board games. We had to write rules and instructions for our games. We learnt that:

• if you don’t follow rules your game might end up as a fight. Beryl Liu, 4ES
• you make rules to make things safe and fair. Josephine Plimmer, 4ES
• you really have to think about whether people will understand your rules. Isha Patel, 4ES
• I follow the school rules because I respect my school. Taryn Melhuish, 4WD
• I follow the rules when I don’t go to the pool by myself because I am too young. Molly Heath, 4WD
• I need to follow rules because rules and laws keep countries safe and fair. Jessica Woodrow, 4WD

  

Year 3 have been studying how much water people use during an average day.  These are some of their observations…

• Did you know that when you do a load of washing you are using 40 litres of water?
• Did you know that the dishwasher uses 60 litres?
• For a ten minute shower you are using 80 litres. If you have a 30 minute shower you use 240 litres which is the same as a bath.

SO WHAT?

• We have found out that you should not have a long shower because it wastes water, you also waste water when you water the garden for too long.
• You should have a ten (or less) minute shower and water the garden for seven (or less) minutes.
• Put a timer on your hot water tank for ten minutes and then after the ten minutes it will turn cold. That will make people get out of the shower!
• Have a shallow bath because it takes 240 litres of water to get it to normal bath height.

Melana-Renee Janis and Melinda Stokes with 80 litres representing a ten minute shower.

Year 3 girls with their visual representation of 240 litres, which is the same water used in a bath or a 30 minute shower!