We have been busy..

Over the last term we have been so incredibly busy. 

We have been lucky to be involved in Friday Sports in Rangiora where we have the opportunity to play a range of winter sports including hockey, netball and soccer  against different schools from around North Canterbury.  We have had a mixture of wins and losses, however we have consistently shown great sportsmanship and used our REACH values which is fantastic to see.  Thank you so much to the parents who have come along to support us at our games and particularly to those who have given up their time to coach and referee us! We really appreciate your help and couldn't do it without you.  

We have been learning  how to use good questions to work out patterns when we play barrier games in Maths. 

We had to work out how many tiles the person had used; how many of each colour and then what order they had placed them.    

It was very challenging if the pattern was very complex but we got there in the end!  

This term we  held our annual poetry competition in which everyone worked hard to learn their poems.  We had so many fantastic presentations and I was proud of everyone.  It was certainly very hard to decide on the finalists and in the end only a few points separated a large number of children. 

Congratulations to Maisy,  Ciara and  Maddie who came 1st, 2nd and 3rd in the school competition for Year 5.

Congratulations to Maisy who is the top 9 year old girl  swimmer of the year in North Canterbury.  Congratulations also to Lachlan who will be competing at the South Island Schools Cross Country event later in the year after placing 7th in the recent Canterbury Schools Cross Country event held at Halswell Quarry.  

What a talented bunch of children we have at Ashley School!

We have had lots of fun with the Mainpower sports coaches this term. We have learnt some really fun and new games including Frisbee Golf and Fist ball (which is very similar to volley ball). Mrs O'Loughlin is now keen to take her children to play Frisbee Golf at Jelly Park!

We are currently getting ready to cook up a storm as part of our Rakau Kitchen Rules where we have to plan, organise and make afternoon tea for invited guests.  

This has involved us working collaboratively with children from the different classes to come up with invitations, a menu and entertainment for our guests.  We can't wait to get cooking on the last week of term.  We are sure that it will be delicious!

Mathematicians!

We have been exploring algebraic patterns with shapes and numbers.  We have found it really useful to use the equipment to help us understand our thinking.  Thank you Mrs Graham for helping us!

 We discovered by moving these patterns together we could make squares which helped us to understand about square numbers.

 Recording our mathematical thinking is important in helping us to understand  and explain what we have done.  

We  began to see that some numbers stay  the same and that we can use this to help us work out  how many match sticks or squares there would be in much larger numbers without building them.  We became multipliers as well!   This is why algebra is so important. 

10 Tips on how to save Water by Olivia and Emmeline

We have been reading about why water is important to us and how we can save it . We have put together some tips on how you could save water at your place!

Future Electrical Engineers and Electricians!

Today we began our exploration of how to create electrical circuits. We created circuits using wires, batteries, switches, lights and speakers. 

We discovered what helped make bulbs glow brighter  and what happens if we add more lightbulbs to a circuit.

We used problem solving skills to figure out how to get the lights to glow and speakers to work.  We had lots of great discussion between children about what might help and what may be the issue!

 We found that certain material conduct electricity  and some don't. 

We also learnt about the scientific symbols used for drawing circuits.  

Next week we will have a go at more of the experiments and hopefully learn to create a battery using fruit to power up a light!

School Cross Country

On Friday we held our school cross country at the Marshall-Lees place.  Luckily the anticipated rain and cold weather stayed away and we were fortunate enough to have the sun shining on us for the afternoon.  

Well done to everyone who gave their best today and to those who will go onto compete in the tri schools competition in just over a weeks time- good luck!

Static Electricity

Today in Rakau we began exploring the concept of static electricity.  

We  had lots of fun with the practical experiments and seeing how to create and use static electricity.

We had  fun using static electricity to:

• bend water
•  separate salt and pepper
• make plates hover in the air
• create crazy hair styles
• create moving snakes
• roll a can without touching it
• repel balloons
• collect dust, paper and other fine object

 We discovered that Static Electricity has several practical uses including:

• in photocopiers where the static electricity charges attract the ink to the paper.
• in paint sprayers and filters
• in dust removal.

We also learnt that some electronic chips and devices don't like static electricity and need special bags to protect them!

We look forward to discovering more about electricity next week when we work out how to create circuits, make likes work  and what conducts electricity. 

Safe Cycling

Last week we were lucky to have Constable Ken come to school. He helped us to learn about cycle safety. 

We learnt how to correctly fit our helmets using the 2: 4:1 rule. 

We know what we need to check on our bikes to make sure that they are safe to ride. We checked our brakes, gears, tyres and pedal reflectors.

We know that it is a very good idea to wear bright coloured clothing when on our bikes so all road users can see us. 

We found out where we need to ride on the road and how to use the road rules when we are biking. We also learnt about what hazards we need to watch out for. 

On Thursday we practiced our skills at school on the courts and field. We had to know how to safely stop and ride behind others. 

On Friday we took the roads to use our skills. We really enjoyed the experience and are now aware how different it is to ride on the road than it is in other environments. 

We have to concentrate on what we are doing all the time! 

We know that it is important that we still have our families with us when we are biking on the roads. We all need lots of practice with adults supervising us.

Thank you to Mr Mullan and Fiona who biked with us around the block. 

This was a really worthwhile programme!