The Science Van

Last week was a very special week. It was Science week! We did a whole bundle of experiments in class and in the hall!
We had some people from the 'Science Van' come to our school who travel all across New Zealand. They teach kids experiments like the bed of nails (when you hear that you might think OUCH!). It actually doesn't hurt... each nail is supporting your weight. If you were sitting on one single nail it would definitely hurt! A LOT!

But that's not all, there was another experiment called the waterfall effect. It plays a trick on the eyes and brain. If you focus on the center of the video attached, no blinking, no looking away, for 20 seconds, you will see. It supposedly used to hypnotize people, which I don't know if that works or not. What happens is your eye muscles start to freak out because they are working so hard to focus, your brain gets confused. Try it out then look at someone's head! We did, it was hilarious!

We also learned about Isaac Newton's 3 laws of motion and did some experiments around these! But that's a story for another time!

Remember science can be done everywhere, anytime and is all around us! We learned a lot of things about science and it was a blast! I hope I can go to the science van again one day.

Homemade Lava Lamp

In science week, people can do safe experiments inside the classroom!

One of the people who volunteered to be a science teacher for a day was Elise. She showed us how to make these amazing lava lamps which should be in our class forever because they look amazing!

She starts by adding water, then added cooking oil on top. The oil floats because it has less density than the water, its the same thing that makes the water strider floats!

Then she adds food colouring which sinks to the bottom of the oil layer but NOT the water because it has more density than the cooking oil, and it cushions on the thick layer of oil at the bottom, how amazing!

But that's not all, she adds a tablet that dissolves in the water (like Berocca), the tablet takes the dye with it, and when it "teleports" to the water (along with the surrounding colouring) it dissolves and makes the water blue, including blue bubbles that rose to the top! Everyone was wowed by this.

By Wilmer

Love from your MC Riley

Speeches

On Friday the 7th of September it was the Sunnyhills speech competition. I was the MC/Announcer of the comp along with Rebecca. All the speeches were brilliant. Luckily we didn't have to judge the competition, because I wouldn't know who to choose!

The winner of the competition was Jake Foster with his speech about Devices vs Sugar. The students from our class Auralie and Mia did amazing. Mia came 3rd! They all did a phenomenal job, all of the time practicing paid off.

This post was written by Riley Saunders 

Mentos and Coke

 VID_20180907_095126.mp4

At the beginning of science week, Room 1 & 2 did the classic Mentos in a coke bottle experiment. The carbon dioxide in the soda (coke) reacts with the mentos very suddenly, shooting up into the sky and drenching anyone within range of the bubbly, volcanic-like soda. When the mentos was dropped in, using a very clear contraption, the coke came funneling up instantly. It was huge! 
Click on the link to watch the video :)

Quote "Taller than Mrs. Cometti"

By Emma & Elise

Traditional Korean Clothing

An amazing activity during our time with the Korean Teachers was the traditional clothing station. We got the opportunity to try on different traditional Korean clothing, mostly worn at festivals, the clothes were so soft and very comfortable!

By Kees, Ashton and Jack!

Sunnyhills speech Final!

Congratulations Mia for getting 3rd place in the finals! Congratulations Auralie for competing in the speech finals!

Mia and Auralie did an awesome job with their speeches we all enjoyed listening to them. Mia's speech is about <<why Zoos are bad>>. Auralie's topic was on littering and the negative stigma around rubbish.

You should have been there! Their speeches were EPIC!

By Donnacha, Heath, Jamie,
   Tim, and Andy

Korean Archery

Archery

On Thursday 13th we had an exciting Korean experience, doing fun activities native to Korea. This included Archery. We used small bows and arrows to hit targets. It was difficult for some of us to hit the targets, but some found it easy. We all loved the Korean experience. How lucky are we?

By-Abinash, Mia. & Noah.

Walking Water

During Science week some students in room 1 became the teacher for the day and taught science experiments to the class. Donnacha's Science experiment was called 'Walking Water'. He filled two cups with water, placed two paper towels in each cup to another with yellow and blue in the outer cups and left the middle cup with no coloring. Then we waited for the science to happen. We looked at it after lunch and the food coloring had traveled up the paper towel, and into the middle cup coloring t green.

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By Hollie

Magic Cup

This is Zaina's Vacuum cup experiment. The method was .... 

1. put a layor of water on the plate. 2. light the match and allow it to burn using a lemon slice to hold it straight. 3. Place the cup upside down over the match.

The air around the flame is pushed in all directions. Warmer air needs more space than cooler air! So, the air pushes under the small gap round the rim of the cup and lets the water in, pushing the water upwards!

By Emma and Zaina. 

Traditionally Korean Calligraphy

Today Room 1 went to the hall to learn about traditional Korean culture and Calligraphy.
Traditionally calligraphy is used to write poems, proverbs, quotations from bibles,
mottoes and much more.

We also learned the Four friends for a calligrapher. 1.Paper, 2. Brush,
3. Black ink bar (or black ink), 4.Ink stone (or white place).

The oriental brush originated in ancient China. Later, it was developed as an art in China,
Korea, and Japan.
In ancient times, Chinese carved their characters on shells or bones and then much later
they used brush and paper. Koreans applied this art to Korean characters.
The paint brushes are usually made with rabbit, goat and weasel hair.

To be a good calligrapher you need a peace of mind, ready to concentrate and to control
the brush.

We all enjoyed calligraphy and the Traditional Korean experience.

By Abby, Ruby & Saralee.

Rainbow sugar

For science week, some people taught the class a science experiment. Abby's experiment was called 'Rainbow Sugar'. The first thing Abby did was put some water in the bowls. Next, she put three skittles in a triangle and let the colours drain out. When the skittles had gone white and the colours were merging together Abby put a sugar cube in the middle. The ice cube either absorbs the colour or repels the colour after some time. When the sugar cube dissolved Abby changed some of the independent variables to see if anything would change!

By Elise     

Korean Tuho

Korean Throwing game - TUHO
Tohu is a Korean game, also called Pitch Pot. This game requires 5 sticks or more and a pot with three to five holes. We used 5. The 4 holes around the outside are each worth one point if you land the stick. The middle hole is worth 5 points! The team with the most points wins. The traditional game only has two holes around the outside and is traditionally played outdoors. This game was really popular among royal and upper-class families.
It was really fun and great for increasing your aim
Tip: Throw like a rainbow!

By Adam, Xavier, and Blake