The Auckland Museum is packed full of amazing exhibits and we managed to see most of the exhibition halls across three levels. Having four children in each group made it easier to spend more time chatting about the various items on display. It was fun doing a bit of a scavenger hunt and we were great at spotting all the things we set out to find.
After studying about volcanoes in Term two, we enjoyed looking at the amazing exhibits and having some hands-on opportunities to handle the various molten rocks. We were also happy to see some toys from the past and the the dinosaur and natural history section also appealed to us. Some of the Maori artefacts caught our attention and we were most impressed by the huge waka which takes up to one hundred warriors in it!
Greer took a trip down to Rotorua where the air sometimes smells bad due to all the hot steam and geysers that bubble out in streams, lakes and cracks in the earth. It is a very picturesque town with many lovely places to visit. Greer and her family visited Rainbow Springs, the Redwood forest and they took a gondola up to the luge and had lots of fun driving down the tracks.
Herne is also well travelled, having been to America and Korea. In America he visited Disney World and he saw Harry Potter, Jurassic Park and Dr Seuss at Universal Studios. In Korea he was lucky enough to have his photo taken with Iron Man and as a desert fox. He also went to an interesting museum called the Tricky Museum which Herne loved. He went to a bird park too where he fed the birds.
Thanks, Greer and Herne, for such wonderful talks - you kept us spellbound as you showed us your photos.
We used a programme called 'Story Jumper' to create book covers and they all look very inviting - we wish they were real so we could get to read them!
Nikitha earned a certificate for her confident, clear presentation of the trip she took to India. It was so interesting listening to you speak, Nikitha.
As part of our learning about sick patients and people who work in hospital, we decided to make some jelly since that is often given to people who are unwell. We made four flavours of jelly in the staffroom which we later ate with ice-cream once the jelly had set. Having been a hot day, this was just a perfect way to enjoy a cool treat!
We all wore mufti today to raise money for the thousands of people affected by Typhoon Haiyan in the Phillipines. We were mindful that so many people have been stripped of everything - their homes and towns, all the basic necessities of life and many have lost their loved ones. Our hearts go out to them and we hope the monies we raised help them and bring them comfort.
Art was a lot different this week as we did some three-dimensional work - it was fun to work with clay and we learned how to use the scratch and slip method of joining pieces together. Our design brief was to make pencil holder turtles and these have turned out so well. The clay is air dried, not fired, and once they are dry enough, we'll enjoy painting them.
What a wonderful day it has been!! We all were really looking forward to our first swimming lesson at Lloyd Elsmore pools today, knowing that we would be with our friends and learning to be safe swimmers. It was great having a lesson and we also enjoyed some free time to practise our swimming. Some of our parents came along to help us with changing and to keep a watchful eye on us. Many thanks to Herne's dad, Maya's mum, Alishba's mum, Evan's mum and to Georgia's and Ana's mums too. Dear Mrs B also gave up her time to lend a hand - she is WONDERFUL!
Here are two videos and some photos to document our special time at the pools -
