Week 3&4

In week 3 some of our year 6 students were lucky enough to go to the school's day of the Auckland Writer's Festival. They heard from 4 different authors - lots of tips for writing, illustrating,  and insights into how the authors get their ideas and became authors/illustrators. We heard Lauren Child (UK - Charlie and Lola, Clarice Bean and Ruby Redfort series), Tim Tipene (NZ - various books), Renata Hopkins (NZ books and school journal stories), Donovan Bixley (NZ author and illustrator of various books).

At Quest we have been continuing to look at change with animals - metamorphosis, and also how animals change the environment (keystone species), and how humans can change animals with selection and breeding (hybrids).

We had fun creating crazy mixed creatures, as well as learning new information.

Here is a video if you are interested in how wolves changed rivers in the Yellowstone National Park.

Animals and change

This week we are looking at animals and the different types of camouflage - blending in with colour, pattern, disguise, or mimicry. 

We will be thinking about why and how animals camouflage and will find out about some animals and their amazing ability to change.

Take a look at this video of cuttlefish - they are really extraordinary! 

We will also be looking at Metamorphosis in animals this week and next as part of our concept of change.



Last week we had fun looking at change with chemistry. Here is a simple but interesting experiment you might like to try at home.  

Year Two children experimenting by blowing into the solution.

Year 3&4 children observing reactions.

INDICATOR BLUE EXPERIMENT
Purple Cabbage
Hot tap water

Slice some cabbage into a large bowl and cover with hot tap water. Leave for 5-10 mins, then strain and keep liquid. This is your indicator solution (it changes colour to indicate pH) - it will be blue or purple, depending on how long you leave it and the temp of the water etc -it will work regardless of the colour it starts as. 

Now you can pour some of the solution into several glasses or any clear containers. Experiment with adding different substances to find if they are acidic or alkali. Acidic things around the home are generally sour things - vinegar, lemon juice, lime juice, citric acid etc. They will turn the solution pink. Alkali things are generally soapy - like washing powder, soap, baking soda - they will turn the solution green or blue tones. Don't forget to keep a 'control' so that you can see what colour the solution started as. Kids will have lots of fun with this. Remind them that mixing some solutions from opposite ends of the pH scale could cause a reaction - eg baking soda and vinegar - but they will want to experiment with changing the colour and trying to neutralise the pH again (getting back to the original colour).

Year 2 children - look at the colours we made!

Scratch Club - first week Term 2 2017

Many children had ideas for what they would like to test at home - shampoo, lemonade, dishwashing liquid, hand sanitiser, sugar, juice etc etc. Great fun for engaging them in science, and also getting them to observe and predict.

You can also try blowing through a straw into the cabbage water solution. You will notice the solution turns pinkish - you have made a weak acid. CO2 (that you breathe out) and H2O (water) = H2CO3 (carbonic acid).







SCRATCH CLUB
Some of our year 6 boys are running a 'Scratch Club' at lunchtimes on Wednesdays in B9. Scratch is a free computer programming website - children can design their own games, characters etc. Flynn and Ajay are running this class. I am so impressed with their ideas and teaching ability - they coped so well with over 40 students who turned up last week!
Well done boys - I am impressed by your enthusiasm and willingness to share your knowledge with others. 

Term 2

This term our concept is CHANGE. We will be looking at change through a variety of topics... starting with a bit of Science this week - chemistry and changes to substances. Other topics planned are metamorphosis, Gandhi, change in our lives, toilets through the ages, money, future thinking etc. These may change, but the aim is to have a wide variety of topics to expand ideas.

The big ideas of change we will be looking at are that change is everywhere, it has cause and effect, it is inevitable, and change leads to new experiences.

Thanks to everyone for feedback about our timetable last term - trialling two sessions a week for years 3-6 students. I had 71 responses in all, from parents, staff, and students. There were mixed views and I appreciate everyone's feedback. 55% of responses were in favour of the two sessions a week, so we will stick with that for this term as well.

I have changed the timetable this term to try to have less clashes with maths extension groups. Please let me know if there is a clash with anything for your child - I will try to find a way around it.

So year 3&4's will be in the first block this term, and year 5&6's will be in the second block (after morning tea). The year 1&2 group has a few new students so it has been split - half of them will come on Tuesday afternoons, half will come on Wednesday afternoons.

Here's the timetable:

Term 2 2017

	TUESDAY	WEDNESDAY
Block 1 A (8.55- 9.45)	Year 3&4  ( A3, A4, B5, B6)	Year 3&4
Block 1 B (9.45- 10.40)	Year 3&4  (L4, L5, O1, O2, T1, T3)	Year 3&4
Block 2 A (11-11.45)	Year 5&6 ( A5, A6, B7, B8)	Year 5&6
Block 2 B (11.45-12.30)	Year 5&6  (L3, M3, M4, O3, O4)	Year 5&6
Block 3 1.30-3pm	Year 2  (A2, B1)	Year 1&2 (B4, M1, M2, T2)

Changes over time

The year 3-6 students have been looking at how things have changed over time. What were they like 50 years ago, what are they like now, and what do we think they will be like in 50 years time? And how have or will these changes affect how we interact with other people?

This adds depth and complexity to thinking, while learning some research skills and having a chance to use creative thinking and imagination to predict the future.

The year 1&2 group are looking at 'belonging to a group' this week. How does it feel when they are not included in a group? We will practice using empathy to discuss how others might feel if they are not included, and to think of possible solutions to help with these feelings.

Parents of year 3-6 Quest students - please remember to fill in the feedback form that was emailed out to help us plan for Term 2 timetabling.

This is the last week of term 1. We have a break for Easter and school holidays.
Have a happy holiday.

Intensities / sensitivities / overexcitabilities

This week we have a parent meeting on Wednesday night - 7-8.30pm in the staffroom. I will be talking about overexcitabilities (sensitivities or intensities) that are often, but not always, part of life with a gifted child. All welcome - no charge.

So I will look a little at this with the kids this week as well. It helps if they are aware that sometimes their intense feelings, thoughts and actions are 'normal'. If the children have some coping mechanisms to deal with these intensities then they can cope better if the intensities / sensitivities are having a negative impact on their life.

Empathy

We will be looking at empathy this week. In the past few weeks we have touched on individuality and having differing opinions - learning to accept others for who they are and to understand that people may feel differently to us and that's ok. 
This week we will look at what empathy is - understanding feelings from another person's perspective. We touched on that a little when looking at opinions previously. Children were asked, in groups, to imagine they were someone else and to try to put themselves in that person's shoes to imagine what they would be feeling.

I like this definition of empathy:
"Empathy is seeing with the eyes of another, listening with the ears of another and feeling with the "heart" of another."

I think if we can encourage empathy then children will be more able to understand ideas / feelings from others' points of view - and wouldn't that make the world a better place if everyone can be a little more understanding of each other!

They will also have the chance to carry on with their chosen inquiry project looking at the effect changes over time has on people and communities. 

Inquiry

We are delving more into a class inquiry this week - looking at statistics with the bike track, and

how/if this change has affected people in our community.

Inquiry learning is child-centred. Children will learn to ask questions and find answers. A good start for an inquiry is a good question - open-ended (has no right or wrong answer) and higher-order (requires critical thinking, problem-solving and/or transfer of learning).

We have a class inquiry that we are looking at to reinforce the basic skills needed - formulating good questions, researching using reputable sources, recording information /ideas, and finally sharing our findings. This will take us several weeks. Some children may choose to branch off into their own inquiry.

This type of learning is fantastic for our gifted children as it gives them ownership over their learning. Some however will and do struggle with the amount of choice - their minds will see endless possibilities and not know where to start, or they may start and then overthink and doubt their choice of topic.  Some will start one thing and rush it to get on to their next idea. I want to help children to take their time to have more depth to their learning, to push themselves 'beyond the known'. So that is why I am guiding this more at the moment, to build up skills and confidence for those who need it, so that in time they will feel able to make their own choices, and to encourage those fast learners to slow down and delve deeper so that they will learn more and challenge themselves along the way.

PARENT NIGHT:
On Wednesday 5th April 7-8.30pm in the staffroom I will be talking about intensities/ sensitivities/ over-excitabilities in gifted people. I gave this same talk about three-four  years ago so some of you may have heard it before - apologies. It seems like there is a need to understand more about these intensities that so many of our children (and some of us too!) experience. No charge - a chance to come and mingle and chat with other parents as well if you want to stay afterwards.