Constructing Bridges

We had a design brief for building a bridge. This meant we had to plan what type of bridge we were going to build, what it was going to look like and what materials we would use.
Check out these great bridges! Some creative designers in the making!!

Nixy and Nick visit our school

Today Nick Tansley came to school with the Wellington Phoenix mascot- Nixie. They talked to us about healthy eating, fair play, and how to do the Nixie Rap.

Science Extension Week 4

Today in Science Extension we looked at how temperature can change wind currents (and ocean currents)

We also investigated surface tension and were amazed how a drop of soap could break the tension on the surface of a bowl of water so quickly.

After this, we investigated how a disposable nappy retains 'water'. We found out what polymer was and how much it expands.
This is what we used

• Disposable nappy (unused is best)
• Zipper-lock bag
• Scissors
• Water
• Newspaper

 This is what we did 

•  Carefully cut through the inside lining and removed all the cotton wool-like material. Placed all the stuffing material into a clean, zipper-lock bag and zipped it up
• Only a little (less than 2 teaspoons full) of polymer ended up at the bottom of the bag. We then carefully removed the cotton wool from the bag.
• Then we added water, slowly, and recording how much. It was amazing how much the polymer expanded!

Having fun!

Being the last class to go swimming each time meant that we didnt get to have a play at the park like everyone else- until the last day when we went down early and had time to.
35 Around you go

35 A couple of monkeys! 35 Balancing things 40 Head first!

Swimming Lessons at Tawa Pool

For the last 3 weeks we have been walking down to Tawa Pool for swimming lessons. Here are a few photos. The last day had a focus on water safety- which is pretty important in NZ as we don't have to travel far to go for a swim in a lake, a river, or at a beach.

The Bridge to Nowhere

The 'Bridge to Nowhere' is a fantastic bridge in the middle of nowhere! It is in the Whanganui National Park and has an interesting tale behind it. When the soldiers came home from World War 1, the government gave them land to farm and were going to build roads as well but the area was way too difficult to farm and the poor soldiers and their families walked off the land.

Photo taken by Jessica Ebrey

We tried our hand at drawing this bridge. Have a look at Room 9's  "Bridges to Nowhere"

Wellington Zone Athletics

We had 9 students representing Hampton Hill School and Tawa today at the Wellington Zone Athletics. This year, the venue was Scotts College- and what a fantastic venue it was!
Congratulations to Georgia P, Tua , Xavior , Kendyll , Jeneesha , Brunson , Lauren, Shermein, and Yolanda. You all did so very well!
A special congratulations though to Georgia for coming 2nd in the Vortex throw and reserve in the sprints. Also to Xavior for coming 1st in his vortex throw. Both of these fine athletes now go forward to the Regional Meet.

'Investigate Science' Extension Group Week 2

Today we had a number of chemical reactions happening! Chemical reactions happen when one substance is turned into another. Whether the colour changes, the shape, the flexibility, or even an explosion occurs, these are all types of chemical reactions.
We tried a number of experiments- always asking ourselves- what did we think would happen, what actually happened, and how come???

1st up, we made Hokey Pokey

Then the Bobbing raisins- very cool!

We also did the red cabbage experiment again- testing for acids and bases in household items, making rust from a steelo pad and vinegar, and finally tried the 'Great Coke and Mentos' experiment - Here is a small video clip showing how that one went.

Partial Solar Eclipse

Today we saw a partial solar eclipse!
A Solar Eclipse occurs when the moon goes in front of the sun and blocks most of the sun's light from the earth. About 75% of the sun's light was blocked out by 10.34 a.m. (That is why it is called a partial solar eclipse and not a total one) The light was quite an eerie colour and it got a bit cool for a time.
We didn't look at a solar eclipse directly because we could have damaged our eyes. Some of us had special solar glasses from the Carter Observatory though. We also looked at it through a box. The box was made up to be a solar eclipse viewer.


It was awesome!

'Investigate Science' Extension Group Week 1

There has been a lot of fun, investigating, experimenting, questioning, sampling and learning going on during the Science Extension Group.

We have been looking at the properties of water and how it becomes lighter when it freezes. We also looked at what happens when fresh water is added to salty water and had a go at stacking different coloured water that had different amounts of salt added to them- making them more dense. Finally today, we learned about Argo Floats and made Cartesian divers.