Jelly Experiments

In Room 4 we are studying 'Matter' for science. We have been finding out about solids, liquids and gases. We have also been learning about how matter can change from one state to another and back again. 

This morning we completed a science experiment using jelly. We wanted to see if jelly would still work the same if we changed just one variable. We split up in 7 different groups and each group made jelly, but each group change one thing slightly. Anna, Samara and Bryce followed all of the instructions correctly, except they used cold water instead of boiling water. They found that the mixture didn't mix very nicely, the crystals didn't dissolve and the water had a white slurry on the top. They predicted that it wouldn't set properly.

Ryan, Charlotte and Arnika followed their instructions too, except they use 1 lite of boiled water instead of 500ml. They had to use a larger bowl than the other groups because there was so much liquid. This group predicted that their jelly would not set properly.

Regan, Isla and Alyssa were the control group. it was their job to make their jelly following the instructions perfectly, without changing any variables. They used 500ml of boiled water and they mixed their jelly until all of the crystals had dissolved. When it had cooled they put it in the fridge. All of the other jellies would be compared to this jelly to see if their jelly had behave differently with a changed variable. 

Imogen, Clifton and Josie followed the instructions carefully, using boiled water and mixed it thoroughly, but they only used half the amount of water required. They made their jelly with just 250ml. They predicted that their jelly would set quickly and be quite thick, maybe rubbery. 

Oakley, Aaron and Lanie used the correct amount of boiled water, and the correct amount of jelly, but they did not mix their jelly. The jelly crystals did not dissolve they just sat in a lump at the bottom of the bowl. This group predicted that it might set but it would be very sweet. 

Te Aroha, Wyatt and Toby used boiled water and stirred their mixture carefully, but they only used 1/2 a packet of jelly crystals to make their jelly. The crystals dissolved very quickly. This group predicted that their jelly would not set properly. 

Groups stirred very carefully, ensuring that they didn't change any other variables by spilling some of their jelly out. 

The cold jelly did not look as nice as the jellies made with boiled water. The crystals did not dissolve in the cold water as quickly or as nicely as they did in the cold water. It took a lot more mixing. 

Everyone was involved in some way and it was heaps of fun.

We decided we needed to make one more jelly and test one more variable. William made his jelly perfectly, following all instructions correctly, but we decided that we would not put his in the fridge to set. We wanted to see if it would set at room temperature or if jelly needed a fridge temperature to make it a solid.

 We put all of the jellies on the classroom bench for an hour to cool. We labelled them all so we could remember which jelly was which experiment.

After morning tea we took all of the jellies, except the one that was staying at room temperature, and put them in the fridge in the staff-room.

At 2.15, after the jellies had been in the fridge for 3 hours, we went back over to the fridge to see what was happening with our experiments.

We looked at the control jelly first, to see what we should expect from all of the other jellies. The control jelly had set.

The jelly that had used only half the amount of water was set really hard, it was more rubbery than the control jelly. Some of the jellies had started to set, but we still couldn't tell what the true result was going to be, so we decided to put them all back in the fridge and see what happened if we left them overnight.

Mrs McTavish was very interested in our science experiments.

Student of the week - Toby

Toby could be 'Student of the Week' any time for lots of different reasons.  He always works hard and strives to achieve his learning goals.  We are particularly impressed with the originality he has been showing this week when writing his speech.  You'll have to come along to Room 4 to hear his fabulous ideas!

More of our holiday presentations

Oakley's iMovie. Oakley created an amazing iMovie about his wonderful holidays. You will really enjoy this one - we all did!!!!

 Imogen created a wonderful poster including lots of photos and information, and she told us all about her terrific holidays. She has pictures of the rail trail, and her family that she spent time with in the holidays and the most exciting thing she shared was the pictures of her lovely new puppy that she got in the holidays. Imogen also had a very special sleep over when she had Deija-Lee come to visit. Well done Imogen we really enjoyed seeing you poster and hearing about your cool holidays !!

Lanie decided to try something different to share her holiday experiences and she wrote an amazing book!!! It was filled with adventures, stories and pictures that Lanie shared with us, all about her wonderful holiday. She even had a photo of her Dad sitting beside the Wizard on a tram in Christchurch!! It was a lovely book Lanie and we all really loved hearing about your brilliant holiday, and we especially loved the photos. - Great work Lanie.

Popcorn making

In Room 4 we have been learning about MATTER so we watched a video of Suzie's World called 'How does popcorn pop?'. After the movie we decided to make popcorn ourselves.

By Anna and Alyssa

First we looked at the hard corn kernels and wondered what was inside them. 

Mrs O's popcorn making machine provided the heat and spun the kernels around and around to stop them from burning. 

The heat made the moisture inside the kernels turn into steam and then.... EXPLODE!!!! The popcorn kernels turned themselves inside out!

Best of all we got to eat it!

Student of the week - Lanie

Lanie received some feedback about her work from her teacher earlier this week.  She took on board what was said and then went home, thought about it some more and made the choice to try the activity again at home in her own time.  We are SUPER-IMPRESSED with Lanie's willingness to act on advice to improve her learning, not only in school time, but her own time as well.  With an attitude like this Lanie, we know you will go far.  Tino pai rawe (excellent!)

Our fabulous holidays

Before the holidays Mrs O and Mrs May asked us if we would like to create a holiday project about what we got up to over the holidays. We could create a poster, a google presentation, an iMovie, a book, or collect a box of souvenirs as we did different things. It was all about choice, we even got to choose whether or not we did a project. Here are three projects that were presented to the class today.

Charlotte's iMovie
Charlotte created a wonderful iMovie of her holidays. Watch and see all of the neat things that Charlotte did during her holidays. Well done Charlotte, we were super-impressed by your video!!

Josie had a wonderful selection of things that she had collected as her holidays unfolded. She had receipts, winning bingo tickets, movie tickets and candles from her birthday cake. There were lots of neat things that she had put in her shoe box, and everything reminded her of something else to tell us about as she recounted her holidays. Great work Josie, we really enjoyed your box of tricks!!

Toby had created a marvelous book showing us all of the fantastic things he had seen and done during his week in Wellington. His book was filled with brochures, maps, tickets and photos. Toby really enjoyed sharing all of his adventures with us, and each thing in his book was a terrific reminder about what he wanted to tell us about. It certainly sounded like a VERY BUSY, adventure filled week with his grandparents and his cousins. Awesome work Toby, we loved hearing about your trip!!

Isla created a wonderful poster about her holidays. She included lots of little reminders so that she could tell us all about her trip to Oamaru. She was able to tell us about all the things she had done, all the people she had visited and all the things she had done over the holidays. It was great to see some of her own drawings on her poster as well. Great work Isla, we loved your poster!!

Anna had created a marvelous scrapbook about her trip to Wellington where she stayed with Granny and Grandpa. Her book was filled with photos, brochures and tickets. These were all great reminders and Anna was able to recount every detail of her fabulous time with her grandparents. We really enjoyed to listening to your talk about your holiday Anna, and your book is a very special memento of your time. Awesome work!!!!

Our Koru families and QR codes

What an EXCITING art session we had today!!!  We combined our knowledge of the colour wheel, warm and cool colours, complementary and contrasting colours, with our knowledge of koru patterns to create a design of our own family using the basic koru shapes.  Each koru represents one family member.  We used complementary colours for the koru shapes and a contrasting colour for the background.  

We then created QR (Quick Response) codes  of the story behind each of our works of art.  Once these were printed and stuck onto our art, we used the iPads to go around the classroom to 'read' the stories represented in each piece of art work.  Everybody was fully engaged in both the art and the reading of the stories.  The amazement on our faces when we scanned the QR codes and read our own messages was unreal!

                           

                           

                           

                           

                           

                           

                           

                           

                           

                           

                           

                           

                           

                           

                           

                           

                           

                           

                           

                          All of our families are different but SUPER SPECIAL!