Crystals

It starts out as liquid and hardens in the sun. I used rock salt as my grain, Thea used sugar and Charlotte used normal salt. Thea only added a tiny bit of food colouring so her crystal has turned out to be white. Charlotte added too much food colouring so hers looks black. I added just enough to make mine look green. Theas crystal has improved the most even though hers is supposed to take the longest, 3 weeks.

On Wednesday, the 31st of July, Thea, Charlotte, and I found a way to make crystals. By using hot water and a sort of grain you can grow your own crystals. So far so good. The crystals are working perfectly, they have started to grow in bits and soon the whole thing will be a crystal.

We didn't add sting so it will have to stay on the plate. Everyday we have to add more mixture to the plate to make the crystals grow. I can’t wait until they’re done. I wonder whose will finish first?

Mrs Roil

Mrs Roil

I have known Mrs Roil for a very long time even though this is the first time I have been in her class. Over the years at school I have noticed she is a wonderful teacher that tops everybody else. She has kids of her own so she is very understanding and has a lot of patience.  Mrs Roil has walnut brown eyes on the back and front of her head so she can see everything. They light up and sparkle when she is delighted but when she is angry her eyes narrow slowly. Mrs Roil has sandy brown hair that reaches her shoulders. Although Mrs Roil has to be at school extremely early she always manages to look her best. When she is walking around the class in her jet black boots she looks like she is strutting her stuff like a supermodel. The clothes she wear are very modern and show she has a great sense of style.

Mrs Roils voice explains a lot about her. For instance, when she is stressed and grumpy her voice lowers into a deep tone but when she is in a good mood, her voice rises into a high pitch.  For example, if Mrs Roil receives a gift her tone of voice changes dramatically into a high pitched scream. She acts like she is a grumpy teacher but whenever she growls we know she doesn’t mean it, thats why no one listen and keeps talking. She is a one of a kind teacher because she keeps all our pictures on the wall and will listen to Daniels strange jokes.

Mrs Roil is a lovely teacher and everyone enjoys her company. She is always having a good time and can change everybody's mood as soon as she walks in the room. Mrs Roil is a great teacher. She wants the best for us and our education. She encourages us to compete in more sports and activities. The only time she gets really grumpy is when someone has gotten lower than 5 in their spelling or times table tests. Mrs Roil is my favourite teacher at Parkvale school and I am her favourite student.

Mrs Roil has interests easier to spot than eye spy. She loves it when we do our work but you can see she really enjoys Art and music. When we are determined in our writing she will sometimes play some music off her computer. She has a large range of music but one song that she seems to love is The Champ sung by Nelly. Usually on Wednesday and Thursday Afternoon we are specifically quiet, not so we can listen to music but so we can learn the few techniques of art. Mrs Morton comes in on those days to teach us art techniques. Mrs Roil sits at her desk and sketches. Mrs Roil is a great teacher, I will come and visit her when I have half days at intermediate and I hope she never forgets me. This was the best class so far it will be the one I will always remember.  

Black bears

Black Bears

The black bears scientific name is Ursus americanus. It has two sub-species that include the Florida black bear and the Louisiana black bear. Black bears are very adaptable and live in 41 out of 50 states in the U.S but they can also live in Northern Mexico.

Black bears are very common bears. Did you know right now, there are 600,000 bears in north America but there are also 300,000 roaming the forests?. The average lifespan of a black bear is 20-30 years. In that time they can have up to 6 cubs. In one winter they can have up to 3 cubs. Black bears are usually pregnant for 63-70 days. Cubs are born when the mother bear is hibernating, they don’t eat anything until they come out for spring. People say black bears are born blind and that is why they stay in the cave longer.

The black bears behaviour is the same as every other bear. They hibernate for the whole of winter unless they are disturbed, they are excellent tree climbers and they tend to eat a lot of fish. The mother travels with her cubs until they are two, then she forces them to leave. Black bears can make 20 different sounds including grunts, roars, moans and other noises. They can grow 5ft to 6ft tall and can weigh 90 to 270 kg.

The Black bears appearance always looks slightly the same. Their fur colour can be either blue-black, blue-grey, cinnamon, and sometimes very rarely you can find a white, Black bear. They are mainly dark colours so the Black bear can hide from its predators. They don’t have many predators because they are so big, but really they are the smallest out of all 3 species of bear, that’s why their main predator are other bears. Another interesting fact is that Theodore Roosevelt was one of the first people to eat the Black bears raw meat.

Black bears are omnivores which means they can eat meat and vegetation. They would usually prefer berries, roots, grass, insects, honey, fish, carrion, deer, moose calves, garbage,and human food. Most bears that have eaten human food or garbage end up becoming extremely dangerous and are hunted down and killed. Did you know, when a bear hibernates they don’t eat food but they are eating their own body fat and to get enough body fat for the whole of winter means they eat twice as much in Summer and Autumn.

Black bears live in forests, mountains, swamps, and tree holes. They hibernate in different places including brush piles, sheltered spots, caves and burrows. They are usually traveling so they sleep in different places every night. Black bears are very interesting creatures and have lots of funny habits.

Chalk vs Pen vs Internet

This is a video that Thea, Milly and I all contributed to make. This shows what school was like in 1960, 1988 and 2013. Milly had to fill in for Charlotte and she did a great job. This video is about 3 people, Madame Chalk,  Miss Pen, and Mrs Internet that are having an argument about school and what year it was best. We gathered alot of information to make this video so I hope you enjoy.

Maths Strategies, Camp Show me

Black bears plan

Term 2 Reflection

Term 2 Reflection

Sport:

Netball has been fantastic this term. We have lost one game and drew quite a few, other than that we have won every game. Our team works great together we are great at finding space, defending, catching. We really need to work on 3 feet though. Our best shooter would be Kate and Charlotte and I work well at defending. I would like it if we had more practice and for our coach to be a little more strict.

Mini ball  has been dreadful. We have lost every game and we were never close to winning either. We have had one practice all term and we never have any subs because practically nobody in our team shows up. We are great at shooting and dribbling but it’s when we get to the other end of the court they just snatch the ball off us so everyone gives up. I am great at catching rebounds and running up and down the court, that’s what my mum says. Hope has to be our best player and she does get the ball a lot but it’s better her than another ball hogging boy.

Art:

Overall art this term has been great. I have learnt to use so many different techniques with Mrs Morton. I feel like I have improved rapidly. I am pretty disappointed in my rata tree because I only had one day to finish it but I tried hard with my draft copy. Sadly my St Basil Cathedral art seemed boring so I didn't try to make it look nice. Other than that I have tried extremely hard this year to make my art look nice and up to standard.  

Book electives:

When I first heard about book week electives I thought it was going to be extremely boring. Once I went to the first day about how to make a picture book I sat and listened the whole time. It was really interesting how Oliver Jeffers said the pictures and the writing is as important as each other. I also like working with the water pencils. I wish we could do this more often and hope we could make a picture book in class.

Writing:

Writing was great this term. I learnt a lot of great writers tricks and different ways to start my story. I think my writing has improved a lot and my story about Mrs Roil was my best so far. I would like to have a full day of fiction writing just for fun. Speaking of fun, Mrs Roil rule is you're not aloud to have the word fun in your writing, you have to use something with a little more detail. As I said before writing this term was amazing.

Reading:

This terms reading was quite easy. I feel as though the journals weren't complicated enough. I would like to work on putting more expression in my voice when I am reading. I would like to read books that have reports in them so we could learn some interesting facts. I wouldn't mind if sometimes we could have someone to research as our reading as well.

Overall:

Overall this term has been great the only downside is losing all our mini ball games. I learnt so much more in class. I would like to have some holiday homework so I don’t get lonely playing with my sisters and her barbies. I have improved in all subjects and hope that I can do even better next term. P.E has also been great. The class is very supportive when we play golden child but I would like to play new class games that last longer. Next term I hope the weather clears up so we can actually play sport. Other than the weather this term was great, I wouldn't mind finishing our reading documentary. I wouldn't mind starting a new one as well, just for more work.