In the Classroom

colo2-D Shapes in Mathematics

In Year 3-5 Mathematics, students have been exploring 2-D (dimensional) shapes. Students completed a scavenger hunt through the playground, finding lots of different 2D shapes at the play gym. We have been exploring lines of symmetry using string and sorting shapes into polygons and quadrilaterals. Students were also tasked with making a picture from different 2D shapes. The results were as follows: 

Puppets in the Classroom

Students have been learning about different types of puppets during drama lessons. We have made stick puppets, finger puppets and sock puppets. We attempted ventriloquism with our sock puppets. We had varying success being ventriloquists - some students were very good and had us convinced that the puppet was talking and others resorted to covering up their mouths with their hands while they spoke.

Stage 2 and 3 Narrative Writing

Using this picture as their inspiration years 3, 4 & 5 wrote the follow pieces.

Sport

This week in sport we have been learning to play Captain Ball and Tunnel Ball. It took a few practice runs but once warmed up, the students found their rhythm and worked as a team, taking it in turns and send the ball flying through the tunnels.  

Online Learning with Mrs Denning

UNE Discovery Bus

Niangala Public School students had a terrific time at the UNE Science Discovery Day hosted by Woolbrook Public School.

Students were divided into year groups and experienced four branches of science through fun hands-on activities:

The Magic of Physics - learning how colours, magnets and sound works

Science Meets Art - completing drawings to record scientific information

Creative Chemistry - making 'Elephant's Toothpaste' whilst learning about chemical reactions

Paleo Puzzles - looking at fossils and designing our own animal that the bones may have come from.

Thank you to all of the student for their exceptional behaviour!

CrocWise Posters in K/1

As a final task for our learning about Australian Animals and writing well formed sentences that make sense, K/1 created a CrocWise poster which incorporated the facts that the students had been learning about crocodiles to create a poster to help keep visitors to croc country safe. 

As luck would have it the K/1 students had a real audience and purpose for creating these posters, as Bella Crawford is heading up to northern Queensland later this month. Bella will be safe and sound from any crocodiles as the students were able to present their poster and inform Bella about the risks these large reptiles present and how she can stay safe around them. Bella now knows that she shouldn't feed the crocodiles, shouldn't swim in any water up there and she shouldn't go back to the same place each day because the crocodiles will remember and death roll her if she does.

Mask Making in Visual Arts

This term K-6 have been looking at creating masks and the many different cultures that masks play a significant role in.  The students engagement in this unit was contagious and the love for glitter very evident. Their unique creations are beautiful!

ICT in the Classroom

Thank you to Leroy, Evie-Lee, Valerie and Lindsay for helping in the classroom so the Kindergarten and Year 1 students could learn to log on to their laptops, open Word, type some sentences, save their work and then log off correctly last week. Your help was invaluable and best of all - you were all so kind, caring and patient with the younger students. I was really proud of the way you coached them through. Thank you. Let's lock it in again for Term 2.

Visit from David the "Butterfly Man"

On Monday 7th April we were really lucky to have a visit from David who used to own the Coffs Harbour Butterfly House. He now lives in Walcha and owns the Woodturning Shop in Walcha. 

This is what Kindergarten and Year One learnt about butterflies.

Georgia: Butterflies can fly and drink water with their straw like tongue.

Aubree: Butterflies are attracted to bright colours. They have different coloured wings.

Elsie: Butterflies love pollen because it tastes sweet.

Joey: The boy butterflies have to look more beautiful than the girl butterflies to attract the girls.

Holly: Caterpillars can stay in a chrysalis and they stay in it for more than two weeks. Butterflies can be as big as 15cm. Butterflies can eat off a whole spider's head.

Matilda: Caterpillars can lay up to 105 eggs and only about 3 will survive to be a butterfly. The rest of them are eaten by a really small ant.

Harry: Butterflies come out of a chrysalis with small wings and they pump blood into them so that they can fly. Caterpillars have spikes on them which they use to keep away ants. The chrysalis of a butterfly has a bands like a bungee cord to connect them to the branches so that they can stay supported.

Mrs Crawford: I learnt that only moths come out of cocoons and butterflies come out of a chrysalis.