Balmacewen Science and Technology Fair Term 2 2010

No doubt you will have heard about the ‘Science Fair.’ It is a school wide event that has been happening at Balmacewen Intermediate for a number of years now. We are always very successful and a number of students go on to be very successful at the Otago Science and Technology fair each year. It is a great opportunity for students to undertake and inquiry of their own choice.
WHO: All Balmacewen Intermediate students will individually complete a science fair project guided through the process by their classroom teacher/
WHEN: The Science and Technology fair takes place over the course of Term Two. All students complete a project which is due into their classroom teacher for presentation in Week 10, Monday 21st June.
From here all projects will be exhibited in the hall later that week and judged. The best entries will be selected to represent Balmacewen at the Otago Science and Technology fair.
WHERE: Students will carry out science investigations and learn how to put their project together, create graphs and procedural writing techniques in class. They will get some class time to work on their projects and the rest will be made up of homework time for the term.
WHAT IS A SCIENCE FAIR PROJECT?
A science fair project can be an invention, investigation or experimental research. There has also been a change that includes aspects of ICT use as part of an investigation – developing a new programme, animation techniques, Robotics etc.
TIMELINE GUIDELINES
 HOLIDAYS – WEEK 1: It will start with a big question, idea or aim that the student wants to explore. For example: ‘How can I keep the fizz in my fizzy for longer?’ ’ ‘How can I make myself safe on my skateboard coming to school in the mornings?’
 WEEKS 1-3: Next the students will need to research and gather background information around this big idea.
 They will use this information to make a hypothesis or (in the case of an invention) come up with a prototype or plan.
 WEEKS 3 – 7: From here the students need to come up with a plan for how they are going to carry out their experiment, invention or investigation. They need to remember to use a fair test, think about what they are changing and measuring and repeat their testing at least three times for accuracy. (This will be explained fully at school by their classroom teacher)
 The students carry this plan out over the next few weeks and keep a log book and take photos of the process along the way.
 WEEK 8: Next the students put together their results. They may use graphs, tables or written observations.
 WEEK 8-10: They then summarise their results, making reference to their hypothesis.
 They will be given details and explanations at school as to how they must present their inquiry onto a display board. Samples of previous projects will be on display in the library and parents are also welcome to come in and look at these for ideas. (Pictures of these may also be on some class blog pages.) The display boards are available from the school library for $10. The rest of the information goes into their log book/clear file which will be kept with the display board for the judge’s reference.
The GUIDELINES used here are approximate and may change slightly.
We will have a lot of discussion and sharing of ideas in class and there will be notices coming home with additional information. But this gives you a basic run down to help you get your head around it all. If you have further questions please feel free to get in touch with me.

Science Fair

Kaja & Elizabeth - Norway

Today and last Friday we have had Kaja's friend Elizabeth here at Balmac visiting while she is in New Zealand on Holiday wiht her family. Today Kaja and Elizabeth shared an interesting slide show of photos and told us all about life in Norway and some of the things they enjoy doing there. Below are a few pics of them playing Hand ball which is the 2nd most popular sport children play in Norway. Thanks girls it was great hearing and seeing about your wonderful country

Week 8 Assembly Award - Hannah Bremner

Well odne to Hannah for receiving this weeks assembly award for "A hardworking and positive approach to everything that she does"

Well done Hannah!!

Asking Good Questions...

It has been great to see some of the fantastic questions everyone has been coming up with after our lessions on "Asking Good Questions" The questions that students have now written are going to be used to interview a Grandparent or someone form a generation before their parents. The interview questions will be based around "What it was like growing up and childhood compared to the way we have it now" giving the students some information and hopefully opening up an understanding of some of the changes and similarities as our world has changed over time and the way they are shaped by their past. Studnets will be starting their interviews from tonight and need to have the interview completed by Monday 29th so we can organise reporting on these...good luck...

Swimming Sports

A big well done to everyone who competed in the school swimming sports this morning at Moana Pool. It was great to see everyone giving it their best in all races. We had some successes in trhe finals with 3 students getting placing in their finals, an extra special well done to those who are listed below.

Austin Clarke - 3rd 25m Backstroke
Samuel Wardhaugh - 3rd 50m Backstroke & Free style, 2nd 50m Braststroke
Brianna Thomson - 3rd 50m Feestyle & Backstroke.

Asking Good Questions????

As part of out topic work this term students will be carrying out interviews on a grandparent or someone from a couple of generations before them. As part of this interview preparation students will need to come up with some suitable questions that will see them get the best information and answers from the people they interview.

HOMEWORK for tonight is to come up with 5 interview questions to ask me(Mr Sloan) on Thursday afternoon (Yes tomorrow!! 18th March) about my childhood. This will be a practise and also a challenge to see who can get the most information out of me in just 5 questions.

Today we have talked about asking good questions and the difference between open ended questions and ones that just give a closed answer of "yes' or "no"
I look forward to hearing all of te good questioning techniques!

Week 6 Assembly Award - Georgia

Well done to Georgia for receiving the Assembly award this week for "Always putting an extra effort into all that you do"

Georgia - My Great Great Grandad....

I was asking my Grandmother about my homework on NZ Identity and history and she pulled out this big book about our family. In the book there were the original tickets and receipts for the ship "Margaret Galbraith" which my Great Great Grandad Philip Milburn and his family came to New Zealand on in 1879. My Great Great Grandad Philip was 5 years old when he came on the boat to Otago NZ. These tickets and receipts are very old and brittle - Mum was able to copy them for me to bring to school to share. My Great Great Grandad - had an article written about their journey here which I have read and it sounded pretty breathtaking! I feel very lucky to have seen and heard about these. The photo shows me with the photo copies of the ticket, receipt and article about the trip. Below is a copy of these for people to have a look at.

Georgia Ticket

Settlers Museum Photos

Check out some of the cool photos of us all dressed up as earl settlers during our trip ot the Otago Settlers Museum in the slideshow below

Week 5 Assembly Awards

A big well done to Samuel and Couper for receiving Principal's awards in Assembly for their efforts and work on their photo story of camp.

Gemma Clydesdale Camp Photo Story

Jame Grigg Camp Photostory

Samuel & Couper's Camp Photo Story

We have made up a video clip of some of our camp experiences, sit back and enjoy, Samuel & Couper
(just click the play button, it may take a minute to buffer before playing)

NZ Identity & Kiwiana...

Check out the clips below - What makes NZ a special place to live? What do the adverts show the viewer about New Zealand as a place to be and live and the things we do and enjoy? Leave your thoughts in the comments section at the bottom of this post.

Camp Survey

Thanks to those who have completed the camp survey, for those who haven't had a look at it yet the link to it is below, it would be great to get the last few of these completed asap.

Click here to take our Online Survey

A selection of camp photos...

Week 4 Assembly Award

A big "Well Done" to Bruno for this weeks assembly award certificate - presented for "An outstanding display of manners and enthusiasm during our class camp this week. Well done Bruno!

Camp Waihola 2010

Well we have returned from a fantastic 3 days away at camp! It was a real pleasure to spend 3 days with 2 classes of well mannered, enthusiastic and cheerful students from Room 13 & 24 and we were very lucky to have such wonderful weather. I would like to think that all students had a great time and enjoyed themselves as well as being challenged in some way while they were at camp. We will be doing some follow up work related to the experiences of the students at camp back here at school in the coming days. A huge thank you to all the parents who were able to help with transport and some of our activities at camp, very much appreciated!
If you have any photos at home from camp, it would be great to be able to get copies of these brought along to school either on a USB drive or memory card for us to use and share.
Keep an eye out here for more camp stories soon...
Please take a few moments to read, discuss and complete the survey of camp with your child that is linked to the post below

Thanks
Andrew Sloan

Camp Waihola 2010 Room 13 & 24 Survey

It would be great to get some feed back on camp from students and parents about what was enjoyed and what went well along with any room for improvement to make the camp an even better one in the future, It would be great if you could take 5 minutes to complete the survey by clicking the link below



Click here to take our Online Survey

Week 3 Wrap and Camp Prep...

Well week three has flown by with another busy week at Balmac!! We had another swimming lesson Friday morning - it has been great to see the super efforts everyone has been putting into improving and developing their swimming skills. On Friday afternoon we had our School Powhiri, a special event where our Year 8 students welcome the new Year 7 student and teachers to the school - it is great to see such positive relationships being developed in the class and also amongst both year 7 and 8 students throughout the school.
On Monday mornig we will head out to Waiholo for our Class Camp, below is a list of activity group names for Day 1 & 2, along with a map of how to get to camp if you intend to come visit.
Students need to remember to come with their day bag packed with all that they need for the sailing, raftbuilding and lunch as they may not have easy access to their other bags until later in the day. Last thing to remember is that we are needing to leave school by just on or after 8.30am in order to get tot eh lake for our sailing and raft building activity.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend and see you all Monday!!
Mr Sloan

Room 13 Camp Activity Groups

Getting to Camp

Camp Info 18th Feb

Camp Information for Parents and Caregivers 18th Feb 2010

Room 13 Camp Gear List

Things to Take on Camp

Couper, The Day of Balmac...

I got up in the morning at 6:30!!!! Got straight into my uniform and walked to School feeling really nervous coming into the hall. The teacher called out my name with most of my friends and then I was happy, my class is room 13 and I’m sitting by my best friend Samuel Wardhaugh. Mr Sloan is my Teacher and that was my first day at Balmac.
Written by Couper

Week 3...

Well we are into week 3 already!! This week we have another swimming session on Friday morning as well as a busy week getting all organised for our class camp next Monday 22nd - Wednesday 24th Feb, always a great way for students to get to know eachother better and have some great fun and challenges. Coming home today is a gear list of things that students will nedd to bring along with them - If you don't have all that is on the list ask friends and family who might be able to lend you things you don't have. Also coming home to day that needs to be returned is our school cybersafety student use agreement so please ensure this is read, completed and returned asap.
more again soon...

Lucy - My First Day at Balmac...

‘Beep beep beep beep’ is what I woke up to at 6:40am on Tuesday morning. At first I thought that the house was on fire, but then I realised it was just my alarm clock telling me to wake up for my first day at Balmacewen Intermediate. Sleepily, I turned it off, threw my blanket off me, and headed off into the kitchen to fix my breakfast.
From the moment I stepped out of the car, the driveway to school was absolutely swarming with people wearing red jerseys. How many people were there? Most definitely more than three hundred (There was actually more than 480). We all piled into the school hall, wondering what our teachers and class mates would be like. New friends, maybe? Mr Sloan stood up, and called out names. “Lucy Bell”. Did he call my name? Or was it just my imagination?
From the moment I sat down at my new desk, I knew that this year would bring fun and enjoyment, as well as challenges.

By Lucy

Meet the teacher Wednesday 9th Feb 7pm

Well week 2 is under way and everyone isn't looking quite as nervous as they were last week. Everyone in room 13 is showing really great attitudes and making good efforts to get to know each other much better, Our class camp which is just under 2 weeks away will be a great opportunity for everyone to get to know each other even better - more info on this tomorrow night and in a newsletter soon. If you are able to make it along to the 'Meet the teacher' evening tomorrow night it starts in the school hall at 7pm followed by a chat from myself in room 13 after this. I look forward to meeting you tomorrow night.
Andrew Sloan

Welcome to Room 13 2010

Dear Parents and Caregivers

Hi, I’m Andrew Sloan, your child’s teacher for 2010. I am excited about the prospect of another enjoyable year with a great bunch of students. I am looking forward to getting to know all of your children over the next couple of weeks as they learn their way around the school, get to know the routines and expectations of room 13, and make new friends.

Term 1 is going to be a really busy term and there are a lot of exciting activities planned. During the year many school activities require the help and support of parents, and I will try and get the dates and times out as soon as possible so that parents can arrange to help wherever possible.

We start swimming next week so this could be your first opportunity to help out; a notice regarding this will be going home later this week. Next on the agenda is the room 13 class camp from Monday 22nd to Wednesday 24th February. We will be heading off to Waihola for our three day Camp and this is always heaps of fun and a great way for the students to get to know each other a little better. I will be sending out further information regarding the camp very soon.

Throughout the year I will be keeping in touch via newsletters regarding class programmes and class activities, but as we know this sometimes get left in bags! So we have a class page where student notices, class happenings and students work and other neat stuff will be shared. The address for our class blog page is http://www.balmac2010.blogspot.com/ there is also a link to this from the school website which also has important information and happenings at http://www.balmacewen.school.nz/ If you can’t make it to the “meet the teacher” night on Wednesday the 10th of February and you have an e-mail address, send it along to school so that I can contact you via email if necessary.

Intermediate is a time when students need to start getting into the habit of completing homework in preparation for high school. The students in Room 13 will usually have homework each night with the exception of Friday (unless it’s really important). Homework mainly consists of current themes or topics studied at school. The students will have inquiry assignments over the course of the year and are made very aware of due dates so that they can manage their time effectively.
The students have spelling and language tasks to complete each week also.

The students will have fitness daily, so they will need to have their correct school P.E gear with them every day. If their P.E. gear needs to be washed they can bring replacement gear along with a note of explanation.

I will do my best to ensure your child has a worthwhile, fun and challenging year. I have high expectations of my students and want them to be the best that they can be, as well as make sure they have fun along the way. I expect work to be completed both to the best of their ability and on time.

My challenge to the students is to get involved. There will be lots of opportunities for the students to join sports teams and take part in cultural activities this year and I encourage the students to participate in some of these. It’s a great way for them to meet new friends and to try new things. They are notified about these activities via the school notices.

I’m really looking forward to this year and hope to see many of you next Wednesday at the “meet the teacher” evening.
If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me either through the school or at this email address.
asloan@balmacewen.school.nz or andrewjsloan@yahoo.com

Kind Regards
Andrew Sloan