Newsletter March 2010

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Butterfly catcher

Eneri and Charlie, among others, particulary enjoy hunting for bugs, spiders and other insects.. Their interests have been on-going here at KIDSPACE and have been extended and documented in many ways. Today Charlie, Eneri, Theo and Max were outside chasing butterflies, but because they move so fast it was almost impossible to catch one. I then came across a little white one on the grass, and his wing must have been sore, because he didn't fly away as usual. The four boys took on the responsibility to care for the injured butterfly and show their friends. Charlie carefully took it in the palms of his hands, and Eneri raced off to find a little container to sit it in. Lovely to see such care and compassion.

Ainslee

Museum School Holiday Programme

Torch day for Earth Hour 2010

It was dark at KIDPSACE on Friday, we had our lights out, curtains closed and windows covered. We used torches to see and were practising for Earth Hour 2010, on Saturday 27 March- a World Fund For Nature (WWF) international campaign, with an important message about saving power and reducing our impact on the environment. Across the world, lights were dimmed on great monuments such as Egypt's Pyramids, the Eiffel Tower and the Colosseum in Rome. We would love you to comment on our whaanau blog which lights you turned off at home on Saturday.

Jessie

Little scientisits

On Friday Eneri, Charlie, Theo, Isaac, Taylah, Maia, Sophie and Donnagh experimented with the properties of milk. We added dishwashing liquid (soap) to milk and then added dye (food colouring). We watched the colours swirl, tumble and churn to make interesting patterns. The soap breaks down the chemicals holding the protein moledules together in the milk. The protein and fat moledules in the milk start to disperse and mix and this causes the churning action.

We then experimented with primary colours blue, red and yellow and discovered that we could make secondary colours orange and green. The children went on to explore with cornflour gloop and were amazed at the way it changes form and from hard to soft.

We were learning about physical science, the study of matter, form and change.

Rie and Jessie

Tangi for a dead manu

This morning I found a dead manu (bird). After picking it up from the grass, I showed interested tamariki ma. Kian's mum Katrina suggested a tangi. So with help we got a cardboard box, wool and a cardboard lid for the puuhina (grey) manu. We reflected on dead Perky (a previous cockatiel bird of KIDSPACE) and where he was buried in the garden when he died. Children were happy to talk about this dead bird, and sing a song after I dug a hole and children took turns to fill this in with earth. Donnagh and Kian were especially interested staying right to the end of the tangi and suggesting we sing Ainslee's new song 'Tapatoru, Tapawhaa' (an action song about shapes), to farewell the manu.

Jessie

Our Hot Cross Buns

Jess helped us to prepare for Easter, by practising making our own version of Hot Cross Buns. We talked about how the bread dough was like play dough but very sticky. We discussed adding flour to make the dough less sticky. Maia, Paige, Taylah, Noah, Kian, Donnagh, Libby, Oly, Ruby, Caelyn and Mania all helped. We added sultanas and cocoa to the dough. We took home a bun to try in our lunch boxes with a note so mum and dad knew what we had made.

Jess and Jessie