Talk by Dr James Renwick, climate change scientist

We were very lucky during the week to have Dr James Renwick visit us to talk to us about wind. He works at Victoria University and specialises in climate change so we were also able to ask him some questions about that.

We had a good general discussion about the wind and what causes it, with many of our students showing they are building a good base of knowledge from the experiments they have been shown and undertaken themselves, readings and our sculpture walk. James also brought some interesting slides to prompt discussions about pressure on our body, hurricanes, etc.

He finished with a simple way of showing how wind is created, moving air from high pressure to low pressure: take one balloon and blow it up (hold it tightly closed), then let it go and watch the air move - from the high pressure system inside the balloon to the low pressure system in our atmosphere!

Thanks very much to James for visiting with us, and to Debs for organising his visit.

Visit by Major Cooper from NZDF

 In week one of this term, we did a lot of learning about ANZAC Day and World War One. This week we were fortunate to have Major Cooper and Scott Earley from the New Zealand Defence Force come in and talk to us.

Major Cooper told us what it is like to be in the army today. He explained a little of how he has spent the last 30 years in the army, rising from the rank of Private to Major. When he first joined the army he was a truck driver. He has travelled extensively with the army, within New Zealand and overseas, including to East Timor, Bamyan in Afghanistan, Australia and the Sinai Desert in Egypt.

We also talked about what ANZAC Day means to those in the armed forces, a day for remembering those who have been prepared to protect their country and possibly die for it. We learnt how the Victory Cross is awarded very rarely and that Willie Apiata was the last New Zealander to receive it since the Second World War.

We had a fun quiz to see what we remembered from the talk and what we knew about ANZAC. Thanks for coming to visit us, we'll remember this.

What does good visual communication look like?

We were really lucky to have Rebecca Wedge (Molly J's mum) and her business partner Nina Velleman (a Worser Bay alumni) come in and talk to us about being graphic designers this week. They told us a little about what they do and showed us some of their work. Lots of us were interested in being graphic designers.

They pointed out to us some of the features good visual designs should have:
 - a clear idea that works with the image
 - use clear language that is larger for the more important ideas
 - if you're working on a computer then choose a font that works with your image
 - think about how the colour represents your message and how your colours work together.

They showed us some of the work they've done for Worser Bay School and unpacked for us the disco poster.

I am a thinker

I am a thinker

I am connected

I am a thinker

We've been working on visual posters to communicate our ideas about our learner attributes (I am a thinker, I am connected, I am powerful, I am a goal setter), and also how we look after our school environment sustainably as part of our student council responsibilities. We're still finishing some of them but keep an eye around the school to see our work.

Thanks very much for coming to talk to us Rebecca and Nina, we learnt a lot from you.

Refugee Centre Visit

Harua and Fahima came in from the refugee services. They talked to us about what they do there. They help people that have come from overseas. People that have come from overseas usually have problems in their own countries for example, war. Fahima and her husband, had to leave her country and travel for 25 hours over mountains with 5 children, including a 2 month old baby. She travelled from Kabul to Pakistan.

By Evie

SPCA Visit on Monday- Please comment to say what you learnt!

We were able to pat George- the dog!

George is only about 10 months old and he is with the SPCA because the previous owners could not look after him.

SPCA stands for Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

The SPCA came to visit on Monday. They talked about how they are able to use their power to influence positive change... 

http://www.wellingtonspca.org.nz

Please make a comment and say what you learnt! 

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!

We collected our rubbish on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. 

Megan, who works at the dump, came in and showed us how much rubbish we were producing. It was interesting to see that there was so much untouched food. The fruit could have filled a fruit bowl. She talked about how we could reduce our rubbish in the school. If you don’t want to eat a whole apple then ask your parents to cut it in half. Rinse out plastic bags and reuse them. Use 
containers instead of lots of plastic bags. If you have a yoghurt container don’t put it in the rubbish – maybe plant a flower in it! 

Reduce, Reuse and Recycle!

By Molly and Maya

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