Construction, Robots, 3D Design, WOW!

 

Wow, the Exploration Station has been buzzing with learners this week. It's been so good to be back at school learning together. 

We've had our little learners from Room 23 working on becoming computer scientists.  

They've been looking at algorithms and how they can use them to tell a computer what to do.

We worked with a buddy and some of us were computer scientists while our buddy was a computer.  Our computers could only do what we told them to do.

It was quite tricky to get our computers to go the right way.  We had to think carefully about our instructions and how we put them together into an algorithm.

Our Mars Rover team has been hard at work with our Kais Clan robots getting ready to make their submission to the Great New Zealand Mars Mission.  Today we got a bit of help working with our temperature sensor, getting music into our creation and thinking about how we're using our 3D models.  Our Mars Rover team has created their own 3D models in Tinker Cad to add to our Mars Mission.

Our EPro8 competition teams have been working on using our EPro8 kit and making sure they're ready for their competition.   They've also started planning their super-secret competition submissions but I can't tell you about those yet...

Term 3 Week 6 Tuesday

Hi Explorers 

I hope you and your bubble are having a great Tuesday. 

Here's a message from Mrs Lee

It would be great to see some more creations shared on our Maze Flipgrid.

Have you tried the maze challenges yet?  Check out the instructions on the learning at home tab.  

Here is Indigo's maze, can you make one? 

You can have a go at Indigo's maze here

Kauri Whanau check out the create a maze challenge to get instructions on how to make your own

Term 3 Week 6 Monday

Ata mārie Explorers! 

I hope you're having a great start to your week.

Here's a short message from Mrs Lee

and an announcement... 

The 2020 Supreme Rulers are (play the video to find out)

T3W5 Tuesday

Ata Mārie Explorers!

I hope you're having a great morning so far.  I think Mrs Lee finally got most of the technical bugs worked out yesterday.  That means the Exploration Station challenges are now up on the Learning at Home tab on this blog yepee!

Here's a message from Mrs Lee:

Do check out the SHINE Online post I made earlier this morning too.  It's super important we make sure we're being respectful and kind online.

Have a great day!

How are you going to SHINE Online?

 Let's make sure we can all SHINE Online... 

Did you know that being online (on the Internet) is very similar to being offline (not using the Internet)?

The way we talk to people what and how we show them things should be the same as if we were standing right next to them.

Here's a little reminder about how we should use our Sunnyhills Google Suite accounts.

Now is a good time for everyone to think about how they are treating other people online.  Even if we aren't using a Sunnyhills Google Suite account we should be treating others with respect and kindness - always.

SHINE Online

Remember to check out our SHINE Online site for information on how to stay safe and healthy online

Can you think of some great ways show kindness and respect when you are online?  What could you put in a blog comment? Email? Video?  Chat message?  How could you act in a Google Meet?

Term 3 Week 4 Friday

 Hi Explorers!

Welcome to Friday!  The end of the school week.  Here's a short message from Mrs Lee this morning... 

I hope you have a great weekend.

Mars Rover Team & EPro8 team keep an eye on your emails hopefully Mrs Lee can sort out a few technical glitches today and get your challenges out to you.

Term 3 Week 4 - Thursday

 Welcome Explorers!

What a beautiful day we're having in Auckland this morning.  

Here's a short message from Mrs Lee this morning...

EPro8 team watch your email I'll send you a link to join our special Google Classroom soon.

Mars Rover Team I'll be setting up our Kais Clan robots later today so you can jump into the app and continue coding. 

Details are on the TeXpert classroom.

Remember to visit your classroom blog and check out the Maths Week challenges on the Maths week site and the extra challenges on Mrs Maddens Maths blog too.

Check out Ms Madden's Maths blog here 

Check out the maths week site here 

Design Thinking - Lets Prototype

The Exploration Station is a hive of activity last week with our year 6 learners creating their prototypes to solve our problem:

How might we make the mBot, Edison and Makey Makey Tinker Time kits easier for Sunnyhills learners to use so that they can make amazing things?

The learners have worked through some design thinking concepts to give them an idea of how design thinking works.  The process was applied to our Sunnyhills Learning pathway.  

The templates we used were adapted from those used by Ormiston Primary School and Mr Michael Davidson in their Genius time process.

Term 2 Week 7 - Digital Books!

Hi Explorers!

It has been so fantastic to see everyone this week.  We have had a great time in the Exploration Station creating digital books.  

Our Year 1 learners in Room 8 and Room 10  have been thinking about how to take a great photo.  
We learnt how to use our duck arms, breathe in and look at the screen before taking a photo.

We thought about why it was important to get close to things we were taking a photo of rather than using the zoom on our cameras.  We decided if we could get close it makes a photo less blurry.


We went on a photo scavenger hunt and found: 

We then used a new tool called Book Creator to make a digital book about our photos.  This is the first time we've used Book Creator so we're still learning about all of its features and how to use them.  

When we're learning a new tool it can be tough to start with and we need lots of practice to get good at using it.  We did really well learning about this tool and we'll get even better at it as we use it more. 

 Here are a few of our first book creations, click on the link to each book to read it online.

Term 2 Week 5 - Friday

Good Morning Explorers!

Here's a video update from Mrs Lee... 

Remember all the Exploration Station Challenges are on the Learning at home tab. 

Term 2 Week 5 - Wednesday

Good Morning Explorers!

Here's a video update from Mrs Lee...

Check out the rainstick video and

tutorial on the Exploratorium Site

Rainsticks - Picture from Pixabay https://pixabay.com/photos/rattle-rainmaker-rain-bar-11487/

There are many different sound experiments on the site, 

check them out by clicking here

T2W5 Share and Shine - Tuesday

It's Sharing Time

Remember to keep sharing your learning on our Flipgrid - The instructions are in your Google Classroom Assignments.  If you get stuck you can always let Mrs Lee know via email or fill in this form and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.

Measuring Sound

Beau shared some music he made on Chrome Music Lab.  Click here to check it out.

Beau's Music Lab Creation

Mrs Lee played Beau's creation while she was running Sound Meter and measured the sound.  What is happening to the measurement in Sound Meter (on the right)?  Why do you think some sounds are higher or lower on the sound meter graph?

Keen to give some of the Exploration Station Challenges a try?  Check them out on the Learning at Home tab.

Term 2 Week 5 - Monday

Good Morning Explorers!

I hope you and your bubble had a great weekend.  Here's a video update from Mrs Lee.. 

Remember all the Exploration Station Challenges are on the Learning at Home tab 

Term 2 Week 4 - Friday - Sharing Time

It's Sharing Time

Another wonderful learning at home day.  Here are some of the creations that have been shared over the past few days.  Remember you can continue to do any of the Exploration Station Challenges I have posted over the last few weeks.  They are all in the learning at home tab.

Darkside Defeat

We've had some awesome origami creations from Nathan and Jessica.  
Remember to fill out the Darkside defeat form so you can get your special certificate.  

Check out their creations and leave them a  positive, thoughtful, helpful video comment!

Coding Challenges
There are some great coding challenges on the Learning at Home tab make sure you check them out.  Cimone and Nathan have shared the challenge they have created on our Flipgrid. 

Check out their creations and leave them a positive, thoughtful, helpful video comment!

Fake News Detectors

Our Fake New Detectors challenge is still going, we've added a few more to our leaderboard today, here's who has become a Fake News Detector already...

Term 2 Week 4 - Friday

Hi Explorers!

Welcome to Friday! 

I hope that you and your bubble are enjoying the end of the week. 

Remember to look after Mum for Mothers day tomorrow.

Here's a video update from Mrs Lee

Term 2 Week 4 Thursday

Hi Explorers

Welcome to Thursday week 4.  Here's a video update from Mrs Lee:

Let's have some fun with coding challenges.  Check out the new challenges that have been added to your Exploration Station Learning at Home Slide decks.  You'll find them on the Learning at home tab.  

Term 2 Week 4 - Tuesday

Hi Explorers!

Welcome to another day of distance learning at home.  I hope you enjoyed all the Star Wars challenges yesterday.  Remember you can still do any of the previous challenges including yesterdays challenge, they are optional and can be completed whenever you like. 

Here is a video update from Mrs Lee

Isn't it great that we can be computer scientists and create code to make computers and other technology do what we need them to do?  Creating your own code with many different algorithms can be lots of fun.  

Many of you have already started coding on your own.  Scratch junior and scratch are great places to have a go at coding.  Later in the week, Mrs Lee will add a few coding challenges for you. 

Scratch Junior
Can be used on phones, tablets and some Chromebooks.  Check out this video from STEM Kid that gives you some basic ideas about how to use Scratch Junior.

Scratch 
Browser-based works on most computers/laptops/Chromebooks.  The Scratch team released this video that gives an idea of what scratch can do:

Share and Shine - Monday Week 4

It's Sharing Time

What a great day of learning you've had Sunnyhills.  I'm working my way through all your class blogs and there is some fantastic learning happening wow!

We've got a new star wars challenge this week, don't forget to share what you have created for May the Fourth.  Check out the Learning at Home tab for instructions on how to share your work.

Fake News Detectors

Our Fake New Detectors challenge is still going, we've added a few more to our leaderboard today, here's who has become a Fake News Detector already...

Game Makers

Have you checked out our games yet?  If you haven't do go and visit the MakerEdNZ Flipgrid here.  I see that Charli has added a game today, it looks awesome. I hope you enjoyed making it Charli.

Remember you can still do the marble run challenge from week 1-2 if you would like to.  The links are on the learning at home tab.

Term 2 Week 4 Monday - May the Fourth Be With You!

It's Star Wars Day! 

Welcome Explorers!

I hope you and your bubble had a restful weekend.  Welcome to Monday week 4!  Today many people around the world celebrate May 4th as Star Wars day.  Here's a special video update from a galaxy far far away... 

Are you ready to create something to help us to defeat the Darkside?  

Check out the learning at home tab for Google Classroom assignment links if you're in year 3-6 or videos and links to the Flipgrid if you're in year 1-2.  Let's defeat the Darkside!

Remember to fill in the form to let me know you've added your creations to the Flipgrid so I can send you your special May the Fourth certificate and add your house points.

Here's the blueprint video for making more X-Wing fighters.  

• Millennium Falcon, Yoda and a few dark side characters can be found here
• Check out this site for a template and instructions for making BB8
• If you're in need of an extra amazing challenge check out this tutorial on making 3D pieces and then have a go at making this epic 3D paper light saber.

Don't forget to share your creations on our May the Fourth Flipgrid here for year 3-6 learners and here for year 1-2 learners

Share and Shine

Share and Shine

Wow!  Sunnyhills Explorers, you are awesome!  You've really been Sharing and Shining over the last few weeks.  There are so many posts about the learning you've been sharing with your teachers on your class blogs, Exploration Station, Music, Enviro, and Te Reo blogs.

I thought I'd post some help files for sharing your Exploration Station challenges here too.  Just in case you need a hand to share your challenges.

Year 3,4, 5 and 6 learners 
If you're keen to share the Exploration Station Maker challenges you've done, you can share them on the MakerED NZ Flipgrid.  The instructions are in your challenge slide decks.  You'll find your slide decks on the learning at home tab on this blog.  

Once you've shared on the Flipgrid make sure you click 'mark as done' in Google classroom so I know to go and check out your fantastic video.   

Here's a video that explains how to find and use the 'mark as done' button.

Year 1 and 2 learners

If you've completed one of the Exploration Station challenges you can email Mrs Lee your photos or you can ask a trusted adult to upload your video to Google Drive and share it with Mrs Lee's email address.  

Click here to find out how to upload a file from your phone/tablet/computer to Google Drive 

Click here to find out how to share a file on Google Drive

Blog Comments
Have you checked out all the blogs yet?  Remember you can comment on your own class blog and other class blogs as well as this blog and our music, maths, Te Reo and enviro specialist blogs.  

Here's a reminder of how to comment on a blog