Robotics 2015 Video

Many year groups have had fun exploring robotics this term. Some Year 5 students made and programmed some impressive robots as you can see in this clip. Lots of problem solving and collaborative thinking was required.

Y3 GATE Group

The Year 3 GATE group have been looking at the process for the Flag Referendum in New Zealand. They have looked at the history of the flag and taken a survey to see whether people want to change the flag.

"It interests me that the flag has been around for 100 years, so I think we should change it."

"I really like how in the GATE group when you have ideas and you share them they can take you into a discussion and you learn more about the idea that you had."

"I was interested to learn that the Queen had a flag and when the Queen was away there was another flag for the Governor General."

"I was interested to learn about the New Zealand Flag history."

"I've learnt that New Zealand has lots of different flags."

"One of the first flags New Zealand had was one with the Union Jack and three stars - Flag of the United Tribes of New Zealand."

"I'm wondering why the Governor General has their own flag."

"I've learnt about many different countries flags and what they look like."

"I learnt in the video that the Governor General has their own flag."

We selected 4 nominated flags and voted on our favourite and then voted whether to replace or keep the current flag.
Which would be your choice?

On September the 4th a reporter from the NZ Herald came to interview our Year 3 GATE group about what they thought about changing our flag - They share their opinions with great thought and the following article was in the Saturday paper...

Year 3 Robotics Group

This week a group of Year 3 students have been busy creating and programming robots....

"We learnt how to follow instructions and use our imagination to create wild things with MOSS blocks"

(Ishita & Yao)

"I built this robot, programmed it and put on sensors so if it comes to a wall it will stop, turn around and go in another direction."
(Richie)

"I learnt about how machines work and how things connect to make a working circuit."

(Finn)

Year Two Artists

This term a group of Year Two artists created some spectacular artworks with Ms Kelly. They used line and pattern to add detail when creating their favourite objects in a bottle.

Taniwha Sculpture

Earlier this year a talented group of Year 5 and 6 students worked tirelessly with Ms Kelly to create an incredible mosaic sculpture. You can see this taniwha sculpture proudly displayed at the entrance to the Hobson Bay Walkway on Shore Road. Venture through the walkway and you will find other sculptures from neighbouring schools.

Term 1 Music Extension Group

Last term a group of children created their own piece of music based on the 12 Bar Blues format and proudly performed it to their peers and parents at the end of the term. They also created an arrangement using the chord sequence: 1,5,6,4.

Year 2 and 3 Robotics

In the last two weeks year 2 and 3 students at VAS visited Mr Des Forges and learned to program Beebots and Wonder Workshop robots. They also were introduced to app programming with ScratchJr for iPad.