Balloon Rockets Soar in the Science Challenge!

During the recent Science Challenge, students made Balloon Rockets in the 1/2M room. First the children were given a balloon, a straw, string, a clip, a texta and masking tape. The challenge was to make a balloon rocket travel the furthest. The children had to blow up a balloon and decorate it, then they had to attach it to the straw with tape. A clip was used to stop the air coming out. They then threaded the string through the straw. When the children tested their balloon rockets, most worked but some didn’t go as far! A couple of balloons even popped and they had to start again! The winning team worked really well as a team, decorated their balloon and made their rocket travel over 3 metres!

Here are some of the student comments….
We had our Science challenge. We made lots of things. My favourite part was the balloon rocket. (Cassidy)
I made lots of things. I liked it. (Taylor)
Yesterday I made a balloon rocket and it went three metres. It was fun. (Robert)
It was fun making the balloon rocket. (Layten)

A Memorable Canberra & Mt Kosciusko Excursion!

Year 6 students had a great time on their excursion to Canberra last week. Five very busy days saw our students visit the nation’s capital and experience many of the wonderful experiences such a visit offers.

Whilst in Canberra they enjoyed The National Museum, Parliament House (where they met Federal MP for Parkes Mr Mark Coulton), Electoral Education Centre (Old Parliament House), National Art Gallery (where they saw ‘Blue Poles’ and Monet’s ‘Water Lilies’), Questacon, Australian War Memorial, Australian Institute of Sport and Mt Ainslie Lookout. They also loved Ten-Pin Bowling and Laser Tag, which were new experiences for most of them.

They highlight of the trip however was undoubtedly the trip to Mount Kosciusko National Park to spend a day in the snow! After a visit to the Snowy Hydro Visitor Information Centre and a stop at the Ski Hut in Cooma to get their snow gear, they headed off to Smiggins Holes all rugged up and ready for what was to be for nearly all of them their first experience of snow. Fresh snow falls the night before meant a great snow experience, and the next five hours were spent building snowmen, throwing snowballs and sliding down the hill! All in all an excellent day and one we have no doubt the students will remember for many years.

Ready, Set, Kinder! 2008

On Tuesday the 26th of August, the Ready, Set, Kinder! Transition Program started again for 2008 with 17 eager and excited preschoolers arriving, ready for a fun afternoon in the Kindergarten rooms. The children completed three activities based around the Big Book, "The House That Jack Built" which included building a Lego house on the Smart board with Ms Dafter, sequencing the story using picture cards with Mrs Stewart and using different blocks to build Jack's house with Mrs Jackman. This was followed by a quick snack of fruit and water and some songs like, "I'm a little teapot". All the children had a fantastic time and Mrs Stewart, Ms Dafter, Mrs Lawty and Mrs Jackman were impressed with how clever the preschoolers were!

Book Week 3/4W

What a great time we had reading "The Peasant Prince" by Li Cunxin. It was based on a true story about a small boy in China, who at the age of 11 was chosen by the Government to attend a ballet school to train to be the best male ballet dancer for his country. Although it was a great honour for his family, it meant that he had to leave home and he didn't see his family for many years to come. Finally, he went to America where he continued to train and they were allowed to see him perform when he was an adult. We enjoyed making some kites that were in the story. This is a picture of our display board with the tissue kites we made. Buddy reading was fun to be involved in too!

Our Science & Engineering Challenge

Narrabri West students celebrated National Science Week last week with a Science and Engineering Challenge that involved all students from Kindergarten to Year 6.

Students were divided into small groups and these groups then undertook a number of scientific activities throughout the day that challenged them and required cooperative group work to successfully complete their tasks. To do this they first had to listen to the problem, look at the diagrams and then generate ideas in their heads about how they might go about reaching a solution. That’s what all successful scientists do!

Dr Edwards from the Narrabri Telescope also came to talk to all groups about his scientific work. He spoke to the students about the universe, planets and other interesting facts abut the telescope. ‘Awesome’ was the word most used by the students after his talks!

We also had terrific assistance from Narrabri High School Year 10 students who helped each group throughout the day.

Some of the activities were building newspaper towers, circular wing flyers, delta wing flyers and designing and building a 30cm suspension bridge. Year 6 students Jemma and Jaice wrote these comments about some of their groups activities: “Our group, ‘The Coustaeu’s’ started by building a catapult. We had to chose a design from the board and start building using materials we were given. These materials included dowel, masking tape and rubber bands. We then had to make a house that had working lights with a switch. The house also had to have a rainwater tank, windows and be of a certain size.”

All groups had had a fantastic time being budding scientists. Everyone was challenged, fully engaged and enjoyed the activity immensely!

Congratulations to the boys softball team!

Congratulations to the Narrabri West Boys Softball Team!

On Thursday 7th of August our boy’s softball team continued their excellent form to defeat Gunnedah South Public School in the North West Regional final.

The extra training the boys have been doing with Ms Noble really paid off as they played extremely well as a team and showed excellent sportsmanship throughout the game. Some outstanding catches were made and their batting was superb! The boys demonstrated brilliant fielding strategies, making some skilful double plays to get the runners from the other team out. In the first few innings the score was very tight but the boys stayed focused and worked together to achieve great results and bring their runners home under pressure.

Great cheering from the rest of the school as well as the support from parents throughout all the knockout games has allowed the boys to achieve such great results!

Originally it was thought the boys would play Orange East PS but Western Region schools still have not played their regional final games, so the boys will not know their next opposing team until mid September.

We wish them all the best and know that they will be training extra hard in preparation for their next big game! Well done boys!

Mini Olympics - let the games begin!

We had a great afternoon last Friday at our Olympic Games, with excited competitors and many Mums and Dads joining us for lunch and the activities.

After a march past and raising of the Olympic Flag by school leaders Abbey, Daniel and Gemma, the Olympic Torch arrived after its long journey. Gabby and Tim and had the honour of carrying it on its last leg to our assembly.

Our Olympics were then opened by Dr Lu, who now lives in Narrabri but is originally from China. Dr Lu presented an interesting and much enjoyed speech to our students, talking about China and the relevance of the date (08.08.2008) to the Chinese people. Dr Lu also explained why the Chinese alphabet meant that Australia would be amongst the last nations to enter the arena at the Olympic Opening ceremony. She then officially opened our games by declaring “Let the games begin!” in her native language.

An afternoon of games then commenced, with children competing in some interesting and fun variations of swimming, equestrian, cycling, hurdling, ten pin bowling, 3-legged relays, gymnastics and hockey activities.

The day concluded with a presentation to the winning teams and a commemorative ribbon to all participants, including our Pre School children who had joined us for the afternoon’s activities.