Brain Talk

This afternoon, Dr Barr (Mr Mac's wife) visited Sunnyhills School to share some really interesting facts about the brain with us.

The brain is... 

• about the size of a small cauliflower and floats in liquid, within the skull
• approximately the same weight as 3 blocks of butter - about 1.5kg
• bigger than the brain of animals which are the same body size, e.g. chimpanzee

Different parts of the brain have different roles, e.g. the frontal lobe tells you when to move, while the hippocampus keeps memory (it backs up when we're asleep - just like a computer!). Other areas help with planning, senses and hearing.

While your body feels pain, your brain doesn't. So if you had brain surgery you would only need anesthetic while the surgeon cuts through the skin.  This is really useful so the surgeon doesn't damage a part of the brain that is being used. Dr Barr showed us a video of a man playing the guitar while he was undergoing brain surgery because they didn't want to damage that part of the brain that he needed for playing the guitar.  Amazing!

This is one of the videos that Dr Barr shared with us to help understand the brain's functions:

https://youtu.be/4Dcj6nYcbLI

Dr Barr shared some awesome words, e.g. neuroplasticity, electroencephalography, and neurons  These will certainly help to improve our scores next time we play Scrabble :)

There is so much to learn about the brain.  Maybe in the future, one of the 5Stars will be a neurologist or neurosurgeon. Watch this space!

Game Designers

We have been learning about Matariki and how it is celebrated.  There are several versions of the Matariki legend, but many use the seven stars of Matariki as the main characters.  The 5Stars have been designing board, card and Scratch games to demonstrate our understanding of the legend. 

The games are not finished at the moment, but we're really looking forward to playing them with another class and receiving their feedback.  Game Design is fun!

ANZAC Stories

The 5Stars have been learning about the meaning of  ANZAC and why it is important that we continue to reflect and remember. Here are a few stories created by some of the learners as a response to their ANZAC inquiry.

   

                    Link to eBook                    or                    Scan the QR code   

     

                    Link to eBook                          or                    Scan the QR code

Class Treaty

Creating a class treaty at the beginning of each school year is the norm and what better way to launch into this discussion than to look at an historical event in our own country - Te Tiriti O Waitangi (The Treaty of Waitangi). We read/listened to an article from a School Journal, played a Kahoot quiz and participated in a scavenger hunt to help us have a better understanding of why there needed to be a treaty, and also why the treaty ended up having different meanings for the British and Maori.

Team building and challenges are going to provide us with some experiences from which to design our own treaty. We will use the GEMS to help navigate our thinking. I wonder what the Room 5 Stars will decide is important for our learning space.

Labels

Mandy, Stella, Sophie, Alexander, Grace, Emma, Joshua, Raymond, Jacob, Arad, Henry, Jerry, Max, Clyde, Kobi, Chadd, Tony, Joseph, Lucas, James,