Well, what a class of champions!! As I mentioned previously the students in Room 13 voted for “no talking” as their participation in the World Vision 40 hour famine. I know that may people, (I should probably include myself here), didn’t think that it could be done, but I’m pleased to announce that the day was a resounding success! We had a few frustrating moments when some had a bit of trouble getting others to understand them and, I must confess, I did tease them a little (only a little, honest ). But here’s a very impressive part – even when another teacher offered them chocolate if only they’d say please, not one of them gave in! How lucky am I to have such a great bunch of students!
We’re now looking at ways in which our class can sponsor a child through World Vision. One option is each student donating $1 per month. Another is that I sponsor a child and each term we fundraise to make an extra donation. We could may bring in our recyclable deposit containers and use the money from that.
Do you have any suggestions for us? We really want it to be sustainable so that next year’s class can continue with the commitment.
Last Monday we had a whole school event called HATSI (Hawthorndene Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander) Day. Each class did 6 different activities. We did traditional weaving with Margaret, Janice, Lorna & Rose. They were very patient as we learned how to weave with raffia and encouraged us a lot even when we made mistakes! Some students enjoyed it so much that we’ve decided to do some more in our classroom. We also did some beading with Stephanie using beads the same colour as the Aboriginal flag. Stephanie had come a long way to work with us at our school – she had to get up at 5.30 am as she had to catch a bus and a train!
Bindi, one of the parents at our school, showed us some traditional string games. Some of us were a bit confused to start with but we soon got the hang of it. It has now become a bit of a fad in our class (and others, so I’m told!) and everyone seems to have some wool on their desks. We watched a few videos on this website to help us learn some of the more complicated designs. Why don’t you have a look at them and try some out yourself? Let us know how you get on. We managed the Eiffel Tower, Cup & Saucer, and the Moth.
We also played some traditional Aboriginal outside games, helped by Jane, one of our School Services Officers. We had a lot of fun and we’re going to try some more as part of our PE program. You can find our=t more about these games here and here.
Michael, Oscar’s dad, taught us about the skin game. It was fascinating to learn about the different family and relationship setups in different Aboriginal groups.
After lunch we looked at some Aboriginal artefacts and read a book by Bob Randall with Aby, Oscar’s mum and did some traditional Torres Strait Islander dancing with Eddie. Eddie was very funny and we had a great time with him learning some dances.
Our school has decided to support the World Vision 40 hour famine this year. Some of the students in room 13 have already registered as individuals to take part in the 40 hour famine but we will also be participating as a class. Yesterday in our class meeting we brainstormed some of the things we could go without for the day next Friday. Some of the suggestions were:
furniture
technology
electricity
one arm
one leg
talking
We voted to come up with one of them. Now, those of you who know our class, and the students in room 13 will be amazed – and maybe a little dubious – about our chances of success when you hear that they voted for……..not talking for the day!! Yes, this is unbelievable, although some of them think I’ll have more trouble than they will All you parents out there, would you like us to make the challenge go until about 8 pm?
Tune in next week to see if we managed to meet the challenge. Some student will have to be excluded for 1 lesson as they have a New Zealand Performance Choir practice at 12 pm.
Posted by Pam Thompson on Tuesday, August 3rd 2010
Last Friday Theo from CSIRO came to our school and ran Robotics sessions for our upper primary classes. We had great fun and learned a bit about programming the robots. We had to problem solve to male our robot go in a straight line as some of them were curving. At the end of the session we had to program our robots to do a dance and then we had a dance competition. Some of the dances were pretty creative! Here are some photos of us at the Robotics workshop.
So, here we are halfway through the year already! I can’t believe how quickly it has gone.
We have a pretty busy term ahead (how very unusual I hear you say!). This week we’ve welcomed Alice, our student from korea, who will be with us for the next five weeks. Erin & Trevy are doing a great job of helping her find her way around and get settled into class. Well done, and thank you, girls.
The Festival Choir is off to Magic Millions at Morphetville Racecourse for their fisrst public rehearsal. Good luck to everyone in the choir.
Our inquiry this term is a Humanities inquiry on cause and effect. We are looking at who was affected, and how, by the colonisation of Australia. Everyone has worked really hard on making a timeline of significant events in Australia’s history, and we are now investigating how Aboriginals lived before the First Fleet arrived.
We are also looking at the structure and features of persuasive texts. Great timing with the election coming up! I’ve asked students to see if they can identify any of the features we’ve talked about in any of the politicians’ speeches or writing. I’ll also be sending a letter home about a letter writing task, so keep an eye out for that.
We have our CSIRO Lab on Legs Robotics session on Friday. We always enjoy these hands-on sessions as they are challenging, but also a lot of fun.
I have promised the class a celebratory party once our class blog has hit 5000 visitors. As you can see on our counter we are getting pretty close so I think there may be a celebration happening very soon!
My students have spent the last few lessons writing stories for their buddies (from a Year 1/2 class) using Storybird. They have really enjoyed using Storybird and have written some interesting stories for their buddies.
Storybird is full of rich and wonderful artwork and illustrations that you choose to build your story around. It can be used in a number of ways. I gave my students free rein to create a story they thought their buddy would enjoy, but you could be more specific and specify a particular genre, or use it to develop descriptive writing. I think it has great potential to get reluctant writers writing.
Here are some of the stories written by the students of Room 13.
Every year the Year 6/7 students put on a dramatic extravaganza at a local hall. The plays they perform are amazing and the students do a fantastic job at the matinee and on the night. I’m so pleased to say that this year was no exception! The standard of the plays was amazing. We had about 2oo people in the audience and the atmosphere was wonderful.
The students from Room 13 put on a play called “Robin Good & her Merry Hoods”. We had a fair bit of editing to do as there were originally only 13 characters in the play and we have 29 students in our class. We all worked together to create new characters and extra dialogue. I have to say that we have some very talented & creative students in Room 13! We’ve all worked very hard over the last 8 weeks or so, but I’m sure that all of the students would tell you that it was worth it. Here are some of our photos of the matinee performance.
A teacher colleague from Sydney shared this site via twitter. There are hundreds of games here covering many areas. We’re going to use some of the literacy (language arts) games this week, but you can try some of the others too. Let us know which you like the best and why.
Posted by Pam Thompson on Wednesday, June 2nd 2010
On Monday a group of students from three different classes visited Minton Farm as part of our inquiry on the impact of introduced animals. Minton Farm is a rescue centre run by Bev Langley as a not-for-profit charity. Bev does an amazing job at Minton Farm rescuing and caring for thousands of animals who’ve been abandoned, injured, or lost. On our visit we saw blue tongued lizards who’d been attacked by cats and dogs, kangaroos who’d been rescued after their mothers had been killed, a three-legged brush-tailed possum, a half-blind brush-tailed possum, an emu who’d been found wandering the streets of a local town, and a wedge-tailed eagle whose mother had been shot by a farmer. We also saw an alpaca, goats, sheep & lambs, pigs, deer, chickens, geese, kookaburras, lorikeets, a corella, a wombat, and I’m sure I’ve forgotten something.
Bev is a fount of knowledge about rescuing animals and gave some great advice to the students about what to do if they find an injured bird or animal. She answered lots of questions with great passion and patience. She is a wonderful example of how people can make a difference if they care enough about something and are willing to persist against all odds.
If you have any sort of interest in animals I suggest you visit her website and her facebook page where you will find updates on the animals at the rescue centre as well as an amazing amount of information. I would encourage you all to support Bev in her efforts and become a sponsor – a bargain at only $30 per year
We had a great afternoon at Minton Farm, and left there much more knowledgeable than when we arrived – if not just a little muddy!
Thanks to the the wonderful parents who helped transport us there – Mr Howell, Jenny, Elle, Gill, Heather, and Rae.
). But here’s a very impressive part – even when another teacher offered them chocolate if only they’d say please, not one of them gave in! How lucky am I to have such a great bunch of students!
