What Did You Do At School?
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Prep
Pitter, Patter, Pitter, Patter …. The rain fell as we rode on the bus to Healesville Sanctuary, our first school excursion!
During the day, we explored the Sanctuary. We looked at a range of Australian animals, learnt the Aboriginal names for different birds, and how to do different bird dances. The highlight of the day was the bird show presentation. We were able to view various birds of prey and see their skills of flight and foraging. We could feel the strength of the birds’ wings as they swooped down low over us and ruffled our hair!
Many of us loved viewing the echidna, which was out and about during our visit, eating insects, and basking in the warm sunshine. We were even able to touch the spines of the echidna! By the end of the day, we were happy to crawl back onto the bus and have a little snooze on the way back to school.
Year 1
Our Information Technology skills are zooming along! Not only can we create our own PowerPoint presentations, but we also make them visually attractive by inserting images and changing the font to Wow our audience. Navigating sites that are just right for our needs is an important skill we have learnt to help keep us safe online. We are also beginning to learn about typing, familiarising ourselves with the keyboard and using the correct finger positions. We love using technology to learn and present our work.
Year 2
What a night! We loved our late-night experience. The event kicked off with a challenging construction activity. Using resilience and problem-solving skills, we built a cute birdhouse out of plywood. We enjoyed painting our final products with many colours and patterns. They looked wonderful!
Next, it was time to put our feet up and relax in front of the big screen. The movie Over The Hedge made us laugh and giggle the whole way through. A highlight of the night was rotating through three exhilarating activities. We participated in a paper plane competition, scavenger hunt and iPad exploration. We loved building new friendships and mixing with students from other classes.
Finally, we ended the night with a delicious dinner, pizza and ice cream! The perfect way to end a wonderful experience! We are now waiting with anticipation for the Year 3 Sleepover next year!
Year 3
We had such a great time at our Year 3 Sleepover! We started the Camp by making bird houses. It was very tricky, but we had lots of fun. It was hard to keep control of the glue – it kept flying everywhere, some of us even got it in our hair. We were competitive when we went down to the Stadium to play Medical Warfare and Happy Sack. It was exciting when our teachers joined our teams.
When we returned to Junior School, we had a yummy afternoon tea and then competed in a bottle flipping challenge. It was so much fun trying to land the bottle. We were very impressed with the ones who did trick shots.
We had pizza and ice cream for dinner and then watched a movie. We were eager to go on a night walk but unfortunately the rain was too heavy. So we returned and had hot chocolate instead. It was very funny when some of us had chocolate moustaches! After we watched the rest of our movie, it was time for bed. Some of us fell asleep immediately, others did not. We were sad we couldn’t go mini golfing, but are excited to do it in Week 7. We’re looking forward to camps in the future.
Written by Samuel (3A), Lily (3A), Riyan (3R), Noah S (3R)
Year 4
All year, we have been participating in saying our Year 4 Declaration each morning. We declare that we are a child of God and encourage ourselves in our identity as we start a new day. We take turns leading each other through a call and response of encouraging statements. We have taken it a step further and written our own! Miss Newton and Miss Berry have been so encouraged reading and being led in students’ declarations. What a blessing to know that we are clever, kind, strong, fierce, brave, special, and loved. What an even greater blessing to hear us acknowledging this in ourselves and calling this heavenly identity out of each other.
Year 5
What an amazing time we had with Mrs Liddle in a leadership workshop. We learnt that leaders: Encourage the Heart, Model the Way, Inspire a Shared Vision, Challenge the Process and Enable Others to Act. It was encouraging to think of a person we look up to as a leader and identify the traits that they show. The second session was the famous egg drop. We were given a plastic bag, 10 cotton balls, 6 straws and 2 metres of masking tape. Our task was to create something that would protect an egg that was dropped from a metre high. Even though not every egg was saved, we certainly demonstrated that we can work cooperatively with one another. We know that whether or not we receive an official position next year, we are all leaders who will inspire the younger students of the Junior School.
Year 6
After a relaxing long weekend, Year 6 packed in some wonderful days full of fun and activities. We put our creative hats on for Integrated Studies, to think of a service or product that would benefit our Year 2 Buddies. Ideas have ranged from indoor play spaces, and delicious alternatives to be served at our Canteen, to dance classes during PE. We then constructed surveys for our Year 2 Buddy classes to gather relevant data that will inform our business plans. On Friday, we had a wonderful time taking part in the Mooroolbark Sports Day. Putting in an amazing team effort, Oxley took out the win by less than two points! It was an amazing achievement! We continue to eagerly look forward to celebrating together at our upcoming Graduation celebration. It’s getting so close now – less than four weeks to go!