Junior School News
Junior School Family Recipes Cookbook!
Have you sent in your family recipes yet?
Recipes are due by the end of Term 2!
At St Gregory’s Junior School, we are collating and publishing a commemorative cookbook comprised of recipes that celebrate traditions of family, culture and history. A book that will be treasured and take pride of place on the bookshelf, coffee table or kitchen benchtop.
Inside the covers of this book will be the recipes, photos and personal connections of our families. We also aim to encapsulate the history of the College.
Please send your recipes, no more than 2, with your family name and a short blurb about the history or significance of the recipe to your family. We would love every family to contribute.
Photos are optional. Please send your recipes to recipes@stgregs.nsw.edu.au
Year 3 – How We Organise Ourselves - An inquiry into the interconnectedness of human-made systems and communities.
Concepts: Form, Function, Causation
This semester, Mr Fuser attended a Mathematics conference along with Mrs Scott and learnt about taking a conceptual approach to teaching Mathematics. Inspired by his experience, Mr Fuser designed a line of inquiry for our How We Organise Ourselves Unit of Inquiry to engage the Year 3 students in their learning. This line of inquiry, ‘Structures create structure – Skills involved in constructing spaces’ was one part of the transdisciplinary unit of ‘Structures are established to manage the spaces we live in’.
It takes into account learning in Science and Technology, Visual Arts, Mathematics, Geography and aspects of English.
Given criteria for each part of their learning, students modelled and drew three-dimensional models of houses, represented the top view of houses and created a scaled community map. Students calculated the area of each house on their map and used addition and subtraction strategies to calculate the entire area. They then found the cost of the houses and the length and cost of fencing each house. Students also designed the roads, yards and worked out the cost of turfing each yard.
Year 3 were visited by Kerri-Ann, Gemma and Oscar from the Camden Council Strategic Planning Department. They learnt about the processes and planning controls councils have in place to ensure the community is designed to meet its needs. They also looked at sustainability and the provision of community facilities.
Students then added to their estate designs, including community facilities such as parks, shopping centres and hospitals. They are currently adding grid references to their maps and will be describing and writing directions to travel between places on the map.
Here's what some of our Year 3 students have to say about their learning:
Marcus C 3M – “We learnt about division, multiplication, subtraction and addition when we were designing and calculating our estate. We worked out the area, how much we need to pay for it, how much grass we needed for each house and how much it was going to cost. We learnt that there are many different designs for estates and you have to choose the one people will like the most.”
Ava S 3B - “You need to include areas that don’t have anything in it, so you have spaces to do anything there. We learnt times tables along the way. We had to add large numbers to cost the houses, fencing and to find the area of turf.”
Evie S 3M – “I learn that councils don’t build highways, and our bin collections need to be done on certain days, otherwise they will be driving all over the place. You’d never get your rubbish picked up if you changed days!”
Thomas F 3B – “You need to design more than one type of house, think about how it looks. You also need to think about how you will fit shopping centres and playgrounds into a community.”
Rhys H and Coby O 3B – “It takes a long time to design communities. If you want to build something you have to tell the council and get approval to do it.”
Caitlin P 3B – “You have to make sure that you include everything you need and that there are some spaces for fun. We learnt about and used multiplication and addition in pricing turf and fencing.”
Mrs Erin Burton and Mr Benjamin Fuser – Year 3 Teachers
Year 4's current Unit of Inquiry "consumer choices have an impact on local and global communities".
Our first line of inquiry was to dive into the idea of sustainability and what this is all about. We were invited up to the Senior School dining hall and Sheaf Cafe to visit Manager Rumil and Head Chef Natalie, who spoke to us about what their sustainability model is, how they use food sustainably when creating their menus, healthier food items and their selections of better packaging that is biodegradable, more recyclable and having less of an impact on the environment.
This visit spurred us to start collecting recyclable bottles/cans at the Junior School and partnering up with Red Frog Recycling to do some return and earn initiative. A big thank you to Head Chef Natalie and Rumil for having us and showing us around
Jennifer B (4M)
Did you know that... that the containers and cutlery are purchased from different companies and are made of biodegrable wood and plastic?
What you can do is… for every tree that is cut for the cutlery, another one is planted in its place,
Rylan M (4M)
Did you know that… most of the packaging in the sheaf cafe have been made from recyclable plastics?
What you can do is… use the plastic constrainers several times - like the lolly cups you can take it home, wash it and use it for your fruit break
Amelia H (4B)
Did you know that… people waste good food just because it looks bad and it could be donated instead to feed the poor?
What you can do is… not waste food even if it looks bad, it is still good to eat.
Jack M (4B)
Did you know that… you can use recyclable take away cups that can be used again and again - when you get a coffee it can be cheaper for bring that cup back?
What you can do is… buy one of these cups from the cafe or at a store.
Year 4, Mrs Harris & Mr Smith
Year 5 News
On Friday 21 May, Year 5 students attended an excursion at The Australian Botanic Garden Mount Annan. This excursion encouraged students to find out about our Unit of Inquiry as we start to look at our Central Idea – ‘Living things need to adapt to survive and thrive in their environment’.
Geena Hokayem and Luca McDonald
On our trip to the Botanical Gardens, we first went to the rainforest part of the gardens. We were given images of different plants and trees and were given the challenge to find these amongst the rainforest. Once we found the all the plants and trees, we had to use different equipment to find the air temperature, wind speed, humidity, soil moisture and light intensity. We had to collect three types of leaves, but from the ground, not from a tree. Using these leaves, we had to draw a diagram and label the different parts of the species. We then had to compare these to the Arid environment. We found a feather and our tour guide, Ana, told me it could be from a Lorikeet or a Cockatoo. During our trip, we also had to spot how humans have affected the environment with things such as rubbish, signs, paths and roads.
Ruby Isbister
We had a phenomenal experience. We took two courses and they taught us how plants adapt and thrive over a scale of its existence, but it also taught us how to appreciate nature and plants for what they are. We can save endangered plants with the Woodland Warriors Program and learn about controlled fires and back burning! In the Survive and Thrive program, we learnt that arid places and rainforest places are different, yet they have so much in common! We looked at both places finding similarities and differences at every corner. Overall, we had an amazing time and we have learnt a lot from playing ‘spotto’, to comparing wind patterns. We have the teachers and the staff of the Botanical Gardens to thank for this amazing and action-packed adventure. Perhaps next time, book a warmer day, but other than that it was brilliant. We hope future Year 5 students, will experience the same curiosity and adventure we did.