The Learning Zone

The Learning Zone - Mrs Holland, Leader of Pedagogy/Assistant Principal

Welcome back to Term 2!  I hope all students had a great school holiday break and are ready to  continue their learning online for at least for the the initial weeks of this term.  

Staff have been busy planning resources and activities so students can be well supported when learning from home, and they have done an outstanding job.   You are encouraged to support your child/children to follow the daily guide and complete set activities, however, we recognise that learning from home may be challenging and is very different to learning at school​; children will complete work more quickly and they will need plenty of breaks.  As parents and carers, you are entrusted to make decisions about how your child/ren will learn while at home.

We all miss seeing the students at school and look forward to the time when we can all be back together again.

Google Earth

During the school holiday break CEnet (the Catholic Education Network) ran a number of eLearning workshops.  The workshop sessions were designed to upskill educators in the use of digital resources that can be used to support the delivery of learning experiences when students are learning from home.

One session I participated in was called ‘Google Earth, Your Window to the Big Wide World’ and it was presented by Chris Betcher from Google Education.  I had heard about and used Google Earth before, but I had no idea about the many built-in features it contains.  One feature children (and adults!) may find interesting is 'Voyager' where you can take interactive guided tours of the world, complete quizzes, and play games.  Exploring this site would be a worthwhile learning activity to engage children while they are learning at home.  

1. Launch Google Earth here: https://www.google.com/earth/

2. Click on the ‘Voyager’ icon on the left hand side (it looks like a pirate ship steering wheel - see image).  

If you find Google Earth fascinating, you may enjoy the video below explaining how the imagery is collected:

CHALLENGE:  Students who explore this site are encouraged to share what they have learnt with me by writing a short paragraph and emailing me at mholland@arm.catholic.edu.au.  Happy exploring and I look forward to reading the responses.

Take care and please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.

Maree Holland