Learning Centre News... 

Learning Centre One

It has been a busy two weeks for the prep students. The students got to participate in their first Mini Cross Country event. The students had a fantastic time and it was great to see so many parents come along to support the students. 

Multicultural Day was a great success. The prep students looked amazing in their cultural outfits and the colours of their flags. The students got to see and explore many different instruments from different countries and cultures in the Rhythm Unites incursion. The students also got to paint a background inspired by the story Clancy of the Overflow, dance along to Bollywood, African and Irish music, make paper dolls that looked like them, colour in mandalas and colour in flags from their culture. We would like to thank Zina for coming into LC1 and helping out on the day by making Russian woollen dolls with the students. 

In writing, the students have been working on writing and publishing their own version of the book Heads and Tails. The preps have written clues about different animals and included pictures in their books. They have used their ipads and the app Book Creator to publish their books. 

In maths, the students have been using MAB blocks to explore place value. The preps made their own Place Value monsters and had to record how many tens and ones they used in their monster creation.

Prep Team - Amanda, Imogen, Hazel, Sam, Tina, Mary & Milla.

Learning Centre Two

LITERACY

This week, each class began to read a new class novel. They have been thinking about how characters are introduced to the reader and how the author describes the setting of the story. Adam's group is reading Bad Dad, Emma's students are listening to Grandpa's Great Escape, and Elizabeth's are hearing Mr Stink, all by David Walliams. Ben's Gremlin's are enjoying the writing of Australian author, Paul Jennings, by listening to The Gizmo and Tasmin's students have begun Varjak Paw by SF Said.

MULTICULTURAL DAY

The LC2 students had a wonderful time celebrating their diverse cultural backgrounds. They wore very colourful outfits and participated in all activities with enthusiasm.

INQUIRY

Last week, the 3/4 students and teachers boarded buses and travelled over the Westgate Bridge and into the city. In small groups, we visited the Immigration Museum where we became historians by looking at artefacts that told the stories of different people who have migrated to Australia. We also walked across the Sandridge Bridge and looked at the art installations across the top of the bridge. These represented the stories of the many groups who have called Australia home. Students learnt about the history of Enterprize Park which is where people of the Kulin nation once lived by the Yarra River and where European Settlers landed and first began to build the city of Melbourne.

Back at school, we have been continuing our research into the stories of people who have migrated to Australia and have been sharing these with our classmates.

LC2 Team - Adam, Ben, Dasanthi, Elizabeth, Emma, Helen, Karen, Kristina, Michael, Tasmin and Tina

Learning Centre Three

What a great few weeks we have had. The multicultural day was a success, it was so wonderful to see all the students in their cultural dress and hear the stories of their culture. All the students and teachers had an amazing time participating in cultural activities throughout the day. 

During Literacy, we looked at various texts and learnt how to express our opinions. We voiced our opinions about what was happening in certain texts and gave valid reasons why it was our opinion.  We also used our opinions when writing a persuasive text using the OREO template (opinion, reason, explanation, opinion restated). 

In Math, students have been investigating multiplication and division as equal groups. They even had to share a packet of Fizzer Lollies equally before getting to eat them! This week students began to explore volume and capacity by measuring the capacity of different boxes and constructing different shapes using only 20 cubes. 

Through Inquiry, we have been looking at who is in our family and that like a tree we branch out as new family members join us. Students created their own family trees of people in their immediate families. In preparation for our excursion next week we explored what family life was like in the 1800s and compared it to our family life today. 

Religion - Our Learning Centre held a Sacramental Night which helped bring us into a closer relationship with God, brighten the ‘light of God’ in all of us and give us the strength to be the ‘light of God’ to others. Families worked together to decorate candles and can use this as a family during prayer, as they continue to prepare for the student's sacraments in the coming years. 

Just a reminder that there is a student free day Monday and Tuesday is Melbourne Cup day, so enjoy a long weekend! Also, Year 1/2 Green, 1/2  Red and 1/2 White will be visiting Werribee Mansion on Wednesday and 1/2 Blue, 1/2 Yellow and 1/2 Orange will be visiting the Werribee Mansion on Friday. A busy week ahead!  Don’t forget - no hat no play policy, so please remember your hats!

Year 1/2 Team - Ann, Beth, Bianca, Donna, Gabby, Janeen, Jannine, Krystin, Marilyn, Shalome, and Sue.

Learning Centre Four

Multicultural Day in LC4 - By Kushal and Kuol

Last Friday the school celebrated all the different cultures of the OLSC community, which is made up of 37 different cultures that are all unique in their own way. The students enjoyed several activities organised by the teachers and staff. After that Smruthi’s sister came  to LC4, and was kind showed us some of the basics of Indian classical dance, later on in the day the school, one learning centre at a time went to the finished gym, for an incursion held by Rhythm Unites. And there they learned how to play musical instruments from all over the world. After multicultural day, every student went home with a piece of knowledge about the different cultures in our world today.

Camp Night Activities : Pantomime - By Adrienne

A damp, wet and rainy Sovereign Hill was what we were met with when we walked to dinner that night. Most of us were served crispy chicken schnitzel, a variety of vegetables such as corn, peas and carrots, a veggie spring roll and an overly sweet passion fruit pavlova. As time went by, more rain started to fall so by the time we had finished eating, it was pouring really hard. We headed over to the Victorian Theatre, splashing into puddles and getting hit by the rain like thundering bullets. Every group took their seats in front of a grand stage, where a pantomime was soon to begin. The lights dimmed and the curtains of deep luscious red parted and opened. The story revolved around 3 main characters, Blackbeard (the pirate), Jake (his assistant) and Meg (the damsel in distress). The pantomime was interactive which got the audience—which was us—involved which I think made it more enjoyable and engaging. After it ended, we were allowed to ask some questions. We then had to exit the theatre. The teachers handed out cookies to us as we walked outside into the dark Sovereign Hill where it was illuminated only slightly by the lit lamps. By the time we were all settled in our beds, it was only 9pm, to my surprise. 

Camp Day Activities : Gold Fever - By Adrienne

On the first day, we went straight into doing activities with our groups, despite mostly everyone wanting to find out their cabin groupings straight away. One of the activities my group did was Gold Fever, which was more of a role-play than a so-called “game” in my opinion. Obviously, we had to find out the rules and the objective of the game; so we sat in one of the buildings and listened to Andrew, who was helping us. The game was basically about role-playing how life was like on the gold fields. 2 people were troopers, who were like harsher police officers back then and they put minors in jail. 2 people were gold buyers, who bought gold off the miners in exchange for money and the rest of the group were miners and split into 5 groups. After he explained all the rules and put us into groups, we followed him outside to this area called “One Eyed Gully” and started to play. My group consisted of David, Amook and Amath. Within a few minutes, we went flat broke because most of my group members were put into jail and David lost our cup—which was used for collecting gold—and Andrew found it but he demanded money in exchange for the cup. Which we didn’t have. So out of all the groups, we came in dead last. 

Mine Tour - By Karla

On the last day of camp, it was pouring rain. The raindrops were heavy but we managed to walk through. All the 5/6 students of John and Lisa’s group were all drenched and wanted to get to the mine tour as quickly as possible. After a few minutes of walking through the rain, we finally arrived at Labrinth where the mine tour was held. We all sat under shelter while we waited for the tour guide to come and guide us toward the mines. When the tour guide had finally arrived, we followed him inside a big, old building where I guessed was the entrance to the mines. We walked inside, relieved to be out of the rain and we waited until a carriage looking car thing came up from the dark tunnel towards us. Each one of us sat inside the carriage and waited for it to move and take us towards our destination. The tunnel in front of us was dark and gloomy and I couldn’t see anything inside. Finally the carriage started to move and it slowly took us into the tunnel. When we entered the tunnel the only thing I could see was darkness. The air was hard to breathe in because it was all dusty from the mines. I couldn’t even see the people who were next to me! But then, after 90 seconds of going through the dark tunnel, we arrived at the mines. There were lamps everywhere so thankfully we could see. The 5/6 students slowly followed the tour guide through the mines. It was all dusty and there were cobwebs everywhere which frightened me because I have a massive fear of spiders. We stopped at different places throughout the mines which was very fascinating and the tour guide told us interesting facts about the mines.

Year 5/6 Team: John, Chelsea, Scott, Alexandra, Lisa, Hayley, Gillian, Alison, Anna, Olivia, & Donna.