Junior School

Year 1

Stories are a highlight in the Year 1 class. After reading the book, The Snail and the Whale, the students reflected on their favourite part of the story. Here are some of their thoughts:

I liked the sunny place because the palm trees because it reminded of vacationing. 

Georgia

 

I liked the way the illustrator used different shades of blue to separate the sky and the icebergs.

Jack

 

I liked the page that had the boats racing because it reminded me of when I went on a boat.

Alena

 

I really liked the pictures and how they were so detailed.

Isla

For Science, the focus has been on how properties of materials can change. The children observed the changes in uncooked and cooked Spaghetti and had to do some detective work to solve the puddle in the bowl!

I liked when we were doing the Spaghetti because we got to make towers with the uncooked Spaghetti and Playdough.

Chloe

 

I liked making the Spaghetti towers because Hunter and I made the spikiest.

Jeremy

 

I liked the uncooked Spaghetti because I liked how our tower was so tall.

Cassius

 

The food was one of my favourite icy poles. It melt in the sun.

Ethan

 

I liked the experiments because it was challenging. We had to make a gianormous tower in the Spaghetti challenge.

Vincent

 

I liked seeing the uncooked Spaghetti in the water. It got a little bit bendier and it changed colour. I liked how we had to keep trying and trying when we were building towers until we got it.

Isla

 

When the Spaghetti was cooked it was a bit sticky. When it was uncooked it was hard straight.

Sylvanas

 

Uncooked Spaghetti snaps and cooked Spaghetti is sticky.

Darcy

Kerry Snook

Year 1 Teacher

Year 2

Last week in Year 2, students designed, planned and constructed their very own marble ramps! Their challenge was to have the marble roll at least 2 metres and to be as creative as possible. Each group of students did an amazing job!

The Year 2's have had an absolute blast on our sleepover and excursion to Flagstaff Hill this week! On Wednesday night, students arrived back at school ready for our sleepover. We had a delicious Lasagna dinner and played some games (Mr Griffin even pulled out the guitar and sang some songs with the students). The energy and excitement was high amongst the Year 2's and they all did wonderfully.

The next morning we enjoyed some breakfast, got dressed into our costumes and spent the day at Flagstaff Hill. First, students were introduced to their olden day teacher and taught the correct way to behave and interact with the teacher - this meant ALWAYS referring to the teacher as "ma'am". We went to the common school, learnt lots of new things about how technology has changed over time and then explored some other traditional trades such as blacksmiths, dressmakers and the artillery. Students had some time to wander around Flagstaff Hill and explore all of the different buildings and artefacts there before putting on their chef hats and making some scones. It was an amazing experience to have together and we all had a fantastic time!

A BIG thank you to all of the superstar parents, and those that came in to help with the dinner, breakfast, sleepover and excursion. We couldn't have done it without you!

Alissa Griffin

Year 2 Teacher

Year 3

Germand - At camp we did hut building. It was super awesome.

 

Eva - I felt really, really super duper excited about camp and it was really fun.

 

Will - Something really challenging was finding the courage to not just quit going on the giant swing.

 

Alex - Camp at Creswick was a mixture of laughter and fun and I enjoyed the food as well.

 

Elijah - My favourite thing on camp was the zipline because you got two turns and you had a chance to win a prize and a mega prize.

 

Gabriela - I was scared that the harness on the giant swing would fail and I would fall but it didn't, and after I wanted to go again.

 

Grace - The giant swing was so fun! It was a bit scary at first but I liked it.

 

Isabella - I loved camping at Creswick because I loved the giant swing. At first it was terrifying and after that it was amazing.

 

Nirvair - I loved the milk crate stacking. It was my favourite activity.

 

Cooper - At camp we did hut building and my group made an amazing hut.

 

Adrian - The giant swing was so much fun and so scary.

 

Ariella - My Favourite activity was going on the giant swing because you pull a rope then you fall up and down but it makes you sick in the tummy.

 

Evelyn - My favourite activity was having a night walk then having billy tea and damper.

 

Elise - My favourite activity was the giant swing where you get pulled up very high then you pull a rope to fall.

 

Jemimah - My favourite activity was the hut building and I also enjoyed the food very much.

 

Benjamin - The clip and climb was very fun though I kept getting stuck on the tracks but luckily Mr. Dunning was there to help.

 

Elliana - My favourite activity was definitely the giant swing because you can fall from a big height.

Christine Burford & Carolyn McDonald

Year 3 Teachers

Year 4

Over the past couple of weeks we have been looking at the inquiry question of "how can we make places better?" We started by identifying what makes a place "good". Some of the things that were agreed on were a beautiful garden with lots of trees. So we have collected some of the seeds from our native trees at school and planted them in trays. Hopefully they will be ready by the end of the year for potting. It has brought a lot of learning and joy into the classroom. We'll keep the progress photos coming over the next month.

Steve Griffin

Assistant Head of Junior School

Year 5

Year 5 have had a good solid week of learning. They composed Google Slide presentations and began presenting them for STEM. They all looked up lots of interesting facts and presented their slides with animations and some great graphics. 

Bike education starts for Year 5 this week. Please remember to send your students bikes and helmets which can be stored at school, particularly if you live out of town or will find it difficult to transport the bikes regularly. 

The students are also really starting to grasp the concept of composing simple, compound and complex sentences in English. They have all been working hard to refine their writing and uplevel their grammar and punctuation. I am very proud of all their efforts. 

Naomi O'Brien

Year 5 Teacher

Year 6

Year 6 have had a very fun and exciting time in many of our subjects at the moment. 

For Science, we have been learning about Circuits and Switches. Each week we have added to our learning and knowledge; and also the circuits that we have built. We started off by exploring what a circuit was and how it could be powered. We then used magnetic wires to attach to a battery and we powered a small globe. We then progressed to non- magnetic wires, which were a lot harder to use. We also had to learn how to strip the insulation off them so they could "make contact" and work to get power to multiple globes. This week we added into our circuit a buzzer and a motor. We drove Mrs Robertson crazy with all our buzzers going off, but this meant our circuit was working, so it really was a good thing.

We've also been having some interesting and fun experimenting in our STEM lessons over the last few weeks. We have been designing Lego cars that are balloon powered. We spent the first week designing, redesigning and trialling our cars down the ramp in the Pentagon. During our last lesson we finalised our work by having races on the flat floor in the Pentagon to see whose designs were the most successful. Some great designs were come up with by all students. It was a very close and hotly contested competition with the overall winner being Tilly.

Coral Robertson

Year 6 Teacher