Strong Hearts Strong Minds

Prep Incursion - Marine Life with Wildlife XPosure

This term, the Preps have been learning about the days of creation and what our amazing and wonderful God created in His week of hard work. Did you know that God only used words to create the entire universe? 

As part of our discovery, we had an incursion to see and feel and hear about the incredible creatures that God made on Day 5 when he said, "let there be creatures in the sky and sea". 

Here are some of the Preps thoughts and learnings from today's incursion:

Some sharks can make themselves camouflage. 

Oliver

The Daddy seahorses look after the baby eggs in their pouch. 

Mabel

I liked patting the Port Jackson shark.

Ezra

Some animals are dangerous like the blue ringed octopus.

Ziah

Sea cucumbers squirt out sand and make the sand clean.

Hunter

Sea stars don’t have eyes or a nose.

Myla

I liked the seahorse.

Zoe

I liked seeing the spider crab.

Hayden

I liked to feel the sea cucumber.

Naomi

As always the Preps displayed a wonderful attitude towards their learning and embraced this opportunity with positivity and enthusiasm.

Sarah Piesse

Prep Teacher

MP History Excursion

As we explored the history and wonder of Lilydale Museum and the old buildings around Castella Street in Lilydale, we learnt things we never knew before about Wurundjeri land and some local legends like Dame Nellie Melba and William Barack.

After the Lilydale Museum, we walked along Castella Street to compare the difference between old buildings from long ago to now. We took photos to match olden day photos.

We got picked up and jumped back on the bus and we drove to the Warburton Rail Trail. We had lunch at the Mount Evelyn skate park before checking out the old Mount Evelyn train station that is now not a train station. It had a timeline around it about its history, from when it started, when it ended, and what it is used for today. We also went to see the war memorial and talked a bit about the sacrifices made by the soldiers. 

Before we knew it, we were on the bus on our way back to school for the rest of the day. We were all so sad it ended but glad it had happened and will hold onto those memories forever.

Millie & Grace (MPG)

The History of Immigration - Senior Primary

This work is a wonderful example of inquiry learning and the jigsaw approach coming together. After students are introduced to an overview of a topic, in this case, the story of immigration to Australia, they choose an area of history they are particularly interested in. They can work independently, or in small groups, and they then become the ‘expert’ in that area. Students research information about their chosen time period and present their work as part of an historical timeline. Once this work is completed, they present their findings to their peers, who learn about all the other pieces to the jigsaw (peer teaching). 

This method elicits very rich learning, as students are far more motivated when they have some autonomy over their learning, and it creates an exciting synergy in the classroom, as there are no 2 responses alike. For a teacher, there are no longer 22 of the same project, but an explosion of teaching and learning! This historical timeline begins with the Indigenous perspective of European arrival and moves through the period of convicts, early settlers, the Gold Rush and Chinese migrants, Afghan cameleers and Japanese pearl divers, South Pacific Islanders, the child migrant scheme, refugees and asylum seekers, and finally, multicultural Australia as it is today.

This week also recognises International Refugee Day, and as Jesus was himself once a refugee, students learn that the importance of compassion and support has not changed since His time on Earth. The hand response has been collecting non-perishable goods to donate to the ASRC (Asylum Seeker Refugee Centre). To triangulate all of this wonderful learning, the Senior Primary students’ homework was a whole term’s project where they interviewed someone who migrated to Australia. This project could be presented in person, as a filmed interview, or using Google Slides. 

The stories of people’s lives are transformational, and we have been completely blown away at the calibre of their work and their enthusiasm to present to their class. When learning is real-life, relevant, and based on the deep hope of working towards understanding God’s community is to be continually built up for the betterment of all, rather than at the exclusion of others, a teacher’s heart is very full indeed.

Senior Primary Team