Classroom News 

Year 1 

Such wonderful learning experiences have been happening across the school over the past couple of weeks. So far this term we've had swimming lessons, the Art Show, Italian Day and an excursion to the Melbourne Zoo just to name a few!

These fantastic photos are from Italian Day where the Year 1's were busy making Pizzelle biscuits with Cettina, Ann and Natasha. Usually, these biscuits are eaten for afternoon tea - merenda in Italian. They are from the Abruzzo region near Rome.

The Year 1's also had a great time at the Zoo looking at many different animals! Hopefully the Year 1's have spoken to you all about their time at the zoo and what they saw and experienced. The Year 1's are looking forward to making many new discoveries about living things over the next few weeks!

Year 2 and Year 3/4

The Zoo 

By Adam Mai 

Yesterday I went to school very early because I had to go on a bus to go to the Zoo. The Grade Preps, Ones, Twos, Threes and Fours were going. I was really excited to go on the bus. 

After 30 to 40 minutes we were at the Zoo. We went with our teachers and went to see the wild dogs, lions, tigers and the snow leopards. Most of them were sleeping or waiting for their food. 

Next we went to see some snakes, tortoises and lizards. They were in a dark place. What I was really scared about was the snake. It was just awakening and pointing its tongue out. We went to have play lunch at the tables. 

We kept following the path until we went to a butterfly house. It was warmer in there. There were so many colourful butterflies. Inside there was very beautiful. We saw lots of cocoons hatching. We then got out and kept on walking on the path. We came across monkeys. There were about two in every cage. I learnt at the monkey place that monkeys are 97% human. 

Finally we went to have lunch. I ate and next I played with my friends. After eating we kept on walking for about five minutes and then we came to the sea animals. We went to an underground place where we saw all of the sea creatures. They were really cool and we saw some seals, penguins and some weird fish. It was dark but there was light, but only a bit. We went to see a very cute seal that came to us. 

We needed to go back to school. We all waited for some people that were going on the bus and we went on the bus. It was the best excursion I had this year! 

Year 4 Excursion to the City

What a day we had today! Trains, trams, traffic and games a plenty. The Year 4's had heaps of fun exploring our wonderful city. This was their favourite bit.....

Jacob ~ when we got to play in the park and go to the library

Fortunato ~ I loved the library and the musk stick challenge

Ishe ~ was when we got to choose what we could eat at the Queen Vic markets

Adam ~ the State Library was gigantic and wonderful and I loved the artwork at the NGV and reading old books at the State Library

Connor ~ walking around the extraordinary city

Harper ~ looking at the magnificent artwork in the NGV

Alex ~ having a look at all the Indigenous paintings and just walking around the city

Bhavin ~ i probably loved the buildings the most, and the musk stick challenge!

Yianna ~ when we saw all the beautiful artwork, including some that were odd.

Roery ~ i loved riding the trains because I got to listen to all the announcements.

Izaac ~ i liked the State Library because of the peace and quiet.

Year 4/5

We've been looking at different writing techniques to help us become even better writers in 4/5. This week we learnt the strategy "Flashbacks', where a memory or flashback is used as a trigger in our writing.

Flashback by Connor

This morning Marty spoke about Tristan and his mother. It reminded me of when my grandma had cancer. We would see her nearly every day. I was only four years old when she died. She died in 2017. I was so sad when the time came for her to go. She put lots of smiles on my face. She would make us have lots of fun when we went to go and see her. She would let us play on her white board, me and Liam would be so excited. 

Flashback by Jaxon

This morning Marty spoke about Tristan and his mother. It gave me flashbacks of when my “PaPa” passed away three years ago of a stroke at the age of 74. It was devastating for everybody as we were all so close to him. Everybody was in distress. We all still miss him so much to this day. It was the worst thing that had ever happened to me.

Flashback by Zane

This morning Marty spoke about Tristan and his mother. It reminded me of the time when my cousin died; he was walking down his driveway and his heart started hurting, he then fell and hit his forehead on the ground and died. Then Marty said Zane'? and I çame back, still thinking of my cousin.

Flashback by Ethan

This morning Marty spoke about Tristan and his mother. It reminded me of when my grandpa Hector had died of lung cancer due to smoking. Each time I go to my grandma’s house I always check his photos and his dog tags to see what he has done in his life. I can see him metaphorically fight in Korea. But I distinctly remember him though. I used to always have great times over some biscuits, we had photos together and we always had some fun watching the horses run on the tele. I always remember him for those memories. This is what he’d say to me “Courage grows as strong as a wound” when I’d have to go home. 

I still believe that is true. I will hold onto those words forever.

Year 5/6

Remembrance Day - Indigenous Veterans 

This year our focus for Remembrance Day was to learn about the Indigenous Veterans. This group of Veterans did not receive the same recognition as other Veterans returning from war. They were not allowed to enlist but many did giving false names and addresses. They did not have the same liberties as non indigenous people, such as being part of the Return Services League, education or employment. 

Here is some information about our Indigenous War Heroes.   

Harry Thorpe

I researched Harry Thorpe because he wore an interesting hat, a mustache and I found out that Harry Thorpe was a Brabu Woolong man of the Gunaikurnai nation and an accomplished infantryman who served in World War I. He was awarded the Military Medal for his bravery, he was killed in battle on 9 August 1918 (at the age of 32), just 3 months before the war's end.  By Ahan 

Harry Thorpe was born at the Lakes Tyers Mission to William and Lilian Thorp in Victoria. He attended a local state school  and also helped his father on his property. He fought in WW1 and he travelled to Sale Victoria to enlist into the war in 1916. He was 30 years old when he enlisted.  By Liam

Uncle Reginald Walter Saunders

Uncle Reg was the first Aboriginal soldier to reach the rank of officer. He was born in the year 1920. As a young man uncle Reg loved playing football, boxing and cricket. 

When he was 20 years old he joined the army in the year 1940 when World War 2 started. He died in the year 1990. Then in 1992 the RSL established a scholarship in his name 

His skills of leadership and bravery are still remembered to this day in his Community and the military.  By Julian  

My Indigenous Veteran is Reginald Walter Saunders and he was born in 1920 in Victoria in a place called Framlingham Aboriginal reserve. He worked in two jobs to earn money. He joined the army after the outbreak of world war ll and was in the training battalion. He was assigned to cross to the middle east at Marsa Brega, Libya in February 1941 as a private. He also moved to different boot camps. He went to the war at the age of 20 years old.  By Jemimah

Marion Leane Smith 

I researched Marion Smith, a Dharug woman from New South Wales, and the first Aboriginal woman to serve in World War I. When World War I began, Marion joined the Canadian nurses who supported the Canadian military. In 1917, she served France on the Ambulance Train (these trains took injured troops to the hospital) and was recognised for her hard work during difficult situations on the train. Marion served in Italy and nursed in Britain until the end of war. After the war, she returned to Canada. Marion moved to Trinidad with her husband, where she was in charge of the Nurses’ Council and received a Distinguished War Service Medal for the role. She passed away in 1957 and left a legacy as a nurse and leader in the medical field, and as the only known Aboriginal woman to serve in World War I.

By Bernice 

Marion Leane Smith was a Dharug woman who was born in 1891, Liverpool, New South Wales. When Marion was just two years old, her parents moved across to Canada where she was raised. When she got older, she trained as a nurse at New England Hospital, Massachusetts in  the US. After she graduated, she joined the Victoria Order of Nurses in 1913. When WW1 (World War 1) started, Marion joined other nurses who served in Europe and supported the military from Canada. She was the only known Aboriginal woman to have served in World War 1.  By Hansvi

Marion Leane Smith was an Australian nurse. She was born in Liverpool, NSW in 1891. She was the only Aboriginal Australian nurse to help in  World War 1. She was  English and Darug. Her grandma, Lucy Leane, belonged to the Cabrogal people . When Marion was two years old, her parents moved to Canada where she was raised.  By Amelia

A Dhurag woman named Aunty Marion joined the 3141 Canadian nurses serving in Europe to support the Canadian armed forces. Due to restrictions on Aboriginal people serving in the military and serving as a medical officer, she most likely would not have been able to fight in the war if she had remained in Australia.  By Sheen

CERES Excursion 

October 24th the Y4/5/6s went to this park called CERES (Centre for Education and Research in Environment Strategies). As we came upon the park a person came and her name was Marley and she took us to the park and as I stepped into CERES it looked amazing. As I gazed inside, that's where our adventure started learning about climate change. We all dropped our bags and went to our first destination. We went with a person named Adrian and he took us to a building to learn about climate change and CO2. 

When we walked in he told us to sit down and as I gazed around the room I could see so many things in this small room. So we all sat and listened to him as he told us what we can do to help stop climate change? What can we do to stop CO2? After a while he gave us cards that had solutions on how we can save the planet and we all had a discussion about it, then he gave us all coal and the coolest thing I’ve ever seen was that coal isn’t only black but it is also brown. That is so awesome! Also the black coal looked like it had crystals in it which was also cool. By Jemimah Y5

We went to CERES and did 3 activities. In the first activity we talked about how people found fossil fuel. We learnt how burning coal could affect the atmosphere. For example everytime we burn coal the amount of carbon dioxide increases in the atmosphere and if we continue to use coal it will go beyond safe levels and into highly dangerous levels. In the second activity we were divided into 4 groups and we did different activities. We learnt about the 4 natural energies : solar power, hydro power, wind power and thermal solar power. By Ahan Y6

Did you know that you can use wind as energy? You can also use solar and water! On the 24th of October the 4/5/6’s went to CERES (Centre for Education and Research in Environmental Strategies). During our amazing day at CERES we learnt about how we are affecting our planet and what we can do to fix it. We were given a card with a topic on it explaining what we are doing that is hurting the planet by using more carbon dioxide than we actually need to, we then had to find a card that was related to our topic explaining how we could help our earth by reducing as much fossil fuel. By Caitlin Y6

The Energy Station’s    My first station was the hydro station. At the station my group had to turn a gardening hose on to push the miniature turbine that powered a fan, me and my group were amazed that the fan worked. We kept turning the hose on and soon after the wheelbarrow overflowed, so we put the water in a 10 litre  bucket and poured it out gently on to the growing plants. By Amelia Y5

Did you know that there are four different types of energy sources? So at the start Mary the CERIES instructor put us into four different groups and then each group had to go to the assigned energy source. The energy sources were called the Hydro energy source, the Wind energy source, the Solar energy source and the Solar thermal energy source. My group first had to go to the Solar thermal energy source and we were assigned some questions to answer on the sheet Mary gave us, after we finished the questions on the question sheet and ten minutes have past we would move on to the next energy source which was the Solar energy source and lastly we did Hydro energy but we didn’t get to do Wind energy source because we ran out of time and just before we finished Mary told us how we didn’t need to use fossil fuels to get energy. In the end I had a lot of fun and enjoyed the entire experience at CERES. By Brian Y6