Chinese Museum Incursion student report by Ashleigh McCulloch 7G

On Tuesday the 20 June, in period 1 to 3, most of the year 7's attended the Chinese Museum Incursion. We had been learning about Ancient China, so it was a great idea to have an incursion to learn a bit more about Ancient China. It was a really fun experience and we all learnt a lot, from the dragon making, looking at the ancient Chinese inventions/artefacts and learning how to do Chinese dancing.

Firstly, we all split into our three groups and went to our first activity. My first activity was the dragon making, which was really interesting. We all had to decorate a dragon scale, but I was lucky enough to be able to decorate a dragon head with my friend, Willow. Other people also got to decorate some dragon feet and arms. Everyone's decorations were really colourful, and the end result of the dragon looked amazing!

Next, my group went to the Chinese dancing, it was probably my favourite activity! We did some English versions and Chinese versions of the fun and exciting dances. We learnt how to say some basic words in Chinese and heard some Chinese style music. At the end of the dancing lesson, we filled in some of our activity booklet, which had space for us to reflect on the session.

Finally, we went to learn more about some Chinese inventions and artefacts. They showed us a lot, and told us so many interesting things. I can't list everything, but, we did learn how silk was first discovered. It was discovered by a lady sitting under a tree, and a silk cocoon fell down, and the silk came out and she thought it was soft and strong so she decided to turn it into silk. There was lots of interesting information in this session! A lady from the Chinese Museum told us about some inventions and artefacts, and then we got to take a closer look around at them.

Overall, the Chinese Museum Incursion was so much fun, and I learnt so much, which helped me with my project for the last part of this term. It was amazing, and I would definitely love to visit the actual museum one day too!

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Reading Matters SEAL Excursion

We travelled to the State Library to participate in the Reading Matters Convention. We listened to the presentations of five successful YA authors and an illustrator. They shared their writing experiences, their literary inspirations and their words of wisdom for aspiring writers and illustrators. The authors encouraged us to embrace our mistakes. They urged us to write about experiences that are personal and traumatic for the emotions you invest in your words, will translate to your readers. Each author compelled us to begin writing, for no age is too young. John Monash Science School Slam Poet Champions then performed their winning piece about the superficial value of stereotypes and an individual speaker spoke of the value of every moment of our lives. The rhythm and narrative-like continuity of the Slam poetry was unlike anything I’d heard previously. ~Malak, 8F

The passion and enthusiasm from each author or illustrator was phenomenal and super inspiring. The whole day was so fun and I had an amazing time listening to each speaker. One memorable thing that most of them had tried to convey was to ‘embrace the mistakes’ when it comes to writing and illustrating. John Monash Science School students had also paid a visit to come and perform two slam poetries. So much energy and thought had gone into each poem. They were truly moving, very persuasive, agreeable and extremely relatable. It was fun to also hang out at Melbourne Central with my friends after the convention. Definitely something I'd recommend to future students. ~Celina, 8E

The ‘Reading Matters’ excursion was overflowing with positivity. The day was enjoyable for everyone who participated, and so many new authors were discovered as we heard their voice, and their story. Every presenter spoke with confidence and enthusiasm, they involved the audience with their speech; which created it all the more thrilling as an experience. There was also an illustrator, who demonstrated his unique way of work. He told us to embrace all of our mistakes, and to turn them into something scenic. The Slam Poetry that followed was very inspiring and very well spoken. Overall, it was an absolutely amazing day. I managed to purchase a book and furthermore get it signed by the author. ~Hannah, 8E

Out of the five YA authors Will Kostakis was my favourite, some of the other authors were Jennifer Niven and Amy King. After listening to the YA authors and watching a live illustration we got the opportunity to buy a book or get a book signed by any of the presenters. I decided to buy one of Will Kostakis' books, ‘The Sidekicks’ and then I got it signed by Will himself. Once everyone got their books we took the elevator upstairs to see Ned Kelly’s armour. Afterwards we headed off to Melbourne Central where we bought food and got to hang out for a bit. Reading Matters was really fun, interesting and inspiring. If I had the opportunity I would definitely do it all over again. ~Bianca, 8F

The Reading Matters excursion was overall a great experience and I enjoyed the whole day hugely. I really enjoyed listening to authors Will Kostakis and Jennifer Niven as their talks were particularly interesting and inspiring. Each author gave us some backstory into how they formed their novels and the true stories within. My favourite part, however, was hearing John Monash Science School perform their winning Slam Poetry. It was incredibly inspiring and the performance was full of passion. The whole day was great and I had so much fun! ~Meike, 8F

A big thank you to Ms Leppin for organising this excursion and giving us the opportunity to partake in it. We had so much fun and learnt a tremendous amount!

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