In the Classrooms

Year 9 Outdoor Education

Interest Elective

Wednesday in Week 10 of last term was a day of real adventure for the Year 9 Outdoor Education classes.

They travelled to Wee Jasper for a day of Abseiling and Caving.

The students had the opportunity to Abseil into Devils Punchbowl (an old collapsed cave). They went over the edge of a 10m, 30 m and 40 m cliff.

Some showed no fear and some were a little apprehensive but all of them walked down the cliff with courage and strength. They were surprised at how exhilerating it felt once they reached the bottom.

Then it was into Signature Cave with nothing but our overalls, helmet and head torch. It was very dark and dirty once inside. We ventured through chambers, down holes and through tight squeezes on our stomachs. The students pushed themselves to their limits and showed real persistence. They were so excited and adventurous in the caves and they couldn’t believe how far underground they were. They were able to see a lot of cave formations, structures and fossils in the rocks.

The students didn't want to leave and were keen to do more. It was the aim of the excursion to expose them to things they may never have the opportunity to do again and to get them excited about adventures in the outdoors.

The students and staff had a great day and a I offer big thank you to Out and About Adventures for leading us through both activities.

Thank you to Miss Lumsden, Mr Gyles and Mrs Baggio who accompanied the students.

Get Ready Youth Forum

During the last week of Term 1 a group of students attended the Get Ready Youth Forum on the 5th of April with students from schools around the Riverina to learn about some of the natural disasters we may experience throughout our lives. The program specifically focused on responding to floods and fires. Students undertook a number of engaging activities to further their knowledge about keeping themselves and their families safe. These included using fire hoses, climbing through tunnels and saving a mannequin as a member of a team.

Ms Jacinta Hyde

Teacher

ConnecTED Learning

We’ve talked about Accelerated Reader and Literacy Planet at our parent evenings and interviews, however we’d like to give a reminder going in to Term 2…

All students should be reading for a minimum of 3 times a week for 20 minutes. When a book is finished, students complete a 10 question comprehension quiz. Students have a target pass rate of 85% or better to aspire to. They also have a target number of book points to meet. There are 2 marking periods of 5 weeks in each term.

The Archibull is coming…

“Feeding Clothing and Powering a Hungry Nation is a Shared Responsibility”

Monday 2nd May –

Friday 23rd September 2016

This year Mater Dei is embarking on the journey of the Archibull. The Archi is a really exciting project which incorporates not only the Creative Arts and TAS KLA’s but will also include a range of other key learning areas to investigate, research and create an Archibull entry.

“The Archibull Prize aims to be a highly motivational project, which caters for many learning styles and differences in student entry levels, encouraging the development of big ideas through cooperation and teamwork”

Students are the driving force behind the project and are excited to engage in the program. The students will need to create a website which they write blog entries in variety of literary forms about the development of the Archi, meeting a Young Farming Mentor from the nominated industry to discuss the sustainability and contemporary farming practises, and any other information sharing sources.

The Archibull concept opens the door for conversation and for the students to understand the way in which food and fibre is used and consumed in Australia and encourages creative thinking.

So keep an eye out for the Archi!

More information can be found at the following sites:

The Archibull website:

http://www.archibullprize.com.au/

Our Mater Dei blog (which is a work in progress)

http://mdcc2016archibull.weebly.com/

OR follows us on Mater Dei Twitter and Facebook