Today in 1/2T we introduced a Box of Kindness. The idea is to remind and encourage us to share kind thoughts and words. You can write a note to anyone in the school, signed or anonymously, and pop it into the Kindness Box. Then we share the messages. We only started this morning and by this afternoon the box was nearly full!
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Today we enjoyed our fabulous incursion, World of Maths. Students rotated through many different mathematical activities including puzzles, mazes, addition, measuring, balancing, weighing and problem-solving challenges. The library was buzzing with excitement. Thank you so much to our wonderful parent volunteers Lorna and Michael, we were VERY glad to have your calm and practical help! I love the chance to reflect each week on the efforts and achievements of our hard-working students. There are always many highlights to think about.
I really LOVED to see Jordan make an extraordinary effort using a writing prompt to create a fabulous piece of work. Jordan your focus and determination produced some brilliant results!!! The best writing you've done all year!! Dean, it has been wonderful to see you making such sensible and responsible decisions around your learning. I love to see you contributing to class discussions and working well in group activities - keep up the great effort! Life Education is a highlight every year and we were very excited to visit Healthy Harold today. He taught us about how we can be heroes by looking after our bodies, using our brains, staying strong and making healthy food choices. Louise, our educator, and Harold's good friend, was very impressed by how much we knew about our skeleton, muscles, lungs and digestive system (thanks to David Morgan-Mar's visit earlier in the week).
Brookvale Public School participates in the CSIRO's Scientist in Schools program, and as a result, we have been lucky enough to have David Morgan-Mar as our resident scientist for the last three years. He visits us a few times a year and is always meticulous and detailed in his preparation, sharing with us his knowledge about many different subjects within the field of science. David spent the day with us on Monday and every student learnt a lot about how our bodies work. It was so interesting and the students LOVED it, as is evident in the recounts below. David gives his time to us voluntarily and we are very, very grateful. Thank you David! We hope to see you next term :-)
Yesterday Stage 1 went to the library and saw David Morgan-Mar. He talked about how bodies work. Skeletons protect our squishy parts inside us like our heart and brain. He also said that some bugs have their skeleton on the outside of their body. We learnt about muscles – they help us move. Our lungs help us to breathe and they are like sponges. I also learnt about our digestive system, that’s where we get energy from. Tess Yesterday we went to see David Morgan-Mar in the library and it was so much fun! I loved the part when he talked about skeletons and he told us that if you have muscles, you can lift stuff. The best part is that your muscles help you to run and stand up as well as lifting stuff. I love David Morgan-Mar, he is the best! At the end we got to ask questions and then we went home. Channing Yesterday Stage 1 went to the Library to see David Morgan-Mar, he is a scientist. We learnt about muscles (muscular system) and about our biceps and triceps. We also learnt about the digestive system, food goes in through your mouth and stomach and is used by your body to make energy. Keeley We have muscles to make us strong. We have brains to make us think. And we have teeth to help us eat. Cruz Yesterday David Morgan-Mar came to our school and spoke to us in the library. He told us about how our bodies work. He said lungs help us to breathe and that they are like sponges. He also told us about our skeletons. It is very good that we have skeletons because they protect our heart in a little cage in your body and they help us stand up and protect your important organs (including) your lungs. Your muscles help you to stand up and support your skeleton. Your muscles also help us to move. Molly We went to the library to learn about how bodies work. You use muscles to move your arms. Your skeleton helps you to stand up. It was fun. Jordan Yesterday we went to see David Morgan-Mar to learn about how bodies work. We even saw a skeleton! We need bones to stand, if we didn’t have bones we would just fall down on the ground. We saw some videos of animal’s bodies and it was very interesting. Your skeleton helps to protect important organs like your heart, brain and lungs. Muscles support our skeleton and help us to move. Our lungs help us to breathe, they are like sponges. Our digestive system is how we get energy from food – we got to see a lot of things there. We saw animal’s bodies too. Some animals don’t have bones like us but they can still stand up and move around doing what they want to. I loved it so much! It was so, so interesting and fun! And then we went back to class. Tanaz It's difficult to describe the amount of fun we had in Science Club today. Our third,and final week for the time being, of the paper plane challenges saw many happy faces and busy hands folding, launching, observing and evaluating. It's been absolutely amazing to see students become more confident in the design process since we started. I saw children folding planes, without plans or instructions into streamlined designs if they wanted their plane to fly a longer distance, a broader design if they were interested in loop-the-loops or stunt flying. The most exciting thing for me was that these realisations and adjustments were all student driven. While the sessions are very hectic and very hands on for teachers supporting children, the sense of discovery, engagement and direction unfolds through our students. It seems like play, but I see our hard-working young scientists building resilience, critical and creative thinking skills, an ability to collaborate, share and take turns, and the ability to reflect on their work and adjust their learning. SO EXCITING!!!
Thank you to all the parents who have encouraged their children to come along. Science Club would not be possible with our current numbers (about 70 today) without the talent, patience and care of Ms Lohr, Miss Gilchrist, Mrs Richardson and Mr Brian. Thank you! I owe you all a coffee - at least! It's impossible to take photos of everyone but I hope you see a glimpse of our experiences. Next week we are planning some classic exploding experiments (don't worry, just the vinegar and bi-carb variety). The following week we will look at some long term design projects. In our HSIE topic, we are learning about the need for shelter for animals and people. Last week we discussed and defined what a shelter is and why human beings need shelter. We looked at lots of amazing shelters from all around the world and talked about the different materials used to provide protection from the elements. I have decided I would quite like to shelter in a beautiful stone cottage with a fire place, English country garden and over-flowing window boxes. Many students liked the idea of a tree-house, and some thought an ice-house would be interesting to experience! Today the students worked collaboratively to research information about the habitats of different animals and the way those habitats provide shelter. We haven't finished sharing our ideas, so I will post some work samples later. I have to make a special mention of Cruz who was super on task this afternoon. He was reading about how animals shelter in harsh environments over 40 degrees celsius and made a lovely connection to our science unit in which we are learning about the external features of animals. Cruz wrote about Thorny Devils which are an Australian lizard. He informed us that these lizards have thorny spikes over their bodies to protect them from predators AND that they are able to 'drink' through their feet. I can't wait to learn more about the world tomorrow! Fridays are so busy now as we excitedly race from awards to Mandarin. Congratulations to our hard working and deserving achievers this week.
Molly, your award acknowledges your outstanding attitude to learning in all areas. You are always one of the first people sitting in your listening spot, with a big smile on your face, engaged and ready to learn. Keep up your amazing effort and enthusiasm! Sam, thank you for showing leadership in our classroom. I am so proud of you when you set an example for other students, show determination in your learning, help others and are a kind and caring friend - oh, and you are also working hard to improve your writing. I appreciate your hard work! Thank you to the 60 amazing K-2 students who came to Science Club in the Library again today. Your excitement was infectious and it was fantastic to see so many paper plane designs - some designs were very, very unique and I love to see so many people having a go :-) I only have a few photos today as it was so hectic and hands on helping everyone to fold and fly. We used a simple design to start with. Here is the link if you would like to practise at home. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwiZX5EYI7g And this is one of the competitions we will be entering after running trials at school. Good luck! http://www.paperplanes.youngscientist.com.au/?p=2000 |
Rebecca ThomsonI come to teaching later in life with all the enthusiasm and passion it takes to complete a degree while parenting and working part time. I was lucky enough to complete my internship with Skye Surrest on Stage 3 in 2013 and am now loving my third year teaching a Stage One class at Brookvale Public School. Brookvale is a very special school. The staff are amazing, incredibly dedicated, kind and supportive... But most of all, I love the students! 1/2T are such a wonderful class and I adore teaching and learning with them every single day! Blogs I follow
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January 2017
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Welcome to 1/2T
These pages will give you a glimpse of the learning experiences in our classroom.
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