Term 3 has begun and the students have been settling back into the routines of the neighbourhood.
We had ten students selected to attend a nine day outdoor education camp at Somers on the Mornington Peninsula. Here they experienced challenges that align with our school values of expanding possibilities and strong and capable children. Highlights included ‘The Challenge Swing’, high ropes course and abseiling.
Gabe and Koen participated in the band during morning assemblies. Leadership qualities were noted in Florence, Decca, Gigi, Gabe and Anna as they earnt a ‘golden ticket’ gaining first preference when choosing activities. Well done!
“The camp was really fun and I’ve made lots of new friends from other schools” Gabe
“Camp was excellent and I recommend it for future years” Seb
“It was something new – I’ve never experienced a challenge swing before! I felt good doing something out of my comfort zone” Monty
“Camp was the highlight of my year so far! It challenged me and made me feel like I was successful when I participated in the activities. My postcard to the new group of students attending the camp was ‘Make every experience worth remembering’” Decca
“Camp was one of the best experiences I’ve had and I am grateful I was chosen to go” Claudia
“Camp was a great experience. Abseiling was challenging and amazing. I made great friends” Florence
“Somers camp was an amazing experience that pushed me out of my comfort zone in many different ways” Koen
The students back in the neighbourhood have also been busy moving ahead with our inquiry and we are close to moving into workshop groups to begin focusing on one particular aspect of their learning in the communication phase of our inquiry cycle. More to come on this in the next blog!
NAIDOC Week learning centred around indigenous Olympians where the achievements have had a huge impact on all parts of the Australian community. We shared our research about Cathy Freeman at the assembly during week one. We incorporated our provocation of ‘How do we commemorate the legacy of important people through portraiture?’
Many students took the opportunity to focus on legacy during provocations by exploring ‘The Golden Record’ – a time capsule made by NASA in 1977. This has prompted us to consider what we would put in a time capsule – more on this in the next blogpost!
During workshops, we have been considering the way that leaders share their thoughts, actions and legacy. We considered methods of communicating and analysed the effectiveness using a PMI organisation of information structure. From here, we have been working on sharing a message from or about a leader using a form of communication we have evaluated as being effective in reaching their audience. We hope to share some of this once completed!
As the Olympics are approaching, we have evaluated past statistics and the legacy of athletes, incorporating our work on fractions into this reflection, as well as considering the impact their success has had.
Coming up over the next fortnight:
English: In workshops, our focus will be on evaluating and editing the quality of our vocabulary when writing. In our home group text study sessions, students are continuing to develop their critical thinking skills by selecting and explaining specific quotes that show the opinion of the author.
Mathematics: In mathematics, we will continue to look at fractions and their connection to decimals. This will be a focus as we look at the Olympic statistics and use the data to form statements about the fraction of a number – hopefully Australian gold medals!