The highlight of our fortnight has obviously been the many, many minibeasts that came to visit us! Crickets, slatters, worms, centipedes, butterflies and caterpillars filled our learning commons. We entered a butterfly tent and held out a stick that had been dipped in cordial to feed butterflies, we handled crickets, grasshopper and worms, we examined various insects under a microscope and made creatures out of colourful clay. This experience provided an amazing opportunity to further explore our current inquiry into insects, ecosystems and the many varied life bubbles that exist in our environment and lives.
“I made a beetle with an aqua shell and purple antennes and I also made a colourful wrist band to scare creatures from eating me because I look too poisonous.” Patrick
“My favourite part was finding boodgey boys and worms in some soil.” Junie
“I liked the crickets. About 20 crickets got on me at once.” Raph
“I loved it when it was cricket mayhem. Crickets kept jumping off the tables and climbing on our hands and clothes!” June
“I loved it when I got to dress up as an insect. I had lots of googly eye, 2 extra legs which were actually just socks full of sand, tongs for hands, party blower and a headband of noses. It did not feel comfortable.” Reuben
“ I liked making a wrist band. I made it with lots of different colours. I like patterns. Bugs have bright colours to show other creatures that they are dangerous.” Goldie
In addition to this, children in the Year 1 neighbourhood have been busy working on recipes and creating a collaged representation of a cake by following a procedural text. We also began considering the design and layout of our courtyard, with the expertise of Michael, Aggie’ Dad, to guide us. Michael supported us to decide which new edible plants would thrive in our garden and how to best care for the current plants. Next week Michael will return with landscape maps to help us design the courtyard layout from a bird’s eye view. Students have begun to construct their 3D boats, that feature 3D shapes and symmetry. They have also been considering how to best make these float.
We have also been working towards understanding the need for people to respect each other’s space, respect each other’s bodies and to play fairly, something we will continue to practice in the coming weeks. We will also begin to prepare for Jump Rope for Heart, so please set up profiles by following the links that were sent out on compass recently, if you have not already done so!
