End of Term Roundup

Well here we are, nearly Easter and the Year's one third gone! It's been a great Term1, getting really hectic at the end with those big community events - the Ride 2 School Day, the Fun Run and the Crazy Hair Day. This last began with and was fully organised by a team of Year 5 girls. They discussed the idea, got parent approval, negotiated with Robyn and all the teachers, organised permission letters and take-home forms, put notices in the school newsletter, made and posted ads, organised on the day, collected and counted money. Over $300 was raised for the Leukemia Foundation by this impromptu student action team. Sensational stuff!

Another big event - in the student mind if not on the timetable - has been the appearance of Rob Deakin, the lego man. Rob has run the first of several sessions using simple lego blocks to create aspects of ancient worlds, and in Second Term we'll be seeing a lot more of him in Su Nei Cieli, hopefully with weekly workshops building to our end of Term Exhibition night.

The date and times for that will be coming home a little later. Also on the horizon early in Term 2 are two excursions, one to Ancient Rome at Docklands, and the other to Mesopotamia (at the Museum). Stay tuned for more precise detail when school resumes.

OTHER NEWS:

Student borrowing in the Library has resumed, after the installation of a new Library Management System. Many of the 456 students borrowed in the last week of Term and we'd expect that to ramp up quite a bit next month.

Finally, take a look at this linked web of sites about doing mathematics.  We though it was pretty inspirational, especially the bit about the habits of a mathematician. Well actually, all of it, not just the habits page. Check it all out for yourself.

Mid Term News

Well here we are, half way through Term 1! Team challenges, slightly different ways of learning and working, and mostly a lot of satisfaction and even, dare we say - fun.

The first few weeks have been heavily slanted towards teamwork and building a sense of community. We've had the Marshmallow Challenge (photo right), the Puff Mobile, Getting Ourselves in Knots and The Alien Has Landed. All of these challenges have been followed by a written reflection, where we've directed children towards thinking about groups and the metacognitive aspects involved in choosing the right sort of group. Is it best to choose your own working team, to be chosen at random, or to have the teachers choose? These questions can lead to deep discussion and address one of the core learning areas in life - how do we interact with other people?

These challenges were followed by the Billy Cart incursion - students designed, built and drove wooden billy carts. Lots of fun, squeals, laughter, physical exercise, manual dexterity and very limited accidents. And it was good to see so many girls working with spanners and driving like Formula 1 celebrities.

Another recent and regular project - now completed - has been working with Prep children to help them establish goals and begin the process of project-based learning. This has included cooking, model making, sports and games, story writing and ICT work. As well as helping the Prep children with transition into school, this weekly project time has directed our 456 students towards planning, teamwork, and the requirements of knowing something so well you can teach it to others.

Overall the kids are great, things are happening and the team is really enjoying being together with this Learning Community.

PS - click on the photos for larger view.