Bikes, boxes, go karts, etc

'Not a Box' incursion

Preps wrapped up their STEAM inquiry unit on design and construction with a special incursion with the biggest boxes we've ever seen! We were shown how to use special tools to cut the cardboard, make small holes and screw parts together. There was an assortment of other bits and pieces that we could add to our box to make our designs come to life. 

Finn "We made a house. We used one box. I added windows and I put two holes at the top of the house so there could be some light. We put a net at the top so you can't stick your head out of the lights. At the side of the house we had a mailbox for letters. I added so many decorations. It was fun."

Jack "Louis L and me made a car. We made it using short wheels made out of cardboard tubes. We also had a big silver tube. And we used sticky stuff to stick it together and we had special tools to cut the carboard. It was really interesting and fun."

Florence "It was so much fun because me and Annabelle and Emelia made a treasure room. We had an idea because there was a little cubby and we made treasure. I got a drum and we used pieces of carboard and sticky tape. The best thing was that our box had a little window. Later on we took it outside and we played in it. 

Maya "Martina and I made a cafe and a jail and a sleeping place. We made it out of boxes. We had a big stretchy silver tube that we connected together and then we could talk to each other through it. We cut a circle out of the cardboard and then put one of the tubes inside. We had some special tools to cut the cardboard and the teacher also helped us. The best part was when I went into the silver tube. Martina tried to go into the tube but she got stuck."

Grade 1 and 2

Letters to Tim Wilson in Grade 2 - fantastic persuasive writing!

In grade 2 we have been looking at sustainability and pollution. We were so sad to find out that by 2050 there will be more plastic than fish in the ocean! We will only be 33 years old by then. We have written persuasive letters to our member of parliament, Tim Wilson with our concerns and some solutions. We have used emotive language and ordinal adverbs (firstly, secondary, finally) to try and organise our information. AND we know how to end a letter formally, by writing 'Yours sincerely’.

Jonathan “We are writing about stopping plastics from going into the ocean. The animals eat it and get very sick. We are writing to Tim Wilson, who is our member of parliament in Canberra.”

William “We are trying to persuade Tim Wilson so we can do something like cleaning up and getting people to pick up rubbish when they see it. It is better for the environment. Plastics can’t go away and they get tinier and tinier and then fish eat them and then bigger fish eat those fish and then we eat the fish and we end up eating plastic”

Nixon “We are using emotive language in our persuasive writing to convince him. We use words like “have to” and “must”. I wrote that we have to help the environment by reducing and recycling.”

Max “We are writing a persuasive letter to Tim Wilson about all the plastic in the ocean. I used a fact to help persuade him. Did you know that there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish by 2050?”

Grades 3 and 4

Collecting data (basketball hoops)

Jude “We collected data in a fun way. We did it by playing a sport – which class shot the most hoops. Afterwards we talked about the data comparing the number of shots each class had to see if the data was fair. 4H had more shots at goal and they also had more goals recorded.”

Grades 5 and 6

Our Go Karts are taking shape as we enter the final preparations for our wacky races event!

Bike Ride

Kurt “We started at around 9:30 on our ride from School to Catani Gardens in St Kilda, and then onto Port Melbourne. We stopped at Elwood for fruit snack. It was a hard ride there and back. On the way back the headwind was really hard to push through. Going up the hills was challenging. The good things were that we got to ride with our friends, have fun and I’m glad I did it. But when I got back to school there was a sigh of relief.”

Zoe “I loved riding along the bay even though it was hard riding against the wind. It was fun being able to ride during school, because it isn’t something we get an opportunity to do that often. I am going to remember when we stopped at Catani Gardens for lunch and we got to run around and play in the gardens.”

 Josh and Seb at Ability Day

Last week Josh and Seb (Grade 5) were accompanied by El to a special event hosted by Dylan Alcot. 

Josh "Ability Day is a day where we celebrate others and recognize who they are and their unique differences. We started the day by going into the city, to DAF HQ where we meet Dlyan and he gave us a very intriguing speech all about disability and his life experiences. 

This is important to me because it teaches others about disability and how they can be kind and inclusive. We look forward to sharing more at an upcoming assembly."

For more information on Ability Day see:

Dylan Alcott Foundation - Helping young Australians with disabilities

A visit from J-Dog

Our funny and very knowledgeable grade 6 camp bus driver, affectionately known as J-Dog, popped into school for a visit. You can see how popular he is from these pics. Thanks J-Dog! You know more about Canberra than some of the actual guides at the places we visited. We will never get sick of your 'sick' jokes.