On Friday 2 November we were lucky enough to have a special visit from the Queenscliff Marine Discovery Centre. We had two experts teach us a lot about life in the sea. They even brought a touchtank containing rockpool creatures. Everyone had the opportunity to handle a variety of interesting items and live animals. We impressed our visitors with our excellent knowledge about marine life.
Queenscliff Marine Discovery Centre on PhotoPeach
What did you learn about marine life?
Did you learn anything that really amazed you?
Have you ever been to a Marine Discovery Centre before?
This term our inquiry topic is Under the Sea. We have been discussing ‘fat’ and ‘skinny’ questions about the sea. The students have been asked to discuss and classify a list of questions from the book, “Is the Sea Salty and other questions about the sea?”
“Skinny” questions are the type to ask when you want simple facts and information. These questions usually require only short answers.
Skinny questions may begin with:
What is…?
When did…?
Is it….?
A skinny question about the sea is, “Is a whale a fish?”
“FAT” questions require higher order thinking skills and require more detailed answers.
They may begin with:
Give reasons why….?
Explain why….?
In what ways….?
Why do you agree…?
A fat question about the sea is, “In what ways is the sea important to humans?”
Do you have any fat or skinny questions about the sea?
Perhaps we’ll be able to find out some answers!
Soon we will be learning the song “Under the Sea” from “The Little Mermaid”. Listen and enjoy!
What a fantastic holiday! New York City is a huge, bustling and very interesting city. Laura and I loved our two weeks there. Every day we walked and walked and walked. We also used the subway to go from one area to another. The food was great, the weather was warm and the shopping was excellent. We love New York!
Mrs de Vries’ New York Holiday on PhotoPeach
Did you visit any interesting places during the holidays?
Today we looked at and finally tasted a grain like food called quinoa ( pronounced keen-wah). The students had not seen it before and they had certainly never tasted it.
I put a bowl of cooked quinoa on each table with some spoons and asked the children what were they wondering? I did not tell them it was a food, but the spoons gave it away, I think!
Here are some of the questions:
What is it?
Can you cook it?
Can you eat it?
Where does it come from?
Is it from another country?
Is it rice?
Is it good for you?
In 2DD all the girls were brave enough to taste it. The only boys were Max and Seb. Well done to those children who gave it a go! We found out the answers by reading the pack.
Have you tasted quinoa before?
Did you like it?
Can you answer any of the questions posed by the students?
We recently listened to Shaun Tan’s wonderful story called ”The Lost Thing’.
We didn’t look at the illustrations. We just listened and tried to visualise what we heard. As we listened, we wondered about The Lost Thing.
After listeniing to the story, the children tried to draw what they imagined The Lost Thing might look like. They also listed their questions and wonderings.
We came up with many questions:
What is ‘The Lost Thing’?
Where did it come from?
How did it become lost?
Why was it at the beach?
How did it get muddy feet?
Who did the little voice belong to?
Later, we watched the movie on YouTube. Whilst many questions were answered when we saw the remarkable illustrations, there were many ideas we were left to wonder about.
Watch Part 1 and 2 below.
What questions do you have about The Lost Thing?
What do you think Shaun Tan might have been thinking about when he wrote the book?
We would love to share this wonderful song with you, written and performed by two of our Grade 2 students. The song has a great ‘Getting Along’ message.
I DON’T WANT TO PLAY WITH YOU!
Written by Alexia & Caitlin 2DD
Verse 1.
I don’t wanna play with you
I don’t wanna play with you
I don’t wanna play with you
At all.
We’ve broken our friendship
We don’t like each other
We’ve done it again
It’s done.
I’m at the end of my rope
I’ve lost my temper
I can’t get her back
At all.
Verse 2.
We thought it was silly
To act so badly.
We thought we’d make up
And be friends.
And now we’re all happy.
We cherish our friendship.
And now we are both like HOORAY!
Song
Have you ever fought with a friend and made up again?
What are some tips for repairing a damaged friendshp?
Have you ever written and performed an original song?
On Thursday the children were read Nette Hilton’s award winning picture story book The Long Red Scarf. The central character of the story, Grandpa Stan, admires his fishing companion’s warm blue scarf and would like a red one of his own. After several people were unable to help, Stan eventually knitted his own.
This story inspired us to create our own long red scarves in Maths . Each table had 6 pieces of red crepe paper, of various lengths. The first thing the students did was order the pieces from largest to smallest. Next they were asked to estimate the length of each piece and then check their estimate by measuring accurately with a ruler or tape measure. The discussions the children held and the language they used helped show their understanding of measurement.
Next, each table was asked to join their 6 pieces and estimate and measure the total length. Again rich discussions were held about how best to join the pieces and determine the overall length. These measurements were confirmed using a calculator.
It was found that each group’s scarf measured close to 250 centimetres or around 2.5 metres. This was confirmed when all four scarves were layed together like a bar graph.
Finally all four pieces were joined to create our own Long Red Scarf that measured almost ten metres in length and is displayed in our classroom.
The Long Red Scarf on PhotoPeach
Can you share some of the maths vocabulary used during your discussions?
Did you find any part of this task tricky?
What advice would you give someone who wanted to make their own Long Red Scarf?
Yesterday the class explored the tradition of the Olympic torch and how its appearance has changed over time. The BBC News has a fantastic timeline that shows all the torches from the 1936 Berlin games to the current London 2012 torch. The torch relay is a rather recent event which always begins in Olympia, Greece making its way around the world until it arrives in the host country. (You were right once again Mrs de Vries!) The London 2012 torch has 8000 holes in it which are meant to represent the 8000 torch bearers that will carry it to London.
Did you know that during the Sydney Olympic games there were 13,300 torchbearers?
Eventually, the torch completes its journey to the Olympic stadium. It is then used to light the cauldron during the opening ceremony. We watched a YouTube clip that featured the different ways the Olympic cauldron has been lit. My personal favourites would have to be the archer at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and Cathy Freeman in Sydney in 2000.
The children were then given half an Olympic torch of their own and were asked to complete it by making it symmetrical. After decorating it we added some very realistic flames using cellophane.
This slideshow displays some of the finished products.
Our Olympic Torches on PhotoPeach
Do you have a favourite Olympic cauldron lighting moment?
Did the Sydney Olympic torch pass through your town? If so, did you go to see it?
Were you a torchbearer or do you know someone that was?
As a part of our One Hundred Days at School Celebration Day, our students were asked to write about what they might be like, when and if they reached that milestone. We hope you enjoy reading their ideas and seeing their wonderful self portraits. Notice the wrinkles created using scrunched up paper! Thanks to Mrs Watson for her great idea.
What do you think you will be like when you’re 100?
Today the children of 2MD & 2DD celebrated their 100th day of school for 2012. The students were asked to bring in 100 ‘of something’ from home. We had lots of pasta, paperclips and paper as well as buttons, beads and balloons.
The children were asked to complete the sentence “When I am 100 I will…” They had to consider what they will do, how they will look and what they may be feeling. They were then asked to draw a portrait of themselves which was screwed up, and then unfolded, to add even more wrinkles!
Then we had a super feast for lunch. The children each brought a plate to share. There were lots of fresh fruit skewers, vegetables and dips, a few occasional treats like mini dim sims nuggets, pies, sausage rolls as well as lots of sweets. Oh, there were even hundreds and thousands on offer. I think a huge thank you has been earned by the parents for all their support. Thank you!
After lunch we spent some time comparing and counting our collections and then we blew up 100 balloons and tried to keep them airborne for 100 seconds! We finished the day in a very noisy fashion. Do you have any idea how much noise is created by popping 100 balloons? I do!
I have included a few photos of our day for you.
100 Days of School on PhotoPeach
When you checked your collection of objects did you find that you didn’t actually have 100?
What did you most like about our celebration?
What are some things you think you could do in 100 seconds?
