2021 Term 3 Week 10
Dear Parents,
Thank you for your contributions towards student learning in term 3 and your continued support of our school community during difficult times. Our staff are grateful for the partnership approach to learning through the lockdown period.
We pray that you are all well, and wish you a happy, healthy and safe holiday.
We look forward to welcoming students back on Tuesday 5 October for Term 4.
Regards
Jacki Moore
Principal
GEOGRAPHY
Even though our learning in Geography has been disrupted this term we are pleased that the teaching of the units outlined below has now commenced, and will be the continued focus of our learning in Term 4.
We commenced our geography units with an indigenous focus that aligned with NAIDOC celebrations. The theme this year being Heal Country. The poster theme for this year – Care for Country, aligns closely with geographical concepts and the Catholic Social Teaching of Stewardship.
Kindergarten – People Live in Places
Within this unit, students look at places; their place, different places, special places, and places they belong to. They will explore how and why people look after places; the location of places and how they can be represented with maps and mapping skills will be investigated. The concepts of place, space and environment are addressed throughout the unit.
Stage 1 – Features of Places
The People Live in Places unit examines weather and seasons, features of places and how places are organised. Within these ideas, students learn about the weather and seasons in places, seasonal calendars and how activities change according to the weather. They learn about natural, built and managed features of places and how and why spaces in places can be organised.
Stage 2 – Places are Similar and Different
This unit explores the Australian continent, Australia’s neighbours, the climate of places, the similarities and differences between places and perception and protection of places. Within these ideas, students will explore different climate zones within Australia and compare those to our neighbouring countries. They will evaluate the impact of climate on the settlement patterns of particular areas and how it influences the daily lives of the people who live there. The significance of “place” to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples and others is examined and consideration to how feelings and perceptions for a special place influence the actions of a community to protect the environment.
Stage 3 – Factors that Shape Places
This unit explores factors that change environments, how environments shape places, how humans shape places and the effects of natural disasters. Students examine the interconnectedness between the environment and human interaction. Students will examine how human decisions and actions influence the way spaces are organised and managed and they will gain an understanding of how communities can prevent and minimise the effects of natural disasters on the environment.
Science and Technology
Our postponed Science Week celebration was held this week with everyone participating in bee-related activities and exploring Augmented Reality (AR) in their lessons.
Kindergarten and Stage 1 students listened to a bush tucker story about collecting the sugarbag, danced along to the Waggle Dance, programmed Bluebots and explored how the Quiver app could bring their bee designs to life.
Students in Years 3, 4 and 5 found out a little more about native bees, including the amazing fact that Queen bees lay 300 eggs a day. They put on their design hats to create a label for a honey jar and were very excited to be able to explore AR with Merge Cubes.
Year 6 has been busily converting their Science Festival demonstrations to videos that can be shared with other classes under the current Covid-19 guidelines. In keeping with the Science Week theme of Food: Different by Design their activities include:
- Making icecream
- Lemon volcanos
- Glow in the dark jello
- Starburst slime
- Sherbet
- Plastic milk
The Beeswax Wrap kits have been sent home this week. The children really enjoyed printing their calico and I am sure will learn a lot from being involved in the process of making the wraps. It has been a great activity to show the children how we can all make a difference in caring for the environment as well as reminding us of the importance of bees as pollinators. The level of support from families for this project has been amazing - thank you.
Happy (belated) Science Week!
Mrs Tricia Neithe
