Wow! It’s been ages since I had a chance to put up a new post – very busy here at school working away.

I wanted to share a hightlight of our program at the moment. We are working on individual or group projects where students must design and create a product that serves some sort of practical purpose, or is useful in some way.

Students have come up with ideas and they have started researching, designing and in some cases making their own product from their design. Some students have created concept boards that explain their idea and contain samples of some of the materials they could possibly use. Some are making prototypes of their products to test for flaws or challenges when building.

Students are creating products across a broad range of areas and for different purposes. There will be a fly killer, medieval torture machines, sensory boxes, puppy feeders, a morse code transmitter, electric fans, light fittings and much more. Stay tuned for more amazing and wacky inventions.

Ok, so we have all talked about what we should be doing to use the internet safely and what to do if someone starts bullying you online.

That was a little while ago …. time for a refresher!

Play these quick games to help you remember things about privacy settings, and how to tell if a message, text or comment isn’t friendly or could be from a stranger.

Cyber Smart Access Games

After you have played the games – lets practice leaving comments online the right way.  I’ll start with a conversation thread, and I want all of you to add your comments as well to keep the chat going.

Remember, we can’t see anyone’s faces, so it’s really important to only leave positive comments that won’t confuse people or hurt their feelings.

We had a fantastic time today, looking at our beautiful forest through someone else’s eyes. Murrindindi, a local indigenous leader and elder, has been spending time with children from a number of schools in the district. We are the only ones to have the forest so close by, so we get to explore it with Murrindindi and learn about the way of life of indigenous Australians from long ago.

Today we found out about the Kangaroo Apple, sugar glider markings, the heart of tree ferns, the healing properties of moss and leeches, which trees were used for making spears, and felt the heart beat of a living 300 year old tree. Amazing!

The students have written fantastic responses about what they experienced – some will be posted shortly. For now, enjoy the photos taken by Jennie.

We have been very busy the first week of school learning about internet safety, and preparing a presentation for assembly next week. It has been so exciting to have a class who are already working so independently – imagine what we will accomplish by the end of the year!

It is time though to start thinking about our integrated topic for this term “Our Connected World”. Before we can start comparing Australia and our government to others in the world, we need to understand where it all started – and it was quite a process. 

Federation.

Have you ever heard this word before? Your task is to explain what it means, and to find a bit of information about what happened during Federation in Australia.  You will need to make notes of the information you find, and be prepared to report back to the class on what you find out. 

Some websites to help you:

Museum Victoria website

Federation – Fast Facts

Interactive Map – how was Federation celebrated around Australia?

Hi everyone and welcome back to school for another year!

Last year went so fast, and I am excited to welcome back some students for a second year with me. I am also looking forward to getting to know some new students better. I am sure we will have some fun and happy times in class this year.

To get the ball rolling, Jake and I have been thinking about some new ICT programs to learn about, and we really like the idea of Glogs. I have had a go at making one to show you what they look like… hope you like it. Leave me a comment when you have had a look to tell me what you think.

“Big Dreams for 2012″