Primary Campus
Reception Cleland Wildlife Park Excursion
On Wednesday the 26th of October the Reception students headed out on an adventure to Cleland Wildlife Park for our science excursion. In Term 2, students engaged in the inquiry unit ‘It’s Alive and I know why’. This Inquiry unit allowed us to explore and learn all about Australian animals, their habitats and their needs for survival. We had an education talk where we came face to face with mammals, amphibians and reptiles (including a snake!). On our adventure the children had the opportunity to feed and pat kangaroos, wallabies, emus and koalas. We even saw some baby joeys in their mother’s pouch. There were a few snores on the way home after a fun filled day.
Ms Madeline Cole, Ms Cathie Gaffney, Ms Vanessa Morelli and Ms Ashleigh Behrendt, Reception Teachers
Year 1 Excursion to Sprout Cooking School
On Thursday the 20th of October, the Year 1 students visited Sprout Cooking School for an excursion. During our session, we cooked a fresh, seasonal and healthy apple salad with meatballs, from scratch, using proper equipment and all by ourselves! At Sprout, we gained skills which can be transferred to cooking back at school, home and beyond.
We had a great time at Sprout Cooking School. Here is what some of our Year 1s had to say about the day:
“My favourite part about Sprout was learning a new meal to cook at home with my family.” – Ivy A
“I enjoyed making the flat bread and eating the food!” – Isaac G
“My favourite part was cooking the meatballs.” – Annalise C
“I love cooking because it’s fun and we get to eat after.” – Indi F
“Sprout was fun because we learnt to roll the meatballs into a sphere and make sure they were all the same size.” – Aahaan V
Ms Billie Tanner, Year 1 Teacher
Earth Day
How can we make learning how to care for the planet fun?
Congratulations to our eight Youth Environmental Leaders who saw a problem and took up the challenge. These trailblazers instigated our very first Earth Day on Thursday last week. Incidentally, it was also Outdoor Classroom Day so many classes took the learning outside for lots of subjects. The day was a great success. It was an inclusive day with the whole school participating in many fun outdoor activities designed to highlight the problems we have with plastics, litter and many other things. How can we reduce, reuse and recycle?
An added bonus to the day was the assistance of our Senior Eco Squad from Years 7 to 11, as well as Year 11 Society and Culture students, this ensured all activities were run by students for students. An important focus was that these activities not only centered around environmental learning, but students were also connecting with nature and having fun outdoors – play based learning in our great learning spaces.
Here are some of the incredible activities that took place:
- Bottle top artwork
- Waste & recycling games
- Wetlands planting
- Bread tag recycling competition
- Scavenger hunt
- Seed saving
- Hope Tree
Our Lasallian Stars were also a big part of the day, running their own Rainbow Garden Stall, raising money for their own nature play rainbow garden. (This is a whole other story and you may have seen the video on socials!!!)
It must be said that the highlight of the day, and the most popular activity was the smoothie bike. Pedal power ensured we had smoothies not lumpies and we may have had to go shopping in the middle of the day for extra ingredients!!
Finally, a big thank you to everyone who donated a gold coin to help our Environment. We managed to raise $387.20 and will be donating this to both Woodiwild and Trees For Life. Two incredible organisations who are busy revegetating our Earth. From little things big things grow as someone wise once said
Keep playing out in nature everyone and never stop believing in a green, sustainable future.
Ms Robyn Palmer (on behalf of the YEL crew@78)
Sustainability Officer
#alwaysgreeningalwayswillbe
Ms Joanne Gilmore, Director of Teaching and Learning
Kids In Space Showcase
On Friday 28th October, a selection of students from Years 3, 5 and 6 went to a Makers Empire and the Andy Thomas Space Foundation Showcase at the Australian Space Discovery Centre at Lot 14.
“Driving to the Makers Empire Showcase was enjoyable because everyone was so excited. After what felt like ages, we finally got there! Firstly, we looked at other students’ work on sustainability and design. We got to meet students from other schools and learn about their initiatives. After looking at other school’s projects, we went and looked through the exhibits. Some of the interesting things on display was a screen that told you what time the next rocket would be launched. Another thing was a screen that talked about the impacts of global warming and the things you can see from space.” Frank Marino 6M.
It was wonderful to see students sharing their design thinking, problem solving for future and current problems that we face on earth and in space. The environment in the Space Discovery Centre was inspiring with experts all around the event and interactive tools and exhibition displays in the gallery space. Mr Faull (Year 3 Teacher) and Ms Tyrwhitt (Art and Design teacher) received two and a half days of professional development with this project and shall continue to utilise the resources and learning into 2023 and beyond. The school also received a fantastic new 3D printer! Check out their Facebook page to find out more!
RESOURCE, RESPOND, RESCUE!
Year 6 Digital Technologies have commenced a new program from CoRE “Full Steam Ahead” Centre of Resource Excellence Learning Foundation. This is a gamification project between CoRE Learning Foundation and the Minerals Council of Australia. The aim of the Gamification Project is to create a greater awareness and understanding of earth sciences in Australian schools; in particular, the importance of the earth in improving the lives of people through the natural resourced it produces.
Year 6 Resource, Respond, Rescue! Is a Minecraft world that has an innovative approach to learning about disaster mitigation strategies. The game is located in a fictitious town in Northern Australia. Its gameplay describes the mine operation’s Emergency Response Teams collaborating with the town’s SES volunteers as they engage in mitigation, response, and rescue activities to protect the community and mine from bushfire, flood, earthquake, and tsunami effects.
Our students were communicating, collaborating and using knowledge from outside and inside the game to mitigate and run simulations. Of particular interest to the learners was the Indigenous land management approaches with bushfires. The students will be continuing this project for the coming weeks. Jett Coletti from CoRE learning worked with Ms Tyrwhitt to get us started in the project and the session was highly engaging and a lot of fun! He was impressed by our students’ knowledge and ability to collaborate in STEAM learning.
ART AND DESIGN COMPETITION WINNERS
1) A TOY OR GADGET FOR LIFE ON MARS
This year the primary campus students were given the opportunity to participate in the Digital Commissioner for Children’s Design Thinking challenge. The task was to design a gadget or a toy for a child living on Mars. The commissioner has selected Tommy Trento’s (Year 5) design “Crimson Lake Fishing Rod” as one of the top-rated designs to be part of her state-wide Space to Dream travelling exhibition. Tommy’s design was created using Maker’s Empire and will be 3D printed and displayed alongside other top-rated designs.
The Space to Dream exhibition begins at the Australian Space Discovery Centre in December and travels throughout the state for the duration of 2023. More information on the dates and locations of the exhibition can be found here. https://commissionersdigitalchallenge.net.au/design-thinking/schools/schools-winners-2022-design-thinking/
Congratulations again to Tommy on his design.
2) A CALENDAR PAGE FOR FUTURE TRANSPORT FOR PARLIAMENT HOUSE
Dion Tsoulakis Year 3 “Drone Car” design has won a page in the parliament house calendar.
The art competition was arranged by Honorable Robert Simms MLC Greens member of parliament called the Future Transport Calendar Art Competition. Out of over 200 entries, Dion’s artwork was chosen for the 12 final designs. Learn more here.
He had to design a future form of transport that is sustainable and environmentally friendly. He drew the flying solar drone car, and it will be featured in the calendar in parliament house for 2023. His drawing was technical and imaginative!
Kate Tyrwhitt, Art and Design Teacher – Indigenous Education Coordinator Primary
