Meet Jess

This is Jess from Mauritius. She came to school yesterday for Harmony day and she told us all about Mauritius. Mauritius is off the coast of Africa, near Madagascar. There was an animal that was only found in Mauritius, it was the Dodo. They were made extinct in 1681. There were two battles on Mauritius, one was the at a bay on the bottom of the island. The other battle was at the top of the island, and the armies were the French and British. The first battle was won by the French and the second was won by the British. Since the British won the second battle the French had to leave but Mauritians still speak French.

 

 

Our blog

I have learnt how to blog!! I have bombarded you all with 8 weeks worth of photos that I have been meaning to put up…Miss Marshall gave me a quick intro this week as I have been well and truly left behind by our clever blogging students and felt I needed to come on board!

From now on I will try to blog every week or two to keep you all up-to-date with the happenings in our classroom, and to also get the students to share about our experiences. Harmony Day anyone??!!

Mrs Cannon 🙂

P.S. I need someone to show me how to get the emojis please!!

A Visit from Constable Netterfield & Sergeant Moulden

Last Thursday we had Constable Netterfield (Ash) & Sergeant Moulden (Randall) visit our class to show us their Forensic Science kit and to answer our questions regarding this kit and it’s use. This term with Mrs Cannon we are completing a project titled ‘Catch the Crook’ as part of our Technologies unit of work. Students have to design a Crime Scene Investigation kit, a box/suitcase or bag and six items inside it that can be used for collecting evidence at a crime scene. Ash & Randall showed us how to collect fingerprints and DNA evidence and explained to us how this evidence is analysed and used to catch criminals. We are still making our kits and have invited them back to view them upon completion and provide us with feedback as to how useful they would be. Randall also said they hope to fingerprint us when they return…here’s hoping we’re not recognised on their database!!

 

The real kit that we are replicating.

 

Ash collecting the fingerprints off our gemstone jar (which had been raided!!)

 

Ariel, Lehyia, Tahlia & Chloe examining the evidence for fingerprints.

 

Collecting a swab of a drop of blood found at the scene.

 

Thanks for the visit!

 

Mathematicians

A couple of pics of some of our Year 3’s fraction work during our ‘Hands On’ station for Maths Groups.

 

Sarai & Orlanda’s posters on halves and quarters.

 

Koby, Chloe & Hiraani’s Fraction Walls to help them learn equivalent fractions.

New Furniture

Mrs Cannon enjoyed a trip to KMart & IKEA and came back with some new items for our classroom…they were hot property for the first week or so they were introduced!

 

The stools for our Guided Reading table are getting the thumbs up from Alex, Keanu & Koby.

 

Lehyia, Chloe & Ariel hanging out on the couch.

 

Justice & Orlanda checking out the new floor cushions for the Listening Centre.

Change Detectives!

This term in Science with Mrs Cannon we are being ‘Change Detectives’! We are investigating, exploring and learning about how substances (particularly items from our everyday lives) change under different conditions. Below are photos from some of our investigations on Tuesday afternoons.

 

Jake attempting to melt his ice cube the fastest by putting it in his mouth and using his body heat!

 

Alex placed his ice cube in a dark, metal pan out in full sun.

 

Ariel & Jake recording their winning times…Ariel 1st for melting it under water at the drink fountain and Jake 2nd for placing it in his mouth.

 

Sarai’s wonderful ‘Before & After’ storyboard from the Year 3’s investigation into heating, cooling & freezing items.

 

Tahlia & Georgia investigating dissolving a solid into a liquid.

 

Lachlan, Tyler & Koby showing off their neatly presented storyboards.

 

Aimee, Keanu & Jake recording their observations during the investigation.

Literacy Centres

This term we have started doing Literacy Centres during our morning literacy block. Students do Guided Reading in groups with a teacher and then rotate around different centres such as Independent Reading, Partner Reading, Magazine Centre, Listening Centre, Handwriting Centre, Book Reviews and Poetry Roll & Answer. Below are some photos of the students practicing new strategies and responding to their reading.

Lehyia and Chloe enjoying Independent Reading in the fresh air and sunshine.

 

Keanu, Jake & Tahlia during a Guided Reading session.

 

Koby & Lachlan reading the same text and sharing their responses during Partner Reading.

 

Justice & Georgia during a Guided Reading session with Mrs Sutherland.

 

Jake & Keanu listening to the same ebook at the Listening Centre.

 

Aimee & Alex sharing responses to a poem at the Poetry Roll & Answer centre.