Our Final Blog Post

Goodbye from Junior M. We've had a great year this year. We've learnt a lot from each other and I bet I will never forget Junior M and Merry christmas and goodbye. I bet next year will be a great year too - Madeline
We've had a wonderful time this year at school. We are all happy that it's getting close to Christmas. Bye everyone! - Will
Thank parents for all the work you have done this year. We wouldn't have gone this far without you. I had a great 4 terms in junior M learning about talents, bugs, food and history. I heard from Mrs Swann that I'm going to learn about Australia next year. Bye junior m I will never forget how much fun we had this year - Jacob
Bye, bye - James
It's been a wonderful year with our teacher and now we have to go to our new year level - Madison
Bye - Seb
I hope next year is as good as this year - Lauren
It's been good this year because we've learnt so much - Dylan
I hope every teacher has a good Christmas. Bye - Ava
We've had a great four terms this year - Travis
I wish Ms Scott a good Christmas - Jessica
Thank you Ms Scott for a great year and Merry christmas- Patrick
My best friend was Patrick - Angelo
This year I learnt lots of things like everyone has a talent no matter who you are and where you are and if do not eat enough healthy food -Amelia
This year I have learnt lots of infomation about talents, bugs, food and history, but next year its going to get harder and I hope it doesn't get too hard - Stephanie
I learnt lots of things this year - Brandon
There was all kinds of things that I learnt this year - Jackson
I learnt so much.....but it's time to go!! - Jack
This year I have learnt how to be a better person - Joe
Thank you parents for coming and helping us out - Bassy

(Cue dramatic music) Dun, da dun, dun, dunnnnnn.....

Our Year by Junior M

Our Time Capsule

Nativity Puppet Plays

Madeline – When you’re acting it out in practise it is a lot easier because we can think of ideas and make mistakes

Jacob – If you go last you can get ideas from other groups

Pat – It's much easier doing it with other people because you’ve got everyone to hold one doll, instead of you doing it yourself and having to hold heaps of dolls

Madison – it is easier to write down what you want to say and then you say it right

Will – I found out what it’s like to do a puppet play. Next time I want to have a piece of paper to tell me what to say so I say it better.

Stephanie – I learnt more about the nativity by my group, because some people know the end of the Nativity story

Grandparents Morning

Last Friday, our grandparents joined us in the classroom, to share in and help us with our learning about history (or 'The Olden Days' as we call it!). It was a wonderful experience for all involved.
Jacob - I learnt that toys could have straw in them. I also learnt that cricket is a very old game.
Madeline - I learnt 4 things: toys can have straw in them, some buildings can be made of plaster, buildings were small because they didn't have many materials and some dolls were made out of plaster. Also, Lego is quite old
Angelo - I learnt that some houses were made of mud, hay and logs.
Seb - I learnt that boys wore a tie and a white shirt all the time
Riley - I learnt that boys used to get smacked with a leather strap, if they were naughty, because they though boys were tougher than girls. There were lots of old board games in the olden days
Jessica - I learnt that for dessert children would eat biscuits
Brandon - I learnt that my nonna had broken up biscuits
Travis - my grandmother told me how a horse and cart works (with a big whip)
Joe - You could go to the shops with one penny and buy a jar of broken biscuits
Pat - I learnt that my grandpa got chased around his backyard with a cricket bat when he was naughty
Ava - that in the olden days Lego people only had a face with a smile and eyes
Madison - Clothes were made out of felt. Also, I learnt that boys got smacked on the bottom and girls got smacked on the hand
Amelia - I learnt that many buildings that we still have were made a long time ago. There's a building in the city that's really small but really old.
Maria - I learnt that Romans used chariots to ride
Jack - I spoke to my nana about the olden days and she told me that she was born at home

An interview with my grandparents

This week we had some homework! Our teacher asked us to interview one of our grandparents and to take notes of the interview and put those notes into a powerpoint or to record the interview. Sebastian and his mum were happy for us to share with you, his interview that they filmed, in the link below:
http://gallery.me.com/louisafelsbourg#100037

Have you asked your grandparents any of these questions?
Were any of their experiences the same? Different?

Speed Stacking

In Positive Education this week, we were fortunate to have Tye Hallam the champion Speed Stacker visit and teach us how to do Speed Stacking.
How fast do you think you would be?
Are there any other skills that speed stacking could help you develop?

Reflecting on our Olden Days Games Carousel

Yesterday the 3 Juniors classes ran a carousel of Olden Days Games. 9 rotations/games were organised, amongst our 3 classrooms and with parent support the small groups of students spent nearly 10mins (each game) exploring and learning about those games.
Today Junior M reflected on their learning which is visible in this slideshow:

What we know so far about the olden days

Junior M has learnt these interesting facts from watching "Horrible Histories", listening to videos, going to the museum, talking to grandparents, researching history on the internet and reading books

Melbourne Cup History

The Melbourne Cup has been going for 151 years and people all over the world watch it. Even if people don't put the bets in they're still hoping in their mind that the horse they choose will win - Madeline
Black Caviar is one of the fastest horses ever. He has won 13 short races - Travis
Girls and women used to wear long dresses and have umbrellas, even on a sunny day, to the Melbourne Cup. Now they try to wear clothes of famous designers - Natalie, Dylan and Patrick
It has always been on a tuesday at 3 o'clock race 7 - Amelia

Our questions about history

Junior M's Anti-Bullying posters

What we learnt this term

To eat a healthy rainbow of food everyday - Amelia
I learnt there is food groups - Jessica
I learnt there is such a thing as dragon fruit - Nat, Pat, Will, Ava
I learnt that your body is like an engine - Jacob & Lauren
I learnt there is such a thing as Jackfruit - Dylan, Will, Pat, Seb, Joe, Jacob, Nat, Madeline, Amelia
I learnt there's such a thing as bumpy melon & Starfruit- Madeline, Will
We learnt these things by:
- Parents
- teachers
- computer
- dictionary
- Going places
- reading books
- Shopkeepers

Our Parish Lunch

Here is a wordle of some key words that came to mind when we reflected
on the Parish Lunch we held today.

And here is our evaluation of the day:
How did we prepare for it?
- Making sandwiches
- Working together and team work
- Making special water
- Mums and a grandma came and helped with buttering and cutting
- We had stations so it would be fast to make sandwiches
- We listened to each other
- The parent helpers helped us put the sandwiches together
- We were sensible workers
- We lined up
- We liked working together
Who helped us make the food?
- Mums: Veronica (Madison’s grandma), Pauline (Jacob’s mum), Suzi (Madeline’s mum), Kim (Riley’s mum)
Did we use our knowledge of food that we found out through our inquiry?
- Yes, because after Forest Hill we made sandwiches, so we used our knowledge of that to do the parish Lunch
Do we think the guests enjoyed their lunch?
- Definitely, because they said so and there was lots of clapping
What would we do again?
- Using healthy food
- Do entertainment again
- Use foods from the vegie patch
- Keep making sandwiches
What would we change about the day?
- Perform a song from another year
- Make a different type of drink
- Make different food
- Put different things in the sandwiches
- Don’t put butter in the bread

For photos of the day please see Junior G's blog post http://juniorsblackburn.edublogs.org/2011/09/21/sensational-seniors-luncheon/

Why do we eat?

We made a poster about why we eat and on the poster you will see what reasons we came up with. I think all the reasons we came up with are things that my siblings and I do - Madeline
Junior M talked about why we need food - Travis
We talked about why we eat food and all the reasons are on the poster - Jacob

A whole class recount - updated

The Four Cats Weekend on Storybird

Questions about our Favourite fruit or Vegetable

Questions are very important. Asking questions is a bit tricky but we used Voicethread to practice asking and answering questions about our favourite fruit or vegetable.

Our Families' Stories

This week is Book Week and the theme of the week is "One World, Many Stories". This morning the preps and grade 1/2's spent some time in the library, listening to family stories. We were inspired to write some stories of our own. Some are based on time spent with our families and others are stories that members of our family have told us.
When you listen to these stories what do you think of?

Making Shops and using money

Counting money isn't easy because if you have lots of coins they can be hard to count. It helped me to say the numbers out loud so you know the dollars and cents - Madison
If someone gives you 3 dollars and it costs $1.50 you don't know how much change to give the customer. It has helped me to learn to count money faster - Pat
If someone gives you $2 you might give them money back - Jessica
I learnt that when you buy something you need to give the right amount. If you give less you can't buy it - Jacob
There used to be 1 and 2 cent pieces, but now there are $1 and $2's - Brandon
I learnt how to make $2. With four 50's and one dollar and two 50's - Lauren
I learnt that 1 cent and 2 cents aren't used anymore. Also, it's not easy to give change because you have to work out how much to give and if you didn't know it would be hard - Will
I discovered how much change to give to the customer - Maria
I learnt how to buy stuff, by watching other people - Seb
I can count money faster by my friends helping me. They helped me put them into different groups so it's easier to count - Riley
I learnt to count $1 and $2 by adding 1 and 2 together. If it's $3 you just need a 1 and 2 - Dylan
If you don't have the right coins you can give it to the people and they will give you change - Bassy
Being a cashier is very hard because the money is jumbled up and is hard to count - Nat & Travis
You count money and go to the shop and you can get change or no change - Jackson
I learnt how much money you can get if people buy the things you are selling - James
Something that helped me to learn is using the plastic coins because it has the same picture in real life - Stephanie
I learnt that when you get the money you can count it. I learnt this from other people and from the symbols - Ava
Buying things can be tricky because sometimes you don't have as much money as you need. I also learnt that giving more money is the same as giving the exact amount because you will get change - Madeline

healthy smoothie

Ingredients:
1 small mango, peeled
1/4 cup low-fat yoghurt
1 tbs honey
1 tsp wheat germ (see tip)
1/4 cup crushed ice
1/4 cup crushed ice
3/4 cup low-fat milk

Instructions:
Cut the mango flesh from the seed. Discard the seed and roughly chop the flesh. Place into a blender with the milk, yoghurt, honey, wheat germ and ice. Blend until smooth, stir in the passionfruit pulp and pour into chilled serving glass. Serve immediately.

Food in Art

As part of this week's Art lesson Junior M looked at a website that features "bizarre food art" (http://factoryzzz.com/funny-food-art.html). Instead of using real food, we drew food as characters using our imagination.
Can you see art imitating real life here?

What does a healthy juice look like?

Junior M created their own juices today, using oranges, apples, grapefruit and raspberries that they had brought from home. With some added water, milk or ice they designed, produced and evaluated(this step must include a taste test!) each one of their juices. Which combinations of fruits do you think may have been the most successful and why?

Juice Chefs - free slideshow maker with music

Learning this term

Today is the last day of Term for Junior M and the rest of our school. We went outside and stapled the rest of our Action Posters to the fence and talked about what we have learnt and how we learnt it. Here are some of the things we were thinking...

This term when we doing the actions for the dragonflies and other mini beasts it taught us how to build things - Bassy
Our action was fun and I learnt how to make a millipede and butchy boy home - Brandon
I was part of the worm farm group and I learnt how to make a worm farm by watching videos and it was quite easy- Madeline
I learnt that butterflies can be lots of different colours by reading books - Lauren
I learnt how to make a poster look interesting by putting heaps of colours and facts on it - Joe
My group painted the fence and I learnt that it takes time to do everything - Jacob
I learnt about making worm farms and other stuff is really fun - Jack
My group was the dragon fly pond and I learnt how to make one - Travis
I learnt that only some of the mini beasts are disgusting but they are still important - Stephanie
I learnt how to make a dragonfly pond by listening to my group and we have had fun this term doing our actions - Riley
I learnt that all mini beasts are important - Natalie

Term 3 Action Posters

Our Worm Farms

This term our Inquiry unit is mini beasts at St Lukes. We are trying to make a healthy habitat for mini beasts. One of our actions is to make a worm farm.
Do you know if worms can see?
Do you know how worms help us or the environment?
Do you know how to make a worm farm?

Soccer

This is Junior M doing sole taps,toe taps and passing the ball. I am Will.I play soccer.I am in soccer Whitehorse united club and in under nines.

Our actions to help mini beasts so far...

Our Learning Journey this term

A video of the Juniors learning about mini beasts up until a week ago:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2LihCuOEts

Junior M made a movie about their trip to the Bugs Alive exhibition at the museum yesterday:

Seniors show Juniors Garageband

More thoughts (and voices) on Wild Action Zoo

Wild Action Zoo

Junior M's reflections on their visit from Wild Action Zoo last Thursday -

I learnt that:

There are big cockroaches – Jacob

Centipedes can really hurt you by biting – Amelia

The gigantic burrowing cockroach eats leaves and turns it into dirt – Stephanie

There’s such thing as a bearded dragon – Will

A spider called a bird eating spider can melt skin – Joe

Praying mantis’ want to stick onto things so they don’t fall – Riley

There are lots of mini-beasts – Patrick

Lizards like to eat worms – Jessica

I liked the stick insect because they can stick to anything – Jack

Lizards eat mini-beasts – Maria

When crabs are scared they stay in their shells and if you are quiet they will come out – Bassy

There are special types of cockroaches. Also, I like the big spiders because they run quickly – James

Some spiders melt insects’ skin – Brandon

Lizards can be pets. We saw a lizard called “Snake” – Ava

I like how Xavier brought a spider and I like spiders because I like things that are venomous – Angelo

I loved the spider because I learnt a lot about it like it spun its web on the ground – Lauren

I learnt that there are insects called mealy worms. I also learnt that mini beasts help us lots and lots!!!! - Natalie

The big cockroaches are called Giant Burrowing Cockroaches. I also learnt that crabs are mini beasts - Madeline

A mini beast visitor

This morning Joe found a praying mantis on his bag. We brought it into the classroom and it flew up to the highest window.

Bugs Alive!!

Today is our second day back at school for term 2. We completed a placemat activity that shows some of the things we know already about mini beasts. We will do this activity again at the end of term to show just how much we have learnt about mini beasts and their environments here at school. Some of the things we know about mini-beasts and how they help us are:
Butterflies live near flowers - Maria
Ants live in an ant pit - Lauren
Praying mantis live in a tree - Brandon
Ants live on the ground - Ava
Bees help us because they make honey for us - Jackson
Worms live underground - Jack
Bees can hurt you - Seb
Mini beasts live in dirt, the ground, air and trees - Pat
Spiders kill moths and flies so we stay comfortable at night - Riley
Worms help us make compost - Joe
Mini-beasts help us grow plants - Amelia
They live in the ground - Jacob
Bees give us honey - Jessica
They live in the dirt - Dylan
Bees make wax for crayons - Madeline
Worms eat fruit scraps - Will
Snails live in their shell - Stephanie
Mini-beasts live in bushes, holes, holes in cliffs, underground and in hives - James