St. Emilie's Catholic Primary School

Move it investigation with Year 2

August 9, 2020
Kerrie Cogger
· Science · Year 2 · Year 2 Blue · Year 2 Gold

This term the Year 2 students are learning a new unit from Primary Connections and it is a very exciting topic. The topic is all about the fascination children have with machines. From an early age their world is surrounded by machines that move, make noises and light up.

Some machines are so simple that they might not be considered to be a machine at all, such as ramps and seesaws. However, all machines wither complicated or simple help us to do work.

The students were introduced to Rube Goldberg. Rube Goldberg made simple tasks more complicated by creating and constructing intricately designed machines to do every day simple tasks. The majority of forces in a Rube Goldberg machine are push and pull forces.

This week the Year 2 students made their first initial attempts to construct a Rube Goldberg machine by investigating ‘What different ways can we push or pull a toy car to make it move?’ Here are a few photos of the students at their team investigations.

NAIDOC Week

July 20, 2020
Kerrie Cogger
· Science · Uncategorized · Year 2 · Year 2 Blue · Year 3 · Year 3 Blue · Year 4 · Year 4 Blue · Year 5 · Year 5 Blue · Year 6 · Year 6 Blue

This week Mrs Cogger provided some interesting Science Activities to celebrate NAIDOC Week. Across Australia NAIDOC Week is usually celebrated in schools in the last week of Term 2. This year due to the COVID pandemic, NAIDOC week was moved to November. However, many schools went ahead with their plans to celebrate in week 10 just as they always do.

The Year 2 and 3 students learned of a Noonjar Dreaming Story that tells us how the Southern Cross was formed.

The Year 4B students learned about the Noonjar season of Makuru and explored the bushland to look for signs that Makuru has started.

The Year 5B students made Aboriginal digging sticks used for digging up bloodroot, yams, honey ants and Witchetty grubs.

The Year 6 students learned about Aboriginal engravings and rock art. After observing many different forms of art, the students created a shield with symbols of their own Dreaming Story.

Learning about how we can change materials

Mappen – Stimulating Science

Just recently the Year One students have been using playdough to investigate how everyday materials can change. Each student was given a small piece of playdough to create their own model. Then we discussed all the ways we could manipulate the playdough. The students had a brainstorm and together we listed these words – bend, stretch, squash, press, roll, curl etc.

Here are a few images to share of the students with their completed creations. There are a few students who are yet to do the activity and we look forward to sharing images of their creations in another web post.

Birdlife Australia colouring in competition

You may like to do this activity at home.

Birdlife Australia are running this colouring in competition.

Colour in this beautiful Superb Lyrebird and you’ll go in the running to win an adorable fluffy emu toy! You must colour in the picture using textas and pencils.

To enter, download and print the pdf and email your finished drawing to feedback@birdlife.org.au by June 30.

The winner and runners up will have their pictures posted to the Birdlife Australia social media pages on 10 July.

You can print your own copy at home (click the link below) or ask Mrs Cogger and she will give a copy of the Superb Lyrebird this week.

Superb Lyrebird

Amazing remote learning work

Mrs Cogger would like to share these wonderful posters created by some of our Years 3 to 6 students during the period of the students Home Learning.

Firstly here is a fabulous poster by Seun in 2G showing us the importance of washing hands during the Covid pandemic.

Mrs Cogger was also delighted to receive these fabulous posters for the Shorebirds Poster Competition.

This competition closes 14 August. So there is still plenty of time for students to design a poster and get it to Mrs Cogger if they are keen.

4B investigating rocks

This week Year 4B investigated rocks by conducting a series of tests on a rock. The students worked with a partner to conduct the following tests –

Observe what happens when water is squirted onto the rock
Weigh and measure the rock

Scratch the rock with scissors

Pour a few drops of vinegar onto their rock to see if it bubbles.Shine a torch onto the rock to see if it is shiny or dull.

Use a magnifier to draw a detailed picture of their rock.

Congratulations to Nate and Isla for being awarded the Best Team Award for this investigation.

Our Year 4 students experience a ‘virtual incursion’

March 31, 2020
Kerrie Cogger
· Classroom News · Science · Uncategorized · Year 4 · Year 4 Blue · Year 4 Gold

Our Year 4 students were invited to join Cecily from Earth Science WA to learn more about soils through a ‘virtual incursion’. Mrs Cogger received an invite from Cecily through Microsoft Teams and the call went through at 9am on Thursday. Our Year 4 students were all seated and excited to try this new way of learning.

Cecily conducted the incursion via the big screen in MPR and Mrs Cogger did all the ‘hands on’ work.

Here is Cecily telling us about ‘soil profiles’ and Aiden giving his answer.

Soil profile

The students had to take turns to walk up to the microphone on Mrs Cogger’s Mac to share their answer.

In this clip Cecily explains to the students how to use a hand lens.

How to use a hand lens

Here are a few photos of the students using the hand lenses.

Examining the four different soil samples

How to examine the soil samples

The students had to use a baton and identify whether the soil was fine, medium or coarse.

At the conclusion of the incursion the students used antibacterial wipes to clean all the equipment and prepare the kit for collection by Cecily.

We would like to thank Cecily for offering this alternative to a face to face incursion. It was a huge success. The students loved it and were engaged with the topic on soils. Our IT tools worked perfectly to support this new way of learning. We can see this being a wonderful opportunity for learning about our Earth in remote and regional WA.

Water education opportunity

We are pleased to announce that St Emilie’s Catholic Primary School has been selected to be involved with the Golder Associates ‘Schools Water Education Program’.

The following materials and equipment will be donated and offered by Golder:

1 x YSI Water Quality Meter (measures pH, EC, TDS, temp, dissolved oxygen)
1 x Surface Water Sampler (extendable length)
A visit from two Golder scientists/water engineers
A presentation on lakes/wetlands, their importance to the environment and threats facing these water bodies
A guided lesson on using the provided equipment and a job hazard/controls identification process
Ongoing support with data interpretation over at least a 12 month period

This will be a wonderful opportunity for our students as we will be monitoring the water quality at Cromarty Gardens Reserve and sharing our findings with the local community.

We look forward to sharing more with you about this journey.

Wondering about water

February 16, 2020
Kerrie Cogger
· waterwise · Year 2 · Year 2 Blue · Year 2 Gold

The Year 2 students used their five senses to investigate the properties of a cup of water this week. They touched, smelt, listened, tasted and looked at water through a variety of hands on activities.

Here are a few photos of students using some of their investigative skills!

Recycling at St Emilie’s

February 2, 2020
Kerrie Cogger
· Classroom News · For Families · Kindy · News · Pre-Primary · Science · Year 1 · Year 2 · Year 3 · Year 4 · Year 5 · Year 6

Just a reminder to all families, that our Year 6 Environmental Committee offer the following recycling services to our school community.

Greenbatch

Greenbatch Foundation partners with schools allowing students to collect their old PET plastic bottles through recycling, providing PET which is used in research and development for 3D printer filament. By recycling through Greenbatch we can save plastic from entering landfills, oceans and waste incinerators.

As from Term 3, our green and purple Greenbatch bins will return to the undercover area on Wednesday mornings. You are very welcome and encouraged to bring in your HDPE 2 and PET 1 plastics. PET plastic is the type found in drink bottles and food packaging such as strawberry punnets or peanut butter jars, and has the number 1 inside the recycling symbol.

Battery Recycling

We will also continue to offer our battery collection. The yellow battery bin will be placed out in the undercover area on Wednesday morning along with the Greenbatch bins. Please bring along your unwanted batteries and place them in the bin. Once the bin is 3/4 full we contact the City of Gosnells and the batteries are taken away for recycling.

If you bring your batteries or plastics to school on any other day you will find yellow battery bin in the undercover area and the purple Greenbatch bins parked up by Learning Hub.

Thank you for your continuing support and to our students for their efforts at contributing towards the health of the planet by conducting these recycling projects.