On Wednesday 23 May, Year Six Blue met with their Year Two buddy class. The Year Two’s read their buddy reports and the Year Sixes showed them their fables that they had written, illustrated and recorded. It was a warm afternoon and the students spent some quality time together, reading and sharing their literary talents.
Science– An overview of Term 2 learning experiences
Dear Parents
This term the student’s learning experiences will be focused on the Science Understanding of Earth and Space Sciences and integrating with the whole school Mappen concept of CHANGE.
Year 1 Changes in the sky
Year one students will consider the changes in the night and day sky. Students will make predictions and scientific observations about the daily, weekly and seasonal changes that they observe in their local environment. They will use their understandings about day and night to make observations about the changes nocturnal animals make to adapt to their environments. I am waiting to hear from the Backyard Bandicoot project at Murdoch University as our resident Southern Brown Bandicoot is still inhabiting our bushland. I have invited Natasha Tay to make a presentation about bandicoots to the students.
Year 2 Night and Day
Year two students will consider the changes in the night and day sky. Students will make predictions and scientific observations about the daily, weekly and seasonal changes that they observe in their local environment. They will use their understandings about day and night to make observations about the Earth’s rotation, how shadows are formed and participate in role plays to show their learning. The Year 2 students will also commence the Seed Potatoes for Schools Project (an initiative through WA Potatoes) and plant their seed potatoes towards the end of term 2. WA Potatoes will support the students throughout this initiative.
Year 3 Earth, Sun and Moon
Year three students will explore the changes in size, shape, position and movement of the Earth, Sun and Moon. They will investigate how shadows change throughout the duration of the day and link this new knowledge to changes in the Sun’s apparent movement across the sky.
Year 4 Earth’s Place in Space
Through a unit on the Earth’s rotation the students will learn how the changing patterns in the sky relate to days, months and years. Students will understand how observation and models can be used to shape their ideas and understandings through hands on activities. Students will explore the changing face of the Moon, explore Aboriginal astronomy and investigate the changing Noonjar season of Makaru.
Year 5 The Earth’s Orbit
Students will learn about the concept of change through a unit about the Sun, Earth and Moon. Students will understand how observation and models can be used to shape their ideas and understandings through hands on activities. Students will investigate the light spectrum and explore the solar system by using Celestia and Stellarium (a planetarium app). Students will also share how Science for Human Endeavour impacts our lives by sharing articles from the Double Helix magazines.
Year 6 The Changing Earth’s Surface
Through the concept of Changethe students will understand the causes of earthquakes and how they change the Earth’s surface. Students will also learn how changesto our local water supply have benefits for the local population. As a Waterwise School, we have been invited to the Ground Water Replenishment Facility in Craigie on Tuesday 29 May to learn about the future initiatives of our water supply. The students will also have an incursion from Earth Sciences WA about ‘Chem Rocks’. Students will be investigating the chemistry of soils and testing lime to help out a farmer with their crop. Robogals an initiative from the University of WA will also be giving a robotics workshop to the Year 6 girls on Tuesday 22 May.
What you might like to do at home:
Last Friday, on the 2nd of March, St Emilie’s participated in ‘Clean up Australia Day.’
The year 2 classes were in charge of the spaces outside our classrooms, the junior playground, the basketball courts and down to the back gate. Here’s some photos of us doing our part to help the environment!
In Year 2 we have been exploring the Sacrament of Baptism. We have learnt about the significance of the Holy Water and why white is an important colour in relation to Baptism.
We were very lucky because we met Fr Giovanni at the church.
We loved seeing the Baptismal font, the Baptism candle and the oils of Catechumens and Chrism.
Fr Giovanni explained the importance of each of these items and why they are special to this Sacrament.
We have also enjoyed sharing our very own Baptism photos with each other.
Last week, Year Two were very excited to get back into the garden to harvest our home grown potatoes!
We had a lot of fun digging around, and found some enormous potatoes hiding in the dirt!
Our next job was to scrub the potatoes clean, and make sure they were ready for cooking!
It was no surprise that our baked potatoes got a thumbs up from all of our willing taste testers 🙂
We owe a special thank you to Mr and Mrs Cogger for helping us in the garden and making sure we had everything we needed to grow and harvest our very own potatoes!
This term our guided inquiry unit has been all about using our CREATIVITY!
Over the last few weeks we have been busy planning, designing and building our very own Robot Buddies.
The children worked in teams of three, and began by planning the types of traits they wanted their Robot Buddy to have (such as scary, pretty, clever or funny). They then used their imagination to draw ideas for their robot design, remembering to think of ways to show each of their chosen character traits.
The next step was to consider which materials we would use for each part of our robot.
We then swapped our plans with another group to consider how we might be able improve their design. The children drew or wrote down their suggestions, thinking carefully about which features could be made bigger, removed or added.
Once our final designs were complete, it was time to begin building our Robot Buddies! We each had a turn at being the ‘Manager’, ‘Builder’ or ‘Helper’, and had a lot of fun selecting and using a wide range of materials to bring our designs to life!
We are all so proud of our Robot Buddies, and we are looking forward to putting them on display for everyone to enjoy!
