Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Should We Mine the Moon?

An article in the Age last week attracted our attention as we considered travel in space. Listen to our views about the possibility of mining the moon!
"Cosmic quarries: a new frontier for mineral exploration"



Monday, February 25, 2013

Practising Scientific Writing

Learning about Black Holes today, included the additional tasks of taking good notes and converting them to text. The Seniors' writing task, after viewing a clip entitiled "Black Holes,"  required beginning with a good topic sentence and using a complex sentence. Do you think Madi has achieved this goal in this excerpt from her report?


A Black Hole is a region of space with its own gravitational force from which no matter can escape. They are impossible to see as they are invisible. Black Holes are created when a galaxy forms or when a huge star collapses and dies. In 2011, using infa red, X ray and radio wave technology, fifty eight people from six different countriesobserved a star being swallowed by a black hole. That was the first time that this had been captured on film. In the future, there will be more amazing observations of the darkest things in the universe, black holes.

Friday, February 15, 2013

COLOUR MY WORLD-INSPIRED BY MONDRIAN


Piet Mondrian from Marg Yore on Vimeo.

Apollo 11

Today's post is from Ateil and Caitie....
Today we watched a movie about Apollo 11. It was about three brave astronauts who bravely left  Earth to travel all the way to the moon it took four days to reach the moon's surface. Michael Collins was the controller for the command module, Columbia. They were looking for the perfect spot to land the space-craft on the moon  and they landed safely. Neil Armstong was the first man to leave the space-craft. He slowly climbed down the ladder and took one step onto the moon. His first words were, " One small step for man. One giant leap for man-kind. " Today we imagined we were one of the astronauts writing a personal account of our journey.



Joe wrote: My heart skipped a beat as I was about to do what had never been done before. ..to walk on the moon. "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,"were the words I said. I heard a cheer from the control room and told "Buzz" how beautiful it was!

Lizzy wrote: I watch Neil step slowly out of the module. I feel my heart racing and wonder should I have come to the moon in the first place. I push myself and start to follow. If it wasn't for the bulky, uncomfortable space suit, I would be biting my nails!....I took my chance and held my breath. I ever so slowly stepped out into space. My foot touched the moon. Right away I felt happiness and freedom...

Amber wrote: My heart is thumping as I step into the capsule with Neil Armstrong and Michael Collins. I then take my seat and hear a boom and I can feel myself and the others being boostedup into the air....

Nic wrote: "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind," I heard Neil say as I was about to climb down from the Eagle. My heart was thumping as I climbed down the ladder to meet Neil on the moon!


Friday, February 8, 2013

The Redfern Address

Posted by Carley and Amber:
In 1992, Paul Keating, the Prime Minister of the time, delivered a very powerful speech about racistm. So today, we watched the speech, and wrote a paragraph about it.

Most of the seniors thought that it was very appropriate of him to stand up for the indigenous people, because he was non-aboriginal. Here are some examples of what the students wrote after seeing the speech.




Raquel wrote: It was 1992 when the PM Paul Keating made a fantastic speech about how sorry he was for all the things that we did to innocent indigenous people. My opinion of this whole is that it was a terrible way to treat people who live in their own land.

Ivan wrote: Paul Keating wanted to "forge a new partnership" with indigenous people. He said to imagine if our children had been taken from us, imagine if our land was taken from us and to imagine if hundreds and thousands were murdered and we might know how our indigenous Australians might feel.

Luke wrote: In December 1992, when Paul Keating was Prime Minister, he made a strong speech called "The Redfern Speech." He used repetition to remind non-Aboriginal Australians that we are the ones who brought alcohol, disease, murder and also took children from their families. Imagine if that happened to us as well?

Simon adds: Being a Social Justice leader in my school, I will try and do my best to encourage everyone to understand.

Lizzy challenges: Imagine sweeping injustice aside forever? Would we all be treated as equals? Would we all fit in? Well, we certainly didn't when our former prime minister bravely explained how unfair we were to our indigenous people. Their land, their children...we took the lot. But we didn't just take. We brought disease, alcohol and murder as well....one day I hope we unite and forge a new partnership.

Anthony reflected: It made me think about how greedy people are and how we can't share our world and how we destroyed the land in front of them and we don't care. The speech made me ask have we changed or are we still wanting more?


Tuesday, February 5, 2013

SAFER INTERNET DAY


Today's post is from Daniel and Georgia!

Today we watched a safer internet day program. We learnt to use programs with respect when online with the things we do on the internet! We learnt to not use copy right sights for buying music on the internet. For movies. use itunes and google play. Ways in which the internet is misused include cyberbullying, spam, scam, fake profiles, hacking and bad language.

What is our responsibilty? Never share your password, text politely and use privacy settings on instagram and other types of sharing. When you are on an online game show respect, when using websites for homework don't copy directly from the internet. So when you are using the internet, be safe and don't get friends to email their homework to you!!!


Monday, February 4, 2013

I Have A Dream - Leadership

Our blog post today is from Mairead and Carley...
On the 4th of February (which is today), the seniors wrote a paragraph (or two!) on the famous speech I Have A Dream by Dr. Martin Luther King. He talked about freedom,equality and justice.

Our focus of the week in writing is speeches. Speeches that make people one in a million...who are strong as they speak the truth and for what is right!

Here are some paragraphs written by different people, explaining how the speech taught them even more than the orator had to say.

Ateil wrote:"I think Dr Martin Luther King was a brave person who stood up for his people. There was a word he used a lot..."I have a Dream!"
Jess wrote:"Martin Luther King put out an amazing message to our world. In 1963, our world was changed forever as this great orator spoke out about justice and how racism needs to end now....in his words we should all be able to sit together at a table and talk.I agree...we all deserve a fair go."
Conor wrote:"I have a dream that all mankind may be treated equally. As one of the most famous speech givers in earth's history, Martin Luther King Jnr came out on the 28th August, 1963, and in front of 200,000 people, and gave a 17 minute speech that changed the world forever.This speech touches everyone who listens to this much cherished speech. This year, being the 50th anniversary, we still say,"Don't forget!'"
Madeline wrote:...."I was deeply moved by how he desperately wanted his four children to not be judged on the colour of their skin, but for who they really are. This brilliant orator even used biblical references:'Make crooked places become straight,and hills flattened..' Martin Luther King was a highly influential figure in the Civil Rights Movement and will always be remembered for his dream-THE END OF RACISM.'
Lizzy wrote..."Martin Luther King really taught us that we can all be united together as equals."






Friday, February 1, 2013

Dare to Dream in 2013!

"The Good Samaritan" Luke 10:25-37

Amber and Maddie lead us off with the first post for 2013!

Today was our first day back for 2013 and we're rearing to go! We started to learn about the story of the Good Samaritan as that will be our religious focus for this year. Because we attend a "St Lukes" school, our focus always has a Lukan theme.

http://bibleartists.wordpress.com  painting by Van Gogh

We practised "lectio divina" or sacred reading) with our new text. After quietly listening to the story, we selected a word that spoke to us....
Jess chose "pity" because that was the emotion the Samaritan showed to the injured person
Georgia chose "care" because it's always nice to have someone care for you.
Carley chose "neighbour" "because that word makes me feel safe."
Norhan chose "Samaritan" because he was the only one who showed mercy.
Rylee chose "likewise" because we can learn from other people when they do good deeds.

A brief outline of Lectio Divina suitable for younger students.
  • Moment One: Listen –Students are invited to listen to the passage with the ear of the heart and let the words sink in deeply.
  • Moment Two: Reflect –Students are invited to reflect on the passage paying attention to how it speaks to them personally. There may be a word ot phrase that stays with them.
  • Moment Three: Respond – Students are invited to respond through prayer (publicly or privately).
  • Moment Four: Rest –Students are then invited to rest silently in God’s presence.