National Tree Day!!

Yesterday was National Tree Day here in Australia. We went out to the North Oval with the 3/4 classes and the other 1/2 grades and we planted heaps of little indigenous plants! They were tiny and super cute but they will all grow up to be an amazing native garden. They will be habitat for insects and birds and it will help our school look beautiful.

To make it even more exciting, we were on the television. Our school was chosen to be on a TV show called The Circle. A woman called Ellisha came and interviewed some of the 3/4 students. The rest of us were in the background. We had a sign that said "Bell Primary Loves Trees". We got to wave at the TV camera, it was fun.

You can see the clip in the family and community section of The Circle website.
Here is a link: http://ten.com.au/the-circle-video.htm

Today we planted trees because it was Tree Day and in the first lesson we planted them and in the second lesson we spread mulch and one of the grasses was feathery spear grass. Lucy

Today is Tree Day! We planted trees, grasses, ground covers, shrubs, small plants. We planted feathery spear grass, silky blue grass and kangaroo grass. Mia
 
I did an amazing job of spreading mulch and pulling out weeds! Max R

I was very nervous and I didn't know if I wanted to go on telly. Romy

1/2B were on TV all over Australia! Daniel

I pulled the weeds out of the garden. And I spread mulch. Max H

Today (Friday) it was Tree Day. We planted bushes and trees. I found a tree that I love. It gives me luck and wishes. I called it "Little One." I love it, yes I do!! Sunita

On Friday we planted trees because it was Tree Day. Me and my friends put the mulch on the plants. The people from a TV show called The Circle came and filmed us. Lucinda

I planted with Felix, I felt brave. Josh

Today it was National Tree Day, we got to go on TV. Ilya

Tree Day was fun because we got to be on television! We got to spread the mulch. We planted trees, grasses and shrubs. Isabel 

Today we were on TV. We were not in the front of the camera but I enjoyed myself. Felix

Tree day was very fun! Teagan

I did not like being on telly much. Clarrie

Today we did tree day on cameras. Aidan

Tree day was fun and exciting because we got to be on TV!! Nina

Me, Evie and my friend Olivia planted a native indigo. Their flowers are purplish pink and very pretty. We were on telly and it was cool. Evie

Chocolate Fractions and other Adventures

 This week we learnt about fractions. Fractions are equal parts of a whole (or a group). Our first lesson was about chocolate fractions. There were four chocolate bars on four chairs. Lauren asked us one at a time to choose which chair to line up behind. You had to share the chocolate on your chair with the other people in your line. The chair to pick was the one with the least people behind it because that way you got more chocolate.

 

Lauren also made playdough and we used it to make our own (pretend) chocolate bars. We divided them into halves, quarters, thirds and all sorts of other fractions. In the next lesson, our student teacher, Mel read us "The Doorbell Rang" by Pat Hutchins. We learnt that you could also divide a group of things into fractions. In the book, the doorbell rang. There were biscuits and the kids in the story had to divide them into equal shares with their visitors. After that we made chocolate biscuits/cookies with playdough and divided them up.

 

 

I learnt that a fraction is an equal bit of something. Felix

I learnt that you can divide something in lots of different ways. Ilya

We learnt that two quarters are the same as a half. Max and Max

I learnt that when you use circles to make a fraction it's hard to make it all equal. Romy

I learnt that six sixths makes a whole. Gareth

 

I learnt that if you have 22 biscuits and you try to put them into four equal groups, you can't do it without cutting up some biscuits. Nina

I learnt that if you have twelve biscuits, you can divide them into three equal groups and two equal groups. Ella

We made wagon wheels out of playdough but  they were tricky to divide. Lulu

I learnt that if I divide something into six parts they're called sixths. Clarrie

NAIDOC Week

This week we celebrated NAIDOC week in our classroom. It is a week when the whole of Australia recognises and celebrates the history and the culture of Aboriginal Australians. Indigenous and Aboriginal are describing words - they mean the first people or original inhabitants of a country or place.

We learnt about the amazing variety of Indigenous art in Australia and we had a go at making our own dot paintings with sticks we cut ourselves. We leant to sing Inanay, an old old Indigenous song and we discovered that the Wurundjeri people were the original inhabitants of Melbourne. We read a book and heard a song about Vincent Lingiari and his fight for his land and we wrote our own "Acknowledgement of Country" to read out at the beginning of our class meetings. It was a wonderful week!

NAIDOC week, I did Lauren's dot painting. Max H

We are learning about NAIDOC week! It is fun and it's good to learn about it because it is very important. We have to respect all of the Aboriginal people. Nina

It is NAIDOC week at the moment. We have been doing dot paintings. Evie

This week my class went into the butterfly garden and found some sticks to paint dot paintings. Olivia

It was colourful and it was fun. Teagan

We looked at Aboriginal painting. They do dot painting with sticks. Lucy
 
We listened to Gurrumul's music. Isaac

NAIDOC week is about celebrating Aboriginal culture. Sam 

I enjoyed the dot painting and using sticks and earth colours. The class's work looked colourful and very beautiful. Lauren is going to put them on display to show everyone. I liked learning about the Aboriginal culture. Isabel

There was a footprint symbol and a circle symbol and don't forget the star! Daniel

We sang a song called Inanay with Betty's class yesterday for NAIDOC week. Max R

On Monday I brought in "From Little Things Big Things Grow." Ella G

This week it's been a special week, it's been NAIDOC week. My class has done dot painting, singing, pictures and dreamtime stories. Mia

I liked the dot painting because they were the best. Clarrie

Aboriginal means you have been living somewhere for a long time. Lulu

Naidoc week was a great, happy and fun week. We did dot painting and lots of other fun things. We guessed each other's pictures. I loved mine. Sunita

I did a dot painting for NAIDOC week. It had red and yellow and blue and green and pink and black. It was fun! Romy

Birrguu Matya - an Aboriginal game

Today we learnt how to play an Indigenous Australian game called Birrguu Matya. It's a very old game, maybe thousands of years old. It was invented by the Indigenous Australians of the Bathurst region, the Wiradjuri people - they were the first people to play this game. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birrguu_Matya

To play it we used:


A mini whiteboard
A marker to draw a nine square grid (like noughts and crosses)
3 square counters 
3 circle counters


You could play this game anywhere and you could use rocks or sticks or leaves instead of counters. 




You play it in pairs, to win you need to get your 3 counters in a row, diagonally, vertically or horizontally. First you decide which player will start (we used rock, paper, scissors). Then, you take turns to put your counters in the squares, just like noughts and crosses. When all the counters are on the board you start sliding! Each player has to slide their counter one square when it's their turn. You can slide in any direction, even diagonally but you can't jump a square. You keep taking it in turns to slide until someone gets three in a row. It's harder than it sounds and lots of fun!

We learnt how to play and then taught it to Jared's grade. We had a great time!

I had a good game but I lost. It was still a very good game. Clarrie


I beat Clarrie by trapping him. Evan


Maisie and I played using square and round counters. Lucy


I learnt that if you go first you should put your counter in the middle. Rahima


I beat Fionn and I lost too. Fionn beat me 10 times. Aidan


Jarrod and I played a game - he won but he cheated (only joking). Jackson


Everyone played well and showed good sportsmanship. Connor


I learnt to play a game that was invented by the Wiradjuri people a long time ago. Riley


I learnt that it was fun to play with other people over and over again. Sunita


Mariana and I played. She won lots of times even though she was still learning. I won a few times too. Romy


It was a draw between Liam and I. It was ten all. Max H


I learnt how to play. You win by getting three in a row. Grace


I learnt that if you lose you shouldn't be mean. Just be a good sport. Chloe


You can win by thinking about your next move and your opponent's next move. Isaac


You can win by trapping your opponent in the corners, then they can't win and they have to let you win. Ilya


I learnt a game from Australia. The Aboriginal people who made it were from Bathurst and they made it up a long time ago. Fionn

You could play this game anywhere, using counters or rocks or sticks or leaves. You could draw the board in the dirt or on paper. Teagan, Rahima, Sunita 

When life gives you lemons....

photo credit: Daniel N.

Max R brought in the most beautiful lemons from the big lemon tree in his backyard. And here in 1/2B we say, when life gives you lemons... make lemon slice!! The recipe we had told us to put a WHOLE lemon in the blender. It was really cool.

If you want to make it yourself you can find the recipe here.

muscles!!

On Thursday we made lemon slice. The lemon slice was very very very delicious and nice. Teagan

We made lemon slice today. Max H

Lemon slice - we used eggs. Aidan 

biscuit base

lemon curd toppping

cooked and dusted and ready to slice!

Today we made lemon slice because Max brought in two lemons from his family's lemon tree. It was sweet and very sour. It was spectacularly good. Ilya

On the 30th of June, we made lemon slice! Felix 



Today we made lemon slice and the lemons were off my lemon tree. The lemon slice was delicious! Max R.

On Thursday 1/2B made lemon slice. Daniel


Today we made lemon slice because Max R. brought in two lemons from his lemon tree. I tried some except it was too bitter for me. Sam


Yesterday me and Evie made an equipment list. We used a blender to wizz up the ingredients. Isabel


Today we used a blender, we put lemons in the blender. Josh

The lemon slice was the best! Clarrie

five groups of five equals twenty five!

Today we made lemon slice but the lemon slice was a bit too yummy for me. I had one and a bit of it. It was awesome, I loved it. Gareth


The slice tasted weird. Isaac

On Thursday my class made lemon slice. Me, Lucinda, well, I thought that it was sour but sweet. Did you really think it could taste so nice? Lulu

Today me and my class made lemon slice. It was lemony and thick. Ella

photo credit: Daniel N.

Today (Thursday) we made lemon slice but it was a bit too yummy for me. So I had a bit more than I was meant to have. Romy

It was sour and gooey, sweet, crunchy, squishy. It was beautiful. I wanted more. Evie

Today (on Thursday) my class made lemon slice. When we first made the biscuity part of the lemon slice, it was crackley, biscuity and very nice. The lemony part was sour and sweet. Mia

On Thursday my class made lemon slice. I had never eaten a lemon slice before. When we put all the inside in it I thought that it looked like a moshi monster land. It tasted very very very sour and sweet. Sunita

Today we made lemon slice!! It was gooey but yummy. Some people thought it was bitter but I didn't think so. It tasted lemony. It was fizztabulous!! Nina

Today on the 2nd last day of term we made beautiful lemon slice. It was very bitter, it curled my tongue. When I tasted it it was like a dolphin jumping on my tongue!! Lucy