Monday, May 23, 2016

LEARNING TO CODE - Drivers and Navigators

Today, the year 3's worked in partners and helped each other learn new features on Scratch.  We used the TIPS and in each pair there was a 'driver' - who worked the action and a 'navigator' who read the instructions and advised the driver.

We found it hard at times but we certainly learnt new things.   Here are some of our projects (some not quite finished).  We also learnt that to make mistakes is OK and we need to re-read our programs and 'debug' to fix them. 


 INSTRUCTIONS FROM DECLAN
  •  Press the SPACE bar lots of times to make them run
  •  Click the Green Flag to start 
  •  Try and predict who is going to win
  •  Have fun

 

INSTRUCTIONS FROM ALEXA AND EVA
  •  When you think the dog is hungry press on the bone 
  •  When you think the dog needs a drink press on the water 
  •  When you think the dog needs to play press on the ball

Tuesday, May 17, 2016

YOU'VE GOT MAIL!

Today we've spent time time learning more about the effective use of Google Mail.

What I learnt today!

  • how to delete "read" mail
  • how to make a new label (folder) 
  • how to name a new label (folder)
  • how to change the theme of my mail page
  • mail comes from teachers, bloggers, Google Drive comments
  • how to reach my mail in different ways-through the landing page and via Google Drive
Why was today's lesson important to me?

  • it's an easy way for me to see what's happening on my blog or in my work space on Google Drive
  • it's a skill we can use in the future
  • I discovered it's available any time and any where I sign in
  • we receive our feedback from our mail
  • today was important because it's a way of receiving messages
  • it's a way we can communicate with teachers
  • there a way to file important emails
  • we learnt how to use our GMail effectively
  • it leads us to see our mistakes in our files so we can go and fix them

Friday, May 13, 2016

BEHIND THE NEWS - IVORY TRADE


Gai writes:
You might be wondering what is Ivory trade. Ivory is something that comes from elephants’ tusks that  people carve into jewellery and statues. Ivory trade  is illegal. The African  government leader  burnt ivory in a stockpile to tell people to stop poaching.In 1989  one leader said, “poaching has turned elephants into refugees. 
Zach believes: Ivory Trading is a huge problem in our world right now. There are approximately 500,000 elephants in Africa but 25,000 to 30,000 elephants get killed every year.
During the clip I watched, I saw people were trying different ways to stop poaching like sending drones, personal training and private places for the elephants.
I feel sympathy for all of the elephants around the world and I am very disappointed with the people who are poaching.

I think that there should be more bans in our countries and people should make more donations for the elephants. I wonder what poaching will be like in the future. I wonder if people have finally inspired poachers to stop what they’re doing or it will improve and the elephant numbers will go down until there nearly extinct.
I learnt a lot about elephant ivory today. I’ve learnt that ivory can be turned into lots of beautiful things. I’ve also learnt that there are a couple of ways to save the elephants such as people using drones to spy on people if they are poaching and then report it.
So, what do you think about poaching?

Tom thought:What I sawI saw hundreds of millions of dollars go up in flames. Even though it is illegal worldwide people would do anything to get ivory.

What I felt:I feel distraught knowing that all of those elephants are getting harmed and dying because of these people. I also feel horrified by what they have done. The Gabon president quotes, “Poaching has turned elephants into refugees.”     

What I wonderedI wonder how  this catastrophic ivory trade happened in the  first place. I also wonder what items have ivory in them that we don’t know of.Are there any problems that you want to talk about and please give some detail?

Luke wrote:

How do you feel about Ivory trade? I feel that we really need to stop killing animals such as elephants.What did I see? I see that they, are getting lonely especially baby elephants.What did I think? I think we are not treating  elephants as we should.What did I wonder? I wonder why people would kill elephants just for their tusks?What did I learn?I learned that people carve pictures  into tusks.

Alexa reflected: Stop poaching! I think poaching elephants is wrong. Poaching is when someone kills elephants or hurts an elephant for Ivory.What is happening?25,000 – 30,000 elephants have been killed every year and most of them from poaching. To stop poaching, countries have been burning ivory to show people that poaching is wrong. A leader even said that poaching is making elephants refugees.How I feel!Elephants are beautiful animals and I think many people feel sad for elephants and so do I!What do I wonderI wonder why people think ivory is more important than our elephants?What I learntI learnt how elephants are being affected by us.I also learnt that we should save our elephants.





Sunday, May 8, 2016

GALLIPOLI SOLDIER

Enjoy the latest art from Middle Matters! After studying Sidney Nolan's Gallipoli soldier images, we researched soldiers and nurses from the Gallipoli campaign. After practising our sketches, we applied a thick layer of paint, then sketched our chosen images with the handle of our paintbrushes.
Gallipoli Soldier from Marg Yore on Vimeo.

Amazing Grace by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)