NO MONEY - NO LIFE - THE GREAT DEPRESSION IN VICTORIA

We would love your help with our research about events that shaped Victoria's history!

Firstly, how did the Great Depression affect your family in the past?

Secondly, how do you think the Great Depression affected Victoria's history. Were there both positive and negative outcomes?

SPEED STACKING

MMY Speed Stacking on PhotoPeach!  We were lucky enough, through our Positive Education program, to have Australian Speed Stacking champions work with us! It must be up there as one of our favourite experiences this year!

NED KELLY AND THE GREEN SASH - "TALKING HISTORY"

While still a school boy, Ned Kelly bravely rescued a drowning class mate from a flooded river.The boy's parents were so grateful that they awarded Ned a green hero's sash. In their eyes at least, Ned was a hero.

ENJOY OUR REFLECTIONS ABOUT NED AFTER HEARING THIS STORY.

Ivan... "I liked how Mark Greenwood put forward Ned's point of view in the story...it told me that the darkest life will always have a bright side!"

Corinne....Mark Greenwood takes us on an amazing journey of Ned Kelly's life..I would never be brave enough to do any of the things he did. Amazing as this story (The Green Sash) was, it was one of the saddest stories I've heard. I guess we will never know if he really was a hero!"

Matt..."This book entranced me! It made me think about courage, bravery, evil and good and to see Ned Kelly's place in history. For instance, some peple think he is a hero and others think he is a cold-blooded killer. My opinion is he is a hero. What do you think? My favourite line is, 'Ned Kelly ran his bloody fingers through the green sash.' "

Elizabeth..."In this story Ned Kelly tells us about his life and how it was good and then bad and about how his beautiful green sash was once a reward for bravery...in my opinion, Ned Kelly was forced into being a bushranger to protect his family and my final words to this piece of writing will be the same as his...such is life!"

Chloe....I enjoyed this story because I like how it was from Ned's point of view. The descriptions that I was attracted to were "paddocks turned to dust," "could bog a duck" and "struggled to scrape a living."...The Green Sash shows that Ned wasn't all bad and saved a life. But, he did murder police. I guess I'll have to think about it!"

Mairead....I was surprised that Ned Kelly saved Richard Shelton's life. How do you feel about it? I thought his last words, "Such is life," said to me..."life is like birth-growth-death-and there is no way to stop it.

AUSTRALIAN LANDSCAPE-COLLAGE

Using our newly acquired photography skills, we snapped some of the beautiful foliage in our school ground. Using our photographs, we created collages to represent Australian landscapes.

MY COUNTRY-STUDENTS' RESPONSES

It has to be one of a teacher's greatest joys to enjoy with her students, Dorothy MacKellar's poem, My Country. Enjoy their insightful responses!

HISTORY IN THE MAKING

The Middles' history unit is entitled,"History in the Making!" (Thanks Luke for the great suggestion for the title!) We are exploring how historical events have changed our home state of Victoria, Australia. However, we would also love general answers to our questions about how historical events change the world.

What sort of events change history and how?

Have historical events changed you in any way?

How has history affected your ancestors?

Can you name some good changes and some bad changes that have occurred?

What event has most changed Victoria?

What sort of events have affected Victoria's history?

What can you do now that you might not have been able to do 50 or 100 years ago?

We would love to hear your thoughts!

www.ebi.com......class of 2011...the "feedback champions!"

This week we tried some different ways of working! In order to evaluate the week's success we created a new strategy...www.ebi.com. Even giving feedback was fun this way.

SACRAMENTAL CANDLES

SACRAMENTAL CANDLES on PhotoPeach