NATURE'S CLOSE UPS!

COLD SNAP : A FROSTY EXPERIMENT

SCIENCE IS AWESOME!

Our Oobleck Experiment:

This week we made Oobleck! We mixed cornflour and water and watched for the reaction. We were amazed to see that Oobleck could act as a solid or a liquid, depending on how we treated it!

First of all, our reflection about doing science....

Ava: science is fun because it's about trying something different!

Emma: I enjoy the hands-on approach of science

Eva: we learn from seeing and doing- I like learning that way

Ben: agreed that a hands on approach is a great way to learn

Annie: everyone got a go at being involved in an experiment

Lucas: I love the fun and mess of science
Tom: Science is important for future learning

Now for our conclusions about Oobleck....

Ben thought it happened because the corn flour solidified it and the water made it liquify

Alexa thought that because you mixed a solid and liquid together, it was like they were fighting to be the star

Tom thought there was a chemical reaction between the water and the cornstarch

Caitlin thought it was because there was a solid and a liquid and the solid kicked in with pressure and the liquid had no pressure

Jordi learnt that when you hold the oobleck the "cogs" hold it together and when you relax your hold, the "cogs" separate

Now we'll ask the scientists??

So we Tweeted it and this is what has happened so far? 

So now one of the Middle MY students will try Cam's suggestion  for their personal learning task!

END OF TERM REFLECTIONS

What a wonderful morning we spent looking at the presentations of the Term 1 Inquiry -  Who am I? Who am I called to be? One of the highlights was the choice of a "Habit of Mind" to guide the Term 2 goalsetting. The top choice was "Persisting." Others wonderful choices included, "Creating, Imagining, Innovating" and "Thinking about Thinking."

FEEDBACK FOR THE TEACHER

Notes to Text

   

What Worked Well (WWW)	Even Better If (EBI)
Alexa: I liked the way we worked in steps to learn the skills Eva: I liked that we learnt at our own pace Ava: I liked the process we followed Tom: I liked how we really revised each step Luke: I enjoyed using the Chrome book for research Lucas: I liked how we learnt the skills ahead of time. Declan: I liked researching the facts myself	Caitlin: we had more conversation with partners beforehand Ben: more collaboration Hannah B: more collaboration with groups on the same topic Ava: more whole class brainstorming Alexa: more sharing of ideas beforehand

Topic Sentences

Climate justice, Laudato Si, Catholic Social Teaching, Global Goals

As the year draws to a close, the students from Middle Matters have completed their amazing inquiries into Climate Justice.

This brief snapshot of presentation slides gives a glimpse into how they've made the connections between the facts,the Global Goals, Catholic Social Teaching and the papal encyclical, "Laudato Si."

 

Furthermore, they have raised awareness amd discussed possible actions that can be taken, even as a primary student!

Nature's Close - Ups - our favourite artworks in 2015!

Our inquiry asks, "How are we Called to Care for our Common Home?" As we look at the call of Laudato Si and its implications for sustainability and the stewardship of creation, we take time to look at and paint some of the wondrous things in our world!

Nature's Close-Ups - Kizoa Online Movie Maker

AMAZING NATURE - HOW BABOONS HAVE ADAPTED TO CHANGE.

CHLOE WRITES: In the grasslands of Kenya there has been an amazing discovery about the Olive Baboon. An anthropologist has been studying the baboons for 42 years and say that that is not enough time to thoroughly see the baboon's natural habits.  The baboons have been suffering due to the human population doubling and climate and environmental change. The baboons then had to readjust their lifestyle when they changed their habitat. They then also had to change their diet to the prickly pear.

While other animals eating the fruit suffered the consequences like mouth and gut ulcers and internal bleeding caused by the hairs on the fruit, the baboons knew how to cope. The baboons rub the prickly pear in the dirt to get the hairs off and in the dry season the males would squeeze the juice out of the fruit and eat the skin after.Since they changed their diet to the prickly pear they have become healthier.The Olive Baboon is such a smart animal! 

Angus explains: In Kenya there has been a long term study on Papio Anubis. You may know Papio Anubis as the Olive Baboon.Baboons have been in trouble from land hungry humans doubling in around a decade,but climate change is also playing a part in the decrease of Baboons. As parts of Kenya were degraded the Baboons were pushed to their limits and started to eat Prickly Pears.When other animals eat Prickly Pears  they get stomach ulcers and internal bleeding, killing them, but baboons have adapted a technique to roll the fatal hairs off the Prickly Pears in the dirt.

This is Marvelous story of evolution…

Ciaran notes: A unique species of primate has recently adapted to eating the harsh fruit in the boiling grasslands of Kenya…the Olive Baboons.

A patient anthropologist in Shirley Strum has been closely following these animals for a long 42 years. She has seen the dramatic changes to the outskirts of the towns and how degraded they now are. Against the odds, the baboons have demonstrated pure genius to overcome the dangers of such a powerful…fruit! The prickly pear is one of the toughest and roughest creatures around. If eaten, it viciously kills you. The intelligent baboons roll the dangerous fruit onto the dirt to scrape off the prickles. However, the baboons wouldn’t have had  to modify their diet if it wasn’t for us greedy, land hungry humans. The population in Kenya has significantly grown. In the last two decades Kenya’s human population has doubled. Our sometimes silly and disgraceful actions to purchase and take land we don’t need, nearly wiped out this beautiful species.  

LAUDATO SI...on Care for our Common Home...a new term begins!

A new term always brings great excitement and anticipation. So it was today when the students walked in to see the new inquiry question...How are we called to care for our common home? The language in our rich question is based on the words of the latest Papal encyclical letter on ecology and climate.


Today we participated in a Silent Word Wall where we reflected on the meaning of four words or phrases: "our common home," "creation,", Stewardship of creation" and "ecology."

NEEDS AND WANTS

Today in our Justice inquiry, we talked about our needs and wants. We got into groups to work out what resources and we needed to live and what things we valued, but we were only allowed SIX different resources per group. Overall, we thought that a house, clean water, food, family, good health and democracy were most important to be able to live a worthwhile life. We think that today's task was really fun because it taught us about the essentials in life rather than what we want to be happy.   WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE SAID...?

Elisa and Stephanie

  

WHY JUSTICE?

Today we started a new topic of Inquiry. "Why Justice ?" is our new question for our topic inquiring into Social Justice. We used a graphic organiser called a Frayer-Concept Model  so our teacher could see what we already know about Justice. The graphic organiser had questions like, "What does acting justly mean?" and, " What are some non-examples of Justice?" When we finished our graphic organiser  we took sticky notes and wrote some of our answers for display. I think this will be a good topic because it will teach us about how lucky we are compared to some people in other countries and communities.

Please join us in exploring by adding ideas to our question,
What does justice mean to you?"
By Eden and Ben

DISASTER GAME

Playing the Disaster Game made me be aware of what I can do to save myself and others if a natural disaster happens. I can react quickly and carefully - Madison H.

When I played the disaster game I realised that many tsunamis occur in poorer countries in which many people live in huts that can easily be washed away - Natalia B.

Playing this disaster game showed us what can be provided and how we can use resources to our advantage. It also showed the effects of a disaster. -Jonathan

Playing this game made me think what resources I should have so if a disaster did happen I can use them to save lives. I also learnt about how I can protect myself. Cooper M.

I think that playing this game was really good because it taught us how to prepare if there was a disaster. I did bushfires and I didn't realise how important it was to improve your evacuation plans - Nick

It was a big shock to realise  the large impact that the disaster makes- Corinne B

IT'S A DISASTER!

Hello, readers and fellow Seniors. Welcome to Term 4!

Our Inquiry for this term is natural and man made disasters. We're not only going to make a model and that's that, we're learning about how to prepare for and collaborate in times of disaster.

Tom

TO VACCINATE OR NOT TO VACCINATE

After watching this media clip,we
have some opinions about vaccination and whether or not it is a good thing!

Madison asks," In the future, would you give your child a vaccination? I certainly would because what if one day, all of a sudden, your child contracts whooping cough? What did you do? Did you not give your child a vaccination?...it is one quick jab and the pain is gone!

Ivan believes: Vaccinations are very important for keeping away diseases but, some believe they can cause side effects. Is this really true? Although vaccinations may cause side effects such as a fever for a day, they are very minor and shouldn't be anything to worry about.

Madeline comments:  Having vaccinations could possibly save your life, though many believe otherwise. Many believe vaccinations have side effects such as disabilities or even death. None of this is true. Vaccinations actually prevent diseases and help create a healthy immune system.

Will C notes: A lot of people don't believe in immunisation beacuse they think it's not natural for the body.However, vaccinations are known to help many people around the world...scientist have proven the bad effects aren't true.

Guest Speakers-Bahay Tuluyan

A few days ago, we had some visitors from the Philippines. There were two past students, Gary and Aisa. There was also Catherine who runs the organisation.

We learnt:

• if you are reading this, then you are in the top 8% richest people in the world.
• if you have a bed, a closet, a fridge and a roof over you head, then you are in the top 20% of the world's richest people.
• that we have everything we need, but others don't (we have more than enough)
• that we can change the world within our generation, and even in our life time!

Everyone was amazed with everything we learnt, and now we are hoping to help change the world to become a better place. We now know that if we donate a few un-needed things, we can change someone's life for good. The school is now trying to raise money for many other organisations.

The most enjoyable, but emotional part of the day, was when Gary and Aisa put on a play. It was about both of their lives in the Philippines and how it changed their lives when they were given shelter and an education. We were shocked on how they lived their lives and how grateful they are for "Bahay Tuluyan" - which means house of welcome.

Here is a rough picture of what it may look like in the Philippines. Many people are begging for the chocolate, as we pretended it was real food. We learnt how hard it was for them to get food, and how sad it was too. This activity made us feel really lucky and selfish too...since what we have is unimaginably much more of what they have.

By Simon and Mairead