Kindergarten have been learning about our school values of RESPECT, TOLERANCE, HONESTY and INTEGRITY.

We read the book “I Won’t Say Please!” by Mij Kelly to explore the concept of respect further. The Kinder Kids were shocked at how rude Queen Bee was as she ordered everyone around. She wanted everything her way and right now!

By the middle of the story Queen Bee was really angry, had had no breakfast,  had no friends and had locked herself in the dungeon and thrown away the key! Luckily for Queen Bee  a little friend was there to help her, and having learned her lesson Queen Bee began using her manners and showing respect to the people around her.

We made some bees ourselves too – but our bees have great manners and try to use them all the time!

 
Kinder RESPECT on PhotoPeach

Kindergarten danced and sang to a favourite song  about a scarecrow. Did you know that scarecrows are used by farmers to keep the birds away from the fruit and crops growing on the farm?

We enjoyed acting out the song and then we made some scarecrows ourselves!

Stage 2 have also been learning in the Veggie Patch this term. They have been conducting science experiments using plants, learning about pollination and classifying bugs.

Each week a new group of students works in the Library to investigate how entymologists group bugs. We found out

• that living things are grouped into species, and that each species have characteristics special to just their own group.
•  that a lot of bugs are arthropods which means they have legs with lots of joints.
• Insects have 6 legs, three body parts and usually have wings.

We had fun collecting bugs from the veggie patch and observing them to see if we could work out if they were an insect or not. We tried to draw scientific drawings of our creatures. Here are some for you to enjoy ….

Stage 1 students have been finding out what it is like to work in  retail this term. As part of their work on the “Veggie Patch” they have had turns at being a cook, an entymologist and a shop-keeper.

In the Library we have talked about where the vegetables go after they have been harvested … to the vegetable market …. ready for people to buy. We watched a video that Ms Hackney took at the Sydney Markets, and another video Mrs Pericles took at a fruit shop.

We talked about the special equipment the shop-keepers need, how they set up their stalls, prices of vegetables, counting money, writing signs and we even made some vegetables out of paper to sell!

Here we are playing shops in the Library….

Lots of favourite books are written in rhyming verse.

Dr Seuss knew how to write in verse – here is a favourite story of his.

What’s your favourite Dr Seuss story – is it written in rhyming verse?

Raps and chants are forms of poetry too.

I hope you enjoy this rap by some Middle School students in the USA – it’s about RESPECT!

This term I am looking forward to exploring poetry with everyone.

I have put together a quick slideshow of some poetry I found around my home today – do YOU have any poems hanging out at your place?

Here is a short Animoto of some of the things we got up to in the Library this week.

Try our slideshow creator at Animoto.

Don’t forget that the Library is open EVERY DAY.

Come on up in the second lunch break

• borrow a book
• read
• play a game with a friend
• write

Hope to see you this week

We really enjoyed the drumming group who visited our school recently.

Everyone had a drum and we just picked them up and followed the drummers out the front.

We learnt some rhythms and some chants and had fun making up our own beats too.

An amazing time – lots of laughs, fun, concentration and trying something new

The Tasmanian devil is the largest of the marsupials that eat meat. 

Wild Tasmanian devils can only be found in the wild in Tasmania (which is a state of Australia – the little island at the bottom of Australia).

There are many devils in the Tasmanian wilderness areas and in National Parks. They also live in areas where there are farms and when farm animals die, devils will sometimes eat the carcasses.

Hundreds of years ago, Tasmanian devils not only lived in Tasmania, but also on the Australian mainland. We know this from fossils that have been found. They became extinct on the mainland about 400 years.

Devils are mostly black but usually have white markings on the rump or the chest. Adult male devils are usually bigger than the females. They stand about 30 centimetres (or 12 inches) high at the shoulder and weigh up to 12 kilograms.

By Rashid

Image: ‘…de plus en plus‘ , Image: ‘Tasmanian Devil‘