Jupiter and Venus Converging

Over the last week Jupiter and Venus have been coming closer together. On a clear night the two planets can been seen shining brightly in the sky and on Wednesday night the two planets will appear so close together that they'll look like a tight, brilliant double star in the evening sky. If it is a clear night, take the time to have a look. 

Parent/Teacher/Student Conferences

We are really looking forward to the Parent/Teacher/Student Conferences tomorrow. The  Green Room is going to be our waiting room and the interviews will take place in the rest of the Neighbourhood. Simone will be at the front of the Neighbourhood, Anna at the back and Jessica in the Art Studio. We will have a whiteboard outside to guide you.

Pirate Day!

Last Friday was Pirate Day. Many of the children dressed up as pirates and gave a gold coin donation to raise money for Children's Brain Cancer. Every child was given a white eye patch to decorate as part of the day. The school raised over $500 for the charity. Thank you to everyone who donated. 

Visual Art News- Please visit the John Wolseley Exhibition NGV

Visual Art News- Term 3

In term 3 all students will be exploring the work of Australian artist John Wolseley. The NGV Australia is currently showing a wonderful exhibition of Wolseley's work and it would fantastic if students are able to visit the exhibition in the holidays so they are familiar with his work and are able to view it close up. (The intricacies of his line work and mark making do get lost in photographs and reproductions.)

 Many thanks,

Hannah Rother-Gelder

Visual Art teacher

Week 11 Happenings!

Last week of Term 2

Tuesday

Italian & PE (2A)

Art & Italian (2J)

PE & Art (2S)

Thursday
Curriculum Day
12pm - 7pm Parent/Teacher/Student Conferences

Friday
2pm: Assembly
Last day of Term 2. School finishes at 2:30

Action Required: Pirate Day Friday

Friday the 19^th of June is Pirate Day Friday. We would like everybody to dress up as a pirate and bring in a gold coin donation, even parents and teachers if they want to. Pirate Day Friday raises awareness and money for childhood brain cancer research. We chose to support Pirate Day Friday because more children die in Australia from childhood brain cancer than any other disease. On Friday all students who bring in a gold coin donation will get a white-eye patch to decorate on the day. We hope to see you all dressed up as pirates this Friday.

Week 10 Happenings!

Friday is Pirate Day! 

Tuesday

Art & Italian (2J)

Italian & PE (2A)

PE & Art (2S)

Thursday

Art (2A)

Italian (2S)

PE (2J)

Library visit

Friday

Dress up as Pirate Day. Gold Coin Donation

Assembly

Year 2 Artists

As part of our Inquiries the children have been creating murals as an artistic reflection of the knowledge we have been building. These murals are a work in progress and will continue to built upon, but here is a sneak peek of what they look like at the moment in case you haven't been able to come in to the Neighbourhood. 

Constructing Paper Towers

Last week in the construction area the children were challenged to create a paper structure that could hold a dictionary. The children could use paper and masking tape. Some structures were so strong they could hold multiple books, one groups' structure held over 20 books. The children experimented with folding the paper in different ways and creating shapes such as cylinders and rectangular prisms. 

No tape used, paper just folded to make it strong

Long, thin cylinders 

Short wide cylinders

To follow on from this exploration the children have been challenged to create a tall tower using only 10 pieces of newspaper and 5 pieces of tape. Before the children begin they must predict how tall their tower will be. Some children planned their structure by drawing a design while others got straight into the constructing. When the towers are completed the children measure it and compare the results with the initial prediction. 

Jayana drawing up her plan

Iris making the newspaper strong by folding

Martin creating a cylinder 

Martin and Addison's Structure was over 1 metre tall

Persuasive Speeches

The children have been writing persuasive speeches about a topic of interest. Speech topics have included "Don't litter", "We should have a pool at school" and "Why the Ferrari Dino is the most reliable car". The children have been practicing their speeches in Learning Agreement and today the first group of children presented their speeches to their homegroups. The children have assessed one another using a rubric designed by the teachers.The areas the children assess each other on are vocabulary used, voice, volume and pace. The peer assessment will be going in their portfolios. 

Congratulations to the children who spoke today, you have set the bar high. 

Sophie presenting and Addison assessing. 

Nature Project: What do seeds need to grow?

"How do seeds grow?" 

In response to the children's wondering: "How do seeds grow?" we have conducted a controlled experiment to explore the importance of sunlight and water on seed germination. Today we tallied up the results and wrote some conclusions.

Children planted sunflower seeds in one of 3 conditions:
Group C plants got sunlight and water
Group B plants got no water but they did get sunlight
Group A plants got no sunlight but they did get water.

PREDICT: Which plants do you think will grow the most successfully or not grow at all?
Most students predicted that the plants in group A that were put in the cupboard with no sunlight would not grow. They thought the plants in group B getting no water would also have trouble growing. They thought the plants in Group C would grow the best as they get sunlight and water.

Do you agree????

Here are our results:

Group A Plants (no sunlight) after 2 weeks

RESULTS: 5 out of 6 plants grew, very tall. 

Group B Plants (no water - except for the couple of accidental times they did get water) after 2 weeks

RESULTS: only 3 out of 8 grew at all.

 Group C Plants (receiving water and sunlight) after 2 weeks:

RESULTS: 6 out of 10 plants grew.

We found the results surprising. We did not expect the plants in Group A to grow as well as they did without sunlight. We discussed that clearly water is important to plants as the growth success rate of Group B plants was quite low (only 3/8 grew).

We made sure to compare the growth success as a proportion of the total number of plants in that group (i.e. We cannot compare the 6 growing in group C as better than the 5 growing in Group A because 4 plants didn't grow at all in group C whereas only 1 plant didn't grow from Group A.... perhaps next time we should have the same amount of plants in each group to compare more accurately!)

Today, when writing the results, Gulliver noticed that although the plants in Group A grew tall, they are yellow in colour and the stems are thin and weak, many of them snapping. Whereas the plants in Group C, although shorter, seem greener and stronger (healthier). Great observation Gulliver!

Luis then interjected that he thinks the plants in Group A are tall because they were probably searching for light because they were denied sunlight (in the cupboard). GREAT THINKING LUIS!

Many of the children then said "Yes that's what we saw in the documentary last week about the plants in the forest that climb to reach the sunlight!"

So much learning and discovery is happening and they are using experimenting to confirm facts that they are learning through other sources.

Week 9 Happenings!

Enjoy the Long Weekend!

Monday

Queen's Birthday Public Holiday

Tuesday

Italian & PE (2A)

Art & Italian (2J)

PE & Art (2S)

Thursday

Art (2A)

Italian (2S)

PE (2J)
Singing with Deb

Library

Friday

3pm  Assembly 

Reading Journals

This week we have seen a number of children finish their Reading Journals and these children have received new journals so they can continue recording the books they have read and reflecting about what they have read. It is a whole school expectation that the children record what they are reading in their reading log most days and reflect on a book they have read at least once a week. Below are some great examples of how children have reflected in their Reading Journals this year. 

Facts learnt from a book

Character from a book surrounded by descriptive words

Facts learnt and a labelled diagram

Word studying: -ing words found in the book that was read. 

Book review

Reading Log!

Prediction made before reading.

Singing with Deb

The children have been learning a new song with Deb called 'Wake Up, Stop Your Sleeping' by Stanley and the Dinosaurs.  Today the children learnt and practiced playing beats on a variety of instruments. The children sounded amazing and I hope to put up a few clips of the children playing soon, but for the moment here are a few pictures.