ENGLISH AND HUMANITIES

The secondary students have had a very productive start to the term, despite many days off due to public holidays! They have made the most of the opportunities that they have had, and are excited for some of the learning activities that they are completing this term.

ENGLISH

In English, the students are working on poetry folios, and learning the different styles of metalanguage associated with poetic writing. They will have a functional grammar test to focus on in week 7, however this week, the 4th week, we have had NAPLAN to fill in our time. NAPLAN is an Australia-wide test which is used to compare students across the country. The students participated in Language Conventions, Writing, Reading Comprehension and Numeracy tests over three days. The marks for NAPLAN will not be shown on the students’ school reports, however all families will be sent the results in the mail once they become available.

HISTORY

In History we are studying The Black Death. Students are learning about medicinal science in the middle ages, as well as anything that prevented doctors from treating patients who presented with “The Plague”. We are using a wide variety of educational methods to teach this subject, including historical video clips, games such as ‘Quiz, Quiz, Trade’, class discussions and MyEd activities. Please ensure that your student keeps up with their MyEd homework as this is an important part of their learning, and it is a grade which is shown on their report.

The Plague Doctor’s outfit. This was worn in an attempt to prevent the doctor from contracting the highly contagious illness. Source unknown.

FARMING & GARDENING

Zac, Nooran and Ebru have been taking great care of their vegetable gardens, and their efforts can be seen in the enormous vegetables that they’ve grown! We have now picked most of the beetroot and the students spent a class roasting and pickling their vegetables. In two weeks they will be able to taste the pickled beetroot, and I am sure they can’t wait. We also picked some Quince from the tree out the front of the school, and made poached quince in syrup. The students tasted them, but some decided they were too sour, and another decided they were too sweet!

The recipe that we used for the pickled beetroot is below. We will soon need to harvest all of our vegetables, and it would be wonderful if any parents would be willing to donate some seedling packets for winter crops so that we can continue our learning about vegetable gardens.

HEALTH & PE

The students are enjoying running, jumping, balancing and tumbling at gymnastics. They are developing their skills more and more each time we visit, and it is of great amusement to see how quickly they are progressing. It is important that the students remember to bring a drink bottle to school, and wear their P.E. uniform on Tuesdays as it is extremely difficult to participate in gymnastics without either of those things. In health we are looking at healthy eating, and will look at the various food groups and foods associated with these in the future.