3/4C & 3/4K @ UPPS We're a group of 44 students from Upper Plenty Primary School in Victoria, Australia. Miss Carolyn Crowther and Miss Hannah Kenny are our teachers. 

On Monday 14th May we had a billy cart incursion. A man named Jonathon came and taught us how to build a mini model billy cart. Our Inquiry topic is ‘Construction’ and we are learning how to make strong structures and creations.

There were a lot of steps to assemble the billy cart. It was essential that we listened carefully and followed instructions. Jonathon was really funny and said if didn’t follow the safety procedures we could chop our hands or heads off. We had to open and close the work benches carefully and use the coping saw correctly.

When we were hammering we had to start with little baby taps to get the nail to go in a little bit and then we could move our hand away and smash it. If we weren’t watching our fingers, we could end up with a broken finger. It was fun to experiment with the different ways you could use the tools.

Jonathon taught us the names of the tools, how to use them properly and safely, how to put the workbenches up and down, how to saw, sand, hammer and nail. Jonathon thought using all the tools and building was the easy part. He said listening was actually the hardest part of the whole thing!

We made these little billy carts as a model so that we have an idea of how to make a big billy cart. We are gearing up for our own billy cart derby!

What do you like about building things?

On Thursday 3rd May 3/4C had a Debating Challenge. 3/4K had their Debating Challenge on Wednesday.

In 3/4C’s Debating Challenge Kyle and Tyler (affirmative) argued against their oppenents Brodie and Brent (negative) on the topic ‘School Uniform Should be Compulsory.’ It was an incredibly close debate. Mrs Laffan was our adjudicator. After a lot of thought she decided that the affirmative team won.

The second topic was ‘Dogs are Man’s Best Friend.’ Ethan, Brock and Eve argued in favour and Grayson, Alicia and Mia argued against the topic. After another close debate the winners were the negative team.

Next up were Kayla, Gus and Mitchell arguing for the right to have more sport in the curriculum. Tayla, Sam and Ethan were not in favour of this idea. The negative team were victorious.

Finally, Ebony, Dylan (absent) and Gypsy challenged Scarlet, Alani and Bailey. The topic was one close to their hearts. It was ‘Children Should Choose Their Own Bedtime.’ After a heated debate, the affirmative team of Ebony and Gypsy won.

After each debate, the audience voted for the best speaker. Best speakers had to present their arguments confidently and clearly. Congratulations to Tyler, Eve, Ethan and Gypsy.

Thank you to Mrs Laffan for her splendid adjudicating and feedback. We really appreciate the comments and tips for next time.   Thank you also to our parents and grandparents who came along to support us.  We really enjoyed hearing your positive comments afterwards.  Also, thanks to Miss M for taking the photos and Bende for filming it.  Stay tuned for our next topics and debates!

Check back soon to read about 3/4K’s debates.

There Should be More Debating at School.

What Do YOU Think?  Why?

This term we are learning about the construction process.  So far we know that builders follow a plan.  This is sometimes called a blueprint or design brief.  You have to consider the materials you can use, skills you have and time available.  Things don’t always go to plan and things can change during the construction stage.  Modifications (or changes) are often made to improve the object being constructed. 

We created structures to become familiar with the construction process.  Check back soon to see the finished products!

What is your favourite part of the construction process?  Why?

Little Scruffy and Miss Crowther are back from their holiday adventure. Miss Crowther helped Scruffy put together a PhotoStory about their time in England and Singapore.

Click on the link to watch Scruff’s adventures.   Scruff‘s PhotoStory.

ANZAC Day on PhotoPeach

For more ANZAC information, check out the Australian War Memorial website

What does ANZAC Day make you think about?

What are some interesting ANZAC facts you know?

It is hard to believe that term two is here already. Hopefully everyone had a terrific holiday with family and friends and were visited by the Easter bunny. On behalf of everyone, Miss Crowther has done a lot of research to discover chocolate in England tastes slightly different to chocolate in Australia.

Term two is eleven weeks long, which sounds like a lot, but will surely fly!

These are some of the exciting things happening this term:

* An inquiry incursion building things
* A Go Cart derby
* Global projects with schools overseas
* Some students will earn their very own blog
* A visit from the CFA
* Miss M (pre service teacher) working in 3/4C with Miss Crowther
* NAPLAN Testing for the grade 3s
* Winter sports
* Catch up round robin sports day
* Chickens returning to school
* Talent show on the last day of term two

And many more things, so stay tuned!

What did you do during the holidays?

What questions do you have about Term Two?

Brains on PhotoPeach

Today we looked at something really disgustingly awesome…lamb’s brains!!! We did this because we are learning about brains. We tried to find the medulla (brain stem), cerebrum and cerebellum. These are the three main parts of the brain.

The medulla, or brain stem, controls how we breathe, our digestion and our heartbeat. It does it without any effort. The cerebellum controls our senses and also controls our imagination. The cerebrum
controls our emotions and ability to walk and balance. It also helps us to learn new things.

The brains felt like any other type of raw meat. They tasted like it too – just kidding!!! We didn’t eat them! Yuck! We dissected the brains and found the different parts of them. At the end, we pulled them apart and they ended up as one giant squishy mess. We had read that adult human brains weigh about 1.3kg so we were eager to find out how much a lamb’s brain weighs. The heaviest one was 100 grams but most were around 40 – 60 grams.

It is amazing how our brain can do so many things without us really thinking about it! It really is an amazing organ.

What do you think is the most amazing things about our brains?

Holidays are just around the corner so it is a good time to reflect on Term 1.  44 students and two teachers started the term full of energy and excitement.   We’ve learnt lots and made many new friends along the way.  The term began with us making decisions about what type of place we want our classrooms to be and how we want to learn during 2012.  We investigated different ways of learning and then started learning! 

We’ve explored place value, counting patterns, length, area, perimeter and a little bit of addition.  In literacy we have enjoyed Read to Self and Read to Someone so that we can practice our comprehension, accuracy, fluency and expand our vocabularies.  Many emails, blogs, postcards and letters have been written,  sent and posted.   Now, we are persuading people to our way of thinking in preparation for NAPLAN.  Our pencils have nearly disappeared with all the writing we’ve been doing!

Check out the slide show below to see us ‘in action’.

 Looking Back on Term 1 on PhotoPeach

What was your favourite thing about Term 1?  Why?

What are you looking forward to in Term 2?

Today we held our first fundraiser for the year.  It was organised by Junior School Council.  We chose to raise money for the Variety Club.  They help people during hard times, including helping us straight after the Black Saturday bushfires.  It was great to be able to raise money for them to help other people.

We raised money in two main ways.  Firstly, we ordered a special lunch which was cooked by some parents.  It was also an out of uniform day for a gold coin donation.  Our JSC representatives counted all the money and we raised nearly $500.  Great job everyone!

  Variety Day Fundraiser on PhotoPeach

What was your favourite thing about the day?

Which charities do you like to support?

It was a VERY close vote and we nearly had two blog pets. You can see from the image below that it was nearly a tie between a pig and a monkey. The guinea pig was quite popular too. However, with 19% of the total vote, we are proud to announce

we are the proud owners of a blog pet pig!

The votes are in...