Just a quick post to congratulate Georgia who currently has 990 visits (Tuesday, 27th August) but will certainly reach the magical 1000 this week. Georgia will be the first student at this school to reach this amazing landmark. Other students are closing in, too, and this should be our best blogging year ever. Well done everyone!
Month: August 2013
Top Techies!
Many youngsters nowadays are very much into technology. Well, the students from LA19 are no different. Here’s a list of some of the best techie blogs from the class, filled with news, information, tips, movies and fun. Never forget, that without some young people who were once interested in technology we wouldn’t have the iPhone and iPad, apps, Facebook (love it or hate it) and many other things we simply can’t live without in our modern world (including the computer you’re reading this on).
Blogging Task #9
Well, LA19, here it is, the long awaited and much requested new task.
Lately we’ve been learning about the lives of several families through the 20th century. We’ve been working backwards from 2008, decade by decade, learning about the lives and issues of Australians of the times. Amongst other things we’ve seen some fabulous 80s fashions, listened to the music and looked at the great “Top Trumps” card collections. The task for you this week is to ask your parents about a special toy, game or possession from their past. See if you can find a photo of this cherished object (remember our fair use image rules) or perhaps even do a little research on it. Even better would be a short write-up from your parents themselves to describe their own special memory. Maybe they even had one of these toys below! Do your parents remember them or are they too young?
Science and Yeast
We recently conducted a series of science lessons on micro-organisms. The last one included investigating the reaction of yeast when mixed with other ingredients. The formal part of the investigation was ensuring the test was a fair one with consistent measurements, and that we included a number of options and a control. We found that the yeast really enjoyed water, energy (sugar) and warmth (the water was heated). Water and yeast alone had no reaction, neither did water and sugar, or sugar and water. You can see the results in the photo below. Can you tell which one shows the reaction?
The Reactions
Busy, Busy, Busy!
Wow, this term has been so hectic that, while I’ve been telling the students to keep up with their blogs, I’ve almost completely neglected my own. Not really a good example! Well, one thing we managed to do, which was pretty spectacular, was we made our own vortex cannon for the school science week. We learnt about different types of vortices and saw what a toroid vortex actually looks like. To be honest, though, it was mostly just an excuse to do something sciencey (I know – not really a word) and motivational. Sometimes we’ve got to ditch the write-ups and simply show how exciting and fun science can be. Science is what holds the key to all our futures, so if we can ignite a little spark of enthusiasm then we’ll all be the better for it.
Unfortunately, due to a severe technical malfunction (the fog machine broke) we couldn’t take any photos, but a new one is on the way and as soon as it arrives I’ll take some snaps.
Vietnam
As part of our studies from the excellent My Place television series we’ve been looking at the Vietnam War, particularly the causes of the war and Australia’s involvement. The episode entitled Lily looks at the 1970s and features a character who is an asylum seeker from Vietnam. The programme has allowed us to look at different styles of government, such as communism and democracy, and how different perspectives and interpretations of situations can lead nations into conflict. We also had the opportunity to investigate the differences between asylum seekers and refugees and discovered how events after the war led to an increase in the Vietnamese population in Australia. This topic enabled us to look at Australia’s not so rosy past, in particular the White Australia Policy, and from this we developed our knowledge of the current offshore policies of recent governments.
Last year I was able to spend some time traveling in Vietnam and discovered an amazing country with fabulous, friendly people. The photos below show some of the military hardware left over from the war and myself descending into one of the tunnels used by troops from the then communist North Vietnam.
Going Underground
US Tank
My Place
Our studies on the excellent ABC programme, “My Place” are going extremely well. Not only has it lent itself to some great work with our English studies, but it has also enabled us to begin working backwards through a timeline of Australian historical and social events. So far we have studied the “Stolen Generation”, cricket (in particular Shane Warne’s “Bowl of the Century”), equality and discrimination, the Vietnam War and refugees and asylum seekers. Whilst an in depth study of all these issues and events is impractical, the students are developing a solid background knowledge of how we evolved into the Australia in which we now live.
Podcast
This is a new podcast on The Stolen Generation, a very sensitive and important historical topic for many Australians. The tone of this podcast was more formal than previous ones, given that the students have to use language in a variety of situations. This was a tough task, but the students gave it a really good go. A lot of this podcast was read from a text, but the way the students directed it through their use of language was very good.