Sometimes you’ve just got to slow down and smell the roses. Classroom life can move at such a pace that it sometimes feels like we’re in the middle of one of those acts where they have lots of plates spinning on top of wobbly poles. Problem is, we end up with too many plates and some inevitably fall. The curriculum is so jam packed that there ends up being a risk that we move so quickly that we leave the students’ heads in a spin without achieving anything at all. To make sure we don’t do this we’ve been taking the time to finish a few things off rather than simply rushing to keep up with an unworkable timeline; giving the students time to do things properly is better than just cramming quantity at speed. Check out the very studious pics below.

Migration is a steaming hot topic around the world at the moment with many people taking opposite yet very valid stances. However, in our dip into the history of 20th Century Australia we’ve been learning about the “push” and the “pull” factors which influenced people to emigrate from Greece and Vietnam to Australia. This is actually a task the students are going to do so look out for some really interesting posts.

Personally, I’ve been in Australia for 27 year having migrated from Manchester in England. There weren’t really any “push” factors involved at the time, it was more of a case of being fed up with the rotten weather and the attraction and adventure involved with moving to another country. It was an easy choice, the rain and misery of Manchester or the sunshine and opportunities of another English speaking nation. We’ve been back to the UK a few times, but there have been very few regrets; not being there for older relatives being the main one. Now, I feel Australian, and a very proud one at that!

How can the modern teacher keep a classful of modern, social media-minded students engaged? It’s very tricky, but we’ve really got to get imaginative with the content we provide to the students. I’ve been using the TV show My Place in the classroom for a few years now, but mostly with my year 6 students. This year, with me again having a mixed year 5/6 class, it becomes a touch trickier, but I’m still using this excellent, valuable resource. While it’s an essential teaching resource for my year 6 students and their studies of 20th Century history, I’m also showing the same episodes to my year 5 students. However, the year 5s aren’t using it for History (they’re doing the 19th Century) but they are, along with the year 6s, using it as a visual novel study looking at topics such as characterisation, symbolism, director’s intentions, and so much more. The series has also stimulated ideas for Health, Maths and technology. It’s such a great Australian resource that I just may do it all over again next year.

Life can’t always be “sunshine and flowers”, and right now it’s more like “noses to the grindstone” in LA14. We’re absolutely snowed under with work and we’re having to find new reserves of discipline, focus and determination in order to get us through. We’ve started looking at narratives and the way authors construct characters and environments. We’ve also been learning how to create texts that compare and contrast characters in shows. On top of all this, the year 5’s have been reading about early convicts, while the year 6’s have been looking at the events which occured in Australia during the 20th Century; in fact we’re right in the middle of investigating the Vietnam War. We’re trying to have a little fun as we go along, but hey, school is for education after all! Ceck out Jared’s personification/abstract noun writing below.

We all need to take care of ourselves! I can’t think of any issue on a personal level more important than our own mental well-being. For too many it’s something that we come to realise mostly when it’s way too late, when our mental health has taken a hit and we are left with the stressful and debilitating consequences. The problem is that we tend to take good mental health for granted, a bit like a well running car; why tinker with it if it’s all fine? However, to keep running smoothly we need to maintain ourselves, especially during the good times, or one day we may just find ourselves in a big mess.

One way of staying mentally healthy is to make sure we give ourselves time for something we enjoy. My stunning Holden VQ Ca[rice isn’t only my car, it’s my hobby, my interest and a thing that I thoroughly enjoy. I suppose part of it may lie with the fact I used to be a car body repairer, dismantling smashed vehicles and fixing them up like brand new. I’ve still maintained a great interest in cars and I’m always looking to tinker with my VQ and improve it (although it does drain my bank account a little). Doing this ensures I make time just for me, to do something I like and that takes my mind off the pressures of everyday life. This new blogging task is to take a photo of your pastime or hobby and post it as a new header with an explanation of what it means to you. How does your hobby make you feel? Does it give you space and time alone? How long have you been doing it? If you don’t have a hobby, how do you find time for yourself to relax?

Here we go! Term 2 is up and running and I’m sure we’re all energised and raring to go. This will be an 11 week term but I’m sure it will be fun, enjoyable and productive so it should fly as quickly as usual. One of our exciting subjects will be Art where the Year 5/6 students will be creating work inspired by Vincent van Gogh’s iconic sunflower still life paintings. Students will be exploring the elements of art by experimenting with shape, pattern, texture and line, with a focus on using the full space of the page to create balanced and detailed compositions. They will then enhance their work using watercolour paints, applying complementary colours for contrast and creating tints to show shadow and depth. Thanks to our incredible Mrs Harris, our Art specialist, for providing such fun and inspirational learning opportunities.

I never thought I’d say this, but I reckon I’ve found a group of kids with better dance moves than myself! After eight gruelling weeks of dance rehearsals, LA14 got to take part in the fabulous EduDance performance. Our class performed to Joker and the Thief by Wolfmother, an Australian band. The moves they’d been practicing came together beautifully and the students completely knoced it out of the park. They also looked pretty cool, in their band tee-shirts, denim shorts, bandanas, and with checked shirts wrapped around their waists. It was an incredibly energetic night and left me with a huge sense of pride in the students. Their enjoyment and their smiles were just joyous to see. Check out a few photos below.

Write a post about our EduDance concert. Include the following details:

• Rehearsals – how long and how it went
• Some of the moves
• The clothes you wore
• The music (The Joker and the Thief by Wolfmother)
• The style or theme of the song
• How you felt before, during and after
• How the audience reacted

Use plenty of descriptive language in your descriptions and remember ALL your punctuation.

This week we took the students out for a pleasant day in the local park next to the school; although some of them didn’t appreciate this kind gesture. However, that could be that it was our annual school cross country race, where the whole school runs around a course specifically set for their year level. It was about a 2.5 kilometre track in our local park for our year 5s and 6s, and they did a tremendous job. It was an exhausting but great day and all the students who took part can be proud of themselves for completing the whole course. In the end, one of our own girls, Brianna, took the year 6 silver medal – a fabulous achievement.  Check out the images below of the students being put through their horrific torture

After a lot of trial and effort, and a large number of emails between myself and the blogging people, we’ve finally started our blogs. It will take us quite a while to get things moving properly and have everything running smoothly, but the students have set their designs and are already looking at customizing them. By doing blogs, the students will learn how to remain unidentifiable online and protect their identity while still telling their own story. They will also learn to take responsibility for their own work, making sure it’s legible, structured correctly and has correct spelling and grammar. Of course, not everything will be perfect, but the blogs will give the students an opportunity to get better and better.