May 12

Book Chat Rush

This week we have been reading our book chat books about the goldfields and the Victorian gold rush that happened in the 1850’s. It is a important part of Australia history and it shaped the modern world. If it was not for the stockade most of us would not be able to vote or have the rights we have. I am reading a book called The Night They Stormed Eureka by Jackie French.

For library we had to answer the following questions about our books:

What is the story about? Where is it set? What time period is it in?

The story is about a girl named Sam. She is called back to the 1850’s when she sleeps on a gravestone. She is pulled back to a man and women called the Puddelhams. They are a kind bunch and dream about having a hotel that is very grand and has delicious food. Everything is good until the Eureka stockade comes and their lives go downhill drastically. It is set at the goldfields in the year 1854. It is the time period of the 19th century.

Where did the main character come from? What was their reason for going to the goldfields?

The main character Sam came from the future to the people their or the present to us.

The Puddelhams came from a convict background. Well one did and the other came from a royal background. He was a royal servant. Their reason to go to the goldfields was to sell stew and be rich off it.

How were people treated on the goldfields?

They were treated very poorly and very much abused. The guards were unfair to everyone the saw and meet asking everyone for there licence. That was the whole point of the stockade.

How did the Gold Rush impact Indigenous people?

It changed the indigenous people a lot. They were used to being alone in there Ballarat space until their space changed overnight. It went from being a space that held nothing to a huge town overnight. They were probably a bit overwhelmed.

What’s a question you have about the gold rush?

I am still wondering what would happen if you found gold without a licence.

Category: Integrated | 2 Comments on Book Chat Rush
April 30

Quality Commenting

This week at school we have been learning about comments and how to write a quality one. This was a refresher for most of my class but for the new students it was very new. This is important to teach because comments can help spark a friendship or a conversation. 

There are a lot of aspects of a quality comment so I made a poster about them and how to use them to help people understand them.

What do you think is the most important part of my poster and why?

Category: Literacy | 1 Comment on Quality Commenting
March 24

An Avatars Purpose

Most of your friends would not want you to change your face. They probably like it as it is. But online it is better to have a protecting layer on your face. Not actually but you can use one to protect you from hackers. This protecting layer is called an avatar. An avatar is, just wait 5 seconds “Hey Siri what’s an avatar?”, okay, yep. An avatar is a face that can cover up your own real face. It is cartoon of your real face. Say that someone happens to be looking online and finds your blog. If you have your real face as your avatar they are able to track you down. Good for them, bad for you. If you have a avatar it is hard to track you down and you are safe.

Below is my avatar. It looks like me but is not actually me. My avatar has brown hair and is curved to the side. I also have hazel eyes because my actual eyes are hazel. The background is my favourite colour and the clothing is the clothing I would usually wear.

Back to the hacker. Say another hacker try’s to access your blog but this time you have an avatar. He gets onto your blog but this time instead of seeing your face all he can see is your avatar. His mission has failed drastically. 

What is another reason that avatars are helpful?

Category: Literacy | 1 Comment on An Avatars Purpose
March 17

Library Reflection

This term in library we have been studying and looking at different genres in books. We have looked at fantasy and sports, mystery and my personal favourite sci-fi.

As I told you I love sci-fi and especially sci-fi books that have a modern twist on them and include a bit of humour that only kids can enjoy and understand. I really like these types of books because they can be really big on action and still be funny and almost relaxed. They get to the point really quickly and they really hook you in.

I would suggest that if you are alive and kicking that you read a book called Percy Jackson. It’s the best book you can have on your shelf. It’s about a boy who learns that he’s half Greek god and half human. It’s set in the U.S.A in modern day times and one day he accidentally vaporises his maths teacher. In the first book it’s all about how Zeus thinks he stole his lightning bolt. Percy  has to try to give it back to him. It is so famous that they have made a movie about it.


In Year 5 we also do a thing called book chat. This is my third year doing it. This week I am reading a book called The Fall by Tristan Banks. It’s about how Sam is living with his dad and all of a sudden he is awoken in the night to hear something in the apartment above him. He gets out of bed and sees a body fly past his window. He goes to wake his dad but he is not there. He looks down to see where the body has landed and where it landed there is a person looking up at Sam, and he has seen Sam’s face!  It is all about how Sam investigates what is going on. It is high tension and hard to put down. I really love this book and I would recommend it if you are into murder books and are mature.

What book would you recommend to someone or what is a book that you love?

Category: Uncategorized | 3 Comments on Library Reflection
March 4

My First Month In Year 5

Hi everyone,

Happy new year! I am now not in Year 4 but Year 5 and my first month has been wonderful. There is a lot that has changed and a lot of new subjects and new kids. In Year 5 they add about 30 new kids to make a extra class. It has been a long time since I have seen a lot of my friends so it was also good to catch up with them.

One of the new things we have is called APS sport. It is were we compete against other school that may be all boys or mixed with boys and girls. We will have to play a chosen sport that we chose to play. The options for this term volleyball, AFL, netball, cross country. I chose AFL. For term one we are just doing rock climbing, swimming and bike riding though. At the end of term we also did a triathlon but I wasn’t there because I was at a swimming competition and representing Carey. In term 2 we picked our sport that we chose. I also need to get a mouth guard.

I have a new teacher named Mrs Straford. She’s very nice and we learn a lot and get a lot done. Our focus for integrated term one is to learn about our brain. We have already learnt about what happens when we learn something new.

I hope you have had a good first few weeks back at school or work. What have you learned so far?

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December 8

Year 4

Dear Future Year 4’s, 

I hear you’re coming up to 4LX next year. It sure is exciting.

Here’s three things you should know:

• 4LX is the best year 4 class because of Mrs Lennox. And I mean it.

• You get a blog that you can write and express your feelings on. You also get comments that are sort of weird to look at and see what others think of you.

•There is more homework. There is a lot more maths homework. You might sometimes have to do 10 maths tasks on mathletics. There is also SMART spelling which is a bit weird at first but you’ll get it.

A couple of things to look forward to are:

•Camp! Because it’s longer and way funnier. Especially the giant swing. It’s sooo fun.

• Going to the nursing home. It might be a bit scary at first but it will be fun after a few visits.

A time I laughed was when one of my friends picked up what he thought was a sticky note but it was some cheese. It was really gross for him but funny for everyone else. A time I was challenged was when I realised how high the giant swing was. It was really scary but fun. I am proud of how much I have grown in maths. I have gotten better at division and I have gotten much faster. I always remember Mrs Lennox saying good job whenever I completed a task successfully.

I hope and know you’ll enjoy year 4.

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December 2

The Nativity

“Mommy, I want my mommy” shouted the petrified shepherd as he watched the angels appear in front of his own eyes.

This term in we have been looking at the nativity. In care we have been looking at Lukes and Matthews gospels for information. We have also been looking at some books and text from the bible (simplified) in class. This information helped us to write senes and act out the nativity. In class we have also been looking into some character traits that the character would of portrayed. We all had to write our own scene. We also all had to memorise lines and bring in costumes. We also had to make props. We practised nearly every day. We preformed to fellow Year 4’s, the residents at Headly Sutton and the parents and a class of Year 2’s. I think everyone did a great job!

A challenge throughout this process was memorising my lines. I worked to overcome it by practising every night. Overall I really enjoyed preforming to the parents.

If you were to perform the nativity what character would you like to be?

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December 2

Dioramas and Information Reports

This term we have been looking into natural disasters of our choice. These include tsunamis, cyclones, bushfires, volcanos, earthquakes and droughts.

I researched and wrote my own information report on tsunamis.

We ended the unit by creating dioramas to show our understandings and shared them with our Year 2 buddies. Here is my diorama:

Whilst making my diorama I found challenging to make the actual wave because it wouldn’t shape into a wave. 

What type of natural disaster would you most like to research and why?

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November 15

GRA STEAM challenge

We are participating in the GRA. GRA is where you get to connect with schools. We also all read the same book. The book this year is called Front Desk.

The book is about a Chinese immigrant family who comes to the USA and finds a job at a motel. 

So far I have been surprised by the mature themes including racism.

To challenge our creative thinking, we were given challenges that Mia has faced in the book. I chose to think about inventing a plan to alert the immigrants of Mr Yao’s (he’s the mean guy) presences on the property.

Here is my plan:

Can you name another way Mia could alert the Chinese immigrants of Mr Yao’s presences? 

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October 29

Divisibility Rules

We are the near the end of year and have learned many different strategies to help us in all areas of maths. 

One particularly interesting method to help you to divide big numbers can be to know the divisibility rules. 

Each group in our class investigated one and has made a video to share so that we can all learn from each other. 

My group made this one on 11’s

Watch my video carefully and answer the final question. 

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