Archive of ‘Positive Ed’ category

Hello 2019!

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Welcome to the 4T 2019 Class Blog!

New year, new teacher, new opportunities to connect around the world!

We have had a couple of exciting first weeks, settling in to our new class and participating in many school activities such as Chinese New Year and meeting our buddies at House!

We have had many discussions about how we want to feel and our expectations of others and ourselves at school which led into creating our Learning Expectations for the year, so that we can come to school everyday and feel happy, safe and motivated to learn!

4T’s Learning Guidelines

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Homelessness in Australia

A large focus in Year 4 at our school is on community service. We try to empathise with the issues people face in our community and what we can do to help.

We support the Salvation Army who support families going through rough times or at risk of homelessness. Peter and Jane from the Salvation Army came to speak to all of the Year 4s about the different ways that this organisation supports people. Already this year, the Salvation Army in our community alone from January – June has already helped 1000 people in finding a safer place to stay. 

They help those experiencing rough times by:

  • support people in finding somewhere safe and secure to live.
  • talk through the different emotions they might be experiencing.
  • link them with other services they may need eg. doctors.
  • assist with booking appointments or driving them to medical appointments. 
  • assist with access to food and self care products.

The students in 4T will be raising money by doing extra chores at home as part of their weekly home work over the next couple of weeks. With this money we will purchase and donate various toiletries items which will go into care packages created by the Salvation Army to give out to those experiencing homelessness.

This week is Homelessness Week in Australia to raise awareness of people experiencing homelessness, the issues they face and the action needed to achieve enduring solutions. This year’s theme is ‘Ending Homelessness Together.’
In class we will be exploring videos, fact sheets and writing letters to members of the Victorian government to discuss the issues facing our community.

Thinking back to Peter and Jane’s talk. Leave a comment with something that you heard that connected with you or made you think differently.

1/4 down..3/4 to go.

In true 4T style, the end of Term 1 is near but we are nowhere yet near done. Our last week is shaping up to be a very exciting race to the finish. 

  • Our school is one of the 30 schools around the world that are part of the ‘G20 Schools.’ The principals of these schools meet annually and share their country’s culture, ideas, thoughts and challenges on schooling. 2018’s theme is ‘Changing us in a Changing World,’ and for the first time, the conference is being held at our school in Melbourne! On Monday, the principals part of this group will give a special presentation about their homeland to the Junior School. 

 

  • Later that day, 4T will put their ‘blogger’ hats on and unveil their blogs to our school community. They are expected to be able to explain the benefits of blogging, how to stay safe whilst online and show guests around their dashboard and site.

 

  • Showing gratitude and being thankful for all that we have is an important value. 4T will be writing letters to members of our community that have had an impact on our lives at school during Term 1.

 

  • Tuesday kicks off our Year 4 focus of Community Service. We will be visiting a nursing home and interacting with the residents. Check out the individual student blogs to see their recounts of the afternoon.

 

  • Our week will end with a very special Easter Service of Worship. All Junior School students will rotate through a range of activities including prayers and songs to celebrate the Easter Story.

What is something that you are proud of in your first 9 weeks of Year 4, and why?

Hey! That’s My Work!

When 4T logged onto their blogs today, something very alarming and strange had happened. 
Their content was there, but someone else’s name was on the title. Someone had claimed their own work as their own!

Huh? That’s not Emmy’s blog!

“That’s mine!” yelled Serene.

4T were outraged! But unfortunately this happens on the internet more often than you think. People copying other people’s work or images and pasting them into their own projects. That’s not fair!

This led to a very important discussion about why it is so important to give credit to someone else’s work when you have borrowed a picture or used their website to assist you in your research. 

What is plagiarism?
Why is it important to credit the work that you use?
How do you credit someone else’s work?

Year 4 Camp

What an action-packed couple of days Year 4 camp has been. Not only did we learn about the natural environment and Indigenous culture, we have also done a heap of team building and exciting activities. Yes, we even developed our understandings about what it really means to set the table and clean up. Gee we had fun!

The 4km Silvan dam walk to the Mt Evelyn Recreation Camp was a bit of a hike, but was well worth it when we were welcomed by Shawn and Geoff from Indigicate. He invited us to participate in a traditional aboriginal smoking ceremony. Engulfed by the smoke, we had to make the loudest sound we could (anything will do, there were some interesting versions) to alert our ancestors that we were there at the camp site, but also to protect us during our stay. Jake said that the ancestors would be looking for how brave our heart was.

During our stay, we spent the next two days participating in so many fun and educational activities which included:

  • Hut building
  • Damper making
  • Giant swing. Here is a video of Mr Lowe leaping into the unknown and facing his fears. All the teachers had a shot, even Mr Ingles and Mrs Russell!
  • Kaos scavenger hunt
  • Low ropes course
  • Wildlife encounter
  • Indigicate aboriginal culture experience
  • Night walk
  • Movie night

Just before our 4KM hike from Silvan Dam to Mt Evenly Recreation Camp

Made with Padlet

To see more photos of our fabulous time at Camp, log on to the 4T Integrated Folder on ClassE.

We all showed terrific courage and curiosity that throughout the different challenges, both physical and mental. We also tried to remain positive by encouraging others to do and be their best. It was an amazing experience.

Check out the individual student blogs of 4T to read more about our camp experiences.

Tell me about your favourite part of camp?
Tell me about the times you were curious or you showed courage on camp?

Just another Wednesday…

WOW! What a Wednesday, in case our days weren’t busy enough, today 4T took part in two activities – one to make us more aware of ourselves and our thoughts and the other to participate in something with classrooms from all over Australia!

Firstly we had a visit from our wonderful school psychologists Jen and Jessie who came to speak to us again about our Brain 1 and 2 and how we can keep our Brain 2 in check. Especially in the playground when we can be carried away with playing games and sports or seeing our friends.
We watched some videos called ‘Uncle Drew’ where we examined the effects of judgements that we make of others.
Our Number 2 brain does not like having to persist or to try new things. They can easily get into negative habits of being silly, poor choices, not being friendly or not listening. Everytime we give something a go and try to think differently we are growing new neural pathways in our brain to change our thinking. This actually requires courage and strength!

After recess, we participated in the National Simultaneous Storytime. This is where at 11.00am schools all over Australia stopped to read a story at the same time. This year’s story was Tony Wilson’s, ‘The Cow Tripped Over the Moon.’

Relive the fun and watch Tony Wilson read his story below.

This book made us think about our achievements and the role that persistence plays in reaching them. 

What achievement are you most proud of? What did you have to do to get there?

Happiness Week

This week our entire school has been celebrating Happiness Week.

We have been trying to practise mindfulness and being more in the moment by savouring our fruit snack. We have written down ‘Random Acts of Kindness’ tasks and paper battled to choose a random act. Our challenge is to do this for 5 different people without letting them know. 

Today is ‘Thankful Thursday’ and it is all about practising gratitude.
Almost the entire Junior School participated in a Gratitude Wall where we wrote a quick note to say something that we are thankful for.

In 4T we wanted to take this further, so we wrote gratitude letters to members of our school community to thank them for the impact they have had on our learning and wellbeing.
After giving our letters to these special people some of their reactions were:

‘Thank you so much’
‘This is really nice’
‘You have made my week’

‘I am going to put this on my fridge’
‘This is going on the wall’

In 4T the givers of the letters said they felt a bit nervous to hand over their letters but after they did, they felt happy and good about themselves because they brought joy to someone else’s day. 

What are you thankful for and why?

Grandfriends Day

To be grateful means to display deep appreciation for something done or received.

Today the students in 4T showed enormous gratitude towards our special visitors.

Together we played the game ‘Two Truths and One Lie’ where we got to know more about our special visitors’ lives. Together with our grandfriends, we completed a Venn Diagram comparing how times and the way we do things have changed including food, school routines, transport and technology. We even had some grandfriends sharing their experiences in different languages!

We then went off to a wonderful assembly where we heard many uplifting musical items and were reminded of the importance of the special people in our life who support us, love us and who we can turn to at anytime.

Leave a comment with something that you are grateful for and why.

Our Stretchy Brains

In 4T we have been talking a lot about how our thoughts and feelings have a big impact on our learning.

This morning we had the school psychologists Jen and Jessie come to speak to us about our brains, how they work and where our feelings and thoughts are processed in the brain.

Watch the video below which explains ‘Neuropasticity,’ which neuro-scientists have discovered that our brains grow, adapt and learn.

We have also looked at number one brain (our rational and logical brain) versus number two brain (our often irrational and feeling part of our brain). When we are achieving our best as a learner, our number one brain is in charge. When we are tired, angry or make poor choices, usually our number two brain has taken over.

Leave a comment sharing what you know about the brain and how it works.