Reusing - thanks Mrs Hibbins

We have an amazing and very creative teacher who has helped us this year in Prep - Mrs Hibbins. Mrs Kennedy was throwing out some old crayons and Mrs Hibbins took them home, and made new crayons for Prep K to use over the holidays. 

We have been learning about reducing landfill by reusing and recycling this term. What a fabulous way to reuse materials to make something new and very useful!

Thank you Mrs Hibbins!

The Story of Christmas

The Preps were very lucky to present the story of Christmas to the whole school and our parents. 
They presented the story so beautifully. We were very proud of them!

Jesus is the Reason for the Season!

Merry Christmas!

Custom Glitter Text

Last night we had our Christmas carols night. It was a a very hot night in Melbourne, in the high 30's, a great Aussie summer. We had such a lovely time singing and sharing the spirit of Christmas. The Preps sang a beautiful song called 'Christmas Star'. They did an amazing job singing and performing actions. 

Thanks Mrs Riddiford for all your hard work! 



Christmas Star from Learning Together on Vimeo.

A BIG thank you to Joe in Middle S for creating this video. Thanks Joe!

Thank you!

Today all our Parent helpers came for a special presentation. We sang a song and told them how grateful we were for all their help this year. We also made them a calendar for next year. We are very lucky at St. Luke's to have such wonderful and supportive parents who love to come and help out at school.

Cute Myspace Generators

Our wonderful parent helpers!

Reusing - Glass jars

As part of our inquiry this term we have been looking at how we can reuse materials to reduce the amount of rubbish that goes into landfill. All the Preps brought a glass jar to school and we decided to make a Christmas decoration using the jars. 
We found this great activity on a wonderful blog Handprint and Footprint ART and were able to turn a plain glass jar into a very special reindeer candy cane treat holder.

Reusing to make Rudolph! on PhotoPeach

How do you reuse glass jars?

How do you reuse materials?

Our Action - Can you help us?

A couple of weeks ago we did a litter audit around our local area. We discovered that there was quite a bit of rubbish in the street our school is on. So today we had a letter box drop to ask the people who live in the street if they could pick up any rubbish they see outside their houses. We are trying to care for the environment and would like to encourage everyone to help!

Here is the flyer we created together:

We hope that we can make a difference and that the people in our community will help us!

Great Litter Detectives

Hamish and Bridie spent some of their weekend collecting plastic from a shoe warehouse. They brought the plastic to school as part of our flexible plastic collection. 
Fantastic work Hamish and Bridie. We are very proud of your efforts to reduce the amount of plastic in our environment - and on your weekend!

Great Litter Detectives!

Speed Stacking Champions!

Today the whole school were lucky to have a Speed stacking competition. 

Thanks for organising a great day Mrs Bellesini!

Speed Stacking Champions! on PhotoPeach

Litter Detectives strike again!

Prep Litter Detectives were out and about again this week!
On Monday we decided to check to see if there was any rubbish in our playground - Monday is our only Tuckshop day and we wanted to see what the playground looked like after lunch.
So we collected our maps and rubber gloves and set out on our rubbish audit.

We were very disappointed to see quite a lot of rubbish in our school! So we marked the areas on our maps and picked up all the rubbish we could see.

We think we need to talk to the whole school about the amount of litter we saw!

The Preps are very keen to make posters reminding everyone not to drop their rubbish.

We want to have more paper chases.

One Prep said we should be a wrapper free school everyday!

What do you think we should do about the rubbish around our school? 
How can we encourage other students to pick up their rubbish?

Hamish's Voki

Today during computer Hamish made a Voki. Mrs Kennedy typed his message - we hope you like it!

Fantastic work Hamish.

Making Graphs and Collaborating

Earlier this week we worked with a partner to collect data (we went outside and looked for animals and insects - see here) and record our information using tallies. 
When we had collected our data and count our tallies then organise our information into a graph. 

We noticed:

Hannah and Raph

Peoples graphs were very different.

Eli and Sophia

There were different amounts of animals on the graphs.

Zachary and Nyandit

There were a lot of some animals and not so much of other animals.

Mrs David

Some people started their graph from the top of the page and not at the bottom. We noticed that the information was the still the same.

Here are some of our tally sheets and graphs:

 

Collaborating for Maths

We are learning about graphs in Maths. Today we had to work with a partner (Prep D and Prep K together) to see what animals or insects we might see around our school. We had to think about how we could collect our data - and we talked about using tallies (IIII) as the quickest way to record what we saw. 
So .... off we went with our clipboards and our scientists hats on to see what we could see and collect our data.

We were surprised with the number of animals we did see. We saw birds, worms, ants, dragonflies, a lady bird, butterflies, slatters, flies and spiders.

When we had our data we went back to the classroom to add up our tallies and think about how we could present our information in a graph. We will be finishing our graphing tomorrow. 
Stay tuned ....!

Our Lemon Tree

The Environment Team have asked each class to take responsibility for one of our fruit trees and Prep K are looking after the lemon tree. We are also trying to be environmentally friendly - so Ms Scott gave us some drip feed watering tubes to help save water. Hamish brought a bottle from home (reusing) to attach to the tube and we used water from the drinking taps that had been collected in tubs (water saving) to fill our watering tubes. Now our lemon tree will have water all the time! We love looking after our lemon tree.

Reusing soft drink and water bottles for a watering system!

Water from the drinking taps.

How are you environmentally friendly?

The Mexican Hat Dance!

On Friday we learnt a new dance - The Mexican Hat Dance. 
We had to concentrate and follow instructions to learn the steps. Some of them were a bit tricky but we had great fun!

Thanks Mrs Klein for a wonderful morning and for bringing those  very cool hats!


Dancing from Learning Together on Vimeo.

What is your favourite dance?

Tell us about it!

It's Buddy Time!

These photos tell the story!

Thanks Mrs David for capturing the joy of Buddy Time and thanks to our Grade Sixes who make school a great place to be for our Preps! 

 Having Fun With Our Buddies on PhotoPeach

What is your favourite Buddy activity?

Why is your Buddy special to you?

What I Am!

Our favourite song in Prep! Preps teach your family the words and special dance moves!

 

Litter Detectives!

For our Inquiry this term we are looking at how we can make a difference to the environment by reducing landfill through reusing and recycling. 

Today we were Litter Detectives and went for a walk around our neighbourhood  to see if we would find any rubbish. Luke, Hannah and Aly had a map of our streets and when we saw some rubbish they marked it on the map. We took photos of the kinds of rubbish that we saw.

This is what we discovered:

There was no rubbish around the shops at the end of our street. We think that might be because there were two rubbish bins for people to put their rubbish in.

The other streets around our school looked very clean and rubbish free.

In the street that our school is on, we saw quite a bit of rubbish and we were surprised. We think the rubbish was there because

• there are no rubbish bins in the street
• people have dropped their wrappers and containers
• the wind may have blown it out of rubbish bins
• the rubbish has fallen out of bins when the garbage collector has picked up the bins

We looked at the rubbish and we thought that some of the rubbish had been on the street for a long time. Some of the bottles and plastic containers should have been put in the recycling bin. 

We have a problem!

What can we do to help clean up our street?

Please let us know your ideas!

Preps, talk to your families and friends and see if you can find an answer to our problem.

Here are some photos of our discoveries:



Litter Detectives! on PhotoPeach

Wearing blue for UNICEF!

 

Today we all wore blue to school to raise money and awareness for the children in our world who do not have the opportunities we have. Last term Harry O'Brien came to talk to us about children who are not able to go to school.

We wanted to help so we have raised $300.00 for UNICEF!

 

 

 

Taking action that matters!

Our Excursion to CERES

On Wednesday we went to CERES (the Centre for Education and Research in Environmental Studies). CERES is an award winning, not-for profit, sustainability centre in Brunswick, Melbourne.

We learnt so much about caring for the environment by recycling and reusing to reduce landfill. 

Making shapes!

Today in Maths we used toothpicks and blu-tack to make shapes. We had to think about the number of sides and corners - is it an opened or closed shape? Some of us made 2D shapes and some Preps made 3D shapes.

Hamish, Hannah and Tom explained their shapes using ShowMe on the iPad.

Celebrating our Past

On Grandparents Day we had a very special activity - we planted fruit trees donated by Bunnings.
We discovered the land St. Luke's is built on used to be an orchard so we thought it would be a great idea to plant some fruit trees as a symbol of the past.

Thank you Ms Scott and the Environment Team for all your hard work. Our mini orchard will remind us all of the history of our wonderful school.

St. Luke's Day - slideshows

A special visitor!

On Wednesday Aly's mum Rachael came to tell us about what St. Luke's was like when she came to school. Rachael came to St. Luke's in 1986 and she was here for Grades 4, 5, and 6.

Rachael told us some very interesting things about what St. Luke's was like years ago.

The Principal was Ms D'Prazer.
There were no computers and each room had a chalkboard.
Rachael can remember cleaning the blackboard dusters outside with a ruler.
The Adventure playground had wooden equipment with a concrete tunnel.
The oval was a big patch of grass with holes.
Their hats were not blue, they were red.
They didn't wear windcheaters with the school logo printed on it, they wore woollen jumpers with a school badge.
There was no hill.
The toilets used to be where the Discovery Centre is now.
Rachael won 'student of the week' and we have 'star of the week'.
The tuck shop was opened everyday!
The tuck shop used to be where the new office is.
Rachael didn't learn about the Letterland characters.
The students used to sit in wooden desks instead of tables.
The school uniform was the same as it is today.
Mrs Davey (our Librarian) used to drive Rachael home from school.

Thank you Rachael for sharing! We loved hearing about St. Luke's and how it used to be.

School has certainly changed!

What do you remember about your school days?

St. Luke's Day - Our Grandparents came to school!

As part of our special activities to celebrate our parish and school's 50th Anniversary we invited our Grandparents to school. We had a wonderful day showing them our work and classrooms. We were so excited to see them! 

Thank you to all our Grandparents who were able to come to school today - we loved having you.

Some of the Preps used ShowMe on the iPad to take a photo of their Grandparents and tell us why they are so special.

Our Action!

 Last term we were very lucky to have Mary from the RED (Recycling + Education = the Difference) group come to talk to us about how we can reuse plastic to make something new and useful. 

Our action for our Inquiry this term is to collect flexible plastic to be reused and made into something useful for our school.

We want to collect 250kg of flexible plastic - we will need the help of all our families and friends to reach our goal!

Here is the presentation Mary showed us with so many interesting facts:

RED from marieck

We want to make a difference and take action that matters.

What do you do to recycle and reuse?

Celebrating at St. Luke's!

We have been celebrating our 50th Anniversary this week. Part of the celebrations included an Art show and lots of memorabilia from the past. We loved looking at the old photographs and sitting in the old desks! 
Here we are exploring and enjoying our very special celebrations.

50th Anniversary! on PhotoPeach

St Luke's 50th Anniversary!

Custom Glitter Text

We are very proud of our school! On Sunday we will have a special celebration for our 50th Anniversary. The Preps thought about what they enjoy about St. Luke's. Here are their responses:

 

What do you love about St. Luke's?

I love to play in the playground. Aly

I like playing with my friends. Bethany

I like PJ Day because we made toast. Nick

I like St Luke's because we can learn new things. Mia

I like St Luke's because I like doing Art. Hamish

St. Luke's is very exciting because the 50th anniversary is coming. Hannah B .

We had so much fun on crazy hair day. Zachary

I like St. Luke's because it's a beautiful place. The flowers and the people. Kobe

St. Luke's is fantastic because it is so fun. Sophia

St. Luke's is a good place with nice people and we make new friends. Ben

I like St. Luke's because it's the coolest place I've ever been.  Matthew

I like St. Luke's because we have special days and special activities. Thomas

I like St. Luke's because we do Maths and we learn about numbers.  Annie



What do (or did) you love about your school?

Hello from Broome!

Hi Preps, Mrs Reszka and Mrs Hibbins!
I am having  a wonderful time on my holiday. It is very hot here and I am staying at a beautiful beach resort. Every evening I see camels walking across the sand just as the sun is setting over the ocean. It is so beautiful to watch. The water is very blue and the sand is nearly white in colour. Here are some photos of the amazing things I have seen!

Camels!

What am I? I am about 100 million years old!

This is a boab tree. Look at the trunk.
Hi from Broome!

I hope you are having lots of fun and Mrs Reszka and Mrs Hibbins are behaving themselves! :)

Say hello to Prep D and Mrs David and Mrs Klein for me. 
Have a fantastic holiday Preps and I look forward to seeing all of you in term four. 
Let me know what you are doing on the holidays - I would love to hear all about your adventures! 

Bye for now
Love from Mrs Kennedy 

What are you doing on the holidays?

Write a comment and let me know.

Footy Day!

On Friday we had our annual Father's Day breakfast and footy day. We had such a great day! 
Our Sport Captains ran a footy clinic for the whole school. They did a fantastic job organising and running the activities and teaching us some new skills. Thank you!

Footy Day from marieck

Who is your favourite footy team?

GO PIES!

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to all our wonderful Dads! We hope you have a great day.
Here are some very special messages from the Preps.

Why is your Dad special? 

What are you doing to celebrate Father's Day?

CRAZY Hair Day!

Today we had Crazy Hair Day. The social justice team in our school decided to raise money to help children in Sudan. So we came to school with our craziest hairdos and brought a gold coin donation . We raised $300.00 - a spectacular effort!

The Preps decided to match their crazy hair with crazy faces!

Wild Action Zoo - Hands on Learning

Today we were so lucky to have Chris from Wild Action Zoo bring some very special visitors to school. We learnt so much about Australian animals and we got to touch and hold all the animals - even a saltwater crocodile called Rex!

Thanks Chris, Bumpy Stumpy, Spencer, Terrence, Freddo, Bernard, Ollie, Rex, Tiffany and Simba for teaching us so much! 

We learnt from experts today.

Make a free digital scrapbooking design

Now we are going to choose an animal to investigate.

What is your favourite animal? Why? 

A Bus Called Heaven

During Book Week we read Bob Graham's picture story book called A Bus Called Heaven. We were inspired to create our own community buses. We had so much fun!

A Bus Called Heaven from marieck

Learning from Experts - US!

This week we became experts and shared a special interest or talent.

We brainstormed our talents and interests, then we chose an area we would like to share and teach to others. 

Prep D and Prep K worked together to make our expert groups. 

Our activities were - ballet, string tricks, board games, colouring in, soccer, football, gardening (planting seeds) and running. 

Each team had time to practise what and how they would share their expertise and our Grade six buddies came to help us work out the steps. 

I felt grateful because I was teaching all my friends to do string tricks. Hannah B

As an expert all I had to do was try. Ben

To be an expert I felt happy because I like teaching people. Aly

I had to say to my friends you have to concentrate to make the colour stay in the lines. Zachary

Mrs David heard Sophia encouraging others when they were learning how to plant seeds.

I had to explain how to put your pinkies in the string (string tricks). Annie 

I listened when I was a learner. I listened to the expert about dribbling the ball. Nicholas

When I was doing string tricks I had to keep practising because it was really hard but I didn't give up. Kobe

The day was awesome because it was fun when we had to teach people how to do all the activities. Matthew

Here are some photos of our expert groups!

Learning from Experts! on PhotoPeach


 

Book Week - Champions Read!

This week is Book Week! We came to school dressed as CHAMPIONS!
Watch our Voicethread to see and hear all about the Champions we love!

We love reading books in Prep!

What are your favourite books!



We Love Learning!

I love the enthusiasm and interest the Preps have for their learning. 

Look at Mia making the sound of the week with her sandwich crusts at lunchtime! Can you guess what the letter was?

Hamish brought an experiment for Show and Tell (for the letter x) - to show how water moves through a plant. He brought some celery that he had put in some food dye and water. The xylem are thick walled tubes that draw water up through the plant and out to the leaves.

The celery has a bluish tinge to it from the food dye

We Love Learning!

3D shapes!

Today in Maths we were learning about 3D shapes. We had to make a house using connect cubes and blocks. Then some of us described our houses and talked about the shapes we used. 

Our Mini Olympics!

Today we had our school mini Olympics. We gathered together in our collaborative groups to celebrate the true spirit of the Olympic games. We worked together, helped each other and had FUN!
Here are just some of the activities we had during our mini Olympics.

Wonderful Witches!

Wacky Wednesday - a great day to make wonderful witches! We had so much fun.

Our Action - In Action!

Here are some photos of the nesting boxes we made and the beautiful possums who are using them while they recuperate at Adriana's wild life shelter. You can read about our action here and here and here
We think the possums look very happy and content - what do you think?
Thanks Mrs David for the PhotoPeach.


Our Nesting Boxes! on PhotoPeach

PJ Day!

Today we had PJ Day. We raised $280.00 to support the homeless people in our Melbourne community. We had a great day - read all about it in the Wallwisher below. Mrs Kennedy typed our thoughts and reflections.
A big thank you to our school community for their generosity!

Here are some photos of our great day! 
Everyone brought along their favourite bedtime buddy. We had toast for breakfast and we chose our favourite toppings. Yum!

Exploring new tools

In Prep we are trying to become more independent using technology. We are looking for tools that are easy for us to navigate and use. 


Today we were talking about subtraction in maths. We used bowling skittles to make take away stories from 10. So Aly used ShowMe to record her learning - it is a quick and easy tool to use.





We had a go at hitting the skittles - we counted how many we knocked down - how many were left? - we talked about our story with our team - we wrote our story using numbers and symbols.

Working with ShowMe on the iPad

What tools do you use to record your learning?

Can you tell us about easy to use tools?

Tom's Voki!

Tom is the first Prep to make a Voki. He designed his own Voki and Mrs Kennedy typed his special message. Great work Tom and a wonderful message! 

Olympic Torches!

Today we made Olympic Torches. We used our hand prints for the flames. This idea came from a great blog called Handprint and Footprint Arts & Crafts. We love our Olympic Torches!

A rainbow of fruit and vegetables.

We made rainbows of fruit and vegetables. Jacqui told us that we needed to eat lots of different foods especially a rainbow of fruit and vegetables. We talked about all the different fruits and veggies and their colours and then we made our healthy food rainbows!

 A rainbow of fruit and vegetables. on PhotoPeach