Month: August 2017

Work for Today – Thursday 24 August

Good morning everybody and welcome to our relief teacher for today!  I am sorry but I am unwell and won’t be in today but I will definitely be in tomorrow for Friday’s Space Constructions!  Don’t forget to bring in your materials and any parents who would like to be involved – starting first thing

Work for Thursday 24 August

Good morning everybody and to our relief teacher for the day.  I am sorry but I am unwell and won’t be in today but I will definitely be in tomorrow for your Space Constructions.  Remember to bring in all your materials for tomorrow morning’s constructions and we will be starting at 9:00 for any parents who would like to be involved.  🙂

Work for Today:

9-11  Students go to LIBRARY and then SPORT

After recess:

WRITING:  Students will be continuing their vocab gathering and idea grabbing by watching the animation PLANETS. (Click on the link to watch).  They need to continue using their A3 folded sheets (on table near Purple Planet Eaters…. near the window) which were divided into 12 blocks.  In each as they watch they write the name of the planet, then write down as many adjectives or similes as they can think of to describe that planet.  Or a simple phrase…. then draw a quick picture to fix it in their mind.  [This activity could take a while but guide with colours, shapes, textures, feelings words….]  We have done the first 2 planets, see how many you can do but if it takes too long, limit it to another 4.  You will see their names written below the film in short notes.

SPACE-CRAFT CONSTRUCTION PLANNERS – please have the last few finish their planners (their planners are on my desk – about 5 needing labels etc.  Then check that RYAN has done his – he took his home or needs to start again before anything else.  Others who took them home were the 4 on choir camp – Arley, William, Maia and Luca G.

SPELLING CONTRACTS – students know how to conduct this activity – independently.

LUNCH   – Usually I hold WRITERS CIRCLE in my room at lunch.  Please could you put a note outside on the door that it is cancelled for today.  Sorry! 🙁

After lunch:

U.S.S.R. – only reading except for 2 groups of 3 students who are working on special journalist projects: podcast team and photos of garden planting team.

INQUIRY AND READING – whole class activity

day and night pictures-1opzkr2 Day and Night-13yo6at sun story-1hev39e When the Snake bites the Sun-16nyhqh

Please download these sheets and one is an information sheet for the teacher to guide the task.  Students will be summarising their learning about day and night and then as a class read and compare normal science with Dreamtime story – When the Snake bites the Sun.

Have a good day and remind students to bring in materials for tomorrow’s constructions.

Mrs Veary 

Exmouth Watches Over Space Junk

While Luca V. was away in Exmouth, he wrote this article about Space Junk to publish as a journalist.  He went to the Harold E. Holt Naval Base in Exmouth where they have a space telescope and this is what he found out…

You might know some messy people who leave rubbish behind, but did you know that there is also lots of rubbish left in space?  It is called space junk and it is a major problem.

Last year it was thought that there were more than 300 000 items of space junk orbiting Earth.  This includes old satellites, burnt out rocket stages, lost tools from spacewalks and specks of paint and dust.  Because the junk is travelling at hypersonic speeds, even the tiniest paint specks can cause damage like bullets when they collide with satellites and the International Space Station (ISS).

Every day we rely on satellites for watching TV, weather forecasts, GPS and even banking.  So, what can we do?

Scientists are working on ways to clean up space junk.  In the meantime, a Space Surveillance Telescope (SST) and a C-band radar was installed at the Harold E. Holt Naval Base in Exmouth, Western Australia.  It can detect where the space junk is and it will alert satellite operators and spacecraft so they can move to avoid collisions.

When I was visiting my uncle’s bowling alley near the SST, I saw the SST moving – scanning the skies.  It moved faster than I expected.  It’s really tall and skinny and looks like it’s reaching into the clouds.

The telescope and radar will even detect and track the launch of Chinese satellites and missiles, but this is top secret, so I can’t tell you any more!

Very interesting information, Luca!  We will have to watch the news to see what happens here.  Mrs Veary 🙂

 

Science Experiment at home – Gravity on our Bodies

Don’t forget to bring in your measurements from home so that we can all find out whether gravity actually does change our bodies during the day….?  We’ll be looking at the data from your Science experiment in class tomorrow morning (Tuesday)!  🙂

Also – we will be doing BUDDY READING with T5 (Year 4) tomorrow afternoon, so don’t forget to bring in your favourite book to share!  I wonder what you will choose…?

And – remember to start collecting your recycled materials for your Spacecraft Constructions this week on Friday!  (We hope to see some Mums and Dads there too….9:00 a.m. on Friday.)

Mrs Veary 🙂

Spacecraft Designers!

Dictionary definition of the word SPACECRAFT is

noun, plural        spacecraft.

1. a vehicle designed for travel or operation in space beyond the earth’s atmosphere or in orbit around the earth.

One of our Creating Inquiry Cards tells you to design and construct a spacecraft out of recycled materials.

We will be planning this design and the materials to be used this week and we plan to build it together next week on the Friday morning.  You can start collecting materials for your design now.  Any parents who wish to come in and help students with the construction are welcome.  🙂

Here are some videos and website links to give you some more ideas about the characteristics of spacecraft, to use when planning your design!

NASA  FOR KIDS WEBSITE – click here to explore

WIKIPEDIA – SPACECRAFT  – interesting site with photos of past and future spacecraft

ABOUT THE MOON SPACECRAFT – this website has some really good pictures of the parts of the Apollo Spacecraft

DRAGONX – first non-government spacecraft

And you can google “spacecraft” and use images for your search.  But you will need to try to work out which are real and which are imaginary and used only in games.

Have fun as you learn about spacecraft in this project.  😎