It is with mixed feelings that I say goodbye after the last six years using this blog as I now reach the end of a 44 year career in teaching. The blog has been an excellent educational tool and I would like to thank Melissa Scully, Melanie McLean, Catherine Leane and Victoria Hennen for guiding and encouraging me as I began the blogging journey back in 2010.

The blog has made it very simple for both me and my students to have teaching resources at our fingertips and has given us access to these at any time during the school day or at home. Watching the Cluster Map widget has given us all a thrill to know that others in Australia and all around the world know a little more about what is going on in the library at Edgeworth Public School.  We hope that we have encouraged or even inspired these bloggers to investigate and learn from the sites and experiences we have had.

My last official day as a NSW Department Of Education employee is Monday, January 30, exactly 44 years and 1 day since I began teaching a lovely Year 3 class at Campbelltown East Public School.  I wonder what these 52-year-olds are up to these days?

The blog will still be out there until June, when my subscription runs out, but this is goodbye from me, Elizabeth Mitchell (nee Willis).

 

If you enjoyed reading The Last Viking and The last Viking Returns by Norman Jorgensen and James Foley, go to James Foley's blog at https://knutthelastviking.wordpress.com/resources/  for lots of ideas about how to create the illustrations, have fun with your own colouring, explore the British museum and write some more secret messages in Viking runes.

 

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On the night of August 17 2016 a small group of students, parents and teachers gathered in the playground to view space up close.  Mr Gerard Lazarus set up his powerful telescope and expertly directed it so that we could view the planets Venus, Mercury, Jupiter and four of its moons, Saturn with rings clearly visible and Mars. Next we went deeper into space to see a massive cluster of tens of thousands of stars, Omega Centauri.  Lastly we were almost blown away when we viewed a full moon which looked so close and was so bright.  One mum described it as a shimmering crystal and many students were amazed by the clear definition of craters and mountains, especially on the outer edge of the moon.  The night was still, clear and not at all cold which made the experience even more pleasant. A big thank you to Mr and Mrs Lazarus for allowing us to use their telescope and for sharing their knowledge. Thanks also to Drew who encouraged me to organise this school incursion. The pictures below were firstly taken with available light to show  a little of what is was like on the night, then some using flash to clearly show the amateur astronomers.IMG_2379 IMG_2380 IMG_2381 IMG_2382 IMG_2386 IMG_2387 IMG_2388 IMG_2389

Our school received a wonderful donation of dolls from the Morgan family about five years ago.  They had been collected by the great grandmother of Lachlan, Jacob and Abbey Morgan and came from many different countries around the world.  As a research activity with a difference, Stage 2 and Stage 3 students had to work in pairs to identify from which country each doll came and give reasons for their choices.  Perhaps the doll had a tag or label, members of their families may have travelled overseas and shown them photographs of national costumes or even brought back dolls too, they may have seen documentaries on television or films and they could explore books in the library from the Geography and History sections, atlases and the world globe for ideas. The students were very engaged in this activity and were keen to find out if their attempts had been successful.  Six lucky researchers who scored the most correct for their stage received a small prize for their effort: Angus, Tyeisha, Max, Jai, Hunter and Kayla.  Congratulations to you all! Here are some hard-working researchers from 4-5G, 5B and 5-6K (on Beanie Day) working on the problem.

4-5G 5-6K (2) 5B (2) 5B (3)

During the second week back at school the library hosted another successful Scholastic Book Fair with the theme Australia! Story Country. This is also the theme of the  Children's Book Council of Australia 2016 Book Week celebrations.  Thank you to all who purchased items at the fair as you have helped to raise $1741 worth of books for our library.Book Fair Competition winners Tara, Ava, Ashleigh & Kalista (1) Book Fair Competition winners Tara, Ava, Ashleigh & Kalista (2)As usual students competed in a colouring-in competition to win vouchers to select books from the Book Fair.  This year's winners were Ashleigh, Ava, Tara and Kalista. Congratulations girls!

Earlier this year (February 15, 2013) people in Russia had a very close encounter with fragments of an asteroid that caused a meteorite shower around 9am.  List what damage was done. What was the bang and why did it cause so much damage? How many people were reported injured in this TV broadcast? Click on Russian Asteroid to view.

Asteroids have been studied by scientists for many different reasons.  Some believe that by studying asteroids scientists could discover what Earth was like before it became molten and the minerals were changed. Others believe that we have water on Earth because asteroids collided with the planet, bringing water molecules with them. A BBC documentary Asteroids-the good, the bad and the ugly takes a look at some of these theories.

How can we view the night sky from the Slooh telescopes in the Canary Islands or Chile? Check out the day/night time clock here. Check out some of the other tabs across the top, including the Sun and Moon eclipses.

 

Using information from the four websites, the Macmillan Encyclopedia of Famous and Infamous People (N. Brasch) and They Made Australia - Our Nation Builders (Simone Bradfield), collect facts and add them to the correct box in SIR HENRY PARKES RETRIEVAL CHART.  Please save your table first to the collaborative drive folder labelled 5E Parkes with the names of your group.  Don't forget to save regularly so that you don't lose any of your facts by accident.

The table has three columns - QUESTIONS, ANSWERS and SOURCES OF INFORMATION. Locate your answer and then check at least one other source to make sure that it is correct before recording in the ANSWER box.  In the SOURCES OF INFORMATION box copy and paste the two sources you used, using the list at the bottom of the retrieval chart table.

Stage 2 are investigating some of the lives of the convicts that came to Australia on the ships of the First Fleet. A great website to find out more about them is found here.  Tell their story as if you are that convict and in your story include:

first and last name (surname) and any alias used,

age,

the crime they committed and cost if known,

the sentence (how many years in Australia),

the ship you were transported in.

Using your imagination, explain why you committed the crime and tell us about the family you left behind.  How do you feel about leaving them and how do you think they feel?