While learning at home, Junior Secondary students have been enthusiastically participating in the weekly challenges set by Mrs Gehrke.

The first challenge was to create a 20-minute workout featuring a variety of body movements. Prior to the challenge, students completed tasks to build their understanding on the importance of moving for a healthy mind and body. With over 120 responses, it was very difficult to choose a winner. 

Next it was the great baking challenge. A recipe was chosen and an ingredients list sent to students a few days before cooking day. Students were also provided with a recipe and step-by-step images to support them through the process. The lunch box bacon and veggie quiches were a hit and got the whole family cooking together in the kitchen.

Last but not least, students were given an engineering challenge. Students had to create a tower using only common household items to hold a marble, eraser or 2 x oreos. The permitted materials included: 1 metre of sticky tape, an unlimited amount of newspaper, 10 straws or skewers and 10 paddle pop sticks or toothpicks. The winning tower came in at 2.32 metres.

Please see the photos below.

How great it is to be together again! Our 7G class was excited to return to school on Monday 25^th May. During roll call, the question to answer was “Do you prefer @home or @school learning?” The class was divided in their answers with 50% of students enjoying the learning at home and 50% eager to be back at school.

In English we are working towards writing a ‘Hero Report’. Firstly, students need to determine who is a hero and what qualities a hero possesses. They will research their chosen hero and write a report using the PEEEL paragraph structure. Not sure what PEEEL is? As your child to explain it to you!

Water in the World is our unit focus for Humanities. We will be examining water issues here in Australia. Did you know that very little water on earth is fresh water? In fact, only 1 part out of 100 is available for drinking! Here in the Lockyer Valley we are very aware of the scarcity of water.

With five weeks remaining in this term, we are ready to work hard. During the first part of term, it was wonderful to explore new avenues of communication, with the ability to include an increased amount of ICT for learning. Well done to all students for applying themselves while learning at home. Thank you parents for your commitment to your child’s learning. We look forward to finishing this term strongly…Mrs Wiley

This term in Humanities, we are continuing our study of Geography with our ‘Water in the World’ unit. We have learnt about the water cycle, the importance of water, and how water connects and affects different places. Currently we are reviewing and consolidating our knowledge to prepare for the upcoming assessment.

In English, we are beginning our ‘Hero Report’ assignment by selecting someone who has had a positive influence on the world and our own identities, and conducting research into their achievements.

To all the parents/guardians of 7H, I would like to sincerely thank you for your support over the last 5 weeks of learning@home. I’m looking forward to continuing the rest of Term 2 (and the year), back in the classroom.

Miss Bilbrough

WELCOME BACK 8B

Firstly, I would like to thank everyone for the continued support and communication throughout the “Learning at Home” phase. This was definitely a learning curve for all; but I was very impressed with how many students actively engaged in their learning. It was a great effort! I would like to congratulate all of those students! 

As we progress through this week and transition back to school, there will be a focus on reteaching many of our classroom and school expectations. I understand many students have found the learning at home and transition back to school quite overwhelming. However, I have spoken about ongoing support services that the school provides to assist them with any of their concerns.

In regards to Maths and Science, the first lessons will provide an overview of the work covered during the “learning at home” phase. These topics will be revisited again closer to assessment time.  I have offered support during lunchtimes (Monday and Tuesday 1^st break) for students to come into the classroom and ask any questions about concerns they might have in regards to what we are learning. I strongly encourage students to speak up and seek help and support if required.

Overall, I am working to make this transition back to “normal school life” as smooth as possible.

If you have any concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Once again, A HUGE EFFORT by the students in 8B (totally impressed by efforts) and a HUGE THANK YOU TO the parents/guardians who have supported and guided the “Learning at Home” phase.

Nicole Luther

8E are very excited to be back in the classroom and learning in a more traditional way for the rest of Term 2! It didn’t take us long to miss each other, and we can safely say that online learning is an experience we will never forget!

For the remainder of Term 2, we will be focussing on re-establishing our routines and expectations (as per the Lockyer District Behaviour Matrix), and making sure we are as up to date as possible with our lesson content.

In Maths we will be continuing on with Measurement and Geometry, preparing for our exam in Week 9. We have almost finished our work with Measurement and will soon be moving on to Geometry.

Science is all about the energy in our world – learning about energy efficiency appliances, and how energy can be wasted in various forms. We are also working towards our Exam in Week 9.

Lastly, we are looking forward to continuing our use of Microsoft Teams, even though we are back in the classroom. Technology is becoming a priority in 8E, and we are striving to remember to bring our devices every day, with our ultimate goal being to reduce the amount of paper we use in our classroom.

Sarah Jensen

Welcome to another edition of 8G’s class article. We are excited to be back in the classroom and have enjoyed catching up with our friends and teachers this week. While learning at home was a different and unfamiliar experience, many of us feel that we have learnt more about technology than we ever had before.

This term in English, we are reading the novel Bridge to Terabithia. We have started to make predictions about what we believe will happen to the characters. We have had to make our predictions based on the front cover, synopsis and the author’s background. It will be interesting to see if our predictions are in fact true. Stay tuned to find out.

Since returning to school, we have continued learning about urbanisation, changing nations, populations and megacities in Humanities. We find this topic interesting and it has sparked some great discussions. For example, this week we looked at the positive and negatives of urban sprawl (building outwards) versus urban concentration (building upwards). From analysing the data most believe building upwards is better for the environment but lifestyle preferences points to urban sprawl as the better option. We are looking forward to learning more about this topic.

Ashleigh Gehrke

Teacher