Class 4 have recently finished their second Human and Animal main lesson where the children were able to research an animal of their choice, write an information report on their chosen animal, and then create a diorama of their animal in its natural environment. It was wonderful to see their final creations! Fantastic effort by all! The children have also completed some beautiful paintings on the elephant, horse and the lion (much better than I could do!).

Class 4 have also been on an adventurous bush walk following the Mt Shelia trail from Ocean Beach Road up to Mt Hallowell and down past Monkey Rock. The trail is a medium to difficult walk, covering 4.6km with a steady incline up to the summit. We went on this excursion as a pre-cursor to our mapping and local geography main lesson but also as some light training for our upcoming camp in term 4. We took turns walking in silence, listening to all the sounds of the forest, and then sharing what we notice. We made it to the cave just in time for morning tea!

After several hours of tiring trekking, we finally made it to the top of Mt Hallowell where we had lunch and an exploration. It was wonderful to see the reactions of the children as they came to a view most of them had not seen before. The children wrote some beautiful poems about their experience.

The children have also begun their second Fractions Main lesson where the children have joined King Merlin as he builds up his Fraction Kingdom. They have assisted him in selecting fruit trees for the orchard, livestock for the animal pens, grains and vegetables, and they will be helping him with more tasks in the village later on. The children have been learning how to add and subtract fractions with unlike denominators and find equivalent fractions, practicing these tricky skills through board games.

It has been a jam-packed term and the children have worked very hard. I’m very pleased with all their effort. Now it’s time for a well deserved holiday.