Grade 8 HaSS are exploring the Medieval Period. It’s a time very different to ours in terms of daily life, housing and social hierarchy but something people from the 1300’s and 2020’s both understand all too well is pandemics. The Black Death, like Covid 19 used social isolation to cut down the spread of infection. 

We have come to an understanding of what we learn about the past from primary and secondary sources with students having the opportunity to see first hand three items from close to the Middle Ages. There has been a ring from the 1500’s, a tapestry from 1650 and a key from 1690.  These items raise the questions: Who did they belong to? Where are they from? Why are they still here?  Sometimes history raises more questions than we can answer.

This term Mrs Mills' Grade 9/10 Physics Extended students have been particularly focused on problem solving, design and construction. This class are doing very well, and are filled with energy and enthusiasm. The teamwork has been amazing, whilst, sharing, listening and a positive attitude have contributed to an impressive start to the year.

Later this term we look forward to visiting the UTAS Newnham Campus to compete against other local schools in the Launceston Science and Engineering Challenge. The day long competition is designed to provide students with a positive experience of science and engineering and a fantastic opportunity to consolidate our learning and enjoyment of physics.

Grade 10’s have started a unit on trigonometry. They have revised Pythagoras theorem from grade 9 and looked at trigonometric ratios to find angles and side lengths of right angled triangles. There has been a focus on problem solving, involving real-life questions with angles of elevation and depression.

Street Art is a grade 8 pursuits course which runs on a Thursday afternoon for a double lesson.

We start the course with a graffiti visual prompt, and we use this as inspiration to design our journal covers. The design must include the following street art visuals of a brick wall and the students name written in graffiti style font. The students choose which media they use – paint, pens, texta, ink etc

With the popularity of the grade 8 Street Art program, an ‘Urban Art’ course was created for grade 9/10 students to select as a personal pursuit. This course runs for half a year, twice a week.

We start the course with a ‘brainstorm’ of what visuals students think relate to the word ‘urban’. Their responses included – big buildings, pollution, litter, crime, colourful, graffiti, advertising etc. Many students of the class have had the opportunity to experience big cities within Australia on holiday, which is so amazing! The students had to create a journal cover which reflected their perspective of the word ‘urban’.

Students in Grade 10 English are exploring the theme of poverty and how it is presented in a variety of texts. In this unit, students view and analyse a range of multimedia texts, and work in collaborative groups to create their own.

Last week, students read the picture book Way Home by Libby Hathorn. Below is a summary of the text written by Celeste.

A homeless, presumably orphaned boy meeting a stray cat makes up the premise of Libby Hathorn’s picture book, Way Home. Throughout the story, a combination of illustrations and language – especially language features – guide the reader into exploring meaningful themes such as poverty and the life led by those living on the streets. This is demonstrated as the protagonist, who is repeatedly referred to by the narrator as ‘The Boy Called Shane,’ finds his way back to his place, all whilst dealing with issues surrounding identity and sense of worth. 

Later in the term students will read and view the life text Lion, and evaluate the text structures and language features the author has used. The unit will conclude with students writing an essay demonstrating their understanding of the main character and his experience of poverty.

Students in 7/8 Sweet and Savoury have the chance to explore both the sweeter side of life and the more heavy hitting, savoury side of cooking life. Last week was their first try at a Savoury recipe for the year. They made ‘fully- loaded 2 minute noodles’. Most were pleased with their results. Darcy and Jake were exceptionally proud of their ‘bussin’ noodles to which they had added chilli flakes to .

Well done guys. Ms Antypas

Reminder for students having MSP sibling photos taken on Tuesday 7th March. These will be taken at 8.30a.m. and then again at 1:10-1:20. Please ensure that you are here at these times.

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