The first week of Term 3 in Room 12 began with some of the students singing songs from the sound track of the Lion King. Of course, that meant we had to go see the movie at Top Ryde Cinemas! What a fabulous experience that was! The students sat in the front row and at different points in the movie, got up and danced, jiggled, sang out and ran with excitement towards the screen! Popcorn and chips were consumed while being glued to the screen, which only made it a more wholesome cinema experience! A special thank you to Mustafa and Jordan’s mums who volunteered to accompany us on the day.

Preparations for Fathers’ Day kept the students busy as they made a special card and gifts for their dad’s or significant others. One of these gifts was making salted caramel popcorn. Mustafa and Chris sat throughout this cooking lesson, fascinated by the popping corn and enjoying the end result! It was yet another sensory science experience involving sound, heat, smell and taste.

Epping Library visits continue to be a favourite community access activity. The students are remaining seated for longer periods of time and are attending to songs, shared reading and structured art activities with interest and curiosity. Special thanks to Suzanne, our volunteer who accompanies us each Thursday.

Since the end of last term we have been creating artworks that commemorate NAIDOC week. A selection of these are on display on a noticeboard in the office corridor. The students have enjoyed looking at video clips about NAIDOC celebrations held in Australia and have been engaged while creating artworks.

Room 12 students are making excellent progress in learning to be responsible. They are packing their belongings away more consistently, wiping down tables with some assistance and placing rubbish in the bin. We know from experience, that these skills will become the foundation for them to learn life skills in the future. In class, the students are using a vacuum cleaner, paper shredder and paper guillotine with very little assistance.

We are currently preparing for the Book Week parade by reading the book: The Dress up Box by Patrick Guest and Nathaniel Eckstrom. The students are having fun trying on different costumes that come out of the class’ Dress up Box!

To make the most of the last few days of winter sunshine, Room 12 accessed the senior playground and learned about safe practices at picnics. This was a hugely successful special activity.

We are looking forward to the re-opening of our bike track and the tennis court so we can practise a variety of physical skills, including walking skills for Jake.

Until next time,

Sabrina and Anna

This term, Room 14 have warmly welcomed our weekly peer support science lessons with Room 11.  We are also lucky to be joined by Kasper (one of our graduating students) from Room 4. These lessons have provided the students from Room 14 with the opportunity to demonstrate responsibility and leadership skills toward the younger students while also learning science through a shared science experience.

To date, highlights of our lessons together have included making a non-Newtonian fluid, using air pressure to put an egg into a bottle and learning about magnets.  In addition, we have been learning scientific language such as hypotheses, prediction and variables.  We have also learned that sometimes experiments don’t work and we need to make a few changes and try again.  That’s what scientists do!

We are very egg-cited about the direction these classes are taking and the positive impact this is having on all students involved.

Sherie, Craig, Karen, Wendy & Jennifer