This was highlighted by our recent trip to Resource Rescue, as part of our unit of inquiry, How the World Works. The staff at Resource Rescue remarked on the respectful behaviour, the enthusiasm, and the general delight our students brought to their store. This echoed the feedback on our recent excursion to the Cranbourne Botanical Gardens, as our tour bus driver shared after our short trip how impressed he was with the curiosity and care our students showed. To see our students living and breathing the 3Rs, and modelling the learner attributes with their everyday actions, is a joy.

Through this unit, which centres on the idea that investigating the properties of materials enables us to solve problems, create and innovate. We provoked the students thinking by exploring the photography project, ‘The Long Walk’ by Shannon Jensen. In this project, Shannon photographed the shoes of refugees after they undertook a long walk. Students marvelled at the state of the shoes and the resourceful way shoes had been created out of scraps. We gratefully reflected on our own circumstances and thought about how wasteful we can be in the way we consume. Students were posed a question: Could you create a functional shoe out of recycled materials? Then, in small groups, they began the design process – researching materials, developing ideas, creating their prototypes, testing, and gathering data, and then refining their design. This was a perfect example of how learning is a process, rather than a product – the process of designing supported students to grow their social skills as they negotiated ideas, communication skills as they documented the journey, creative thinking skills as they develop novel ideas, and so on.

Following this project, students had the opportunity to go to Resource Rescue, to source materials to design decorations for our disco. At the time of writing, the hall is shinier than it’s ever been before. It’s filled with extraordinary creations of proud students, who when reflecting, shared a really deep understanding of both how we can use our understanding of materials to create and innovate, but also solve environmental problems through the choices we make individually.

Some Personal Success - Tom’s Horse Riding achievement

On the Easter Holidays, I went to State Championships for horse riding. We had to stay at Werribee Park for 6 days. I competed in the combined training 35cm – that is jumping and dressage. I also competed in the Preparatory 1 dressage test, the Preparatory 2 dressage test, and the Preparatory 3 dressage test. In the combined training 35cm I placed 4^th and in the Preparatory 3 test I placed 1^st. The horse I competed on was Sunny.

I’m most proud of getting my first-ever ribbon.

TOM PHILLIPS

Please have a safe and happy winter holiday, and I’ll see you in Term 3!

JAMES CLAPHAM
Year 4 Teacher