October is Walk to School month. That means that from the very first day of term 3
Victorian primary school students and their families are encouraged to walk to and from school, building healthy habits for life.

The City of Ballarat are inviting all primary school students to design a poster for the 2014 program BUT; there is a catch-it closes this afternoon. That means that you only have TODAY to design your poster.

The challenge:

• Design a poster showing us why you think it’s good to walk to school
• Your poster can be A4 or A3 in size.
• You can NOT use a computer. Only pencils, textas or crayons.
• You must write your name and age group (5-8) or (9-12)

To find out more:Walk to school webpage

or to find out prize details: Ballarat.vic.gov.au

Need some ideas?

Mrs S and Mr Guest and working with tessellations as part of their maths rotations.

A tessellation (or tiling) is when we cover a surface with a pattern or flat shapes so that there are no gaps or overlaps.

Use the following website to explore tessellations with polygons (2d shapes with straight lines and no gaps) and create a tessellating pattern:

Tessellation activity

What polygons fit perfectly to create a tessellation?

Do some polygons work with others to create a tessalting pattern? e.g. does a triangle tesselate with a rectangle?

Enjoy exploring and leave a reply at the bottom of this blog about what you find!

In Pod 2 we’re looking at different combinations by making triangles with different coloured icy pole sticks.

Today we worked with three different colors and had to find out how many different colour combinations we could come up with. It was fun and a big challenge.
One of the hardest things about the challenge was proving our final answer, it required a lot of problem solving.

The four main things we learnt on the first day of the challenge is:
1.To rotate our triangles to make sure that we don’t have doubles.
2.To colour code to make sure we don’t have doubles.
3.That it is important to work with your team and not take over.
4.To remember to count how many we have before moving on to a harder challenge.

Triangles and Colours on PhotoPeach

Today the Outdoor Ed group and Mr Guest spent the morning working on our fitness at Lake Wendouree. Soon we will be going on camp so to get our fitness levels up to scratch we attempted to walk and job the lake. We ran 500m and then walked 500m. All up we completed 4km’s of efforts. Well done.

Boys, here’s a few questions about today’s activity:

1: Give me an example of some of the encouragement you heard today from other members of our group.
2: Do you think you need to improve your fitness? Why or why not?
3: Next time do you think you can complete a full lap of the lake?
4: Who was the track we ran around named after? and why is he famous?Lake Fitness

Need help with how to research your Genius hour topic?
Check out this site!!

How to Research

Today the Outdoor Ed group travelled to Pax Hill to have a go at orienteering in the bush. The boys had to use maps to navigate their way around the Pax Hill bush in small teams and find the hidden markers. After completing the orienteering we were lucky enough to explore the site and have a go at the challenge course and the mine.
A great morning had by all!

Boys, a few questions:

1. What was the hardest part of orienteering in the bush?
2. What did you enjoy most about orienteering?
3. What was the most enjoyable thing you did at Pax Hill?
4. Who do you think demonstrated good leadership skills at Pax Hill and why?

Ever heard of a brain gym?
Well here it is, a website that allows you to warm up and workout that brain and get it in tip top shape for learning!

The link below will take you to my favorite game:
What was there?
BUT there are a number of games to choose from and get that brain toned and terrific.
Feel free to explore all the games and let us know which one is your favourite.

In Pod 2 we’ve been learning all about angles.
Now that we know all the different types of angles we’re moving on up and having a go at estimating and measuring all the different types using a tool called a protractor.

Below are a couple of great interactive games to help us learn how to estimate and measure angles.

Alien Kung Fu-Basic
Homework play
Alien Angles

What game did you choose to play?
Was it easy or hard? Why?