Penrith PS rappers and bloggers

Apr 28

Epiphyte tree

Have you ever looked up into the branches of this big tree at our school’s Doonmore Street entrance?

It is host to some epiphytes high in its branches. Somebody probably secured these plants onto the branches when the tree was much younger, and shorter. The tree is an evergreen, so there are always many green leaves to help the epiphytes, which prefer filtered sunlight to survive. Most of the trees in our playground are evergreens.

Epiphyte

Epiphytes

This term, students in Early Stage 1 and Stage 1 are learning about the season of Autumn, the time of year when our deciduous trees lose all of their leaves!

Apr 04

Year of the dragon!

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Water dragon
Spotted outside the staffroom at Recess today: a very large water dragon!

Mar 20

Stage 3 students had an energetic afternoon today, competing in the inaugural Science & Technology Antarctic Cup.

Here are some photos of two of the games:

Tent 1

Tent 2

Clothes 2

Clothes 1

Feb 28

In 2012, our school will be corresponding with the students at Mill Rythe Junior School on Hayling Island in the United Kingdom.

This will be a very exciting year of sharing, we hope!

Oct 27

Ms Stockton and Mr McLean have been outdoing each other with frog pranks at the new frog pond:

Frog

Frogs

Frogs 2

Frog 3
(Even the Frog Prince has visited the pond this week.)

Frog 4

By the way, the eggs have hatched, and hundreds of tiny real tadpoles are now camouflaging in the brown soil at the base of the pond:

Tadpoles

Tadpoles 2

Oct 18

Mr McLean ended up being absent for the last week of Term 3 (sorry about that – he missed you all, although he did some moderating from home). The student rappers finally did their evaluation comments on the rap this week:

Participating in the Book Week 2011 book rap, what did Stage 1 book rappers at this school learn about books and reading?: reading is really fun, reading helps you when you’re writing, reading is educational, books without pictures can make you use your imagination.

What did we learn about digital stories? Watching other schools’ stories gives us great ideas for more stories, it’s fun to create characters and decide what they can say or do, they are excellent to read.

What did we learn about technology? Using the IWB makes us want to ask questions, technology can help us share our work with others, we can use the search engine to find video clips, technology helps us with entertainment and education. Thanks for rapping with us! penrithpsrappers and Mr McLean.

On a teacher front, Mr McLean discovered an excellent online tool for ensuring that blog comments don’t exceed the 1000 character limit imposed by blogED. Go to www.javascriptkit.com/script/script2/charcount.shtml “ and simply cut and paste your proposed text into the box before returning here and hitting “Post” on the blog.

We hope you all enjoyed the rap.

Oct 17

Frog pond with frog spawn

Ms Stockton’s Stage 1 students built a frog habitat in the school playground!

Frog spawn

Above: A closeup of the frog spawn (eggs). Each tiny black dot is a tadpole growing inside the clear jelly eggs.

Boiled lettuce

Ms Stockton boiled some lettuce in the microwave oven to feed the newly-hatched tadpoles.

Feeding time

It’s feeding time for the tiny tadpoles!

Some relevant Youtube video clips are HERE! Updates to the frog pond project are HERE.

Aug 29

Susanne Gervay at Penrith PS

Today, our school was graced by the presence of author Susanne Gervay, of “I am Jack” fame. All the attendees (Years 3-6) had been well prepped via serialised readings from “I am Jack” all this term, so it was great to see the book come to life with Susanne’s witty and frenetic presentation.

Susanne, the Ponto and Mrs Mead

Mrs Mead tried to keep up with all of Susanne’s jokes, anecdotes and anti-bullying strategies, signing for the hearing support students. Can you see Mr McLean’s growing prop of “Jack’s Ponto” in the above pic?

Ian McLean and Jack's Ponto
Mr McLean and Jack’s Ponto, photographed by Susanne Gervay

Susanne Gervay at Penrith PSwhiteSusanne Gervay at Penrith PS

Thanks Susanne for a wonderful author visit. Susanne has blogged about the day as well.

Susanne loved the story of our historic library mural (Click on the link to see the Photo Peach slideshow)!

for the future...

Aug 28

Model entries, Penrith Show

Congratulations to all of our talented Penrith Show entrants for 2011! Notice that the rocket model (above, centre) not only won a blue first-prize ribbon, but a “Best in Show” sash.

Art entries, Penrith Show

Model entries, Penrith Show

Bakery entries, Penrith Show
Slice entries

Decorated biscuit entries, Penrith Show
Decorated biscuit entries

Bakery entries, Penrith Show
Muffin entries

Aug 28

Frané sketches Duffy

To help us celebrate Children’s Book Week, award-winning illustrator Frané Lessac came to talk about her career with students in K-2. We had prepared for her visit by looking at several of her picture books, including “Simpson and his donkey”, which was written by her husband, author Mark Greenwood.

Frané and her audience

Frané's mock-up book

Frané enthralled us with anecdotes about the pet monkey she had as a child in New Jersey, USA, and her time living on a tiny island which was almost totally destroyed when its volcano erupted. She painted a picture of Duffy, Simpson’s donkey, and showed a slideshow of her other picture books, including several about Australian bushrangers.

We had a great time! Thank you, Frané – and Lateral Learning!

Frané's volcano
Frané’s volcano

Frané Lessac's completed artwork of Duffy
Frané completed artwork of Duffy

Frané’s pet cat usually drinks the contents of her paint-water cup, which is one reason she tries to always use non toxic paints.

Frané's brush technique