08 Bright Sparks

Photographs by Jonathan, Ridwan, Mariam & Saja

On the 21 August we went to our Athletics Carnival. It was at Campbell Oval. We travelled by bus. When we got to Campbell Oval we had to race. First it was the junior boys’ 100m race. Daniel came 1st and Bobi came 2nd. Then it was the junior girls’ 100m race. Tianna came 1st. After that it was the 200m juniors’ race and Mutu came 1st. After a while we had recess. After recess we had to run the 800m race. The students who ran in this race had to sprint around the oval 2 times. Then it was lunch. We only had lunch for 20 minutes and then it was time for captain ball and tunnel ball. The students in the Fraser House won both of these games. When all the events were finished we got back inside the bus and went back to school. We had a wonderful time because everyone payed attention to the teachers and the canteen ladies.
By Puni and Sioeli

On the 11th August scientist Gwen from the CSIRO visited the Bright Sparks to teach us a little about the human body. We got to do lots of experiments. We looked for germs on our skin under a microscope and tested our lung capacity and pulse rate. We looked at x-rays and investigated joints and bones on a model skeleton. We were able to investigate the insides of our body with a plastic model that you could pull apart and put back together. It was a bit tricky to get all the parts back in the right place. We were able to explore our senses through taste, smell and eye testing. Gwen ended the science lesson with an experiment which showed what happens in our stomach when we swallow a tablet. The science was fantastic. We hope to do some more experiments in our classroom this term.

Every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday our class have fitness with the other Stage 2 classes. We do skipping , ballgames and athletics. Each day we rotate to a new activity. Mrs F. does athletics, Mr H. does ballgames and Mrs J. does skipping. All the games are fun. The best activity out of them all is skipping.     

By Saja and Mariam

Today Bright Sparks had to choose a country for our class to be in the school mini Olympics. Our top 3 choices were Australia, China and New Zealand. Then we had to choose which sport our class would like to do. William chose running and Cain chose  cricket. The most popular sports in our class were “Swim Fishy Swim”, t- ball and soccer. In 5 weeks we are starting our school mini Olympics. During the mini Olympics the host class will be teaching the visiting class how to play their chosen sport or game. The school SRC will be making the final decision about  which country and sports each class will be doing.

By William and Cain

This week Bright Sparks tried a new Visible Thinking routine called “I See, I Think, I Wonder” using the Olympic Flag as a stimulus to introduce one the topics we will be studying this term. The great thing about this routine is that every Bright Spark had a chance to contribute their thoughts and opinions. As their teacher, I was very excited to see all students keen to participate and contribute their ideas. These are just a few of some of the very interesting thoughts they contributed about the Olympic Flag.

“I see rainbow circles. They are a symbol for the Beijing Olympics. I wonder why they are circles?” Farah

“I see circles connected to each other. I think the ring’s colours are very bright. I wonder why they are stuck to each other?” Destiny

“I see lots of circles. I think the circles are bright colours. I wonder why they are circles, not squares?” Mahnoor

“I see circles stuck together. I think that they make patterns. I wonder why they use those colours?” Ayse

The students have now researched information about the Olympic Flag and are able to answer the questions they were “wondering” about.

Bright Sparks have been learning about simple machines in Science. We used the idea of simple machines to create our artwork.  We cut out paper and cardboard in the shape of gears and  painted them with gold, black and bronze paint. The painting was the best part. Next week, when the gears have dried, we are going to arrange them and paste them onto an A4 piece of cardboard that we covered in alfoil. We are going to display them on pieces of wire in our classroom.

By Zaynab and Eve

On Tuesday the 13th May Brightsparks began the NAPLAN Tests. NAPLAN stands for National Assessment Program Literacy and Numeracy. The tests were different than any work that we had done before so it was kind of exciting. We were tested in maths, English, reading and writing. During the test we had to focus and concentrate alot. Many of us felt exhausted when the tests were finished. Everyone was confused and tired. After the tests our teacher gave us some lollies and biscuits. We hope we all get good marks in the tests.

By Farah and Ridwan

  The Bright Sparks page has had a make-over and now has a brand new look. Soon, all members of the Bright Sparks class will be able to post their work on their own blogs - very exciting!  There will also be some new exciting links to explore. We have had a few technical problems with our photo uploads and so we apologise for this. Hopefully this will be fixed within the next 24 hours. Please let us know what you think about our “new look”.

Thursday was Crazy Hat and Hair Day at our school.  We had to think of something crazy to do with our hair or wear a crazy hat. Students who celebrate the Christian festival of Easter could wear hats and bonnets decorated with chocolate eggs, rabbits and all things Easter. All the students got together under the COLA and paraded their hats. There were lots of interesting and funny hats and hairdo’s. Even the teachers wore crazy hats. One student from each class was given a best hat prize and lots of chocolate eggs and bunnies were won in the raffle. 

Earlier on that day we had an Easter egg hunt in our classroom. Our teacher hid 33 chocolate eggs for us to find. After the parade we finished off the day by watching “Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” and eating chocolate eggs. In class, we have been reading “The Glass Elevator” the sequel, also written by Rohl Dahl. We are all really enjoying the story. If you have read the book, leave us a comment and let us know what you thought of it. Maybe you could recommend some other Rohl Dahl books for us to read.