Rm 22 and 31 Assembly

Last Friday, the students from Rm 22 and 31 had our assembly, and it was a blast!

Being asked to come up with an assembly item in such a short space of time was a little daunting but we put our collective heads together and came up with two charming little poems to learn and recite - 'My Dad, Your Dad' and 'Sick'.

The students did a fantastic job of memorizing the poems and helped us come up with a series of actions to perform whilst reciting the poems. Both poems were delivered with lots of enthusiasm and drama!

A big thank you to all the parents, who did a wonderful job of dressing their children up to look like outpatients from a hospital. There were bandages, slings, fake blood, casts, moon boots and crutches, band-aids...they all looked amazing!

Congratulations to our certificate winners:
Mandy - for being an all round wonderful young lady.
Alex - for his awesome Science skills.
Tejas - for his amazing dedication to learning.
Georgia - for doing her absolute best at all times.
Aliston - for making such a great start to 2020 in his new MAC home!
Joella - for being willing to work hard and do extra work in order to improve.

I am, indeed, the luckiest teacher in WA to have such a great class of students.

Here are some photos of the Rm 22 kids all decked out in their sick costumes!

Bottle Rockets Blast Off!

Over the past two weeks, our students have been busily designing and building their bottle rockets- our first STEM project of 2020.

The task was to modify a soda bottle so that, when launched into the air using water and compressed air, the 'rocket' would fly in a stable arc. We would evaluate the efficiency of our rockets by observing the distance travelled and the stability of the flight.

Our students had to:

• Research aerodynamics and how real rocket scientists overcome air resistance
• Draw some early concepts and ideas
• Build a Beta model, and then test it out
• Modify the Beta model and re-test
• Present a final model, along with design paperwork

We got to do some Beta testing last week, although not as much as we would have liked, due to inclement weather conditions! Here are some pictures of our attempts!

Rm 22 MAC Parent Information Evening

Hello everyone!

In a bid to help the environment by reducing the amount of paper we generate, Rm 22 has decided to upload my Powerpoint Presentation from the evening to our blog.

Click on the image to view the Powerpoint.

Young Scientists at Work!

Our class has begun its journey to become the critical thinkers and scientists of tomorrow by learning all about the scientific process.

Science is much more than a collection of facts - it is a METHOD, a way of systematically finding out how the world works, using valid evidence and rigorous processes.

We posed a simple question - does the shape of a parachute canopy affect its effectiveness in slowing down a weight? Specifically - will a circular parachute slow down a falling weight more than a square weight?

As this is a scientific investigation, we had to think about how to make our results valid and fair. We had to isolate our independent variable and control as many other variables as possible, including:

• The area of each parachute
• The type of material
• The number and position of the strings
• The weight representing a 'person'
• The height dropped from

As you can see from our photos, the students were very engaged and excited. We have yet to complete the investigation but will let you know our results!

Week Two Update!

Hi everyone!

Well, our school year has gotten off to a great start. Our newest class members have settled in very well and are already producing work that is of high quality.

We have had virtually everyone competing their homework on time and I am very impressed with the 'Big MAC' work ethic.

A reminder - we have our 'Aussie Day' dress up and fund raising day this Friday the 14th. Students are encouraged to dress up in anything and everything Australian, to celebrate this great land of ours. We are also asking students to bring along a donation, which will go towards a charity supporting the victims of the recent bush fires.

Carl Sanderson

Welcome to 2020!

Hello, and welcome to our new school year!

I hope you have all had a fantastic holiday. I spent my time reading books, watching old science fiction movies, gardening, walking around the Perth bridges in a vain attempt to improve my fitness, and catching up with friends. It was also nice to sleep in.

But now...back to work!

I am very excited about the new school year and have been planning a range of rich, interesting and challenging learning activities for the students. 

Our first school day went very smoothly and I am very impressed with how well our new MAC students coped with everything. We will be holding a parent information evening in Week 3, on Tuesday the 18th of February (time TBD), where I will explain the various structures and processes of the MAC class, and answer all your burning questions.

For all our new MAC parents, homework can be found on this blog, under the 'Homework' Tab. From next week, I will place a weekly homework planner in that section, so the students can see what needs to be done and manage their time effectively. 

I know this will be a fantastic year.

Carl Sanderson

The Next Australian Master Chefs?

Monday afternoon was a great time to be in Rm 22...we all enjoyed a delicious sampling of freshly baked scones, with a dollop of jam and cream for good measure!

How did this all come about I hear you ask?

It is, of course, a well known fact that the parents of Rm 22 students are a multi-talented, brilliant bunch. One of them - Mrs Maria Kelly, very bravely volunteered to run some cooking classes for our students. This pleased Mr Sanderson very much, because:
A) it is a valuable skill that all children should learn....and they most CERTAINLY will not learn it from him
B) He will get to eat some of the delicious stuff made!

So, with a firm, courageous tone, he gave permission for Mrs Kelly to go ahead, and Monday was the first day. We selected 6 intrepid students to be in the first group: Tayla, Samara, Georgia, Trinity, Emilio and Francis. They were then given expert tutelage in the craft of preparing the perfect scone.

Once made, they were then scoffed down by the hungry crew of Rm 22. They did an excellent job and the results were delicious.

A HUGE thank you to Ms Kelly for her great work. Next week, another six students will get to make Irish soda bread.

Mr S can't wait!