Benny and Fairy Bread

This week in 2BP we had a visit from Benny the dog during News Time. Benny belongs to Bianca and is 45 years old in dog years! WOW and he didn't look that old! To finish off Maths this week we practised halves and quarters by making Fairy Bread. We had to cut our bread slice into halves and then into quarters. Of course to finish off we had to eat it! The last Mystery item from our Display Table was a candle snuff. It was used to put out candles in the old days. Thanks for participating in our Mystery item quizz during the term. We hope that you learnt something along the way about the way we were.

The Stroogle

This week, Author and Illustrator Dr Cameron visited SJV to run workshops with students. 2BP built a submarine by cutting and pasting different shapes and learnt a little about being an author and illustrator. Dr Cameron also introduced us to his exciting range of books including books about creating cool characters and Pie Rats!

This is our last week for our Mystery item quiz. The Mystery item from last week was a washing dolly. This wooden tool was used to mix the clothes around in the washing tub - very hard work. This weeks item has something to do with light. Good luck and leave a comment with you answer.

The Way We Were

Our excursion to Colonial Living History at the Tingalpa Pioneer Chapel and Cemetery on Friday was fantastic. At the gate we had to step back in time to 1836. We met three people who had only recently settled in Brisbane and we helped with the daily chores of making damper, erecting a tent and washing and drying clothes. We all enjoyed the damper we had made for morning tea and we learnt a lot about the early settlers in Queensland. The Chapel, built in 1836, was where we started and finished our journey back in time.

This weeks mystery item is not from our class display table but from our excursion. Do you know what the name of this object is and what it was used for? Leave a comment with your answer. Good luck!

Bread and Butter

This week in 2BP we talked about the food that would have been eaten in the "olden days". We looked at the daily menu of a child in the 1900's and compared the food with what we eat today. We all decided that we much rather eat the food we have today! As part of our learning on food from the past we baked bread and made butter in our classroom. It was fantastic to come into our classroom and smell fresh baked bread and it tasted really good. We topped the bread with the butter we made using fresh cream and a marble mixed in a container by shaking and golden syrup.

The mystery item from last week was a button hook used on a ladies shoe. In the past shoes had a lot of tiny buttons on them which were too small for fingers to do up and undo. This weeks mystery item is from the farm and was used on an animal. Good luck with you answers - don't forget to post your comment.

Bingo!

This week in 2BP we learnt about half-past times and played a great game that Mrs S had made called Time Bingo. You had to cross off the half-past times on your card as they were called by the Time Keeper . This week we also participated in the national Count Me In activity where the whole school sang about music being everything. We sounded so good!

Our mystery item from last week was a potato cutter that could make flat crinkly chips. Did you get it right? This weeks is a little harder as it is a very old tool that is not used at all these days. Leave a comment with you answer. Good luck!

Stand Up For Poverty

Today in 2BP we are all dressed in white to show our support to end POVERTY! Our school registered on the Stand Up and Take Action site and today we will all meet on the playground to repeat the pledge to end poverty now.

This week in class we also continued our work on The Way We Were. We learnt the parts of a friendly letter so that we can start to think about writing a letter back to Mary L from 1948 telling her what school is like for us now. The two mystery items from our display table have been aprons and a record - well done to those of you who guessed right. Ask Mum or Dad how these items were used. This weeks item from our display of old things is a hard one. I even had to check to see what it was used for! Good luck and leave a comment with your answer.

The Way We Were

This week in 2BP we started a new Unit of work for Term 4. This term we are looking back at our history and The Way We Were! We have investigated what travel would have been like in the 1800's using the Cobb & Co Coach Company and we have received a letter from Mary L who went to our school in 1948. Our classroom has a display table of old wares that we are bringing in from home - it looks fabulous! Here is a picture of one of the items on our display table. Do you know what it is and what it was used for? Leave a comment with you answer.

WELCOME BACK

What a wonderful break we had but it is wonderful to be back and see all our wonderful friends in 2BP. This term is going to be absolutely great fun as we look back at how things once were. Keep checking the blog as there will be some very interesting items to look at and try and work out what they are... Do you know what these things are that are hanging on the clothes line? Please tell us if you know what they are and what they are used for!

Happy 4th term

Mrs P and Mrs B

A Visit from Ted and the Rainbow Fish

This is our last week for Term 3 and we are all looking forward to the holidays. Jordan bought his dog, Ted to visit in News Time on Wednesday. Ted is a Highland Terrier and is four years old. He has just had a hair cut and he was very well behaved when he let the children pat him.

This week we finished our Friends Program where we have been learning about friendship skills. The class listened to the story about the Rainbow Fish and we made brightly decorated scales. We were only allowed to keep one scale and we had to share our other scales with classmates. There was such great sharing in our classroom!

Happy Holidays everyone!!!

Plant Experiment and Fathers Day

This week in 2BP we started a Science Experiment. Working in small groups we planted some Mung Bean seeds on a bed of cotton wool and placed them around the classroom. Each group chose one variable to change - either the amount of water, food or sunlight. All other variables were kept the same and this makes it a 'fair test'. We have predicted what we think each of the containers will look like in 14 days time and we start collecting data on Monday. We can't wait to see what happens!!!

2BP would like to wish all Dad's a very Happy Fathers Day on Sunday. We hope you like the card and bookmark we made in class.

Book Week and our Litter Tree

This week was Book Week and we celebrated with a Book Parade. The theme this year was to come as your favourite book character or a "jungle safari". 2BP had a great time dressing up and introducing our book characters to the school. We even had a visit from Tashi and Jack!

As part of our "Love My Planet" Unit work we built a litter tree. We counted all the rubbish that we had put in the bin during the day and for every piece we put one leave onto our Litter Tree. WOW!!! Look at all our leaves on our tree. Imagine if all that rubbish had been left on the ground or on the floor in our classroom - what a mess it would be.

Miss Lily and Streets Ahead

This week in 2BP we read a story about Miss Lily and her Fabulous Pink Feather Boa. The feather boa is the most wonderful thing the Last Potoroo (a small mammal found in different parts of Australia) has ever seen. The Last Potoroo takes a little of the feather boa as she feels for the first time in her life that she can do anything and everything when she is wearing it! At the end of the story the Last Potoroo say's SORRY and is forgiven by Miss Lily. After reading this story we decided that there are four steps in RECONCILING when you do something wrong. 1. Admit the wrong 2. Say "sorry" 3. Make up 4. Ask to be forgiven.

This week our class learnt some great road safety lessons from Thud who lives at RACQ. Thud told us that before we cross the road we should always STOP LOOK LISTEN and THINK!

Grafitti Wall

This week in 2BP we looked at the problem - What can we do about Climate Change? The class thought back to their GAS! excursion and what we had learnt to help us discover some of the answers. We then came up with our own ideas on what we could do about Climate Change and we put them all down on a big piece of butchers paper - our Grafitti Wall! Everyone had two or three great ideas that would help care for the planet.

And from Word Study today - What kind of clothing does a house wear? Address!!!

2BP WIN THE WWW TROPHY

This week 2BP won the Walking, Wheelie, Wednesday Trophy because the whole class travelled by bus on Wednesday - it was to and from our GAS! excursion. We were so proud to receive the trophy and it has been displayed at the front of our classroom all week. What class will win next week we wonder?

The Art Show was a great success last Friday. One of our class Mum's won our Boat sculpture during the art auction. She has happily donated the boat back to the school and it will hang in the library overlooking the Bay - exactly where a boat should be!

GAS!

Last week 2BP went on an excursion to see GAS! at the Pullenvale Environmental Education Centre. We finally got to see and meet Billie and Jeanie. While we watched the show we learnt all about the bad gases - carbon dioxide and methane, and how trees are like a pair of giant lungs that clean the air of the bad gases and make oxygen for us to breath. After the show we participated in a number of workshops. First we visited the GAS! show backstage and Ailish tried on the Mike the Car Salesman suit! Meryl, who played the character of Billie played some Drama games with the class and we all had a turn at "Kids Go Green" on stage. We then tried some Tree Watching with Ron and shared some observations of what we had seen. Next was a visit to Lucinda, who played the character of Jeanie where we also met Daniel and learnt a little more about photosynthesis, fossil fuels and how important trees are for the environment. All in all it was a fantastic excursion! We had a great day.

Grandparent's Day and Art Show!

2BP had an exciting week with Grandparent's Day on Thursday here at school. There were "wonderful Grandparent's" everywhere enjoying classroom visits, a liturgy in the Church and a fantastic morning tea.

This week we have also been busy making a boat sculpture for our school Art Show. Everyone has been having a go at weaving with different coloured fabric and the boat is really starting to take shape.

Drums and GAS!

Welcome back 2BP for Term 3. When we arrived back after our holidays we discovered that our Unit work this term is 'Love My Planet'. There have been a number of clues left in our classroom this week about 'GAS!' and we think this has something to do with our excursion to Pullenvale Environmental Education Centre in a couple of weeks time. We have met Billie Baker-Smith and her Mum, listened to the GAS! song and learnt a little about climate change and how we can look after our Planet. We are keeping our eyes peeled for more clues next week!

Our first week back at school ended with a visit from an African Drumming group. WOW! were they fantastic. Everybody got to have a go at drumming and singing and our teachers even danced!

The Holidays Are Here!

After a very, very busy Term 2 we started to celebrate the winter holidays which start tomorrow. 2BP started the day with a wonderful Sacred Time and some lovely prayers for a safe holiday. Mrs B made us a 'Winter Fun Booklet' with lots of fun pages in it to complete, we watched a movie - 'The BFG', ate some popcorn and cleaned out our desks. We are now ready for a relaxing holiday!

Mining for Minerals and Paper Person

This week 2BP went 'mining for minerals' in a choc chip cookie. It's amazing how many choc chips you will find in one chocolate chip cookie! We used a very special digging tool to help separate the choc chip minerals from the cookie - a tooth pick!

Students completed a Paper Person in Religion. This paper person was used to illustrate how the attributes of the Holy Spirit are present in someone. Things like love, patience, peace and joy were illustrated on the paper person using words and drawings.

Volcanoes and Trees!

This week in 2BP we made a volcano that erupted lava. First of all we worked in pairs to build a volcano in the sandpit. We then put a plastic cup of bicarb soda on the top of the volcano and added some red coloured vinegar. The volcano ERUPTED red lava!!! In nature this lava would harden and become igneous rock.

Today we celebrated National Tree Planting Day. We worked in small groups to dig a small hole, plant the tree and water it well. Our class trees were planted outside of the Principal's Office at our school and we will continue to care for them so they grow big and strong.

Making Rocks!

This week 2BP made a Sedimentary rock using sand, water and epsom salts. We had to do lots of stirring, dissolving and pouring and our rocks are now baking on the window sill in our classroom. It will take a few weeks for the water to evaporate from the solution and our Sedimentary rock will be ready!

Crossing the Red Sea and Sorting Rocks

This week we followed the story of Moses as he lead God's people out of Egypt to find a land of their own. We heard how the people crossed the Red Sea safely after the waters were separted into two parts. 2BP played a board game called "Crossing the Red Sea". If you were travelling well at night because of the light God had given you took an extra turn. But if the Pharaoh's chariots came too close you had to miss a turn.

We also learnt how to sort a large group of things into smaller groups this week. 2BP practiced with coloured straws, rice crackers, popcorn and finally rocks from our class Rock Collection. We discovered that rocks can be sorted by colour, shape, size, weight, surface, hardness and type.