The Senior Room has started its Picasso Cows Project.  The Theme for this work is Health and Nutrition.  The large cow on the school verandah will be illustrated with the two classes providing art work.  The senior room will have one side of the cow and the junior room will have the other side to illustrate.  Currently the senior room is studying how milk is processed, and what types of food can be made from cows - for example butter, flavoured milk, cheese and yogurt.

After watching videos of the dairy industry the main points have been discussed and illustrated on our (draft) cow.  For example, 80% of Australians have some kind of dairy product each day.  How milk is pasteurised and homogenised and the different products that are produced that we all enjoy, like yogurt and chocolate milk has been studied.

This is a wonderful project and everyone in the senior room is enthusiastic to complete this work.

The senior room has adopted the Explicit Direct Instruction (EDI) model.  This model is fast paced where students are required to recite, recall and apply their learning.  The most important stage is telling the students what they going to be taught using WALT and WILF followed by criteria that they choose to perform at.  The second stage is showing them the task and how they can learn a particular concept.  Checking for understanding using mini whiteboards show the teacher how students are progressing;  feedback is given in real time.

We have used EDI with spelling , comprehension, and  for  oral language.  Grammar which is difficult for EAL/D students to grasp is taught repetitively to consolidate learning.  Maths, particularly times table and finding area and the perimeter of objects have been studied using EDI.

Each Week we head off to the Home Ec Room for extended math activities.  Students work in groups, and there is a strong competitive edge to these activities.  The main theme for this work is addition, multiplication and subtraction. Dice activities are popular for teaching mathematics mastery and developmental progression.  As a treat and incentive to do your best, everyone can enjoy a slice of pizza after working so hard- well Done everyone.

Mr. Ted

Senior Class