St+Christopher's+Term+2

=== Our class has been intoduced to the Sustainable Schools Project By Mrs Alice Gobeli and our students are really enjoying the opportunities to find out more about their local community. We are currently studying "Resilient Planet" as part of the Jason Project and being able to apply the knowledge from our current study to the local areas is proving to be very beneficial. ===

=== __Week One__ We have been defining terms such as biodiversty, sustainability, biotic, abiotic, ecology, and ecosystems as part of our Jason Project. Our students are curious to learn more about ecosystems that are present in their local areas. Students have already shown a keen interest in researching waterways in and around Holsworthy. Throughout the term, we will be researching ways in which we can gather more information about the local waterways. === __Week Two__ Students will form small groups and together draft letters to the various agencies that they have researched that can provide them with information on the local waterways within and around Holsworthy. These groups include: Sydney Water, Liverpool council, NSW State Member for Waterways, Voyager Point community Group, Anzac Creek Community Group. students will post each of their draft letters on the "Kids" wikispace. **

__Week Three__ Our Year Six students have formed small research teams to locate information from various organisations. They have joinlty constructed letters requesting information, posters, dvd's etc from a variety of sources. They have begun to ask questions about the local ecosystems that have been placed on a whiteboard and as the students research, investigate and locate more information we will revisit the question board and try to give some answers. The children are totally engaged within their groups and the atmosphere within the classroom is electric...We as teachers are getting a real buzz out of their "real learning" Check out their wiki for evidence of their work! __**Week Four/Five**__ **__Week Six__ This week students read articles in the sustainability magazine about endangered frogs. They were very surprised by the fact that frogs are known as "environmental indicators" and can play a vital role in the balance of biodiversity within ecosystems. This curiosity then fueled more discussion on the frogs in the local areas in Hammondville, Wattle Grove, Voyager Point etc... Students shared their prior knowledge and experiences of frogs in their backyards or at their local parks etc.. Some students are off this weekend to investigate their local waterways to see if they can find frogs or tadpoles and take photographs of the areas. Another group is emailing the local environmental manager to ask a specific question regarding frogs in Liverpool and to locate more information. We are busy preparing for our Inter School Field trip to Lighthorse Park/Chipping Norton Lake.** **__Week Seven__ Students formed small groups to formulate questions that they wish to ask the environmental manager from liverpool city council about some of the issues they have identified in or around their local waterways. This was in preparation for our field trip to lighthorse park and chipping Norton lake.** The Field trip was relocated due to oor weather. Students participated in various activities including identifying issues in Light Horse Park, watching the Story of stuff, learning about the history of the Georges River, reseraching Flora and Fauna and water testing from the Georges river. **__Week Eight__ Students continued their water testing with a parent and Sustainable schools teacher Mrs Melissa Hall. Melissa lead the year six students in a water testing activity, looking at bugs found in water samples from local waterways. Students were able to identify certain species of bugs and then derive whether the water sample was healthy or polluted according to what bugs were found and identified.
 * This week has seen the students from St Christopher's continuing to investigate their local areas and gathering more information. They are also asking more questions as they learn more about what makes ecosystems. Using a large scale map of the liverpool area, students used post-it-notes to list facts about their areas and stuck them on the map in or around where their ideas were represented on the map. They also used string to make connections of the similarities that each ecosystem in the area of Holsworthy and Wattle Grove have.**

Week Nine Using the schools SEMP and the Annual Development Plan, Students identified areas of strength and weakness in terms of environmental management. The students brainstormed all the ways in which the school has implemented procedure that promote sustainability. The y also made a list of areas highlighting further research and investigation on how the school can make improvements and apply better practices to enhance sustainability. **