Our Own Backyard

 Our students have been busy baking Anzac Biscuits for Anzac Day

Anzac biscuits originated in Australia and are a popular biscuit . Initially these biscuits were called Soldiers’ Biscuits, but after the landing on Gallipoli on Anzac Day, they were renamed ANZAC Biscuits.

Recipe

1 cup plain flour
1 cup rolled oats (regular oatmeal) uncooked
1 cup desiccated coconut
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 tbsp golden syrup (or honey)
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 tbsp boiling water
Method

Combine the flour (sifted), oats, coconut and sugar in a bowl.
Melt the butter and Golden Syrup (or honey) in a saucepan over a low heat..

Mix the bicarbonate of soda with the water and add to the butter and Golden Syrup.

Pour the liquids into the dry ingredients and mix well.

Spoon dollops of mixture, about the size of a walnut shell, onto a greased tin leaving as much space again between dollops to allow for spreading.

Bake in a moderate oven, 180C / 350F, for 15-20 minutes.

Cool on a wire rack and seal in airtight containers.

 Cows Create Careers

Students in years 9 and 10 who are studying agriculture, are taking part in the successful ‘cows create careers’ program. Two calves,lhosted to us by local dairy farmers, live at school for 3 weeks. In this time, students are responsible for feeding, caring for them and learning animal husbandry practices. They are weighed twice weekly and reports are made at the completion of the project. At the end of the project, the schools involved in our area get together, and submit their reports to the other schools.

Two young calves were delivered to school yesterday and the proud new ‘parent’ 9/10 students, placed them in an enclosure and tended to their needs. To our horror, they escaped after only one night’s stay, and worked their way down to the back lane behind the school. Two year 8 girls were called upon to bring the escapees back to their home. A bucket of feed was used to cajole back up the dirt track, through the back gate and into their enclosure. Three staff were also on board to help tighten the enclosure, until the supervising teacher returned to school after lunch.

Students were given the prompt from squidoo. This is the response from a grade 6 student. 

Can this day get any worse?
First I had to eat coco pops and found ants crawling around in them. Secondly I had to have a cold shower and found my undies were all grubby. Thirdly I missed the school bus.

I finally got to school and my teacher Mr Grumpy wasn’t too impressed with me. He said that I had to stay inside at recess or I would have a week’s detention. At recess Mr Grumpy made me write 100 sentences, all saying I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I wondered why I couldn’t have a normal day like every one else. Third period we had library, I hate library, to me library is like a piece of rubbish.

Fourth period we had sport. In sport we had to run laps for the whole period. I fell over and scraped my knee. I had to sit in the office for the rest of the period. The last two periods we had maths. We had to sit in the classroom and do incredibly hard worksheets.

Finally, it was home time. I was called to the office, I hate going to the office, then I found out I had to go to Aunt Susie’s. Aunt Susie is the horriblest Aunt ever. When I got there, She made me wash the dishes and clean the house and make it spotless. Aunt Susie put her feet up and relaxed while having a mug of hot chocolate while I had to work really hard.

When I finally got home mum gave me a gig hug. “What was that for?” I asked.
Mum smiled “You looked like you could do with a hug,” she said. Then dad came in, looked at me, smiled and scruffed my hair.
“How’s my princess?” he asked. So my really, horrible, very bad day was going to have a happy ending after all, maybe it was worth it.

 A grade six student wrote this as a response to the ‘From me to you’ project that we were involved in.

About Me:  I am 11 years old but in May I will be 12. · I live in a small town called Koroit. · I have an older sister , 22 and she is at Uni living in Geelong. I also have two older brothers, one is 21 and he lives in a small town called Macarthur. My other brother lives at home with mum and I. He is 14 and in year 8. · In my backyard I have a big Labrador cross Dalmatian called Spud. We also have a rabbit named Prince, a guineapig named Hammy, goldfish Harold, Taipan and Arnold, a cat named Basil and 2 cockatiels named Michelle and Larry. · Whenever we go to Melbourne to see family our neighbour looks after our animals. · I travel on my school bus for an hour each way, each day. · My favourite sport is soccer, we play it at school. · My mum is a receptionist at a medical clinic and she works at the Port Fairy Abalone farm. My Hobbies: · I like to draw when I have some spare time. · I love to sleep in a lot. · When it’s a nice day I like to take my dog for a walk. · Sometimes I play with my rabbit and guineapig, they are really cute. My sister has a little puppy and our rabbit is way bigger than it, he is nearly bigger than our cat too! I also love to Roller skate with my friends up and down the street.  School:  I am in grade 6. · We have all different subjects. · At lunch and recess I love to hang out with my friends and going to see my buddie. · Our subjects are Writing, Reading, Mathematics, P.E, S.O.S.E.\Science, Library, Art, Buddies, ICT, and L.O.T.E. Buddies: We have a class called buddies, it’s were we have little friends in Prep and they are called our buddies. My buddies name is Torie, she is very small. In those classes we play games, draw pictures and all sorts of different stuff. We have a canteen in our school. It sells hot food, drinks, some lollies, icy-poles and ice-creams In grade 6 we get to have special t-shirts, we design them and then get them printed. There are about 240 students in our school. There are 5 school buses. Hawkesdale: · There are about 500 people in the Hawkesdale community. · In Hawkesdale there is a Post Office, Pub, A Rural store, 3 churches and there is a swimming pool. · At the start of the school year we do swimming lessons every day after lunch for 2 weeks. · There is a nice little park called Apex. Last year and the year before my grade went down and both times planted about 800 native grasses.   Victoria: ·       Sometimes the weather is cold but lately because we’re in summer it has been really nice.           Attractions: · There are some great theme parks around Geelong and Melbourne, Luna Park is one. When I stayed with my sister in Geelong she took me to Adventure Park. It is a theme park and a water park. · Eureka tower. In Melbourne the golden tower there is a thing called a sky deck. · The twelve apostles, but now there’s only 7. · The Otway fly tree-top walk. I have been there twice, it is great. There are lots of birds, lizards, beautiful organic plants. In the middle of it there is a huge spiral tower, as your walking up you can feel it sway in the wind.  Australia: (Mostly attractions) · Uluru, when I’m older I would love to travel there · The Great Barrier Reef, I would love to go there as well · The Harbour Bridge. On New Years eve it was on television and there were fire works and everything, it was amazing. · Sydney opera house. · Goldfields.  In grade 4 we went to Sovereign Hill, it was terrific. Some of my friends and me went on an old horse cart. We passed all the others Gold Panning in the creek.  Mornington Peninsula. It’s one of the prettiest places in Victoria.

Download Video: Posted by murch at TeacherTube.com.

The students were asked to “show me” what Christmas at their place was like - through use of the 5 senses. The only stipulation was that they had to include 3 experiences for each sense and the most important element of the writing, was that they had to “show me”, not just tell me. 

Marg Murnane - year 7 English teacher Hawkesdale P12 College