Last week, the students in the 6/7 class explored the art of Andria Beighton, an Australian artist based in Melbourne. Andria paints abstract, large scale flower-themed pieces which we studied in order to identify the elements that characterise her style. The students then planned and executed their own abstract piece. We used coloured card instead of paint, as this medium allowed us to achieve a crisp result, similar to Andria’s style. Do you like abstract art? What do you find the most interesting about these pieces? Leave us a comment below, we would love to hear from you ..read more

It was 2 minutes past twelve, and Johnny was roaming in the abandoned movie theatre. The scent of warm popcorn wafted to his nostrils. Was this smell real, or was it a ghost like him? Tentatively, he was grabbing for a chocolate when the sound of the movie projector starting startled him. Suddenly, a group of translucent ghosts appeared in the hallway. Raucous, the ghost party filled the theatre and sprawled on the seats. A terrified scream almost escaped Johnny’s lips. He stopped himself just in time… They mustn’t hear him! Silently, he tiptoed up to the projection room and there ..read more

Showcased piece for the 100 word challenge, week 5: Shaunn’s piece had me in fits of laughter… I never expected this take on the prompt! Well done for your use of humour Shaunn! “Aaawwww” all the children screamed as I plummeted into the school gates,  into the principles office I had my eyes closed so i didn’t actually  know where I was. As I opened my eyes I see my principle passed out on the floor. I walked up to a peace of paper and wrote: my mum and dad were busy today so I decided  to drive to school I was doing really well but I didn’t understand the instructions to put it into park I a ..read more

The 100 word piece that I selected for this week’s 100 Word Challenge was Dean’s. Dean did an excellent job of creating an evocative atmosphere and a memorable character… and this only using 100 words… what do you think? “When did it arrive?”  I asked myself. “when did this man arrive? Was he born? Is he an alien? The man I’m talking about is my next door neighbour. I live in an apartment, there is only a wall between us. He smells rotten. When I was sleeping or eating I smell him. I went to his apartment to complain, I looked in and all of his rooms was covered with dirty socks, muddy shorts ..read more

In Science last week, we investigated the influence that Oceans have on climate. Using Google Maps, we researched the distances between towns (that shared approximately the same latitude) and the ocean. For example, we compared Casablanca and Marrakech in Morocco. The distance from Marrakech to the ocean is 148.8km We compared 4 pairs of towns and noticed that for the towns closer to the ocean, the climate was milder: we observed milder winters and summers compared to the towns that were inland. The presence of the ocean has an influence on climate… To understand one of the reasons for this ..read more

  Whoa! Not one, but two Mil Lel students showcased for week 24! That week the prompt was that of a giant teacup,  half-buried in the ground. That week was special, because the students first wrote their piece, then got into groups to brainstorm together how to better their writing through the use of descriptions using the 5 senses… And the results speak for themselves… Mrs Gagnon from the U.S. commented on Zac’s piece: Zac, “Your piece put me in mind of Alice in Wonderland. I like how you used the scenario to inspire the verse. Your word choices : exploding, roasted, desperate, and blaze we ..read more

What if I was in charge…? This was the prompt for the 100 Word Challenge in Week 7. Rachel responded to this prompt with a quality piece that was selected for the 100 Word Challenge showcase by Mr Ross Mannell, a Team 100WC volunteer. He commented about Rachel’s writing: “I can see the care you have tried to take in your choice of words, spelling and punctuation… I hope you can continue entering the 100WC. You should share your growing skills as a writer.” To read Rachel’s story and see why she was selected, click here. Well done Rachel! It is so exciting to have a Mil Lel writer showcased ..read more

Ocean currents… what causes them? Our current unit of work in Science has us investigating the links between the Ocean, our planet and ourselves. We read information about the Gulf Stream current and how this current, as it approaches Iceland, sinks to the depth of the ocean before turning South and following the coast of South America. But how can water sink? We brainstormed a few ideas… could the season have something to do with it? Maybe water temperature? To answer this question, we ran an interesting experiment, the results of this which you can watch below… wha happens when you mix wat ..read more

Maths is visual, and Maths is patterns… we explored this in our class with Times Tables Spirolaterals. To create one of these, list a times table’s answers, then translate the answers into a one-digit result (e.g  if the answer is 12, add 1+2 to get 3). Repeat with the answers until you identify a pattern. Then start drawing on grid paper following your pattern, starting by going right by the first number in your pattern, down by the second number in your pattern, left by the third number, up by the fourth number, etc… until you get back to your starting point. We needed perseverance and conce ..read more

Well done to Jedda for her beautiful illustration of last week’s poem – The Poet Tree by Shel Silverstein ..read more