What a fabulous start to the year we have had! It is hard to believe it’s already May. This term we are learning all about the British colonisation of Australia and the impacts this has had on the Indigenous Peoples. It links with our fabulous novel we are studying in English, Uncle Xbox. We are really loving this book!

We have been very excited to learn how the Europeans of the 1600s didn’t have spices like we use regularly in our foods, and boats made 2-year journeys to gather spices. Ms Younger brought in cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, black pepper, cumin and turmeric for us to see and smell. Some of us even tried the cloves – nobody really liked the taste! With lots of explorers out in the ocean looking for new things to trade and new land to colonise, it was Captain Cook who in 1770 claimed Australia for England and a British settlement was established in Sydney Cove in 1788. There have been some great discussions about how the local Indigenous tribes would have felt about these new people claiming their land. We know we will be able to use this new knowledge when we come to reflect during Reconciliation Week.

Our focus in Religious Education has been on learning about the Holy Trinity and how Christians have a unique belief in one God in 3 persons. We have explored imagery for God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, truly 3 in 1 God. We created our own artworks to express this belief and Ms Younger thinks they are good enough for the art gallery!

In Science with Miss Kelly we are learning about forces like contact and non-contact forces. Contact forces are those where you touch or contact something to make it move – like pushing over a drink bottle. Non-contact forces are where you don’t need to touch something to make it move or change like wind and solar power. It’s heaps of fun!