Researching Museum Railway Station

City Circle Loop
City Circle Loop signage, Museum Station, Sydney, NSW.

3 Museum Station

A Flickr slideshow about Museum Station, Sydney, is HERE. Stage 2 students are researching underground railway systems as part of their science and technology unit, Buildings and Bridges.

And on through the underground stations (and Circular Quay) of Sydney’s City Circle Loop:


City Circle hi def hi speed

Ancient buildings

As a component of Stage 2’s science & technology investigations into Buildings & Bridges, we will be learning about ancient structures in the library.


1 The Great Pyramid of Egypt, how it was built – new solid theory, new evidence. JP Houdin. 2011


Why did we stop building pyramids?


Lost temples: Mayan pyramids of Chichen Itza


Athens Acropolis and the Parthenon


Rome, Italy: The Colosseum


The lost city of Pompeii


Ancientvine – Virtual Roman house 3D reconstruction


Stonehenge prehistoric monument


Hadrian’s Wall


Everything you need to know about the Great Wall of China

When lightning strikes

Stage 2 and Class 3-5R are studying lightning and electricity this term in their science and technology unit, “Light, sound and communication”.

They will be investigating the National Geographic‘s lightning webpage at: www.nationalgeographic.com.

These electrical saftey videos from Youtube will also be useful:


Dexter Duck: electrical safety video


Electrical safety tips


P.I. Plug’s home safety video
Note that this plug-like caricature is in the US configuration (compare with Australian electrical plugs). Measurements are imperial and the emergency phone number demonstrated is American. In Australia, we dial 000, or 112 (for GSM mobile and satellite phones), which is answered by a Triple Zero (000) operator.

Sustaining interest!

A small class of Hearing Support students at my school joined the Learning for sustainability rap today. The boys are very excited about rapping and hope there will be other classes, from around Australia, joining the rap (“Welcome aboard, too, Canterbury PS!”). This afternoon, we got a whole lesson out of deconstructing the official “Year of Sustainability” logo. Our other Stage 3 students are deep into a “Gold” unit this term, but I went in search of a keen group to have a blogging experience. Thanks Mrs Coote and SCHC.

Sustainability logo

Hosted by the NSW DET’s School Libraries and Information Literacy Unit, this rap is aimed at Stage 3 and Stage 4 students. 2010 is the Year of Learning for Sustainability. We hope to share and learn from others about ways of living more sustainably. Teaching resources are available for downloading at:
www.schools.nsw.edu.au/raps/learnsub/teachingideas.htm

and the first rap introductions can be found by clicking on “Task 1” at:
http://rapblog9.edublogs.org/

Even if you don’t join the rap, I hope you take some opportunities to follow its progress throughout the rest of the term. Rapping is a great way to incorporate ICT and Web 2.0 into CPPT, T&L, S&T and HSIE (to toss around a few abbreviations).

Thanks Lizzie Chase (at School Libraries and Information Literacy Unit, Ryde State Office) for this great learning & teaching activity.