London bus does push-ups!

Here’s a pre-Olympics treat from Youtube that will be of interest to our Stage 2 students, especially, since it builds on recent science & technology work on levers and pulleys. The kinetic sculpture was created by Czech artist, David Cerny.


London double-decker bus does push-ups for Olympics.


London bus doing push-ups reaches its stop in Islington.


ITN News report by Sam Datta-Paulin.

Financial literacy for Stage 2

In Term 3, to complement Stage 2 students’ class work in the area of financial literacy (Priority Schools Program), the weekly library lessons will be providing field knowledge opportunities and Guided Inquiry research activities about money.

These introductory Youtube clips should prove useful:


The invention of money and currency.


Dollar Bill and Australians keep the wheels of industry turning.


Australian currency


Making plastic money

Federation for Stage 3

In Terms 3 and 4, to complement Stage 3 students’ class work in the areas of “Gold!” (Human society & its environment) and financial literacy (Priority Schools Program), the weekly library lessons will be providing field knowledge opportunities and Guided Inquiry research activities for the subsequent HSIE unit on Australian Federation.

By way of orientation, I have found these introductory Youtube clips:


A continent for a nation – Australian Federation.


Australia – A Federation in stamps.

This next clip is certainly both persuasive and irreverent in nature:


A brief history of Australia.

We are not sure what our final product might be, but these clips may well generate some discussion of the myriad of possibilities.

Let it snow!

Early Stage 1 and Stage 1 students are learning about the season of winter this week. After reading “What-a-Mess in winter” by Frank Muir & Joseph Wright, which is set during the approach of Christmas festivities in England, we investigated these two Youtube video clips:


Spectacular footage – Train plowing through deep snow Arthur’s Pass


Snow flakes

Closer to home…

Penrith snowman in a hailstorm

Here’s a Photo Peach slideshow from the day that Penrith Public School had a freak summer hailstorm, turning a typical December day into a winter wonderland!


Penrith PS in December: a white Christmas