Dreaming of the Dreamtime

The Dreaming is an important part of the Australian indigenous people's spiritual identity. The stories from this time talk about the creation of the land that we live in. Many of the stories also teach about how to be better people and the ways that are appropriate to live. The stories help to bind the people together, because they brought the community together and taught the little ones the ways of their people. They were told through dance, music and as they sat around the campfire.

Among the Aboriginal people there was often one person who was the storyteller. Their job was to remember and tell the stories of the whole tribe. The stories did not belong to one person. It was the communities memories and beliefs that were passed down.

As part of English this week, we have been focusing on these Dreamtime stories. The students were given a book to read and to discuss in pairs. They had to answer the following questions after they had read the book:

• What was the story about? Who were the main characters and what did they do?
• How do you think this story was passed down to others? 
• What was the purpose of the story? What does it teach us? 

The students then created a triorama of their story to show others what the story was about. The purpose for creating drawings in this way, gave the students an opportunity to show what they knew aside from their writing. They could explore the ways that the images were drawn, experiencing some of the ways of communicating without always using words. 

Stage 3 Cricket

Cricket 

by Noah and Hayden

Yesterday, Mrs Camilleri chose 13 students from stage 3 to represent the college at the MACC V WCCS cricket match. MACC started fielding and bowling. We had a drinks break at the 10th over. After our 20th over we batted. Hayden and Jack opened the batting followed by Charlie,Joel,Noah,Aidan,Daniel,Mathew,Cedric,Ben,Shayden. At the end of the day MACC lost but all the boys came off with a grin on their faces. The boys got SLUSHI'S on the way back so they happy in the end!

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Picasso Cow Presentation Day 2015

Picasso Cow Presentation Day

by Peter and Jack P.

At 9:30am in the morning we got on the bus to go to the RSL in Blacktown. Once we got on the bus it took about 1 hour to get there. We helped get the cow of the trailer, we got it into the RSL.  The only choice to get the cow up to the area was to get it into the elevator. It just fitted! Peter and I helped it getting it out of the elevator. Once we got the cow into its place,  we had recess. 

Then the Presentation Day started! 

The first activity was a Quiz for every school. One student from each school had to go up onto the stage so we chose Amelia to represent our school. Each school had to choose a sound as a buzzer. We gave Amelia a Cat sound. Amelia made it into the grand final but we didn't win but at least we had fun. 

We played this game where we throw the ball in the air until the music stops. Who ever had the ball when  the music stopped, had to read out what it said on the ball. Each  word on the ball was an activity. After the Quiz there was a milking challenge. Two people were needed for the activity.  They didn't actually milk a cow. They milked a teat on a bottle. It looked funny! 

 After all the milking we all did an activity together we had to make a own milkshake. We didn't win that because we forgot to put some healthy stuff in there. After that then they announced the cow that won. A school called Emu plains won the Picasso cow presentation. We were close to winning because we look a little bit like them. 

We enjoyed watching the activities and the free Yogurt and Milk they were really tasty.

What did you learn from our Picasso Cow project? What could we do to improve? 

What is a Growth Mindset?

During the holidays, I found myself engrossed in the book called "Mindset" by Carol Dweck. It discusses her findings, as a psychologist, that there are two mindsets that people have when they face challenges. She explains that the people who achieve the greatest successes exhibit a set of traits that allow them to grow through the issues that they face. She gave many different examples in the book of people who have shown both mindsets.

The benefit of reading a book like this can show each one of us a way to become the best that we can be.

In stage 3, as a way of introducing these concepts, we started with looking at the book "The Dot". It is about Vashti who is a little girl who faces a challenge which she uses to learn from.

We discussed the question: What did Vashti learn?
Some of the things that we thought she learned were:

• that anyone can draw
• She didn't know that she could do something until she tried
• small things lead to big things
• she was able to teach someone else and pass her knowledge on.
• she learnt not to give up. 

The students then wrote about a time when they faced a challenge in their life like Vashti's. An example that I gave was from when I was younger. I used to ride horses and was very competent. The area that I found difficulty with was in showjumping. I felt that I couldn't get my horse to jump the height of the jumps. The students were able to find many different examples too. Some found speaking in public, others found sporting skills were challenging. 

We discovered as we talked about these challenges that it was often the words that we spoke to ourselves were very negative such "Give up" or "This is too hard".

We then watched another short video that showed the difference between Fixed and Growth Mindset. 

The Video gives the example of the Hare and Tortoise. The Hare has a fixed Mindset and the Tortoise has a Growth Mindset. The hare feels because of his talents that he will be successful and stay successful without any effort. The tortoise however shows a growth mindset. He keeps making an effort to finish at a steady pace, while also learning about how he can improve as he runs his race. The picture below shows some of the responses that we had about the video. 

The students were then asked to consider the situation that they wrote down. Did they think their response to the situation showed a fixed mindset or a growth mindset? The students then had to discuss in a small group, how in each of the circumstances that they could have changed their mindset. 

It is important that to remember that there will be challenges that we face. When we determine that we will learn from these challenges, through setting goals, making an effort, using ours strengths and improving our weakesses, that we will overcome and grow. 

What do you know about Mindset? Is there an experience where you have been encouraged to try something new? 

Milky Way

Milky way from Kate Todd

We have finished painting our cow! Doesn't she look beautiful? 

The experience of designing and painting Moo-juice has been profitable. It has helped to build community within our classroom and our school. We have developed an understanding of the design process from the initial design and then seeing through to the completion of painting her. 
The other benefits of having our Picasso cow is the focus that it has brought about the Dairy Industry and the importance it plays. Dairy Farming has a rich history in our local area. It provides many jobs and there are many health benefits for incorporating dairy into our diets. 
We have learnt that milk needs to be carefully transported so that it arrives uncontaminated at its destination. 
Stage 3 shared our completion with Kindergarten, who enjoyed coming and patting our cow. We look forward to seeing the other cows at the Presentation Day

Book Week Parade 2015

Book Week Parade 

by Callum

Today was our annual Book Parade celebrating books. We all had fun dressing up and buying books from the Book fair. Our Book Parade was full of costumes from books which were all amazing! We had Mr. Gray as the Mad Hatter, Mrs. Pope as the purple crayon, Mrs. Zantides as a orange crayon, Mrs. Foola as a yellow crayon and so much more. Most of the kids dressed up but only two won from each class.

The winners costumes were amazing. The winners in 6T were Nikita as Athena( A Greek God) and Noah as a Jedi knight. In 5S the winners were Ben as Mr. Bump and Grace as a Book.       We had all sorts of costumes from Olaf, Doctor Who, Andy Roid, Tony stark, Katniss Everdeen, Minions  and so much more. Amelia and Brock prayed and Nikita and Jack did a amazing poem about books.


We all had a amazing day!

What was something that you enjoyed the most about Book Week Parade?

Cricket Gala Day

Cricket Gala Day 

by Ashleigh

The students of Stage 3 who participated in the T20 Blast Cricket Day went to Onslow Oval in Camden on the 8th September 2015.
When the students arrived at the oval, there was a feeling of excitement in the air. There were lots of other schools, ready to compete to and have lots of fun. The day started off with some simple rules and then everyone got prepared to start playing. There were two teams representing MACC, a boys team and a girl's team.

During the first game, the girl's lost the first game but that didn't let them down. They had lots of fun and enjoyed themselves when they were playing. The girls had played against Harrington Park PS. Even though the girls at MACC lost, there were still plenty of high spirits.

The boys team also lost their first game to Narellan Vale PS. The boys had much harder competition than the girls.

In the second game, the girls team won their game against Narellan PS. The girls were cheering and were so happy. The girls on the MACC team hit the ball a bit further than they had in their previous game. The girls were able to get to the other wicket before the ball did.

The boys lost their second game to Harringotn Park PS.

After the first 2 games, It was lunch time. Some people from the local Cricket club had organised a sausage sizzle for some of the participants who had money to get a yummy lunch.
After the lunch break, the students prepared themselves for the next game. The girls were ready to verse Camden South PS. The Camden South PS girls obviously had had lots of training. When the MACC girls were bowling, the Camden South girls were hitting the ball hard and far. The MACC Strikers lost to Camden South PS Thunder. The boys team also lost to Narellan Vale PS Strikers. Though the boys had lost, no one had gotten upset. The boys were still cheerful and ready for the final game.
 The final games were to see who came what on the leaderboard. The MACC Strikers (girls) were fighting for 5th place against a second team from Harrington Park. The MACC Stars were fighting for 7th place... And the Stars won! That game was the only game the Stars had won and they were so happy! The Strikers were happy because they had also won their final game. The Strikers were jumping and cheering. After all of the games had finished, the organisers had an assembly to announce the winner of the girls comp and the boys comp. The winner of the girls comp and going to compete against other schools in the state is... Narellan Ps Hussey. The winners of the  boys comp and also going against more schools in the state is... Camden South PS Scorchers. The captains of the winning teams got to receive a certificate for the team. All of the other teams including  the winning teams got a certificate signed by the Sydney Thunders Mascot. They also got a poster with some of NSW Cricket men's and women's teams. They also got a small packet of Milo.
 The students really enjoyed themselves that day and were glad to have a rest on the bus back to school. The students were exhausted after that day and were glad to go home. When the cricket teams got back to school, They greeted their classmates that didn't get to go. School was just about to finish so they didn't have to worry about doing school work.