What do you like best, a cup of coffee or a cup of tea? Our students have spent some time thinking about what they prefer and what the reasons for their preferences. With the help of a format to structure their ideas, they share their thoughts about everything from best bands, best games and even their favourite car. What follows is an example of one student’s ideas
Two different types of utes: Ford and Holden
Good bits for a Holden are bigger engine and they are louder. Good things about Ford is that they are cheap and go faster. Bad things about a Ford is that they break down easily. Holdens are bad because they are being taken over by overseas countries and leaving Australia.

As readers will see we have been working hard at perfecting our bike skills. I am most grateful to Senior Constable Tony Woodcroft from Colac Police Station who assisted us with this year’s bike Ed program. If you’d like more information about our bike ed program, then go to our Beeac primary school site and look at the September 15/09 newsletter.
Anyway, I digress.
It was fascinating to look at our student’s procedural writing techniques when they were asked to write a small section about how to turn right.
It seems like a straight forward task: just describe each step in a series of processes to get from one road to another without getting knocked over by traffic.
And yet was it that simple? Our students actually completed a quite complex task. Have a look at Hayden’s blog for an excellent outcome.
For the next two weeks we will be on holiday, so we will resume shortly

This Friday 1st September our whole school will be travelling over to Red Rock Art Gallery http://www.redrockarts.com.au/  At the gallery we will be presenting our poems along with Alvie Consolidated School and Carlisle River Primary School. There will be prizes for the best poems and a chance for our students to present their poems to other students.
This week’s blog entries have the last installments of our student’s efforts. Additionall some of them have reprinted a class cooking recipe which describes how to make rum balls.
Below are Noah’s efforts. So far he has been unable to access his blog. From this week however, fingers crossed, he will be able to start getting in to his blog.

Acrostic Poem
Camouflage in the sand
Awesome animal
Mammal that lives in the desert
Epic living conditions
Living in the desert

My Best Poem
The cat from the west
Was always the best
The cat from the east
Was liked the least
But both of them got some rest

Rum Balls
Things you will need:
Bowl
2 spoons
Plate
Blender or rolling pin
Measuring cup
Tray

Ingredients:
Cocoa
Condensed milk
Coconut
Arrowroot biscuits

Method:
1. Crush the biscuits.
2. Add 2-3 tablespoons of cocoa, mix well
3. Add ¾ cup of coconut mix well
4. Drizzle condensed milk slowly
5. Spread coconut on a flat tray
6. using the mix make a small ball and roll in coconut
7. put in fridge

With two weeks left before the competition closes we concentrated last Friday on Haikus. They are a message dense poetry form consisting of three lines. Each line has a specific number of syllables. The structure of a haiku poem is:
Line 1: Five syllables
Line 2: Seven syllables
Line 3: Five syllables
Once all the students had organised their thinking around haikus, we added another level of difficulty by introducing tankas for the Grades 5 and 6 students. Tankas have the same number of lines and syllables at the start as a haiku, and have a further two lines each of seven syllables.
Our haikus were good, as you will see, but we need to work more on our tankas.
After that we all moved on to try our hand at free verse. Again we will need to work more on this format.
What follows are a couple of samples of free verse from our students who still need a blog:
Music
Makes me feel happy.
It’s opposite to violence.
It’s so peaceful.

Video games
Makes me think of Minecraft and Call of Duty
Is the opposite of books
Can be described as awesome fun
Makes me feel tired, happy and angry

With the competition between our school, Alvie and Carlisle River not long away, I’m not sure we’re ready for this competition. If rhyming is all that matters in poetry, we would be fine, but it’s not of course. I’m not sure why we teachers can talk about rhythm, metaphor and so on but little of our suggestions end up on paper. Instead “cat” has to rhyme with “mat” so we’re only just beginning to break free from cultural expectations of what poetry can be. There were a few amusing limericks this week. Interested readers may want to look at our student’s blogs at the bottom right hand side of this page, to check out what we’ve worked on. One new student still hasn’t got a blog, so I’ve copy/ pasted his offering below.
My Life
I unlock my house with a key
I watch tv: something about the sea
But then I saw a bee
And a cat is stuck in a tree

Once upon a time there was a dog
Who had a cog
Then he camped in a log
And then got lost in the fog

Harry Reed a well known local identity, kindly visited our students last weekend, and shared his interest in poetry with our students. Some of the results are shown in this week’s student blogs. In addition we had a closer look at some of the techniques used by poets to make their poetry my interesting. The techniques that we used this week were metaphors and similes. With all but one blog up and running, readers will need to visit each blog to read what we have written, with the following exception from Noah:

The playful dog
Got lost in the fog
There was a cat who
Ate a rat
There was a fish
Who made a wish
There was a bird
Who was never heard
There was a pig
Wearing a wig
There was a goat
Who had a sore throat
There was a bunny
Who wasn’t funny
There was a snake
Who baked a cake
There was a lizard
Who got killed by a wizard
There was a cow
Who lied to meow
There was a horse
Who ate tomato sauce
There  was a donkey
that was wonky
there was a monkey
that was very funky

Metaphors and similes
Feet as large as a gorilla
As strong as stone
As big as a basket ball
As small as a mouse
As awake as an owl

Towards the end of August our school and two other small primary schools, Carlisle River and Alvie Consolidated plan to hold a poetry competition. These are the first efforts from our school using the technique of onomatopoeia.

The classroom
The hum of the lights
The cackle of the little kids
The squeak of the door
The thump of the tubs banging
The rustle of the pieces of paper
The stamping of students
The whispering of students

The slurping of the drink bottle
The whisper of Jackson
The humming of the fish tank
The screeches of pencils writing
The thumping of people walking

Sounds in a classroom
The Crack of the footsteps
The Swiss of the heater
The squeak of the door
The thump of the lockers
The buzz of the lights
The whisper of the talking
The crunch of the pencils

Sounds in the classroom
The woosh of the heater.
The screek of the floor.
The click of the floor

Yawns from other people
The buzzing from the light
The thumps of a teacher foot
An alarm from a computer
The click from a clock
The boom from my heart
The chattering of a teacher with a parent

The thumping of the tubs
The bubbling of the fish tank
The squeaking of the door
The fizzing of the lights
The ticking of the clock
The thumb of people’s feet
The whisper of the people

Sounds in our classroom
The squeaking of the door opening
The thumping of Mr Rogers foot steps
The fizzing of the lights
The bubbling of the fish tank
The banging of a heart beat
The skating of the people writing
The ticking of the clock

Last year, 2013 seemed like a very busy year at the time. This year though, has been even busier. Our school has been involved in a Science specialist project with a number of other schools, including Lismore PS and Alvie Consolidated School. A specialist Science teacher has been allocated to our schools, and additionally we have visited a Science Specialist Centre in Ballarat as part of the project: http://earthed.vic.edu.au/ Readers may be interested in looking further in to this. We have published accounts of this in our newsletters which can be found at http://www.beeacps.vic.edu.au/?page_id=39

Additionally we have become involved in an anti-bullying program. We have teamed up with the P-12 Grange College who act as mentors to a number of different schools including our own. The purpose of this relationship is for us to learn better ways to cope with bullies and also to teach our students better ways to cope with bullying. http://www.thegrange.vic.edu.au/content/student-wellbeing-deloraine

So we are half way through our school year. As has already been mentioned, we are very busy. What have we been doing? In summary, these are the many responses to the question from some of our Grade 3 to 6 students:

Joey: In term 2 for Active After School we played baseball. It was great the teacher taught our school lots of skills. We also did footy over at the oval it was fun we played lots of games that helped us with our skills for football. We are doing science it is good but sometimes it can get boring but most of the time it’s fun.

Grant; On the 28^th of April 5 different schools did cross country. Grades 4,5 and 6 went to Deans Marsh Primary School to compete. I ran 3.3km and finished  5^th out of 20. Normally the top 5 go through but I was 33 seconds too slow. So I did not  make it to the next level. I like doing cross country because we do lots of running and I like doing sport.

Angus: In term two we did lots of things including active after schools, Earth Ed, Science with Mr Cain, leader ship stuff (including going to Ballarat twice), farm safety, the mother’s day stall and many more things. One of the things I liked the most was our leadership stuff. The second time we went to Ballarat we got to read out people’s names and those people died in the First World War. The radio studio was 107.9 ABC. We also went to McDonalds twice. Another thing I enjoyed was baseball for active after schools. First we learnt how to throw and then how to catch. Then we did hitting and it was fun because for about three or four weeks we played real games of baseball. The last thing I enjoyed was the car rally. The reason I liked that was because it was old cars and I love old cars.

Tyler: This term we did lots of good things and some bad things. but the good thing were Anzac Day when we had a day off. We did Science with  Mrs Gellie and the Colac Herald came and took a picture of me and my brother. we ran a mother’s day stall for the school and the gifts were $5 each the packs came with some nutrimetics soap and body wash, bath fizzers and heaps of other girly stuff.4 Four people including me went to the Colac Golf Course for a tournament and afterwards we got a soft serve cone  from McDonalds. The day after that we did the NAPLAN language test then reading and numeracy. In June we got our school photos taken and we haven’t got our pictures back yet.2 days after that we went to the farm in Rokewood with Karen. Karen taught us farm safety we went to the farm and the owners had a 3d mini model of their farm.

Jacko: On the 22^nd of April 2014 Earth Ed came to Beeac p.s and the 3/4/5/6 room learnt about rocks and how to name them. On the Fridays we played baseball and some Tuesdays to catch up so we can have 7 times at baseball with Mr Delerenzo. We played games like baseball and more. On Mondays we played football and it was great fun.

Alex: In term 2 we did a farm walk and baseball. I enjoyed the farm walk because we did lots of cool things like standing in a fire truck, sheering shed, identifying dangerous items and we even had a sausage sizzle. I also liked doing baseball I mean we got to learn from Brendan in the Colac Braves. He taught us many things like how to throw really well and a very handy batting tactic. So that is what I enjoyed doing in term 2 at Beeac Primary School.

Lewis: In May Karen from Rokewood came to teach us about farm safety. At the end of our course we went to a farm by  bus. We learnt about how to be safe around the farm like going on a 4 wheel quad bike until you are 18. Also not to go on tractors without cabins, make sure you have a PTO guard is on your machinery, make sure you have the correct motorbike gear when being on a motorbike. When we went to the farm visit we saw dangerous things that we should have locked in a shed we also saw sheep ,tractors, motorbikes. I really enjoyed this course and learnt lots .

Anonymous: Attitude survey was asking where I feel safe. Earth ED came in telling us about different types of rocks: Sedimentary, Metamorphic and Igneous rock. Public holiday for Anzac day. First day for football with a Colac PE teacher. Second day for football. First day for baseball with Brendan Delerenzo. Fourth day for football. Second day for baseball. Farm safety walk and I ate an olive and it tasted yuck!!!

Mandy: At school we went to a cross country at Deans Marsh. We have also did visits when we go to a school or a school comes to our school in Beeac. On the 8^th of March we had a mothers day stall. We brought in 5 dollars and bought some things for our mums like chocolate, soaps, mugs and a few other things. On the 13^th 14^th and 15^th the grade 3 and 5s did the Naplan test and that quite hard. The 10^th of June the whole school had school photos done which was good. The 17^th of June the whole school got their reports and I didn’t want me report but in the end my report was good. On the 18^th of June we had parent teacher interviews that was ok.

Midia: On April the 11^th it was my birthday and it was on the school holydays. I got up at 9.00 I got a karaoke box and  minecraft poster  and I went  to the front room and I got a onsie and ug boots and then I went To  Woolworths to buy a cake  and it was a sponge cake  with cream in the middle with jam and  strawberry icing And I cut my cake and my sister got in to my cake then I yelled  at her and mum had a tooth ache  and went to bed.

A new student: Term 2 week 4 I came to Beeac primary school. I moved from Seaspray to the best school in the world Beeac!!! A couple of day later I went to farm safety We went on a bus to the farm and got lost but we found the way there. Mr Rogers is a very bad driver. At farm safety we learned about all the dangers on a farm and we saw some sheep. We saw some dogs running around On the way back to the bus the farmer let us have the olives! and we all thought they were berries so we ate them and they we disgusting so everyone spat them out.

Zac: Farm walk: farm walk was one of the best activities. We  learnt about all the dangers on the farm. I got to hop into the fire truck and all the other kids where in the back.EARTH ED: our TOPIC WAS BENEATH YOUR FEET.  WE LEARNT  ABOUT ROCKS SOIL AND LAND SCAPE. WE WENT ON A TRIP TO BALLERAT TO EARTH ED AND WE HAD LOTS OF FUN. BASEBALL: WE DID BASEBALL FOR ONE TERM WITH MR DELERENZO HE TUAGHT US TO CATCH AND THROW AND WE HAD A GAME OF BACE BALL.

Hayden: This term we have done lots of fun stuff like the science launch were we got to make slime and do crazy experiments. We have the class party tomorrow where we get to watch a movie eat party food and dress in casual cloths.

Kaitlin: My first thing that I enjoyed was the GRIP leadership program. Four of us and our principal went to Ballarat to learn to be a good leader. One of the ways was to lead like a strawberry not like a watermelon. Watermelons are hard and green on the outside and soft on the inside that means if you tell someone to do something when you don’t even do it yourself. Strawberries are soft and pink all over so that means that you should be equal all over. Roll of owner war memorial  On Thursday 19^th of June four of us went to Ballarat ABC broadcasting studio and read out names of people who died in world war one. We had to read out the names then the age of them. When we had finished reading out the names we had Lunch. We got back at around 1:00 o’clock we had fun at the broadcasting studios. These are all the things I liked in term 2.

New student:  Farm safety In term two we went to farm safety on the way we got lost Mr Maddens smart phone got us lost and we were late. When we got there we had sausages we went on a fire truck And then went into the shearing shed it smelt really bad then we saw some sheep.

Chelsea: Anzac Day was we got the day off. Badminton was fun we got out some equipment to play with. Earth Ed  was a great visit too.

Our class are experimenting with tagxedo to create word pictures about the way that cyber bullying can hurt people when they are attacked on the internet. A closer look at some of our students blogs will show the work that we have done. In addition these are two examples from students who don’t have their own blogs.

You can click the Voki hot links below> They will show you an animated character that appears to speak. Our students have been discussing safety on the internet. As you will see if you visit their blogs. They each have a message for you about safety on the internet.

Below are two links from students who do not have their own blogs.

http://www.voki.com/pickup.php?scid=8833194&height=267&width=200

http://www.voki.com/pickup.php?scid=8832852&height=267&width=200