Blogging with Kidblog: Add new post

It's time to start using Kidblog to share your writing with others in the class. Over the next few weeks we will explore the features of Kidblog, such as:

• drafting a new post
• submitting it to the teacher for review
• publishing your post for others to read
• reading other people's posts
• commenting (giving feedback) on other people's posts
• replying to comments made by others on your posts
• adding photos and weblinks to your posts
• and more...! 

Play the Presentation below if you are just starting out or if you have forgotten how to log in and add a new post.

Research, draft and format a Powerpoint slide with photo and caption

This is our second learning activity with Powerpoint. I really enjoyed our Graffiti presentation - so here is the Kakadu presentation.

Anyone who hasn't finished yet is welcome to finish and I can add your slide too, anytime.

What skills did we use?

I would like you to think about your learning in terms of technology (T) and research/ language (R / L) skills. Which of these 9 tasks are T, R or L???

1. After going to the internet, we explored and then selected an image from a Google Album.
2. Then we downloaded the image to our folders using Windows Explorer.
3. In Powerpoint, we inserted a New Slide (one with Title, Caption and Photo).
4. We inserted the photo and typed the title.
5. We 'googled' the animal, plant or bird using the Google Search tool
6. We located a useful website that had some information about the subject. I asked for some information about where it is found (location and habitat), some of its habits, eg what it likes to eat and if it is common or rare.
7. We read the information and wrote notes (some of us just pasted sentences directly into the slide, didn't we?) 
8. We typed the text and checked the spelling, grammar and punctuation.
9. Finally we changed the size of the text so that the text and photo filled the slide (formatted the text) and saved the presentation to our folder and to Jill's folder.

What was the source of the information you used?

We forgot to write the name and location of the source information on each slide. You can easily do this by copying the web address of the website and pasting it in to the slide. We will definitely do this next time: it's polite and important when doing research about a topic.

Well done, everyone. Once again, I really enjoyed viewing all your work together.

Term 3 / Week 5 - 6: Write a short report

It's time to practice writing a short report of an event that occurred recently or something that you viewed on TV. You can view it several times to collect the details that are important to the report.
Use this template for writing a News Report to write notes about:

• the background to the event
• when and where the event took place
• who was involved
• what the result was

Then organise your ideas by writing the information in sentences in the three paragraphs below.

Here is a short video news report which we can write up as a report. And here is a humpback whale.

Humpback whale from wikipedia

You might also need to use the following words: 'yacht' and 'Moreton Bay'.

Here is a possible News report (answer sheet) about the experience with the Humpback whale.

Dictation: New citizens will vote for the first time

This dictation is a little different to others we have done this year. Listen to the sentences and try to write as much as you remember. But this time, you don't have to write exactly what you hear as long as the meaning is similar. The main thing is that your sentences are grammatically correct and they make sense - the reader can understand the meaning.

Did you miss.... in Week 5 and 6? 

• Here is the News item we read last Friday: Small town a new horizon for 19 citizens. The last two pages have some possible answers - you can write different sentences - just check spelling, grammar and punctuation are correct. Thanks to Jane Lucas for adapting the text and developing the reading tasks.
• Practice writing notes for work - the first page of this worksheet has space for you to summarise the notes using dot points - the second page has the ANSWERS. Thanks to Sophie for her answers.
• The second news report is: Man impaled through head on Sydney construction site from Yahoo CH 7 news service. You can use the above Write a News Report template to help you plan, organise and write your report.
• Here is the worksheet: Reported statements with a change of tense for you to print and complete. When you are finished you can check your answers - on pages 3 and 4.

Election '13 - Counting your vote video and quiz

This is what kids do in school! This video introduces the different voting systems, including preferential voting. Listen and test yourself with the quiz afterwards.

Term 3 / Week 4 - Read the News: decode the headlines

Here is a presentation with a slide for each headline to decode (make sense of it) and to correct the English language. This will help you to quickly decide what the story is about.

Follow the instructions for each slide. You can click on the links to the source (the story as published on the internet) and to some word definitions using the Cambridge online dictionary.

Your challenge

Find a headline and decode it. Explain it to the class. We will add these to the presentation throughout the semester.

Did you miss....?  Work in Week 4

• Reported Speech: Here is the link to Reported Speech with a change of tense - from Walker, Unit, 78 
• Reported Speech: read the news story - New Australian citizens prepare to vote for the first time and answer the 4 questions on the last page using your own words to make sentences with indirect speech. 
• Practice writing notes for work - the first page of this worksheet has space for you to summarise the notes using dot points - the second page has the ANSWERS.

Term 3 / Week 3: Good evening, here is the news....

This term we will develop our reading skills with the News - we'll also listen to the News and write about the News. The language of the News is often very difficult: the writers pack a lot of words into each sentence using big noun groups and the readers often speak very quickly!

News on the internet

It's good to listen the news on the internet because you can pause any time to think about what you heard and you can play it again.

On some news websites you can read the captions at the same time as listen to the words - this is a brilliant way to improve your language skills.

Real news: useful websites

• News in 90 Seconds - you can read the transcript as you listen to this version of ABC News 24.
• If you have a Yahoo email account, the Yahoo 7 News is right there whenever you sign out. Click on a news item and you'll usually also see a video of News highlights at the end of the text.

•  If you have a Gmail account, you have probably noticed Google News - this is very easy to find, just 'Google' it.

What other news sites do you like? Let us know so we can add them here.

Language websites with 'news'

• VILC - new News is put here every two weeks - listen then click on the book icon to read the text too. Test yourself with the exercises. Challenge yourself with the Intermediate Level news. Listen to the old news too. Remember our username is 500vilcst and our Password in 2013 is in on the noticeboard in the CNLC Computer room (it's only for students and teachers of CNLC but you can sign in at home too).
•  VOA (Voice of America) Learning English has real news stories spoken slower than usual and you can read the captions at the same time. Scroll down the page to find news items.
• ELLLO English learning website also has news items but these are not real. 
• Simple English news has short stories which you can listen to and read at the same time. Choose a category of news on the right and select an item. Careful - don't click any advertisements! Can you see all the advertisements circled in the screenshot below: 

 

• BBC English has Words in the News - this features a news story each day with help with vocabulary and exercises you can do by yourself. It's great - try the story 'Sharkproof Divers' from Australia.

What other language websites feature 'news'? Let us know so we can add them here.

 

And just for fun: what is a blooper?

Have a look at this video: Best News Bloopers March 2013 and work out what a blooper is (Skip the Ad as soon as you can).

Independent learning

Choose a news item on your favourite website and write about it in your Independent learning journal: explain the who? what? when? where? and then describe what you learnt.

 

Did you miss....?  Work in Week 3

• Reported Speech: here is the link to the Worksheet: She said that / He told me that - from Murphy, Unit 49 
• Sing along to the song Waltzing Matilda (Queensland version).

Touring the Top End

Our camping and touring the Top End of the Northern Territory is nearly finished. We have stayed in several national parks for two or three nights at a time so that we don't have to set up camp too frequently. Putting up the tent and then finally packing everything back in the car are the two time consuming tasks.

Setting up is a lot quicker if you don't need the fly on the tent

At Katherine Gorge and Edith Falls (both in Nitmiluk National Park) we spent time walking to spots on the river to have a swim. The weather is so warm that you don't need a towel when you get out of the water. In fact, it's best to stay wet for the walk back to camp to keep cool in the hot sun.

Sweet water Pool above Edith falls

In Kakadu National Park we did the same at a place called Gunlom where we could climb to the top of the waterfall and swim in numerous pools at the top as well as the pool at the bottom.

But in the north of Kakadu, you are not allowed to swim in the rivers at all - it's crocodile country. So we took a cruise in a flat bottom boat to view the crocs and spot other wildlife, mainly birds that you don't see in the south of Australia.

We also paid for a day tour in Arnhem land - this is Aboriginal country and you have to apply for a permit to go there and usually pay for a guide there to show you around. Iseriah was our guide and he showed us around a hill where there are secret rock art sites and even a burial site (we saw human remains which are kept secret so that people don't steal them).

Iseriah explains the body painting for dancing

Have you googled any of the new words that I used in the previous post? I hope you can tell me some information about places or animals I mentioned when I return!

Finally, what does this sign mean? Can you correct the English?

Eight days' driving to Mataranka in the Northern Territory

Well, it's not always that long, but we decided to take the route through western New South Wales and Queensland.

Day 2 - at Griffith, we bought oranges and broccoli from a Sicilian roadside merchant who arrived in Moonee Ponds in 1964. Along the roadside, we started noticing lots of white litter which turned out to be balls of cotton- for 100 kms perhaps.

We spotted emus frequently but whenever we pulled over to take a photo, they would move off quite quickly.

Day 3: Cobar to Charleville (619kms) Goats and more goats

Back o' Bourke - there are dead roos (red and greys) at least every half a kilometre. In town, whistling kites circling overhead. Street trees: ficus and boabs along with other eucalypts.

At the Port of Bourke the river banks are high and steep - with levy banks beyond them - an indication of regular if infrequent huge floods though houses have been built right near the banks.

In Charleville the sulphur smell is obvious when you turn a tap on - the sign on the bench in the motel room assured us that the water is fine to drink.

Day 4: Charleville to Longreach (515 kms) No place for Old roos

The road trains are 50 metres long with as many as 3 trailers. I noticed several stock transports actually carrying goats! Maybe all those goats we saw on the road here were not feral! 

The rest of the vehicles are caravans and camper vans pulled by Grey Nomads touring the country. 

We didn't see inside the Workers' Heritage centre at Barcaldine but the timber sculpture over the Tree of Knowledge was impressive and the heritage streetscape of old hotels was well preserved.

Day 5: Longreach to Cloncurry (545kms)- Brolgas in the desert

Every town around here (Longreach, Charleville and Winton) claims the birth of Qantas (Queensland and Northern Territory Airways). But Winton owns the famous song, Waltzing Matilda. Here is a great 'Queensland' version of Waltzing Matilda on Youtube. And here are the words to the song (the lyrics).

The landscape is empty of stock and even the roo carcasses are fewer here too.

Whilst we ate a sandwich prepared on the tailgate at a roadside servo called Kynuna we were entertained by Apostlebirds scrounging Crumbs. I tried to ignore the cattle in the road train shuffling around impatiently and occasionally moo-ing sadly. Then as we accelerated out on to the highway we watched a pair of brolgas wandering along in the gravel. Where's the water? 

Day 6: Cloncurry to Camooweal

This country is starting to look hot, even when it's not- red anthills, ghost gums, broad sandy riverbeds and whistling kites overhead.

Day 7  - From rural outback Queensland to the Northern Territory via the Barkly Tablelands and the Stuart highways.

There was a whole lot of nothing between Camooweal, Barkly homestead and the Stuart highway.

The days are getting longer- this is what we observed at 6 pm whilst preparing dinner outside our rustic motel room at Renner. However, the mozzies drove us inside at dusk.

Days 8 and 9 - Mataranka Hot Springs - delightfully warm, mild weather - Time to stretch and relax!

The whole springs area has been cleverly arranged (back in 1999) so that everyone steps into the clear blue water of the Little Roper River at one point and floats down on the current to another entry about 70 metres downstream and then you all walk back to the start and go in again, as often as you like. This was so pleasant and relaxing that we decided to spend the next day doing the same, to stretch our sore back muscles from the constant and long days spent driving.