BLOCKBUSTER

As part of our inquiry into shops and money, we developed our thinking around a photo of a Blockbuster Video store which was closing down. After questions and discussion, we used drama to deepen our thinking: who might be affected by the closure and what is their viewpoint?
Brodie, Antonio, Daniel, Lucas, Tara, Jai, Monique, William, Dion, Shoma, Joshua, Madison, Zoe and Jema star in our movie.
See if you can you spot these characters: the man person with no car, the Blockbuster store owner, the manager of K-Mart, the businessman in a hurry, the Blockbuster worker, the bank manager, the fashion store guy, the teenager, the grandparents, and the potato chip delivery guys.

THINKING CHALLENGE:  Leave a comment based on: “I used to think … but now I think…” about video shops, shops closing, or other issues that you have noticed in our activity.

HELP US WITH OUR SHOPPING SURVEY

Hello friends of Grade 2L.  Can you help us with some research? We want to discover how people get their movies: where they get them from and how they pay for them. Can you please answer our research questions?  This will help us think more deeply about shops and money in our world.

GUEST BLOG POST: Antonio, “The Spooky Dungeon”

Someone got in a scary place.  It was very loud.  It was dusty.

Everyone was freezing when the ghost got closer and closer while the people were getting colder and colder.

And then the ghost has disappeared.

One hour later the people heard crackling.  It was doors banging. When the people came closer the doors went louder and louder.

And then someone was behind the doors.  It was a wolf.  The wolf chased the people.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhh” said the people. They were safe from the dungeon but not from the wolf. Closer and closer came the wolf with his hot breath and sharp teeth right behind them.

NUMBER CONNECTIONS

William’s Mum Gail leads a group of young mathematicians who are showing the link between numbers and how these can be described using a number sentence.  They used the apps ‘DoodleBuddy’ and ‘ShowMe’ on the iPad.  It was a marvellous way to record their thinking.

Do you think they should make another video?  What should they do to improve their work?

GUEST BLOG POST: Isabella, “The Haunted House”

In my friend’s house it was so creepy. I always heard a wooooooooo! sound when I came into the house. But this time it was different. Something changed.  Some dust fell on me and I felt myself shrinking.

There were giant skeletons all over the place…colossal spider webs, they were freaky as.

And then there was a trap.  I fell into a dungeon.  Enormous  mice were running. My teeth were chattering and my legs were shaking like jelly.  A huge swarm of the giant mice came scuttling over to me and shoved me into the dungeon.  The mice were so mean that they even put me in chains.

And then I saw ghosts.

It was cold as well. I almost froze to death.  I looked around…I saw no windows.

Will I be stuck in here FOREVER?

GUEST BLOG POST: Marcus, “The Haunted House”

Very slowly I tiptoed into the house. There were loud crackling noises in the back. Shadows were coming towards me. Zombies!  They were doing work for the Zombie King, digging with their shovels and looking for jewels.

The zombies looked green and their sound was like AWWWWW! My heart shivered. The Zombie King towered over them with a huge scythe in his hand.

I sneaked up on them. A trapdoor creaked beneath my foot. Then they heard me.  I lifted the trapdoor. I thought I was safe until CRRREEEAKKK. They tried to find me in the dark but luckily I escaped.  When I opened a door sunlight whooshed in and killed the zombies. They turned into dust. Lucky for me or otherwise I would have been a zombie.

FOR OUR QUADBLOGGING BUDDIES -THINGS TO DO WHEN THINGS GO WRONG

Hello Quadblogging buddies, can you help us with one of our learning projects?  Please contribute to help us understand more about ourselves.

Grade 2L in Melbourne, Australia  are out to prove that they don’t just learn ABOUT the world: they learn WITH the world.
The task: have you ever felt upset, sad or angry? What can you do to change your thinking so that you can ‘bounce back’. We have created a GoogleDocs Presentation to assemble all our ideas.  Please put your ideas in, preferably in comic-strip form.  You will need your teacher’s help to access the GoogleDocs Presentation. If that is not possible, create a picture with a message on our topic, and email it to us.
Thanks
Brette Lockyer

Graphs – What Do They Tell Us?

We have been investigating graphs – how they help us think mathematically about the world. In this video, Daniel, Chanel, Ella, Jai and Joe show us that they know how to have a title for a graph, how to use labels, and how to read the number scale of a graph.

Can you think of another story for one of these graphs?  Leave it here in the comments.

GUEST BLOG POST – BLAKE

THE CLIFF

People try to cross The Cliff. Men do it. They are stupid and they get killed.

When they first get to The Cliff, it looks easy.  They try different ways of crossing.

They use a skateboard. They think they can get to the landing in between it but they do not succeed.

Someone tried a jet pack.  Three people jumped on but they caught on fire and they had to let go. The whole world heard the man scream as he fell. The other two crashed.

One man had a gigantic stick, like a pole vaulter.  He put his stick down and with all his strength he jumped. On the other side he met a man who slashed him with his sword.

Do you think you can get across?  Do you have the strength and the bravery? You will need one thing more. You will need the help of The Archer on your side of the cliff. He will shoot his arrows and protect you when the swordsman goes to slash you.

Don’t ever try to cross The Cliff by yourself.

Want to read this book on your iPad or iPod Touch?  Download it into your iTunes from this link:

The Cliff