***TERM+2***

 
 * //__HOW CAN I MAKE A DIFFERENCE?__//**

Welcome to our new term's topic... HOW CAN I MAKE A DIFFERENCE, focusing on caring for our environment. As you know we've already set up our sustainability groups and all of you have made a great start to your 'making a difference' posters.

WEEK THREE TASK ===This week you can click on the following link and play a game where the aim is to make the energy usage meter go down by answering questions about reducing energy in the house. As with all our games played during literacy sessions, please remember to turn the volume off!!! [|Energy Saving Game]=== ===After you've finished the game, you are to go to the discussion link on this page, and REPLY to the WEEK THREE DISCUSSION link, telling us your 'hot tip' for saving energy, explaining why it's a good idea and if you or your family are doing this at home. Remember to type your sentences in a word document first, then copy and paste into the discussion link. Also monitor your time, so you can complete the task by the end of your literacy session.===

//**__This week's winning posts__**// are..... Eliza and Eden .... yes, this is their second time having their work published on our home page...CONGRATULATIONS!!!!
__** Eden's entry **__...This is my hot tip. If you can’t afford a water tank you can use a rubbish bin all you do is take the lid off when it’s raining and when it has filled up with water you get your watering can fill it up and water your garden. My family does this at home we also use our drinking water that is left over on our garden.

__** Eliza's entry **__...WATER Try use cold water as much as you can, not hot. Use a clothes line instead of a dryer. Only use the dish washer for a full load. AIR Don’t leave window open for too long. Close doors so the heat stays in the room. SUN Use the suns power instead of electricity. Get insulation for your roof. Try not to use your ceiling lights.

WEEK FOUR TASK

Here you will find four stories;

 * 1) A water drop's adventure through the water cycle.
 * 2) A journey through the water supply system.
 * 3) A tour of a house and what you can't put down the sink.
 * 4) The sewage system.

===Choose at least one story (you won't have time to read them all and complete this week's task) and write A MINIMUM OF 3 __INTERESTING__ SENTENCES on something you have learnt and found interesting (again, remember to turn the volume off, and to type your post in a word document before posting in this week's discussion post).===

//**__This week's winning posts__**// are..... Leah and Stephen ...CONGRATULATIONS!!!! Their posts both stood out as being //original//, //interesting// and having //no spelling errors//.
Water With people polluting our waters, lakes, rivers, and much more, the little bugs and anything living in the water can die. So stop the rubbish now. Some people might not know but water is more valuable than gold, so don’t waste it! Did you know your favourite apple is filled up with nearly all water, I know amazing isn’t it! __ **Stephen's Entry:** __ I found out that littering can affect fish or other sea creatures so much. I didn’t know that reservoirs keep our water storage. I found out that lots of rubbish flows through our pipes and drains.
 * __ Leah's Entry __:**

WEEK FIVE TASK ===This week we're looking at recycling and cutting down on the amount of rubbish that goes into our garbage bins and therefore our landfill. Click on the following link [|Recycling Game] to sort household waste into appropriate containers. While you are playing the game, have a word document open and write as much information as possible about recycling, what items go where, how to prepare different items for recycling and the variety of ways you can recycle. Copy and paste your information into this week's discussion post.===

==//**The quality of this week's entries were OUTSTANDING!!! But I had to choose 2 - so here goes.... __this week's winning posts__**// are..... Ashleigh and Tayelle ...CONGRATULATIONS!!!! All the posts were fantastic, but these two were chosen as they focussed on the idea of reducing landfill and had personal suggestions for recycling.==

__ Ashleigh's Entry... __ Don’t throw your scraps away because you can just put the scraps in the compost and you will have fewer things in your bin at home. Putting things in the compost is a good way of recycling. When you are thinking about throwing some clothes clothes away DON’T. Give them to someone who appreciates the clothes. This is also a good way of recycling. If you have got old pieces of paper that you don’t need any more place it in the rubbish bin. Don’t scrunch paper up because it’s easier to recycle paper when it’s flat. All of these ideas are a good way of recycling!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

__Tayelle's Entry...__ When you are throwing clothes and shoes away, make sure the clothes and shoes are clean. Did you know that if you have put too much vegetable peelings in the rubbish bin it’s not healthy for the environment, so put it in the compost bin and use it for your garden and keep the gardens clean. Don’t throw tyres away, reuse them. Recycle plastic containers and other plastic things. Use old phones and get a new battery instead of throwing it away. If there’s a really old phone book then put it in the paper recycling bin. Don’t throw away a computer if it’s broken, let the kids over six years old play with it and it’s good to take the glass out be for you give it to them.

WEEK SIX TASK As we're now focusing on designing our own recycling machine I thought we'd have another week on recycling, but this time looking at some different stages involved in recycling. Play the following game [|The Amazing Recyle-me-Whoozitz Machine] and follow each of the six items through the machine. Once you're finished, choose one of the recycled items and write the different stages they go through to be recycled - remember to mention what it's has been recycled into! Can you think of anything else to turn these items into? Remember to post your item in the Week Six Discussion post.

If you finish this early there are some other fun quizes here [|Waste Eco Quiz] and here [|Waste Busters]

==//**You guys are really getting good at this!!! Again, the overall quality of the entries was FANTASTIC!! This week I chose the winners as they answered the question "what do the old items turn into" and used their own knowledge to make their post more interesting.**// **__This week's winning posts__** are..... Tahlia and Adam!!! ...CONGRATULATIONS!!!!== __Tahlia's Entry...__ Organic

When you put the apple cores in the machine the first thing it does is blend it. The second time it takes out the garbage which is usually plastic bags. The third thing to do is take out the water because it is getting too soggy. There is only mud left .The bacteria turns it into something new. WOW it turned it into soil for your garden. Tips: Try and reuse food scraps like apple cores and banana scraps and crust of sandwiches.

__Adam's Entry...__ Paper being recycled First the paper is wetted and it looks a lot like soup (mmmm soup) and the ink or pencil marks etc morph out so now it’s a big blob of paper. Then it is dried in an oven and after that the paper is flattened and rolled out so now it is a big big BIG sheet of paper. Then it is cut into a4, a3 or a2 and finally its stacked into trucks and ready to be taken to paper shops or newsagencies’ or office works.

WEEK SEVEN TASK Since we started our Sustainability unit we've been talking a lot about different types of energy. This week here's an Energy Quiz to see how much you know about Fossil Fuels. Take the quiz [|here] and answer the 8 questions (it's a Canadian website, so you'll just have to guess the last question)! Have a word document open and note down as much information you've learnt about fossil fuels. Also include your ideas about how we can reduce the use of our fossil fuels.

==//**This week I chose the winners that tried to put in their own words what they had learnt about fossil fuels and showed a variety of facts (of course I was also looking out for spelling errors).**// **__Week 7's winning posts__** are.....==

Kayli and Harrison!!! ...CONGRATULATIONS!!!!
__Kaylis Entry...__ Wood is NOT a fossil fuel. Fossil fuels are what their name says they are. Fossil fuels are the remains of ancient plants and animals found in rocks that can be used as fuel (something we use to get energy).Wood is a type of fuel but not a fossil fuel. Petroleum means rock oil. In Greek petra means rock and oleum means oil. Put it together and you have petroleum. Coal is made from dead plants. It takes about 440 million years for coal to be made.90% of energy used around the world is fossil fuels.

__Harrison's Entry...__ Fossil Fuels: Did you know that wood is not a fossil fuel; it usually comes from a tree. Carbon Dioxide (CO2): 2.4 kg of CO2 is put into the air from 1 litre of gas of a car. Petraoleum: Did you know that petraoleum is rock-oil! Global warming: Using fossil fuels for energy contributes the most global-warming! Coal: Coal is a fossil-fuel; it’s actually made of dead plants! Energy: 90% of energy is used worldwide to make things! Gas: Natural gas

WEEK ELEVEN TASK ===This week we're summing up all we have learnt about how to make a difference in our environment so this week's task is to publish your ideas on how to become a more sustainable citizen, that is, what changes you can make TODAY to help our environment by becoming more sustainable. You are to type these ideas on your sustainability wiki, under your Sustainability Group's page.===

THANKS FOR A FANTASTIC TERM EVERYONE!!!