On the Book Shelf...

Year 5 students share their book reviews.

Ella says: "We had to make a book review on a book that we loved and would recommend. We had to do it in book creator because it was easier to write and add photos to make it look pretty. I learned to never judge a book by its cover and to never give too much information."

Kaeden says: "This is our English assessment for term 4. We had to make a book review on a book we have read. I did this firstly in my book, and then in book creator. We did this so we could get people who read it to read the book."

Maddy says: "We were given the task to write a book review about a book we have read recently. We were told to make a book creator book with our book review and I learnt about what makes a book review and that the quantity doesn't matter as much as the quality. Book creator is a great app because of the useful resources you can add videos, photos, text, backgrounds etc."

Space Art and Tourism

Year 5 students have combined persuasive writing and space science this term, in very creative ways. Their task was to research a planet and create a brochure convincing their classmates to make their planet an adventure holiday destination. Let's see if they can convince you to partake of some interplanetary travel this holiday...?

Here's what Sam says about the project:

"The task was to try to persuade year 5 to go to the planet we researched.

I use Comic Life because it is easy and simple to use. I learnt lots about Jupiter and the other planets, from other people in the class."

by Alistar

by Sam

by Georgia and Eva

Jamie says: "This is a painting of the stars in the solar system. I made it in Art Set. We had to do a sketch of the stars in the solar system before we actually painted the real thing."

By Jamie 

by Jadrian

Welcome to the Zoo!

Students in Year 5 share their research on animals...

Grace: "We had to learn about an animal then present the information to the class. 

The app I used was Book Creator it is a app used to create digital books and presentations."

Arabella: "I created a book on about a Platypus adaptations. I created this book in Book Creator, it was really fun to make. I had to research the adaptations of the Platypus. This book was presented in front of my class."

 Alistar: "This project was a really good memory of Year 5."

Flooding in Year 5

Year 5 students have been learning about natural disasters this term. Here, for your enjoyment, are some of the students' reflections about the tasks and the work they produced on the topic of floods.

Aidan: "We were learning about floods and had an two SES volunteers come to our classroom and talk to us about floods.  They also discussed what you would need in an emergency kit.  Afterwards we were given the task of making our own emergency kit and presenting it in some way. I used Comic Life 3, because you can choose from a variety of templates, fonts and can create a wide variety of projects easily."

Chanel: "We had to create a flood emergency kit in Comic Life to help prepare for the bad storms this season. I took my own photos from home."

by Aidan L

By Mary F

by Eva

by Chanel

By Luca

Mia L: "I wrote this piece of writing because we are doing our Geography work on floods and natural disasters. I used Pages which is easy to type in a long piece of writing and has lots of fonts and different colours for you to choose for your text. I learnt a lot from this task. We were lucky enough for Christa Adams to come in and talk to us and we also had SES volunteers come in to speak to us. I learnt how some floods are caused by hurricanes and other natural disasters and I learnt there are different types of floods like a riverine flood and a flash flood which is caused by lots of rain."

The Day It Flooded 2011

by Mia L

After days and days of rain my family and I were so relieved that the rain was over and there was a nice sunny day. Everybody had been outside mowing their lawns and that was when we got the flood warnings on the television from Anna Bligh. She said that anybody close to the river had to evacuate their homes because there was a massive flood on the way. We didn't believe her. How could it possibly flood on a sunny day like today. Footage on the news showed gushing water swallow Granthem and masses of rain up in the north. That's when we got the message it was time to evacuate the house. We found ourselves in the Hillsong evacuation centre, there weren't many people there because many people had found another place to stay. We had mattresses and blankets and slept there for a couple nights until the riverine flood was over and it was safe to return home and clean up the mess. The riverine flood was caused by so much water filling the Brisbane River, eventually the banks burst because the ground couldn't soak up anymore water. That's how the Brisbane River slowly crept up on it's prey and little by little devoured resident's homes and businesses.

We felt devastated when we got home, all our lovely furniture and memories gone. There was a ghastedly smell through the house and mud smothered the walls and all our furniture. We tried to hose off the house it was no use, that's when the fire brigade came along, they used their massive fire fighting hoses to wash all the thick sticky mud off the walls. Lots of people turned up to help, we had the SES volunteers and also the mud army which was made out of friendly strangers who heard about the natural disaster. It was tiring work, lots of companies helped with food supplies for the people who were helping out there was Zushi, a Chinese company who made sandwiches galore. We also had Rotary who cooked up a massive sausage sizzle. Lots of the areas around Brisbane that got flooded were repaired but sometimes people's insurance companies didn't pay for all the damage that had happend. The cafe Drift was never repaired because the insurance company didn't pay for when it floated down the river and collided with a bridge.

Brisbane went world wide because so many people from different states came to help out after what happened to Brisbane City. Councillor Christa Adams was being interviewed by so many foreign television companies and lots of volunteers and victims did as well. Lots of different counties admired what Australia did to help out what was called one of the biggest floods in Queensland's history. Every time it rains my family and I always get nervous and think about the 2011 floods and hope that we will never have to experience those terrible times again.


Maddy B: "This year we were learning about floods and we had to do a writing about flood for English and geography. We had to pretend to be a victim, an SES volunteer etc. and write what the flood was like from our character's point of view.We had a range of different resources to help us write about the 2011 Queensland flood. We used Qr codes, iTunes U courses, Videos etc. to help us write about flood and put true facts in about what it would have been like."

Flood 2011

by Maddy B.

I am Willow Summers I am 15 standing in the courtyard with my sisters Hope who is
16 ,Faith who is 5 and brother Soul who is 6. We have just received a warning that Brisbane is going to be flooded my mum called me and told me she saw on the television the flooding in Granthem and told us to meet us at home.I was petrified and started thinking what if my family get separated? I was so scared our school was in the middle of evacuation.We will lose our home I thought cause our house is right by the river.

Three hours later......

I am trudging through the water home cause the water is now up to my waist clutching my sister Faith and Hope carrying Soul we arrive in front of the house where mum said we would meet and am staring at the destruction. I am frantically running screaming there names "Mum.......Dad" I started to cry and weep. I was so worried about Mum and Dad I didn't realise something important ....The water was rising and started pushing me and my sister and I were drifting apart and she was heading straight into the river where the water had broken the fence.My brother was screaming and squirming "I am coming" I was squealing as I tried running against the current. "Aaaaaaahhhhhhhhh" Faith shrieked I then grabbed her she gave me soul but as I tried to pull her up the water made my hands slip and she fell. "No" I shrieked .Faith and Soul were relieved as the water started too recede but in my head I was thinking it happened too late they were wondering what happened they were too young to understand what happened "where did she go"Soul stared making big eyes the eyes he usually uses when he wants something I said nothing "is she coming back" ......but he then began to sob cause secretly in his heart he knew she wasn't coming back.We made it to the evacuation centre and community response when they heard about my sister they came over and hugged me.I saw the community was helping people who had lost there homes.The mud army helping to get rid of the mud it made you feel good inside.The SES volunteers were delivering food just then I heard a voice a familiar voice "Willow" the voice called I turned around to see my mum "mum" I said running towards her and gave her a hug.But then a slash of guilt ran through me "mum I have to tell you something...ah.."I was interrupted by the screams of Soul and Faith running towards us "mum" they hollered "Soul...Faith I have missed you..." She look around "where..where's Hope" she stuttered she saw me beginning to wail "Willow what's happened"she looked concerned "she's ......Gone" I cried "she fell down into the river and drowned I tried to save her but my hand slipped and she fell" I snivelled.

5 hours later we were starting to help the community we helped make food ,clear mud and see others experience in the flood.It was truly a sight to see and I know that Hope would of loved it . I have it excepted that she wouldn't of wanted me miserable I thought as I went to give out food and it felt good helping after all I have been through.

5years later.... Reflection

We were visiting my sisters grave like we do every weekend I knelt down and placed flowers down "I miss you" I whispered. "The memories haunt me every night they are becoming less frequent but everytime I hear them I feel like I let her down.Still every morning is daunting thinking what if it happened again we could barely afford to get our house fixed and what if I lose someone else but that's why you should live everyday to the fullest... 

Leaving St. Catherine's?

Students who are leaving St Catherine's at the end of the year (boo hoo!) and are not enrolling elsewhere at another BCE school, you will lose access to your BCE student account (including LIFE, email, MySite and School Portal) after December 31st, 2015.

Bye bye BCE student accounts!

So.... If you are moving on to another Catholic primary school in Brisbane, or a BCE secondary school such as Clairvaux Mackillop or Seton College, then you can relax - you will keep your BCE student account for as long as you are enrolled at that school.

If you are moving on to a State or other independent school such as Villanova, Loreto, St Laurences, All Hallows, Redeemer Lutheran or Lourdes Hill (for example), you will no longer have access to your BCE student account after the last day of 2015. We recommend that once school finishes, you retrieve any files, messages or information currently stored with your BCE accounts that you want to keep, as soon as you can and definitely before December 31st.

You are also advised to change the primary email address on your Apple ID, if it is currently your BCE student email address. You can change the primary email address on the Apple website.

We're sorry to see you go!
Come back anytime, we'll always be here...

Year 5 on FIRE

Year 5 students studied natural disasters this term. In their library lessons with Mrs Hegarty they looked at Jackie French and Bruce Whatley's wonderful picture book, Fire. Here are some of the students' responses to the book and other stimulus materials they were immersed in during "familiarisation" sessions.

Students wrote a paragraph in "first person" point of view, imagining they were fire itself. Four students' written work is accompanied here by the pastel wash art works they created. We are certain you'll be impressed!

When asked about the written task, these children commented:

Kayla: "I love this piece of writing because I think it shows that my writing skills are improving a lot. The task was to pretend you where a fire, and you could be a good fire or a bad fire. I was a bad fire. I used Pages because it's easy and quick and I know how to use it well. I leaned lots of different words and my vocabulary has improved a lot as well spelling and punctuation."

Max: "I used pages because we could make the font bigger and its a good typing app.  I learnt that I am a good descriptive writer." 

Abby: "In library we were looking at similes, metaphors, alliteration and onomatopoeia. We had to write about either being the fire or the victim of the fire."

Rosie: "I wrote this piece of writing because we learned from Mrs Hegarty about the fire and we had to add some metaphors, similes and figurative language. I used pages becuase it's really easy to use and you can change the font or the colour of the writing. I learned  about what damage fires to to people and their houses. I also learned how to use pages better and more efficiently. I loved doing this task and here is my picture I painted myself."

Now sit back, relax and enjoy the students' work...

I am leaping like a cheetah over houses and I can't control my temper. I see lots of cabins so I stretch over to them and scuff them down like a lion. I feel like exploding I am a giant towering over the trees. I can smell everything in my path burning into ashes. I love it. I can just hear everything burning and crackling. I can make every thing go boom. I love to taste the ashes as I make the trees shrivel to little pieces as I grow. Now I'm surrounded by trees. There is nothing in sight but trees and hills. It is so much fun being evil and a bully. The trees tall and tough so they think, but when they are compared to me, they are nothing.

By Max 

I was started by a camp fire, and spread my body to coat the land in flaming, flashing fire. As I spread my body around the vast deserts of Uluru I became bigger and bigger like a balloon . l heard a call like a screeching monkey from the house. I grew more furious. I flickered like a flash light. I was crackling as I was licking and devouring the trees. I heard a boom and loud screams when I hit the car, I was crisscrossing the forest like a fish out of water.

My goal was to destroy the land as much as I could but I felt a vibration on the ground and I saw flashing lights, could this be the end of me? As the fire men worked their way I became extremely angry. I couldn't control it. I couldn't control my body. As they pulled the long hose that was as long as a pine tree, a tree almost fell on them but they kept moving, sturdy and steady . They squirt water on me and I'm losing my steam fast. I taste the cool water against me and then I melt away like a chocolate. Now I am gone forever.

by Kayla W 

I am burning on the stove but then, they left me all alone. Never leave me because II'll leap off and I'll come creeping around the house furiously. I flicker like a damp light bulb and make the ashes crumble like stardust. I make people start screaming and cry for lots of help, but I am powerful because I am a nightmare. I flicker fast , I sprint like a cheetah but you will never escape because I am watching you, always. The fire alarms go off but never worry I'm not scared. I can hear the sirens and my time may be short - but you always know that I might visit again, always. A way to know that I am back is to hear the sizzle, a crackle, a boom and a roar and your friend has come back knocking on the door.

By Marissa

I am the fire, flickering flaming fire. I simmer beneath the tree and the burning house that I have made to burn. I am horrible to lots of people because I make their houses burn off and snap into millions of pieces and now they all hate me. I am the bad fire, I make the houses crackle, snap and CAPOW there gone, I am very damaging and powerful. I can taste the scorching hot flames of the flickering fire. I am like the burning hot sun in the bright and boiling sky on a summers day. I am as bright as neon colours on the people around me. My arms and legs crawl like a baby around the trees and grass. Peoples lives are lost, I can
hear the boisterous sirens coming...
...closer, closer and closer.

My fire starts from a little cigarette and children playing around with me like I am a toy but here's a tip I am NOT a toy I am the blazing blistering FIRE! 

by Rosie

I am one thing that you don't want to be near.  I can break into your house and destroy it by simply dancing around.  I move around the bush, creeping up trees and then scratching them down.  Can anything stop me? No. I am stronger than an elephant and I can annihilate anything that comes my way.  There is only one thing called water, who is my number one enemy.  It tears me down by the long hose connected to a red truck.  When I hear the truck's droning sound, I try to escape, leaping from tree to tree.  Sometimes I'm fast enough but then overhead in the smoky sky, I feel a helicopter spitting water at me.  The last thing I hear in my little life is a sizzling sound as I hit the ground.  I am gone.

by Abby

Keep your iPads "Holiday Safe"

Today, Brisbane Catholic Education staff informed schools of the following: 

In the process of delivering the Virtual Classrooms Activities in 2015, the Office of the Children’s eSafety Commissioner has become aware of two apps that are causing some concern for school communities. These apps are Animal Jam and Subway Surfer. These apps contain an in-built global chat facility, which enables anyone in the world to make contact with users of the apps. The potential for children to be exposed to phishing scams, grooming and cyberbullying is substantial.

The Office of the Children’s eSafety Commissioner maintains an excellent resource page that assists parents to better understand these apps, along with a range of others that may be of concern for young users. 

Do you retain control of your child's Apple ID? 

Do you have some system in place at home whereby you can evaluate apps for potential issues before your child installs them? 

Are you aware of what apps your child is using on their iPad? 

Once school ends for another year and the lovely long Christmas holiday break is upon us, children may be given extended access to iPads and other devices for recreational purposes. Please ensure that you have safety measures and responsible use practices in place at home. Remind children about measures they can take when using screens and digital devices, to maintain their own online safety, posture, muscle & eye health and privacy of information.