Mega Melbourne Mission 2011

The last CUE day of the year on December 9 will be the Mega Melbourne Mission, a giant Melbourne wide scavenger hunt!

To give yourself the very best chance of being a part of the winning team and being presented with the prize you will probably need to plan ahead.

If you are visiting this site in the hope that the list of tasks will be available to help you in your planning … your in luck. To get them just click here.

Also remember, to avoid a penalty entire teams must arrive at Federation Square for morning check in no later than 8:50am.

You will be dismissed from Birrarung Marr once you have completed final check in sometime around 2:50pm.

On the day each group must supply:

• Their own Metcards.
• Lunch, or money for lunch.
• Camera to prove the completion of tasks.

Weedy Sea Dragon Scuba Survey, Seal Snorkel, Portsea, Hot Springs, Rye

CUE DAY OUT
ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY DOMAIN

Weedy Sea Dragon Scuba Survey,
Seal Snorkel, Portsea
Hot Springs, Rye

INFORMATION FOR FORM TEACHERS

Date: Wednesday, 23 March 2011

Travel by coach to Portsea (Melways ref: map 156 – E2)
Travel time approximately 1 hour 30 minutes.
Travel time to Hot Springs approximately 20 minutes departing Portsea at approx 12.45pm
Depart for return journey at 2.15pm.

Activities

Those who have chosen the SCUBA diving option will get changed and dive and record weedy sea dragons.
Those who have chosen snorkeling with the seals will gear up, jump on a boat and travel out to Chinaman’s Hat and snorkel with the seals.
Both groups will return, get changed and get on the bus abnd travel to the hot springs. After a brief talk the students will ahve the opportunity to jump into the hot spring pools.
At 2pm students will get changed get on the bus and travel back to school.

Notes:
Please emphasise to students that they will be comfortable.
o Don’t forget the cameras.
o Students will need bathers and I suggest their thermals to snorkel in if the weather is cool, water temp is currently 20 degrees, wetsuit, mask snorkel, fins booties and gloves supplied.
o Sunscreen and hat are essential.
o Bags need to be carried, so bring a backpack.
o Bring lunch – there is no food available. Students are not to use the shops.
o Refer to blog for information about Weedy Sea Dragons.

Objectives / Skills / Outcomes
Learn about and appreciate the impact that our lifestyles have on the surrounding environment, including dredging..
To focus on one particular species in the ecosystem, and appreciate how it is distributed in the area
To learn about and apply the techniques used by marine biologists to study the ecology of a species
To collect data and contribute to the understanding of the ecology of the species

Assessment
The following assessments can be made as observations of the teacher or developed into a student self assessment.

Skills and attributes Guiding questions Observations
Responsibility Did the student demonstrate responsibility and do the right thing? Snorkelling?
Active participation Were they active in their participation during clean ocean? With the weedy identification? With the snorkelling?
Planning and organisation Did they bring all the right equipment?
Teamwork / working together How did they perform with the snorkelling? In identifying the weedy sea dragons in the groups?
Contribution Did they contribute to the day and the activities?
What did the student learn? Did they learn anything about the ecosystems, classification, functions of the wetlands, snorkelling skills?
What did the student learn about themselves? Patience, tolerance, attention to detail, following instructions, getting on with others?

• Big Questions
• why we need to survey the weedy sea dragons,
• benefits of snorkeling with seals
• Portsea beach?
• Choice of
• the history of the Bay seals and aspects of their numbers, diet, threats etc
• Creative peice of writing 300 – 400 words, option could be to research some famous spas through history eg Ancient Rome/ Bath AND in certain cultures eg Japan/Turkey/Hungary .
• What has happened to the beach?
• Assessment criteria for Porsea Day

Brought correct equipment and clothing High Medium Low
Involvement and behaviour on each of the activities you where involved in High Medium Low
Behaviour outside the activities High Medium Low

Ricketts Point Reflections

Ricketts Point
Big Questions
why we need to survey the sub tidal area,
who would benefit and
what would could happen to the results
Choice of
Produce a brochure targeting primary students, explaining the benefits of places like Ricketts Point.
Creative peice of writing 300 – 400 words, my life as a fiddler ray, nudibranch or any other creature you saw on your snorkel or dive.
Wall chart explaining aquculture and how and what environmental impacts/activities affect this within the bay.
Assessment criteria for the Ricketts Point

Brought correct equipment and clothing High Medium Low
Involvement and behaviour on each of the activities you where involved in High Medium Low
Behaviour outside the activities High Medium Low

Ricketts Point Day Out

CUE DAY OUT
ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY DOMAIN

RICKETTS POINT
PORT PHILLIP BAY

INFORMATION FOR FORM TEACHERS AND STUDENTS

Date: Wednesday, 23 Feb 2011

Whole class meet at the swimming pool in the HSC. Snorkelers get mask snorkel and fins, scuba students get names marked off and go up to the seminar room for scuba theory.

Travel by coach to Beaumaris Life Saving Club, Ricketts Point (Melways ref: map 86 – C9)
Snorkelers depart at 8.40am and scuba divers at 11.30am.
Travel time approximately 20 minutes.
Depart for return journey at approx 3pm.

Activities
Students do 3 activities.
Activity 1
Will paddle sea kayaks down to the local muscle farm and look at aquaculture and what the dredging is doing to the bay.

Activity 2
Participate in a snorkel around the marine sanctuary. Identify some of the animals found living there and record sightings for marine monitoring.

Activity 3
Meet with local council beach care group to work with them in removing introduced pest plant species along the foreshore. The aim of this is to show the students the impact that introduced plants can have on the growth of the native vegetation. Additionally, the removal of the introduced vegetation will allow the native vegetation to regenerate.

Students will be provided with gloves. It is essential that students wear long pants, long sleeved shirts and closed, sturdy footwear.

Scuba divers do a theory session and then a pool session at school and then travel down to Ricketts Point to do a dive in Port Phillip Bay.

Notes:
o Don’t forget the cameras.
o Students will need bathers, wetsuit, mask snorkel are all provided. Students will need dry clothes and footwear.
o Sunscreen and hat are essential. Water is always useful.
o Bags need to be carried, so bring a backpack.
o Bring snacks and lunch – there is no food available.

Objectives / Skills / Outcomes
Learn about and appreciate the components and factors that affect life on intertidal and sub-tidal rocky reef ecosystems.
Learn and identify various marine plants and animals.
Learn about and apply the techniques used by marine biologists to study reef ecosystems.
To collect data and contribute to the understanding of the area and assist in better management of the ecosystem.
Developing snorkelling and diving skills.

Assessment
The following assessments can be made as observations of the teacher or developed into a student self assessment.

Skills and attributes Guiding questions Observations
Responsibility Did the student demonstrate responsibility and do the right thing? During snorkelling?
Active participation Were they active inn their participation during Luke’s presentation? With the snorkelling?
Planning and organisation Did they bring all the right equipment?
Teamwork / working together How did they perform during snorkelling? In identifying the marine plants and animals?
Contribution Did they contribute to the day and the activities?
What did the student learn? Did they learn anything about the ecosystems, classification, functions of the rocky reef, snorkelling skills?
What did the student learn about themselves? Patience, tolerance, attention to detail, following instructions, getting on with others?

Mega. Melbourne. Mission.

Hi everyone – I am just posting an electronic version of the task list and rules for the Mega Melbourne Mission on Wednesday. It looks like it’s going to be a day of peculiar costumes, obscurely placed teachers and fierce competition. Good luck!

Here are the tasks, and the all-important rules.

The Markets

Last Wednesday saw the classes participation the the Urban domain getting up nice and early to experience the Footscray Wholesale Market; nice and early meaning that the bus left at 5.20am. Fear not, I know setting the alarm that early sounds painful, but it was well worth it.

Once the bus arrived at the markets, we were given a brief rundown of what was going to happen and those fluoro yellow safety vests (it was 6am in a wintry Melbourne – the more layers the better!). Everybody then got split into form groups and one class boarded the Tutti-Frutti Express for a tour of the markets, while the other got back on the bus for some hot chocolates. The Tutti-Frutti Express tour involved an easy drive around the market giving us a first hand look at the produce straight from the farmers as we weaved in and out of massive forklifts. We also all got a fresh, crispy Fuji apple – yum.

On the opposite side of the market in the flower section, the other form group were drinking hot chocolates and getting cosy in a warm cafe when the Tutti-Frutti Express pulled in and the classes alternated.

After both groups had had a look around the market, we departed on the bus for breakfast. It was a pleasant surprise to find Mr. Appel slaving away at a barbecue aside the Yarra river preparing us delicious bacon and egg rolls.

Our next destination was the Footscray Retail Markets, so that we could track the journey of the fruit and vegetables and compare prices. Everybody filled in the worksheet easily and was left with time to spare for a wander around, resulting in some very strange purchases.

We were dismissed at an earlier-than-usual 12.00pm, concluding another excellent CUE day.

CUE Reflections

Thanks to Olivia and Matt for providing these entertaining stories.

A NIGHT AT THE ZOO

Kate and Vicky pushed their way through more bushes and trees. The cold air was making them shiver and all they could think of was what fun the rest of the class would be having at that moment. If only they hadn’t got lost and actually listened to the guide. As they kept walking they noticed a fence, Kate suggested they climb over it and hope to get to an exit, Vicky agreed and they started to scale their way up.

At the top the pair didn’t notice anything different so continued to climb down to the other side, two soft thuds and they were on a ground of softer soil. After walking a few steps further, a loud rustling noise came from ahead. The girls froze and stood there terrified, Kate looking around everywhere to try and work out what had made the noise. Vicky looked up and saw something she had recognised from the tour earlier that afternoon, green poles with toys at the top exactly like the ones for the . . . “Orangutan!!!” squealed Kate.

About three metres ahead of them was an orangutan looking at them curiously. The girls turned around and started to scramble across the ground to get away quickly, “Wait, we need your help!” The girls looked at each other even more scared than before. “I know it’s weird that I can talk, but please can you help us?”

The girls whispered silently and cautiously approached the animal; Kate spoke up nervously “What exactly do you want?”

The orangutan came closer and began to speak. “I came to this zoo without my parents, I was taken away from my home because of the great danger I was in. Others have not been so lucky and we are dying out.”

Vicky was concerned, “What do you mean? What’s happening?”

The orangutan almost looked sad. “Your people are destroying our homes to plant palm plantations, to then harvest and make palm oil for the food you eat.”

Kate seemed confused as she sad “But why would they want to do that? I’m sure they don’t want to hurt you.”

“The fact is, if it means there is money to be made our life is of lesser value to them. This has to be stopped because orangutans will soon be extinct and you won’t be able to see us in the future in the wild.”

“Well is there anything we can do to help? We want you to survive for as long as possible!”

“There is a campaign to have palm oil labelled on all food products so consumers can make choices for themselves, sign the petition and get all your friends and family on board as well. I think you could do more though, maybe write to people senior in the management of your country so they can use their power to try and stop the murder of our species.”

The girls looked at each other and seemed to support the idea, “As soon as we get back to school we will spread the word around and raise awareness about this issue, more and more people will start supporting and hopefully in the near future we will have solved this problem peacefully.”

The orangutan nodded smiling, “Oh thankyou so much for listening, I want to get the word out there and you two seem a great place to start. I will help you get back to your group as you seem to be a little lost.”

“Thankyou so much for telling me about all this!” replied Kate. Ten minutes later the girls were all back with their class and telling all their friends about what had happened. What a memorable night at the zoo!

Olivia Wells

–

MITSUYASHI WARRIOR

“So you wish to be a Mitsuyashi warrior, do you?” Paul’s master asked in an annoying yet peaceful and wise voice. “Yes Sensei” Paul answered. “Your training so far has pleased me and I ask one final thing of you. Your final task, if you want to join the brotherhood of eternal fighters, is to face your biggest fear and break its stare of horror”. Paul was training to join an ancient society of warriors that go back until before Jesus’ time. He had passed every task, battle and lesson that his sensei had ever thrown at him, but the problem was, his biggest fear was lions. Paul had no idea what to do.

0

After a long time pondering on his conundrum, he decided that he had done enough training to take on fully grown lions. He made a plan to sneak into the zoo at night, jump in the cage and kill a lion.

o

It was 1:42 am and Paul was ready for the battle of his life. He walked past the reptiles, the bears and the giraffes until finally he was at the lion enclosure, ready to take them on. He climbed the fence, jumped down and as soon as his feet hit the ground his mind screamed at him, ‘WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!?’  He couldn’t turn back now because he knew the lions could smell him. He noticed one come out from behind a bush. It was massive, a lot bigger than Paul expected. He then saw another and another and he thought, I can’t do this; I have to get out of here. He turned for the fence and heard them running towards him. He’d climbed only a few centimetres up the fence when an intense force ripped him backwards. The pride ripped him apart. He tried to get free, he screamed a blood curdling scream but no one heard. He knew he was going to die. The pain he felt was incredible and just as soon as it had started it had finished. The lions left Paul’s ravaged body, bloody and disgusting for the zookeepers to find the next day.

Matt Taylor

Snorkelling with Seals

Phew. Where to start? I think I speak for all of us snorkellers when I say that this was by far the best CUE day so far.  Snorkelling with seals  is (so far) a once in a lifetime experience and something we will never forget. But how did the day begin?

After some delay while waiting for a certain student to arrive (you know who you are) we set off for Portsea. The bus trip was predictably uneventful and we arrived eager to begin, wasting no time in squeezing our way into wetsuits, hoods, masks, snorkels , flippers and weight belts. We strolled down the famous Portsea Pier – minus the flippers – and boarded the catamaran which was to take us out to Chinaman’s Hat. For those who don’t know, Chinaman’s Hat is a rotunda like object set about a metre above water level and 5-10 minutes boat trip from Portsea. It was originally used as a channel marker, but once the seals started using it to hang out at, the Victorian government declared it as a protected site. It is now only visited by sightseers, snorkellers, scuba divers – and of course, seals. There are about 20-30 Australian Fur Seals on and around ‘The Hat’.

None of us knew how much interaction we would be able to have with the seals, so we were all amazed when they came and swam among us. What followed was an incredible 45 minutes of playing with the seals. The basic rule was the more crazy and outgoing we were, the more interactive the seals were; so we spent much of our time duck-diving down, twisting around the seals, being stared curiously at, and staring intently back at them. While we weren’t allowed to touch the seals, we soon learnt that we wouldn’t have had any hope of touching them, even if we’d tried to. Nevertheless, most seals were adventurous enough to swim as close as 5cm to us before twisting gracefully away. We witnessed expert acrobatics, synchronized swimming and a whole lot of aimless, lazy floating.

When we were called back to the boat, we were  disappointed that the time had gone so quickly. While the sky was overcast, we had been relatively warm in the water and it was only once we got back onto the (open air) boat that we started to feel the wind. We jetted back to shore and relinquished our wetsuits before quickly boarding the bus to the hot springs. While (in my opinion) the snorkelling section of the day was superior, the springs were still a very enjoyable way to end the outing. Most pools were somewhere between 35 and 40°C, and many of us enjoyed submerging ourselves up to our shoulders in hot water, acclimatizing, then jumping in (or lowering ourselves in quickly) into the cold pool, then repeating the process in the reverse order.

Reluctantly we extracted ourselves and, after getting changed, bussed back to Brighton. As I mentioned earlier, this day was one we will never forget, as there is something incredible about coming face to face with such, graceful, smelly and intelligent creatures. As I write this, I am amazed and shocked that we are already a quarter of the way through the CUE/Big E program!

NOTE – For those yet to do the Environmental Sustainability domain, the final day out is a free choice day at Portsea, where you either snorkel with the seals, or go scuba diving and conduct a survey of the Weedy Sea Dragon colony around the pier. Though clearly biased, I highly recommend snorkeling with seals over scuba diving with Weedy Sea Dragons.

Due to a distinct lack of waterproof cameras in the student body, we took no photos of the seals whatsoever. These images come to us courtesy of Saspotato on Flickr. If reusing, remember to check out the license here. Let’s give him a round of  applause.

Snorkelling at Rickett’s Point

Hi, and as Luke mentioned below, welcome to the CUE blog for 2010. I’m Nic Roumeliotis and I’m in 9U participating in the environment domain. This meant that I was able to go snorkelling at Rickett’s Point last day eight.

As per usual with CUE, however, the day consisted of a tad more than just snorkelling, and we also went sea kayaking and gardening.

We (myself, Ms. Walsh and four other members of my form; everyone else was scuba diving) started out at the South Road gates at 8:40am and boarded the bus (yes, a full-sized bus for the six of us) to the beach. Our first activity planned was to do a bit of gardening along the shore; I think ‘de-weeding’ was the term used. It wasn’t quite what you would expect, or what we were expecting, as we discovered when we were handed gloves, secateurs, huge pruners and saws with teeth about a centimetre deep. Then we were basically just told to attack this great big tangled mess of branches and leaves – it had a name but we were too busy hacking and slashing our way through the thing; an ‘Indian woody weed’ or something.

Needless to say it was a heap of fun. And, to top it all off, we had ten minutes to spare so we got hot chocolates. Win.

Next on our agenda was sea kayaking in two-person pedal kayaks. After getting a quick run-down on how to make them go forward (think bicycle) we got to take them for a float. The water was a bit rough and everyone got wet, but the water was surprisingly warm. After about a half-hour of trying to coordinate our kayaks into a joined, raft-like object, we surrendered and headed back to the sand.

Lunch time.

As always, it wasn’t until we had mostly dried off that we were told to wetsuit up, and get ready to go snorkelling. Unfortunately the water was still a bit murky after the big storms, so you could only see about a metre in front of you. We did manage to find, though, a couple of sea urchins, some weird jellyfish and a scuba diver.

All in all it was a great day, and it would be safe to say we all slept well that night.

The Zoo Snooze

Howdy. Welcome to the CUE blog for 2010. I’m Luke Thorburn and along with Nic Roumeliotis we’ll be organizing the blog this year. If you have any suggestions, ideas or want to contribute to the blog, feel free to leave a comment or talk to us at school.

Nic should be along shortly to write about his snorkelling experience, but I’m going to write about the Zoo Snooze – which I’ve just got back from.

It was 5.33 exactly when the bus pulled away from the front gate of St Leonard’s College and began the relatively short journey* to Melbourne Zoo.  Due to rush hour traffic we arrived slightly later than planned and walked straight to our campsite – the old Elephant enclosure. Once there, we were presented with our Zoo Snooze passes and set up our tents. Dinner was served and then we all rugged up for the night tour.

I won’t go through all the things we saw as you will all experience it for yourselves – if you haven’t already – but the  many highlights of the tour included throwing apples to Bonsu (the male elephant),  hand-feeding some potoroos, seeing the snow-leopard cubs and watching the badger be fed. Needless to say, most of us had not been to the zoo since we were little and felt completely disoriented after an hour of walking around in the dark. The zoo is completely different at night than compared to during the day.

We returned to the campsite for a hot chocolate and then bed. (Obviously this didn’t happen straight away. Between picking up the hot chocolate and falling asleep there was the usual amount of talking, teeth-brushing, more talking, wrestling with the tent zip, wrestling with the sleeping bag, yet more talking, waiting for the seals and birds to finally be quiet, still more talking, some random procrastinating, and then sleep.)

We were woken up at 7.00 sharp and stumbled out of our tents. We packed up everything (including the tents) before breakfast and put our bags on the ute to be driven to our bus for later in the day.  After brekky we went to meet Ron who is the keeper of some of the kangaroos and wallabies. He told us about his job and all the things a zoo keeper has to consider when caring for their animals.

The zoo staff then took us on another quick tour of some of the animals and we finished up at the orang-utan sanctuary. Here we said goodbye to John and Beth who had shown us around since we arrived late Tuesday. From then till we left at 11.30 was ‘free-time’ to look around the zoo and see as many of the animals as possible in 2 hours.

The one animal we all wanted to see was Mali, the new baby elephant. Unfortunately the elephant keepers changed her first viewing time from 11 o’clock to 12 o’clock at the last minute so we had to leave before we got a chance to see her. Apart from her though, we managed to see most of the animals before we left for school.

The Zoo Snooze was great experience and definitely something for other groups to look forward to!

*compared to that of our last week away in the Otways!

Mega Melbourne Mission

The last CUE day of the year on December 9 will be the Mega Melbourne Mission, a giant Melbourne wide scavenger hunt!

To give yourself the very best chance of being a part of the winning team and being presented with the prize at the CUE/Big Experience Celebration Evening on December 9 you will probably need to plan ahead.

If you are visiting this site in the hope that the list of tasks will be available to help you in your planning … your in luck. To get them just click here.

Also remember, to avoid a penalty entire teams must arrive at Federation Square for morning check in no later than 8:50am.

You will be dismissed from Birrarung Marr once you have completed final check in sometime around 2:50pm.

On the day each group must supply:

• Their own Metcards.
• Lunch, or money for lunch.
• Camera to prove the completion of tasks.

The culmination of CUE

The focus of the CUE program has now officially shifted.

From focusing on the individual Community, Urban and Environmental domains we now all have one goal … the Big Experience.

To stay updated with what everyone will be doing in China, Fiji, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand & Vietnam head on over to the Big Experience blog by clicking HERE.

CUE radio – Episode 11

Listen as Tim, Henri and Finn look ahead to their Big Experiences.

Download the episode in mp3 format here or click the album art to subscribe (iTunes required):

8-9/9/09 – ENVIRONMENT CUE DAY OUT

Last Tuesday night, 9Z met up at the school gates to begin our Zoo Snooze. We drove all the way there on a bus and as soon as we arrived, we met up with our Zoo Leaders. They took us in and the place was deserted, we had the whole Zoo to ourselves!

The place where we were staying was the old elephant enclosure. We had our tents already set up and after it got dark, we went into the old elephant sleeping/exercise room to have dinner. Following the big BBQ, we all got rugged up for the night tour.

We went out into the Zoo to go see what all the animals did at night. Our leaders showed us all the nocturnal animals and we met the Elephant Bong Su, who everyone got to feed carrots. We also saw the lions, which where extremely noisy!

After that, we split into our camp groups and went into the Zoo classrooms to see some reptiles, and small nocturnal animals. We got to touch a Corn Snake, and we met and fed a wombat. While there we learned about how people try to sneak animals in through customs and treat them horribly. They try to smuggle them in and sell their skin or various other parts of them. Luckily the Zoo takes in many of these animals and helps them to get what they need.

After the night tour, we headed off to our tents. In the morning, after breakfast, we met up with another Zoo worker to meet two cute little animals who where best friends. They climbed everything and never came down to the ground because of their instincts. They also used their heavy tails to keep balanced.

We then went to visit the orang-utans who were hilarious. They climbed all over each other and the daughter threw hay over her mother. After saying thank you and goodbye to our leaders, we split into groups and went exploring the zoo by ourselves until after an hour, we finally had to head off and go home.

The Zoo Snooze was great and I hope that the next group enjoys it as much as we did!

Rotation 3, Day 5 – 2009

Community 9T, 9U & 9X – Placement

• Remember to be on time and wear appropriate attire.
• If you are unable to attend due to ill health, you must phone both your placement and the Middle School Office as early as possible in the morning.

Urban 9V & 9W – Choose your own adventure

• Bike riding- meet at HSC at 8:40am.  Please bring money for lunch or bring lunch from home, also bring a water bottle, raincoat and bike lock.
• If you haven’t arranged for a bike to be hired for you remember to ride to school with your helmet.
• Sport – Meet Mr Barr at Fed square at 9:00am
• Art & Fashion – Meet Ms Ware at Fed square at 9:00am

Environment 9Y – Zoo Snooze

• Bus leaving from South Road Gates at 5:20pm this afternoon.
• Please bring warm clothing, sleeping bag, pyjamas, pillow, toothbrush & toothpaste. Dinner and breakfast are supplied.
• Students will return by 11:00am tomorrow morning and are expected to make their way straight home.

Environment 9Z – Ricketts Point

• Bus leaving from South Road Gates at 8:40am.
• You will be gardening, snorkelling and kayaking. Please bring long pants for gardening, bathers, towels, warm clothing, drink and lunch. Wetsuits, hoods and booties will be supplied.
• Students will return by 3:30pm.