During the last 4 weeks of Term 3 we went to Bunnings each Wednesday to work on a project which was building a dog kennel. Nathan and Janelle helped us get all of the materials we needed and then we started to build the base of the kennel.

Building the Base

We needed to measure all of our timber before we cut it so size. Sometimes we went to the cut shop in the back of the store if we needed to do a big cut, but usually we did the cuts by using a hand saw.

First we built the base, then we built the walls and we put the roof on back at school after we painted it.

We had a great time working at Bunnings and are grateful for Nathan and Janelle and all of their time and effort they gave us. We had lots of fun. Especially when Nathan came back to school with us to play Dodgeball.

We used the rolled up newspaper to make a cubic metre. Ryan quickly figured out that we would need 12 rolls to make a cube as each roll would be an edge of our cube. Mr Saddlier and Mr. I helped us make our cubes and make connections between finding the area of a shape and the volume of a shape.

We measured our sand pit and our garden beds to find the volume of these objects. We then had to measure an area dedicated for our Long Jump and Triple Jump pits for athletics and calculate how much sand we would need to have delivered for our school to start athletics training.

As a group we agreed that the jump pit should be 2 metres wide and .3m (30 cm) deep, but we could not agree if it should be 3m or 4 m long.

So we did the calculations for both: 2m x 3m x .3m = 1.8 m3      and       2m x 4m x .3m = 2.4 m3.

As a group we agreed that if we ordered 2 cubic metres of sand we would have enough to cover the area for the pit to be safe for everyone when training. We then called Epsom Sand and Soil and ordered the sand.

What we are doing in this picture?

We are rolling newspaper to make a lot of one metre lengths. It was a little windy this day so our TEAMWORK really helped us to get the job done.

Do you want to know why we had to make so many?

We have been learning about Area in our outdoor learning sessions.

We have been using trundle wheels, rulers and measuring tapes to measure the length and width of objects and play spaces in our school. We then work out the Area of the space by using the following rule… Length X Width.

We learned that when we times (multiply) metres by metres we call it metres squared and have to put a little 2 above the ‘m’ when we write our answer.

We measured the bat tennis court, the basketball court and the football oval. We had to show our working out in our books for the smaller numbers but for the big numbers Mr Saddlier said we could use the calculator. We just had to say the sum as we typed it so he knew we were doing it right.

During the last two weeks of Term 2, Mr Saddlier gave us a little project to complete. We had to make a message chalkboard. Mr Saddlier gave us some old blackboards which we painted with new blackboard paint, then we had to cut and glue some timber molding to use as a frame around the edge.

During this project we worked on measurement and angles. We had to find the perimeter of our blackboard by measuring the length of each side and adding them together. We also had to use a measuring tape to measure the length of timber molding which we had to cut to size.

Some of the sums we had to do were the following;

Perimeter: 40cm + 30cm + 40 cm + 30cm = 140cm.

Conversion: 140cm is equal to 1.4 metres

Angles: A 45 degree angle + a 45 degree angle = a 90 degree angle. (a right angle.) We needed to know this for the corner of our boards.

Problem solving: Each length of molding was 2.4 metres long and we needed to give everyone 1.4m. There were 3 lengths of moldings (3 x 2.4m) and 5 chalkboards to make. (5 x 1.4m)

Can you solve the above problem?

How can we cut the moldings so we could have 10 x 40cm lengths and 10 x 30cm lengths?

What was the length of timber we had remaining after we completed all of our cuts?

During our Outdoor Learning sessions, we need a space where we can be creative and apply the learned strategies from our class. We identified the garden shed as somewhere we could use but before we could use it we had to clean it up.

We discovered that there was already a blackboard on one of the shed walls and we found a white board which we also put up. We had to measure and cut timber to act as noggins. We nailed the noggins to the stud walls and then we attached the whiteboard using screws.

The Outdoor Learning Program is based on applying Maths/ Science and Design skills learned in class to everyday tasks. Such tasks may include but not limited to gardening and construction type activities with a focus on measuring, designing and creating etc.

Mr Saddlier and Mr Ilott lead the Outdoor Learning Crew with a selected group of students from 3/ 4 SM. The students are required to complete a number of tasks involving Maths & Science in focus sessions before having to apply these learned skills to real life problems.

Stay tuned as we add to this blog to tell you all about the learning we are doing and the little projects we are completing.

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