Desalination Incursion

On Thursday, we were lucky enough to be the only year twos and threes to visit Warren from the Murdoch University. Warren came down to talk to us about the desalination process and using our water sustainably.
Not one of us even knew what desalination was! So we starting off watching this sort clip to get our brains thinking! Just click on the link below to view!

Desalination Video

Warren started by giving us a taste of desalinated water, which we thought was delicious and then he gave us a taste of 'normal tap water' which most of us spat out because it tasted salty! We think Warren was trying to trick us!!

Next, Warren explained to us how much water was on Earth and how much of that water was fresh. In this photo, the big jug of blue water represents all the salty ocean water on our Earth. The smaller jug of blue water shows the fresh water that is found in ice burgs and glaciers, and the smallest container of blue water is the amount of fresh water we have access to!

We were pretty surprised to find this out and a little concerned! Warren reassured us that we have more than enough water though, but we do need to make sure we look after it!

Warren explained that on average Perth consumes 
1 Gigalitre a day! That is 
1, 000, 000, 000 litres! 
To help us understand this massive number, he explained it is like 1 whole Subiaco oval filled to the top each day!......Phew! That is A LOT OF WATER!

Warren explained that at the moment we are taking most of our water from the reserves that are deep underground. He said that we are taking more than we should be and that this is affecting the environment. That is why they have built a desalination plant in Biningup. Warren helped us understand what desalination is by using this experiment: 

He put some water in the kettle and added some food colouring to it, which made it yellow. The he taped one end of a tube around the nozzle and the other he sealed into a cup. Then he boiled the kettle and asked us what colour we thought the water in the cup would be. It ended up being clear! Warren explained that this is similar to what happens to salt from ocean water when it is desalinated.

 After that, Warren used his super duper micro scope camera to show us some close ups of Isabelle and Claire's skin on the big screen! We could see every tiny little cell! It was amazing!

Warren used his super duper micro scope to show us the filters inside the desalination tubes. These filters only allow water molecules to pass through and all the salt, viruses and bacteria get left behind.

Here are some close up pictures of two types of filters that are used in the desalination process.

Did you know that once the ocean water is desalinated, it is pumped into our normal water reservoirs and it is mixed with rain and ground water before coming through our taps!

Click on this link to take a virtual tour of the Southern Seawater Desalination Plant in Biningup!

Southern Seawater Desalination

Virtual Tour

We really enjoyed learning about desalination and looking after our Earths resources in a sustainable way! We hope you have learnt a thing or two also!

Over and Out

Tremendous T4

Balloon Poke Science

In Science this term, we have been learning all about matter. What's the matter?...... you ask?
No not that type of matter! We are learning about the type of matter that makes up everything around us!

Matter is everything around you. Matter is anything made of atoms and molecules. Matter is anything that has mass and takes up space.

We started our investigation into matter, by carrying out a 'balloon poke'. Mrs M filled up three balloons with three different states of matter. We got to poke each balloon and then write down our observations of the matter inside. Here are some pictures of what we found!

Hailey got to poke the first balloon! For some reason we all had the urge to put our hands over our ears!

The matter that came out of this balloon, we decided was see through, light, loud - GAS

Eric was our next balloon popper......but for some reason...the balloon just would not pop!

Still trying to pop it!..

Even Alby came and had a go!

And finally we managed to pop it! We found the matter in this balloon was runny, liquidy, cold and heavy - LIQUID

Danica was in charge of popping the last balloon.

Danica was a little unsure at first....but she popped it!

Inside this balloon was cold, hard, heavy ice! We decided this was a SOLID

Poor Hamish's work got soaked in the process!

After all of our balloon popping fun, Mrs M explained to us what matter was, and we watched this cool video on liquids, solids and gasses.

Did you know our whole world is made up of matter in its three states; solids, liquids and gasses! We can not wait to learn more and tell you all about it on our blog! Stay tuned!

Love Tremendous T4

Our Cemetery Walk

On Friday the 31st of May, Tremendous T4 and room 4 were lucky enough to go on a short excursion to the local pioneer cemetery. 

A strange place for a school excursion you say?.....Well perhaps, but we have been learning about our local history and found some VERY interesting information about some of the early settlers to our area.

Our Cemetery Walk on PhotoPeach  

Here are some of the recounts written by the students in our class:

Our Cemetery Walk

Written by Isabelle 

(Year 3)

 

On Friday the 31st of May, T4 and room 4 which was Mrs K's room, were lucky enough to go for a walk to the Old Australind Cemetery.

First, we lined up nicely in our groups. In my group there was me, Connor, Hamish and Alby. It wasn't to far a walk from our school. When we got to the cemetery, we looked for Marshall Waller Clifton's grave. He died in 1861 which was 152 years ago!

Next, we found Doctor Anthony Carpenter's grave. He was the first person to be buried in the cemetery in 1842. He was 32 years old when he died. He came to Australind on the Parkfield ship with Marshall Waller Clifton.

The last person to live in Henton Cottage was Phillip Edward Nutley. We saw his grave also. Marshall Clifton's wife Elinor Bell was also buried there. In Australind they named a road after her.

I found going to the was really interesting and it was great seeing the actual graves of the people we have been learning about. I think it is really important that we are careful to look after the cemetery so that all people can learn about our local history.

Our Cemetery Walk

Written by  Claire
(Year 3)

On Friday, my class and Mrs K's class went on an exciting walk to the old Australind Cemetery. 

To begin with, we got into our six groups and we had one leader in each group. I was the leader of my group. The we set off to the cemetery. When we got there, there was a sign that said 'established in 1842'. While we were in there, we were doing a scavenger hunt. The first question was 'how old was Marshall Waller Clifton when he died?' The answer to the question was 73.

Secondly, I found out that Doctor Anthony Carpenter was the first to get buried at the cemetery. He also sailed to Australind on the Parkfield ship with Marshall Waller Clifton.

Finally, when it was time to go, we headed towards the entry archway and Mrs M took a photo of all my class. When Mrs M finished taking the photo, we had to catch up with the others because they were ahead of us!

I strongly believe that knocking the cemetery down would be a tragedy to all of us because it is a special place in our community and a significant part of our history. This is why we need to work together to protect it!

The Cemetery 

 Written by Eric 

(Year 2)

On Friday the 31st of May, my class and I and room 4 (which was Mrs K's class) went to the cemetery for an excursion. We even got to do a scavenger hunt and we needed to answer ALL the questions!

To begin with, my group leader was Charli and the other person in my group was Tyson. We looked for Marshall Waller Clifton's grave. He died in 1861 which was 152 years ago! We also saw Dr Anthony Carpenter's grave as well. He was the first to be buried in the cemetery.

Next, Tyson and I were answering our scavenger hunt questions and we found that lots of the older graves were of babies. Mrs M explained to us that it was common for babies to die in the 1800s because there were no hospitals to help them.

My favourite part of going to the cemetery was that it was very interesting to see Marshall Waller Clifton's grave, because we had learnt about him in class.

I think it is important to not build anything on the Australind Cemetery site because it is important for our history. It helps us learn about the first settlers.

We hope that you have learnt a thing or two about the history of Australind!

Love 

Tremendous T4!