Cane Toad Information Report

In Australia there are millions of cane toads! That may sound like a lot and it is! Each female cane toad can lay 30 000 eggs at a time. This is a big problem in Australia. These pesky toads are causing problems for native animals and pets.

Cane toads can be found in warm, northern parts of Australia such as Queensland, Northern Territory and the top of Western Austrlia. They live for five to ten years in the wild and eat anything from mice or insects to dog food! They are nocturnal and usually can only be seen at night. Their eyelids are transparent so when they blink you can still see their eyes.

Cane toads came to Australia more than 70 years ago. At that time there was a problem with beetles eating sugar cane crops. The toads were introduced from South America to eat the beetles which they did successfully. Although one problem was fixed, another one was created.

Native Australian animals and pets often eat cane toads. Cane toads have small glands of poison in sides of their necks which kills the animals. Cane toads are breeding a lot and there are so many around that native animals are becoming vulnerable and some are even in danger of extinction.

Some Australian scientists are trying to stop cane toads from causing harm to native quolls. They have come up with an idea to make sausages out of cane toads but not the poisonous bit. They also add a chemical that causes vomiting. The scientists put the sausages out where a lot of quolls live. Then they leave the scene adn the quolls come out and eat the sausages. The quolls vomit and they they don't like the taste of cane toad. LAter when they find real cane toads they won't eat them.

Cane toads have become a real problem in the northing parts of Australia. They were introduced to eat beetles that were destroying cane crops. The toads are poisonous to native animals. Scientists are coming up with ideas to stop cane toads. We hope the native animals will learn not to eat toads!

Scary Poems

On the 22nd of February Holly and I were doing literacy rotations. We were doing English in a box. We chose one about poems that include scary monsters. So we made a poster with two poems and a lot of pictures of monsters and weird creatures. I did the poems in my literacy book first to think of the two poem's and Holly did the pictures we also both coloured in. It was fun and quite easy.

Goblins and Gules scare you at night
But during the day they don't give you a fright
They're weird monsters just in a way
Vampires drop blood from the past to today
So stay alert and be afraid!

Alphabet of a Great Student

First Week 2010

On the first week of school 4J were thinking about what makes a good student. In our literacy book we wrote down what makes a good student like be polite, keep going and try your best. We also talked about Persistence, Confidence, Getting Along, Resilience and Organisation. We wrote those words on paper keys and thought up words like never give up, try your best and be brave to show what each one meant.

Creating a Learning Community

We started school for 2010 with C.A.L.C.(Creating a Learning Communnity. We did a Y chart of a sucessful classroom, 'You Can Do It!' posters, a great student alphabet chart, 'Who Am I' activites and class and CARE values. 4J is really having fun with C.A.L.C.