So today 1A had expo prep which involved us getting ready for expo. We spent a lot of the time trying to fit everything in to our massive packs and they were really heavy by the end of it. We also had to sort out our tents, sleeping bags and the food that we would be taking.  Then had to assign roles like navigator and welfare person. Everybody had different roles for different days. 

This will be our second expo and we will be out for three days and two nights. Everyone is looking forward to it and it should be heaps of fun.

Kelly

Today after community walk, Nathan, Mark, Nick, Hayden and I went outside to play around in the snow.

At the moment there is over 1 metre of snow on the ground, which is the most there has been for 10-20 years. It is so good to run around and jump into. We got to some good spots and did some pretty big jumps into the snow. When you land in the snow you, you just sink straight in. It is pretty cool. Can’t wait for more fun in the snow!!!

Lachlan

Expo 2 all the groups are heading out to expo in the next couple of days. We all start at Hotham and ski to biathlon hut and spent the night the next day we ski to JB hut and we ski home the final day. Our cooking groups have changed from expo 1 and our tent groups. It should be a great experience to learn from expo 1’s mistakes. We have come so far and this is one of our last big challenges we are all so excited. The thing we are looking forward to most on expo 2 is cross country skiing because we didn’t get to ski on the first expo1, we snow shoed instead. It is going to be a long 3 days but we are going to have lots of fun moments that we will be able to remember for the rest of our lives. We are all given different roles thought the group such as camp set up, well being and navigation. CAN’T WAIT!!!!!!!!!

Nick and Lillie

Today was water journey day for 1A. We were out all day down at Victoria River testing and assessing the quality of the water.

When we arrived we instantly went into kick back mode and started kicking the footy and throwing the netball around. We then gathered as a group around the minivan and decided what we were going to do next. As a unit we all decided it would be best to have morning tea, this decision was based mainly on the fact that we were starving. After a delicious slice of cake we got straight into testing the water. Some of the tests included oxygen, phosphate, temperature, ph, ec and electricity conduction to name a few. It didn’t take long to get the hang of it but by the end of testing we were all pretty over it. Next came our BBQ. We as a group had to make lunch and all we had was the food and a dismantled BBQ. Surprisingly we had that up and running within minutes, I guess it was that hunger factor again. As it worked out the BBQ was amazing, one of the best lunches we have had here.

After pack up we went back to kicking the footy and which reminded me of lunch time back at school. Our afternoon activity consisted of groups of three catching bugs in the mud. This too was interesting because we got to see a few different types of bugs. Finally we spoke about how what we do every day is affecting the river systems and what we can do to prevent that. By the end of our lesson we had a little bit of spare time so we decided to take a small drive to see a waterfall. Once we returned home we had to clean everything up and then as soon as we started we had to go out on our community walk. All in all it was a good day.

Josh and Liv

Today was, well...interesting. The morning started with “no power for an hour” (idea by Stephanie). We did this so that we would not produce as much energy, therefore we would be helping the environment and help make sure that there will be snow for the generations to come. This “no power for an hour” prohibited computers and lights. Webcam with Snowy River and Gnurad was, well normal (we suppose).

Max: Today my classes were: Conflict Resolution and Thinking and Learning 4. I had both these classes with Mr. Pike (he’s a pretty cool dude). We watched movies and did role plays to learn about different ways to solve problems and confront people about them. In thinking and learning 4 we focussed on Edward De Bono’s 6 thinking hats, they are a good way of sorting out problem and getting things done. I'm super pumped for our third downhill ski tomorrow.  My highlight for today was: The table tennis tournament. Which is yet to be finished.

Amina:  During our morning session I had Conflict Resolution just like Max. We learnt how to deal with Conflict and sort out certain situations that we may be having, rather than bottling things up and eventually exploding. We also took a quiz to find out how we tend to deal with conflict, which was interesting. In the afternoon I had Music with Lee Rosser. It was really fun and we were able to finish off the music piece that we have been working on. I can’t wait to hear the finished piece. My highlight for the day would be rehearsing for our Alpine’s Got Talent show that is coming up. It was great fun having some input into what our group was doing and creating our own original dance. I can’t wait till Alpine’s Got Talent.

Today we had Thinking and Learning 4. We talked about the six thinking hats.
These hats include the following...

Red hat- the red hat is used to express your feelings.

Yellow hat- what are the positives?

Black hat- what are the weaknesses or the negatives?

Green hat- what are your new ideas?

White hat- what are information is there and what are the facts?

Blue hat- used for thinking. What thinking is needed?

We used these hats to discuss some issues throughout our community that we feel we could fix. My favourite thing was when we got to wear our sparkly hats. We had to think and contribute to the conversation according to the colour hat on our head.

By Mel and Brock

Yesterday the students at the alpine school all got dressed up and had some fun in teams making ducks. What we had to do was make ducks out of paper but the challenge was that we had to buy all the things to make the ducks and we also had to sell the ducks.

I was in the team called anonymous with 4 other people. We came 5^th out of 9 groups. We did not do too badly but we may have done things a little better.

I think that everyone had fun dressing up and making the ducks. I liked it when we had the thunder storm in the game. The teacher were flicking the light and throwing water over us. We were not ready for that as we did not have a rain coat to cover all of our things. Our paper became wet and we were not able to sell our ducks for very much money sometimes we were not able to sell them.

If our ducks were rushed we would also not get much money for them. My team made money but not too much as some of the other groups made around $400.

I thought that this activity was great fun and I learnt new skills for life.

By Tim

Today we had our ILP interviews. The day started off with most of the girls dressing up nicely for the occasion.  Maddy and a few other girls volunteered to dress everyone up and did so with me.

I was the support person for Nadia and she was the same for me. Our interviews were in the morning so we could get them over and done with. Turns out that the interviews were easy and it was like having a formal conversation. I read out all of the goals I had set earlier in the term and my teacher and I discussed what have already done to achieve them and also would I could still do to work on them.

I was worried that I wouldn’t have enough to talk about for half an hour but time flew while we were having our conversations. I got good feedback from the interview and I will use the feedback as evidence in my passport.

I now know what I need to work on in the community and have been praised for what I have achieved so far.

By Chloe

On the 8^th of August, core 1 went out for a cross country ski tour. The day started off with everyone making lunches for them while at campus for the big day ahead, then everyone getting packed and making sure we had everything. After that was all done we headed off by buses and Prado. It was an enjoyable day filled with laughs and falls.

After having downhill skiing sessions not long before it was a little bit hard to get used to the cross country skis again. It was even harder to get anywhere as I wasn’t very good with the skis in the first place. I lost count of how many times I fell over while trying to do a simple snowplough. Thankfully it didn’t take too long to reach our destination. It was there that I first learnt how to use a hole as a toilet. After we all finished our lunch we started the trip back. It took less time than how long we took to get there. When we reached the car park we were offered the choice to go back to campus or ski back from JB plain. I chose to go back to campus and so my blog ends here.

By Jordan

On Friday alpine students had their first downhill skiing lesson. We had a quick check in the morning to make sure we had the correct gear, then headed down to the road in wait of Christians bus line.  45 students, 7 teachers and the public all cramped onto the bus.

Once we arrived at Hotham we were split into different skiing skill levels and went to get our ski gear.  We had a quick morning tea then had our ski lesson with Hotham instructors.  We went over the basic moves to begin with, such as snow ploughing, turning to completely stopping.  After a quick turn at that most groups were on the chair lift headed up to the top of the hill.  At the top of the hill we practiced our snow ploughs and turns.  We finally reached the bottom and had another quick go before our lesson ended.  All the students were looking forward to lunch, because Mrs. Hannah had ordered sausage rolls and meat pies. 

After lunch students took the chairlift up the hill another 20 or so times.  We put what we learnt into action and I could see some improvement from my fellow peers as I watched them ski from the chairlift. 

We had all had such an exciting day and wanted to keep skiing, but had to eventually return our skis.  At the end of the day everyone had huge smiles across their faces that wouldn’t leave.  Students chatted about their time and we all can’t wait till our next downhill skiing lesson.

By Laura & Jake

Elysia's student blog on skiing!

Today after class, people that wanted to, all went up to the ski slope. Again. And as usual anyone who puts on a pair of skis always has a really great time.I don’t think I’ve ever had a conversation with someone after we’ve been skiing whether in class or after class and they’ve hated it. I mean it’s the best thrill ever!! If it’s down at the slope or cross country doesn’t matter. I personally love downhill skiing. If you would call it that considering it’s just on the slope. Tomorrow everyone goes downhill skiing though and I really can’t wait!!!

What most people find great about skiing is the going downhill without even pushing yourself along! All you do is lean one way or the other and off you go! I love how you can gilde along by pushing yourself with the ski poles.

I got one of my friends to film me going down today. Or at least she tried to because all I saw was her finger on the lenses! But the point is I really want to have proof that I can actually do it because in about 2 years time you probably won’t be able to tell I was ever a skier!! I really want to get good and stay good so if ever I come up to the snow to ski again I will be a total ace!!

Heaps of people really enjoy it out on the slope. I know for a fact that if people aren’t feeling anxious about getting their ski card all ticked off, they're memorising the responsibility code OR they're practising on the slope. Why wouldn’t you want to get on the ski wagon???

Max:
My highlight for today was building the massive ball out in the snow with everyone. It started off as a normal sized snow ball, but it ended up needing at least eight people to roll it over to its next side. Snow is awesome!!! Everyone gets along so good now, I feel like I'm already a part of a big family. We’re closing in on parenting weekend end now, and I hardly even miss my family yet. I mean of course it’s going to be good to see them but... you know. Anyway I had a great time to today, as usual!

Ellen:
My highlight of today was going outside in the snow with everyone and walking around dinner plain with a few of my friends that I have made here, it feels like I have known these people all my life. You don’t have much time to miss your family because you have a busy day and your always around others and talking I do miss them but activities distract you from it all. The snow at the moment is about knee deep which is pretty cool a part from when you sink into it.

We both had the video conference with Snowy River and Gnurad today. That was... interesting. Everything has started to run really smoothly around campus. We’re both so lucky to be here and to have been given this opportunity. It’s easy to forget how lucky we are, that’s why we think it’s so important to sit down and reflect, because once you write down all the amazing things you’ve done you really start to see how much we should cherish every moment of this experience.

By Maximilan and Ellen

Today Nadia and I were inside all day and we could see it snowing outside. We were itching to get outside because it has not snowed for a pretty long time. We really wanted to get out in the snow and have some fun.

Today at TAS some students have started to work on their Alpine Learning Projects (ALP).For this project you are required to work in small groups of 3-4 and chose a topic that relates to the Alpine Environment. After several classes the projects will be presented to a group of local primary school students.

The topic that my group has chosen is on the common wombat. We had a productive lesson learning and researching about the wombats that can be found around the Alpine School area. We have decided that instead of presenting our project as traditional PowerPoint we would try something different and create an activity booklet and fact sheet for the Primary school group.

I am looking forward to working closely with my group in the next few weeks to prepare and complete the 20-30 minute ALP about the wombat.

By Chelsea

For the past few weeks, the Alpine School students have been learning first aid skills. Recently we had a CPR exam which was quite challenging, but at least now we know what to do if someone drops dead on our expo. We had a number of lessons learning both first aid and CPR.

I have been at the Alpine School for two and a half weeks and I am so glad that I came I have met heaps of awesome people and had the chance to do things that I wouldn’t get the chance to if I had stayed back home. I have been learning how to ski which was really hard at first but I am beginning to get the hang of it and I’ve also had to get used to doing my own laundry, sharing a room and just being a different environment. I also got to see snow for the first time. This is really cool, we woke up one morning and everything was covered in snow, it was pretty special. So I’m having a really great time and I’m really glad that I’ve come!

By Kelly

This week has been interesting on me because we kicked off the week with a first aid/ CPR exam which everyone one was confident in and I’m sure they went well in.

This week has been hard on me because I have been having problems with my teeth and I have been going to the dentist so I have been missing a few classes but I have been working very hard and haven’t been behind in class work.

The community have been not too bad this week and improving on things they need to. There have been lots of new friends being made within the community and schools mixing with other schools which are coming along quite good and I’m sure the teachers would be proud of that.

Today I was student leader and I found it fun speaking in front of the community and something everyone will get the chance to do.

By Jake

Bridge building was possibly the best and most enjoyable activity I have done so far at the Alpine School.

In our expo groups we set out to a place where a small part of the Victoria River ran through. When we arrived we were greeted by the sound of running water and some cattle in the distance. Our main task when bridge building was to construct a bridge out of only logs and rope which would span across the width of the river.