As term three came to a close at St Mary’s Primary School in Myrtleford on Friday, 19 September, students from the foundation to year 2 classes assembled their craft and writing projects to put on the latest LETI exhibition.
Students stepped back in time through their Inquiry Unit, with a focus on history, to showcase their hard work for the year 3 and 4 students, teachers and family members who picked them up early from campus.
"LETI is an acronym for 'Learning Experiences Through Investigation' and is a very popular component of the St Mary's Inquiry learning model," foundation teacher, Carolyn Deith said.
"Guided by curiosity and creativity, students explored how things have changed, learned about their own family histories and what life was like in the local community in years past.
"Students crafted old-fashioned telephones, time capsule artefacts and built family trees; laying the foundation for deeper inquiry.
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"Their personal research project investigations led to the creation of old toys, cameras, phones, historical houses, posters and even vintage-style newspaper advertisements.
"The highlight of the term was an excursion to the Myrtleford Old School Museum, where students found themselves walking through parts of our own local history, connecting classroom learning with real-world artefacts and stories."
Classrooms gradually resembled a busy train station as older students, teachers and school parents dropped by to appreciate the students' work, transforming each space with additional foot traffic and a cacophony of layered voices.
Alira Simpson said the house recreation was her favourite task to work on this term.
"In the olden days, that’s what houses used to look like," she said.
"They had different designs than houses today.
"When I asked my Dad about his past houses, he said he lived in a house which my Nanna lived in and it’s still there."
Older students, Lara Nannipieri and Milla McAlpine, said the foundation classes have done really good work.
"They have some very good ideas," Lara said.
"I remember doing this program when I was in foundation."
Milla agreed their fellow students created very good artwork.
"It looks like they put a lot of effort into their art pieces."
Meanwhile, the year 3 students brought literature to life after they were inspired by Ted Hughes’ 'The Iron Man'.
"On display at the LETI Expo are our unique robot creations, each designed and built by students," teacher April Nannipieri said.
"These robots reflect not only the themes of resilience and transformation found in the novel, but also the imagination, problem-solving and teamwork of our students.
"From recycled materials, to moving parts, each robot tells its own story.
"We’re proud to showcase the creativity of our learners and the way literature can spark innovation across the curriculum."
Tom Morrison's Ski Bot, A.K.A. the ‘100% Bot’ took one whole night to make.
"The arms were the most challenging part of the robot," Tom said.
In the year 1 and 2 classrooms, Oscar Lewis recreated an antique camera, which took four weeks to construct, Harper Richter designed an art room diorama from the 1920s, with an accompanying timeline until the present and Eila Cullen built a model of the first household computer and a dial telephone.
“It was tricky," Eila said.
"It took me two weeks to make the computer and one week to make the phone.”
Dozens of the students' family members were eager to do laps of each classroom and view their creative work over the last term.
“I dropped in to see my son Bodie, who made a family tree and a diorama of the church," Jane Murray said.
“When he came home and asked questions about our family, it was great because it was something we could work on together and afterwards, he said ‘I loved doing that’.
“It’s good to see them enjoying their learning.”
