Around the Junior School
Book Week
This year’s theme for Book Week is 'Reading is Magic'. Junior School children are invited to dress up for a parade (based on the theme) on Friday 23 August commencing at 1:45pm.
Year 6 Canberra Excursion 2024
As part of Year 6’s Term 2 unit of work on ‘Rights and Responsibilities’, the students travelled to Canberra for three days. Ms Hamblin, Ms Dodson, Mr Whitehead and Mrs Milliken accompanied the students as they got to see many venues of national significance and educational value.
They visited the Australian Institute of Sport, National Zoo and Aquarium, National Museum of Australia, CSIRO, Questacon, National Portrait Gallery, National Electoral Education Centre, Parliament House, Mount Ainslie and the Australian War Memorial.
The Australian Government recognises the importance of all young Australians being able to visit the national capital as part of their Civics and Citizenship education. To assist families in meeting the cost of the excursion the Australian Government contributed funding of $30.00 per student under the Parliament and Civics Education Rebate Program. The rebate is paid directly to the school. Kinross Wolaroi would like to acknowledge and thank the Australian Government for this contribution.
Student Report
The Canberra Excursion was very fun and Year 6 learnt many things. First, we explored the AIS and learnt about the sports that they train athletes in, witnessed athletes in training and visited Sportex. Next, we fed and learnt about animals at the Canberra Zoo and Aquarium. At the zoo I learnt that many animals in the Amazon are endangered due to people cutting down forests for farming. We then went to the National Museum of Australia and listened to lots of stories about the artifacts in the museum. My favourite story was about a lady who survived a crocodile attack!
On the second day we started with CSIRO. At CSIRO we were given questions and explored CSIRO to find the answers to the questions. I discovered that CSIRO invented Aeroguard, and fast Wi-Fi. We then ventured into Questacon and had a lot of fun learning about science. At Questacon, I watched a show and learnt that the at first the Earth was just acid and volcanoes. After Questacon, Year 6 learnt about lots of paintings at the National Portrait Gallery. Next, we drove around the Embassies and gazed at the amazing architecture of the buildings before going into Old Parliament House to discover how voting works. For an end of the day treat we went to Laser Tag and had a very energetic and exciting time running around in the dark trying to get the other team. It was extremely fun!
On the final day of our wonderful excursion, we started off with a tour of Parliament House where we did a role play of the House of Reps and I learnt that someone called the speaker is in charge of all the meetings. Year 6 got to meet Andrew Gee and asked him questions as well. Next, we drove up to Mount Ainslee lookout for lunch and we looked down on most of Canberra. After lunch we toured the War Memorial. It was very interesting hearing the stories of soldiers who fought in war. There, we learnt about the youngest Australian soldier to ever set foot on the battlefield at 14. We also learnt why the Memorial was in direct, unobstructed view of the Prime Minister’s office. This is because every time the Prime Minister lift their head from their desk, they are reminded of the pain and suffering endured by the soldiers. It is hoped that this may influence their decision when deciding to send soldiers to the battlefield.
By Amara, Prayan and Grace
Pre-Kinder Excursion
On Thursday 6 June, our Pre-Kinder adventurers embarked on a thrilling expedition through a vast collection of over 5,000 objects, journeying through the Fossil Gallery and the Mineral Gallery. In the Mineral Gallery, we delved into the fascinating world of minerals, discovering their significance in everyday life. Our young paleontologists had the chance to grasp some minerals firsthand, getting up close and personal with these geological marvels. Let's not forget the eruption of excitement during our volcanic demonstration! Meanwhile, in the Fossil Gallery, we unearthed a trove of dino-mite knowledge about those colossal creatures of yesteryear. From how dinos strutted their stuff to the egg-citing world of dinosaur growth, no stone—or fossil—was left unturned. We roared with delight as we learned how dinosaurs earned their names, explored the various dinosaur groups, and even sunk our teeth into the subject of dinosaur diets. It was a roaring success of a day, filled with adventure and discovery.
Year 6 Volcano Experiment
As part of our science unit called Earth and Space, we investigated the different types of Extreme Weather Events. This included Earthquakes, Tornados, Tsunamis and Volcanoes. Year 6 were lucky enough to make their own volcanoes in the sandpit with Mr Callaghan. We used a 2-litre bottle filled with white vinegar, dish soap and red food colouring as the base of the volcano and berried it in small sand villages that we made. We poured a mixture of warm water and baking soda into the funnel of our volcanoes, which caused an immediate eruption. Most of the villages were destroyed by the red lava flowing out of the bottles, as well as someone fresh haircut. We loved learning about the impact of volcanos from this hands-on experience.
Year 4 Junk Orchestra
Year 4 students took part in creating a 'Junk Orchestra' made up entirely of junk found around the school. They performed the Upcycle song on their created instruments.
Year 5H Science
To wrap up our Science Unit on ‘Earths Place in Space’, Year 5 students engaged in an inquiry based task throughout the final weeks of Term 2.
Students were asked to locate all of the planets in relation to the Sun and were asked to represent this in a creative diagram! Some students challenged themselves to convert the distances of the planets from the Sun for greater accuracy on their posters/diagrams and others also identified the Oort Cloud, the Asteroid and Kupier Belt.
It has been a fun and engaging learning environment for Year 5 students this term. Bring on another exciting term ahead!
Pyjama Day - SRC Fundraiser
On Thursday 27 June, Pre-Kinder to Year 6 (and the teachers!) all had a very snug last day of Term 2. The SRC hosted a Pyjama Day Fundraiser - in hope to raise money for the new Junior School playground and play equipment. The students of the school decided that having an accessible equipment shed full of games and equipment would be most engaging for their break times. The SRC will run the equipment shed - ensuring equipment is distributed to all students throughout lunch time breaks and will be responsible for keeping the shed clean and organised.
Inside the shed the students hope to see badminton nets, volleyballs, spike ball, backyard tennis, more soccer balls, skipping ropes, netballs, sensory toys, colouring in, chalk and much more! There was an amazing $613.75 raised on Pyjama Day. This was thanks to a gold coin donation for wearing pyjamas and a sweets stall held by the SRC.
Thank you to all of the wonderful SRC students who contributed goodies to the sweets stall and for all of the hard work they have been doing this Semester. It will be an exciting time to open the equipment shed very soon!
Tony Bones, Performing Arts Teacher Visit to the Junior School
A Performing Arts teacher, Tony Bones, from the company, 'Books to Life' expanded on one of the shortlisted picture books for this year's CBCA Book Week and created an incredibly entertaining & engaging live stage show for our Junior School Students on Monday 29 July. The show was full of drama, dance, music, media arts & visual arts.
The book he chose was "That Bird Has Arms” written by Kate and Jol Temple and illustrated by Ronojoy Ghosh and Niharika Hukku. (The same creative team behind the Bin Chicken books.) “That Bird Has Arms” is a quirky story about a bird named Roy who is an ordinary Blue Jay bird but is different from all other birds because he has human arms. He becomes the subject of teasing by the other birds who take to social media to spread the news of Roy using his arms. The continual nastiness causes Roy to become just like his perpetrators.
Eventually things get turned around when the other birds discover how useful his arms can be and how social media can be used for good rather than evil.
Tony’s show took us beyond the book and vividly brought it to life. From the lighting, animations, props, backdrop, singing and dialogue - it was entertaining from beginning to end and both teachers and students had a ball! Tony had everyone engaged and even managed to get us all dancing.
Some of our Junior School children and teachers were chosen to help with puppetry, props and special effects and a group of Year 4 students were lucky enough to perform a Reader’s Theatre.
Year 5 Visit from Rob Sommerville
Rod Sommerville visited Year 5 during Library time, on Monday 20 May and Monday 24 June.
Mr Sommerville provided us with extensive knowledge about the solar system and the various types of stars. He also educated us on the limits of human visual perception and identified the galaxies observable with the naked eye. He had planned to take us into the field to demonstrate the use of his telescope, allowing us to observe planets and stars. Unfortunately, this activity was cancelled due to cloudy weather.
We are very appreciative of your instruction. While we were disappointed that the stargazing session could not occur, we feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to learn from you.
Written by Lawson Morgan and Stuart Bell Year 5 Students
