Year 6

Welcome to our Grade 6 Classroom Communication for Term 4, Week 5! 

This issue's guest reporters are Ava Hamill and Clare Bickerton.

Year 6 News by Ava and Clare

English

Following on from last term into this term we have finished a book called ‘Can you see me?’,  written by Rebecca Westcott. There are also exciting diary entry’s written by Libby Scott an autistic 11year old girl. Libby shares her point of view on being different and how much it can impact every little thing in every day of their lives. We have now moved onto a gripping page turner called ‘Nevermoor- trials of Morrigan Crow,’ written by Jessica Townsend, it is filled with excitement, action, wonder and possibility. 

Now after finishing our note taking, we worked on our persuasive writing piece on the importance of a therapy dog in our school, and how much it would benefit us through more ways than one. We are moving on to writing a narrative with inspiration from the book Nevermoor.

Maths

This term in our year six classroom we have explored and started to understand the complications of negative numbers, to transforming shapes in Cartesian planes. We have also completed data investigation by creating side by side column graphs and line graphs through Microsoft Excel. 

This last week has been really fun as we navigated our way through the challenging but exciting ways of getting our data collection from our classroom students, to putting it into all the different graphs such as pie, bar, column, side by side and line graphs. Now we can all look forward to our next topic which will be fractions, decimals and percentages.     

Science

This term in Science, we have been learning about the amazing systems inside the human body. We explored the respiratory, digestive and circulatory systems, and discovered how they work together to keep us healthy and alive. It has been interesting to learn how oxygen, nutrients, and blood travel through our bodies, and how each system plays an important role in helping us function every day. We have enjoyed learning about how our bodies work and the science behind it!

Religious Education

This term in Religious we have been discovering the Christian heritage of Jesus and the interesting background on how he was a part of the Jewish culture. We have been learning about God's promise to Abraham. 

Inquiry

This term in Inquiry, we have been learning about how Australia is connected to countries in the Asia-Pacific region. We explored things like trade, tourism, migration and  aid programs, and how they help connect people and communities around the world. We also used maps, globes and time zones to learn more about Australia's neighbouring countries, including Fiji. It has been really interesting to see how countries work together and how Australia plays an important role in the wider world.

Legacy Art

We have been working on our Grade 6 legacy project, which will be left at the school for future students to enjoy. We are creating pavers using colourful mosaic tiles that will become part of the Indigenous Garden. It has been exciting to design and create something special for our school, and we are looking forward to seeing the finished project and leaving a lasting reminder of our Grade 6 year. A big thank you to Mrs. Watson for her help and creativity in organising this and getting us started!

Melbourne Stars Visit

The Melbourne Stars women cricketers came to visit and showed us some drills that we did. And then every class did some rotations then after we finished the rotations we got some signatures from the players.

Granite Hill Visit

In week 3, the year six students visited the residents at GraniteHill to share the books we made about having a roller-coaster day. The residents were very pleased to see us and we read our stories to the residents. After we finish reading, we had a chat about their life and if they had any grand kids or kids of their own. We were there for a good hour but then we had to leave the lovely people behind.  

Tree Planting with Ray Thomas

On Monday 14th of September, the Grade 6 students from St. John’s Euroa took part in a tree planting activity at the Seven Creeks, behind Northern Republic. Earlier this year in March, our class propagated many of the native trees and plants that were planted on the day.

Local environmental expert Ray Thomas showed us how to correctly plant the seedlings and explained why native vegetation is so important for the local environment. He taught us about the native wildlife that will benefit from the new plants, including birds, insects and other animals that rely on these habitats for food and shelter.

It was exciting to see the plants we had grown from small cuttings now finding a permanent home along the creek. The experience helped us learn more about caring for the environment and how small actions can make a big difference to the health of our local ecosystem.

The Grade 6 students are proud to have contributed to the preservation of the Seven Creeks and look forward to watching the area grow and thrive in the years ahead.

Footy Colours Day in Term 3

On the last day of term 3 the whole school celebrated footy colours day. Everyone came to school dressed in their favourite sports team. We had AFL teams, basketball teams, NRL teams and soccer teams. We paraded around the quad while blasting AFL theme songs. After we had finished listening to the theme songs the year 6 students took the whole school and separated them into small groups of about 9 or 10 kids in each group and did about 12 rotations doing different activities such as longest kick, hand ball targets, obstacle cores, and a bunch of other fun activities after the rotations finished the year 6 class versed the staff in a footy match sadly the year six team lost by a couple of goals. 

(Go Teachers! From Mr. Tunks)

WOW Sock day for Wellbeing

On Wednesday the 28th October the staff and students of St. John’s celebrated crazy sock day. There were lots of bright and colourful socks. At 12:40pm a small group of year 5s went into every classroom and lead us throw some activities about celebrating everyone’s differences and when things get tough how to handle that type of situation a little better.

STEM Incursion

A couple of weeks ago we had a visit from some experts on coding and robotics. Inland Rail were sponsors for the day and we also had some representatives from the company to talk to us about what they do with the rail project in Euroa and elsewhere as well. We learnt to code which then instructed the robotic vehicles what movements to do. We ended with a competition where we were in small groups and we had to build something to grab and release some cargo and we took turns of testing it out. Everyone did a fantastic job and the whole day was very enjoyable and had lots of fun.

Catholic Mission Mass "Socktober"- Last Term photos

Last term we visited St. Brendan’s church in Shepparton to celebrate "Socktober" which is something they do to support the children in Malawi. The kids over there don’t have much variety with sport or activity’s so they collect rubbish, then tie it up with socks and string so they could play soccer and also reuse and recycle. We then had a go at making our own soccer balls out of rubbish.

Specialist Timetable 

PE and Art are on a Tuesday this term, and Japanese and STEM are on a Wednesday.

A Quick Word from Mr. Tunks

Welcome to the final term of the year and gee hasn't it gone by quickly! I am so impressed with how our Grade 6 students have settled into the last year of term, showing great maturity and eagerness to learn! It is a very busy term this term with many exciting things coming up such as; making our Legacy Art piece, Graduation and Transition to Year 7. The students are all very excited for these upcoming events and making the most of their last term at primary school! 

Just some reminders of our expectations in Year 6:

• Students to have their own drink bottles and hats at school
• Students to read and have their reader signed nightly and checked by the teacher before school each morning.
• Students to practice their spelling words nightly and checked by the teacher before school each morning.

Grade 6 Graduation Montage Photos

As our Grade 6 students prepare for the exciting milestone of graduation, we are beginning work on a special photo montage that will be showcased at the Grade 6 

Graduation Dinner on Monday 14th December at 6pm.

Over the next few weeks, we ask that families please collect a selection of photos of their child from throughout their life and save them onto a USB stick. Photos may include baby photos, family events, sporting achievements, school memories, holidays, special occasions, and other significant moments that your child would like to include. Students will need about 20 photos for their montage as the videos will go for 30 seconds.

Please ensure that all photos are school-appropriate and suitable for presentation at the Graduation Dinner.

If possible, we would also appreciate families uploading one appropriate song that their child would like to use as the background music for their montage. Please save the song file on the same USB stick as the photos. The videos will go for 30 seconds, so we will only be using a 30 second snippet of the chosen song.

A few families have asked for assistance with adding their child's chosen song to the USB. One of the easiest ways to do this is to use a YouTube-to-MP3 conversion website, such as:

https://youaretube.com/

To download a song:

1. Find the song on YouTube.
2. Copy the YouTube video link.
3. Paste the link into the conversion website.
4. Download the MP3 file.
5. Save the MP3 file directly onto your child's USB.

There are also other YouTube-to-MP3 websites available if you would prefer to use an alternative.

If you are having any difficulties downloading the song, transferring files to the USB, or are unsure if you have included everything required, please don't worry. Simply send the USB to school with your child and I will happily help add the song or check that everything has been uploaded correctly.

Students can bring their labelled USB stick to school at any time over the coming weeks. To help us manage the collection process and avoid loss, please ensure the USB is clearly labelled with your child's name.

Thank you for your support in helping create a memorable keepsake that celebrates our students' primary school journey. We look forward to sharing these special memories with our graduating class and their families.

Key Dates

          November 🌳

2nd - Pupil Free Day  - Report Writing

3rd - Melbourne Cup Holiday 🐴

5th - Kaboom Sports 1.40pm

6th- Class Mass Yr 6&F 12.30pm

7th-8th Relay For Life 

7th - Family Mass 6pm

19th- Year 6 Visit to GraniteHill

27th - Class Mass Yr 5&6 12.30pm

28th - Sacrament of Confirmation and Eucharist   6pm

        December 🎄

4th - Grandparents Afternoon  👴👵

           Assembly 1pm

8th- Statewide Transition Day

10th - 🎅St John's Christmas Concert 6pm🎅

13th -   Parish Carols Service Night 6pm

14th - Yr 6 Graduation Dinner 6pm

15th - End Of Year Mass 9.30am

            End of Year Assembly 1.40pm

              Student's Last Day 

24th - Christmas Eve Parish Family Mass 6pm

Thanks for taking the time to read our Year 6 Classroom Communication, I am looking forward to what the rest of the year brings! If you have any questions or need to contact me please feel free to email me at jtunks@sjeuroa.catholic.edu.au

Mr Jake Tunks (Year 6 Classroom Teacher) and Damien Saxon (Learning Support Officer)