Teaching and Learning
Japanese
こんにちは！Hello!
On Tuesday the 25th of June, 12 year 6/7 students went to the annual JLTASA Japanese quiz day. Annalise, Olivia, Lily, Bella, Jade, Hayley, Alicia, Eliana, Allan, Morgan, Cooper and Joey had lots of fun and met students from other schools, working with them in teams. They had to collaborate to answer lots of questions all about Japan, but that’s not all! They also played games such as Jankenpon(rock, paper, scissors), used kendama(cup and ball toy) in a competition, danced and watched some interesting videos too.
There were 8 rounds of quizzes on different Japanese topics such as geography, hiragana, festivals, traditional culture and modern culture. There was lots of new learning for everyone. And because they worked with students from other schools they got to see that everybody learns lots of similar things, but sometimes different things too!
Thank you to Lynda McCabe and Matt Mulree who helped out with transport on the day. Also thank you to Sachiko Sensei who came along to support and help out on the day.
One of our teams scored 1stplace – it’s always nice to win a prize! But everyone worked hard and made our school proud with great team play and sportsmanship. We’re already looking forward to next year’s quiz!
せんせい、
Natasha Gilbert
Science News
As part of the Science curriculum, Room 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10 and 12 went to the zoo to study the animals’ enclosures and analyze their structure. It was a glorious, sunny day and the students really enjoyed walking around the zoo and looking at the different animals. The gibbon enclosure was a huge hit as they swung from tree top to tree top and dazzled the children with their amazing acrobatic skills!
Marie Newcombe
Wellbeing - Kimochis
What are Kimochis?
KEY.MO.CHEE means “feeling” in Japanese
Kimochis look like toys, but they are actually communication tools that help students manage feelings in positive ways to promote well-being and success in school and life.
Our Junior Primary teachers are using Kimochis – lots of different plush characters and the Kimochi curriculum in their classrooms to help students become more resilient and get through difficult circumstances.
Using the Kimochis program in classrooms, allows children to have a voice and to talk about specific behaviours and feelings. We also hope that children will become more empowered to solve their own problems and this confidence spills over into all areas of our curriculum.
Room 10 - Build a boat challenge
Cooperation, communication, commitment and creativity were definitely the skills required to complete our class ‘Build a Boat’ challenge.
We had to construct a boat that could successfully carry precious cargo to Townsville and surrounding areas, that had been effected by flash flooding. The cargo we had to carry in our boat weighed a total of 1 kilogram.
Firstly we did some research on boats. We needed to find information about:
What boats are made out of
List some different types of boats
Important things to consider when building a boat
The next part of the project required us to become designers. We were only allowed to use six materials from the choices below.
Foam, bubble wrap, aluminum foil, pop sticks, straws, milk bottles, plastic, cardboard cylinders, plastic soft drink bottles and cardboard cylinders.
Furiously we sketched several different boat designs and then chose one final (detailed) design. The detailed sketch needed to feature side view, top view, front view and back view and follow the specified dimensions of 41cm in (length) and 20cm in (Width). We also needed to explain our design choices and back up why we thought our final design would make the best boat for the job.
Constructing our boats was fun and frustrating because we had to change and modify our designs along the way. This took time and lots of effort.
The exciting part of the project was testing our boats! Some groups were thrilled by the success of their boats, other teams felt disappointed when their boat sank to the bottom of the tub. Above all, this was a terrific learning experience which gave us the chance to work together, try new ideas and think about how we could improve on our work.
Room 10
Room 10 - Artwork
Artwork Inspired by Piet Mondrian
Forget Picasso, Van Gogh and Monet! Take a look at Mondrian!
Piet Mondrian(1872-1944) is regarded as one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. The Dutchman is highly lauded for his innovative abstract and geometric paintings. The class has taken inspiration from Mondrian's Tree series of paintings. Enjoy!
