From the 5/6 Classroom

SLAM Poetry

This term students in Years 5 and 6 have been learning about Social Justice and the biggest problems facing children around the world. Over the past few weeks, we have also explored a range of aid agencies that support children, and how we can take action to make a positive difference in the world. 

In Week 6, we began to write a spoken word (SLAM) poem about an issue facing children such as Poverty, Sanitation, Illiteracy, and Malnutrition. To write these poems, we have been incorporating a range of literary devices such as figurative language, tone, and mood. We will perform these spoken word poems at the end of the term as part of this term's Rich Assessment Task (RAT).

Here are what some of our Year 6 students had to say about the task and topic: 

"This topic is very important as it has shown me how fortunate I am to have the simple things in life like water, shelter, clothes and more importantly food! " - Mikaela 6JK

"I think social justice is important because when there is justice for someone it creates peace. From this topic, I have taken away the fact that lots of issues are left in the dark and people need to recognise all issues not just the most talked about ones." - Sophie 6JK

"This topic has helped me with my writing especially with giving it more detail and adding in literary devices." - Mimi 6JK

"I think it is important because people should realise how lucky they are and how hard it is for other people around the world." - Lucas 6JK

2D and 3D Shapes in Maths

In Week 7, we learned about 2D and 3D shapes, how they link together, and the nets that they produce. We completed a range of tasks that looked at the different properties of shapes e.g. Faces, Vertices, and Edges, and practiced drawing prisms using isometric dot paper. 

We also completed an investigation task called 'Radical Robot'. In the investigation, we had to design and create a 3D robot that children will love. The design had certain rules that needed to be followed, including:

• A labeled, 2D diagram of the design showing the features of the robot.
   
• A materials matrix explained which materials should be used for each part of the robot.
   
• At least 5 different 3D shapes needed to be used in the design, including prisms and pyramids.
   
• We also had to draw and construct the nets required to create the robot.

"The radical robot task was fun, we got to collaborate and share ideas which made for a better overall result." - Mimi 6JK

"I liked it because we worked in a group on it." - Lucas 6JK 

WebEx in the 5/6 Classrooms

Throughout remote learning, students have been using WebEx to connect with our teachers, share work, play Kahoots, and use breakout sessions to work in small groups. For example, each Friday we participate in Book Club discussions to talk about texts and share our ideas with our classmates. We also work in mini-clinics during Literacy and Maths sessions to work collaboratively with our classmates. It's a great way to stay connected still be able to learn together. 

"I love doing breakout sessions because I get to work with my friends and do the task together and share our amazing ideas." - Mikaela 6JK

WebEx has also been a very useful communication tool during remote learning. Not only have we used it for learning, but to meet and interview an Olympic athlete and trainer! On the 17th of August, 6JK interviewed Sarah Carli, a 400 m Hurdler who recently represented Australia at the Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games, during our class WebEx. We were also joined by Sarah's trainer and Australian Olympic team manager, Melissa Smith. 

During the WebEx we asked them questions about the Olympic Games and their experience in Tokyo. Some of the things we wanted to know about were: 

• Because of the covid issues, does every country or couple countries work out in little separate gyms? - Grace  6JK
   
• How did you know that you wanted to take up hurdles as a profession? - Ava P.  6JK
   
• How hard is it to balance work, life, and training? - Connor 6JK
   
• How old were you when you decided you wanted to be in the Olympics? - Ander  6JK
   
• Who or what inspired you to become an Olympic athlete? - Chloe 6JK

It was a wonderful experience during lockdown that we won't forget! 6JK is extremely grateful for this opportunity Ms. Kelly made available and would like to thank her!

In addition to the Q&A, we took a class photo with Sarah and Mel, which you can see below.

Some students have also shared their thoughts on the experience: 

"It was probably one of the best experiences I would ever have in my life because she told us what it feels like to have millions of people watching you on how to deal with all the pressure." - Ashok 6JK

"I would describe it as a very rare and quite fun opportunity, it was so interesting finding out things like how they balance work with training as well as other similar questions about the Olympics." - Sophie 6JK

"It helped me realise how interesting and how hard it is to get into the Olympics." - Lucas 6JK