Year 5 & 6

Over the past couple of weeks, the students have been working on a maths project for their homework. It was fascinating to observe that about one-third opted to design a theme park, another third tracked their time usage over the course of a week, and the final third created a 3D model of a city. The teachers aimed to include activities that appealed to the various interests of the students, and by having one-third participate in each project, this was achieved. Projects help students with their time management skills, as they are not activities that can be accomplished the night before they are due. It was good to see students excited over homework and wanting to show others what they had achieved. 

During our reading workshops, the students have been reading books written and illustrated by Shaun Tan. His picture story books provoke interesting discussions and wonderings. Each 5/6 class spends a week on one of his books. The books we are studying are ‘Rabbits’, ‘Rules of Summer’, ‘Cicada’ and ‘The Lost Thing’. These books have also shown the students that some picture story books are for older children and that they can be really enjoyable to read. There are also lessons to learn!

5/6A

I am going to be commenting on the mathematical project. This project I loved because there were different options to pick from. I chose the tracking journal and I did it on canva and it was just really fun.

-Jade L

I liked the theme park activity. I was really creative when I was colouring and imaginative when I was designing the rides and the park layout. I really like this homework!

-Madi E

We are reading the next book from Shaun Tan called, ‘The Rabbits.’ It is very interesting. All his books have a hidden meaning behind them. The story 'The Lost Thing' tells me that we all belong somewhere and nobody is lost. I also really enjoy looking at his illustrations and what is really cool about Shaun Tan is that  he has won over more than 45 awards.

-Liah B

5/6B

This week for homework, we had to choose between designing a theme park, tracking how we spend our time in a week or build a 3D city. I chose to do time tracking. I tracked how long I did certain activities and then converted it into percentages. Then I put my data into 2 graphs showing the days and activities. I put the hours and minutes in one graph and percentages in the other. Then I decorated it.

-Isla M

For the homework this week, we had to make a city, complete a time tracker or design a theme park. I made a theme park based on Taylor Swift. I made themed rides and shows, and I added food carts with all her favourite foods! I turned it into a booklet with flyers and ads on the other side.

-Pippa W

I like the hidden messages that Shaun Tan hides in his unique picture story books. I especially like the book we are reading in class this week. It’s called Cicada.

-Darcy R

I kind of like Shaun Tan books but they don't really make sense at first. They make much more sense after you read more of the book and think about the hidden messages.

-Jack H

5/6C

For the maths homework I did the time tracker. I tracked what I did in a week and what time I did them all. I found out that I sleep for a long time and go to school for a lot of the week. I liked decorating this project and figuring out what I do. We had to do a graph to show the percentages of what we did. I did a bar graph. This was really fun!

-Ella K

I really enjoyed the way we did our homework this week because we had multiple weeks to do it and we had a choice of what we did. I like doing projects over multiple weeks because I can put lots of effort into what I'm doing and I have longer to make it neat and organised. I did the timeline and I spent at least 30 minutes each day recording what I did, turning it into percentages and displaying my work. 

-Zoe R

I've read two books by Shaun Tan so far, The Lost Thing and Cicada. And I think that Cicada was my favourite. I loved how Shaun Tan drew the pictures, and how he wrote from how Cicada would talk and feel. I really liked the end bit, especially when Cicada flew away, and got his own freedom. I also liked how Cicada handled the situation, and he was a really dedicated to his work! 

-Achala S

I'm going to  comment on Shaun Tan, as I really love his books. I like how they're in a different perspective, and how they're referring to real life. I've only read, ‘The Lost Thing’ and 'Cicada’ so I don't know if the other two books are anything like these ones, and if they are, I'd like that. I think they're very creative and there are so many hidden things in each story. Not just in the amazing pictures, but in the writing too.

-Annie T

Celebrating our Students

Students are nominated by their teachers to receive a certificate of acknowledgment. The below student's certificates will be presented at our next assembly. 

56A - Mrs Freene 

Leilani A 

For being an active and dedicated member of the Junior School Council. 

Lukey S

For participating with enthusiasm during the author study activities. 

56B - Mr Hanley

April C

For designing and building a very creative 3D model of a city. 

Caitlin V 

For building a very creative 3D model of her Neon City. 

56C - Mrs Haysom

Levi V

For the time and effort he put into his Maths project.