Grade 6 News

Important Reminders

• Icy Poles will be sold on Monday and Tuesday at the Senior School at lunch.

   

Upcoming Dates

• 23rd & 30th May - Winter Round Robin 

• 16th June- Hooptime
• 27th June- Whole School Disco
• 3rd July- Whole School Cultural Day

• 4th July- Last day of Term 2

   

  Production dates:

• Tuesday 2nd September 2025
• Wednesday 3rd September 2025

Canberra Camp

The students had a wonderful time in Canberra. We would like to express our pride in each student, who all demonstrated the school values and represented the school with pride.  

Below are 7 reflections written by students. 

Parliament House by Jess B

On Grade 6 Canberra camp, we went to Parliament House. When we first walked in, the first thing we all wanted to see was Shawn the Prawn. When the tour guide took us to see him, we were all squirming to take photos. When we walked upstairs, we noticed some portraits of past Prime Ministers hanging on the walls. One of the Prime Ministers even had their cat painted in the portrait. Then we went to learn about the House of Representatives, the lower house, and the whole room was green to reflect Aussie eucalyptus leaves. Next we went to the Senate, the upper house, and we learned that when a decision is made in the House of Representatives, the Senators have only 4 minutes to get to the Senate to vote and if they are late they cannot vote. Once our visit was over, we were all really happy with what we learned. 

War Memorial by Roman D

On Thursday, we went to the war memorial and were welcomed in. Everybody that went to the war memorial got split into groups and walked around and we were just mind blown. All the things we saw in the memorial were 100% real. There was a tombstone of the Unknown dead soldiers that went to war.  They had the suits and helmets and medals. Everything you see at the war memorial is from the war and it got transferred from war to the memorial. Then they showed us the weapons and vehicles. They showed us the little tank called the fast tank and it can fit two soldiers in it. Also if you go to the war memorial, you can go out the back. You can see two walls full of soldiers who have passed in the wars. On one side of the wall, there's people from World War 1 who passed. Then on the other side, it’s full of people who died in World War 2. 

Last post ceremony

Every day you go to the war memorial, with about 15 minutes left before they close, they’ll do a ceremony on one Anzac. So every day they pick a person from the wall of Australian soldiers and plan out a full ceremony. The day we went to the war memorial, the teacher picked out two people to lay down a wreath. The teachers chose Kobe and Poppy. The soldier's name was Albert Edwin Crellin and there were three groups that laid down a wreath - LPS, the Canberra rugby academy and an Australian soldier from WW2.   

Electoral Education Centre by Alex I 

We went to the Electoral Education Centre (EEC) to learn how to vote during future elections. We entered a dark room where we watched an interesting video about the history of elections and how Australia’s voting system has evolved.  

The film included holographic people who were past governors that spoke about how they changed the voting system to how it is in the present day. 

Next we went into "Democracity" where we got to use some interactive digital screens. We had to help teach the characters about voting and answer their questions.

Our last room was where we learnt how to vote and we had to vote for the best fruit. The voting system was quite unpredictable because even if the apple had double the amount of votes of any other fruit, it still didn’t have the majority of the people, therefore, apple still hadn’t won yet.  

Banana had the least amount of votes so it had to be kicked. Everyone who had voted for bananas’ second vote was now counting like their first vote, changing the numbers completely. 

Apple had the most votes but still not the majority of the people, so, another fruit had to be eliminated which was peach. 

Second choice of peach’s voters were taken into account and now there was the final count.. 

It was announced that apple had won the election against pear and we had learnt how to vote and had been a part of a mini election.

Australian Institute of Sport by Adele B

On the 1st of May, as a fun camp activity, the grade 6 LPS students went to the Australian Institute of Sport, a place where all the best athletes train everyday. We had a super fun time! When we first got there we went into an interactive room with a bunch of machines to test your olympic skills. They were super interactive and fun. One of my favourites was a machine that timed your chin up. When we did the chin up it would film us while timing so it was a little bit weird seeing your face go red as you held it for longer. Another machine was to see how far you could stretch because divers stretch past their toes so you could compare yourself to professional divers. On the other side was a machine testing how high you could jump. On one side there was a picture of a professional netball player and on the other was a measuring chart. You had to jump as high as you could. It was really amazing to see how high they jump in professional sports. Once we left the room we were allowed to go to the gift shop. There were so many great options from clothes to souvenirs and keychains, I definitely recommend getting something there if you ever go. 

After we went to the shop, we started our tour around the AIS. For us sport lovers this was a dream about to come true! First we went into the AIS’s special stadium that they are currently turning into an ice hockey rink for Canberra’s ice hockey team. Then we went into the Gymnasium where the gymnasts train. We saw the amazing Dylan Moore warming up. He had 2 tricks named after him! Which is pretty special as you have to have done the trick first and no one else in the world but you had performed it before. Next we went into the volleyball room where we saw athletes in the climax of their daily training. It was really cool to see how well they could control the ball with only their hands. We watched for an bit until we walked past the dividing wall into the strength and conditioning gym. We saw the Australian female basketball team there! Our last stop which was actually one of my favourites was the AIS’s swimming pool. It was HUGE! If you took out all the ropes it could be 2 full size water polo courts. They had a camera to film the athletes underwater and a special diving block that could measure how much force you used to take off while diving into the water. You’d think they would use this for an Olympic pool if the Olympics were in Canberra but actually the pool is 51 meters long so they can’t use it for competitions. That was the end of our fun time at AIS. It was super cool to see the atmosphere that the athletes live in everyday. The intensity of the training was super cool to watch! I had such a great time and would definitely go back when I get the chance!

Questacon by George C

On the last day of camp we all went to Questacon. I think it was the activity everyone was the most excited for, along with the AIS. Walking in there, it was amazing seeing all the contraptions on the ground floor and there were ramps going all the way up to the roof. There was a huge model of a Lego rocket ship that lit up with sound effects too.  First we went to the gift shop, where there were a lot of cool toys and food like astronaut ice cream and freeze dried skittles. We all ate them in our cabins. Second, we went to the top level, where they had a Lego exhibition going on. There were models of all the planets in the solar system, and you could see the insides of them too. There were also other things there, like a competition on who could make the best duck (I named mine “Legs” because it had really long legs). A couple of people teamed up and made a huge one. After that, we went to the gravity level. There was loads of cool stuff there too. I remember there was one where there was a beach ball and a sort of fan cannon thing and you had to get it through some hoops. That one was pretty cool, but the next one was the best one - the weather section. You got to play with lightning and tornadoes and there was even a tesla coil that went off every 15 minutes. But the coolest one was the earthquake house. It simulated earthquakes of different magnitudes and the highest one was 5.8. Everything was shaking and there were books and different objects in the cabinets and they were all shaking.

There was also a tornado that went from floor to ceiling and you could reach out and touch it.

When we went downstairs, we went to an architecture level, which, don’t get me wrong, was still cool, but definitely the weakest of the bunch. The luminous rocks and marble run were pretty cool though.

Everyone had a great time at Questacon and it was my favourite part of the trip.

ANZAC Parade by Kaylee D

In the grade 6 Canberra camp we went on the ANZAC parade where we learnt about the Army, the Navy and the Air force. 

We learnt that all the soldiers fallen or alive had made many sacrifices in war.

Some amazing features of the ANZAC parade was the walking.

I know walking usually sounds boring but the road for the ANZAC parade was specially designed to make a marching sound when walking on the gravel, pretty cool right.

The grade 6s went around the ANZAC parade looking at each of the statues of soldiers. We had to find out what part of army defence the statues represented and find out what type of statue - the Navy, Army or the Air Force.

The most represented statue, the Kemal Atatürk statue represents the war of Gallipoli, a sad and unfair war. It brings attention to citizens so that we can commemorate the loss of our soldiers.

The Royal Mint By Macey B

When we got to the Mint, we went inside and looked around, and we saw giant poles that were made out of real gold coins. Our tour guide came and took us to the places where they made the coins. After we had our tour, we got to play games. With some of the games, you had to think very hard and try not to make a mistake. In the Mint, we met these robots: Titan, Robbie, and Penny. Titan the robot picks up large buckets full of coins. Robbie packs the coins in plastic bags and seals them together. Penny calculates how many coins are in a bucket.    

*Please note, students will receive access to all photos at a later date

Learning in Action

Word Work: 

This week, students have continued their learning of Latin numbers and the 211 rule. The 211 rule helps students know when to add a double letter when changing or adding a suffix to a base word, for example, changing power to powerful or begin to beginning. 

Literature:

Students have started a new novel study this term. Students are reading 'Us Mob Walawurru' by Lisa Wilyuka and David Spillman. Us Mob Walawurru is a historical fiction novel written in two parts. It follows the life of Ruby, the narrator, from when she is a young girl in school in the 1960s in Central Australia, up until when she becomes a mother herself. 

This week, while reading, students have been making connections, asking questions, and having whole-class discussions about the vocabulary used in the novel. Students have also been focusing on understanding sentence structures when using simple, compound, and complex sentences. 

Preview: 

In the coming weeks, students will continue reading Us Mob Walawurru. Students will discuss literary devices used in the text such as metaphors, personifications, onomatopoeia and similes. Students will be asked to look at different sentences - simple, compound, and complex - as well as write their own sentences that include words such as  'although', 'since', and 'while'. 

Mathematics:

This term, students are focusing on multiplication and division. While this is the focus, students are reviewing concepts taught last term and last year, including addition, subtraction, elapsed time, and reading time tables. 

This week students have been looking at different strategies for multiplication, including the split strategy, area model strategy, and vertical algorithm. Students are also working on their own learning goals, such as rounding and estimating to multiply, connecting multiplication and division, and multiplying decimals. 

We also have a focus on data this term. Students are reading and analysing graphs and tables as well as collecting their own data to create tables and graphs. 

Preview:

Students will continue looking at multiplication, focusing on mental strategies that can help us, as well as written strategies when multiplying 2-digit by 2-digit numbers. Students will link multiplication to division and use their knowledge of multiplication to help them with division problems. 

From the Grade 6 Teachers

Mel Adams, Lex Fisher, Caillin Ibbotson, Michelle Findlay and Nathan Hicks

Updates from around the school

Green Team News:

Under the guidance of Mrs Stokol and Mrs Alexander, the Green Team met for the first time this week. What a meeting it was! All up across years 3-5 we have close to 50 very excited and passionate students wanting to do their part. Whether it’s helping to keep the school free of rubbish, looking after and developing the plants gardens, educating the school community about sustainability, there was a buzz in the air as students shared their ideas and signed up for roles. A new initiative we’ve introduced this term is the collection of 10c containers. The special lunch day during last term raised $21. We look forward to saving these containers on a daily basis from going to landfill and turning them into cash. Money raised will be invested back into Green Team initiatives. 

Involvement in the Green Team is all inclusive. It’s not too late for your child to get involved should they wish. 

Maths Opportunity

https://ms.unimelb.edu.au/engage/outreach/micro-mathematicians