Level 6: Connect
6A Matt Gardiner | 6B Sarah Peters | 6C Michael Day | Jane Briffa & Trudy Gau
Homework
Science Week
As part of National Science Week, our students were treated to an incredible experience when our Science Room was completely transformed into an airport and aeroplane! The students were amazed from the moment they arrived and loved stepping into what felt like a real travel experience.
A huge amount of creativity, effort and attention to detail went into bringing the experience to life. Wilko, Safety Sue and Mrs Cullen, along with our amazing air hosts Mrs Briffa and Trudy Gau, did an incredible job creating such a fun and memorable learning experience for our students.
It was wonderful to see the excitement on the students’ faces as they explored, participated and immersed themselves in the experience. A fantastic way to celebrate National Science Week and certainly a highlight our students will remember!
Bullying No Way!
Last week, our school came together to recognise Bullying No Way Week, a national initiative that promotes kindness, inclusion and the importance of speaking up when something isn’t right.
To show their support, students dressed in purple and brought along a gold coin donation, with all money raised going to Kids Helpline. It was fantastic to see so many students getting involved and adding plenty of purple to our school! 💜
Throughout the week, students participated in conversations and activities about what bullying looks like, how our words and actions can affect others and the role we can all play in creating a safe and supportive school community. We also discussed the importance of being an Upstander and knowing when and how to seek help.
A big thank you to our families for supporting the day and helping us raise funds for such an important service.
Maths
Year 6 spent the last two weeks unlocking the secrets of the grid, focusing on ordered integer pairs across all four quadrants. Whether using tricks like “Pokemon X before Pokemon Y,” “walking before jumping,” or “Xavier before Yongshen,” students mastered the basics before tracking coordinates and geometric movements.
They didn’t just stick to whole numbers, either. Year 6 took their skills to the next level by plotting precise points using decimals and fractions. This required looking closely between the grid lines to discover numbers existing in small, precise slices.
We also explored the history of the plane, named after the 17th-century French mathematician René Descartes (hence Cart-esian). Legend has it that while resting in bed, René watched a fly crawl across his tiled ceiling. He realized he could pinpoint its exact location just by counting the tiles over and the tiles up from the corner of the room, creating the system that we’re still using.
We are moving on to multiplication, division, and financial mathematics next. Our aim, by the end of these upcoming units, is that Year 6 will be able to make total "cents" of their money.
Literacy
Over the next fortnight in Reading, students will be working through the final chapters of our class novel, How to Bee. As the story reaches its climax, we will explore how the author builds tension and how Peony’s decisions and actions influence the events that unfold.
Students will continue developing their comprehension skills by summarising key events, making predictions and supporting their thinking with evidence from the text. We will also look closely at characters’ actions and dialogue to infer their emotions, motivations and changing relationships.
As we wrap up the novel, students will reflect on Peony’s journey, how she has changed throughout the story and the important ideas and messages explored across the text.
Inquiry and Wellbeing
As well as participating in Bullying No Way Week, Year 6 spent our recent classroom discussions focusing on digital mindfulness. Students learned how app algorithms use milestones and endless scrolling to keep users online, and then they took charge of their own tech habits. Rather than viewing screens as a problem, the students developed excellent, independent strategies to manage their screen time and build healthy boundaries.