What's happening in our classroom  

Empowered Scientists

We have had so much fun this term with students conducting multiple chemical and physical science experiments.  Students studied the effects of solids, liquids and gases. They explored changes in matter with physical changes taking a different form, ice becoming water, but not making new substances, and chemical forms creating new substances. 

Students experimented with chemical processes and recorded their experiences. They also investigated reversible and irreversible substances, and reflection and refraction of light to generate electricity and transfer energy to another place. 

Our Incursion, ‘Electrical Buzz’, was an exciting workshop facilitated by Mad About Science.  Students created electrical circuits and learnt about closed and open circuits, switches and volts.  They explored electronic motors, electromagnets, dynamos and energy transformations. Please enjoy the many photos and student feedback about this exciting Inquiry. 

‘I really enjoyed our science Inquiry from lesson zero, where we unpacked the state-wide learning objective followed by writing our personal perspectives that were pasted onto a large poster. I loved conducting experiments and my favourite one was the balloon experiment, where we placed vinegar in a bottle and bicarb of soda in a balloon. When the balloon was placed over the opening of the bottle, the two substances caused the balloon to expand.  On the 5th of September we had an ‘electrical buzz’ incursion which was awesome!  We learnt about electrical sciences such as positive and negative charges.’  Tonyia 6B

‘The science unit incursion was a blast! We learnt many things like how an atom works and what a negative and positive charge is. I enjoyed doing the experiments with batteries, a propeller and a light bulb. We also found out that multiple batteries can make it brighter and faster.’  Yen 6A

‘I have learnt a lot of interesting and complex scientific facts this term.  I have learnt about the matter of solids, liquids and gases.  I have learnt that atoms contain protons and electrons and that they are represented as positive or negative.  I was also interested to learn that kinetic energy needs wind to get electricity and how magnets connect and repel.  My favourite activity was making a powerboard, where we used batteries to connect wires to make a bulb light glow and a propeller spin.  It was truly marvelous!  Jarrell 6B

‘I liked the science unit because I enjoyed doing the experiments and I learnt a lot from it.  I really enjoyed doing the balloon, vinegar and bicarbonate experiment. I also learnt a lot about electricity from the science incursion.  Like I've learnt that negative charge is carried by electrons and positive charge is carried by protons.’  Lateeka 6A

‘This term, every single student has learnt many things about science and we did many types of experiments such as chemical reactions experiments that involved vinegar and bicarbonate soda and other materials. Doing all these science experiences expanded our knowledge and understanding about science, how and why things react and what we use in our everyday lives.’  Irena 6B

‘During this unit, I've learnt a lot of things I never thought I would learn. I enjoyed all the experiments, especially the one where we blew the balloon up with the products we used, WITHOUT HELIUM!!  And of course, where we combined substances in a cup and watched what would happen.  The raisins we put in the cup was reallyyy cool, they floated around in the vinegar, and I would've never even expected it.  I also learnt a lot of cool things at the science incursion.  Everybody had fun playing around with the wires and batteries to light the bulb and how to give power to the propeller!’  Yasmin 6A

‘The Electrical Buzz science incursion was a huge success and full of excitement!  My peers and I learnt about electricity, protons, electrons and currents of electricity and how they work in our everyday lives. This has ‘sparked’ an interest in secondary school science.  I can’t wait to learn more about science.’ Leonardo 6B

Celebrations 

Italian Day 

Italian Day was fun and every grade from prep to 6 participated. Many students dressed up in the Italian colours.  We have included a photo of some of our grade  6s who painted their faces in red, green and white.  In the morning, just after the bell, each grade met with their buddies and started the activities. The activities included: Roman dress up, spaghetti eating race, Bocce, Italian dancing, waiters race, and pasta bracelets.  The Italian Day brightened so many faces at our school and it is something that we hope will continue at Mackellar, even though we will miss it because we will be leaving for secondary school.

Hazel 6B and Ashley 6A

Book Week

Book Week is celebrated at Mackellar every year.  It’s a great day when we celebrate reading and our favourite characters. It’s also an opportunity to dress up as our favourite fantasy characters.  Last week, all grades from across the school met at the gym to show off their magnificent costumes.  Our student leaders led the entire event.  In turn, grades walked around the centre of the gym to the beat of the music, then it was time for teachers to do the same!  The teachers looked hilarious and it was great fun!  This is one of the many happy memories that we will take into our future.

Talia 6B and Tiana 6A

The Brightest Day at School - School Run for Fun

The brightest day of the school year was on Thursday the 8th of September.  The purpose of the day was to raise money to help fundraise towards the Alannah and Madeline Foundation, Kiva and our school. It was an overload of fun for the entire morning, and jam-packed with amusement and excitement.  Games included sack races, an obstacle course, ball toss, catch and much more!  As well as the many extravagant stations across the oval, teachers and parent helpers sprayed student’s white tee-shirts with tubes of multicoloured dust.  That was definitely the highlight of the day!

Maddison 6B and Phillip 6B

Expect Respect Program

Expect Respect is a new program at our school and it’s very important for many reasons.  Respect is one of our school values and one that we all should demonstrate for the rest of our lives. Expect Respect taught us how to deal with situations if we feel that we are treated with disrespect.  

We learnt that it is best to be an upstander, not a bystander to bullying or disrespect.  We also learnt how to stand up to those who are perpetrators of disrespect and harming others.  We learnt about the ‘Stop, Walk and Talk’ strategy which can help if you are being disrespected.  You do exactly what the poster tells you to do.  You must ask them to:

STOP Tell them you don’t like the problem behaviour and ask them to stop!

Next:

WALK Walk away from the problem behaviour.

If the problem behaviour doesn’t stop:

TALK  Talk to an adult. 

All of the grade 6s wrote a pledge and signed it.  Here is our pledge below with our huge grade 6 display and some of the photographs from one of the activities that involved fun with balloons:

Written by Iyush 6A and Krish 6B