YEAR 5/6 LEADERS NEWS

St Cecilia’s Year 5/6 Leadership Program            Term 1 2022

Our Year 5/6 students have enjoyed a wonderful introduction to their 2022 Leadership Program.  The Year 6 House Leaders would like to share their experiences, adventures and learning on behalf of all 5/6 students.

 

Debating 

As part of our leadership program, both of the 5/6 classes have participated in the Debating Program.  Our debating teacher, Mrs Degeest has taught us so much. For example, improving our public speaking for the future and to always look confident even if you’re not really feeling confident.

 

Everyone had a chance to prepare and present in a debate. We all really surprised ourselves with our efforts to research the topic and to express our opinion in front of the class. We also got to present ‘Off the Cuff’ questions. An ‘Off the Cuff’ question is a question that is asked randomly to a student and they have to talk about the topic for sixty seconds. Sometimes if you didn’t know what to say, you could make it up.  

Each week, everyone would get a different role. For example, the debate chairperson introduces the debate and ensures that the debate is kept running smoothly. How a debate works is that six people split into two groups and have to research the topic and they are either on the negative or affirmative team. They take turns to debate and get their point across. The class votes for the best debating team.

 

Everyone had mixed emotions for the debating program: nervous, excited, proud or scared. Even though the Year 6s had completed a Public Speaking course last year, it was a different challenge. By the end, we all did our best and our best was really good!

Written by Joseph House Leaders: Millie, Chloe, Ben, Alice, Laura, Sarah.

Click here to read more about debating from the  Debating teacher, Mrs Degeest

Buddies

This year, the Year 6s met their buddies with great excitement. We have completed lots of fun activities such as: making paper people, PMP and peer tutoring.  We have really enjoyed getting to know them and we are excited for the times to come with our wonderful buddies.

One of the favourite things to do with our buddies is peer tutoring. If you don’t know what peer tutoring is, it is teaching our buddies to recognise letters and the sounds they make. We are also working on M100W words. We don’t always work with the same buddy each time so they will get to know all the Year 6s.

The Perceptual Motor Program is called P.M.P. for short. Our buddies learn different skills, such as: running, jumping and skipping. In the activities, they use trampolines, crash mats and hula hoops. Every week, a new group of Year 6 house leaders come to help with the program. Also, a couple of parents came to help too. We are so grateful for all the help that they have provided.

 

This term, we have helped the buddies with art activities such as making paper people. We helped them trace their hands and feet, cut them out and stick them onto paper that acted as their bodies. They decorated a paper plate as their face. 

The Foundation students have enjoyed and are looking forward to many things: the disco, fun run, Easter egg hunt, 100 days of school, sports days and of course, the school fair. As the buddies have never experienced these events, we think they will find them a great deal of fun. 

 

We have really enjoyed all activities with our buddies so far and look forward to many more. They have not been here very long, yet they have achieved so many new things.

Written by Mackillop House Leaders: Mietta, Lucy W, Leo, Samson, Sabrina, Jack G, Michael, Hugh

 

 

Camp Sunnystones

The sun was shining through the trees as we were bushwalking towards Camp Sunnystones. Our legs were sore but the excitement level rose with every step we took. When we arrived, we were in awe of the surrounding area. We were lying on the green grass wondering what was ahead of us. After a long day of enjoying and learning geocaching, beach volleyball, table tennis we sat down at the dinner table for a nice fresh bowl of pasta and to top it off some garlic bread and creamy chocolate mousse.

On the second day, we had a mixture of activities including canoeing, archery and raft building. In canoeing, most people ‘accidentally’ fell into the lake. Overall it was lots of fun and one of our favourite activities at camp. That night we settled down for a very competitive trivia night with the team ‘Smile Again’ winning. 

   

Day three was our favourite day because we started with a survival game in a big bush area with lots of kangaroos. In the afternoon we went to a hut building and split up into small groups and found logs and leaves on the ground to make our hut. Later that evening we gathered around the campfire to sing, dance and roast marshmallows. Finally, the last activity of the night was Red Faces, the annual 5/6 camp talent show. It was really fun seeing all the different acts and seeing all our hard work going into action. In the end the winner was Celebrity runway. They basically acted as celebrities like Micheal Jackson and Taylor Swift on a red carpet and played their music. 

 

Finally day 4, the last day of camp, we woke up to cereal and toast for our breakfast, and sadly packed our bags because we knew camp was coming to an end. But before we headed off we went to the bouldering wall and then after did some bush cooking and games on the oval. After we had some delicious sausages and an icy pole to finish off what's been an amazing camp and week. Soon after we headed on the bus on our way back to school.

 

Please watch a clip of the highlights: CAMP SUNNYSTONES 2022 CLIP

Written by the Gold House Leaders,  Will, Ivy, Finn, Charlie, Laila, Stephan, Louis and Jack

Sailing

This time last year the year 6’s were attending Albert Park Lake for a two lesson sailing course. This year the Year 5/6 classes are now attending the Royal Melbourne Yacht Club for a new and different experience learning to sail with bigger and better boats.

So far the experience with the Royal Melbourne Yacht Club has been extraordinary for all of us. Everyone has been having a great time learning to sail and with some boats capsizing, we have learnt so many important water safety skills.  There were laughs and giggles and we sang Cold Heart and Karma Chameleon out on the water.

 

We also learnt all the different parts of the boat from the stern to the jib sheet and how to manage them enough to make our boats sail smoothly. We also learnt how to tack which means using the tiller to turn or change directions. In the process of tacking, we learnt how to duck under the boom, which is a horizontal pole holding up the main sheet. 

Half way through the lessons we switched over to the beach activities. We all enjoyed each other's company and had so much fun playing octopus, building sandcastles and playing captains coming.

 

Overall we all had an amazing first sailing lesson with the Royal Melbourne Yacht Club and we all can’t wait for the next lesson!

Please watch a clip of the highlights of our sailing sessions: SAILING CLIP

 Written By Red House Leaders Isabella, Thea, Lucy R, Lilly, Archie S, Hamish and Bez.