Grade 6 News

Upcoming Dates

Dates to remember:

4/8 - Mary Poppins Excursion - Rowville Secondary College
14/8 - Rowville District Athletics Carnival
17/8 - LPS Science Celebration Day (including Lego Masters Evening)
21/8 - District Round Robin (Summer - Day 1)
25/8 - 27/8 - Life Ed Incursions
28/8 - District Round Robin (Summer - Day 2)

Reminder: All secondary school acceptance forms need to be returned to the office

Family Quiz

What is the name of the main character in our novel Nevermoor?

Learning in Action

Reading

Nevermoor by Abbey

Morrigan Crow, an eleven year old girl, is blamed for all her town's misfortunes. She is considered a cursed child because she was born on an unlucky day. Due to this, all cursed children have their death on their twelth birthday known as Eventide. Her father, Corvus, takes her to bid day where all kids who are bidded on, receive a pride learning opportunity and are taken to school. Unexpectedly, Morrigan receives multiple bids. One of her bids being Jupiter North, the leader of a secret land known as Nevermoor. He left her a note that said “Ready? J.N”. But Eventide comes earlier than expected. So the whole town throws a party with minutes left until Morrigan's death. Then Jupiter comes in to take Morrigan. Not knowing what to do, Morrigan takes Jupiter's hand, choosing to go with him rather than dying. Morrigan is taken to a fascinating magical world where time is nine hours ahead. Morrigan stays in Jupiter's private hotel where she meets a giant cat, Fenestra, head of room service, Martha the maid, and Frank, a vampire dwarf. Morrigan is now learning about the requirements to be accepted into the school she is aiming to become a part of.

Preview: The book is expansive and with many characters to follow, students will dive a bit deeper into character development, themes and events, all while recognising the author's craft.

Writing

Students have been learning various writing traits that help to produce a quality narrative. In sentence-level writing, students have explored using sensory language to enhance descriptions. Aligning with that idea is the use of literary devices including imagery, similes and metaphors. Nevermoor includes a wide range of vocabulary, character descriptions and imagery that will continue to be the driver for the narratives that will be produced across the term.

Preview: As we continue to read Nevermoor, we will continue learning ways to enhance our narrative writing. There will be more exploration of figuarative language, as well as other little tools authors use, such as ellipses.

Mathematics

Fractions by Jesse

In Maths this term, the Grade 6 students have been learning about fractions. We dived deeper into how we add and subtract fractions with unrelated denominators. For example, if I have five sixths and I need to add one eighth, I have to find the common multiple between the two denominators and then multiply the numerator as well to make equivalent fractions. Then once (and if) you can, you need to simplify the answer. Say I had two fourths and I needed to simplify, I would make it one half. In summary, we have been working hard to keep up with the complexity of these denominators and numerators.

Preview: We are about to commence a short unit on Angles. More specifically, we will look at complementary and supplementary angles.

Knowledge Rich: Three-Way Country Study

by Alaya

This term, the Grade 6 students have started a new topic focussing on geography in Knowledge Rich. The unit focuses on these three countries: Australia, Greenland and Vietnam. We have been learning about climate of each, and where in the world each country is located. For example, in Vietnam, they are in the Tropic of Cancer, which is north of the equator with a hot and humid climate. We have also been looking at the natural resources that strengthen each country's economy with regard to import, export and trade. Each country has its own natural resources, influenced by their climate. For instance, Australia exports things like coal, natural gas and wool, and Greenland has resources like reindeer and gold as their main trade. FUN FACT!! Even though Vietnam has a small land mass, it is more populous than Australia with over one hundred million people!

Somers School Camp

From July 14-22, a number of students from across Grade 5 & 6 participated in a 9-day camp experience. Joined by other students from the Knox & Dandenong Ranges network, the students immersed themselves into camp life and showcased personal growth while making new connections and experiencing new things. Here are some memories from a handful of the participants:

~ Archer C ~

Somers camp was an amazing experience filled with many activities such as the challenge swing, which was 18.5 metres tall, the flying fox and bush craft. The challenge swing was scary at first when you got lifted up, but afterwards I felt really proud and happy I went to the top. Bush craft was amazing as we made our own fire, made damper and then after we took off the cooking stick, we were allowed to put as much butter and jam on as we wanted. After the damper, we were allowed to toast two marshmallows. The flying fox was really fun and also quite long. Me and one of my friends from a different school who I met there were able to hold hands the whole way down. Overall, Somers Camp was an amazing camp filled with memories I will never forget. My advice for anyone who ends up going, try everything there, even if it scares you.

~Lily~

Somers Camp was probably the best 9 days of my life! It was a life changing adventure camp that pushes everybody outside of their comfort zone. It makes everybody more of an outgoing person and more persistent. All experiences are sure to push you to new limits, some are more challenging than others, but are all worth trying. My favourite challenges had to be Challenge Swing, Abseiling, and Scrapbooking. Challenge Swing pushed me to challenge my fear of heights and same with some others. Then abseiling, it was probably the scariest activity at Somers Camp, but you need to trust the process. Honestly, I was balling my eyes out, but it was all worth it for the coolest photos ever! With scrapbooking, after all the long days of Somers, we had our long-awaited break. Even if we had to rush our cutting, gluing and writing, I still had a great time! I had the greatest time ever at Somers Camp!

~Jesse~

Somers Camp really was an experience of a lifetime. I had a blast making new friends and trying things I never would have done before! One of my favorite things that I did was archery. I paired up with Archer and we had a blast! By the end of it we were scoring and hitting bullseyes. Another one of my favourite sessions was art, as it was a great way to talk to your friends while doing a mindless activity. It was, in my opinion, very therapeutic. Then there was rock climbing and that was a challenge for me. I realised that I have a mild fear of heights but luckily Mr Mac was there to help me. We also did abseiling, which was scary at first, but once you were on the vertical wall it was fine. Unfortunately that was not an option in optional activities but the giant swing was. Eighteen metres, one child being pulled up and nineteen children. The view from the top of that thing was crazy! You had the beach behind you, the forest in front of you and the camp on both sides. It was an amazing experience because you’re in control of the little green ball that you have to pull. In conclusion, to all the Grade 3 and 4 students that are reading this, sign up for this camp. You will cherish these memories forever.

The Grade 6 Team

Melissa Adams, Caillin Ibbotson, Craig McKenzie, Chloe McElroy, Lisa Dealy