Grade 5 Transition at John Paul College

On the 16th of May, all the 5’s went to JPC (John Paul College), for a transition day. We want to retell what had happened at JPC and we hope you enjoy hearing about our experience like we did.

On the 16th of May, at 9:00 am, the Year 5s got dropped off at JPC. After we all arrived, Mrs Susan (the Vice Principal of JPC) introduced herself to the group. She told us what our day would be like, the types of experiences that we would have and why we were there. Part of the reason we were there was so we could experience what it was like being a student at JPC, doing two of the subjects in John Paul College. Many of us used the day to decide if we would like to be enrolled at JPC in Year 7.

Next, she took us to the auditorium to meet Mr Murdoch who taught us games to activate our minds! Firstly, we did a chance numbers game where we got into groups of three and then Mr Murdoch would call out a random number under ten then we would hold up a random amount of fingers that was obviously below the number. If all our fingers added up to the number Mr Murdoch called out, we would shout “YAY”. Once that was done, we got separated into groups of red and blue. You could determine this by looking at your sticker with your name on it. Then, our year nine leaders took us either to sport or science class. Red went to sport leaving blue for science.

In sport class, we played ‘rock paper scissors’ but in human form! We had to make each symbol using our bodies. Next, we played a game called ‘brick wall’ which was like ‘octopus’ and ‘line tag’ combined. Finally, we played a few rounds of ‘rob the nest’. After all that sport, we were really tired and sweaty so we had a nice big sip of cool water. We then all gathered in the gym and ate our recess that was provided, we had a muffin (either apple crumble, chocolate or blueberry) and we also had a piece of fruit, a juice and a small chocolate. After we ate we had a choice of indoor sport games, such as basketball, footy, soccer or netball. We went back to our groups but this time we switched from science to sport or sport to science.

In science class, the teacher made elephant's toothpaste and Marge's hair. Marge’s hair was made out of gas bubbles and when we lit the gas bubbles on fire it touched the roof! Which was really scary but really cool, you could even feel the heat on your face! The most exciting thing we did was make our own experiment! We made SELF INFLATING BALLOONS, it was so fun and made us laugh non-stop.

After that we all got back as one big group together and got given a small showbag with a small packet of lollies, a notebook with a pen and a bouncy ball. We then headed back to a bus which took us back to school and which we resumed our day as normal.

Written by Linh Lucy, Mark Kabalan and Grace Tagg.

City Urban Experience

On Monday the 22nd of May we had our Urban Quest in the city of Melbourne! The Urban Quest is when we had to solve a series

of questions to complete in Melbourne.The first team back was the winner!

Firstly we all gathered at the Frankston station, some people came with a parent and others came with a friend and a parent. From there, we were all set into groups of 4-7 people, including a teacher/ parent. You don’t want your children wandering around the city! So when everyone arrived at the station we got into our groups and headed off to the station. When our train arrived we got into the train and then headed off. After an hour of train riding and 28 stops, we walked from Flinders street to the state library, where we sat down and got recess. Then a man named Serge, from the Urban Quest company, told us about what we were doing. We got back into our groups and then started the journey. The first clue was to find a special sticker on a pole to unlock the next clue. To find the clues was a difficult task to do. To be able to find them, we had to use teamwork and problem solving skills so we could finish the quest as quickly as we could. Finding all 11 clues was a hard job but we all managed to get through!

The aim of the excursion was to explore the geography of Melbourne CBD and practise our location and mapping skills. The geographical component of the excursion linked with our Inquiry project named ‘Welcome to Melbourne’. The aim of the project is to find a livable suburb for a family who is migrating to Australia.

Written by Linh Lucy, Mark Kabalan and Grace Tagg.

St John's Playgroup