Classroom News - Year 6

English: Narratives through a historical lens

Students have been working on narrative in writing and are using the story of Pembulwuy (An Aboriginal resistance fighter) to write their own short stories based on John Marsden and Shaun Tan's book The Rabbits. We are using the structure of a narrative to guide our writing and to ensure our stories are effective. 

In reading, we are working on the comprehension skill of identifying important information in the texts we read. This skill is especially important when reading non-fiction texts but can also be applied to narratives and other fictional texts.

PDHPE: Healthy Lifestyles

In PDH, we are learning about healthy lifestyles and how health covers physical, mental, social and spiritual factors. We are beginning to introduce Peace Patrol for the year which makes use of Year 6 students to support younger students with problems on the playground.

In PE, we are working on ball games and the skills needed to participate in these sports. Later in the term we will be visited by a netball development officer to help us apply the skills we have developed to a sport.

Maths: Let's Go Camping!

Students have been learning to: Select and use appropriate units to calculate the area of squares, rectangles and triangles. In particular, students have learned how to calculate the area of any triangle where the perpendicular height is given.

As part of their assessment project this week students will use this skill to respond to the following real-life problem:

"BCF are running a competition to design the next promotional tent. They are considering all designs entered. The successful design will have their name as the name of the tent instead of 'Coleman' tent".

Students will be required to show their mathematical thinking: submit a drawing of their design with measurements; calculate the fabric needed for their tent design; provide a scale for the drawing of your tent. 

We can't wait to see what designs they will come up with applying the skills of area of a triangle!

CAPA: Exploring 'Connection, Creation and Culture in CAPA'

Students have explored the several indigenous picture books that unpack Connection, Creation, Culture. Students will use the arts to create different forms and techniques to represent the likeness of things in the world. Students have engaged in Dance lessons that explore the above using the context of Aboriginal dance and the brolga. Students have commenced looking at the work of Bronwyn Bancroft to create a landscape of places they connect with.

Religion: Understanding the 'Reign of God' 

There is a famous song that most people know called 'What a Wonderful World' by Louis Armstrong. In this song, he reflects on the beauty that nature and people have to offer. In our early lessons, we used this song as a metaphor for what God would want to say about his world. This assisted us to then unpack the big idea of our unit - what the reign of God is: Jesus' mission was to demonstrate reaching out to others, bringing in the reign of God. 

We are now exploring that in fact the world is not perfect and by learning how we can work for justice and peace, we can very much build God’s reign or God’s Kingdom.

We invite you to ask your child about the following topics that have created deep dialogue and explored important core Catholic values and principles: Bruce Lee and his girlfriend, Bethany Hamilton's opinion of herself, Mrs Walters and Mr Garraud's social experiment on judging external factors, how we 'bleed the same', the very sad video about the little girl who 'dressed up'. Your families will be amazed at the maturity that your children are exhibiting diving into sensitive and complex topics such as these.

Housekeeping and To-Dos

• We are asking that all students have a small set of ear buds for the school year. These are used for differentiated learning experiences, such as videos, internet content, ebooks, and more.
• Thank you to those families who have covered their books. We are encouraging all families to cover their child's book. This ensures that the wear and tear on their books are kept to a minimum and assists us to help them take pride in the work they record and produce.
• Don't forget our Parent Teacher Information session this Wednesday 17th February at 6pm. We look forward to sharing our class procedures and happenings with you as your child embarks on their final year of Primary School.
• Swimming Carnival is this Friday - encourage your child to bring a positive attitude, team spirit, and the necessities: towel, swimmers, goggles, drink bottle, hat, clothing, healthy food.