Teaching and Learning
Japanese
こんにちは！Hello!
Did you know that Reiwa is the name of the new Imperial Era in Japan?
Emperor Akihito abdicated on April 30th, 2019. His son, Naruhito became the new Emperor on May 1st, 2019. It is now the new era, Reiwa. Reiwa stands for ‘Beautiful Harmony’.
Sachiko Sensei worked with the Year 5-7 classes to celebrate the beginning of this era by doing some traditional Japanese Shodo (Calligraphy) writing.
We wrote Reiwa using only ink and brushes. It was tricky to do but the students did a fantastic job!
せんせい、
Natasha Gilbert
Science News
In Science, we have been lucky enough to have two honored guests with us for two whole weeks! Please welcome Carrot and Nibbles, our pet guinea pigs that have come all the way from the Nature Education Centre in Urrbrae. They have spent quality time with the students. We have really enjoyed their company and expertise they have brought to our lessons! The students have assessed their enclosure to make sure that our guests are getting all of their needs met. It has been a fun-filled couple of weeks, that’s for sure!
As well as handling guinea pigs, the students have also been using a dichotomous branching key to classify animals from the Animal Classification Kit that has animal specimens. They were also able to look at them up close using pocket microscopes which was very interesting!
Kind Regards
Marie Newcombe
Room 7 News
"That's fantastic!" Mrs Fairweather screamed with joy as her whole class used a sizzling start to begin their narratives.
Room seven have spent a lot of time working on ways to improve their narrative stories. From using dialogue, to using descriptive language and captivating the reader from the very start, it all helps to create an interesting and dynamic piece of writing. 'Sizzling starts' is now a common language in our classroom, and the students know to start off any piece of writing, narrative or other, with a sizzling start.
Sizzling starts can use dialogue - when a character yells, screams, or maybe even whispers something. It can also be a sound, for example 'Bang, crash, screech went the Ferrari as it slid around the corner', or it could be a characters thoughts or feelings, for example 'My body shuddered as I felt the wispy spider web stretch over my face'. Something is also banned in room seven...absolutely no one is allowed to use the phrase 'Once upon a time...' to begin a narrative. We proved to ourselves that there are so many exciting ways to start just on story, and that there is no need to use the boring phrase anymore. The task was to start a story about 'the best party ever'. Every student came up with their very own, and each one was completely different. How exciting!
Kind Regards
Sammy Fairweather
