Prep | Year 6 News

English – Kaden Pandher and Ronak Biswas

We have been working on a persuasive writing task with the option of writing about one of three topics. The topics were

• Every Year 6 Class in Australia should have this subject….
• Every child in Australia should read this book….
• The best Holiday destination in Australia is….

The Year 6 boys had to plan out their texts and write it out the best way they could using the right structure, using high modality and were encouraged to use the TEEL technique. TEEL Stands for Topic, Explain, Example and Link. We have also been doing our Literacy Group rotation which includes using inference skills to analyse an image, summarising an article about sharks, reading out loud with our group and completing some comprehension tasks set by our teacher. We have also been working on our Harmony Day Writing Competition submission in Rapid Writing time.

Maths – Adam Jeroncic and Owen Hoang

It was 2 weeks ago when we started to create our Minecraft biome. To complete the task, we have to complete a series of challenges that relate to perimeter, area, angles and more. To be successful in this task, we had to incorporate triangles and calculate their area as a way to structure our biome. Not only did we have to create a world, but we also had to generate beings from Minecraft: Characters which had to include areas of different squares and compound shapes. To people who were unaware of the task or had an unclear vision, the students were very fortunate for the teachers to unlock workshops where we could learn new skills or practise some things we had forgotten about. We had to be principled learners and accept going to workshops to ensure we have the best learning opportunity possible.

UOI – Marcus Nguyen & Lucas Kim

In How We Express Ourselves this year we learnt about different types of media and how they influence an audience. We also had a big discussion about how we can determine if something is true or fake in the media and how people react to it. We did various activities, such as two lies and one truth, where we had to guess the truth and give evidence behind it. We learnt about different types of media, how we know an advertisement is effective and different perspectives depending on the religion, finance, nationality. For advertising, we learnt about how companies persuade us through democratic (which is about age and gender) geographic (which is depending on where they live) and physiographic (which is about their interests such as cars, toys). To wrap it up, we learnt many things about media and advertisement, which made the whole Year 6 more informed and more aware when interacting with media. Our next unit (How We Organise Ourselves) starts with our trip to Canberra!

Canberra excursion

The Year 6 students from our School have just undertaken an education tour of the National Capital. Students were given the opportunity to participate in a variety of educational programmes with a focus on Australia’s history, culture, heritage and democracy.

The Australian Government recognises the importance of all young Australians being able to visit the National Capital as part of their Civics and Citizenship education. To assist in meeting the cost of the excursion, the Australian government is contributing funding of $20 per student under the Parliament and Civics Education Rebate Program towards these costs. The rebate is paid directly to the school upon completion of the programme.

Coming up in Year 6

English

• Literacy Groups will see us continuing to develop skills in inference
• We have wrapped up our work on Persuasive Writing and are moving forward with Informative Writing. This will see us writing information reports and biographies.

Maths

• Over the next week, we will wrap up our unit on 2D Shapes, Angles, Perimeter and Area
• Our next unit is on Chance and Probability

Unit of Inquiry

• This week has seen us begin our How We Organise Ourselves unit. In this unit we will unpack the central idea “Ideological thinking pervades decision making in societies” by inquiring into our government and differing government systems around the world. We will also learn how our own personal thoughts and beliefs help shape our understanding of the world and the decisions we make.

MUSIC Y6

In Year 6 music, the boys have been working on their collaborative unit of “How We Express Ourselves”, with a focus on music and the media. Over the last few weeks, we have identified what a jingle is and how it influences our decisions. We have looked at model examples (such as “Louis the Fly” and “Weetbix Kids”) and analysed the musical elements in a table. We looked at tempo, dynamics and expressive techniques, product type, tone colour, musical style, the “hook”, lyrics, structure etc. Afterwards, I split the boys into groups of 3-4 students (them choosing who they work with), and got them to start planning their own original musical jingles, thinking about all the concepts that we analysed for the other jingles, but planning it beforehand so they knew what steps they needed to take when performing it. Following this, the boys used all the wonderful musical instruments in the classroom to come together in their group and practice their performances (they had 3-4 lessons in class to do this), whilst I came around offering the groups extra advice to elevate their performances further. This was then assessed in Week 8 and Week 9 – where the boys did a live performance for their class which was filmed for seesaw, followed by an individual short written reflection on their performance, the rehearsal time, group contribution etc. This was then marked alongside a rubric and individual results were shown on canvas. Overall, Year 6 has really enjoyed music and embraced the group performances, exhibiting excellent ensemble and solo skills.

Mandarin

The personalised online learning programme, Education Perfect, has been the focus of language learning and practice these 3 weeks. Students received differentiated tasks and assessments to maximise their understanding and participation. They were instructed and encouraged to use the word lists to learn and practise essential vocabularies. After building the vocabulary foundation, the word lists also helped them to make sentences and learn grammar. In terms of Approaches to Learning, Thinking Skills (Analysing, Transfer knowledge), Communication Skills (Listening, Digital communication, Reading, Writing), and Self-Management Skills (Time management, Personal responsibilities) are the main skills that students consistently apply in Mandarin lessons.

Christian Studies

Over the last few weeks in Chapel, the boys have been exploring the Biblical concept of “covenant” or in other words, “agreement or promise”. They have been reminded that there are many examples where God has made a gracious covenant with his people, and yet they broke the covenant. With Easter approaching, we have a wonderful example of God’s plan of salvation through His son Jesus. In week 10, we are privileged to have the visit of “Quiz Worx” – a biblical puppet / interactive show explaining the importance of Jesus’ death and resurrection. This week, the boys are experiencing a visit from the Years 10 to 12 Summer Hill group “Berea”. Berea is a Christian leadership group that helps the students equip and share the good news of Jesus. These older students will be teaching every Christian Studies class this week, visiting CIA (Christians in Action) groups and running Chapel. There are very few opportunities for our boys to share in high school events and this mission will serve as a wonderful opportunity to build relationships and share in the wonders of Easter.