This task is all about the year so far. We’ve accomplished so much this year, but what parts of it have stuck in your minds most? Write a post about how you think this year has gone. You may like to consider how you are progressing, maybe how you’ve found the work, perhaps which activity has been your favourite. What are your hopes for the rest of the year? With only 20 weeks of primary school life left how would you like those weeks to go?

We’ll soon be having our “Crazy Hair Day” to raise funds for the year 6 leavers events.  To ensure maximum participation the students created posters to advertise the event around the school. They used Brushes on the iPads and Pixir Editor in Google Drive to create their designs. I’m sure you’ll agree they’re pretty weird.

Shantelle’s

Lily

The students recently took part in a “lightning carnival”, a sports day between local schools. During the carnival the schools competed in soccer, netball, modcrosse and Australian rules football (AFL). We had an amazing day and our school was victorious in the football and netball. I was lucky enough to be the girls’ soccer coach and, although we didn’t win the shield, we had an awesome day. The girls had six matches and won five, only losing one game by 1 – 0. Unfortunately, this meant we were just pipped to the top. The day was incredible with the girls doing everyone proud; their competitiveness, attitude and sportsmanship was amongst the best I’ve seen. Check out the action shots below.

Megan, Jess, Savannah

Elizabeth Attacks

Samantha Defends

Today we began our new Maths project. We’ve been learning a lot about area calculations in class and now it’s time to put our knowledge to good use. Due to a minor earthquake at school (not really) we need to replace some of the paving and grass. The students have to measure the areas, some of them very complex, and calculate the price (from real commercial websites) of the replacements. The students will need to measure accurately, use their calculation knowledge, give reasons for their choice of pavers and grass and explain the process involved. Their work will be presented creatively and will be put on show in the class. Surprisingly, they seem excited and motivated by the project. Here are some photos of the students beginning their work in the freezing cold this morning.

Tom and Joe

Jessica

Leo

Some of the students have been hard at work on their blogs and have been producing some very interesting posts. The blogs can be very different in their style and reflect the various interests of the students themselves. Jayden’s “Tech Tuesday” has been a fascinating series, Elizabeth’s riddles have kept readers puzzled and Shantelle posts are incredibly wide-ranging. Lisette has also kept her blog interesting by ensuring her posts constantly change. Also, don’t forget to check out one of our ex-students, Demi, who has moved on to high school but is keeping us informed of her exploits during her first year. Treat yourself to a good read and check them out.

Last week students from years 5 and 6 visited another local school to take part in several sporting contests. We played soccer (boys and girls), Aussie Rules football, modcrosse and netball (2 teams). It just happens that we won them ALL! I was in charge of the girls’ soccer team and was extremely proud of their effort, teamwork and good natured spirit. The girls were fabulous and pulled off a convincing 4-0 win. The players from our class were: Shantelle (goalkeeper), Lily, Savannah and Samantha (defence), Mae, Elizabeth and Lisette (midfield). Unfortunately I had to referee the game so couldn’t take photos, but if you’d like to read reports from the game have a look at Lily’s and Shantelle’s blogs.

This is such a late post, but due to huge changes in timetables and having to write reports it seems to have totally slipped my mind. Anyway, for a Mother’s Day gift the students created a wooden photo of themselves. To start with they worked in groups of three and each student had a role; whilst one held their wood tightly against a mitre board and sawed, the others also held the wood and watched out for any safety issues. Once sawn, a photo was stuck onto the wood with a gel medium and left to dry before wetting the paper and gradually removing it. This was done until only the image remained. A finishing coat of varnish was applied and a stand glued onto the back. The students did all the work themselves and thoroughly enjoyed their new experiences. I hope you like the finished products. I particularly liked the ones which went through the image a little as it gave a real antique look.

Indianna

Mae

Jessica

Well, okay, the title of this post is a little deceptive. Things aren’t really going swimmingly, we are going swimming! The last two weeks have all been about swimming lessons and the students have been having a great time at the local pool. It’s been fascinating to see them develop their skills as they learn the techniques needed to swim with ease, grace and power. Some of them have made amazing progress. However, the drawback to this is that the classroom work has taken a bit of a hit, with some days being reduced to between one and two hours contact time between myself and the students. Not that I’ve heard anyone complaining, mind! Anyway, even with swimming, we’ve learned how to make movies on the iPads, we’ve produced group slideshows on Google Drive about World War 2 and have developed our skills with area of triangles. It just proves that even with distractions sometimes you’ve just got to dive in and make the best of it.