What a fun week with a real focus on Literacy, and in particular books. On top of our usual rigorous book clubs we have additionally been….. Looking for the ‘Wally’ characters around campus, reading to Grade 2 students, swapping our books and even dressing up as characters. Lots of fun that rightfully puts reading at the heart of our curriculum. So much educational research shows us that reading is the key to develop writing, deeper thinking and making more connections with the world around us. That is why in Grade 6 we ask that students read for 30 minutes each night at home.
Student Led Conferences
Thank you to all of you who were able to attend Student Led Conferences. I think that maybe the conference looked a little different to previous years with the students really focusing on giving you an experience and window into their world, more than just showing you their books. it was awesome to see Vortex battles, rollercoasters being constructed, swinging pendulums, debate over the math challenges, competitive tension over the spelling game and many many other activities going on around Grade 6.
. 
. 
. 
. 
Maths
We have been comparing analogue and digital clocks, looking at solving time problems through jumping strategies, the 24 hours clock and (at the end of the week) starting to look bat time zones around the world. To be continued….
Literacy
Completing our drafts, revising and editing phases of our explanation texts about why a swinging pendulum will not gather additional energy, looking at the law of conservation of energy and dissipation. Most children are now starting to publish and the finished piece of writing will be on Seesaw soon.
Next Week
UOI
- Finishing our ‘How the World Work’ energy unit of inquiry with some Rube Goldberg Commentary (more in next week’s Seesaw)
- Starting our final exciting ‘How We Organise Ourselves’ Unit of Inquiry
Mathematics
- Final session of our stand alone unit about measurements
- Focus on finishing time concepts and also exploring mass and more conversions of metric units
Literacy
- Applying the learning from our ‘explanation’ literacy unit. Children will come up with a ‘how’ or ‘why’ question regarding a natural phenomenon. They will then research this phenomenon, take notes and then construct an explanation text about it using the correct features and tone.
VERY Important Date
Grade 6 Graduation – Tuesday 10th June 8.15-9am
Please put this date into your diary and (if needed) try to take time off work so that you can all attend. We will starting the event at 8.15am and it will conclude by about 9am, which we hope will make it less disruptive for those who then need to go to work. The event will include children’s memories, motivation speeches by the children (based on the final unit of inquiry), photos past/present/future, musical performances and opportunities to celebrate and acknowledge every child. I am very excited by this event and I can’t wait to collaborate with the class to really make this a special experience for students and parents.
Have a great weekend,
Matt