Farewell Year 6

Year 6,

As you leave our school remember:

• Keep your Faith strong
• Attend Mass and say your prayers often
  
• Always be kind to others
  
• Help others in need
• Help those at home

In Year 7:

• Complete your work on time
• Talk and be kind to everyone you meet
• When asked to present your work - think outside the square - Be different
• Integrate technology as much as possible
• Write often and always include connections
• Read, Read , Read

Good Luck in High School. Remember - it is all up to you!
Mrs S

Prayers to St Mary of the Cross MacKillop

St Mary of the Cross MacKillop,
You helped the poor and stood up for what's right.
Help us to be like you.
You were Australia's first Saint cannonised on October 17,
You are a great role model.
Show us how to follow God in everything we do.
help us to do our best and never see a need without doing something about it.
(Annalise)

Mary Mackillop helped many people
Even the helpless and poor.
She gave us hope.
Mary of the Cross MacKillop gave us faith and gave people strength when people needed it.
When it was difficult times for other people.
St Mary of the Cross MacKillop, pray for us.
St Christopher, pray for us.
(Elijah)

Dear God,
Please say thank you to St Mary of the Cross MacKillop for her caring for others.
Thank her for her kindness.
Amen
(Tiemika)

The Rainbow Fish and The Giving Tree

All year, students in Year 6 have been writing responses to books they have read. They have been learning how to make connections with other stories and more recently how to use quotes from the text in their responses. Below are some of the comments recently made by some of our students:

“The Giving Tree” is like the movie “The Parent Trap”. The girls give each other the chance to met their parents…. “The Rainbow Fish” is like the movie “College Road Trip” because in the end the dad lets the girl to the college she wants because he loves her so much…. I like both the books but the one that stands out the most to me is The Giving Tree because it reminds me of my mum and how she gives me everything and looks after me. (Maegan)

“….the message, in my view, is the more you give the more you will be happy. I also think the books are trying to get another message across - to be more like Jesus. Jesus always gave. For example, he fed the five thousand. He could have just kept the fish and loaves of bread for himself just like the tree and the rainbow fish could have done, but they all gave to make others happy. (Hayley)

What we could do with the bets on the Melbourne Cup…

Recently, over $6,000,000.00 was spent on bets on the Melbourne Cup. In class, we looked at the different websites of organisations that help people in need. We looked at St Vincent de Paul, Caritas, the United Nations, Oxfam and World Vision. We wondered what we could do if we had $6,000,000.00 to help others. This is what some of the students in Year 6 decided they would do with the money.

I would choose to pay for education because without it you won’t get a job. That means no money, no food or water and you’ll be homeless. Next I would choose to have clean water available because without it you would get sick. Next I would want peace because if you don’t have peace there is going to be a lot of fighting and war. If we do have peace and ran work like a family we would have a good community. (Corey)

I would give money to disaster response because it gives you everything you need in an emergency. Next I would give peace because that is what the world needs the most. (Annalise)

The gift of peace helps countries communicate and co-operate. I chose this because I wouldn’t want to be in a country with war going on all around you. The gift of food security helps stop hunger from lives around the world. I chose this because I would not want to go hungry. I would give the gift of health to treat preventable diseases. I chose this because I would like to live longer than 5. I would like to give the gift of clean water. I chose this because it would taste pretty bad if you drank dirty water. Finally, I would give the gift of education. It gives others the opportunity to go to school. I chose this because I like my education and I wouldn’t want anyone missing out. (Joseph)

Mary MacKillop's 9th Cousin at our School

We are excited at our school because Blessed Mary MacKillop is soon to be Saint Mary of the Cross MacKillop and our school was founded by Mary MacKillop's Sisters of St Joseph.

We are also very excited because one of the students in Year 6 is the 9th cousin of Blessed Mary MacKillop. How lucky are we.

Thanks for coming to our school Laura. This is a very special time for your family as well.

God Bless

Year 4 Blog

Don't forget to visit the other blogs at the school....

Year 4 - http://stjosephsy410.blogspot.com

Enjoy reading some of our poems about Canberra


Love it
Want it
Go
Again
Will go
Canberra

by Chloe 

Canberra was really fun
And we went to the AIS
Nice place to go to
Beautiful place to be
Every place was awesome
Raiders rule
Rules
Amazing place to be.

by Adrienne

Real Life Drawing

In class today we learnt about real life drawings. We discussed the importance of perspective and proportion for different objects. Below are some works in progress from some of our upcoming artists in 6NC!

6NC's Political Party Campaigns

In 6NC today the students had to organise themselves into different groups and design a campaign for their own political party. Below are some images of their Campaign posters and a summary of their presentation!

Group 1
Ahmad, Athena, Simone and Adrienne
Party Name: Sparkles Campaign
Our Aim: To have a safe country
Motto: Save our country!
Promises: Every child should have proper meals
Every child should have an education
Everyone should feel safe everywhere they are





Group 2
Sheriden, Amena, Anne, Chloe and Aman
Party Name: Dynamite
Our aim: Give Australian Citizens a fair go
Motto: Dynamite, always in Site.
Promises:Lower Bills
Free medical visits
Ban all small objects from child care centres





Group 3
Jordan, Jack, Thomas, Shaun, Tino Party
Name: D.E.P.T.S
Our Aim: To stop terrorist attacks around the world
Motto: Unite and Conquer
Promises: Better Airport Security
Better protection for people around the world
Better training and equipment for the army





Group 4
Blake, Yolanda, Abbie and Sophia
Party Name: Tru2U
Aim: To promote a country that is proud of its Auatralian identity
Motto: Tru2U
Promises: To allow same sex couples to adopt
To ban the Berka to ensure everyone knows everyone’s identities



Group 5 Brayden, Jacob, Ryan
Party Name: QU-EL
Our Aim: To let people be heard by the world
Motto : LOL – Learning ouside limits
Promises: Help the homeless
Get school children laptops
Feed the hungry
Reduce, reuse recycle
Work together
Free Wifi
Help people with money problems
Free life insurance
Save the planet

Well done 6NC. You did an amazing job working together and you all came up with some fantastic ideas!

Year 6 visit Canberra

Year 6 had a great time in Canberra. They visited:

• The Australian War Memorial
• The National Gallery of Australia
• Botanical Gardens
  
• Old Parliament House
• Parliament House
• Questacon
• The Australian Institute of Sport

Click on the hyperlinks to read about each location. Year 6 will be writing some comments about their excursion. If there are any below, please take the time to read them.



Australian Government assistance for National Capital excursion
Students from our school undertook an educational tour of the national capital. While on this tour they participate in a variety of educational programmes focussed on Australia's history, culture, heritage and democracy.

The Australian Government recognises the importance of all young Australians being able to visit their National Capital as part of their civics and citizenship education. To assist you in meeting the cost of the excursion the Australian Government is contributing funding under the Parliament and Civics Education Rebate (PACER) programme toward the travel expenses incurred. This contribution will be paid directly to the school upon completion of the excursion. This contribution was calculated into the overall cost of the excursion.

We would like to thank the Australian Government for their support of this program.

Tangrams

Year 6LS have been learning about Tangrams. They watched a video on a website to learn how to make the seven pieces of a tangram.

As they watched, they learnt that tangrams are an ancient Chinese puzzle. They made shapes from a square, different sized triangles and a parallelogram. Some shapes they found easy to make while others were more difficult.

Here is another site where you can learn more!

Here is a site that tells a football story using tangrams.

To learn more about angles, faces, vertex, edges and so much more - visit Scootle and enter the Student PIN Access code Mrs S emailed to you!

To learn more about the different properties of shapes, visit Cool Math.com

Try this site as well - A Maths Dictionary for Kids

Rainforest Maths can also be explored.

Mary MacKillop Canonisation

A very important event will take place on October 17, 2010 in Rome. Mary MacKillop will be recognised as a Saint.

The Church does not make a saint – it recognises a saint.

Canonisation is the act by which the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, declares in a definitive and solemn way that a Catholic Christian is actually in the glory of heaven, intercedes for us before the Lord and is to be publicly venerated by the whole Church.

To read about the Journey to Canonisation, click here.

Today, August 26, students from every class gathering in prayer at our Mass to celebrate the life of Mary MacKillop. It was a moving celebration of prayer and thanksgiving.

Fr Chris reminded us that Sr. Mary MacKillop opened her very first school in NSW in neighbouring Penrith on the corner of High and Evan Street many years ago. When the parish of St Nicholas of Myra was established, Sr. Mary MacKillop's school no longer existed. A new school was opened - our school!

We are very proud that Mary MacKillop will be our first Saint.

Thank you Fr. Chris for being with us at our very special Mass.

The Eucharist nourishes us on our journey

Students in Year 6 have been reading about The Last Supper. They have located the passages in The Bible by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

They have been looking at how some artists have represented this very important event.

Students were asked to draw their own version of The Last Supper and to write a description of why it was drawn the way it was.

As we have studied the unit, we have attended Mass on Wednesday morning to remind us that it is here that we are nourished.

Our unit concluded with the Mass on August 26 to celebrate, as a school, the upcoming important event in the history of the Catholic Church in Australia - Mary MacKillop's Canonisation - the time when Australia will have its very first Saint.

1st in NSW

Congratulations to students in 6NC who have won 1st place in the Mathematics Association of NSW competition for completing an investigation all about cars. Congratulations to their teacher Miss Collins as well.

Year 6 are very proud of you.

Video about our school

Four students in Year 6 recently learnt just how long it takes to produce a video.

Firstly, you need to plan the video. A mind map of what could be included is important. It takes lots and lots of conversations to come up with a plan you all agree upon.

Next, you need to work out what images the group wants to include. Sometimes you find out that people do not want their photos taken. At other times, you realise you need to find 'just the right software' to do what you want.

Once you have the images and the other text, you need to spend time resizing the images so the file does not get too big. (If you want people to watch the video, you need to be considerate of others. The file cannot be too large.)

Once you have the images and the text, you select a background. Sometimes the one that you want to use just isn't available at the time so you need to have a second option.

Selecting the 'right' music is important. It needs to match the message on the video.

Then you put everything together and discover that some of the text is missing....time to go back to the 'drawing board."

Finally, it all comes together and you can feel great pride in your achivements. You also begin to realise just how it takes to make videos and movies for the TV!

The Dot

Year 6 have spent time discussing the book "The Dot" by Peter Reynolds. You can read the story by clicking on the video.

It is a story of a young girl who lacks confidence and, with the help of a teacher, discovers that she does have a talent.

The best part of the story is when Vashti shares her new found confidence with a small boy.

Year 6 created their own 'dot' artwork which will be uploaded here soon.

Please take to time to visit our blog again and read the comments written by our students over the next week .

Federal Election in the News

Australians are about to elect a new Federal Government to lead our country. Watch the videos from three of the political parties tying to get our vote at the bottom of this blog.

Links to three political parties:

• Greens
• Labor
• Liberal

Year 6 will be watching the news, listening to reports on the radio and reading the newspapers. During the next few weeks, Year 6 will be adding comments to this post about what they see, hear and read.

Term 3 - New topics to investigate

During term 3, students in Year 6 will be investigating some exciting new topics including:

• Local, State and Federal Government
• Canberra, our Nation's Capital
  
• Our body systems and keeping healthy
  
• How the Eucharist nourishes us for the Journey
  

Year 6 spend 2 hours in the garage!

Year 6 students recently spent two hours learning how to compose music using Garage Band. All 58 students had the opportunity to learn how to use the software over a two hour period. Teachers have been amazed at the talent of the students.

Three of the original compositions created by Brayden, Jack B and Kenneth will be uploaded to the school website.

Well done.

Technology in Year 6

In year 6 we use a range of technology to enhance the learning experience of all of our students. Below we have a few images of students using the different technology we have available for use.

In class we operate both Mac and PC computers and students have learnt how to use a variety of applications and software on each. Children operate both laptops and desktop computers and are quickly gaining more skills with the use of both. For the past fortnight the students all took part in an explicit workshop learning how to create original music in Garageband, a music suite on Mac operating systems.

The students also receive regular access to the Nintendo DS units, where they compete against each other and learn basic maths drills on Maths training.
The students all have accounts for Mathletics, an online maths program, designed to cater to the learning needs of all of our students. Homework is regularly set for students on Mathletics to complete according to their learning needs.
We have an interactive whiteboard located within our learning space which we use for various lessons across the different subject areas. Students take part in interactive lessons and the visual aid assists with student enthusiasm and understanding of content.
The students take part in a Behind the News unit, where they watch and then critique and reflect on a number of news articles concerning contemporary society.

Visual Depictions of Parables

This term we have been looking at and reflecting on a number of parables in the bible. Today in our Religious Education lesson, students had to create a visual depiction of one of the parables of their choice. Some children chose to represent their parable with symbols and some decided to design a comic strip. The students took great pride in their work and have displayed yet again their amazing artistic talent. Below are some samples from some of our students.
Well done Year 6, keep up the great work!

6NC Maths Investigation

6NC are taking part in this year's Maths Investigation and have been doing a fantastic job researching, collecting data and investigating our topic, 'Car Calculations'. Maths Investigation is a competition where schools can enter from all over Australia and after choosing a topic they must mathematically research various strands related to their topic.

For our investigation, each student took on a different responsibility and needed to direct their own investigation. The tasks are all student centred and therefore students of all abilities have demonstrated great progress with the investigation.

I am so impressed with the enthusiasm, creativity and dedication of the students. On completion, our investigation will be sent off for judging at State level and if successful on to National level.

Below are some of the concepts that we have already investigated and collected data for:

* Distances travelled at different speeds

* Making patterns with cars

* Shapes and angles on cars

* Favourite car colours for students at Joey's

* Registration due date for staff at Joey's

* How old paretns were when they got their licence

* Variance in petrol prices on certain days

* The cheapest local petrol station

* Types of cars families at Joey's drive

* How much different 5 seater cars cost

* The difference between buying brand new and second hand cars

* How many cars Holden and Ford sold last year

* Problem solving with car speed

* Angles on Miss C's car

* How long staff at Joey's hav had their current car for

* The average number of cars at home for families at Joeys

* The most popular colour car that passes Joeys between 11.30 and 12.30 over a one week period.

* The length of the longest and shortest car in history

* Problem Solving with fuel capacityPlace value of different priced cars

* Calculating fuell efficiency

* How much of a saving you reciev if you buy a car in a percentage off sale

* What car year 6 want when they grow up

Keep up the hard work NC, your presentation is looking fantastic! I can't wait to see the final product!

NC, you may wish to comment on the different things that you have learnt, but remember to post with your blog number!

Making Houses

In year 6 this term , we are learning about different forms of energy. As part of their assessment, students had to design and construct a house that demonstrated different uses of energy. Students are currently putting their houses together and they are looking fantastic!

Some studens have chosen to design houses that are energy efficient by building windmills, recycled water tanks, gas electricity, roof insulation, solar panels on the roof and a fire place instead of an air conditioning unit.

The photos of the houses below are a work in progress but we will keep you up to date and upload more photos of the final products!

Year 6 Art Walkway

This term in year 6 we have started an 'Art Walkway' where we choose three fantastic artworks that have been submitted by year 6 students. The selected artworks are then displayed in the frames and placed in the art walkway. Below are a few of the artworks from the past fortnight.

Year 6, don't forget to submit your artworks to Miss C every Monday to see if your piece of art is selected for display in the art walkway!

The wall is looking FANTASTIC.

We have some great artistic talent in year 6!

Our Advertisements

In our study of expositions, we have looked at various advertisements and strategies that are used to persuade an audience to want to purchase a product that they would usually not even consider.

Children were given the option to:

a. Design a product or concept that doesn't sound very appealing and make it sound and look irresistable.

b. Design a completely new product or concept and design an advertising campaign to sell it.

c. Modify an already existing product and advertise it.

Check out some of our students' advertisements that have been designed and created this week in English groups. They look fantastic year 6, well done!

27 videos in an hour !

Congratulations Year 6. We are truly amazed at how well you learn.

Today, year 6 students were shown how to make a video using the online software "Animoto". Students logged into the site, uploaded images from the server they had just learnt how to resize, selected music to match their video, added text to the video and then waited for it to be ready.

Every year 6 student who was at school today had the opportunity to create a video with a friend. 27 videos were created in an hour. Well done year 6. 

Students were able to use computers that were not 'in use' in the Year 5 rooms as well as the ones available in class.

Great work Year 6!

We will be creating more videos and will be uploading them shortly.

The Rosary in Year 6

This decade of the Rosary can be found outside a Church in Western Australia. 

Year 6 have been learning about the Rosary. They received Rosary beads from Mrs Prendeville, our Religious Education Co-ordinator, and have been learning about the different Mysteries.  They have learnt that the Rosary is a remembrance and celebration of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus and Mary.

Today, the children in Year 6 began the day by saying the Rosary. 

 Below you will find some sites that tell us about the Rosary.

• Vatican City - This is the best place to read about the Rosary
• Several Popes have written about the Rosary. The Vatican website have copies for us to read. The earliest document is dated 1883.

Other sites that may help you to better understand the Rosary are:

• Children learn to pray
• How to pray the Rosary
• Pray the Holy Rosary
• Wikipedia - The Rosary

Reading Response to London Eye Mystery

The London Eye Mystery is a great book to read because it is full of lots of action and the character portrayals are very interesting. The book has alot of ups and downs and it is full of some really big and strange words. When I started ot read this book, I thought that Ted or Kat should have gone on the ferris wheel with their cousain Salim, and then he wouldn't have gone missing in the first place.

When Aunt Gloria wrote a letter to her sister Faye, it sounded very similar to her first letter. Aunt Glo sounds very posh, but also quite arrogant. I think Salim doesn't want to live with his mum anymore as she does seem very abrupt and rude. In the book it states that Salim is half asian and that his parents are divorced. this must be quite hard for Salim to comprehend having separated parents and this may have impacted his disappearance as I feel he may have run away from his mum as his life may have gotten way too confusing.

As I was reading, I realised that Ted was 'mentally challenged' however I found this very strange as he comes across as quite a smart boy and knows a lot about hiurricanes and the weather. I wonder what type of diability he actually has?

In our readers circle we focussed on Kat's personality. We all thought she was a teenager because of her bad attitude and behaviour. We were also talking about stories from our own life when we had gotten lost and we related our own feelings to how Salim may have felt. I spoke about when I was younger I got lost at the Plaza and I felt very anxious and quite scared. We also discussed how much our parents would panic and how they would feel when we went missing. I am looking forwar dto working out where Salim has dissappeared to.

By Simone (Blog Number 10)