Emotive Texts

Students need to have a handle on this if they are to write convincing persuasive texts, which is our next port of call in literacy. (We have also been focusing on idioms). Each table had to write about an incident about a boy or a girl being bitten by a dog in a park, or wherever the group decided. Four viewpoints have to be represented with the writer trying to persuade the audience that their version is the most convincing. The viewpoints come from:

the dog

the child,

the parent of the child

the dog owner

Most students really tried hard with this and I have asked students to revisit and further refine their written pieces last Thursday night for homework.  Some students have started publishing their pieces and are gaining experience inserting a relevant image. Students can either write the top copy up by hand or publish it.  They will be receiving  feedback back from me regarding the grammar, content and general layout over the next two weeks. Students will be expected to set themselves goals. Some students have chosen to hand this in by Tuesday the 12^th March. The top copy will be housed in their “Gift” portfolio.  Here are some examples of completed work by some students. 

Mondrian art pieces

Our current art work focus is on Piet Mondrian. Students have used his works as inspiration for their own.

The Spelling Program

The Spelling program in the classroom is comprised of many elements:

1. Each week students complete a spelling unit, usually based on a visual pattern. There are  two levels focusing on the same pattern each week. We have covered "ate" words, "ei" words and this week are looking at the different sounds "ch" can make which is many e.g. chart, chassis, choir, chronicle, character. This unit is thoroughly explained to each group and an hour is given in class time. The remainder is to be completed for homework on Tuesday night and can be handed in for marking either Wednesday morning or Thursday morning. Some really focused students finish the unit on the day so I am not going to reward this efficiency with more homework. "Go and read a book you really enjoy,"  I say.

"ei" words at two levels of complexity

"ate" words at two levels of complexity

2. Each day the students run spelling bingo, a game based upon the weekly pattern. The students take turns at running this each morning. They like to experiment with the different tools available on the Smart Board.

Spelling Bingo Week 2 (Example of the two levels)

3. The students are tested on their level each Friday and add any errors to their Individual Spelling Lists. They each have a card and are expected to accumulate five ticks on each word. These can be student-tested, teacher-tested or parent-tested. I would appreciate if parents could assist with the monitoring and testing of the words on this chart. Students should learn five to ten of these each week. These lists also contain words mispelled in other pieces of work across maths, science, English etc.

Example of an ISL card

4. Danger words: these are the most commonly mispelt words in the class for this term and these are displayed on a chart in the room for student reference when proof-reading their work. Students who spell any of these words incorrectly must write them out fifty times each. The same rule goes for the teacher! Note, a lot is two separate words.

The Danger Words this term

5. Students book work across the subject areas is checked regularly and spelling corrections are made on sticky notes in their books. Students have to add these corrections to their ISL cards.

Corrections made in students' Science journals

5. Word Painting: Painting the words on the concrete with water outside of the classroom in the courtyard. (Can you paint your ten words before the first one evaporates?)

6. The Demons as identified by spelling guru Peter Clutterbuck. These words, in progression of difficulty are those most commonly mispelled by students from grade 2 to grade 8. Students work through these at their own rate. I usually suggest they learn 5-10 at a time. These are individually teacher-tested and there are some great rewards.

Origami

A litter of origami dogs

On Friday the 1st of March some of the students decided to have a go at making an origami dog with a nodding head.We used special furry-looking paper squares. The skill required was quite basic and students had to follow an instructional text. Come in and see our Origami board. This will be a focus throughout the year for wet weather and as an add-on to our visual arts program. The paper-folding techniques will get progressively more challenging as the year goes on. The origami sessions fit nicely with the school's focus on  the Japanese language and culture. Japanes is out LOTE.   Photos of students will be posted up regularly on our origami board on the display board in the art area in the classroom. Origami will be offered during the art afternoons as an additional activity to the main focus. Students can opt into the paper folding fun if they wish. At the moment, in our art time,  students are working on Mondrian inspired drawings.

The next origami lesson will focus on the Samurai Hat and the Croaking Frog.

Samurai Hat

Croaking Frog

The following animation of how to make the croaking frog is excellent:

http://www.en.origami-club.com/fun/croakingfrog/anime-croaking/index.html

Daily Phys.Ed. Training Day

On the 26th of February 2013 all the grade 6 students at our school went to the hall with our PE teacher to practise for our  Daily Phys.Ed program it runs over 3 days of every week for twenty minutes ...

First thing in the morning we went to the hall with our PE teacher and we all sat down on the benches. He talked to us about the rules of Daily Phys.Ed. he told us how to treat people who are misbehaving and being inappropriate. We talked about how to be a fair leader . We also talked about the expectations of being a good leader (for example to be well organised and on time and be reliable. We also talked about the key roles to be a leader like gaining attention, establishing rules, effective behaviour management, and organisation of the group. Next, we talked about the general rules of being a leader like not standing together all the time, not sitting down on the job, no hands in pocket (looks bad) . Then we talked about what daily PE is actually stands for. We came up with Fun, Responsibility, Organisation, Confidence, Resilience, Persistence, Patience, Exercise, and lastly, perseverance.

After recess we all were told if we were daily PE leaders, and who we would be working with, and what we were doing. We received a sheet about what we will be doing, for example I got a sheet on  soccer skills  and it said what we can do but we were allowed to change it if we want. The person I am working with,We changed it a lot. The part of the day every one was waiting for was  getting our whistles;  they were all different colours. Then everyone blew their whistles as loudly as they could.

After lunch everyone received their daily PE kit bags with all the gear in it. Then we went to our area we we set up and the our PE teacher came around and told us what a good job we did.  Then we went back to our class and did some finishing off, and  then the bell went for home time.     By Sman and Gman

Book Reports

In our classrrom we have been focusing on the concepts of immigration, emigration, refugees and asylum seekers. Students all wrote down individually their initial ideas on these terms, and then in groups of four, came up with a combined definition for each term. They will revisit them at the end of the unit. As part of our literacy focus,  each student has a picture book which focuses on one or more of these concepts. They have received the book and the book reporting proforma. Students will be sharing their book and their report with their classmates. Each student has a folder in which to draft their ideas and then they are to publish their finished report.

We read the book called The Island by Armin Greder using the SmartBoard so students could really appreciate the impact and the symbolism embodied in the bleak illustrations. We also discussed terms such as prejudice, isolation, compassion, fredom, power and difference. We also discussed the characterisation. Five students in the class are currently focusing on this book.

Book report done by one student

Below is another report. This is an A standard.

Our class novel at the moment is Anh Doh's The Happiest Refugee. We also read the picture book version called The Little Refugee. Students are working on a placemat assignments wherein they have to look carefully at four of the following  terms: resilience, persistence, getting along, confidence and organisation. Students had to do some note-taking and research in order to list things Anh and his family did which exemplified these qualities  under the respective  headings.  

We also viewed Anh Does Vietnam which gave the students more insight into the country Anh left behind when he came to Australia, and what the country is like now.

Here is a short discussion of the book Grandfather's Journey by Allen Say

Two students wrote a book report on this book

Hi, my name is Niki, and this is a short disussion about a book called Grandfather's Journey.

My friend and I did a book report. It told us to write a summary, setting, the main characters, main issues, illustrations and my opinion on the book. We needed to read the book to the class and read what we wrote about the book. When I read the book I felt what the characters where feeling. When the grandfather was in one country, he is homesick for the other, when I read that part I new exactly what he was feeling, I was in that situation myself once before.  When I went to England and came back here I felt sad leaving England. This book deals with emigration.

My name is Paul and here are a few comments on the book which is like a graphic novel: The Arrival.

This book deals with the problem of imigration in a very abstract way. The main characters in this book are the man, the people he meets and the strange creature he adopts. I felt that this book's meaning related to the real world, a man leaves his city and stories of survival from strangers. But, what has this to do with the story? You will have to find out for yourself. I felt this book carried the distinct message that if you try hard enough, there will always be even the smallest light at the end of your tunnel. This book also shows how your choices affect others around you. I would recommend this book to ages 11+.

Hi, my name is Sadie. I did a book report on this book Home and Away. This book is based on an  Australian family that has to leave Australia because of war. John Marsden could've based his story on an Asian family but he made it an Australian family. This makes the reader pay more attention and make them imagine us normal, everyday Australians becoming refugees. This book really make you feel like you are amongst the characters, hearing what they say and having the same feelings as they do. It made me feel sorry for the children, losing many relatives and friends. This book made me realise what refugees are really going through in life. I found this book amazing and cleverly written. I recommend this book  to ages 11+. I rate this book 9/10.