Four Operations
categories: Maths
The last few weeks, we have been focusing on the four operations: addition, subtraction, multiplication and division!
Here is a little video I made with Explain Everything!
Lead Yourself Into The Future
categories: Uncategorized
The hall was filled with excited voices. A rainbow sea of students chatted with their teammates.
It was ‘Lead Yourself Into The Future’ day, a chance to meet with the Donvale’s Year 6’s and work together in fun team building activities. We were all assigned to a colour group, and got to wear a t’shirt of that colour.
“The next activity is the physical one,” announced Ms. Dines, her voice bringing everyone silent.
“There will be a prize for the winner,” she continued, and this got everyone’s attention. There were hushed whispers.
“The challenge will be the team who can plank for the longest. Each team of 10 must have 6 people planking.”
The whistle blew and we had 7 plankers. Their faces grew bright red before any of them called for a swap. I admired their perseverance, so when it was my turn, I stayed like that for as long as I could. I had never planked before, so my arms burned and my legs ached.
Suddenly, we were told we could stop. I looked around cautiously, and I realised we had done it…we had won! Our team celebrated, and we high fived each other. Even with red knees and elbows, we were happy.
“Would you like to go outside and bring in the treat or everyone?” Ms. Dines asked, and we all nodded.
Through the rain, we ran. We were allowed to enter the staff room, and we got a few boxes of icy poles. We ran back, and handed them all out. I looked seeing their faces as they said thank you and realised that they were getting an award for all their hard work too.
At the end of the day, I had learnt a lot about team work and perseverance and looked forward to doing it again next time.
Perfect Performance
categories: Intergrated
The lights turned off, engulfing the stage in darkness. The audience went quiet. The play had started.
This term, we have been working on a year 5 production, on the history of Australia. We researched first, until we had a good idea of federation, Captain Cook and the gold rush era. We even went to Sovereign Hill!
Then, we auditioned with a partner and waited for the results. In term 4, we were handed out roles. My partner, Matilda, had the main role, Bruce. I was overjoyed, and even happier when I had one of the main roles too!
Practicing and rehearsing was so fun! We laughed when we made mistakes, and clapped when we did well.
Then, the performance was on.
It felt like no time had passed at all, and we were all nervous. We peeked behind the curtains, and the whole auditorium was filled with excited parents and siblings. I saw my own mum chatting with one of the others.
I had to start at the back of the stage, and come running down the stairs, as my role required me to do.
I felt like there were so many butterflies in my stomach.
But, when the performance actually started, it was awesome!
Me in the play
Me as a bride
Our play
The lights turned off engulfing the stage in darkness. The audience went quiet. The play had ended…
Eccentric Echidnas
categories: Intergrated, Litracy
With their signature razor sharp quills, deadly claws, and their ability to be able to survive any climate, these ant-eating wonders of the world are truly spectacular.
The Echidna (or the Tachyglossus), meaning ‘spiky swift tongue’, is a mammal that has many surprises in store. Though their reputation may deem it a slow gentle critter, you’ll be amazed at their life!
Though they look completely different, the platypus and the echidna share many similar traits. Firstly, they are the only mammals to hatch from eggs (a monotreme), which is formed and hatched in a pouch on the mother. Secondly, new research suggests that the echidna actually is a relative of the platypus.
Echidnas have a diet that mainly includes ants and termites exclusively, which they use their long strong claws to dig up, and their long snout and swift tongue to gobble up. This is a structural adaptation, and is formed for the echidna to be able to eat.
An echidna
In the breeding seasons, the female echidna will begin to have another structural adaptation; ridges of skin and muscle, which form the pouch.
Hatching takes place after 10 days of being in the egg; the young echidna, called a puggle then uses it’s ‘egg tooth’ (which forms while in the egg) to crack out of it’s home into the pouch. It is now a hatchling, and the egg tooth falls off.
A puggle
An adult echidna is 2-7 kg (it varies a lot), and 30-45cm tall.
The echidna lives in many environments all around Australia, such as; the forest, grasslands, desert, and even the snowy mountains hold no boundaries for this mammal.
Those echidnas who hold the desert as their home are nocturnal, as the day time is too hot for their bodies, which is a behavioural adaptation to fit in with it’s environment. And those who live in the cold grow thick hair all over their bodies in between their quills, to trap heat.
Another fascinating behavioural adaptation is that when the echidna feels threatened by a predator, it uses it’s spikes to protect itself, curling up into a ball, leaving a boundary of spikes that no animal can get through.
Echidnas, you can agree, are one of the most amazing creatures.
What is your favourite mammal and reptile?
Book Chat Chat
categories: Litracy
This year, we have had a lot of Book chat sessions, and I have enjoyed each and every one, as I love books!
Here is a list of just some of the books that I have read this year in book chat, have you read any of them?
- Finding Serendipity
- The girl who drank the moon
- The war that saved my life
- The family with two front doors
- Running in the roof of the world
- Because of Winn Dixie
- Raymie Nightingale
- Tale of Despereaux
Because there have just been so many great options out there, I’ve found it hard to choose one that I liked the most. But, I do have one that I enjoyed more than the others!
The book is called ‘The Girl Who Drank the Moon’, and is about a girl who was abandoned and was fed moonlight to keep her alive. She ten inherited magical powers, and was adopted by a kindly witch who lived in the forest.
Her magic was kept a secret, but one day, it got out of hand and it exploded out of her.
This book won the Newberry Medal, and I recommend this book for anyone and everyone!
I also believe that this book would make a great movie, adventure, fantasy and mystery!
My favourite character is the little dragon, Fyrian, who is lovely, honest and loyal. He makes the whole story glitter, and makes it funny, as it is intense in some parts!
My favourite books all include dragons!
Book Love!
This book is Wings of Fire, which is a dragon book that I recommend
What is your favourite book? Do you have book chat?
Chinese New Year!
categories: Intergrated, Litracy
Children laugh, bright lights flash, dragons dance and roar. If you haven’t guessed already, it’s Chinese New Year (or 新年) ! I was born in China, then moved to Australia with my family when I was only 2, but, I’m still Chinese and celebrate New Year.
Me back in China this year!
New Year celebrates a new time, to leave the past memories behind, to enjoy the new life given. To be grateful and positive about the new year.
Traditions:
- 红包 This is when the oldest few of the family give to the youngest. Since I’m the youngest, this means time to earn some cash! This is traditionally given in red envelopes, with golden good luck messages imprinted on the front.
- Dragon Dance This is when the performers dress up as dragons, and move in dragon formation. Sometimes, the performers will even stand on each other’s shoulders!
3. The Hanging Of Red Lots of Chinese families will hang red lucky signs. I have 3 in my room! They are to prevent bad spirits and to bring luck! Also, in China, there will be a lot of fire crackers and fireworks creating loud sounds. This is because the legend of Nian (the Chinese New Year monster) states that the dragon is scared of red and loud sounds.
My Family Traditions:
My brighter and I both dare each other on the 31 December to never sleep again for the whole year! We’ll stay up until 3:00Am watching a movie. Our family eat and laugh, and we write each tiger letters saying how much we love them!
What is your favourite Holiday Tradition?
Where do you live?
Bye,
Jojo.
Toonalook Camp!
categories: Intergrated
,The bus vroomed to a halt, the doors opened and the students swarmed out. They had two words on their mind, “Camp Toonalook!”
Our first challenge was the Photo Rally, and we had to team up to find letters, which were hidden in a place that was shown on our pictures. I was in a team with Hunter and Charlie. Even though we didn’t win, it was so fun and we got to know the camp better!
At night we played the Shoe Game, and were split into two teams. We had to throw a shoe at a drink bottle, and the first person to knock it down would win their team a point. I was in a team called Savage Cabbages (Sav Cab), with the year 11 Charlotte leading us to victory!
At the last round, the scores were tied, and all eyes were on the two team captains, willing them to knock down the drink bottle. Otto threw the shoe, narrowly missing it. Charlotte took aim. And fired. We all watched as it soared through the air…and hit the drink bottle! Sav Cab had won!
The next day was very busy. We woke up to a chorus of birds. In our two groups, we did different activities…but a full stomach first!
Sav Cab did bike riding first. We rode all the way to the beach! There was sand everywhere, and it was difficult to ride in! I loved it!
Next was Kayaking, and after a yummy lunch (and seconds), and a demonstration, we were set to go. We out on out PFD’s and got into our double Kayaks.
Let me just say, we didn’t exactly qualify for the Olympics. The group decided to do a Kayak race towards a small island. The others had already gotten to the island, and were heading back to the finish line, and me and Hunter were yet to pass halfway.
Our Kayak tipped over, and we were so slow, the other people in Sav Cab had to pull us to shore! We may have accidentally knocked down some people with our paddles, and fell into the water multiple times, but we eventually made it!
We laughed it off, but I will never think the same about a Kayak ever again.
Kayaks!
Drenched and hungry, we returned to our cabins. Our day had just begun, after all. We packed up our stuff. And walked a long way (2 minutes), and finally arrived at the Expo location.
Our tent
We were to camp out for a night, and we set up our tents. Then, by the camp fire, we played a fun game of Empire. We gave the ref our nicknames (which could literally be anything in the world), and the others had to guess it. If correct, we would have to be in their Empire. The biggest Empire would win. I was Mrs. Draford (our teacher’s name)!
That night, we treated down to the beach. Tom asked us to grab some sand and throw it at the water. As the sand made contact the sea algae, there were tiny lights erupting from the calm water; like a reflection of the stars. Tiny fireflies, dancing in a while of black. Then, the faded away. I watched in awe and wonder. It was like magic. I returned to my tent with a warm feeling inside me.
At the beach!
The sun shone down on us, and we yawned and got out of out of our tents. We ere split into our original two groups again, and Sav Cab walked down to the pier. There was a boat waiting for us, commanded by Bilsy.
We got on, and we were off to Raymond Island. But, the boat was a…speed boat! We swerved and accelerated at the speed of light. We tipped and went vertical.
The boat
At Raymond Island, we were to fish. We learnt how to do it safely, and started. We waited patiently (or at least some of us did) for hours, to no reward! Though, there were a million jellyfish for every fish.
We went Bike Riding next. I was at the front, and had the best view! As we got on our bikes, we saw a Mum koala, with the tiniest baby-who had large eyes and a button nose. It was strolling casually part us on the road, into people’s backyards!
We saw 22 koalas in total, and even beat VSCO Yeets (the other team) for the most Kodak’s spotted!
But, I cannot stress enough the HEAT! It was so hot, I wanted to stop, give in, and sleep! I can finally understand koalas! We also saw baby swans, parrots and even a canoe tree!
It was a long day, and we wrote letters home. I had a great sleep, and got woken up at 6:00AM to see the sunrise.
The sunrise
The sun painted colours in the sky, and we watched it rise, spreading warmth and light across the world. I was slightly sad that camp was over that day.
But it wasn’t over yet…
There was the final Toona Challenge, with Sav Cab in one corner, and VSCO Yeets in the other.
The races were:
Dancing-make up a routine to a random song (5 points)
Bike Riding-an obstacle course (3 points)
Drawing-one person has 10 seconds to add something to a portrait of your team captain(2 points)
Charades-who could guess faster (1 point)
Pretzel- we got tangled, and tried to untangle the fastest (5 points)
Beach Relay- (1 points)
VSCO Yeets ended up scoring 8 points, and Sav Cab…9!
We had won!
Can you tell me your favourite holiday destination?
My Avatar, Blogging Challenge
categories: Intergrated
I look forward to chatting and posting for people all around the world! For the first challenge, I made an avatar on cartoonify!
My Avatar
My avatar depicts me as best as I can. I’m wearing a yellow jumper, because that is my favourite colour; it’s bright, happy and reminds me of the warm sand under my feet on a beach, the sun beating down. The background is a soft pink, because that matches!
I’m from China and I love snuggling with a good book, the feel of a ball through a hoop, and animals!
What is your favourite colour and animal? Mine’s the wolf!
Hard Road Ahead-It’s the Best!
categories: Intergrated
‘Eureka!’ The digger exclaimed as he emerged from the mine with a giant golden nugget, raised in in hand like it was…well…gold!
This term, our unit has been Hard Road Ahead, and it was about the Eureka Stockade and life in the 1850’s!
5S in their olden day uniforms
I learnt that life in the olden days was different from nowadays. There certainly were different rules and customs, such as girls having a family at the age of 14. The schools were also unique, as I have personal experience from the Sovereign Hill camp in Week 2. I also have learnt a lot about the famous Eureka Gold-rush, and how it changed Australia forever in ways such as; quadrupling the population from 437,655 to over 1.7 million, and turning the new continent into an advanced place to live.
An important event was the Eureka Rebellion, when the diggers were annoyed at the officials and Governor Hotham for being corrupt and introducing expensive gold mining licences. They built a giant Stockade, and on the early morning of Sunday, 3rd December 1854, the troopers attacked it. It lasted only 20 minutes, but 22 miners and 8 policemen died.
There were many 1850’s businesses, such as bakeries, apothecaries, criterion stores, blacksmiths and many more shops and stores.
Some famous figures involved in the story were; Peter Lalor, who was the leader of the fight and the rebellion. He was injured in the leg during the brutal battle and was later hidden in a farm by friends. No one turned him in, even when a massive reward was issued for his capture. James Scobie was also important when he was murdered by James Bentley near the Eureka Hotel.
Some important dates; 1770, and Australia (New Holland) is discovered by Captain Cook. 1788, the First Fleet docked at Jackson Bay, unloading convicts onto the new land. 1851, gold was first discovered in Australia, and 1854 was the famous Eureka Stockade. 1901, and we have St. Alipius, the school we attended in Sovereign Hill.
Following along with this topic, we were given partners to build a diorama, featuring two building per pair of the Ballarat mining town. I was given the Apothecary, which sold medicine and soaps. I also built the Eureka Hotel, when it was burning and in flames. This was really fun, and I enjoyed painting and constructing my very own building! I was proud to see it join the others in the giant puzzle.
My first building to construct
After the making, I wrote my own olden day newspaper article. I learned new vocabulary words and my history to make stories and ads to go on the front page.
I think I used many PLA’s, including imagination and curiosity while building my diorama. Even though I had a general idea of what the Apothecary looked like, the Eureka Hotel was burnt down, so no one knows what it looked like. I used my imagination and created my own image of the hotel. I also used Communication and Collaboration, as I would prefer to work on my own. In the end, however, my partner had some great ideas and we both worked together to create one masterpiece.
The journey wasn’t all smooth sailing though, as Will often would get distracted and go off to talk to his mates. I solved this by encouraging him and giving him lots of tasks to do.
I loved camp so much, as we got to travel back in time to the olden days and participate in an olden days school experience, and spend my money on olden-day sweets and products. The hardest part was leaving the old town, and I still miss it now! The school was great, and time passed by so fast (unlike everyday school), and Father Downing and Ma’am were both really funny and nice! The shops were really cool, as they were replicas of the Ballarat gold mining town! The actors all kept in character, and I enjoyed it so much!
I was lucky enough to be chosen to hold a $200,000 pure gold bar, and my first thought was, it’s really heavy…and shiny! I will always remember that experience, and I understand now why miners would have gold fever!
My and 200,000
For future year 5’s, I would ask you to use your time wisely, as four weeks is shorter than it seems, and you need to finish your building in time.
I also suggest you work well with your partner and listen to their ideas and thoughts.
As a summary, I think you are very lucky if you get to do this unit, and look forward to camp!
Beautiful Book Week
categories: Litracy
Last week was Book Week, a time when we celebrated our wonderful books! I really enjoyed spending the week with the books I love, and liked voting for which one I thought should win the Information Picture Book Award.
I think a good information book should include realistic pictures that relate to the topic, and the information should be clear, factual and detailed. The information sources should be listed at the back, and depending on if it’s a narrative or expository information book, should include a contents and index page.
I voted for Sorry Day, because it had beautiful water colour and had a creative way of switching between past and present as it talked about how the Indigenous people weren’t treated fairly. In one spread out page, the water colour went from dark and white to colourful as it spread out a timeline represented in pictures. I found Sorry Day as emotional and meaningful, with detailed pictures and clear information. At the back, more details upon the subject of Sorry Day were written, with pictures too.
Sorry Day
Sorry Day won, and I think it really deserved it!
What is your favourite picture book?