Wow, Distance Learning has been busy in Year 5. We have engaged in a range of learning activities including Library lessons, Science experiments, Bookweek activities, guest speakers, beginning the leadership process and of course the Passion Project Day. The students have maintained motivation, focus and effort over the past 7 weeks, making their teachers extremely proud. Our first ‘Distance Learning Stars’ have also been awarded a certificate for their dedication to learning. We would like to congratulate Thomas Earl, Sagan Jones, Aidan Biasi and Thomas Evans. We have also been delighted to welcome our new students who have begun their first days at Hills Grammar during ‘Distance Learning.’ Misheeta and Justin have been so confident to engage in online learning, and have made such a positive transition to the school community.
Library Lessons
These lessons have occurred each week with Miss Barrett and Mrs Newth. They have been fun, with the students using online platforms like ‘eplatform’ and ‘Story Box’ to explore different genres. At the end of each session, Mrs Newth tried to include a game to enjoy.
Science Experiment Videos
Students in Year 5 have been exploring landforms and have particularly focused on weathering and erosion. Students were creative, recording their experiment for Abrasion. They included a hypothesis, method and explained their results in detail. Each of the videos uploaded to seesaw were engaging for the audience.
Passion Project Day
This was a day of discovery and fun. Students enjoyed the day participating in activities that made them feel happy. Thank you to Mrs Black for allowing us this amazing day to be creative and relax.
Laila - Last Friday was Passion Project Day where it was like a no screen day. I realy enjoyed it, here are a few things I did:
- I made a lip mask
- I made a cucumber face mask
- I walked a 10km walk
I did many more activities but those where the main 3. I spent the whole day pampering myself. I really enjoyed Passion Project Day as it was full of fun activities and exciting things to do.
Leadership Process
Aarush - The topic for leadership is “ leadership is about actions and not titles” and the house captain topic is “why do you think you think you will make a good house captain.” Year 5 candidates who are going for leadership will send their recorded speech to the school. After that Year 3 to 5 will be able to watch the video and will have an opportunity to vote for house captain and school leader.
Laila - After all the applicants have written recorded and summited their speech, all applicants will be invited to a one on one call with Mrs. Black. She will ask questions and answer any of ours. The next important event is called Ylead and it’s a day all based on leadership. Unfortunately, because of current circumstances we will proceed this event via teams. The exciting part comes at the end of the day when Mrs. Black announces who will be Captains, Vice Captains and House Captains for the year 2022.
Book Week Activities
Mr Price shared his favourite picture book ‘Dog Breath’ by Dave Pilky. The students then had the opportunity to read their favourite picture book with the intent of sharing it with the ECEC students.
We also enjoyed a fun dress up afternoon in Launch where students had to guess what their classmates were dressed as. Harry Potter was a popular character.
Guest Speakers
On Thursday we were so lucky to have a guest speaker, Rebel Talbert, Assistant Commissioner for NSW Rural Fire Service. She is the leader of a fire analysis team to implement strategies to fight fires. We learnt about the bushfire season here in Australia and in particular the fire that occurred in the Wollemi National Park called the Gosper Mountain fire. The students asked very thoughtful questions at the conclusion of the presentation including ‘What is the retardant made up of?’ and ‘Has climate change increased the frequency of the fires?’ and ‘How close was the Gosper Mountains fire to Hills Grammar?’
A very special thank you to Rebel, who is a Hills Grammar Original for providing us with such a valuable presentation.
Social Media Day
Today we enjoyed a presentation by Senior Constable Ethan West who spoke about being Safe online.
Year 5 Specialist Lessons
In PDHPE, the students have enjoyed the Olympics as their focus. They created their own Mini-Olympics by replicating 4 Olympic events using equipment in the students’ household.
Year 5 Music
This semester Year 5 has been introduced to Music of the Sea. Students have listened to Black Pearl from Pirates of the Caribbean, The Wellerman and Drunken Sailor. They have also learned how to play these pieces and in doing so have analised the melodic movement in each one.
Black Pearl introduced students to movement by step. Skips and leaps were part of the melodic make up in The Wellerman, and the concept of melodic sequence is an essential part of Drunken Sailor.
Each time Year 5 learned about a new melodic concept they put their knowledge to practice in a composition task. Using Chrome Songmaker the students have been creating short melodies based on steps, skips, leaps and sequence.
They have all been producing some amazing work and it has been difficult to choose just a few to share with you. Please click on the name of the student to hear their composition. I
Mandarin
In Mandarin, the student have enjoyed interactive games, and have completed a research project- The Great Wall of China, which employed the thinking routine “I Noticed”, “Think, Wonder and Explore” and now they have started to explore the 8 Chinese cuisines in groups.
Alish - “The Chinese chefs put a lot of thoughts into every single dish, they consider the flavours and taste, not just that, Chinese food tends to be so symbolic. It encompasses the culture. It is like every dish is telling a story”
The Year 5 Teachers and Specialist Teachers
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