Prep | Year 6 News
English – Austin Su
In English over the last few weeks we have been working on Creative Writing! We made a character that included a name, culture, family background and a special item. Year 6 then puts their character in a situation of our choice and began writing stories about them. We have also been working on tightening the tension in our stories by using descriptive language as well as short and sharp sentences. In Rapid Writing we have continued to work on simple, complex and compound sentences. In Literacy Groups, we have been reading books like The Arrival, No Room on Our Rock, The Boy and the Ball and Goat on a Boat which are all about migration and the reasons why people move countries.
Maths – Alessandro Calciano
In Maths over these last couple of weeks we have been doing a time investigation project, where we had to find flights and google flights. The aim of this project is to understand different time zones, how to tell the time across different countries and read and understand train and bus timetables. We had specific criteria to meet such as travelling to three different continents. In my project, I decided to fly to Japan, Texas and Italy. I’m calculating the total flying time as well as scheduling a layover and catching buses and trains. We have also been working on converting tonnes, kilos, milligrams to different types of measurements. Did you know that a Blue Whale can weigh up to 15 tonnes?
Unit of Inquiry – Elijah Ayad
Over the last few weeks in UOI we have been learning about the Holocaust and the suffering that people went through which caused them to migrate from their home countries. On Wednesday of Week 7 we went to the Sydney Jewish Museum to learn more about the Holocaust and we even met a survivor and heard his story! We split into small groups to find out more about it and look at the different exhibits in the museum. My group learnt about stories from survivors and how countries were affected by war. Towards the end we met George who was a holocaust survivor. He was a baby when his family fled Warsaw and told us the story of how his family survived by hiding in Siberia. He then shared about his migration story to Australia. He even showed us his book that he wrote ‘Chocolate to Anzac Biscuits’.
After the break Year 6 will:
- Continue with our Sharing the Planet unit, focussing specifically on migration as a response to conflict and challenge. We’ll look at the different perspectives that migrants, such as refugees, have had upon arriving in Australia.
- In Maths we’ll spend some time investigating Position, before moving on to Fractions, Decimals and Percentages
- In English we will continue exploring the elements of creative writing in the form of Narrative
We hope that you have a restful break and come back ready and recharged for the final semester of Primary School!
STEAM
In Year 6 STEAM the boys are exploring decision trees and how they can help inform our choices. As well as the impact decision trees have on app development and in developing AI technology. Currently the boys are looking into how to link knowledge of decision trees to their class unit of inquiry “Sharing the Planet”. With ideas including;
“Determining if a family should or shouldn’t migrate to another country” – Dominic 6M
“Most important things to pack when migrating” – Timothy 6G
“You can use them to decide what country is best fit for you” – Ethan 6S
“Decision trees could tell you what aspects of a country that fits your needs.” – Adam 6S
Visual Arts
For students and families interested in visiting some art exhibitions during the holidays, here are a few ideas to get you started:
Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prizes at the Art Gallery of New South Wales runs from 14th May – 28th August. The Archibald Prize for portrait painting is the country’s favourite and most significant art award. The Wynne Prize is awarded to the best landscape painting of Australian scenery, or figure sculpture, while the Sulman Prize is given to the best subject painting, genre painting or mural project in oil, acrylic, watercolour or mixed media. There are a number of drop in and bookings required workshops. Special mention to Austin in KL whose artwork ‘I Become Batman’ is currently on show in the Young Archie competition – congratulations Austin!
Other Possible Worlds: Contemporary Art from Thailand runs at Delmar Gallery from 25th June – 31st July, Wed – Sun, 12pm – 5pm. Other Possible Worlds presents 12 young and mid-career Thai artists enthusiastically engaged in the debates around Thailand’s present and future. The exhibition includes painting, sculpture, photography, installation, neon, video, embroidery, prints and works on paper. Information about a range of workshops, talks and discussions can be found here.
Our Journeys, Our Stories runs from 30th April – 24th July at Hurstville Museum and Gallery. The exhibition explores the Chinese migration history of the Georges River area. Interweaving social and cultural history with the work of contemporary Chinese-Australian artists Cindy Yuen-Zhe Chen, Guo Jian, Lindy Lee, Xiao Lu, Jason Phu, and Guan Wei. Information about guided tours and drawing workshops with artist Cindy Yuen-Zhe Chen held in July can be found at the above link.
MUSIC
In Year 6 Music the Stand Alone Unit Origins of Jazz has provided students with the opportunity to explore the evolution of Jazz Music, the social, cultural and political influences as well as the evolution of jazz music. In class, we have compared different jazz genres and how they have evolved over time, the historical context and aurally analysed how they sound using the concepts of music. As a class, we explored the basic harmonic structure of the 12 bar blues, playing through the jazz sequence on different melodic instruments (e.g. xylophones, pianos etc.) whilst some were playing an improvised jazz melody over the top, to showcase their instrumental technique and understanding of the topic. Further, we started a composition of a 12-bar blues on noteflight. Boys were to compose for piano – the left hand playing the 12 bar blues sequence whilst, they could explore their creative freedom in the right hand part by creating a jazzy melodic line – exploring dotted rhythms, ties, syncopation, various dynamics and expressive techniques etc. All these activities have introduced the boys to the fundamentals of jazz music, which will be explored in more detail in high school.
