Highschool students who visited Turkey

Today we had students visit us from Balmain high school, who had been to Turkey during the ANZAC Centenary. They visited us and spoke about where Turkey is, why we commemorate it and some of the important aspects of the ANZAC campaign at Gallipoli that we learn about. For example, Simpson and his donkey.

We also learnt about how the students got there. They were put in a ballot by their teacher and their school was picked. The students that were picked from year 9 had created amazing artworks, poems or videos as their entry. We got to see them. Wow!

ANZAC Assembly

It was difficult to explain to some of the eager sport fanatics that even though the sun was out sport was cancelled today. We had our ANZAC assembly which was wonderfully run by the year six leaders. Our two SRC representatives took the wreath that our class parent had decorated (thank you!) and laid it at the front of the assembly remembering to bow their head showing their respect to fallen soldiers. It was a solemn occassion and we al were on our best behaviour. We got to see Mr Rod Mason in his army uniform. He is a captain and army musician and he told us about his experiences of being a peace keeper in different countries. 

We got to listen to the band play, conducted by Mr Mason and also the senior choir sing, led by Mrs Nylund. They were both brilliant and you could really tell that they had put a lot of time and effort into their peformances!

After the assembly we had a writing lesson, recess, assembly and then a grammar lesson on 'adverbial phrases'. It sounds so tricky but isn't really! We practiced adding adverbial phrases to sentences in our grammar book.

After lunch we got to do some art! We painted amazing landscapes of poppy fields which is very fitting with ANZAC day being on Saturday and our ANZAC assembly being today. 

So although we missed out on sport because of wet, soggy fields we did get to do some painting which we always love!

Victoria Cross

We found out about the Victoria Cross while learning about the ANZACs. We found out that this was a medal given to soldiers for bravery in the face of the enemy. The award was named after Queen Victoria. During World War 1, 64 Australians were given the Victoria Cross. Each Victoria Cross has been made from the same cannon that was from the Crimerean War.