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!

Beginning the week on Tuesday

After a big day at the swimming carnival yesterday we are only really starting our week today - Tuesday. The first part of the day was 'reading groups' in Mr Smyth's class beginning with another 'super six' comprehension strategy. We learnt about summarising. We learnt that good readers are able to determine the main ideas and put them into their own words. Learners identify and accumulate the most important ideas and restate them in their own words. To practice this we first listened to a story, 'Monsier Albert Rides to Glory' by Peter Smith. We first made predictions about what it was about and then listened to Mr Smyth read it. We stopped along the way to make connections with the story. Quite a few of us had been to Paris, many of us had ridden on bicycles like Monsier Albert and as part of our HSIE unit about ANZAC Day we had all talked about war memorials. So connections were made all around. We then brainstormed the parts of the story we remembered and I wrote them on the board. After that we numbered the information in order that it had happened. Then we wrote the story in six parts, paying attention to the plan we had on the board. We all managed to write down some of our own summary and some of us shared what they had written with the class.

Number groups after recess and then we managed to fit in some work on 'verbs'. Some of us got to stand up and act out a verb which we then had to guess. After that we had to do some work in our grammar book looking at verbs and identifying them in a sentence, choosing the best verb for a sentence and even coming up with our own verbs to describe what you would do with an object.

I was a little disappointed that last minute we missed out on computers as the wall between the computer room and library was taken down today and they hadn't quite finished rewiring computers before it was our computer time. I sent everyone an email with a link to a great site where you can write descriptive phrases on an image by dragging and dropping words. Unfortunatley we didn't get to do that lesson. I wonder who will go on the computer at home and try it out. Remember to google 'nsw student portal' to find our portal and emails! You use the same login as you use at school. Then when you look at the email I sent you will find the link to the site. You could also just click below:

http://www.piclits.com/compose_dragdrop.aspx?PoemTemplateId=541

This afternoon we looked at persuasive writing. We had to use our bodies to agree or disagree on a few different statements by moving to either side of the room. We then had to give our reasons in whole sentences. Here are some of the statements we talked about:

Boys are better than girls.

Animals should not be kept in zoos.

Homework is a waste of time.

Reading books is better than watching the TV.

We should use less energy at school.

Chocolate should be banned.

Students should be able to eat in class

A great day was had by all, but wow, we were very busy!

Cloudy with a chance of ...

The garden loves the rain, our grass really appreciates it and the air is left fresh and clear, however as Friday PSSA approaches we cross our fingers that the clouds are swept away to rain elsewhere for a day or two. 

Our letters to our penpals are ready to send. We've thought about how to write a greeting, introduce ourselves, ask questions and finally finish with a departing note. They're a really colourful bunch of letters and I know they'll be really appreciated by the recipients. 

On Wednesday Mrs Stephens had students create wonderful masterpieces that were inspired by Van Gogh.

Our first class blog writer had a chance to write a little about our day below. He didn't get a chance to write about the end of the day where we learnt about writing in paragraphs. We used the hamburger to help us layer our thoughts into a topic sentence, followed by supporting sentences and finishing with a concluding sentence. Everyone managed to write one fabulous paragraph and some of us wrote two or three paragraphs about what we love. Topics included: chocolate (my favourite!), soccer, milkshakes and puppies.

After finishing our writing we had a chance to share it with a partner. We had to listen to them read their writing and then offer two stars and a wish. This meant that we had to tell them two positive comments about their writing and one area where they could improve. We talked about what would make a good comment and there were many great ones shared!

Remi wrote: 

Today we had an awesome day at school. We started off with some independent writing. In the independent writing we had to write a letter to the cancer councel and the letter had to be illustrated.

I wrote some questions I wanted to know abot the cancer councel. Next we did some grammer and we learnt about Proper nouns. Then we learnt about HSIE.