The Year 5/6 students have had a great start to Term 4! With many different activities on offer of late, there has been plenty to keep the students busy! We had our first Kindergarten Transition session day yesterday, and the Year 5 students immensely enjoyed being ‘buddies’ with the children. In fact, all of the students did a terrific job making the younger children feel welcome at ‘big’ school!

This term, the students have been continuing to develop their understanding of the Japanese language and culture. The students initially made Kokeshi dolls using origami. They have also been learning about specific adjectives in Japanese, such as ‘ookii’ (big), ‘chiisai’ (small), ‘hayai’ (fast) and ‘osoi’ (slow). They then played a game of “jan-ken-pon” (rock-paper-scissors). The students were divided into two teams. One person from each team played a game of rock-paper-scissors, and whoever won had to correctly say a nominated adjective in Japanese to win a point for their team.

In Religious Education this term, the students are learning to identify and describe many ways in which faith is lived out in the lives of believers, both past and present, including Catholics in a developing Australian nation. They will examine the spiritual and corporal works of mercy. This fits well with regards to our Minnie Vinnies program being run through the school this term. The students will also participate respectfully in a range of personal and communal prayer experiences. Further to this, the students are enjoying going to mass each week, and interacting with our priests.

This term, in English, the students will focus on advertising. As a result, they will construct written expositions and a discussion. The reading tasks will develop their reading skills, and deepen their understanding of advertising by examining the language, images and how these are used to position the reader. The students will also listen to, innovate and perform advertisements. They will also discuss stereotyping in advertisements and the effectiveness of different mediums used to advertise. The students have also been listening to the story ‘Holes’ by Louis Sacher. We highly recommend it!

In Science and Technology this term, the students will develop a design criteria to produce a maze and code a robot to move through their maze. The students will need to apply their knowledge of programming to successfully navigate their robots. The students will also have the opportunity to explore a range of other coding programs and applications, and develop their skillset in this key area.

The students also created artwork for the Little Picasso Art Exhibition for the Grenfell Pre-School and Long Day Care Centre. It was lovely for the students to present their work in a real-life gallery! We thank Sharon and her staff for allowing us to be a part of this event, and hope it was successful!

Next Monday, it is Remembrance Day. All students will be representing our school on this very important day of commemoration.

Kindergarten Transition will continue to see the children who are commencing ‘big’ school next year becoming more familiar with the routines of everyday school life.

On Friday the 29th of November, the renowned SRC Talent Quest will take place. We look forward to watching the students take part in the day to showcase their talents, some known and some hidden!