What’s happening in Year 6

Science

Year 6 Milicic recently made volcanoes in our Science lesson. 

Students actively participated by building a cone-shaped volcano, adding baking soda and vinegar to produce a chemical reaction that caused their volcano to erupt dramatically. They discussed their observations and their interest and engagement contributed to a positive learning experience.

Ann Milicic
Year 6 Teacher

Literature study – Blueback poetry

6DM has been studying the novel Blueback by Tim Winton throughout Term 2. As a culminating activity, they constructed poems to accurately represent the relationship between the characters and the environment.

Blue whirls, a gust of wind stirring
Entwined, a flourishing bond awakes
Wrapped with trust, tied with a bow
A boy and a groper

Abel yearns for the secrets uncovered
Secrets locked in tranquillity
Blueback, a book yearning to be read
But mysteries will always remain mysteries

Shores in solace, crowned with Karri trees
Abel returns, a soul planted in nature
Blueback, a pillar of life
Guardians over Abel’s true home

Winds of time, revealing an unworthy past
Nature’s skies unfolding wounds
But their bond is tied tighter still
Abel and Blueback as always
Forever

Annabelle Wong

Dazzling, crystal clear water
A colossal creature awaits
The navy-blue coloured fish
Connected to many unique traits

A youthful boy, filled with joy 
Is joined by a groper of the bluest blue
Not knowing they would connect
But as time passed, their relationship grew 

Longboat Bay, Abel and Blueback
As the rough waves meet the sand
The enchanting, endless ocean
Where the relationship still stands 

Ella Needs

Swimming in the deep, crystal seas
Standing, listening to the breeze
A youthful boy, filled with joy
And an old groper, making connections

With many mysteries of the sea
Will he find out, I guess we’ll see.
The fish, the boy, the sand and the shore
All as one, still waiting for more

Leah Li

Where the sea meets the land 
A connection stands 
Longboat Bay, a place of peace and joy 
And a big, blue fish 

In the underworld a boy swims 
He meets a groper and the friendship begins 
A blanket of blue 
A connection like glue 

In a time of play, they remember those days 
When they were surrounded by Longboat Bay 
Abel and his mother patrolled the bay 
And swam in the sun all day 

A time to reflect 
During the day they collect 
Everlasting memories, kept for centuries 
They keep it going and start new journeys

Elyana Lahoud

As the sand dances on the waves
A creature lurks beneath me
I spend the days playing games
Blueback, a gluttonous fish, as free as the sea

Abalone is the key to winning over the fish
I offers him some and he gobbles it up
I long for a friend, it’s more like a wish
If he could talk he’d say thank you

Charlie Jackson

Under the clear, dazzling water
A colossal creature thrives 
In the deep, a dark blue an enchanting light
The water ripples 
A boy dives
The young boy and a large groper
A friendship like no other 

The gluttonous beast
A baby girl named Dora
A spiritual connection 
Life continues for Longboat Bay

Valentina Gittany

It all started with a boy and a fish 
Abel’s love for the ocean 
The imposing, gluttonous jewel of the sea
Their connection strong as can be

Trying to figure out Longboat Bay 
Searching to discover what he was looking for 
Realising it was right in front of him 
Now the Jacksons swim together as one

Georgia Ghossein

Sandy beaches that hold many secrets of the past
The sea, as clear as day, as blue as sapphire stones
A small boy, Abel, always thinking, always caring
Blueback, a midnight, gluttonous fish, older that time itself

Time would go by faster than they realised
But the wondrous friendship, forever lasting
Abel’s life changed, Blueback’s stayed the same
This time, the secrets of the sea could be seen.

Mariam Fajloun

Eamonn Dunphy
Year 6 Teacher

Maths and problem solving

Students from Year 6 meet each week in differentiated groups to work on targeted strategies which will enhance their skills in Mathematics. This term some students have taken part in Maths Olympiad and Maths Games competitions which enable them to apply problem solving strategies to real-life mathematical situations. 

After each competition students have the opportunity to discuss the problem solving techniques they utilised while listening to the techniques their peers used. Some students nominate themselves to explain their strategies to the group as a whole, further enhancing their skill set. As the term has progressed the students’ confidence and skill level in Mathematics has improved.

Brooke Panagopoulos
Gioia House Curriculum Leader

6 Anderson

It has been a busy few weeks at Gioia House. The girls in 6A have had a lot of fun exploring multiplication and division in Mathematics, animal and plant adaptations, and geological events, such as volcano eruptions, during their fortnightly Science Lab lessons with Ms Nosworthy, and the importance in ‘Decision Making’ with our visit to the Healthy Harold Van as a part of our PDHPE unit. 

It is wonderful to see the girls working collaboratively, asking deep, thought-provoking questions and exploring the processes of learning such a wide variety of information as a part of their very busy school days.

We are so grateful for these incredible hands-on, real life learning experiences and such opportunities are a wonderful way for the girls to explore new ways of thinking, how to collaborate effectively with others, and many other important skills and knowledge for their overall growth and development. 

It has been an incredible semester of learning and we cannot wait to see what is in store for Semester 2!

6 McLaren

6 McLaren have been exploring two-dimensional spatial structures in our new Mathematics unit. The girls explored how shapes can move through reflection, translation and rotation. In this exciting activity students followed instructions and used these movements to discover the hidden animal. The girls loved this hands-on activity, it was wonderful to see the discussion between the students where they discovered that when we use reflection, translation and rotation we change the position and orientation but not the size of the shape.

Sian Tierney
Year 6 Teacher