Delicious Delights

Wondering what to cook for dinner tonight? Grade 5/6 has it covered!

Download "A Delightfully Delicious Book Of Recipes to Tantalise Your Tastebuds" on your iPad, now in the iBook store!

https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/delightfully-delicious-book/id587716292?mt=11

If you don't have an iPad read the book online-

Greed- By Celine and Kyla

It is very exciting to announce that two students from 5/6 A have just finished creating their very own iBook- the first one published for our grade.

Greed, written by Celine and illustrated by Celine and Kyla is now available for download in the iBooks store. It is a story set in the African savannah, where elephants are being hunted for their tusks. A brave elephant triumphs over the poachers!

Download this book on your iPad now! It's FREE!

Click here to download from the iBooks store. 

If you do not have an iPad check out this Flip Snack book-

Tweeting the Prime Minister

Hi my name is Campbell and I was recently in the The Saturday Age newspaper. The article was about teachers and how they use social media in the classroom, I was in the article because I sent a tweet to the Australian PM. I asked her the question, “Why do I have to wait so long for my NAPLAN results?” “What is the point?”

This is the photo from the article and the link.

Photo: Jason South
http://www.theage.com.au/national/t-is-for-teaching-20121130-2amd9.html

http://www.theage.com.au/national/t-is-for-teaching-20121130-2amd9.html

I love to use Twitter and other social networks in the class like Edmodo and blogging because you can talk to class mates and other people from around the world. I have tweeted to the PM and I eventually got a response. This is Julia Gillard's and Peter Garret's responses.

It’s not every day a PM tweets an 11 year old. Peter Garret soon replied and I hope one day I can get someone even bigger to tweet me. I believe tweeting is a big part of learning because it teaches us about cyber safety, how to use social media responsibly and can also teach us in writing. I believe my teacher, class and I are very important in the social networking world. We tell the world about our learning and show the world that little people can do big things.

By Campbell Walsh

Grade 5 - ACPS

Do you use Twitter in your classroom? 

Why do you think using Twitter is good for education? 

3-6 Camp Lake Dewar

On the 14^th of November 34 students from Learning Neighbourhood 3 left school to go to  camp at Lake Dewar Lodge. Around 9:20 AM we left the school and arrived at 10:30 AM at the camp site.  From there we meet some of the camp instructors and they told us about some of the areas inside the camp. They also told us about some of the activities.

We then settled into our cabins, and got put into our groups for activities. We had three groups; group one was called Sharks, group two was called Dolphins and group three was called Stingrays. Over the next three days we did many fun activities including the flying fox, adventure tunnelling, kayaking, geo cashing, campfire cooking, hut building and the Lake Dewar Lodge amazing race. At the camp they had two dogs named Lux and Simba. The food was fantastic especially when our very own school captain Campbell Walsh got cream pie in the face by Miss Likos. That night, he gave her, her own dose of the pranking by splashing a fully filled water bottle on to her face. She repaid him by unscrewing the lid and dumping the rest of the water over him.

Kayaking:

Kayaking was awesome, we got wet and had a bit of a work-out, turning was hard at first but then we got used to it and it became easy.

Adventure tunnelling:

The adventure tunnels were dark and gloomy, it scared many people especially Makeelly Chappell. At the adventure tunnel each stage had a different challenge you must complete to win the key. Only a few people had lights to go on their helmets to guide the way through the pitch black tunnels.

Campfire cooking and hut building:

Campfire cooking and hut building were both taken by our teachers and not by the camp instructors. They also both were a survival challenge, we had cook damper in the campfire, we cooked the damper on a stick.  At hut building we started from scratch and had to find your own resources for building the hut. The huts needed to be water proof. At the end of the hut building our huts were tested by the teachers by pouring water on top of the hut. Some of us got drenched.

The duel flying fox:

This activity was exhilarating, when you jump of the edge it feels like you are actually going to fall! Miss Spink was dared into going on the flying fox or she would be called Miss Chicken. In the end she gave in and went on the flying fox, but only once. Some of the things that we did to make the flying fox even scarier were the leap of faith, running and jumping of the platform, letting go of the rope and going upside down. This is what Celine Cleveland did on the way to the other side she did this without fear and became a flying fox warrior. The flying fox was a hair raising experience which was one of the highlights of camp.

 Geo Caching:

Geo caching was very tiring, we had to run up and down hills through bushes and over tunnels. The point of geo caching is to use a GPS to locate and gather different items. We had around an hour to locate and collect items that were worth points. Each item was hidden in different places and was challenging to find.

 Lake Dewar Lodge Amazing Race:

 On the very last day we got together in our groups and were to take part in the Lake Dewar Lodge Amazing Race. We were given a map and a card to hole punch once each activity was completed. There were 8 activities in all and the Stingrays won.

 Night Activities:

On the first night it was movie night! We got to nominate a movie the choices were Wally, Cars, Robots and Racing Stripes. The obvious choice was Racing Stripes it won by a mile. On the second night we held a talent show. Miss Spink and Miss Likos sang Don’t Worry Be Happy by Guy Sebastian, reading the lyrics from their iPhone’s, while Ms Cornish and Mrs Wade were the backup dancers. Mrs A who was the judge gave the teachers a comment and mimicked that “It was really that bad” and then the teachers tilted their heads in disappointment while Mr Fraser sang “Don’t worry be happy”.

Everyone had to participate in the talent show. Out of all the students and groups that participated Celinemchelsky won, the runners up were the Little Rippers. The prizes were a packet of Starburst lollies.

On the last day we left the camp in the bus and got back to school, ready to go home and rest.  

The camp was amazing and something that we will remember for the rest of our lives.

Mr Fraser thought a highlight was the apple pie, he even made a video about it! 

By Celine and Campbell

CBL Reflection

Let's Reflect!

Over the next few days I would like students to reflect on Challenge Based Learning in our classroom this term.

The following prompts will help you with this process.

The way you present your reflections is up to you- you may like to create a video, record audio, tell a story, write a blog post, make a Glog, the choice is yours!

I can't wait to see what you come with!

Miss Spink

Reflection Prompts:

Reflection Prompts

Understanding the Challenge

• Explain the big idea, essential question, and the challenge.
• Why is this important to you and your community?
• Who does the challenge impact?

Guiding Questions/Research

• What were the most valuable guiding questions?
• What kinds of surprises did you encounter during your research?
• What resources were the most valuable?

The Solution

• Describe the process your team went through to come to your solution.
• What things did you try that didn’t seem to work?
• Why do you think your solution will make a difference?

Executing the Solution

• How did you put your solution into action?
• How did you measure its effectiveness?
• What obstacles did you face during this process?

Teamwork

• What challenges did you face working as a team?
• How did your group utilize individual talents?
• What have you learned about collaboration?

Review of Your Work

• Could you have solved this challenge differently?
• What would you do differently if you were to take on this challenge again?
• What is one thing you learned that you will never forget?

Connections

• What did you learn during this process that you didn’t know before?
• How can you apply this process and/or your solution to other similar challenges 
in the world today?
• What skills did you learn that apply to other areas of your learning?

Challenge Based Learning In Our Class

In Term 4 our 'Inquiry' topic is Increasing Understanding and Awareness About Asylum Seekers. Now the reason I put some quotation marks around inquiry was because (technically) this term we are not doing Inquiry. Instead of 'inquiring' we are finding a solution to a challenge. CBL stands for Challenge Based Learning. 

http://www.challengebasedlearning.org/

This way of learning gives us a more professional feel and it also helps that we each have modernised roles which can help give us skills for the future.

Here is our challenge video-

You can find an overview of our challenge here-

http://www.challengebasedlearning.org/challenge/view/164 

There are steps to progress from our challenge to a solution. The first thing is our guiding questions. There are two types of guiding questions. The first types are 'over the surface' questions (OTS). These are 'easy' questions that can be easily answered. The other type of questions are 'under the surface' questions. These usually require more research and have a more definitive answer. We all came up with questions and we divided them for each group.  We have formed four groups that are coming up with solutions. 

The names of the group are:

• Asylum Savers
• Asylum Helpers
• Ocean Seekers
• Seek the Asylums

I'm in Asylum Savers as a research librarian. Our group is making a PowerPoint to document our guiding questions.  After that they had to combine all of our information to create a solution that we can do by themselves. CBL is new for all of us so when we started we were a bit shaky.  It was very challenging but because we have one of the best teachers in the school, Miss Spink, she helped us off with all the basics and then we went off mostly by ourselves. To answer the guiding questions we participated in a range of guiding activities. Some of the guiding activities including watching videos from Behind the News and Go Back To Where You Came From, reading books (Home and Away by John Marsden was a stand out) and reading newspaper articles.

Like most other projects, this is taking a lot of time, but now Miss Spink has set a deadline so that should speed things up. We don't have much time to do this only just a few weeks left. We must post our progress on a website called Edmodo, that way Miss Spink knows what each group is up to. 

The stories we have heard in our research and the stuff Miss Spink has showed us in our guiding activities, are all sad and make us think about what is happening to asylum seekers. There was also a simulation Miss Spink found on the Go Back to Where You Came From website that freaked some of us out. It put us in the shoes of the asylum seekers, where something happened in Australia and we had to escape. We were deported back to Australia where the bill of the plane ride was going to be sent to us. Wasting $3000 to go to some unknown country and be forced to go back and we had to pay for it, during the simulation we lost all contact with our friends and family and had to pay illegal people smugglers to get us out of the country. We are so lucky that civil wars and violence that is happening in so many countries does not happen in Australia. 

Our group has come up with a solution to not only make people understand about the issues with asylum seekers but help them as well. We have organised a grocery drive and will be donating our items to the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre. 

By: Cheuk Yue

What is something new and interesting you have learnt about through CBL this term?

What do you like about having to solve a challenge?

What solution has your group come up with for our challenge?

What is one thing you want people to know that may help 'Increase understanding and awareness about asylum seekers? 

What Makes A Good Procedure?

Over the last few weeks, we have been working on procedure writing. Before we were able to write any type of procedure we were given the task of investigating exactly what makes a good procedure. We came up with a list of ideas as a class and were then challenged to come up with a way to show our understanding of procedure texts.

Most of us focussed on recipes as these are a popular type of procedural text. We are also working on developing a cooking demonstration DVD and recipe book!

Take a look at what we know about procedures-

By Tatenda and Aaron

By Kyla and Celine



By Makeelly and Chelsea

Why do you think procedural texts are important?

What kind of procedural texts have you written in the past? 

Term 4

Learning Neighbourhood 3

Yr 5-6 News 

READING:

Throughout Term 4 in Reading, we will continue to develop a deep understanding of reading skills based on the CAFE reading model- Comprehension, Accuracy, Fluency and Extended Vocabulary. We will be focusing on asking questions before, during and after reading, using questioning to monitor understanding, reviewing the six dimensions of fluency, using think aloud strategies and explaining how thinking about reading helps with our reading comprehension.

We will continue to participate in guided reading and literature circle groups to develop and review their skills in these areas.

WRITING:

In writing, we will continue to use our VOICES menu to develop our understanding and knowledge of the six traits of writing- Voice, Organisation, Ideas, Conventions, Excellent Word Choice and Sentence Fluency.

We will read and write a variety of poems and will be able to explain the purpose, mood and voice of a range of poetry. We will also take part in writing procedural texts as well as reviewing persuasive writing techniques.

We will continue to develop our ideas for writing through their Writer’s Notebook as well as work in small groups and teacher conferences to develop individual writing goals based on the VOICES menu.

Numeracy:

Numeracy this term will be very busy with students learning about and reviewing fractions. We will learn to simplify fractions as well as add, subtract and multiply fractions and decimals. We will also focus on chance and data, mass and location.

We will develop their ability to solve real world mathematical problems based on the topics studied.  Through open ended mathematical questions students will explore a range of problem solving strategies such as trial and error, working backwards and guess and check. 

HOME READING:

It is a requirement that students are reading at home every weeknight. We ask that readers are returned to school every TUESDAY and FRIDAY signed by a parent. Through home reading it is expected that students will further develop their reading strategies, reading stamina and comprehension skills.

HOMEWORK:

Homework will be placed on our Class website again this term. Students are required to bring their  homework in EVERY Friday for check in.

INQUIRY:

This term we will be taking part in Challenged Based Learning. CBL is an engaging multidisciplinary approach to teaching and learning that encourages students to leverage the technology they use in their daily lives to solve real-world problems through efforts in their homes, schools and communities.

Our challenge for Term 4 is to “Increase understanding and awareness about Asylum Seekers”. You can view our challenge here- http://www.challengebasedlearning.org/challenge/view/164

Students will take on a number of roles including Project Manager, Documentarian, Media Specialist, Research Librarian, Product Manager, Social Media Manager and Public Relations Director to work in groups to research their guiding questions and come up with solutions to increasing understanding and awareness about asylum seekers. 

Our class website-

https://sites.google.com/site/acps4562012/  

Follow us on Twitter-

https://twitter.com/#!/ACPS456

Looking forward to a great term! 

What are you looking forward to most about Term 4?