Harmony Day has been celebrated in Australia on 21 March each year since 1999. It is a day when we celebrate the diversity of our multicultural nation. This week we celebrated Harmony Day with a special school parade. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have always lived in Australia and its nearby islands however other Australians come from very diverse backgrounds. To show respect to the Aboriginal culture and heritage of the the traditional custodians of the land we live in, our school leaders gave an “Acknowledgement of Country”. (This happens throughout Australia before an event, function or meeting takes place.) Most of the population of Australia is made up of people who came from other countries either recently or many generations ago. 6T students displayed the flags of countries that members of our class have family links with. You might be able to identify some of the flags. 
Times Tables Challenge Results
A hushed silence fell over our classroom this week as we went head to head with our Deputy Principal in a 7x, 8x and 9x tables challenge using the Hit The Button interactive game. The first round went to the students winning by one correct answer. The second game evened the score with a close win to the Deputy Principal. The tie breaker went to the Deputy Principal although we gave him a good run for the honour. Congratulations to all 6t students who have achieved instantaneous recall of their times tables. Congratulations to our Deputy Principal and thank you for the challenge, it was fun.
2014 Term 1 Week 6 Homework.
Stories We Have Read.
Below are links to stories that we have been reading in class. These two different authors living at different times in Australia both wrote entertaining stories that all children and those young-at-heart love to read. I am sure you will agree they are Good Reads.
http://www.morrisgleitzman.com/books/fst_peas_audio.html
Hit The Button
A good working knowldge of the times tables up to 12×12 is essential not only at school but for life in general. Our class has been working hard to improve our accuracy and develop an automatic recall of all the times tables. To help us learn the facts that just won’t come to mind quickly we have been using a great little 60 second game called Hit The Button.
We sent the link to the rest of our school and heard back from the Principal and some classes. Now the challenge is really on, 6F have challenged us to a 7x showdown, 6T has challenged the Deputy Principal to 7x, 8x and 9x tables. His response is “Bring it on!” The Principal has marked the date in her diary so she doesn’t miss the action as it unfolds in just seven days time.
If you would like to challenge yourself or a friend look for the link on our page under the heading Times Tables Games which will take you directly to the site. Have fun.
You can challenge us just send us a screen shot of your best result for the times tables of your choice and we will accept your challenge and reply with our own best effort and of course we will send you a screen shot.
Welcome Back
Wow can you believe the summer break is over. Students have been enjoying the last few days of their holidays before the new school year starts. Teachers have had three days back at school getting an exciting year ahead off to a well prepared start. I can’t wait to tell you about the many things we will be doing away from the classroom. But more of that in another post.
Here’s something for you to think about before school starts. Just what is it that makes you, you? That is our Getting Acquainted activity this year. Here’s how you do it:
1. Start with a paper lunch bag, a plain white or brown one will do. Make sure it has no advertising or text printed on it. We are going to add our own artwork to it.
2. Find three (3) items that you can place in the bag. Make sure the items reflect three different aspects of your character. If an item is too big for the lunch bag (a pet) or too precious (grandma) then take a photograph and place the photo into the bag.
3. Decorate your bag with colour and drawings that tell even more about you.
4. Display your bag at school and of course be ready to explain how your items really reflect who you are.
Don’t worry I will go first on Tuesday. Can you guess what might be in and on my bag?
Holidays
What a fantastic year we have had in Year 5/6T, 2013. Today is the last day of the school year and we now begin our summer holiday break. Thank you to all my hard working students for being such a great class. For those who are leaving our school district I wish you all the best as you journey to your new home. To those returning in late January of the new year I can’t wait to hear all about your fun, adventures and holidays. Next year we will be adding lots more to our blog so … watch this space.
3D Origami Card
Origami Photo Box
Providing students with paper and card that is not cut to size and asking them to convert the measurements from inches to centimetres adds a nice mathematical element to this great art task.