Year Six Culture Project

All year six students are beginning a project that involves researching a country. Your child has been given their country and we are currently learning how to search for keywords in a text and how to make ‘jot notes’ out of them.

Students will be required to do most of their research at home, using text books, the Internet or the public library. We will be using the research to formulate students’ writing for the project here at school.

Topics that MUST be included are:

• Geography
• Population (and growth over the last century)
• Religion
• Traditional food
• Weather and climate
• Labelled map
• Language and some examples
• Currency

Some of the topics that COULD be included in the projects are:

• Lifestyle
• Sport
• School life
• Flag
• Ancient history
• Resources (imports and exports)
• Traditional clothing

It is important that you only help your child with the researching part of this project, as we will be working on the written part of the project at school only.

We anticipate this project being completed and presented to peers in the first couple of weeks of term two.

Thank you in anticiaption of your support,
Year Six Teachers and Ms Leanne White

Photo Credit: greekadman via Compfight cc

Spellodrome working again

I am pleased to report that Spellodrome, our online system for learning spelling, is operational once again. Students can now access all of their spelling lists, past and current, and practise their words using a range of games and activities.

I am sure that all students have completed their spelling homework for this week. Remember, students should be practising their spelling, reading and maths each night for a total of around thirty minutes. These fundamental literacy and numeracy skills lay the foundation for all of the learning that takes place in class.

Every student has a personalised spelling list which is designed to precisely meet their needs. If your child is finding the words too easy or too hard, please let me know and I will adjust this.

I will occasionally supplement the regular homework with project-based tasks. Details of our upcoming culture project will be posted on the blog tomorrow.

Happy Easter!

Spellodrome logo courtesy of spellodrome.com

Spelling homework

Students are currently unable to access the online Spellodrome service. We hope that this problem will be rectified shortly. In the meantime, however, students should complete the following five activities as their spelling homework:

1. Create a word cloud of their spelling words using wordle.net;
2. Write a sentence for each spelling word (either by hand or using a computer);
3. Play spelling games for fifteen minutes using spellingcity.com;
4. Look up the dictionary definition for ten words in their list that they do not know. (If they know all of the words, then they should use a thesaurus to find  alternative words with the same meaning); and
5. Use the ‘look, cover, write, check’ strategy (either online or using a pencil and paper) to learn the words in their list.

Students will need to ensure that they bring their spelling book (which includes a copy of their latest spelling list) home with them each night.

This homework is due after the long weekend. If students complete one or two activities a night, this should leave the Easter break free for the children to spend relaxing with their families.

 Photo Credit: Thomas Hawk via Compfight cc

Around the World with LA31

Over the next fortnight, each student in LA31 will be researching a country and its culture. This project will be completed partly at home and partly at school. Details of the task and the marking guide are available here.

This research project is due in two stages. Next Monday, 14 May, the students will be asked to submit their mind-map and notes for the project while the final project will be due on Monday 21 May.

It is expected that students will spend around 20 minutes a night on their project over the next fortnight. This equates to around five hours of work at home. This will be the only homework set for the fortnight.

The students will also be given around five hours in class to work on their project. As a result, I am anticipating that students will produce a high quality final product. Parents may assist students if they become stuck but the final project should be your child’s own work.

If you have any queries, just leave a comment and I will get back to you.

Image © alles-schlumpf, used under Creative Commons licence.

Homework: Aeroplane Ticket

Welcome back to another exciting term of learning in Year Six. It was wonderful to see the smiles on the students’ faces this morning — matched only by the smiles of the parents! We have a sensational term ahead of us, including our class assembly, open night, excursions, pancake breakfast plus a few very special surprises!

This term, we are continuing our study of culture. Shortly, the students will begin researching a culture from an overseas country. I would like the students to think about the country they would like to research and let me know their choice by Monday.

However, I don’t just want them to tell me their choice. I want them to provide me with an aeroplane ticket, giving me clues about the destination that they have chosen. (You may recall that we did something similar for our studies of  Japan and the USA). I will then need to solve the puzzle and work out which country they have chosen.

The students will need to do a little research to create their aeroplane ticket, but shouldn’t start preparing their actual project just yet. I will be providing plenty of information (plus some time in class) in the days to come.

Happy traveling!

Aeroplane picture by Martin Hartland used under Creative Commons licence.

Optional Homework – Rube Goldberg machine

I bought myself a great new tee-shirt the other day — It had a a ‘Rube Goldberg machine’ on the front. For those of you who don’t know, Rube Goldberg was an American cartoonist who was famous for designing ridiculously complex machines to achieve a simple goal. Perhaps you have seen this famous Honda commercial:

As an optional homework activity this week, I am encouraging students to have a go at designing their own Rube Goldberg machine. It won’t be anything like the Honda machine, but it will be a lot of fun.

Students have the option of creating a purely imaginary machine (i.e. one that exists only on paper). Alternatively, they could have a go at designing a real machine. If they want to design a real machine, have a look at the ABC’s Surfing Scientist for ideas.

Rube Goldberg machines exist at the intersection of science, creativity and plain silliness. I look forward to seeing what the kids come up with. Videos of successful machines will be posted here for all to see.

For students who choose to accept the challenge, the homework is due Monday 19 March.

Tee-shirt design by Jim Gray.

Calling all Mathletes!

Landsdale Primary School, with support from its wonderful parent community, has enrolled all students in the Mathletics online maths program. This is a fully interactive online system that works on both Macs and PCs. Using their login, students can compete against other students (from anywhere in the world) and consolidate the concepts that have been covered in class.

So, get cracking! Login to Mathletics today!

Submitting homework

Dog ate your homework? Make sure your homework gets to Mr Fuller on time by using DropItToMe. Simply click on the link, enter the password that Mr Fuller gave you and you can send your work straight to Mr Fuller’s computer.

Be sure to put your name on your work though. Technology may be wonderful, but it can’t do mind-reading yet!

Picture under creative commons licence courtesy of flickr user pvantees.