I have been in the beautiful Philippines for a month now, and have extended my stay for another, as there is so much to see.
I have been to 4 islands so far, and all of them are so unique. White sand, clear, blue water and lots and lots of coconuts!
First stop was the tourist hotspot, boracay, and you can see why. It’s beautiful! However, very touristy. Lots of people, vendors selling you whatever they can on the beach and lots of restaurant, bars and even nightclubs!
In boracay, I went on a beautiful boat trip to a little island and jumped off a 15 metre cliff! Yes! It was terrifying, but very fun.
Next stop was a tiny little island called panglao, where I drove through some mountains and spent time relaxing on the beach.
But my all time favourite place was a little island called siquijor. This island is known for its witchcraft and voodoo, so not many tourists or even philippinos go there. This makes it an untouched paradise.
I rented a little motorbike and drove around the island. I had a natural fish foot spa, where the little fish come and eat the dead skin off your feet, visited blue waterfalls, climbed a mountain, went to a butterfly sanctuary and found untouched beaches- however they were all filled with sea urchins and sea stars. So you just have to be careful.
I also swam through a cave (which was a bit scary) and even found nemo!
I am now in a coastal town city called dumaguete, and am heading to another beautiful island soon.
The philippino people are every friendly. They always smile and say hi and the kids are so cute- and very well educated. Everyone speaks English as well as Tagalog, the national language, so you can talk to anyone!
The best way to get around is by tricycle- and you pay 10 pesos- around 20 cents- to go anywhere in the city. T go between islands, they have very cheap and mostly reliable ferries that can take you anywhere, and often you catch dolphins on the way.
It is a busy and noisy place, as a lot of development goes on, and they really love their roosters- which keep you awake ALL night.
I hope everyone gets to visit this beautiful country some day, and let me tell you something: we are VERY lucky to be able to live in a country as safe, clean, quiet and wealthy as Australia.
Until next time,
Miss C.

Ps. I will find an app to post pictures ASAP 🙂

We made it!

After a long and busy year, we made it to the end of 2013.
We have learned so many things since our last post, I don’t know where to begin!

There has been Federation, our class government with an elected PM, asylum seekers, the fete, migrations, the Immigration Museum, Interschool Sport, buddies, presentations, Inquiry Open Day, our class Mass, State Championships, work, work and more work, scrapbooking, Learning Journals, testing, buddies, Transition days, the Big Day Out and…finally….Graduation!

A very special thank you to the beautiful and very intelligent members of 6C; may you have the courage to follow your dreams!

Below is a final mish-mash of everything that has happened for the second half of the year, so sit back and enjoy!

What will you miss when you leave primary school?

ALL GOOD THINGS MUST COME TO AN END.. on PhotoPeach

Over the past 6 weeks, 6C have been new inventors.

They were asked to design a gadget, using every day items, to show at least 2 energy transferences and 1 energy transformation. This was part of our Inquiry unit ‘Transformation and Change’, that looked into how energy moves and changes throughout the world.

Students came up with some brilliant ideas- from solar powered fans, steam boats, hydroelectricity and even a portable USB charger! They had to design and present their gadgets to the class and answer any questions. Like any good scientist, they also had to submit a scientific report about their gadget, from research question to references. Well done 6C!

Do you know any interesting facts about energy?

New Inventors on PhotoPeach

6C has finally made it through a loooooong term! We hope you had a good first semester at school this year and learnt many new things. Dont forget to take the ‘Holidays’ survey underneath the video link to see what everyone enjoys best about school holidays!

A few weeks ago, we celebrated National Buddy Day with our prep buddies.
We decided to go outside and play games with our buddies, as well as make up a special buddy handshake!

Click on the video below to see some of our handshakes.

What do you think are the qualities that make a good buddy?

Buddy Handshake from Sarina Canning on Vimeo.

Take our Holidays Survey!!

This term, 6C have been learning about energy and how it transforms. We have discovered atoms, built cells and developed hypotheses about energy transfer and change. We have also been educated by the one and only Bill Nye, who has taught us that kinetic energy (movement) can not be greater than potential (stored) energy.

As part of our unit, we have developed a scientists chat board. This is a pin board where we can share our questions, learning and ideas. Students in 6C are encouraged to check the chat board to see if they can contribute their own expertise to someone else and vice versa- just like peer review in the science world!

Below are some of the questions and learnings we have posed, can you help us with your expertise?

It’s all energy… on PhotoPeach

Last week, the Grade 6’s at St Martin of Tours Primary school made their Confirmation. This is the final sacrament of initiation in the Catholic Church, which confirms their vows made at Baptism and initiates them as adults now, accountable for their own actions.

As part of their preparation, students in 6C learnt about the 7 Gifts of the Holy Spirit that are: wisdom, knowledge, wonder and awe, reverence, courage, right judgment and understanding. We looked into key contemporary figures of our time, such as Martin Luther King Jr, Mother Teresa and Edith Sendler, as role models and bearers of these gifts.

 Another integral part of Confirmation is where students research a saint and take that saint’s name as part of their own. Saints were chosen by 6C based on the gifts they possessed, their life stories and tradition. As part of their learning, students came up with 6 activities, using Bloom’s Taxonomy, based on their saints and they came up with some excellent, deep-thinking and rich activities that they presented to the rest of the class.

The slide show below is a compilation of some of the activities on display. There were many others such as interviews, diary entries, hero biographies and even self-composed songs! We were lucky enough to be able to paint icon pictures of our saints too- even Miss C chose one! Can you guess which one is Miss C’s? (Hint: It is not finished)

Who is your hero?

Confirmation on PhotoPeach
 

This year we are lucky enough to have the beautiful Prep D as our buddy class. At St Martin’s we run a mentoring program where the year 6’s get to be a positive role model for our new preps. Each week we see our buddies, and we are always coming up with fun and exciting activities to do.

Our last session involved 6C coming up with some basic motor skill and physical activities for our buddies. There were games such as soccer, bean bag throw, poison ball, catching and kicking a football. It was a really hot day, but we managed to stay outside and have fun anyway; it was great to see the year 6 students teaching their buddies essential skills for their future.

What have you taught someone, or has someone taught you, that you will never forget?

Sports stars in the making on PhotoPeach

Miss C and 6C set a class goal for this year. The goal is ‘In 6C, we strive to be the best we can be and never refuse the task’. We felt it was important to set a class goal and display it to remind us of what we want to achieve as a team in 2013.

It is also valuable to set individual goals too; setting goals gives us incentive for action and self improvement. We feel good about ourselves when we reach our goals!

Miss C invited all the students to think about the year ahead and come up with their “sentence”. This is a phrase that defines how they want to be remembered this year.

It’s important to think about your goals and take action to become the person you want to be!

How would you like to be remembered?

Welcome to a new year!

2013 is, in Chinese astrology, the year of the water snake. This 2013 year of Snake is meant for steady progress and attention to detail. Focus and discipline will be necessary to achieve what you set out to create. The Snake is the sixth sign of the Chinese Zodiac, which consists of 12 Animal Signs. It is the most mysterious, intuitive, introspective, refined and collected of the Animals Signs. Ancient Chinese wisdom says a Snake in the house is a good omen because it means that your family will not starve.

This year we will all aim to achieve our goals. In 6C we have a motto ‘Nothing exceptional comes without hard work’. Even someone with a natural talent for something has to practice! Miss C knows that ‘you can do anything you really put your mind to as long as you believe in yourself’, and hopes to see that this year out of everybody (including herself)!

This year is the final year of primary school. The end of a cycle and the bridge to a new world. A year where you can apply all the skills you have learnt over the last 6 years and be responsible and mature leaders of our school.

Make sure it is the BEST year of primary school,  and the only thing that will determine that is your ATTITUDE.

What are you looking forward to this year?

In the last few weeks of Grade 6, we have been introduced to the wonderful world of algebra.

In our first investigation, we played the Game of 31. The aim of the game was to get to 31 before your opponent, using cards numbered 1-6, with each player turning a card over and adding up the total .

We found out that there were target numbers to reach that ensured you would win, and ways to counter attack by taking out certain values.

Eventually we came up with a formula that would allow us to win no matter the target number or the cards used.

Can you work the formula out???

Game of 31 on PhotoPeach