Making Replicas of Proclamation Boards

Well, the replication of the Proclamation Boards is off to a great start. Students have a deep understanding of these boards and how they were used in Colonial Tasmania. A great deal of research has been done in term two and is available for viewing in their portfolios. We are making a prototype first using a piece of Huon Pine I dragged  out of the Pieman River when I was eight months pregnant; quite an experience!  I of course had a licence to do so. David, a hard-working colleague teacher on his final prac, provided enough celery top pine for students to make six more of these boards this week and next and provided all the heavy tools we needed to prepare the wood. Students undercoated the boards leaving the natural wood grain for the trees and the divisions between the panels.  The pictures are very detailed and are going to require patience and persistance on behalf of the students. These replicas will be a great addition to the school resources. Thanks to my husband, Alan, for preparing the piece of Huon Pine.  Here are some photos:

A small amount of drying required

Proud parent

Remembrance Day

We remembered our soldiers today with one minutes silence and also enjoyed the book The Red Poppy which was very moving. Mr Hulton, still on loan to us from the uni,  read the book and I directed the poppy making. Students wore their poppies with pride for the day and made a few extras for others as well.

Biomes: Due in next Thursday

The biomes unit is due next Thursday the 12th of November. Students have had many single and double lessons to work on this. They have each been given a booklet with handy information but will need to source some reliable website of their own, or use books and magazine articles to compare and contrast the  three biomes of their choice, They each have and A2 sheet of paper with a Venn diagram (three intersecting circles). Mr Hulton has also shared video clips and given considerable guidance with the unit. By now, the grade 6 students should be able to independently plan for and manage reasonable amounts of their own assignment work in preparation for high school. Any students needing support should ask Mr Hulton or  Mrs Coote for assistance if they are experiencing difficulty accessing reliable information. Each student was given a rubrik clearly showing what is to be assessed in this geography unit.

A completed Biomes Venn Diagram

First High School Transition Day: November 2nd

What an enjoyable day we all had at Kingston High School. First up was a short assembly in the auditorium where students met some of the grade 7 teachers and learnt a bit about the way the school runs. Then it was on to Futsal in the well-equipped gym. Mr Hulton took the reins and ran some Futsal games and the students showed their sense of sharing and fairness, self-regulating the rules in many respects. 

After a short recess students had a short drama lesson and then a tour of the school. Once ensconced in E pod, Mr Hulton  began a real life maths lesson focusing on the recent school fair, focusing on time frames and money spent as well as suggestions to improve it ready for 2017. Their findings will be presented to the staff and the Parents and Friends at future meetings. For example, the average money a grade 6 student had to spend at the fair was $19-50. Eighteen students offered data for this focus. Some even went home with money still in their pockets! A follow up lesson on scale will be delivered next week.

The short lunch break was followed up by a "Getting to Know Us" art/literacy task, run by myself, where students presented information about what they saw as their future foci (focuses) for 2016 and also a list of their social, emotional and intellectual strengths. The students find it difficult to acknowledge their strengths. These will be proof-read and and added to before being mailed on to their grade 7 home room teachers. The K.HS. staff really appreciate these informative snapshots of their future grade 7 students.

Last up, and most exciting, so I have been informed, was the Science lesson focusing on fizzing and foaming experiments with the culmination being that each students made their own sherbert concoction to take home and enjoy. All I can say is watch the tartaric suddenly vanish from your larders or cupboards! Also, one students managed to wear moreon his clothing than he ingested, but we don't mention names!

Here some snapshots of parts of the day.

Anh Do's Journey - Late October

As a follow up to our work on Armin Greder's The Island we read The Little Refugee and excerpts from The Happiest Refugee. Students practised and shared their excerpts with the class as part of a reading activity; they worked in pairs or groups of three and four presenting their respective passages. Students focused on the Keys to Success Students synthesised their ideas from the books under the headers resilience, getting along and persistence, organisation and confidence. They also viewed the DVD Ahn Doh's Vietnam which they thoroughly enjoyed. There was much humour but also many touching moments in the two episodes wherein students recognised the happiness that can be obtained through giving and helping others.  In pairs they created placemats  based on the Keys to Success showing with specific examples how Ahn Do and his family successfully made the transition into Australian society after surviving many hardships and set backs in their lives.