Stage 3 Camp!
Camp is definitely a highlight on the Year 6 calendar and our recent trip to Berry Sport and Recreation Centre certainly didn’t disappoint! After an early start to the day, the bus finally headed off filled with many eager children (and some nerves) about what the next three days would be like. A quick stop in Ulladulla and we arrived mid morning at the camp to be greeted with the familiar faces of Georgina and Rachel plus the new instructors, Liam, Tom and Chris. A quick play, introduction for our Year 5 friends and a bite to eat before we headed off into our first activities for the afternoon. The children were grouped into 3 activity groups, the Crows, the Echidnas and the Water Dragons and each group rotated through 3 different activities of Raft Building, Cookout and Mountain Biking. Take a read of some of the exciting highlights of our trip to Berry.

Imagine crying over riding a bike… unfortunately that was me. On camp the first activity our group participated in was mountain bike riding. I've never ridden before and I've never wanted to, so you can imagine how I was feeling! Mr. Bateman said he would help me balance and make sure that I wouldn't fall. So I put on the helmet and attempted a smile. At first I was terrified and nervous, but soon I got the hang of balancing. When it was time to go on the ride I was behind everyone, we rode down to the mini track and whilst everyone was going around the loops and jumping the obstacles, I was focusing on trying to pedal. It was time to head back to camp, I didn't end up being able to pedal a long distance, but at least I had a go and had a fun experience. By Charlotte El

Whoosh! I zoomed past Liam the camp instructor. As I hit the jump I felt like I was flying. Dusty was right behind me. I tried to lose him, my legs got really tired so I slowed down. At the end Mr Campbell said whoever beats him back gets a bag of lollies, he started before us so of course he won. It was such a blast being able to race your teacher, maybe I will beat him next time, only if we start together and it's a fair race! Lots of laughs were had at mountain biking! By Kordel

On the second day of camp, our first activity was raft building. We ate our breakfast and set out on the very long walk down what felt like mount Kosciuszkco but it was just the track to the river. We were told the safety rules and how much equipment we were allowed to use, then we were set to work. I picked out my group and all the people in the group were really fun. We were only allowed twelve pieces of equipment and my group used two three seater kayaks, some rope, three poles and six barrels. We launched our raft into the river and hoped for the best! Ours floated which was a huge success with all members of our group staying dry. After a while we had to switch rafts out on the water, which took a lot of teamwork, not to fall in! The raft we got onto almost broke and the boys also started splashing us with water! It was a cold but fun way to end our activity by the river. By Morgan B

“Hurry up girls, we need to be the first group in the water!” It was the second day of camp and it was the water dragons (my activity group) turn to build rafts. In my design and construction group were Rita, Ruby, Scarlett and Emily-Kate. It took a little while to plan our raft but in the end we settled on an idea which was to hold two canoes together using pipes that were put on the front and back of the canoes and attached using ropes. We used five ropes, two pipes and two canoes. Our raft was amazing, we were convinced no one would fall in and it definitely would not sink. Little did we know that we would have to swap rafts with the boys whilst out on the water. They knew this however and didn’t bother to make theirs very strong as they would be swapping it anyway. Our group was the last group in the water but our raft was showing great promise. Half way down the river the instructor Rachel told us that we had to swap rafts in the water! We almost fell in and so did the boys. The boy's raft was really dodgy and very unstable. It started to sink but we were almost there and we would not give up! To make things worse the boy's raft was full of water so we all got really really wet. We still came dead last in the water race, trying to navigate the boy’s creation. Word of advice: don't ever get in a raft the boys made, as it will end up sinking and you will get wet, but you will have so much fun in the process! By Morgan D

“Everyone get out your best dance moves and go!” announced Liam, the camp coordinator to the wonderful models wearing clothes made of newspaper, designed by their group members. Our group designed a beautiful dress for Jonah with a bow on the front and a bow for his hair, newspaper fashion at its best! I think Sonny should have won with those cracking dance moves and his outstanding newspaper outfit. The next activity of the night games was to draw the best self portrait of Liam. We made him have a 12 pack, luscious hair and big muscles, based on his personal description. Our group's biggest success was in the vegemite challenge. One person from each group was chosen to eat a whole sachet of vegemite and Jemma snatched us the win! Then it was time to pack up and go to sleep after an awesome evening of laughs and entertainment! By Scarlett P

I’ll miss you Dad, the only thought going through my completely calm mind on the cold and cloudy trip to camp. Camp was vibrant, warm, cheery, lively and full of happy, active people. The activities were spread out around like the vast area of Berry like wildfires. The highlight in my opinion was the cookout walk with the instructor, who was a rather cheery guy, who encouraged us to continue to climb the mountain as delicious damper awaited us on the other side. In true camp style however, to eat the food, some work must be completed first. There were three important steps to be completed…

• Firstly firewood had to be collected and stacked in neat piles ready to burn.
• Secondly you had to sing a campfire song to be given the flint and steel as well as a cotton ball to light your fire.
• Lastly, you must find the perfect damper stick, and remember to cook it slowly, nobody likes burnt damper!  

I learnt so many new skills at the cookout activity. Note to self, damper is very filling; I felt as full as Hansel and Gretel! Three days that felt like three hours, the activities never stopped, it was jam packed the whole time. With laughter and friendship we all came home with memories that will last a lifetime. By Alec P

English
This term in English the children in Year 6 have been participating in a series of activities based on the Writing Revolution, which involve explicit strategies for teaching expository writing. This method of teaching writing builds from sentences to compositions. The children have been focusing on writing quality sentences, incorporating subordinate conjunctions and appositives. During our Daily Review, the students are exposed to complex unknown vocabulary which they are using in their quality written responses and spoken language.  

Science
Our Science unit this term was 'It's Electric!' The students have explored the different sources of energy that may generate electricity, and especially enjoyed creating static electricity with a balloon demonstration. Year 6 have learnt how to construct and represent simple electrical circuits, and how changing the components of a circuit can affect how it works. The students also explored the role of switches, by creating paperclip and pressure switches to control the flow of electrical energy around a circuit.

Kinder buddy fun
We recently spent the afternoon with our Kindergarten buddies, enjoying games on the oval in the sunshine. We started on the Kinder verandah where the students shared stories and read books to their buddy. The Year 6 children were blown away with the impressive reading skills of the Kinder students. Next, we moved out onto the oval where all the children enjoyed playing games like Duck Duck Goose, Brumby Jack, come back and TeePees and Indians. A highlight was watching the children join in the ‘Run and Shout’ game which we learnt at camp, where each child starts running and screaming to see how far they can run. The children started well, then would collapse in a fit of giggles! If you haven’t heard about this game, get your children to teach you! It’s a great stress reliever and will have you in stitches.