It’s been a very busy start to the year for Year 6 Blue. The class has settled in well and has worked collaboratively to establish clear rules and expectations in class. The students are now busy with their daily learning and are making very pleasing progress. The students in 6 Blue have had a number of opportunities to demonstrate their leadership skills at carnivals, assemblies and in the interactions with their kinder buddies. They have done a fantastic job helping their buddies settle in and feel welcome and safe at school. 

Religion
We have been working through a unit titled “Unlocking the Texts''.  Students have identified life experiences of the psalmists and their relationship with God. They have also explored some features of Gospel texts that provide evidence of how writers shaped their Gospels for particular communities. We have also spent some of our Religion time learning about the season of Lent.

Year 6 have also recently travelled to St Bernard’s Primary School to attend the Catholic Schools Youth Mission Australia (CSYMA) Journey With Jesus retreat. It was a wonderful opportunity for our students to come together and experience a faith-filled day of games, activities, videos and talks that explored the Gospel messages of God’s love, salvation, and forgiveness.

“I have thoroughly enjoyed learning about the purpose of Psalms and understanding that they are often short stories used as songs. This was so interesting, and I now have a better understanding of Psalms within the Bible” Xavier L

English
We have been working in both our Spelling Mastery and Reading Mastery groups to hone our skills to improve our reading and writing skills. In class we are reading the novel ‘Rivet Boy ’ by Barbara Henderson as our class novel. We have been using this as a springboard for our writing and research. Based on real people and events, Rivet Boy blends fact and fiction to tell the story of one boy's role in the building of the iconic Forth Rail Bridge--Scotland's greatest man-made wonder--in 1889. 

“I think English is fun because I get to learn new words and definitions” - Ruby H
“I like listening to Mr Harpley read Rivet Boy and then working on our Rivet Boy Booklet” - Elyse B
“I like spelling because it does not go too long but it is good because you learn more” - Mitchell W
“I’ve enjoyed the novel study for Rivet Boy” - Nathan W

Maths
In Maths we are enjoying working in our Connecting Maths Concepts (CMC) groups Monday-Thursday. These groups are helping to consolidate learning of key concepts with the four operations, in particular multiplication and division. 

On days when CMC is not run, Year 6 has been learning about angles. They have investigated how to draw, measure and compare angles. We are also currently investigating Cartesian planes. 

“I’ve really enjoyed adding fractions together in CMC” - Lila W
“I love Cartesian Planes because we get to find out about the four quadrants” - Kade C
“I have liked learning about Cartesian planes. They have been fun” - Spencer S

History 
The Year 6 curriculum focuses on the social, economic and political development of Australia as a nation, particularly after 1900, and Australia’s role within a diverse and interconnected world today. The content provides opportunities for students to develop humanities and social sciences understanding through key concepts including significance; continuity and change; cause and effect; and perspectives and action.

“I like how we learn about Australia as a nation and how Australia became a nation” - Cooper C
“I like History because we learned about Federation” - Benji P

Science
In the biological science unit we are currently studying, the students have investigated how physical conditions of the environment affect the survival of living things. We have learned that changes in physical conditions affect the behaviour and survival of living things. We have just begun an experiment to see how changing light, water and soil quality affects seed growth

“I liked doing experiments in STEM and Science” - Elka H
“I love building rockets in STEM!” - Jimmy H

Art
Year 6 have been doing Art with Ms Lock each Monday and Thursday. They have been producing some great works of art.

“I like doing graffiti art” - Aria S
“I really liked doing optical illusions” - James D

PDHPE
On Wednesday afternoons Mr Paul Hill has been teaching Year 6 students a Unit based on drug education. The students have been very engaged. They have also been playing a number of games focussed around teamwork. Over the last couple of weeks they have also been preparing for the Cross Country Carnival.

“I like playing capture the flag when all of Year 5 and 6 play together” - Roarke C
“I like sport and learning about drugs and how to stay safe” - Billy I 

Mr Matthew Harpley
6 Blue Teacher