New Year- New Class- New Learning- More Fun!

Weeks 1 to 6 Term 1 2015

Hello every body and welcome back to Mrs McGarry's blog!

Mrs McGarry is now teaching year 6 students in room 16 and she is absolutely loving it! We must apologise for not posting anything up on our class blog until now... but we have just been so flat out with getting to know each other, learning new classroom routines, learning how soldiers dealt with conflict in WW1, how to stand to attention during our morning drills, how to draw flowers from a bugs eye view in art, how to pitch during active sports rotation and not to mention learning new things in maths, reading and writing! But luckily for you Mrs McGarry always had her phone handy to capture it all- Gosh just look at everything we have done in only 6 weeks!

1st week and we win Levi the Bear at assembly... why? because we are awesome! 

Morning drills with Major McGarry- star jumps, push ups, running, high knees.....phew so exhausting!

Learning how to work in a group by completing the 'House of Cards Challenge'

Working together to build a cup tower- no hands allowed only a string for each person and a rubber band, oh and no talking! 

Whaea Dagmar has displayed some of our art work up in her room- look at our stunning flowers from a bugs eye view! 

Playing softball for our active sports rotation- watch out Black Sox/ White Sox players!

Sitting up at assembly- we want Levi back! 

Julius, Charlize and Tali were called up on stage by Whaea Barb during week 5 assembly to talk about their obstacle course they created at lunch time! Great to see room 16 students getting active at lunchtime and putting the new sports gear to good use!

New Class Member!

Term 4 week 7

Last week at assembly we won Levi the Bear! We were so excited to finally win him as we have been working on our behavior at assembly. We get to keep Levi for a whole week. Its always nice to have a new person....umm in this case bear.... join our class!

Science Fair

Term 4 Week 7

Last week room 19 conducted 3 experiments to learn how to follow the scientific method and complete a scientific investigation. The experiments also helped us with our writing topic which is writing procedures and explanations.

We are learning how to conduct a scientific investigation in preparation for our inquiry. This week we will get into groups and devise a science experiment to answer our inquiry question that is based on the sun and sun safety.

We will present these at our school science fair in week 9!

Chemical reactions- Making Hokey Pokey! 

The baking soda reacted with the hot dissolved sugar and maple syrup mixture, but why? 

We left it to cool and go hard, then we broke it up into 'crunchie' pieces! They were yummy! 

Physics and forces- Crushing cans! 

Daley heating the can with 1/4 cup of water in it over a hot flame. Others are observing. 

Look at all that steam- the pressure is building up inside the can!

Novie turning her can over into a tray of cold water- watch what happens next....

Hot air and steam hits the cold water causing the two extremes to combine....

Then 'CRACK' the can instantly crushes in on its self! 

 Fair testing- Bubble Trouble!

Making bubbles with different detergents found at home.  

Counting the bubbles and recording our results and observations.

Conducting several tests on each detergent so that the experiment is fair.

We worked in pairs, one person conducted the experiment, while the other recorded their observations. 

Writing up our experiments- Procedural writing and explanations:

Class exemplar of how to write up the science experiments (procedures and explanations)

Shared writing helps us with our own writing. Remember: always proof-read and edit! 

Athletics day

Term 4 Week 6

Today was athletics day and what a fantastic day it was! From 9 am to 12:30 pm we moved around in our year groups and competed in some fun events such as: 100 meters, discuss, high jump, hurdles, 200 meters, shot put and 400 meters. Room 19 did very well in their events- some students even placed 1st and 2nd!

Mrs McGarry's highlight of the day was seeing her students encouraging each other to give things a go and do their very best!

Year 8 boys watching their mates run in the 100m sprint. 

Year 8 girls just having fun! 

Middle and senior school all out doing athletics.

Year 6 girls getting ready to run the 100m. 

Prashneel out in front in the 400m.

High jump- awesome action shots!

She got over the bar- great stuff!

The competition was fierce! Go year 7 boys!

Year 6 boys at the 100m final- who won? 

S'more Solar Powered Oven

Term 4 Week 5

At the beginning of the term, to help us learn about procedural writing, we followed specific instructions to make a s'mores solar powered oven. Here is the link that taught us how to make them.

We had to wait a couple of weeks to use them as the weather has been cold and rainy. But yesterday it was hot and sunny so we popped them out side and made some delicious s'mores!! Now we are writing an explanation to explain how and why the chocolate and marshmallows melted.

Our solar powered ovens out on the school field.

mmmmmmm we can't wait to eat them...

The end product- it worked! 

So tasty!

Savouring the taste!

Everyone enjoying their s'mores.

S'mores = Delicious! 

Dine and Dance/ Elections Prep

Term 4 Week 4

What an exciting end of the week! Today all the year 7 and 8 students got together to prepare our end of year 'Dine and Dance' (for the year 8s) and  'Head Boy and Girl Elections' (for the year 7s).

What we did today:

Year 7 Elections:

• Watched a clip on the process of our school elections. 
• Discussed why we have a head boy and girl at SPS.
• Brainstormed what a good leader looks likes, acts like and what characteristics they possess. 
• We also discussed what we wanted our future leaders to do for us and the school next year. 
• We decided on whether we wanted to go for head girl or boy or be a supporter. 
• We then made teams to start working on our campaigns. 

Year 8 Dine and Dance: 

• Discussed what the end of year 'Dine and Dance' is all about and how it is a great way to end the year and celebrate being a year 8. 
• We got into our committee teams- food, entertainment, decorations and organisation. 
• We began to brainstorm ideas for the food, music, invites, hall layout, prizes and decorations. 
• We discussed our budget and the overall theme of our Dine and Dance. 
• We also discussed what jobs teachers will be doing such as security. 

We cant wait for next week when we can get back into the planning of these two major events! 

Initial meeting. 

Year 7s brainstorming. 

Collaborating ideas. 

Should I be a leader or supporter?

Focus, focus, focus! 

Year 8s brainstorming ideas for their Dine and Dance. 

What type of food, music and decorations should we have?

Active sports- Touch rugby

Term 4 Week 3

For the past 3 weeks Katie has been teaching us some awesome tricks and skills for playing touch rugby. We have had a lot of fun going through specific touch drills and playing games that have helped us refine our ball handling skills. We also have learnt how to encourage each other and work as a team.