Friday 11 December 2015

Mission Statement



"My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humour, and some style. "
Maya Angelou





Can you remember what the mission statement of our school is all about?

Take a look at what the Grade 6s had to say about it!






What's your mission statement?

I leave you with this Tedtalk by Adam Leipzig...





Thursday 10 December 2015

Grade Six Band are ready for Carol Night!

Monday 7 December 2015

Celebrating Writing Success

Here's a comparison between our first on-demand information texts and our last. We have achieved an awful lot and are very proud of it! We are also looking forward to developing our next steps as we move onto argument/opinion writing. 




















Wednesday 2 December 2015

Tuning in- Governance unit




“The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire.” 

Robert A. Heinlein



The students used See-Think-Wonder to tune in to the unit on Governance.

Many of the photographs were meant to provoke various kinds of reactions. For instance, the photograph of civilians putting flowers into the nozzles of the guns of the army; or the picture of a violent street scene with a dove sitting in the corner- these photos inspired awe and wonder among many of the students.

The routine helped the students think deeply about the story behind the photographs. As can be seen below, they asked great questions and were rather surprised by the fact that did!

This is a great tool to provoke classroom discussion.

We ended the lesson by trying to connect the photographs. Large concepts like peace and conflict and yes...governance, and leadership came up too.













Prior to this, the students were asked to arrange their classroom. This is a 15 minute long video but it showed the students how they behaved without governance. Many tried to take charge (and where exhausted by the end), some choose to be not so great followers,. The video allowed us to reflect about how we need a system in place (or not) in order to function in society. The classroom was the metaphorical microcosm of  our society.



Who came across as the leader?
The follower?
What else did you notice about Governance ?