AWARD WINNERS

Congratulations to Jack, Sebastian and Cameron for being our Merit Award winners. You are all improving so much, which is very pleasing to see. Great work with your writing and displaying self-discipline. Keep it up.

LITERACY PRO

Well done to Room 17 for your efforts with Reading. It was wonderful to see our Blue Certificate winners who have reached 25 points. Keep up the great effort with your reading.

We also had a number of Red Certificate recipients. These children have earned 50 points!!!

Next, are our Bronze Certificate recipients: Jack and Sebastian have reached 100 points and are soaring towards their next certificate, Silver. Keep up the excellent work!

And last, but certainly not least, we have the whole class team effort for being the Champion Class for Literacy Pro. Well done, Room 17. That is twice in a row now. I think we can make it a hat-trick :-)

EXCURSION

On the first day of winter, the Yr 5's set out to the Canning River Eco Education Centre, situated on the bank of the Canning River - a beautiful spot. We participated in a range of activities that had an environmental and science focus. The children learnt the importance of correct rubbish disposal and alternatives to landfill. We followed a story of a Darter bird, affectionately named 'Doug,' who was rescued after being entangled by a large piece of cloth. Due to the diligence of a member of the public, Doug was saved from his almost certain fate and after a period of recovery, he was successfully released back into his habitat. The children then participated in a 'clean-up' activity; armed with tongs and a few rubbish bags, they scoured the area around the river for any rubbish in sight. Cleaning up the surrounding area ensured a number of surprise finds - sunglasses, party supplies, microplastics and disposable coffee cups are just a few. 

Creec from Room20

Following lunch, we sampled the river for macroinvertebrates. Room 17 learned the importance of classifying the animals. They searched for animals that were very sensitive to the effects of pollution to arrive at a conclusion that the river, in that one area, is clean. The samples proved a success as many of these animals were discovered. Some of the interesting species found were Dragonfly Nymphs, Freshwater Crayfish and Shrimp, Backswimmers and Caddisfly larvae. It was a very interesting excursion and a pleasure to take all 73 children out for a day that they will remember. Thank you to our volunteers, Mrs Franklin and Mrs Mouritz who provided great assistance throughout the day.

Here are some of the children's recounts for the day: Pavitra,  

Caddisfly larvae - It lives/hides in a tube/stick

Dragonfly nymph

BOOK REVIEW
 

The Super-amazing adventures of Me, Pig 

by Emer Stamp

The Super-amazing adventures of Me, Pig by Emer Stamp is a tremendously funny book. Pig (the main character) is a likeable character who strikes up friendships with most animals on the farm. His best friend is Duck but when a new animal comes to the farm, Kitty, a new friendship arises that threatens the one formed with Duck. Pig loves his slops (food) and loves doing many other activities (some of which we consider rude in the human world) like releasing large quantities of gas. The novel is the second in a series and it is a must read. I would recommend this book for all ages (even adults who like a good laugh). 5 out of 5 stars.

By Mitchell, Room 17, Year 5.

LITERACY PRO

Congratulations Room 17 on a most amazing effort with your Literacy Pro. As a class, we have read a total of 9,393,223 words! Furthermore, you managed to take out Wattle Grove Primary's first ever champion class award for Literacy Pro. Your hard work, dedication and perseverance is really paying off. You never give up and the result of the wonderful team effort is a lovely class trophy, a certificate, 25 happy children and one delighted teacher. We set out to achieve a goal and now that we have, it is time to think about another goal... Hmm, I'm wondering what it could be???
Any ideas?

Class photo with the Literacy Pro awards

Our Blue Certificate recipients - 25 points

Our Red Certificate recipients - 50 points

Room 17's Bronze Certificate recipients - 100 points

Room 17's Silver Certificate recipient, Pavitra - 250 points!!!

MERIT AWARDS

Congratulations to Aena, Nikola and Kallaghn for working hard and earning a merit certificate. Keep up the excellent effort. Your perseverance is admirable.


Merit Award winners

PR1ME MATHEMATICS

Throughout the last couple of weeks, we have had a focus on measurement and geometry facts. The knowledge of angles in particular has really improved. We have learned all about angles on a line and at a point so now we're moving onto the sum of angles within shapes, such as triangles. There are many problem solving skills required to solve the sums. Here are a few photos of our Prime sessions.

Battle of the angles: Have a go at some of the types of sums that we have been looking at in Room 17. No protractors allowed =)
 

BOOK REVIEW - ERAGON

Eragon by Christopher Paolini is one of the most phenomenal, sensational and miraculous books I have ever read. This book was very emotional as it deals with issues such as death, stress and responsibilities greater than you or I could imagine. Eragon is a boy who discovers a mysterious gem in the forest. He keeps it only to find out that the gem is in fact a dragon egg. From here, many adventures and plot twists happen that will keep any reader entertained throughout the whole novel. I would give this book 10 out of 10 and I recommend children from Years 3 and up to read this novel, especially if you enjoy a challenge like I do. This has been a game changer for me and I think it would be for you too.  Enjoy the journey that Eragon will take you on.

By Aena

MUSIC

What’s been happening in Marvellous Miraculous Music? Lately we have been learning about the woodwind family which contains the Oboe, Clarinet and the Flute. The choir are participating in in the Mass Choir Festival later this year so they have been learning songs such as … Catalpa, Tu-la-ka-za-a, Heroes and Shakespeare. We asked a couple of children what they like about music.

“I like Music because it is a fun environment to work in.” Bailey.

“I like Music because I like playing the Jambas and playing the xylophones.” Jack.

By Jack and Kallaghn

SCIENCE

Recently, the class have been learning about many different things in Science. One area that we have found fascinating is learning about life cycles. We compared the life cycles of animals with those of plants and found some interesting facts. Furthermore, we carried out an investigation to find out how far water travels up a plant. We discovered, with the help of coloured dye, that water reaches the very tips of the leaves of plants and even into the tips of petals in flowers. Mr Petch taught us about the capillary action that plants have which are similar to our veins that transport water and other nutrients in plants. It was fun learning all about plants (and the life cycles). 

By Tyriq and Milan

ENVIRONMENTAL WARRIORS

Have you noticed the rubbish in our school environment? Maybe you have, and maybe you haven't. Some of it is hard to spot because in general, Wattle Grove Primary School is a rather clean and tidy place. However, we have noticed a bit of rubbish hanging around and that is why we have taken it upon ourselves to tidy up our school. Today we managed to collect two whole bags of rubbish. Most of what we found were the tiny plastic straw cases that come with the juice boxes. We learnt in BtN (Behind the News) this week that as plastic breaks down it forms many different pieces of  microplastics and this can have devastating effects on our environment. It is fair time that we all do our bit and pick up any rubbish we see. Remember, if you step over it, you allow it! Besides, it is great to do something for our environment and the community we live in. We urge everyone to give it a try.

WGPS SCIENCE SUPERSTARS

In an endeavour to lift the profile of Science across the school and get students enthused about all things 'sciency', we have a whole school fun competition in mind. Participation and enthusiasm is our key objective here. 

This competition has 3 stages:

Stage 1: Each student will research and present either a short science experiment or report on a science related concept, to our class. The students in our class will then select their top two 'Super Scientists'. 

Stage 2: The selected two students will then have to present (again) to ALL the students and teachers in Year 5. An admin representative will will then choose their year group's #1 scientist!

Stage 3: Finally, the school will celebrate our top 6 scientists by getting them to present their report or experiment to the entire school, at a giant Science assembly! There will be prizes awarded to all students who made it through each stage of the process. 

The Presentation:

·                     Can be a report or an experiment 

·                     Can be a maximum of 5 minutes in length

·                     Students can use ICT resources such as Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Word (or similar) to support their presentation

·                     Posters and charts are also an option to assist their presentations

·                     Experiments should be simple to set up, demonstrate the outcome within the time limit, and be safe!
·                     Students will need to explain what they are demonstrating, what procedure they are following, the aim, hypothesis (prediction), materials and of course, the results. Careful consideration should be made to how something happened and why. Some of the children may even think about the real world applications of their science if it applies.

There are many websites that can help assist in finding ideas on what to present. These have been listed below.

Science Kids

CSIRO

Easy science for kids

Kidspot science experiments

Steve Spangler

Science Bob

Fizzics Education

Important Information: Children will need to commit to a topic by Wednesday of Week 4: 18th May. A great deal of assistance will be required from home for this project. Our ICT sessions on Monday will be dedicated to project time, along with a couple of hours throughout Weeks 4, 5 and 6, however, much of the work will need to be completed at home. 

Due Date:  All experiments/reports will be presented in Week 6.

I am looking forward to seeing all of the presentations in Week 6 and I can't wait to learn more about all things science. 

NAPLAN

Congratulations to all of the Year 5's in Room 17 for 'being the best you can be.' I was very proud of each and every one of the children for trying their hardest at all times. It was great to see how much the children actually enjoyed the tests. No matter what results come out of the tests, I am able to see the progress and depth of learning that has taken place this year (and last year for many of you) and you should all be very proud of your efforts. Well done. 

BOOK REVIEW- BLACK BEAUTY

Black Beauty by Anna Sewell

 

Black Beauty is a heart-warming tale of a horse named ‘Black Beauty’. Beauty had many different homes, jobs, friends and masters that treated her well and, well, not so well. Though, he remembered one thing his mother had taught him, “You have come from a very good family that has earned a very good name. I never want you to kick, bite or scare anyone. There are not always horses that have been treated like us. They have been treated badly because of bad masters. I want you to be loyal to your masters and friendly to other horses, no matter what.” Beauty never forgot these words. Soon after his breaking in, he moved to a new home in Birtwick Park where he found two true friends; Ginger and Merrylegs. From here, many adventures begin. I would rate this novel 4 / 5 stars. I recommend this book for people of all age groups. It is a fascinating, stunning and wonderful story. I have also learned a great deal, including a wonderful moral which I’ll let you discover when you read the novel.

By Pavitra 

MERIT CERTIFICATES

Congratulations to Roshan, Pavitra and Eva who have all excelled with courtesy, work ethic and team work. You are all very deserving of the recognition. Keep up the excellent work.

PRINCIPAL'S CHALLENGE

We had two superstars who managed to get in the 'Top 5' for the Year 5 Principal's Challenge. Well done to Roshini and Aena. Keep up the fantastic work. Room 17, remember our goal for Term 2's Principal's Challenge ;-) We can do it!