Exploring, sharing and understanding

Over the past few weeks, the 5/6 community have been exploring Australia’s geographical landscape, identifying and understanding the significance of landmarks such as the Murray River, the Daintree National Rainforest and The Great Dividing Range. We have been leveraging the digital environment that we are currently in, and have created personal blogs to share our passions and showcase our creativity. As strong and capable students, we have been exploring the ethical issue of ‘Fast Fashion’ through an ABC Foreign Correspondent article ‘Dead White-Man’s Clothes’ on the impact of fast fashion on a city in Ghana, Africa.

Geography – Australian Landmarks

‘I really liked the river project we did – Lemar 5/6B

Over the term, the 5/6s have been exploring the important landmarks that make up Australia. Through mini-investigative projects, we have been able to identify the major rivers, mountain ranges and forests in each state around Australia. We have explore the history of the Murray River – ‘the longest system of water in Australia’ (Jude 5/6C), the Great Dividing Range – ‘the third largest land-based mountain range in the world’ (Luke 5/6C) and the Daintree Rainforest – ‘the oldest rainforest in the world, even older than the Amazon’ (Aurelie 5/6D) , the significance the places hold for First Nations People, as well the the flora and fauna that call those places home.

‘You can find the Cassowary birds in the Daintree Rainforest’ – Tiarah 5/6D

Digital Literacy – Blogs

‘It really enjoy creating my blog so I can share about my love of skateboarding’ – Gertie 5/6D

As we tackle yet another remote learning, it is a perfect moment to embrace the learning opportunities that working purely online brings. Over the past few weeks, we have been learning how to create a blog, understand the concept of digital literacy, and also learn the importance of respectful and appropriate feedback, ‘It is important to know not to include any personal information in your blog and to use appropriate language when commenting’ – Lucy 5/6B

‘It’s a good way I can share book suggestions on a different platform’ – Morgan 5/6A

Reading and Ethics – Dead white-man’s clothes

‘The world isn’t broken up into good and bad people, people aren’t just setting out to hurt other people’ – Cleo 5/6D

‘The article made me a bit sad because when I would put my clothes to the charity bin I would think I did a good thing but now it’s kind of bad. And I think I can make a change.’ – Ada 5/6A

As strong and capable students, the 5/6s have been exploring the concept of fast fashion and the impact that it is having on the environment, not just in Australia, but across the world. By engaging with the news story ‘Dead white-man’s clothes’ which was a story by ABC Foreign Correspondent Linton Besser, the students were able to explore the significant impact that clothing has on places like Accra, the capital city of Ghana, as well as on the air and water ways in the surrounding land. Students, by reading the article and through discussions with their peers, were able to imagine what it would be like to walk in the shoes of the people who work at Accra’s Kantamanto markets, how horrendous the conditions are form them, and how often they end up losing money when they purchase large amounts of clothing that ends up being unwearable and thus unsellable.

‘I didn’t realise it (fast fashion) was such a problem until I read this article, it’s really sad.’ Nico 5/6D

‘Australia is one of the world’s highest consumers of textiles’ – Marta 5/6D