Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch Changes

‘We didn’t think that we would be able to have a graduation because of the lockdown and all that, so we’re really excited that it’s happening now, even if we have to wear masks!’ – Noah, Grover and Linus 5/6D

Change and transition has been on the minds of the fives and sixes these past two weeks. From exploring leadership opportunities for the grade fives, to the impending graduation of the sixes, to exploring the aspect of growth and change in puberty through the ‘Catching on Early’ program. The students have continued to explore thematic writing, delving into the world of gossip with tabloid headlines. They have also celebrated their growth in learning through assessments. The students have also had their creative hats on, telling stories through songs, continuing to explore chance and probability, as well implementing their budgeting knowledge through the provocation of ‘How much do I cost?’ ‘I am proud of the Budget project because it helps me work better on calculating and gives me access to all the functions in Google sheets’ (Channon 5/6B). However the most exciting moment of the term has been the return of drumming with Kofi, ‘I can’t believe I remembered how to do it.’ (Archie P 5/6C).

Student Leadership and Graduation

‘I found learning about Student Parliament to be very interesting. I’m very interested in applying for Tech and events Cabinet or Minister.’ Marly 5/6A

Grade fives have been gearing up for the transition into grade six, by exploring leadership opportunities and Student Parliament, whilst the sixes have had graduation to get excited about. The fives have been working with Toni and Robert to hone their leadership applications and prepare for roles in leadership and Student Parliament. The students have been exploring ‘What makes a good leader’ and ‘What makes a good role model’ to understand the role and responsibilities ascribed to Student Parliament. The sixes have been working hard with Deb to write, rewrite and rehearse the song medley that they will perform at Graduation. They have used their voice and choice to select songs of significance of their time here at PHPS, as well as songs that the cohort enjoy. 

‘It was really fun to work together to change the lyrics of ‘Man I feel like a Woman, a song from last year, so sing at Graduation’. – Yvette and Marta 5/6D and Jimmy 5/6B

Catching on Early

‘It’s great that both genders are learning about the same thing, I think that is really important’. – Audrey 5/6D

Continuing the notion of growth and change, the students have also begun a unit of sex education, based on the ‘Catching on Early’ program from the DET. Students will explore the concepts of puberty, explore female and male anatomy and also unpack friendships and relationships as they get older and progress through adolescence. The fives have been working with Toni and Robert and the sixes have been working with Kate and Lucy to understand what is happening to their bodies, and what to expect in the future.

Terrible Tabloids

‘It was fun to play around with current affair ideas and have a bit of a laugh’ – Marta 5/6D

Continuing on with themes and writing, the students have also explored tabloids and gossip headlines, they then harnessed their creativity and wit to create their own hilarious headlines.

‘It was so much fun to make tabloid headlines, I really enjoyed it!’ – Mila 5/6A

Growth in Learning

‘I learnt a lot of stuff in the PAT maths and reading.’ – Raff W 5/6C

Another element of growth and change for the students has been their opportunity to celebrate the progress they have made over the year, ‘I’m proud of the one minute maths because I think I did a better job than last year!’ – (Athena 5/6B). This has been particularly evident as they have been challenging themselves in end of year assessments such as Westwood minute maths and PAT maths and reading. 

‘During The 1 minute math thing In all addition, subtraction, multiplication and Division there were improvements from March 12 which was the last time we did the 1 minute math’. Fynn 5/6A

Stories through Songs

‘Elliot and I are working on mashing up the beats to a few different songs to help us record our ‘Story Song’. Hugo B 5/6D

Using their understanding of story writing, the students have used their creative licence to explore songs that tell a story. Leveraging inspiration from songs such as ‘American Pie’ and ‘Cats in the Cradle’, the students planned a story and then collaborated to turn it into a song, some are even recording, hoping to create the next big hit.

‘I found the song writing the most interesting because it was very interesting that the songs we are making are like stories.’ – Hugo P 5/6D

Lollies and Chance

Using a package of lollies, we explored probability and ratios to identify the distribution of four flavours. The group talked about popular flavours and made predictions about whether this would impact on the way the product was packages. Would there be more or less of one flavor over another? Using the serving size and weight of the bag, we were also able to work out a total number of lollies per bag before opening them up to count and place the days into tables.

Budgeting – How much do I cost?

‘I found the most interesting thing this week was the ‘How Much Do I Cost’ because it made me realize how much money I cost. Trust me when I say this, but I don’t know how my parents still have money!’ – Fynn 5/6A

Students were astounded when we provoked them with the provocation ‘How much do I cost?’ when they were asked to go home and investigate how much their parents and carers spend on them in a month. The students have utilised their budgeting understanding and applied that to creating a monthly income and expenditure budget to track how much it costs for them to be raised/looked after over a month.

‘It will be really good to learn about this for my future and it was fun to do all the calculations’. – Selvi 5/6D

Drumming’s back!

‘It’s so fun and there is so much energy in the room!’ Gertie 5/6D

Finally, after a few stop-starts between lockdowns, the drumming program with Kofi has returned in full vigor. After a few moments of false starts as the students tried to dig deep into their memory banks and think back to term two when we last embarked on the drumming adventure, ‘You guys are sleepy’ Kofi. The students were quick to find their rhythm, tapping their sticks and swishing their hips in time to the beat. We couldn’t keep the smiles off their faces. ‘I love drumming on the big drum’ – Raff W 5/6C