100thous.    10thous.   thous.    hundred.   tens.   ones.

We have been having some fun over the past few days playing some place value games and looking at tangrams.  Everyone has been keen to out do each other making the highest number. If you would like to look at a sample of one of our games , we could send one home and perhaps you could play it together. We have game sheets that go up to 6 digits. Eventually we will move into decimals too.

We also looked at Tangrams. They are  a Chinese Puzzle. We had to really problem solve when we were trying to make particular pictures. If you would like to try an online puzzle you can click on this link http://pbskids.org/sagwa/games/tangrams/. Some are very easy and some are a bit tricky.

Every one has been busy writing letters. The whole class wrote Mrs T some great letters and they also wrote letters to their Prep Buddies. We are sure the buddies will enjoy their surprise arrival in the mail!

It was wonderful to see the way so many of the year six students stepped up and presented their speeches for school captain selection. I was so proud of them. They all did an amazing  job. Congratulations to Caitlyn D and Bryce on being elected our 2010 school captains and Gemma and Blake our vice captains. I am sure your family and friends are very proud of you too.

We are now looking forward to seeing the nominations for House Captains and the remainder of the leadership roles. Good luck every one! You are displaying some wonderful leadership qualities.

WELCOME TO THE FAB 5′S FOR  2010. It has been a while since we have posted on our blog. The end of 2009 was very hectic and  the final weeks passed in a blur of activity. Fun of course!

I sincerely wish all my 2009 students a wonderful year ahead in their final year at primary school. I am sure they are going to make wonderful school leaders in year 6. Good luck for all year 6 sixes with their leadership speeches this Friday. I am always thrilled to see the way my year 5 students seem to have progressed and matured into such confident speakers who are so keen to take on year 6 leadership roles. I am sure you will all do a fabulous job. 

A NEW GROUP OF FAB 5’s!

I was really thrilled to welcome a wonderful new group of fives last Monday! I hope we all have a wonderful learning journey together throughout 2010. Already I can see a wealth of talent and wonderful personalities. We have begun looking at our SCARF values of SUPPORT, COOPERATION, ACCEPTANCE, RESPECT & FRIENDLINESS. The class have demonstrated many of these values and can articulate their thoughts as to why it is important they are a great SCARF class.  We have created some wonderful SCARF characters and they will be on display in the corridor very soon.

SENSATIONAL BUDDIES

It was a delight to see the way the Year 5’s interacted with their Prep Buddies! They have helped to make the preps transition, from kinder to primary school, a happier  and welcoming experience. For example there were many words of encouragement and support during our tabloid sports and they were very understanding when some preppies were a little shy or reluctant to particpate. I was so proud of all the year 5’s. YOU ARE GOING TO BE SENSATIONAL BUDDIES!

PARENT INFORMATION NIGHT

Next Tuesday 9th February, there will be a very important information night for parents of year 3 & 5 students. An invitation was posted  this week. The Year 5 session will begin at 8.00pm. I am really looking  forward to seeing many parents on the night. I hope the information discussed will answer many queries you may have.

Interactive whiteboard

This week we had our interactive whiteboard installed. Every one is very excited about it and we are keen to explore all the  wonderful learning opportunities that will occur. We are discovering a little more about its capabilities  each day.  We will keep you posted on our technological lessons and new experiences!

The camp this year was at Waratah Bay. Everyone had a good time but lots of people complained aout the rules. Everybody went to the beach every day and played activities. The giant swing was the most popular activity but most of the grade 5s or 6s liked paddling in the beach more. There was Red Faces and a disco on Tuesday night. A sock hanging on a wall won the Red Faces and was the only one not to get a minus score!The disco wasn’t fair for the grade 5s because they got a 10 minute disco but the grade 6s got a grade 6 party which went for longer. The 6s got that because it was their last camp so the 5s get it next year. It was really fun! by Evan

The camp at Warratah Bay was ok.  The beach was really nice to swim at especially beacause it was hot.  The food was really nice.  The supper was so yummy!  I enjoyed going to the rockpools even though it was a long walk .  The seaweed crabs were really hard to spot.  We also went on a night walk along the beach.  There were heaps of crabs!  The Giant Swing wasn’t as big as the other ones I’ve been on.  It would have been better if the camp had more things to do.  by Laura

It has certainly been a very busy term so far, with lots of events happening. Thank you to all the students and staff who helped to make the senior camp at Waratah Bay a success. Despite the very, very hot weather, we managed to enjoy our time away together. It was necessary to modify our program quite a bit but we still managed to have fun, especially on the beach!

Thank you to Mrs Cooke, Mr Card, Miss Comport, Mrs Vandeleur and Mr Nicholas for helping us on camp. We really enjoyed your company and sense of fun! Thank you also to the leaders and cooks at Waratah Bay.

Read some student comments about the camp on our fabfivechat wiki.

SCHOOL TWIGHLIGHT FESTIVAL

This Saturday 21st November, we will have our wonderful Menzies Creek school fete. There will be lots of fun activities, stalls, food, music and even fireworks! If you would like to help out on the year 5 Lucky Squares stall please put your name on the roster in the foyer. It should be a fun day! Remember- many hands make light work! The fun begins at 3:00pm.

HOMEWORK

This week, year 5’s ,you will have a Forces and Motion homework task to complete. You are asked to design and make a boat . You could design an ocean liner, a racing yacht, a surfboard, a hydrofoil or let your imagination run riot.  The energy to propel your boat could be a balloon, a propeller or a vinegar and bi-carb reaction. 

You are also asked to write a persuasive piece of writing on the topic of seatbelt safety. Please see the homework page for further details.

It’s not long now until we head off to Waratah Bay for our senior school camp! Please make sure you have read our recently updated ‘What to bring list”. There are some very important details such as bringing your own pillow, fitted sheet and pillowcase.
Don’t forget to bring a cut lunch including a drink ,packed in a small back pack, for our first day.
We would like all campers at school by 8:40 so that the bus can leave ASAP. If you have any final questions please see Miss Comport or email me. (Contact details on this site)
My son, Michael, is progressing well through his final exams and I look forward to seeing you all next week.
Mrs Taurua

Well done to all students involved in our camp out on the school oval. It was our first camp out with both years 5 & 6. I must admit I was really wondering how we would all manage on the oval, but you all did a fabulous job. It was great to see that you helped each other and enjoyed yourselves.

There were some very, very early risers who were noisier than the kookaburras on Saturday morning!  (5.10 am!) They did manage to doze again for a while, after a timely warning about waking their fellow campers and were back chatting up a storm at a more reasonable hour. Watch out next time girls! No chat that early again!

Thank you to Mr Card who camped out with us for the night. His Year 6 camp out last year seems to have caught on. Also thank you to Mr. Mason for joining in all the fun before dinner.  Thank you also to Mrs Cooke and Mr Cooke for cooking us a lovely barbeque dinner. Miss Comport did a wonderful job to have lots of energy at Blackhill Reserve considering she had just got back from an overnight stay at the year 3/4’s camp!

Today we began looking at Newton’s Laws of Motion. We discussed his first law and used some objects to demonstrate the theories behind it. We discussed concepts such as inertia, friction, equilibrium, balanced and unbalanced forces and velocity.

We discovered that if two people are arm wrestling and exert the exact same amount of force, their arms will be deadlocked. The balanced forces cancel out each other. This causes a state of equilibrium. As soon as one person exerts more force, the forces become unbalanced.

We discovered that an object at rest tends to stay at rest, and an object in motion tends to stay in motion, unless acted upon by an outside, unbalanced force. There are some great illustrations of this first law on display in our classroom.

Year 5’s please take a look at the Forces & Motion links on the right hand side of our blog. There are some great activities that will involve your skills and knowledge in this area of Physics. Have some fun designing your own rollercoaster, explore the physics involved in a fun park and learn more about gravity, friction, compression and other forces.

Please watch this short film clip for a simple yet informative explanation about forces and motion: Forces & Motion