Year 6 - 12 Class
Welcome to term 2! Here is the update on what the 6-9’s, 12’s and F-2’s are getting up to when they are with me…
6-9 English
The 6-9 class are looking at the poem “Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou. Not only is this an extremely well written poem with its metaphors, similes, personification, and descriptive language, it’s also a great poem detailing one lady’s refusal to be brought down by her circumstances. It teaches resilience, gratitude, and belief in yourself which are important lessons for us all. We are still in the analysis phase of the poem right now, which we are doing in an in-depth way. Next task for the students will be to compare it to the song by rapper Tupac of the same name, or to Katy Perry’s song “Rise”, the unit will finish with the students writing their own “rise” poem.
6-9 History
This term we are studying the Mongolians, and how they managed to secure the largest contiguous land empire in all of history – a record that they still hold. We are studying and comparing the leadership styles of Genghis Khan and his grandson Kublai Khan, and the students are particularly enjoying taking a close look at the sometimes brutal, and always innovative war methods of the Mongols. Fun fact: did you know that the Mongols were the first to implement biological warfare? They catapulted plague infested bodies (dead ones obviously) over the wall at the Chinese. Gruesome. But clever!
6-9 HPE
During health lessons this term we are looking at overcoming obstacles. Students have read and analysed stories of famous people who have had to overcome difficulties to gain success and are in the process of relating that to their own experiences.
For PE we have been playing Spikeball (a bit like volleyball, only you bounce the ball into a round net), and touch footy. There is a definite preference of touch football here, but we will persist with Spikeball and learn the new skills. This week we were joined by the F-2 class at the end of the lesson, the 6-9’s did a great job of teaching the younger ones how to play touch football and everyone had a great time.