Year 6 - 12 Class
After a couple days in the class and then a week with students at home I’m thrilled to have everyone back at their desks today.
English 6-10
We have started a new class novel this term, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, by John Boyne. The story is fictional but set in a WW2 concentration camp and has many factual elements from that period in time. It’s unique in that it tells a perspective of the holocaust from a German child, giving us insight into what the average German family knew about what was happening to the Jews at the time and Hitler’s “Final Solution”. At the moment we are working our way through the book, answering questions along the way and completing character analysis for the main characters. Once we’ve finished, we will view the movie and compare how the story is presented and complete a (yet to be determined) final assessment task.
We will also start looking at digital media, specifically digital texts and reflect on the role they play in our everyday life. The focus will be on how our language has and is changing, and how we can decide if a digital source is reliable. Students will conduct their own research and analyse various web pages, looking at what literary devices are used and why.
HASS 6-10
After focusing on Geography last term, we will move back to history for term 3. This term we have begun to study World War 2, first looking at why and how it started, at the moment we are focusing on the Australian involvement in the Pacific, specifically the fall of Singapore. We will also touch on the bombing of Darwin, Kokoda and prisoners of war in Singapore and Borneo before shifting our focus to Europe, the Nazi’s and holocaust. This ties in with our reading material in English, giving us some good background knowledge for both topics.
HPE 6-10
Having spent quite a bit of time on mental health and wellbeing during health lessons, we are now going to be looking at physical health. Our first topic is sugar, what it does to our bodies, what types of hidden sugars there are, and how much is too much.
For PE we are doing a combination of circuit training and netball. We are doing a strength and agility circuit at the moment, next will be speed and endurance. We have only had one lesson of netball but being the old netball tragic that I am I had a great time. We’ve practiced basic ball skills and movement and had a quick half court game which was enjoyed by everyone. I’ve learned to curb the white line fever and promise not to hurt anyone!
HPE F-2
For Health with the little people, we are talking about our superpowers. Everyone has a superpower, something that we’ve learned to do that we once couldn’t. Students are making a superpower flip book and talking about how we are always learning new things, even when it’s hard.
During PE we are going to be going through a range of basic movements, with each activity focusing on a different area in the curriculum. This week for example, we will be throwing and catching including movement which will cover throwing, catching, running, skipping and hopping.
Home Economics 6-10
In keeping with the HPE theme of what makes us physically healthy, this term Home Economics will have a focus on healthy recipes and healthy eating. We will look at traditional recipes and figure out how to make them healthier, in keeping the Australian guide for healthy eating. We will also be looking at healthy breakfast and lunchbox foods and setting goals for ourselves to improve in this area.
SACE English Stage 2
The pressure is starting to build for Stage 2 English. We are aiming to have course work complete by the end of term 3 so that the beginning of term 4 can be spent fine tuning and making sure we are happy with the work before submitting it for moderation. At the moment we are looking at topics to write a persuasive piece and will then tackle the major assessment task of comparing two pieces of literature for the way they handle themes, literary devices and audience.