Thursday, February 27, 2014

Posting Comments

Well done to all the students who have added comments to the blog. I am proud of you and the work you are doing. Don't forget to sign your first name on the comment before you post it.

Look at the colourful rainforest art in 5/6J


Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Year 5/6J Information Report

Rainforest Assignment  Due week 8 


Structure of an information report

Formal written information reports usually follow a very specific structure. The first part of an information report is the title, or heading, of the report. This will tell the reader what topic is covered in the report.
The first introductory paragraph, known as the classification, explains the aspects of the topic that will be covered in the report.
The following information is contained in the body paragraphs. This is where the topic of the report is covered in more detail. These paragraphs use factual information to give the reader a better understanding of the topic. Often, these paragraphs are broken up by sub-headings to help organise the information.
The conclusion of an information report gives any final details or facts about the topic. It may also be used to review what the report was about.
Visual elements are important because they help the reader to understand the topic better. Visual elements can include drawings, photographs, graphs, maps or diagrams.
The bibliography is a list of resources like books, magazines and websites, which were used to help write the information report.

Creating an information report on an animal in a rainforest of your choice.

The first step in preparing an information report is to choose the rainforest animal. Next you will need to research. Textbooks, websites, an encyclopaedia and other information reports are good places to gather information. You might also want to look for pictures and diagrams to use in your report.
Once you have the information, you will need to organise it into the structure of an information report.  Information reports are generally written in the present tense.
When you have finished writing the report, read it again to make sure that it uses factsgives details, and does not contain personal views. Always check your text for correct spelling, grammar and punctuation.
Choose an animal from a rainforest of your choice and write an Information Report. Be sure to include the following: 
- appearance
- habitat
- food
- enemies
- behaviour
- interesting facts

This is to be completed by week 8. You will work on this during class time. 

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

5/6 J have been learning about Persuasive Texts.

Statements of Position

The students have continued to work really hard to write a persuasive statement of position. 
We have been learning that when writing a statement of position, we need to:
  • State the topic.
  • State our opinion.
  • Use high modality words and language of opinion.
  • State three arguments in one sentence.
  • Ask a rhetorical question.
It is important to include a rhetorical question in order to persuade the reader to agree with your opinion.
Rhetorical question starters include the following.
  • How could you (we) possibly..?
  • Do you really think…?
  • What would happen if…?
  • Could your conscience cope with..?
  • Is it really worth..?
  • Do you want to be part of..?

Keep watching for examples  on video from students in 5/6J 

What makes a good blog.


Monday, February 24, 2014

Week 5 journal entries. What I would liketo be when I grow up.

What I would like to be when I grow up… What I would like to be when I grow up is a heart specialist. This is because my very close friend had a heart surgeon family friend who did her operation and my friend would not be alive without her. Being a heart specialist would make me feel proud because I would be able to save lives. I am also very interested in hearts other than basic knowledge; it pumps blood. People have told me their proud of my decision and it takes many years to become one. My friends think it is disgusting but it is more nervous than disgusting. I hope I become one in the future.
by Swetha 

When I grow up I would like to be a teacher. I would like to be a teacher because you can teach young students to learn lots things like maths, English, journal and definitely their times tables. My fantastic teacher Mrs Jenkins will teach me everything I need to know, so I can teach it to other children when I grow up.
Negar


When I grow up I want to be a doctor. I want to be a doctor because my mum is a doctor and I want to know what it is like being a doctor. I also want to be a doctor because I want to be a doctor because I want to help sick and hurt people.
by Ishan

I would like to be an artist when I grow up because I love drawing things like flowers and people’s faces. My second reason is my mum is an artist and when I see her work it makes me proud. My third reason is even you splash paint on a canvas it’s a magnificent piece of art.
Ji-su
like to be an artist when I grow up because I love drawing things like flowers and people’s faces. My second reason is my mum is an artist and when I see her work it makes me proud. My third reason is even you splash paint on a canvas it’s a magnificent piece of art.





Ji-su


 

 

Friday, February 21, 2014

Great imaginative texts using a story starter. Please read and leave a comment.


Text type: imaginative
Purpose: to entertain
Audience: 5/6J and visitors

The Mystery of the Golden Compass

Tom’s hands were trembling as he held the shimmering key to the chest that his great grandfather had left for him up in the old attic. He was not sure if he should open it or not. Tom’s mum called him to come help her in the kitchen. He put the key in the back pocket of his jeans and decided to return later. Time passed and he walked slowly back up to the attic. He reached in his back pocket and pulled out the key. Tom slipped the key into the hole.

He opened the chest with shaking fingers but he was not going to turn back now. The old chest had a few really old photos in it, but underneath the photos there was a small pocket on the inside of the chest. He stretched his fingers down inside the pocket but he could not quite reach. Tom knew there was something in there. Finally he gripped on to it. He pulled out what looked like and extremely old compass. After tom had polished the compass he was amazed to see how beautiful it really was.

The compass was stunning. It glistened in the light like a diamond. Tom was mesmerised by the golden compass and even saw his own reflection in it. This was no ordinary compass. Tom wanted to tell is mum all about it, but he knew that his mum didn’t like him prowling around in the attic. The compass started spinning frantically as if tom was spinning around in all different directions, but he wasn’t. The compass had just been placed on an old box in tom’s room. He gazed at the compass until dinner trying to discover the mystery behind the compass. 

By Skye  




Text Type: Imaginative
Purpose: To entertain the reader
Audience: 5/6J and visitors              The Wedding

Tom’s hands were trembling again. Just eight hours ago Tom was in his room at 4:47 am in the morning thinking about his aunt’s wedding. He woke up with only sheer excitement in mind and it had all been popped within a minute at the International Airport. All flights departing to Florida was delayed by twelve hours because of gale- force winds and a chance of hurricane in the area. Tom knew he would miss the reception day and their transportation the family had booked well in advance.

It was seven years ago since he had his aunty in person and so much had changed since then. The joy she bought to Tom’s life could still be felt then at the age of eleven.

When his family arrived at the airport he finally settled in, had nothing to do and was extremely bored now that his family had fallen asleep in their leather chairs. He glanced at the marble white board displaying the flight departure times, as the time away slowly. What were minutes felt like hours and he felt hungry smelling aroma from the coffee shop.

As Tom looked down he noticed his hands shaking with fear and questions raced through his head. Would his aunty be angry? Would the wedding finish? Would she cry without me? Sniffing and crying Tom felt tired and joined the sleeping party knowing that when he awoke, up his long awaited journey would arrive.

After sleeping for hours Tom awoke and realised his mum’s big brown were staring at him. His sister was dressed in a stunning red dress with a V- neckline and sequences falling down the front. She had metallic gold high heels that glittered in the light like stars. His mother was dressed in a traditional dress and his dad wore a handsome black suit with a blue tie and black shiny leather. His family was ready which meant the wedding was on!

They quickly dressed tom up in a clean new looking white suit and pants and brown polished shoes. His hands were trembling again but this time with excitement. He could not wait to meet his overseas relatives who he had never met in person before and most importantly his AUNTY!

They boarded the plane and were strictly told not to sleep or they would look messy and tired, so Tom was just imagining the wedding and the five hundred people there.

By Swetha



Text type: Imaginative
Purpose: To entertain the readers
Audience: 5/6J and visitors

Confusing Tables

 Tom’s hands were trembling. His class had a table test and Tom wasn’t that clever but not silly either. It was only ten minutes until the test started. Ten minutes. “Twelve times…seven is eighty four? Twelve times eight is…what?” confused Tom. Soon the bell rang.
 The teacher announced “The table test will now begin. Everyone put away everything else except your pencils.”
 At last the test began and the teacher called out tables at the speed of lightning. “Eight times twelve, six times eight, twelve times nine…” Tom was dizzy and surprised how fast she was speaking.
Tom got twenty four out of thirty. Not too bad. Tom was relieved but not happy because, his goal was at least twenty eight out of thirty. When Tom was disappointed his friend Max patted his back speaking in a soft voice “Cheer up buddy. It’s not the end of the world is it?” Tom felt better already as he walked to home with his best pal
By Justin



Text type imaginative

Purpose to entertain the readers

Audience 5/6 J and visitors

The Deep Dark Cave

Tom’s hands were trembling like crazy. Right now he was in a deep dark cave all alone. He was just going for his morning two kilometre run suddenly crash! He fell into a deep dark cave in which he could not see. After all he was only ten.

He reached into his pocket and grabbed a match. These weren’t the best pair of paints. He found a big stick and lit it. After about ten minutes thump! Crash! Bang! He jumped in fright and tried to hide but there was no place to hide. He screamed loudly and there it was again thump! Crash! Bang! What can it be?
He tried to scramble out of the cave but he bumped into something. He shouted it was his sister Sarah.
“What are you doing here” shouted still catching his breathe.
“Dad told me to come and look for you” Sarah mumbled softly.
The two of them walked along the crackling cave floor but there it was again. Thump! Crash! Bang!.
They kept walking cautiously along the cave floor and they felt fur, ears, and big teeth “bear”! Run screamed Sarah.
When she was jogging the chase was on
They scrambled and jumped until they were out of breath. The bear was still charging so they put the fire out and hid. The bear gave up and walked away sadly out of site.

The two of them still had to get out of the cave though and they had no fire to light the way.
Sarah was afraid of the dark so they had to rely on their eyes and tread carefully. Just then tom tripped over and was bleeding.
They must get out of the cave now but how? Sarah remembered she had a phone in here pocket and she rang here dad.
“Where are you”? Sobbed dad.
 "We're in a cave we are starting for home now"
It took them ages but they managed to get out.

By Michael
Text type: Imaginative

Purpose: to entertain the readers

Audience: 5/6J and visitors

The Little Dragon

Tom’s hands were trembling, as he opened the antique box with golden letters carved attractively on the exterior of the ancient box. He couldn’t figure out what it said, but he was more than keen to open it. His hands moved meticulously as it drew closer to the mysterious box. With hands trembling, Tom lifted up the damaged lid and…… saw an alabaster egg with blue speckles all over the hard shiny shell. He picked it up anxiously and clutched it close to his petite ears and came a sound a bit like a cracking sound and the shell broke off abruptly………

Out came a diminutive dragon with miniature spikes and a green scaly body. It had feet the size of an average eraser with sharp pointy nails and tiny eyes gazing non-stop at Tom. He picked the petite dragon up and dropped it immediately as the dragon’s thorny body stabbed into his skin and blood came flowing out.

The baby dragon was mumbling rapidly but tom couldn’t figure out what it was saying but the baby dragon kept on saying the word “HELP” Tom was more than keen to help. “What from though?” Tom repeated in his head.

Days passed and tom hid the baby dragon in his old cupboard hoping that his mum didn’t notice the dragon’s loud cries when he was hungry, Tom usually brought vegetables that he’d saved for the hungry on. One beautiful day as Tom was talking to the dragon, it slowly began to talk. Its first couple of words it mentioned were “Help please help hunters. Tom was shocked but he was ready to help.

That day, Tom heard a knock on the door. He decided not to open the door as it may have been thieves and his parents were not home. Something in his mind kept on saying open the door!! He cautiously walked over and opened the wooden door.

In front of him stood two large muscular men staring at him in an angry manner. They had black clothing on and a big knife in their hands. “Little boy, hand over the dragon”, shouted one of the men. “I don’t know what you’re talking about”, I responded in a strong and confident voice. The men had spotted the dragon behind me. One of the men reached for the dragon and grabbed it “STOP! I yelled but the man had already stabbed the dragon. Tears came filling up my eyes. The men had already left with the baby dragon.

I will always remember the baby dragon cuddling up next to me and I will truly miss the companion. The men were arrested and brought to jail eventually.

It was night and I was lying on my bed when I saw something like a ghost but smaller it was the shape of a dragon. It was behind the curtains. I knew who that was, it was the ghost of the dragon!!

By Vaishy



 


 

     

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Monday, February 17, 2014

Week 4 Journal entries: The person I would like most to meet would be... Please read and leavea comment.


The person I would most like to meet would be

 The person I would most like to meet would be J.S. (Joe Suck). He is a Korean manga artist. He has written even more than 800episodes of gag manga.
All of his episodes are hilarious and funny. When I decide to just read one episode I read ten. If I read ten I read even more! My dream is to be a manga artist, so I want to get some advice.

Justin

The person I would most like to meet would be

The person I would most like to meet would be Mr Bean. He is very funny and I like his videos. I like funny people because they make me happy. Another reason was at the London 2012 Olympics in the ceremony. He was very funny playing an instrument.
Yuta

 The person I would like to meet would be Hugh Jackman because he is a movie star, and because he went to the same high school I will be going to be going to next year.

Lachlan
The person I would like most to meet would be Bon Jovi because he writes awesome songs that sound cool. I went to one of his concerts. My favourite song that he wrote is bad medicine. I don’t know much about Bon Jovi but I do know that he is talented, friendly and brave to go out and perform in front of millions of people who enjoy his songs. 
Oliver
The person I would like most to meet would be…

Andrew Foy. He’s a guitar player on YouTube. His talent on the guitar is amazing! It would be amazing if he taught me some songs on the guitar, and sign my guitar. He doesn’t do a lot of tutorials on the guitar; I watched his guitar covers on YouTube and he really encourages me to practice a lot and improving. I want to be in the same level as Andrew on the guitar. That’s why I would mostly want to meet Andrew Foy.
By Kim


 

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

This term we are studying a novel called Hatchet by Gary Paulsen. Please read our biographies of this interesting author.


Text type: Informative-Biography
Purpose: To tell a person’s story.
Audience:  Year 5/6J and visitors

Biography of Gary Paulsen
Gary James Paulsen is an American author who has written about two hundred books. He was born on May 17 1939 in Minneapolis, Minnesota ,USA. He writes young adult fiction, adventure novels and non- fiction books. Some of his most famous books are Hatchet , Dogsong , Woodsong , Winter dance, The Winter Room, The Voyage of the Frog and Masters of disasters.

Gary Paulsen has won lots of awards but his most famous one he has won is the Margaret Edwards Award .

Gary Paulsen was raised by his grandmothers and aunt. When he was fourteen Gary Paulsen ran away joined a circus. That was not his only job. He tried farming ,  professional archery , acting and lots of other jobs .

Gary Paulsen spent most of his time in the forests. He states, “Most of my life it seems I have been in the forests or on the sea. Most of my time sleeping and waking, has been spent outside, in close contact with what we now call the environment, what my uncle  called, the woods”.

By Ibrahim


Text type: Informative-Biography
Purpose: To tell a person’s story.
Audience:  Year 5/6J and visitors
Biography of Gary Paulsen
Gary James Paulsen was born in America in 1939.
As a child going through primary and high school was difficult for him but he managed to finish high school. He went to university for a few years and had a lot of jobs.
From that moment on he wrote lots of good books for children for example Hatchet.
Gary Paulsen enjoys life and people still read his books today.
By Michael
 
Text type: Informative-Biography
Purpose: To tell a person’s story.
Audience:  Year 5/6J and visitors
Biography of Gary Paulsen
Gary Paulsen is the author of the Hatchet. He was born in Minnesota USA in 1939 and lived with his grandmothers and aunts.
Gary Paulsen has written over 90 books and has also written short stories and plays which are all very good.
He attended university for a short while and was not a very good student, so he made a decision to join the army.
After that he tried many other activities such as, ranching, trapping, archery, acting in a movie as an extra, truck driver, tracking satellites and a school teacher until he met a magazine editor. After that he became an author and has written three very well-known books such as, The Winter Room, Hatchet and Dogsong. The book Woodsong is an autobiography about him and his relationship with dogs.
By Swetha

Biography of Gary Paulsen

Gary Paulsen was born in Minneapolis, on 17th May , 1939. When he was young he was not a committed student in school, but he had a special passion for books.

He started writing books when a librarian encouraged him to read and he decided he wanted to write books of his own.

Gary Paulsen has written over two hundred books. His three Honour books are the Winter room, Hatchet and Dodgson. Most of his books are about the wilderness.

Melissa 

 
   
 
 



 


 

Monday, February 10, 2014

Week 3 Journal Entries: The Best Place to Live is...

Please read and post a comment.
The Best Place to Live is?
The best place to live is in a house because it is easy to choose what you want and the design of how you want the furniture to go. Another reason is that you can grow plants in your backyard or even have a swing. The best reason is that you can have anything you want in the house that’s why I chose it.

Yuta

The best place to live is in a big house with a garden and a swimming pool, because everyone would have their own bedroom could play outside and go in to the pool if it is too hot. That is why I think a house like this would be the best place to live. However it would be in Australia because it’s a free country and my family is in Australia.

Talia

The best place to live is in Australia because it is a happy and safe country. There are many beautiful stand outs of Australia like Uluru, The Sydney Opera House, The Sydney Harbour Bridge, the Great Barrier Reef and many more wonderful places. I love Australia and I think other people would love it to. Australia is also the best place to live because it is a free country, where most people are safe and happy. My family and I also love Australia and are very happy to live here. In Canberra there is Parliament House and the National Australian War Memorial are very popular tourist attractions. In Australia you get a very good education. That’s why I think Australia is the best place to live.

Skye   

The best place to live is Australia because it’s a free country, which means people that live here are happy not sad. It has really big tourist attractions like the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the Sydney Opera House, Uluru, The Three Sisters, The Great Barrier Reef and many more places. You could go to Canberra and see parliament house or The National Australian War Memorial. In Australia you could live near the beach and have a beautiful view of the ocean.
Kellie