The Glove Hooter Band

Students are currently making glovehooters, exotic rooster-like hooters which sound a lot like foghorns! Students had to study parts of an instructional text and had to organise it so it had a logical sequence and then make their very own hooter. Some have actually made two. We have enough variety of pure notes and off-notes to compose something recognisable as well as something whacky. The band will perform at the final assembly of this term. The students decorated cylinders of varying lengths and diameters. They are currently learning the techniques to get the best sounds. It's a fun unit with quite a few variables. Here are a few of them:

Trying out the hooter

Nanami tries her glovehooter...

Our Danger Words

The following words have been collected throughout the first two terms and were the twenty most mispelt words in the classroom. These are up on the wall and students need to heed them!

Gallipoli: A film study

For the past weeks students have been looking at the Gallipoli campaign.  They each have a small exercise book to track their journey into history. 

We also looked at The Australian War Memorial and its significance to the Australian people.

Last week students worked on pre- film activities so that they can more fully understand this iconic Australian film. Students worked on some of the dialogues that occur in the film, colloquial language and the concept of the British Empire. Each pair had an element to explore and present to their classmates. For some students this involved a small amount of research on topics such as The Light Horse Brigade, the British Empire, the money of the day, the Ladies Patriotic Auxilliary, whilst others had to present a dialogue and explain what it meant.

The following lesson each student was given a still from the movie and had to predict and discuss what they could see in the photo.

August Thursday 7th students viewed the first two parts of the film. Then today Tuesday the 11th,  they watched the third segment which focused on the landing at Gallipoli.

When they had finished their paired work they had to find the other group who had the 
same set of descriptions and share their outcomes. Each group of 4 or 5 then presented their work to the class. This was a reading, and a vocabulary building activity. All eight groups' work is up on display in the art area.  Next job is presenting a character study; and the finished product can take a number of forms. Students drew their character out of a hat. On Wednesday we will focus on how to write up/present a detailed character description with direct reference to the film.

I negotiated with students the different form that their character presentations could take. This is a snapshot of our brainstorm session. Products  are due next Wednesday 27th.


Character Study  (Using product and process differentiation)

The purpose of this is for students to showcase their knowledge of either Frank or Archy, making specific reference to the film. Students drew their character out of the crocodile-banded hat. The presentation can be done by way of one of the following products:

1. an in depth written text using paragraphs or an essay

2. photostory OR powerpoint

3. an interview using fat and skinny questions

4. portrait with some extra information verbal or in text or a mix/information poster

5. a radio interview

6. a diorama

7. an animation

8. a series of comic strips showing major happenings in the film

Example of a statement made about a character with direct reference to the film:

Archy is very patriotic and this is shown by his enthusiasm to go to war. He is desperate to join up and tries twice to enlist, having success on his second attempt with some help from Frank.

Famous Figures of Federation and the DVD (keywords)

Students will be viewing the following DVD in three parts and using keywords to take notes. Keywords have been a major focus across the grade 5/6 units this year to aid students in note taking and to avoid plagarism.

All the posters and brochures about the pluses, minuses and interesting facts about "federation " are in and being assessed. Well done!  Next activity in the learning sequence  is to create your own ICT product, PhotoStory, Power Point or animation about one of the historical figures listed below or you may negotiate one of your own as longs as you can show their links to the process of federation. On Thursday students will be shown how to make a PhotoStory. Students will also make a placemat plan looking at their chosen person in terms of the Keys to Success: persistence, resilience, getting along, confidence and organisation and will construct a timeline. The placemat is due in Monday the 30th June. Then the ICT aspect will become the major focus.

Frank Anstey	Charles Cameron Kingston
Anstey, Francis George (Frank) (1865-1940) -- biography and image. From Australian Dictionary of Biography Online Edition	Charles Cameron Kingston - biography from Flinders Ranges ResearchCharles Cameron Kingston (1850-1908) - role in Federation. From Parliament of Australia
Edmund Barton	Henry Lawson
Edmund Barton - short biography. From Australianhistory.orgThe fathers of Federation - includes Sir Edmund Barton and Sir Henry Parkes. From Skwirk Sir Edmund Barton (1849-1920) - biographical notes and image. From State Library NSW	Henry Lawson: Australian writer - Henry Lawson's life and background. From Australian GovernmentHenry Lawson (1867-1922) - simple overview of Lawson's life. From Australian Broadcasting Corporation Henry Lawson - biography and includes poem 'Sez you' and copies of his birth and death certificates. From NSW Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages
Andrew Inglis Clark	Louisa Lawson
Andrew Inglis Clark - biography from University of TasmaniaClark, Andrew Inglis (1848-1907) - biography and image. From Australian Dictionary of Biography Online Edition	Louisa (Albury) Lawson - Australian poet, journalist and publisher - instrumental in helping Australian women to get the vote. From AlldownunderLouisa Lawson - background information and influence on women's rights. From Australian Workers Heritage Centre Louisa Lawson - short biography from Education Services Australia
Edith Cowan	Sir William McMillan
Edith Cowan (1861-1932) - simple overview of Lawson's life. From Australian Broadcasting CorporationEdith Cowan - background information from Australia on Net Edith Cowan - short biography from Education Services Australia	Sir William McMillan (1850-1926) - biographical notes and image. From State Library NSWMcMillan, Sir William (1850-1926) - biography and image. From Australian Dictionary of Biography Online Edition
Annette Bear-Crawford	Edward William O'Sullivan
Bear-Crawford, Annette Ellen - biography and image. From Australian Dictionary of Biography Online Edition	Edward William O'Sullivan - biographical notes and image. From State Library NSWO'Sullivan, Edward William (1846-1910) - biography and image. From Australian Dictionary of Biography Online Edition
Alfred Deakin	Sir Henry Parkes
Alfred Deakin - comprehensive biography from National Museum of AustraliaAlfred Deakin - biography from National Archives of Auatralia Alfred Deakin - biography from Deakin University Alfred Deakin and Federation - role in Federation. From Deakin University	Sir Henry Parkes - brief biography. From Beenleigh State SchoolSir Henry Parkes - short biography from Education Services Australia
Vida Goldstein	Banjo Patterson
The art of Suff-Rage - celebrating Vida Goldstein - outlines Vida Goldstein's struggle for equal rights for women. From FernArtzSt Kilda biographies - information on the suffragette Vida Goldstein, From Friends of St Kilda Cemetry Forging the nation - Vida Goldstein - summary of her work as a peace activist. From Australian War Memorial Viva Goldstein - short biography from Education Services Australia	Banjo Patterson - a biography - biography and link to recordings of his poems. From Wallis and MatildaBanjo Patterson - simple overview of Lawson's life. From Australian Broadcasting Corporation 'Banjo' Patterson - short biography from Education Services Australia A. B. 'Banjo' Patterson - biography from Alldownunder
Sir Samuel Walker Griffith	Sir John Quick
Sir Samuel Griffith - short biography. From Griffith UniversityGriffith, Sir Samuel Walker (1845-1920) - biography and image. From Australian Dictionary of Biography Online Edition Sir Samuel Walker Griffith - brief biography. from Supreme Court of Queensland Library	Who was Sir John Quick? - background and influence on Australian Federation. From La Trobe UniversitySir John Quick - Member of the First Parliament. From Parliament of Australia Quick, Sir John (1852-1932) - biography and image. From Australian Dictionary of Biography Online Edition
Henry Bournes Higgins	Rose Scott
Henry Bournes Higgins - role in Federation. From Parliament of AustraliaHenry Higgins - short biography from University of Melbourne Henry Bournes Higgins - biography from Australian Industrial Relations Commission	Scott, Rose (1847-1925) - social reformer. Information from Australian Women's Archive ProjectRose Scott (1847-1925) - Australian feminist papers. From State Library of NSW
Livingston Hopkins	Catherine Helen Spence
Livingston Hopkins - political cartoonist. Short biography from Lambiek.netHopkins, Livingston York Yourtee (1846-1927) - biography and image. From Australian Dictionary of Biography Online Edition	Catherine Helen Spence - biography from Flinders Ranges ResearchCatherine Helen Spence - background on life and work. From Thiele Primary School Catherine Helen Spence - information about Catherine helen Spence and her writing career. From State Library SA
Acknowledgement :Catherine MacAuly Library, St Aloysius College http://www.sac.sa.edu.au/Library/Library/Primary/sose/federation.html

Australia's Federation - Behind the News Clip

We watched this today and  are going to use this as the inspiration to write our own class play about Federation for presentation in a school assembly. A big thank you to K for sourcing the transcript and printing off; a great starting point.

First Assignment for Federation: a PMI - Due next Thursday 12th of June

A PMI is a pluses, minuses and interesting investigation. Last week students were each  given a booklet on Federation, and we have discussed how to pick out the keywords. They really need to read the information thoroughly (more than once) and look up any words they are unfamiliar with. Many of the students have had a turn reading to me so I can gauge their understanding of the two texts, but any support at home would be greatly appreciated, as there are 27 students in the class. The information should be housed in their Useful Folder.  The Federation unit is a tough requirement of the history curriculum and will require persistence and organisation. Students will be receiving a significant amount of help scaffolding the assignment. They have been asked to produce a PMI poster which will be a mixture of written text and visual text to show their understanding of the topic. This is the first task. Today students also received a second source of information, two pages on Federation from a book levelled at upper primary students. Tomorrow I will be showing some film clips, sharing some music and also a Big Book which simplifies the topic somewhat more. To date three-four hours has been given in class on this topic. Tuesday the students will have a mini computers for an hour each to find a third and/or fourth source to help them with this assignment. . Tonight they were asked to finish reading the information given and to make a plan in their Writer's Notebooks.

Yesterday, May 3rd I and some brave volunteers read the big book Australians All to the class. It is the easiest to understand resource I have so far discovered about Federation. I photocopied the most relevant pages to Federation in colour and then laminated them. Four randomly chosen students put these up as a display in the quiet room as a resource.

Federation: this term's history focus

This second term we will be focusing on Federation, looking closely at what it involved, the plusses, the minuses, the interesting aspects, and of course the aboriginal perspective. This painting was created in May 1901 to commemorate Federation and the opening of the first Parliament of Australia. The painting was done by Tom Roberts and it was such an arduous job that it nearly killed him. His friends nick-named it "the big machine" and it took him over two years to complete.

Below you can see the Duke of Cornwall and York speaking in front of thousands of people. Robert was of course very excited to be officially commissioned to create such an important painting.

The painting is way bigger than most people imagine it to be, I was surprised at its impressive dimensions on a recent trip to Canberra parliament house where it now hangs. It hasn't been hanging here all the time you know! Where could it have been? Wouldn't it be interesting to know about the private lives of all those depicted?  Who were they all? Bet they weren't all squeaky clean...no-one is. And of course the aboriginal perspective is often missing from this stage of the Australian story.

A Box of Bears - An Art Lesson

This week for our art lesson the students drew bears and toys. I brought in a box of bears and a few students brought in their own favourite toy to sketch. They are experinenting with different ways to draw fur. We also looked at a Steiff bear, the first company to make the teddy bear. The lesson will continue next Thursday after the Naplan testing is finished.

Barry's Visit

At the end of term one students were lucky enough to have Barry Geard to come in and talk to them about his grandfather Private Herbert Walter Chaffey who fought in World War I on the Western Front.  Barry had brought with his an original roll honour board and his grandfather's medals. He talked to the students about th e huge death toll of WWI and also showed them an excerpt from the film All Quiet on the Western Front.  Barry talked mainly about trench warfare and the conditions in the trenches. Barry focused on the heart wrenching social consequences on the home front as well.He is going to come back this second term to focus more specifically on the Gallipoli campaign. In class we will be doing a film study on the  groundbreaking Australian film Gallipoli made in 1981 with a focus on the main characters of Frank and Archie. The students really enjoyed the session and I was proud of them for the huge amount of respect they showed and for their good manners. 

Thalia from MKR visits the Class

A big thanks to Amanda who arranged for her daughter Thalia to come into the classroom to talk about her experience on My Kitchen Rules. The kids had lots of questions to ask and Thalia diplomatically addressed everyone of them. Students learnt about media bias and had a chance to talk individually to Thalia.I took a class shot and will get each student a copy. I was just excited as they were. Thalia we loved you and wish you all the best.