The Next Australian Master Chefs?

Monday afternoon was a great time to be in Rm 22...we all enjoyed a delicious sampling of freshly baked scones, with a dollop of jam and cream for good measure!

How did this all come about I hear you ask?

It is, of course, a well known fact that the parents of Rm 22 students are a multi-talented, brilliant bunch. One of them - Mrs Maria Kelly, very bravely volunteered to run some cooking classes for our students. This pleased Mr Sanderson very much, because:
A) it is a valuable skill that all children should learn....and they most CERTAINLY will not learn it from him
B) He will get to eat some of the delicious stuff made!

So, with a firm, courageous tone, he gave permission for Mrs Kelly to go ahead, and Monday was the first day. We selected 6 intrepid students to be in the first group: Tayla, Samara, Georgia, Trinity, Emilio and Francis. They were then given expert tutelage in the craft of preparing the perfect scone.

Once made, they were then scoffed down by the hungry crew of Rm 22. They did an excellent job and the results were delicious.

A HUGE thank you to Ms Kelly for her great work. Next week, another six students will get to make Irish soda bread.

Mr S can't wait!

The Great Debate!

Last week, the students from Rm 22 battled it out in the 'Great Debate' of 2019!

Since the latter half of Term One, we had been learning how to draft and argument and then present it to an audience in a bid to convince them that our position was right.

We had to also learn the rules of debating. It turns out that there is a very strict order in which arguments must be presented, and that it is a very formal process. We had to learn the roles of the first, second and third speakers, as well as the role of chairperson and timekeeper. 

Mr S randomly assigned us to teams of three, which were made up of students from Yr 4 - 6. We were then given a topic and a position which we had to argue. This was quite difficult, as sometimes, we didn't agree with the position that we were assigned, but Mr S told us that that was all part of team debating - you had to go with the position you were given!

The topics were really interesting and required a lot of research and thought:

Parents should be able to ‘choose’ and alter the genes of their babies, to make them smarter, healthier, prettier!

Spending money on space exploration is a waste of money...there are more important things to spend money on!

Playing video games are bad for children.

AI and robots will one day take over the world and doom the human race!

Scientific testing on animals is justified as it benefits humans.

Our job was to then go and research arguments to support our position, and then write a script that would win over the audience. It is not as easy as you might think! Each speaker is allowed four minutes to speak, so we also had to practise our speeches aloud, and time them. In addition, Mr S told us that public speaking is 50% the words on the page and 50% how you 'sell' it to your audience, with expression, pausing, eye contact and strong body language.

All our hard work led to the 'Great Debate', which was held last Friday the 16th of August. We had invited parents, relatives and staff to come and watch us battle it out. Various teachers and guests were the adjudicators, and they gave us feedback after each contest. Everyone had a lot of fun and the judges all reported that they were very impressed with us for our incredible efforts.

We look forward to the next one!

Super Science!

Last week, our class had a great time discovering some of the scientific principles that govern whether an object will float or sink.

We started off with a simple enough question: will plasticine float? We tried it out by dropping a ball (slightly larger than a golf ball) into a bucket of water. What happened? It sank like a rock to the bottom!

Mr Sanderson then told us a fact which we all knew, but that we hadn't really thought about before. A lump of steel will (obviously) sink in water, but battleships are made from steel and they float...how can this be?

After some thought, we came up with the idea that it must be the thickness and the shape of the material that determines if it will float or sink. We then broke into pairs, were given a lump of plasticine and told to go and try to make it float. After only a few moments, we worked it out - you had to make the plasticine thin, and mould it into a boat shape. We tried it and voila! We had made our plasticine float!

Mr S then set us a second challenge. He gave us access to a box of 2cm wooden cubes and told us to see how many blocks our boats could hold before they did a 'Titanic' and sank to the depths of the bucket ocean. At first, our mighty vessels would only hold approximately 10 blocks, but then we started to modify our boats by making the walls thinner and the bottom (he called them 'hulls') wider and longer. Before long, we were able to place over 20 blocks on our boats.

Being the competitive souls that we are, we then had a competition to see whose boat could hold the most. Finn and Raymond were locked in a deadly battle with Samara, to earn the title of 'Most Excellent and Brilliant Boat Builder'. In the end, both teams ended up with their boats being able to hold 38 wooden blocks. This beat last year's record of 34, which was held by Alka and Shreya. 

Now for the 'sciency' bit! - Why DO some things float and others don't?

What causes some things to sink and float? Well, it’s all about something called density. Do you know what density means? Well everything around us is made up of tiny molecules. In some objects tiny little objects called molecules are jam packed together, and in others they are loosely packed together.  This is actually what density means. The objects that are jam packed together have a higher density, and the more loosely packed objects aren’t as dense.

Let’s think for a minute about other large objects like a boat, or maybe even an airship. How does this sink and float work? Some boats are massive, and would seem very dense, so how do they stay afloat? Well basically the boat has to push the water aside so that there’s room for it. As it’s so heavy it actually gets pulled down by gravity. But there’s more to this. Now comes buoyancy, which is the opposite of gravity.

But what is buoyancy? Think about what happens when you put an ice cube into a glass of water. As the ice cube moves some of the water to make way for itself, the water level rises and floats partially in and out of the water. Gravity is pulling the ice cube down and the buoyant force is pushing it up. How far in or out of the water your ice cube stays depends on its density, as that is what the pushing and pulling forces are working against.

Easy, right?

The Nerds Shall Inherit the Earth!

Last Friday, Rm 22 and 31 put on a SPECTACULAR senior assembly, celebrating everything wonderful about being smart, inquisitive and loving learning.

All the staff and guests were blown away with our amazing facts, Emilio's rather incredible recitation of Pi to 100 places and Miss Shreya's perfect explanation of how to solve word problems using algebra.

Oh, and of course...everyone loved our song!

We had a lot of fun creating our assembly and learned a lot about why it is a good thing to enjoy school and aim high. This must certainly exemplify the 'Wattle Grove Way' and is one of many reasons why our school has such a fine reputation for promoting excellence.

A huge thank you to all parents who helped to dress up our students in such wonderfully geeky costumes. It takes me back to the way I used to dress as a teenager!

If you did not get an opportunity to read our fantastic 'Bushfire' poems, they are still on display in the Block 4 Wet Area. They are definitely worth checking out.

Here is to the second half of Term One... Can you believe how fast it is going?!

Carl Sanderson

Parent Information Evening 2019

Hello everyone!

Just to let you know: the Rm 22 Parent Information evening will be held next Tuesday the 19th of February, from 7.00 to 7.45pm. Check out the details below!

Rm 22 Parent Info evening!

GATE TESTING 2019

Dear Parents,

Just a reminder to all parents of Year 6 students - applications for Department of Education GATE testing closes this Sunday, February the 10th. 

This testing is designed to identify gifted students who are about to enter secondary school. Successful students may then be offered a placement in one of several specialist programs, such as art, music, dance, drama or academic extension. 

To be considered eligible for a place in these programs, students must sit the GATE test, conducted by the Department of Education.

If you would like your child to sit this test, you must apply online. Follow the link below and it will take you to the relevant website. it will also answer all your questions and provide useful information.

Link GATE testing website

Welcome to 2019!

Hello, everyone!

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday. I most certainly did and used the time to read a plethora of books, go on long walks around the Swan River, catch up with old friends and do some woodwork in my 'man cave' out the back of my house.

Although I thoroughly enjoyed my time off, I did miss my students and was quite happy to come back to work and see how much they have grown and how adorable the newest MAC additions are.

We have already gotten off to a 'flyer'. The new students have settled in beautifully already and the older students have quickly gotten back into the MAC groove. I am really looking forward to this year - I have planned lots of interesting learning activities that will hopefully challenge and extend the students.

For all our Year 6 parents, the first group of Student Representatives will be announced this coming Friday (8th Feb) at our first assembly. We would love to see you there...after all, in the blink of an eye, it will be the end of 2019 and we will be saying a tearful goodbye to our 'big kids' of the school!

I look forward to meeting with you all throughout the year.

Carl Sanderson