Information Reports - Fact Finding Mission

Last Tuesday we were learning about facts contained in information reports. To start this lesson we read a book on materials and their properties; each of us made our own notes.  Then we each shared one of our notes and went to write it down on a piece of paper and sort it into first piece to last.

After that thrilling note taking activity, it was time to move on to a small assessment on jotting down information on three different sheets with the titles: What we know, What we need to know and Where can we find information from?

For the What We Know section, we very excitingly jotted down what we knew about materials, their properties and so on. We worked in groups of three and took turns writing and giving ideas. As you can see in the first picture, we were able to express our ideas using diagrams and pictures to explain the learning.

Then we went onto part 2: What We Need To Know? This one was a bit harder because you had to think deeper and think what did you not know. So for this we switched writer and sat down to brainstorm some questions then we listed them like:

1. Why do we use materials in our everyday life?

2. Why do we use natural materials to make non-natural materials?

After that we had to think if we had covered questions in natural habitats, factories and so on and we kept inquiring into different topics on materials until we felt we had asked enough.

Finally, we moved on to Where Can We Find The Information From? So for this we thought of sources that could be used to find out our inquiries like the internet, a library, peers, and so on. We wrote all we thought we could get the information from and we went onto think about the origins of the materials and where they are produced as well as encouraging people to have reasons for their choices. Basically, anywhere or anybody you could get the information from, you should put on the list.

- Hugo

Miss Helen's "Green Fingers"

Ms. Helen’s CCA (“Green Fingers”) is actually not just working on one cottage garden, but two! One in the Kindergarten area and another opposite the fish pond. But - what is a cottage garden? A cottage garden is a small garden where you would plant vegetables - sometimes herbs and fruits - to use in your cooking.

“Green Fingers” hope to use their vegetables in the cafeteria for lunch, and maybe for a cooking CCA - one that is still to be created.

I would suggest that, Nexus could hold a fundraiser to sell the plants, perhaps donate them to charities and certain year groups could even have a nature study! 

The flower beds are still being made, and “Green Fingers” have not yet gotten on to planting. Still, we look forward to witnessing the development of the gardens and all the opportunities they will provide Nexus!

    •    Charlotte

The Year 1 Visit

On Friday, the Year 1’s came to our classroom so that the  student council representatives of our class could get some great ideas from two different perspectives.When they first came in with their teacher we all sat on the carpet while Mr William explained our task. 

Everyone got split up into pairswith our Year 1 partners and we all got started.  We all had to think up a couple of ideas that we think would improve learning at our school.  Everyone had thought up lots of great ideas. 

Once we had finished thinking of ideas we wrote them down in a shared Google document.  After we had finished writing down all of our ideas, we all gathered on the carpet to discuss which ideas we all thought would be good ways to improve learning in the school. 

We all looked through the ideas to decide which ideas the school council would talk about in their next meeting.  Then we all took a vote on all of the ideas.  Unfortunately,  the year 1’s had to go, so the rest of us filled in most of the questions on behalf of our partners.

It was a really good idea for all of us to get together and answer all of the suggestions together and to learn about empathy.

The Year 6s scribed for the Year 1's

Sometimes, it was hard putting ideas into words!

Thanks for this Isabella!

Hooks

On Tuesday 23rd of September, Class 6B did a fun activity. They studied “hooks” and how to “hook” readers. Hooks are basically things that you add to your writing to make it more interesting to readers. You have 6 hooks to use, and you can use any of these hooks in your writing to make what you are writing more interesting for your readers. These 6 hooks are;

    •    description 

    •    opinion 

    •    statistic

    •    question 

    •    interesting fact 

    •    quote


Year 6 learners were asked to cut and glue lots of paper slips, that had sentences printed on them. These sentences were taken from reading books. The slips were sorted into one of the  6 types of hooks and pasted into their English books.

It was challenging and fun but in the end, they all got it.

Thanks Maya.

Language Arts - Recounts of Events

During this term we have been learning about recounts. We have learned the important things that we need to add to a recount. Like the orientation (who, what, when, where, why). All the verbs have to be past tense. We have to include sensory detail to make the reader feel like he/she was actually there. We also have to include our feelings about what happened. 

Making a poster showing the key features of a recount.

In a recount, what is the most important feature to you?

The RECIPE for friendship

At our school assembly last week, we were all learning about following a recipe. Mr Beach chose  teachers who then chose students, to come up and make chocolate cake. 
Two of the three teams didn't follow the recipe correctly so their cake didn't turn out as well as the other cake.  Our school recipe is something that makes the school a safe and more fun environment. Each letter in the word RECIPE stands for a special word: Respect, Excellence, Compassion, Integrity, Passion, and Enjoyment. 

That day was also International Talk Like A Pirate Day! 

What would a good recipe for friendship be?

By Hannah

Recounts

Over the last little while, Year 6 has been looking at Recounts on a wide range of events and topics. Some of us have been watching CNN Student News and creating recounts based on the reports we've watched, others have written recounts about family events and others have written recounts based on school events they have participated in.  We've practiced creating "hooks" to draw our readers in and using interesting descriptive vocabulary to give a clear description of events as they happened.

It has been a lot of work!

Sharing our learning in a poster.

Thinking about your learning, can you explain some of the main features of a recount? What things make a recount different from other forms of writing?