Congratulations to Jessamy and Finlay who completed this term’s Bookish Bingo challenge. Finlay received a copy of ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’ as his prize (a must read for anyone), and Jessamy received a copy of ‘Heidi’ (one of my favourite books as a kid). I look forward to seeing which categories everyone chooses for next term’s Bookish Bingo!
Some mysterious letters arrived in 6B today, delivered by a very clumsy owl…
6B were very excited to receive their Hogwarts letters! We have displayed them in our room and can be taken home after we have finished reading ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone’.
Below is our Weekly Imaginative Writing Prompt, The $5 Island. Create an imaginative narrative based on this picture. Remember that quality writers show, don’t tell. Try writing using some or all of the 5 senses (smell, taste, touch, hear, sight), and adding in some figurative devices (metaphor, simile, personification, pun, alliteration, etc.). Make sure your story has a solid resolution and doesn’t end too abruptly (no waking up from a dream endings please). We will also be working on this in class throughout the week. Publish your writing on your student blog once you have edited and revised it. I am excited about reading your imaginative ideas, 6B!
The 2017 PRC starts today! The book lists and online reading log can be found at https://online.det.nsw.edu.au/prc/home.html
Today we watched a short animation called, ‘Ballad of a WiFi Hero‘ and discussed the Narrative Arc of the story. We talked about the six main components of a narrative – exposition, conflict, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution.
We then identified the six main plot points in ‘Ballad of a WiFi Hero’ and created a storyboard. Below are storyboard’s by Imogen, Haydn, and Immy. I was very impressed with the detail and quality of these storyboards.
Today, 5B were treated to a Creative Writing session from the Callaghan College, Waratah Campus English faculty as part of a taster lesson program. We worked on creating blackout poetry. We talked about poetry in general and what it means. Then we were shown some examples of blackout poems and discussed the process of creating one. Firstly, you take an old book (or newspaper, or another type of text) and rip a random page out of it. The messier the rip, the more artistic your blackout poem will appear. Next, scan the text on the page and find a word that jumps out at you. Circle the word with a pencil. This is your anchor word. Your anchor word will help you choose other words or phrases in the text to create your poem with. Next, read through the other words on the page and circle words or phrases that you think would make an interesting poem. Finally, once you have selected as many words/phrases as you are happy with, use a black marker to blackout the remaining words. You can be as creative as you want with this last step and even create pictures. It was an extremely engaging lesson and I was very impressed with the poems that 5B created. Have a look at these photos from the process below.
Today, our Year 5 students got the opportunity to take part in the Careers Through Reading program with the Aim High team from the University of Newcastle.
The program involves university students leading small reading group sessions and conversations about lifelong learning and post-school education opportunities. The program aims to strengthen the existing literacy component already provided in our school. During the visits students will continue to learn to interact confidently with their peers; speak confidently in group discussions; listen strategically and read with comprehension. The cross-curricular activity-based model for Careers Through Reading aims to strengthen the students’ love of reading whilst linking the importance of reading for positive educational outcomes.
Below is a great video about the program from the University of Newcastle and some photos from our first session today.
