Time flies when you’re having fun, and it certainly has been lots of fun in 5/6 Land! It has been another busy and exciting fortnight filled with wonderful learning opportunities across all areas of the curriculum.

Last week, in Exploring Texts, we finished our unit on the text Tasmanian Devil by Clare Saxby. Students chose their own endangered animal and wrote both a narrative story and an information report, using Clare Saxby’s text structure as inspiration. Our wonderful and talented students absolutely blew our socks off with the quality of their writing! Students used engaging vocabulary to hook their readers, build tension, and create detailed descriptions throughout their pieces. Be sure to check out Juni’s amazing writing at the end of this newsletter!

This week, students have begun exploring the powerful song and text Took the Children Away by Archie Roach. This learning has linked closely with National Sorry Day and has encouraged thoughtful discussions surrounding Australia’s history and the experiences of the Stolen Generations. Students have been exploring how Archie Roach’s text can also be read as poetry, discussing how poets carefully choose and arrange language to create meaning, rhythm, and emotion. We have been analysing the language choices used throughout the text and examining how figurative language and imagery can stir a reader’s imagination and emotions.

In Maths, we recently finished our unit on angles. As a final task to consolidate our understanding of naming, measuring using a protractor, and drawing angles, students designed their own skate parks and/or playgrounds. It was fantastic to see students applying their mathematical knowledge in such creative ways! We have now moved on to extending our understanding of decimals and are continuing to build confidence when working with decimal numbers.

In Inquiry, students have continued working hard on their dioramas. It has been wonderful to see the creativity, effort, and attention to detail students are putting into their projects.

On Tuesday night, some of our Grade 6 students were fortunate enough to head up to Buxton with staff from Healesville Sanctuary to participate in spotlighting for the very tiny Leadbeater’s Possum. Unfortunately, we did not spot any Leadbeater Possums on the night, however we were lucky enough to see Ringtail Possums and a variety of birds throughout the evening. It was a fantastic experience and opportunity for our students to learn more about our native wildlife and environment. This experience is part of the Haining Farm Fighting Extinction Schools Program that Badger Creek is participating in this year.

“It was really fun learning about different type of animals and seeing them in real life and having my dad talk to us about the animals” – Kate

“I liked seeing the sleeping bird in the bushes. I liked the bus trip in the dark too.” – Will

“I enjoyed waiting for the Leadbeater possums, spotlighting and the bus in the dark” – Mathew

“The bus ride in the dark and seeing the possums” – Tate

“Looking for the Leadbeater possums and seeing the other possums in the trees.” – Leonard

We can’t wait for another wonderful fortnight in grade 5/6!

From a very proud team of 5/6 teachers!

FLYING THROUGH FIRE

By Juni

As the forest sways and the salty, seabound air rushes past with the promise of night, all the creatures of the stars emerge from the dark, eager to hunt again.

A small Orange Bellied Parrot, reaching adulthood, glides down from her treetop nest on the edge of a beautiful clearing, as she flies down, she sees the forest after the wildfire. The air had cleared since then but she still saw the smoke sometimes, everyone was swallowed by the wildfire as soon as it arrived, she had no friends, no family, no one. She was the only one left.

There was a small rocky glade on the mountain side of the island’s vast, treacherous terrain, the cave that loomed over the same glade was home to a small flock of Orange Bellied Parrots, unknown by humans, unknown by anyone. She hears many loud screeches from the other side of the forest, they are coming from the glade, screeches that sound like hers. She zips through the forest and the screeches get louder, her heart beats with every flap of her wings, her eyes dart back and forth, searching for the noise.

She saw what was wrong, a giant hawk was circling the parrots by the glade. She knew that there was a secret entrance into a tree, big enough for a flock of parrots, small enough so the hawk couldn’t follow. She landed in a cluster of dandelions and stumbled over to the huddle of petrified birds. As she led them into the humongous hollow of a towering oak tree, the hawk crashed into the oak as the last of the orange bellies clambered inside

As the stars begin to fade and the night slips away, they twitter and chirp as the newly hatched chicks begin to flutter and glide in the towering oak hollow. No more fires, no more hawk, all is well. FOR NOW…