The planking activity was one of the activities we did on the lead yourself into the future day. I think this activity was very important because we had to communicate within our group so we knew when we had to plank and stop. Something our group tried to do was have a word that we say when we needed to stop. That didn’t really work how we expected it to be and we all ended up yelling over the top of each other. That’s why we learnt that you have to communicate with each other quietly and in a calm way so we know what to do.

They live in the a dry grassland environment and are the largest land animal alive. They weigh up to 5,400 kg and can be 3.4 metres tall. Meet the Elephant. 

The environment that the Elephant usually live in is called a savanna. Some elephants also live in forests and mountains too. Elephants look like humungous grey beasts with big floppy ears and knobbly knees. They have curved tusks as teeth but sadly some people hunt and kill Elephants for their tusks. They are also the only animal alive that has a trunk for a nose. 

Some interesting and weird things that Elephants eat are bark and juicy grass. They don’t mind eating thorns either as long as they have leaves attached to the thorns. Elephants use their trunks to carry food for themselves and for their younger ones and they can eat up to 140 kg of plants a day.

Elephants have a quite a few different adaptations. Elephants use their own trunks to spray themselves with water so they can keep clean. Their big ears help them keep cool and they use their tusks to protect themselves. Some behavioural adaptations Elephants have is when they come across remains of another Elephant they take a silent pause and the mother elephant uses her trunk to stroke her young.

Fun Fact: Did you know that the male Elephant can be extremely grumpy

Fun Fact: Did you know that the male Elephants fight for their group of Elephants and some times can kill each other. 

What is you favourite animal?

How well do you know your favourite animal?

The Year 5 Production has been an awesome experience. The play we were doing was called Hanging Onto The Bottom Of The World. It all started with auditions all the way back in term 3 even though it feels like yesterday. We were in pairs and we had to memorise a small bit of the script and from there they decided who would get what role.

Then on the first week back in term 4 they announced the roles. I got the gold prospector. I was so happy with what I got because I got to say and find gold and also I had one of the best lines in the whole play which was ‘You little beauty’.

Learning lines went really well for me. I only had 4 lines but that didn’t stop me from practising every night. To make sure I new when to come in my Dad was very helpful and played every other character in the scene so I felt comfortable with my role.

Then we had a lot of rehearsals and everyone was so excited for the dress rehearsal coming up. We found out our costumes the day before our dress rehearsal and because I was also a convict I had to change quickly into my prospectors costume but I did it in no time.

The dress rehearsal went really well and though I was a little bit nervous to perform in front of a lot of people I was ready to do it. I was a convict first and we had to sing a song while walking into place. Then I was the prospector, it all ran very smoothly and everyone clapped at the end while we sang the song again.

Then we had the day performance the next afternoon. It all went really well and in my opinion was better than the night performance.

Have you ever been apart of or in a Production?

Title: The Boy, The Bird and The Coffin Maker

Author: Matilda Woods

Genre: The main genre was mystery because you never knew what would happen next, but it was almost even a fairytale because it ended in a happy ending.

Description of the Storyline: The boy Tito kept coming to The Coffin Makers house. One day when Tito came over the coffin maker caught but he wasn’t trying to scare him but Tito ran away. Then the coffin maker went over to his house and found him lying on the floor. The Coffin Maker let Tito stay with him. Tito’s Mum had just passed away that’s why he was coming to the coffin makers house for food. Then his Dad came  to the town and asked anyone if they had seen his son. Then he came over to the coffin makers house but they had already been told about him coming so they sailed away in a boat. 

Why I liked this book: I liked this book because it was so hard to stop reading it because you  really wanted to know what happens next. Another reason why this book was amazing was how it just turns so suddenly and that also makes it hard to stop reading it.

What is your favourite book you have ever read and Why?

Something my family and I celebrate is when we go to Lorne which is on the Great Ocean Road. We go to Lorne every summer holidays after Christmas because my family owns a beach house down there. It is usually a two hour drive but sometimes it can get up to three hours if the traffic is bad. My family and I aren’t the only ones that stay down there. My Cousins, Aunty, Uncle and even my Grandfather comes down too since he owns the place.

Some things that I enjoy doing down at Lorne are going to the beach because I enjoy surfing with my brother and sister. I also like watching the older kids skate in the skate park because it is really cool watching them do all their tricks on their skateboards. 

A special memory I have at the time I’ve been down at Lorne was when I was doing Nippers which is a Life Saving Competition and I came first in every race and I was the Club Champion for my age group. I was so proud of myself for not only coming first but trying my hardest and having so much fun.

As much fun it is in Lorne it can get really hot which isn’t the most pleasant time of the year, but if you put that aside it is awesome in Lorne. Some other fun activities you can do are bouncing on in ground trampolines and playing mini golf with friends and family. There is also a lot of king parrots and we feed them bird seed which is also fun.

There is also a place called Erskine Falls in Lorne which is where you can climb rocks and look at the waterfall. My family also plays cricket on the beach and I always dive for a catch and hurt myself when I land on the sand and everyone laughs. 

This term our class went to Toonallook for the first time. Toonallook is near South Gippsland lakes and it was really hot. On the first day the whole class competed in the photo rally. You were in groups of 2 or 3 and you had to find the real place that you were given in the image.

On Wednesday we got split up into 2 activity groups. My group did bike riding first while the other group did kayaking. Then we switched and kayaking was definitely my highlight of the trip.

On Thursday we started by catching a boat to Paynesville which is were did some fishing. Unfortunately we didn’t catch anything other then jellyfish. Then we got a boat over to Raymond Island to go for a bike ride and we saw a lot of koalas.

On Friday we finished off with the Toonallook Challenge which included 6 different activities, but in the end it was 8-8. Some other fun events include playing king ball, camping in tents (Expo), seeing a kangaroo, the shoe game and exploring Toonallook for the first time.

One of the Positive Learner Attributes I used while at Toonallook was Connectedness. I used connectedness when Henry and I worked together to put up the tent that we would sleep in.

What is the name of your favourite camp?

What was your favourite thing to do while you were there?

I made this as my avatar because I have brown messy hair most of the time just like this one shows and I also have brown eyes. I made a very colourful background because I enjoy looking and working with loads of different colours. I used the app my avatar to make mine.

What did I learn in the Hard Road Ahead Unit?

Life in the 1850’s was very different compared to how we live nowadays. It was hard to earn money if you were a miner. The people who were miners were usually poor people from England, Ireland and China who left their homes and families to find their fortune, but were often left empty handed. 

The kids who went to school in the 1850’s experienced a much harder time than we have. Girls and boys were separated in class and in the playground and the teachers were very strict. It was hard to get an education and most kids ended up leaving school to work to help the family survive. 

The Eureka Stockade was when the miners wanted the government to stop making people pay  for licences to pan for gold. The miners build a stockade and the in the early hours of 3rd December 1854, the government attacked with soldiers. 22 miners lost their lives, including one woman. Eight soldiers also died. Peter Lalor, the miner who wanted to fight back, managed to escape the stockade with a broken arm that had to be amputated. Two others miners escaped by wearing dresses.

The Red Hill National School was originally built under a tent. Unfortunately canvas was expensive on the diggings, and in September 1854, the teacher reported that someone attempted  to steal the tent for use of their own claims. Soon after the incident the tent was replaced by a simple wooden building and a roof. The building was 18 feet by 30 feet with 2 doors and windows at the front of the building. In the National School the children sat at long wooden desks on equally long wooden benches that had no backs. This building was not on the main street. It was on the street above where the cottages were with a big wooden fence around it.

What else did you learn and apply during this unit?

During this project, I wrote a newspaper article that was set in the 1850’s. It was about someone stealing the equipment from the Red Hill National School and a pig escaping from the Chinese camp. I thought my article was very detailed, with lots of pictures related to the topic. 

Another project I did was a maths activity creating a video. It was an instructional video which gave compass directions and angles to get to three landmarks around our diorama. 

Which of the PLA’s did I use throughout the unit?

I was able to imagine what it was like as a child in the 1850’s. This started by reading the book chat book, which helped me understand kids experience. Writing the letter to the school also really helped me reflect, by giving me some understanding about what it would have been like for kids in the 1850’s.

I collaborated and communicated with my partner building the diorama. We might have disagreed on some things, but managed to figure out how to change it so we both liked it. A challenge I faced while doing this unit was my partner being away for a couple of weeks. So I had to the building on my own and come up with my own ideas about the building. 

One of my highlights during this unit was having my parents come in to see the diorama we created and watch the robot that we programmed go around the main street. Another highlight was experiencing how school was for kids in the 1850’s. 

Looking back and thinking about this unit, it will be something that I remember for a long time. I  definitely enjoyed this unit.

What do you think makes a good information book?

I think a quality information book needs information that engages the reader and hooks them into wanting to understand the topic more. It also needs a lot of detail so the reader understands more about the topic. I also think that a good information book needs pictures that ties in with the text so the reader gets visual as well as printed information.

What was my favourite book and why?

My favourite book was definitely Make Believe. I liked it because it had a lot of detailed information and images and there was so many optical illusions that tricked your brain into thinking one thing but when you looked at it from a different angle, your brain thinks another thing.

The Author of Make Believe helped me think creatively about what I was reading and seeing and it made me feel weird and surprised because of the optical illusions. 

What was your favourite short listed book and why? 

This week in literacy we have been doing haiku poems. The rule with the haiku is the first and last line has to be 5 syllables and the second line is 7 syllables.

Autumn

Autumn time arrives

Leaves rustle in the strong breeze

Playing together

I feel the fresh air

Colours all over the grass

Winter time arrives