Advertising - How We Express Ourselves

We are inquiring into how advertising  influences our beliefs and behaviours. Part of our Tuning In was to use QR codes to look at and try to work out the messages the advertisements were sending us as well as who was their target audience. We looked at about 20 QR Codes altogether.

The codes were split into two groups, one group with the text and company edited out and the other group had all of the text and advertiser's name included.

We started by looking at the group without the text and then, after we tried to work out the message, we looked at the second group. We thought about how having the text, and not having the text, made a difference to how we interpreted the ads and their messages.

Wind Powered Cars

For the Year 3 assembly, we mixed it up a bit and used the technology we had in school to help us out.

For a change, the only classes in the auditorium were Year 3 and Year 4! All the other classes were linked using Google Hangout and we were set a challenge by Mr Beach, in the auditorium over the video link. In our classes, we had to help our younger partners to build a wind powered car with the materials that were provided.

We had a great time watching the other classes in the Auditorium and classrooms as we all worked on our own models. There was a live video link to the "roaving reporters" as well so as we built, we saw and heard what was going on in other classes. There were some issues with the sound sometimes but it was great fun and all the groups managed to build their cars and show them over the video link to all the other classes.
Here are some images from the event.

Terracotta Figurines

Not too long ago, the Art Department heard about an artist who had created a vast number of terracotta figurines.
Using that as inspiration, almost the entire population of the primary school set about creating our own "Nexus Field" in C Pod. It is now finished, and it looks great!
There are about 700 figurines altogether including children and teachers. Can you work out which one is Mr. William's? Those who know me well will spot it straight away!

I am not great at making sculptures in any medium but it was great fun even when the arms kept falling off!
Thanks to Ms Meher and the rest of the Art Department!

The Argument Game!

Recently, as part of our Unit of Inquiry "How We Express Ourselves" we played a fun game called "The Argument Game."

Two players will need a die and a game board. On the game board are lots of statements which could be debated (or argued over). Some are quite funny such as "Homework is good for you" and "Dogs make better pets than cats." There are about 36 statements altogether in a grid. Player 1 will roll the die and then pick any column and then counts the number of squares down that column. They then read the statement and Player 1 must support the statement, while Player 2 must disagree. The two players debate and then swap and repeat the process but Player 2 plays from left to right along the grid.


It was great fun and players definitely had to demonstrate some Learner Profile Attitudes and Characteristics (such as creativity and being open-minded) when they had to argue against something they actually agreed with!

Wear a Moustache Day!

It's "Wear a Moustache Day" at Nexus Singapore!
This week we are celebrating Movember which is a fundraising initiative raise awareness of men's health issues. A huge number of male teachers are sporting a variety of moustache designs and today, the primary school decided to support them by sporting their own versions of upper lip growth :)

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?

Year 5 & 6 Assembly

All six classes in Years 5 & 6 presented their learning for the rest of the Upper Primary school today. It was a fantastic display of learning and new understnading as well as ideas of how we can take action to resolve conflict. We then concluded with a great song "I Had the Strangest Dream."

Below, you will find a group photo of all of us and below that our welcome video for the audience which was played at the start of the assembly.

Enjoy!

Miss Helen's Cottage Garden

Miss Helen's CCA (Co-Curricular Activity) group has started building a cottage garden near the Year 5 and 6 classrooms. They were hard at work last week getting the area ready for use and it looks ready to develop into our newest garden! By all accounts it was loud and busy and a great time was had by all.

Thinking about your learning, have you ever grown a garden? What things are important to keep in mind when creating a garden like Miss Helen's group are doing?

TechKids Ready For Action!

Mr Lowe would like to announce that the TechKids are recruited, and ready for action!

At Nexus, the TechKids are super important because they model appropriate use of the technology around school but they also mentor other learners and even help out teachers! They come from Years 4, 5 and 6 and after interviews, they are invited to join. This year we have 16 TechKids and more are joining every week! The TechKids represent a wide variety of interests from swimming to music to art to maths and more. They are quite good at a range of technology tools but they are really great at teaching, modelling and helping others.

Soon, our TechKids will be presenting some Tech stuff to the teachers at an upcoming staff meeting as part of their "Presenting" achievement badge.

Welcome to TechKids!

TechKids at Nexus Term 1 2014 with Mr. Bolton

The coveted red lanyard :)

Thinking about your learning, what do you know how to do well? Why is it important to share your understanding?

What a busy week!

This has been a super busy week in Year 6. We've been organising ideas, writing scripts, rehearsing and creating props for our Year 5 & 6 assembly. We've also had to work on our summative assessments for our UoI unit on Conflict and Resolution!

Script writing

... and more script writing!

Our first rehearsal as six classes together ...

 Thinking about your learning, what have you been busy with this last week? What have you learned about yourself as a learner?

TechKids at Nexus

The TechKids have returned for their second year at Nexus and had their first group meeting where we explored and learndd about Doodlecast Pro and other exciting apps. The TechKids wll be welcoming new members after the interviews are complete next week! We can hardly wait to start supporting other learners and teachers in their use of technology throughout the Primary School. Here are a few pictures of the TKs at work today, as well as supporting learners new to Nexus get training on Google Drive! A great demonstration of the Learner Profile Attitudes of Cooperation, Empathy and Enthusiasm - Great Job!

...

 

Google Glass

Over the weekend, Mr William went to learn about all sorts of new and interesting things Google is doing to support schools and learners around the world. He listened and spoke with very knowledgeale thinkers and met lots of interesting people. He was also lucky enough to be invited to try out  Google Glass with some super Google Learners from a local middle and high school. It was really exciting learning how to use the new technology and some ways it could be used in school but also some things to be careful of!

It was a great weekend!

Thinking about your learning, what did you learn about this weekend? Were you an inquirer?

Nexus Basketball played their first game today!

Mr William had the pleasure of watching the Nexus Boys under 19 basketball team play their first game of the season today after school. Sadly, we lost but the boys showed great commitment and tenacity. Well done boys!

What is your favourite sport? Have you joined a school team?

Welcome to our blog!

Here is an animoto video of what we've been working on so far. These are a collection of images from a range of lessons carried out by all three classes. One of the areas we are looking at is Conflict and Resolution.

Do you know what causes conflict? What peaceful ways can conflicts be resolved?

Welcome!

Welcome Dear Readers To The Year 6 Blog

Here in year 6 we want to share our learning and ideas to the world so we have created a blog to do so.The year 6 blog is to soon be filled with blog posts about the school year and many of us are excited to do them. This blog is home to 3 classes, all in year 6. We want you to feel as happy as we are when you are reading these posts. So please feel welcome here at year 6 blog. Comment, and tell your friends because the Year 6 blog will be here all year to share our learning.

Thanks for visiting, come back soon!
Year 6