The Dance!

Here is 6R's Dance for the upcoming Dance Assembly video - choreographed by Lisa!

Pasona - Urban Farming?

Yesterday, Year 6 went to the Pasona building to learn more about sustainability and urban farming!

The World War One SmackDown Arena!

'How did World War One start?' and other questions worth debating...6R had a go at representing the views of the different empires of the time. See how well we did!

Some Sensational War Stories!

How is it that ten and eleven year old children are better at writing stories than I am. And here is the proof - World War One fiction has never looked so good in print!

Glory? 

By Coe

“Is it really you?” asked Jeff to his old best friend Ken.

“Is it you Jeff?” replied Ken in a very enthusiastic way.

“You joined the army too!” cried Jeff. At least he had one friend who he could rely on in the great trenches. Ken jumped up in joy as his friend offered him a handshake, but before Ken could even reach his hands out, a tremendous yell came out.

“Serjeant Malloy! Report for sniping duty!” captain Crawford called out.

Jeff sighed and gave Ken a shrug as he went over to the sniping tower. He looked through the scope and gently aimed at a german soldier who was too tall to cover his head in the trenches. His finger tightened on the trigger. A bead of sweat ran down his face. His shoulder braced for impact… No, this was wrong. He was not born to be a killer. He was not sent from heaven to kill other people. He let go of the trigger. Aimed at the sky, then pulled the trigger. A loud BANG ran across the battlefield.

A meal was brought to the sniping tower, and Jeff stared at the oily, green soup and the rock hard piece of bread. Knowing that this was the only source of food, he closed his eyes and gobbled the food up in one gulp. Just as he finished, another soldier, no older than him, stumbled in the tower and replaced him.He climbed down the tower and the first moment he reached the bottom, a garlic, spicy smell came into his scent. Then a soldiers screamed out in pain rubbing their burning skin. Luckily, Ken brought him a gas mask for Jeff and when the smoke dispersed, the attack, which had been planned out, was going to take place.

“All soldiers get to the nearest ladder around you!” yelled the captain.

Praying to god, Jeff gave the last smile to his friend and gripped the ladder. A person with a bagpipe came in, as the captain reloaded his pistol. The captain placed the whistle on his lips. He took a deep breath. Peep! The whistle signalised the suicide run. Jeff and the other soldiers raced up the ladder as the bagpipe played. Screams and roars came from soldiers, as they ran across No man's land. Shells exploded next to the platoon. Then, a bullet shot across the field. Ken’s body felt lifeless and dropped in the mud. Jeff ,knowing what had happened, jumped into his body. Now, nothing was left. He felt as he had lost his mind. Anger and sorrow covered his heart. He gripped his rifle. Attached the bayonet on the barrel and ran. Ran for his sake, Ran for revenge, and ran for what people had once said, for his country.

He jumped in the enemy trenches. He saw the concrete house with the cackling machine guns in. He took a grenade out, took the pin, and threw it in the house.  A big explosion was heard and the machine gun stopped. His platoon came and took over. He had won, that's what his team said. Won, he thought. Won with the reward of death, he knew.

Smiling at death

By Connor

It was a eerie night in no man’s land. Nothing moved, everything was still. The ground was riddled with holes from shelling and bodies that may never be collected. A single crack of a bullet was enough to set of a fire fight and surely enough that is what was happening. The sounds of shells and rifle reports were like thunder and lighting exploding and cracking through the silent night. The soldiers behind the ladders readied themselves for the terrifying fate that would become of them. Among these worrying souls was the youngest in the company. John Parker didn’t know why he had been naive enough to join the army. He was 16 with intelligent green eyes and a thick mop of blonde hair and right now he was scared out of his wits. The posters in the train stations and in the streets made it look like it was fun to be on the front line beating the fritz. And it definitely didn’t help that when 3 of his brothers returned from work with the king's shilling and father greeted them like heros. He snapped out of his day dream when Sergeant Kindly walked up to the men shaking hands with each of them. Everyone knew they weren’t coming back. When he reached John he shook his and but the sergeant could see the fear in his eyes. He opened his mouth to say something but he never got to start when the sound of a shell approaching their sector made them all dive for cover. It was a horrible site those who were still alive got a good look at what was left and their fallen comrades before Sergeant Kindly ushered them back to the ladders and blew the whistle. Time seemed to have stood still the high pitched sound from the whistle punctured the sound around him as the rest of the company started to climb.

The chatter of machine guns and the explosion of shells was deafening. Men were dropping like wheat in a field but he still charged on, firing randomly hoping that the shots hit their targets. As the company pushed on gaining more and more ground each minute but they felt something wasn’t right. The Sergeant called a halt and just in time. From the cloudy mist emerged 3 tanks, their armour plating as shiny as gold and tough as iron. Their long barrels fired shells like dragons breathing fire. All the troops were forced into a retreat. The artillery fire tore holes in the ground underneath their feet. John was running for his life but he heard a agonising cry of pain. John turned around to see Sergeant Kindly holding his leg. He dashed over to him calling his name as he went. When John reached him it was very clear that the sergeant was in a great deal of pain. And it appeared that his right leg had been blown of by a shell. “Forget about me John” he said “I will just slow you down” “Don’t worry sarge I will get you out of this” yelled John over the shell and machine gunfire. He slung his rifle over his soldiers and picked up the sergeant and started hauling him back towards the trench. Bullets whizzed past him and explosions ripped up the ground still more men were falling but John pushed on. He was right over the lip of the trench a sense of victory warmed his heart. But behind him the enemy tank rolled up, it’s long barrel pointed directly at him and Sergeant Kindly. His knees felt week, how could this have happened. He was so close to living, to going back to England and to his father's open arms. In the last act of his life he tossed the sergeant into the trench…..    And faced death with a smile.

Who is the enemy?

By Kano

Looking at the letters that mum sent him, Harold had tears on his cheek. He went back to think when he was in England with his mum. He liked holding guns but he didn’t like shooting people. He was always shy even though he was in the trenches for 3 years from the start of the war. But, his sergeant in the trench forced all the soldiers to shoot German soldiers as much as they can. One day, Harold was preparing his equipment for fighting and ready to fight whenever the sergeant said charge.

“ Charge! “ the sergeant shouted aloud. Harold was nervous. Maybe this time is the last chance to be here with all my teammates. His toe, finger, all his body shaook in fear. He slowly went up the ladder and charged.

He ran as fast as he can and attacked the Germans. He took a deep breath and he took his gun and shot one German soldier. He dragged the German soldier to a place where no one can see. He felt sorry for him because he didn’t like shooting people so he thought he wasn’t supposed to shoot him. He looked the soldier and wondering that Harold lost one life of people. Tears came out.

He wiped his tears and dragged the German soldier to the trench, over no man’s land. The German soldier was all covered in blood and heavy. Trying not to look the soldier, Harold looked where he was going which is the British trench. When Harold was almost there to his trench, fast and quick bom went past Harold’s face.

“ Phuuuu! I didn’t get shot! “  Harold said in a bit of a nervous voice. “ Finally! “ Harold and the dead body arrived at the British trench.

When Harold went into the trench, leaving the dead body behind the trench, Harold saw his friend John lying down there all covered in blood like the German soldier that Harold captured. Harold try not to show his tears and he looked up the sky, stopping to cry. He had to take care of his life by his self from now Harold thought.

Harold pulled the German soldier down to his trench and took him to a small room. Harold opened the German soldier’s thick jacket and looked inside his jacket. He found a letter from his mother.

Dear my dear son, George,

Hope you are still alive. Mary and Louise are waiting for you. Louise turned 3 and Mary turned 8. Yesterday, Louise cried because you weren’t here for almost 3 years. When you left, I said that George went to a long trip so he will be back very soon. So Mary and Louise is very worried. Hope you come back to England soon.

Lots of Love from Mum, Mary and Louise.

“ What!? George is from England!?”

I am so sorry George. I shouldn't killed you. You were from England, you are not my enemy! When Harold looked closely into his pocket and there was his family’s picture and a stitch of a british flag. Harold felt very sorry and he was too sad and took out a small gun and executed him self.

Now Harold, George and John are all at the sky.

The Great BST Cook Off!

Dear Reader,

Here is the culmination to Year 6's Cooking - check out the awesome skills demonstrated in making a scrumptious stir fry!!!

Book reviews to podcasts...

Hello one and all,

Here are a couple of podcasts which review some of the WW1 books we have read in our WW1 unit. Please take the time to listen to them.

jackaNORY

So what is a nory? Well, a nory is is numeracy story. Basically, it's a story which tells the tale of a mathematical calculation! And here are some awesome nories!

Divisio’s Problem

Long ago, in the distant land of Mathematica, there was a small town called Decimalia which was an elegant town of grand architecture with a beautiful clock tower at its centre.

Many years ago, an evil Maths Puzzler had cursed the town so that the people there only understood numbers to two decimal places and made it such that the clock would stop at 1 minute to twelve until someone could find the solution to a maths question.

The question was what is 4.65 divided by 7. For generations the townspeople could not begin to understand the answer to this as try as they might, all of the greatest mathematicians in the land did not have a technique that would work for such a sum.

During a gathering in the town square, the conversation went like, “So, 4.65 divided by would be 0.66 ... but … how can it be … there is some left over, a … remainder … what does that mean … how can it be … what unearthly science is this ? is it witchcraft ? Are we all going mad ?”.

A young boy, Divisio, shouted up from the back “what happens if you just keep on going ? why don't we add more decimal places ?”

This did not go down well and after much discussion by the town's leaders, Divisio was banished from the land and told to only return if he could explain how his crazy notion could help solve the problem.

Divisio was sad and set out to wander the land of Mathmatica alone.

The first town he came across was Guesstica a town where the shopkeepers just guessed the change they owed their customer and every one was not sure how much money they had and generally felt ‘ripped-off’ and gloomy.

When Divisio asked one of the townspeople how to work out the answer to his question the man just replied,

“Uh… I dunno… 21?”

Divisio could clearly see this was a total guessed so said,

“Thanks, but no thanks.” and walked away to set off on his journey again.

The next town Divisio came across was Estimatum a town where everything was roughly what it seemed, the houses were more or less houses, the roads more or less went to the right place, and everything seemed about the right size. More or less. When Divisio asked one of the members of this peculiar town they said,

“Hmmm…. Well if it was 4.2 divided by 7, that would be 0.6 so… AHA! The answer must be about 0.6.”

Divisio was stumped. How could this be? So instead of saying anything he just walked away, not listening to the man shouting after him, “I would estimate that you do not believe me.”

He was so annoyed that he shouted back.”Exactly correct!”

When Divisio stopped next, it was at a village called Fractopia. Tiring of his quest, he asked the first person he saw who was a grey haired woman.

“Old woman, Can you tell me, what is 4.65 divided by seven ?”.

The town's woman stared at him.

“Firstly I’m not old, I just haven't been sleeping well. Secondly, I never heard such talk, What does that mean ?”.

Divisio replied,

“You know numbers, division and all that”.

“Oh, numbers. You mean like 4 and 3 and, erm, 76.” said the woman knowingly.

“Yes, that sort of thing. But decimals, numbers less than 1.” exclaimed Divisio, getting irritated.

“Oh, you mean fractions. I know all about fractions. Hey, Numerallia. There’s a boy here wants to know about fractions.”

Another woman appeared.

“So, your sum, is gibberish.” said Numerallia laughing with Denomilicia. “A sum with numbers less than one would be something like a half times a half.”

“Two fifths !!!.” Denomilicia called out and as she did, a siren blared and two burly policemen leaped out of a passing car and dragged her away.

“I’m sorry M’am, but you are guilty of getting an answer wrong in public. You're nicked.”

“Errr, one fifth, 3 quarters, err, two and and a bit. Nooooooooo.”

And with that she was gone. Numeralia looked a bit stunned.

“Don’t worry miss.” said Divisio. “It’s probably for the best.”

He quickly made his way out of town not looking back.

Weary from his travels and meetings with people having bizarre views on numbers and calculations, Divisio happened upon a beautiful field with three goats who looked very strange but at the same time possibly helpful. One of them appeared to be giving a lecture to the other two, and was frantically waving a laser pointer.

“Hello” said Divisio,”Who are you?”

“We are three very wise goats.” said one of the goats.

“Yes, er… You  do look wise.” replied Divisio.

“Very wise!” reminded another of the goats. “What is your name?”

“My name is Divisio.” said Divisio.

“We are too wise for that name, so we we shall change it to… Barbara” said the other goat.

Divisio was a bit taken aback but kept on going. “ Oh wise goats, I, Divi… er, I Barbara have a really hard question.” he said, “ What is 4.65 divided by 7? And how can I explain it to someone who can only cope with two decimal places?”

The goats went into a huddle but eventually came out and said,

“ It is clear to see.”

“That the answer is.”

“0.66428571428 but someone  unable to understand a number more than two decimal places would not comprehend this so…”

“We need to round it!” said all three goats in unison.

“What's that?” said Divisio.

“Well, 5 and above go up, and 4 and below go down.”

“So looking at all those digits, the answer you need is 0.66!” Explained the goats.

“You are indeed wise said Divisio.

“Very wise!” reminded one of the goats.

Divisio hurried home and on his arrival in Decimallia he announced to all the people.

“I have an answer that will work for all!”. “I was right. Indeed, there are more than two digits after the decimal point, and there is also a reasonable way that we can know the answer using your restriction to two decimal places. The way was shown to me by some wise goats.”

“Were they very wise ?” said one of the townsfolk.

“It doesn't matter.” snapped Divisio. “All you need to know is that the answer is ….”.

“Yes ….” cried the gathered crowd.

“0.66” said Divisio.

“Are you sure” said a small child.

“Yes.” replied Divisio.

The clock struck twelve and all was well.

By Mikey

ESTIMATING with brownies

Once there were two best friends, 2561 and 3126, who were doing their homework about friends. One of the tasks was:

In 10 seconds, add together your numbers.

2561 and 3126 were puzzled until the crazy 102,943 old half-deaf lady came knocking on the door giving out brownies. Since they were the closest to the door, it was 3126’s job to answer the door.

“What you kids up too?” said the crazy lady.

“Oh, just some homework.” replied 3126. “It’s about friends and we’re trying to figure out how we could add our numbers together in 10 seconds.”

“Ohhh, that was good fun.” said the half-death lady who probably didn’t hear a word 3126 said under her mumbling. “Well, I came to give you some brownies that I made for the neighbourhood.” babbled 102,943. “Now,now, how many houses are there here in Seaside Passage?”

“I think about 10” said 3126.

“Ok then. I have 64 brownies so how many should each house get?” asked the old grandma.

“Umm.. just wait a second while I get some paper.” 2561 told her.

“No no no, 2561, I’m not waiting that long. You need to ESTIMATE.” said 102,943,  a little too loudly.

Then, from behind the girls, they heard 3126’s dad calling “Yes girls, you need to start estimating simple sums.”

“But how do you estimate?” asked 2561.

“Good question.” said 3126’s mum joining the conversation. “You just round the numbers to something easy then you do the calculation. It’s much easier and faster for simple things.”

“Ohhh. So I just round 64 to 60 then divide it by ten? That makes it much more easier.” said 3126 after thinking through it first.

“Yes dear girl, you must know know to estimate. You might need it in emergencies” warned the old grandma from next door snapping out of her daydream.

“Now girls, I was looking over your homework so what’s 2561 plus 3126?” said the dad starting to count from 10.

“So, 2561 rounded to the nearest 1000 is 3000,” said 3126 listening carefully to the time - 8 more seconds.

“And 3126 rounded is 3000 so 3000 plus 3000 is…” added 2561 with 5 second to go.

“6000!” cried both girls at the same time with 3 seconds left.

“We did it!” laughed 3126. “Thanks 104,943, mum and dad.”

And the best friends completed their homework and ate warm brownies from the half-deaf old lady from next door while watching their new favourite movie, ESTIMATING with brownies by granny 102,943.

By Sena

½ * ¼

Once upon a time there was a family called one-half and one-quarter they hated each other and always fight with just a little things. One day the king of Fractions ⅛ died and was finding a new king ½ and ¼ both wanted to be the king so they fought again. One day the lawyer told them that the the new king still needs to be the number ⅛,  then ⅗ said to ½ if you times your-self with ¼ you can be the king. So they timesed the numerator which made 1 next they timesed the denominator which made 8 they putted them together which made ⅛. They became the new king of the fraction land!!

By Lisa

Express Editing Delivery

Today 6R spent more time in the edit express helping each other to edit their book review podcasts. It was an awesome collaborative experience!

Letting the steam off!

Today was all about Boiling and Steaming in year 6!