As we have just moved through the half way point in the term, again there is so much to report on and celebrate. The diversity and standard of the work produced by the students in Year 6 continues to amaze as they strive to try new things and push themselves beyond their comfort zones.
The majority of this week’s newsletter is proudly compiled by the students themselves and hopefully captures just some of the excitement and enthusiasm they bring to school each day.
Enjoy.
Book Week Review
This Week was the CBCA’s (Children’s Book Council of Australia) Book Week. This year’s theme was Escape to Everywhere. We did many things like; a Book Quiz, Book Week Assembly (held by the Library Monitors 2017) and of course, the Book Week dress up parade. It was a special Book Week for Year 6 as it was their last. Planning the Book Week Assembly was a lot of fun. We used our time during classes and lunches to prepare for this memorable Event. The Library Monitors held a little play which was about The Book Awards. All the Shortlisted Books got a chance to walk down the red carpet and strike a pose in front of the Paparazzi. This Year’s Shortlisted Books were: Home in The Rain, One Photo, My Brother, Out, Mechanica and The Patchwork Bike.
We are still on our book week reading challenge and we are nailing it with the reading minutes. Soon we will know the winners from each year. We will know which classes will win in Week 8 Term 3. And if you haven’t gotten a prize yet from reading, continue reading at home to get that prize on your library day. Your teachers will decide the prize when you win. So help your class and win that competition!
We had Book Quizzes this week. In the quiz we had to answer questions about the shortlisted books for 2017 ad award-winning books from previous years. The Winners of the Book Week Quiz for Year 6 2017 is Team 6, Sienna Gleeson, Naoise Breeze, Annabelle Foley and Amelie Gibson, who represented Waratah house. We all did a great job and tried our best. It was the best Book Week Quiz in years.
On Friday, Primary children got a chance to dress up as their favourite book characters, even the teachers had fun and dressed up too. We saw people dress up as Harry Potter, Maleficent, Mad Scientists and Willy Wonka characters and more. Good job to everyone who took part of this event.
Thank you to parents and teachers for helping us making our costumes this year and thank you to our library teachers for making this one of the best Book Weeks ever!
By Sophia Zervaas, Charlotte Drayton and Tim Gliddon
Music recitals
Last week AISHK celebrated the musicians in the school by holding the AISHK music recital on 24 August. Congratulations to all the musicians who participated. There were many amazing acts from guzheng to the electric guitar. It just shows how much musical talent the school has. We would like to congratulate all the Year 6 children who performed; Isabella Lai, Joshua Lai, Alfred Chan, Jeannie Leung, Amelia Lai, Isaac Au, Kristen Li, Natasha Pizzala, Alison Or, Georgia Dunstone, Victoria Tang.
Watching these talented children just shows how much effort and dedication you need to be a musician. We would also like to congratulate the choir on their amazing performance of Turn the Lights On. Thank you to all the musicians that participated in the AISHK Music Recital.
By Lucy Holt and Victoria Tang
Maths problem Solving Competition
Who knew maths problem solving could be so loud and active? Believe it or not, last week during the Year 6 Maths Problem Solving Day there was screeching, screaming, running and yelling all while Year 6 solved complex maths problems. Teams of 3 or 4 people in house groups worked together to solve maths problems. Once the problem was solved, a runner from each group would rush from their table to a central table to get their next question.
The first team to complete their 20 questions was the winner. Group 5 from Wattle was our winning group, with Group 4 from Jacaranda second and Group 2 from Eucalypt third. For house points, it was a rush with Eucalypt winning first place and then Wattle, Jacaranda and finally Waratah. Maths Problem Solving was a fun afternoon with some challenging questions.
By Hugo Dixon
Swimming Education Program
This term Year 6 has started the swimming program, helping us learn the value of survival skills, such as modified strokes to use in emergencies that we may encounter in our life. Survival skills are one of the many keys we need in our life, it is great that our school program includes this. For the survival program we brought in long sleeves and long pants to know what it is like if you were in the water with long clothes. We have also been preparing ourselves for the term 4 swimming carnival, where many races will be held for everyone!
Many students at AISHK train regularly and have the terrific opportunity to improve on their swimming strokes. This is a fantastic way to beat your PB (personal best) and improve your endurance. We are all looking forward to the swimming carnival next term and competing in races with all our best effort.
By Emma Phillis and Angelina Valentine
Insert Photo of swimming
Science
Over the past few weeks we have been learning about science and have been having a lot of fun. In our science experiment with the petri dishes we went around the school to find the place with the most diverse microorganisms. We have learnt that microorganisms are protozoa, fungi, bacteria, viruses and algae these are living single-celled organisms. We went to places that would have the most microorganisms. We thought that the dirtiest places would have the most microorganisms. We collected these microorganisms by getting cotton buds and we swabbed them into places we thought were dirty and a diverse place for life. We then put the petri dishes in the science room upstairs in an incubator, where they will stay for a week. Then we will look at the petri dishes under a microscope to see how many microorganisms were in each location. We had lots of fun collecting microorganisms and we look forward to our next science unit of work. By Isaac Lun and Daniel Bennie
Book Review
The Mysterious Benedict Society
Reynie is an orphan who is gifted in knowledge. His closest thing to a family was his tutor, Ms. Perumal.
Sticky ran away when he realised he was being used by his parents for money.
Kate is an adventurous girl whose mother died when she was young and joined the circus at the age of 7.
Constance is a short, smart, spoilt cry-baby whose age remains a mystery.
Mr. Benedict brought this team together.
Now they must fight with all their wits, to prove what is right. This book is about friendship, love and loss. All of them have lost something. But when they unite, they find out who they truly are and are a team that is unstoppable.
This book by Trenton Lee Stewart is an entertaining book for readers who are interested in mystery and sadness. Get ready to find yourself in a world of action and adventure.
We thought this book was good because it appeals to most age groups. Trenton Lee Stewart’s imaginative and descriptive text takes you to the land where friendship matters the most.
We highly recommend this book to you.
By Trisha Chan & Caitlyn Harbottle
Fathers’ Day
Some days, when things aren’t going right, you feel like nobody can hold your hand and help you. But, there is. They are a huge part of our life. To recognise the challenging work and contribution that our dads put into our lives, we will be celebrating Father’s Day on 3rd September. Sometimes we don’t appreciate our fathers as much as we should. They put so much effort into making our lives great. Whether you give gifts and cards or go to the movies, or take a day at the park or go to dinner, be sure to give your dad a huge hug and be grateful for all the effort that they put into our lives. Have a good think about what they do for you, and take a moment to be grateful for our amazing Dads. By Olivia Dudman
Dates for the Diary
Wednesday 30 August, Wattle Mufti day
Friday 1 September, PA Father’s day Event and Primary Assembly
Friday 8 September, Chinese Week Primary assembly
China Visas
Important Information if you are applying for a Chinese Visa for our trip to Beijing.
You need to bring a copy of the student’s birth certificate and copies of both parents passport if it is the first time travelling to China on a new passport.
Talk to a teacher
christopher_bird@aishk.edu.hk (6B)
