5/6C’s Class Blog 2008

This term we have been studying Australian Parliament and how it works. We have also been running our own parliaments, pretending it’s the real thing.

First it was Miss R’s grade vs Miss K’s grade. They were fighting about longer school hours. Second it was our grade vs Miss R’s grade fighting about one hour of television a night for kids. In the first argument between Miss R’s grade and Miss K’s grade, Miss K’s grade won; and in the fight between our grade and Miss R’s grade it was a draw, 22 votes to 22 votes.

Then it was our grade vs Miss K’s grade an the topic is that Australian families could only have one pet. There were lots of arguments presented against this law, especially when we worked out that we had 100 dogs and 60 cats in our grade alone!

Class parliament is a great way to learn about how laws are made and how to make a good argument.

By Jarrod and Josh.

Note from Mrs C: there was no fighting, really! Just spirited debate.  

In class we are reading the American novel “Riding Freedom”, by Pam Muñoz Ryan. The novel’s genre is historical fiction, which means that while many of the characters and events in the book are non-fiction, or true, other characters and details have been invented by the author to help make the book more interesting, make sense better, or to fill in gaps in history. The book relates to our current study of Government and Elections as the central character, Charley, is believed to be the first woman to vote in a U.S. Presidential election – although officials didn’t know that at the time!

When we have finished we will write a review to post on our Books page.

The Wordle below was made using a discussion guide for “Riding Freedom” on the U.S. Scholastic website.

 (Not to be confused with the US Election)

Fourth term will be full, busy and fun. We will be learning about the Australian government system and running our own election campaign in our school. Students will be devising a platform to run on and a detailed advertising campaign which will include television, radio and print media ads. Each team will put their media on their wiki pages for other teams to examine, then there will be a press conference where all teams present their work. Finally, there will be THE ELECTION, where all students and teachers cast their ballots and determine the winning party.

Term four will also see most of our Grade 6 students travelling to Canberra for a four day camp, after which they will be preparing for Graduation in December. Grade 5 students will be preparing to take on their role as senior students next year.

Stay tuned for further developments!