Whilst most Year 5 students may consider playing with Play-Dough a little beneath their level of education, it was a little different in class today.

As part of the process of understanding procedures, Miss Durell simply handed the recipe over, and had the students follow it to make some multi-coloured dough.  This will then be used in class in coming days to further their current science studies.

Whilst many were accurate enough with directions, some strayed a little too far from the precision required.  All doughs were salvageable however, and the students enjoyed the process thoroughly.  The lesson about procedures was understood by all participants – particularly those who were more creative with their measuring.

Now we await the next phase of their scientific endeavours.  Stay tuned!

Miss Sarah Durell’s Year 5 class have recently taken time out to explore the foods and nations which they themselves have come from.

Well over two thirds of this year group have either been born overseas, or come from parents who are first generation immigrants.  From Ireland and Ethiopia, Italy and Spain, through to Jamaica and New Zealand, England and Canada – there was someone from almost every continent on Earth telling a story.

Students were requested to bring a food for lunch, which told something of their origins.   Some stories were personal, about their family’s favoured foods from their homelands.  Some were historical, telling the reasons why particular foods were celebrated in their countries.  The result was an amazing amount of food and variety, that provided a very filling and tasty lunch for the students, along with some parents who were in attendance.

Wonderful, maravilloso, fantastique, iontach.    In any language it was a great celebration.

The Year 5 class, under the capable direction of Miss Sarah Durell, have spent a day celebrating all that Charlie and the Chocolate Factory has to offer.

Students have been familiarising themselves over the term with the story, and today they celebrated the time spent with Willy Wonka by participating in a range of chocolate based activities.

Willy Wonka and the odd Oompa Loompa or two arrived this morning, and were part of the sweet-treat filled events of the day.  The students decorated biscuits, were involved in a chocolate mousse moulding competition and then sat back to watch the classic version of the original  ’Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”.

Great work students, and a superb end to what has been a very productive term.

Rubbish bins collection, parks and gardens, sporting fields, schools and the military. What do they all have in common? They are all provided to us by one of the the Three Levels of Government.

The Year Fives recently had a visit from Mrs Kennedy-Piper (otherwise known to the students as Mrs K-P), who works for the Constitutional Centre. The focus of the incursion was to learn more about the Three Levels of Government.

Students in the class were grouped into teams of three and after a short information session, participated in a quiz. Instead of having to give the answers, as would normally happen in a quiz, Mrs K-P read out the answers, and the students had to find the question from a selection of cards, recording their selection. For each question they got correct, ten points were awarded.

Two teams achieved the top score possible of 240 points, with the rest of the teams following closely behind. A tie-break challenge was given, and the winning team of the quiz was the ‘Pink Fluffy Bunnies’! All the students played along in the quiz with enthusiasm; it wouldn’t surprise me if we have a budding politician or a few in our class!