Clean up Australia day 2015

Today we had clean up Australia day it was a lot of fun we picked up a lot of rubbish there was so much rubbish it was crazy. Our school looks a lot cleaner since we cleaned up all the school and the school grounds are now all clean and there is no rubbish on the ground only in the bins. All of the school helped out in clean up Australia day today year 6 had a very big area to clean but they did it. It's all clean now. 

                              Thank you everyone that helped out.                          

Zone Swimming Carnival

On Monday, we had a large number of students who represented our school at the Zone Swimming Carnival, many from Years 5 and 6. They all made an outstanding effort to swim their best and show sportsmanship. We are very proud of all of them!

Year 5 Merit Awards

These two lovely girls have been working hard this week. Both Rebekah and Mackenzie have made an outstanding effort to complete classroom tasks.

Well Done!

Year 6 Merit Award Winners

Congratulations to our Merit Award winners! 

Phoenix and Jack represented our school at the Zone swimming carnival showing good team spirit and perseverance. Well done!

Amelia demonstrated generosity and a willingness to give, especially with donations to the Westpac Rescue helicopter organisation. Thank you!

Our Prefects for 2015

It was a big week at MACC!

It ended with the announcement of the Primary Prefects for 2015. They were announced by Mrs Gray and badged by the 2015 captains Connor and Sarah-Jane. Our Prefects were Amelia, Brock, Jack and Nikita from Year 6. 

Mr Gray in his introduction talked to the Primary School about having the qualities of a leader is not represented by a badge. All of us can choose to display the qualities of caring for others, selflessness and generosity in all aspects of our life. 

We wish our Prefects all the best and know that they will do their best to serve the Primary School in all of their capacity. 

The Westpac Helicopter Came to Visit!

Mobile Phone Use

Digital devices, such as mobile phones, iPads and iPhones, are a normal part of everyday life. In stage 3, recognising that these devices are needed as part of getting home or making contact with parents. Learning how to use them appropriately for school, however is also part of the responsibility.

What is the acceptable use of these devices when at school?

• Mobile Phones must be out of sight and switched off during lesson time.
• Digital devices can be used in the playground to listen to music or play games.
• Be careful about giving phone numbers out. 
• Digital devices may be used in class, when teachers have given permission and are part of the learning program.

What is the unacceptable use of these devices?

• Students may not make calls, text anyone or take photos without permission at all during school hours
• Students may not post photos or give out personal information of anyone at Mount Annan Christian College while in in their uniform.
• Mobile phones may not disrupt a lesson by ringing or beep tones.

For further information, please see the note below:

Helping out a Classmate

Our hearing is a very important sense, helping us to understand and then communicate with those around us. We depend upon our hearing for everything that we do. We need our hearing to understand what others are saying to us. What if we couldn't hear?

Understanding what it is like to not hear is important, especially when one of our classmates wears a cochlear implant to help him to hear. Mrs Suzette Denman, from the Deaf Society came to speak to us to help us understand what it is like to wear a cochlear implant. She showed us how it worked. Mrs Denman also played some podcasts of what it sounds like. It doesn't sound the way we hear things.

Cochlear implants magnify the sound but they do not filter the sound like our brain does. Even though the wearer can hear sound, they hear all sounds. It makes it important to face a person who is wearing a cochlear implant so that they can tune into our voice.

What are some other ways that we could help a person wearing a cochlear implant to understand what is  being said?

Church time: We are valuable!

Today, in church time we learnt that our values will always stay the same so we compared it to a $20 note. We would stand on it and make it dirty but it still has it's value. Even if you scrunch it up or do anything to it people will still want it because it has value. And this isn't just for money it's for us too. If someone bullies us or hurts our feelings they can't change our values because god has given us a gift. Some people might say they don't want God in their life or they don't want anything to do with god but that won't change your relationship with God because you are valued and you are loved by him.

What do you think is Valuable?

Writing a Good blog Comment

Writing comments on blogs is an important part of blogging as it gives students feedback and questions about what they are learning. It helps continue engage students in the process of the learning process using writing as a way of expressing their thoughts. It helps consolidate what they have learnt.

As part of our Family blogging Month we will be awarding good comments two points. A comment that is error free and adds something to the conversation by either asking a question, an observation or thought will be awarded two points.

How to Comment on a blog:

1. Choose the post that you wish to comment on 
2. Go to the word "comment" and click on it. A text box will appear.
3. Type in your comment, remembering to check your spelling, punctuation etc. 
4. Choose in the drop down box, which identity you will post as.
5. Click on the word "Publish"
6. An anti-spam word and number will appear which needs to be entered into the box. 
7. Your comment will appear after approval.

Why do you think its important to write comments on a blog? Are there any tips that you could add to writing a good blog comment?

The doors are in!

On Friday, the last part of our renovation for our learning space was completed. The large sliding, glass doors that were made were finally installed. They will make a learning space a very flexible one. The most exciting part is that the doors can be used to write on, using glass markers of course! 

Come and have a look! 

MACC Swimming Carnival

It was a beautiful day for our annual Swimming Carnival, which provided a great atmosphere. So many of our students competed, showing sportsmanship and a willingness to participate. Many of students gave of their very best both in the pool and for cheering their house team.
There was a comment mad by the pool staff on how many students competed and how well they behaved which was very encouraging to hear.

Well done everyone, for an outstanding effort!

Sport is Awesome!

Being active is an important part of being healthy. Learning the rules of games and how to play alongside others develops good social skills, helping us to develop friendships and physical skill.

This year, as part of the changes that have been made this year in our school, we will be having House sport for our primary school students in Stages 2 and 3. Our House teams are Nepean, Nattai, Hawkesbury and Macquarie.  

We are learning the new skills of how to play a version of Softball called "Throw Softball". The game is played on a diamond with bases like softball. All the base positions are the same too! The biggest difference is that the ball is thrown by the "batter" instead of being pitched and hit with a bat.
It can be fast and furious at times, but is definitely a lot of fun!

What have you enjoyed most about sport so far? Who do you think is the best team? 

6T Achievement Award Winners

It has been a fantastic start to the Year. We have some great award winners who have made a great effort this week. We have written blog posts, completed Timestable challenges in record time and made a difference in our classroom.

Thanks everyone for all your hard work this week! 

 

5S Award winners for this week

Self Portraits with a difference

This week we looked at creating artworks that explored how we are made up,of more than one image. We wrote down all the things that we enjoyed, were interested in and what we thought our personality was. For each of these ideas, a symbol was created to represent that. They were quick sketches to get our thoughts and ideas going.

Then each person were given their photo. These were cut out and stuck on the page. A thought bubble was added & the symbols were drawn inside. Each one was very different! 

We have yet to complete our artworks, so please come back and visit us when they are finished! 

Hmm...Very Interesting!

What will we do to be successful this year?

 One of the back to school activities we have completed is to reflect on our learning and what we need to do in order to be successful.

We discussed what our hopes and goals for the year. It was interesting to hear many of the different goals that students had, often reflecting the uniqueness of each child and what they felt they could achieve.

Many students talked about excelling in sports or being academic, which are definitely worthy goals. The ones that were really special were the students who wanted to just improve in an area they felt was something of a weakness. An example was one girl just wanted to be better at soccer.

It was interesting to ask the following questions of the students:

• What will your teacher need to do to help you this year?
• What will you do in order to be successful?
• What should kids do in this class to make the class run as smooth as possible? 
• What do you hope to learn this year?

 The responses were varied, but in reflecting on these questions it allows students to consider what they will achieve this year. I especially like the first one as it gave a real clue as to what we teachers need to help students. The most resounding comment came through was to explain things so that they could understand their work better!

My goal, of course this year... to find ways that will explain things better so that everyone understands!

What are your goals this year? What do you hope to achieve? 

Know My World Project

We have started the term with a project, which is always a good way to start something!

It is a project that is organised by the International organisation "Know My World", whose aim is to provide teaching and learning experiences that allow participants to exchange and share about their cultural differences and identity.

 The project that Year 6 is involved in, is a Journal exchange with International classes from Taiwan and the United States. The aim of the journals is to get to know other students from other places. It is to promote cultural understanding and gain perspective of how others live around the world.

The students in Year 6 have had the task of creating their own blog. This will start the process of a digital portfolio which will showcase their work. The first few blog posts that will be created will be writing about each student's interests, culture and what makes them unique.

Our Students will then have the opportunity to look at their Journal partners blogs and make comments and share their thoughts. It will be exciting to see what everyone has written!

Have you ever had the opportunity to write or talk to people in another country? What do you think that people in other countries need to know about Australia?