The Year 6 students have been involved in some interesting and engaging learning experiences since the beginning of Term 2. Below are reflections from some of the Year 6 students.

Last week during activities in the STEM Centre, Year 6 students got to have some fun with experiments around with light. We got to use light protractors, opaque square objects and clear coloured square objects to change the colour of the light. We then had to answer questions on how different coloured light combines to make other colours. My favourite part of the activity was answering the questions because I got to learn new things. Two things I learnt are that the colours magenta, yellow and red can make a white colour and that putting together different colours can make a whole new colour. Did you know that light can’t travel through opaque objects? Instead, light has to go around it, unlike translucent and transparent objects. - Saanvi 6C

This term, Year 6 students have been visiting the lab in the STEM Centre. One of the activities we attended was to test to see if liquids are in alkaline or an acid. We used a universal indicator to find the Ph levels of different liquids. The liquids included milk, water, cordial, Pine o clean, fabric softener, shampoo, Fanta, vinegar, honey and Dettol. We had to make predictions on what the Ph level would be. It was amazing to see how the colour of the liquids changed when a few drops of the universal indicator were added to it. Some of the results were really surprising but Dettol surprised us the most as it was highly acidic and had a Ph level of one. - Asees and Jasleen 6A

Using the microscopes was a fun and exciting experience. When we got to the STEM Centre, the microscopes were ready for us to use, as the teachers had set it up beforehand. Once we got to our stations, we chose some slides to look at. We couldn’t put actual objects under the microscope, so we had slides carrying some of the material in them. We looked at a moth wing and it looked decomposed, and the ant looked like the same except bigger. The locust wing looked like a flower, and we saw roots of vegetables, such as a carrot and potato. It looked amazing and so realistic up close! It was a great new learning experience for all of us. - Asmi 6C

Earlier this term, we had a chance to use the SurfaceGo to go on a website called Tinkercad. On this design website, there was a door to lots of creative thinking. You could write words with your stylist, add shapes and more. Our aim was to explore and have a play with this software and in future lessons, we will design something to be 3D printed in our new STEM Centre. This was a very fun and creative experience and we all enjoyed it. - Gunraj 6B

Project Rockit came to teach us about cyber bullying and tips and tricks to stop it. They told us some embarrassing stories about themselves to get to know them better. We played two rounds of human chain, where a group of six or four volunteers would pass on a secret story by acting it out, then once everyone had a turn, the last person would guess the story. The first one was an octopus on rollerblades eating an apple and the second one was a penguin swimming and eating a hamburger. By the time the last person had to guess the stories, they changed. The first one became a flamingo drinking water and the second one became a penguin swimming and singing. The presenters told us how this connects to the real world. When people talk online, they often change they stories. They told us how people can change stories because they might not like the person, to get more likes and comments, to spread rumours about them and so they aren’t saying it to the person’s face, and they remain anonymous. They also told us that we need to think before we post. The presenters said how the octopus went becoming a flamingo is similar to how people in real life change stories. 

This incursion made us think about whether we should be a part of the problem or the solution. We learnt that talking is often the best way to communicate so that misunderstandings don’t get out of hand. This incursion also made us feel motivated to help the community to stay safe online and to make sure that we all feel comfortable online. We learnt how privacy getting leaked can be harmful, often leaving people hurt and insecure. Through this incursion, all of us were able to understand how we should stand up for people getting cyber bullied and what to do when someone is getting cyber bullied. As a group, we thought of things we all want in a new online community such as banning hacking, making bullying illegal, no hate comments, no privacy being leaked. Staying safe online can allow us to be mentally happy.
PROJECT ROCKIT - tackling bullying in school, online and beyond - Sophie and Jahanvi 6A

Channelle Waring - Teacher