MRS SANDY GIPPEL
year 5 coordinator
D
r Seuss once said sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory. When reflecting on our year with the wonderful Year 5 cohort we recall many valuable moments that we will savour forever.
We started our year with a trip away to Camp Goodenough. Undeterred by the heat, the boys jumped straight in to all it had to offer. Being early in the year, camp was a great chance for all boys to get to know each other, especially as we have many new boys join TSS in Year 5. It was also a chance for the Year 5 teachers to get to know the whole cohort, as we mixed up the groups and engaged in many team building and personal goal activities. The boys ate, slept and played flat out for two nights and three days. Exhausted but happy.
Learning outside the classroom is always so rich, so during Humanities and Social Sciences, we took the boys to the Brisbane Commissariat. This was a great opportunity for them to learn about the settlement of Brisbane. Following the history through the 1800’s and learning about the hardships faced during the development of our great nation, was an eye opener to say the least. The boys got to walk through 98
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one of the oldest buildings situated on the Brisbane River and to also see what it would have been like to live a day in the lives of our forefathers.
Like it or not, it is hard to talk about Year 5 without mentioning NAPLAN. Again this year, our boys shone as bright as the sun, securing third spot on the Gold Coast (actually only two points off second!). They were invested and committed to doing the best they could in the time given, applying their best efforts in what was a long three days of testing. We were so very proud of them. It was all a distant memory for them though, once they caught a smell of the customary, celebratory end of NAPLAN testing sausage sizzle, wafting through the windows.
Not all doctors heal people, some blow things up and Dr Joe the scientist did not disappoint us again this year. He offered an incredible chance for hands on learning and for the boys to test their theories. They put all the knowledge they had gained during their lessons in to practice. Book Week this year was a joint venture with Grandparents Day. This was a lovely combination of family and a love of books, as the boys dressed as their favourite characters. Lucky boys were able to spend time with their grandparents, having lunch and bringing them to the classroom for a couple of games of ‘Preposition Bingo’. Some grandparents were not happy with the stereotypical connection we made between bingo and grandparents, but they all had lots of fun and showed that they were great sports!
The world of maths workshops took our minds to the next level. It was a great opportunity to learn about how maths was taught and which concepts were covered many years ago. The boys applied their skills and knowledge as
