Class 6 began the term with a main lesson entiltled Business Math/Economics. The class were introduced to the processes for writing decimals as percentages and determining percentages. They memorised common fraction to percent conversions. We also learned about self-sufficient, barter, commodity currency, and monetary economies. The banking system was presented from a historical perspective beginning with the system established by the Knights Templar during the crusades in the Medieval Ages. This led us to the topic of our current banking system including the consideration of chequing and saving accounts, credit, and interest as it pertains to investments and loans. Children practiced solving word problems that required the calculation of sales tax, tips, commissions, profits, losses, discounts, and simple interest (using the formula I=PxRxT). In groups the children ran their own small businesses, although stressful at times it was a lot of fun. We would like to extend a warm thank you to the school community for supporting our businesses. The children have decided to use their profits to purchase a gift for the school and the rest will be donated to volunteer organisations within our community.

In our second physics block, we studied heat, magnetism, and static electricity. We were lucky enough to have the wonderful John Davey share his expertise. The children experienced the transfer of energy that we call heat by alternately holding their hands in very warm water, room temperature water, and ice water. They enjoyed observing the creation of heat through combustion, friction, light, and chemical reactions. Demonstrations showed the expansion and contraction caused by heating and cooling solids, liquids, and gases as well as how heat travels through radiation, conduction and convection. We set up a solid ice block with piano wire and weights and observed the wire slowly make it’s way through the ice cube.

In our studies of magnetism, students were introduced to magnetite and experienced its magnetic properties. They explored with magnets to discover which materials were attracted and which were not. They discovered that magnets have north and south seeking poles and that magnetic poles react to one another. They learned that certain objects could be magnetized and used to make a simple compass. They gained an understanding of how the compass works. They observed the force field around magnets as iron shavings were sprinkled on trays with magnets beneath them.

Our block ended with a brief encounter of static electricity. The class observed how static electricity could be generated, and how static electricity could be perceived by the senses. They discovered that objects with an electrostatic charge attract and repel one another. The absolute highlight was John getting all of the children to hold hands in a circle then watching as they all got an electric shock through their bodies.