The Adventures of Year 5
Fields. Horses. Abseiling. Bushwalks. Mountain biking. Cabins. Kangaroos. Canoes. For our Year 5 students, this year’s camp at Attunga had it all. It was three days of fresh air and adventure.
It’s been an exciting term so far for Year 5 and their teachers. Last week, they experienced the thrills of the great outdoors at camp. And this week, they’ve been embracing cyber safety, with an interesting incursion with Susan McClean from Cyber Safety Solutions.
‘Attunga’ is an Aboriginal word for ‘high place’. Last week, Year 5 and their teachers headed off to camp at Attunga, which is located at Canyonleigh, high above the Wingecarribee and Wollondilly rivers in the beautiful southern highlands. Much of this site is natural bush land, with sweeping views, cliffs, valleys, waterways and lots of native wildlife. It was the perfect location for Year 5’s outdoor education camp, giving students plenty of opportunity to step outside their comfort zones by trying out all the different activities on offer. And across the cohort, they impressed themselves with their capabilities and their courage!
In particular, the Year 5 teachers were delighted to see the connections between students, as new friendships were formed, and existing ones strengthened. As a year group, the students were all determined to help each other have a positive experience. By the end of camp, they all felt much more connected as a community.
Emma said, “The abseiling and the power fan were very exciting. The food was extremely tasty – better than any other camp! There was also a very nice outdoor area and I loved the horses!”
In Ms Cox’s class, the Year 5 students this week have been using camp as their writing inspiration, using some of the highlights to work on constructing their ‘sizzling starts’ to their stories. Here are a few of their opening paragraphs about the power fan.
“Tighten, tighten, sang the harness as it hugged my bones. I’m just about to climb the pole of fear. My palms are dripping like slime, but they feel as heavier than hard bricks. Up is the only way to go. It’s time to start. I step forward. One step. Two steps. Three steps. This is so hard. The rope is ‘tug-of-warring’ with my back. I have to keep going. I make it to the top. Ahhhhh, yells my mind. I’m so high. But why does everyone else look like an insect below? I’ve got to do it, I think, but I’m already having second thoughts. Here goes… I’m flying. I land softly on the dead leaves below. Already I want another go!”
“Oh my gosh! There I was looking down about 20 feet. My toes are hanging off the edge of the small, metal platform. When I look down, all the people below look the same size as ants. The loud sound of their cheers reaches me, filling my ears with a repetitive sound. I taste the fear rising in my throat. I smell the fresh morning air. I close my eyes and jump. Power fan!”
“I felt the wind, which made me shake even more. My heart was beating a million miles an hour. It was the scariest thing ever. And then I dropped off the platform, screaming until I reached the bottom. When my feet touched the ground, I thought to myself, this is the best day ever!”
On Tuesday this week, one of Australia’s leading experts in the area of cyber safety, Susan McClean visited 韩国AV to speak with Year 5 in the Hall. As a former member of Victoria Police, Susan earned a reputation as the ‘cyber cop’. She is passionate about helping children to practise smart internet habits in order to stay safe online and in this incursion, she outlined some of the rules and regulations around the Internet.
As Susan pointed out, the Internet is a fantastic place to discover and learn new things, but we must all take care about what we do and say when we are there. The online world parallels the real world and there are both safe and unsafe things out there. Just because we feel protected by the apparent distance a screen gives us, we must remember that online is still the real world. For example, we would never say anything online that we wouldn’t say in conversations with our families or friends. If we wouldn’t do it face to face, we wouldn’t do it online or we could end up hurting someone’s feelings or being hurt ourselves.
Susan outlined different examples of cyberbullying to Year 5, as well as the consequences for you, others involved or your friends and family if it were brought to the School’s attention.
This was an opportunity for our Year 5 students to start building the critical-thinking skills and habits of mind to safely navigate the online dilemmas they might encounter. And there was also lots of advice about how to build strong, positive and safe relationships online.
Great learning Year 5!