1 Jun 2018

Yr6 Curriculum Update – 01/06/18

Working together to achieve success for every child

The Year 6 Team

How We Express Ourselves – The Exhibition

 

PYPX – 2018

We have finished our seventh week of the Exhibition and the students have been pulling all the elements of the solution design process together.  With their global goal in mind, they have taken one or more of the 4 types of action (direct, indirect, advocacy, research) and have begun to advocate for the NGO linked to their issue.  Some parents have been very supportive in helping the students to take part in action outside of school such as working with Mr Paul Melsom, our visiting gardener and Lantau environmentalist to take part in a tree planting session on Lantau Island. Students discussed how if every person in Hong Kong took action in this way for just one afternoon in a whole year, what a difference could be made to our community, for example 7 million new trees every year or 7 million pieces of plastic fished from our beaches and oceans.

 

Students industriously animating with passion

 

Throughout the Exhibition we will be using the Design Thinking Process model, as above, to help students through the exhibition process. The children are familiar with this model and used it successfully during the last unit.

 

 

 

PARENTS: Don’t forget to attend the Exhibition Showcase event on Thursday 7th June 6pm – 8pm. Or from 11am – 12.30pm with Y4 and Y5 KJS students.

 

LITERACY

Students have almost completed their Exhibition Process Journals. They have been writing down their reflections, ideas, decisions and actions, as well as the work they have been engaged in and how their understanding of the issue has developed. As well as reading about their issue, students have written and sent letters to advocate for their cause.  Some students effective research has enabled them to write in detail advocating for their cause, an example of which can be seen at the foot of this newsletter.

 

MATHS

In maths this week, students have honed their data handling skills and extrapolated some key findings, many of which you will be able to see on the showcase evening.  Some students have been consolidating their understanding of fractions which will help them to present their data graphically.  Some students have been exploring pattern and function, for example square and triangular numbers, and getting to grips with some early algebra.

 

The Tournament of Minds competition

The KJS TOM finalist team will be competing this Saturday in the Tournament of Minds Asia final at Shatin College.  Briefed with designing and building a random lottery machine that can be ‘rigged’ at a flick of a switch, the team has been busy preparing their design, machine and drama to present it.  Ethan Z, Vrinda, Rishan and Varun are the Y6 contingent of the team, who despite the competing pressures of Exhibition, have maintained commitment to the team throughout.  We wish them luck for their lottery machine presentation on Saturday.

 

IMPORTANT DATES

Friday 1st June: KGV Transition day
Thursday 7th June : PYP Exhibition Showcase 11am-12.30 pm(mostly KJS students) and 6pm-8pm
Monday 18th June:  Public Holiday
Wednesday 27th June @ 2pm:  Year 6 Leavers Assembly 2pm in School Hall
Thursday 28th June:  Year 6 party.

 

 

A letter to the editor by Ethan Zhuang

Young Post

4/F Morning Post Centre

22 Dai Fat Street

Tai Po Industrial Estate

Tai Po, New Territories

 

May 25th, 2018

 

Dear Editor,

I am writing to express my views on plastic and its effects on the ocean. Our world used to be a green, plastic-free, environmentally-friendly world, but that has changed because of the demon known as plastic, and how us humans decided to destroy the Earth for our own selfish benefits. In recent years, plastic consumption has grown a lot, and it has affected both marine life and humans alike because of our habits that are destroying our world and the ocean. Nowadays, people use plastic so much that consuming plastic on a daily basis has become a “must-do” for most people. Plastic can sometimes be helpful, but it has quite the opposite effect on our oceans.

Many of us humans don’t think that plastic is a threat, but the problem is as big as it can get. I am disappointed that we continue to carelessly leave plastic on the ground, and that we waste so much of our Earth’s beautiful resources. Hong Kong people alone throw away 5.2 million plastic bottles every day, and that’s just single-use bottles. Think of how much other single-use plastic is thrown away, and much of this ends up in our beautiful ocean.

But how does the plastic we throw away enter our ocean? It’s not as if people go to the coast and dump plastic into the ocean. So how does plastic end up in the ocean? Plastic we leave on the ground can easily blow away and enter the ocean via river or sewage. Also, when careless people leave their litter on the beach because they’re too lazy to move two meters to the nearest trash can, the tides can wash the plastic into the sea. People in Hong Kong can be really selfish, but tourists are just the worst. They think that just because they don’t live here means that they can just trash the place. Also, when plastic enters the ocean, quite often fish and other marine animals mistake it for food, and then choke on it and die. I know that if this cascade of plastic is to continue, it will doom the oceans, and end us all.

Before, fishermen could get freshly caught fish without having to worry about the fish being contaminated and full of plastic, whereas now, in modern times, many people worry about having plastic on their plates because of people littering in the ocean.

Many people think the right thing to do is throw the plastic in the bin, but it’s not. From the bin the plastic can easily blow away and end up in the ocean, and even if it doesn’t, the landfills will fill up and the plastic will overflow… into the ocean. So I think the right thing to do is to stop using disposable plastics altogether.

Many people say that marine plastic pollution is not a big problem, and they say that if all of marine species go extinct, only a small part of our ecosystem goes away, it’s not a big deal. That is not true, The ocean covers over two thirds of our earth, it contains and produces the world’s biggest protein source and there will be a huge impact on the environment, the ecosystem, and our way of living if a majority of this goes away.

Furthermore, many products contain things called micro-plastics, which are tiny particles of plastic that can cause great harm. Companies use micro-plastics in their products because they block UV rays and make your body seem younger, but when you go to the beach or the swimming pool, or even your own shower, they wash away into the ocean, or the sewage, which eventually leads to the ocean. Remember, seawater can wash into rivers, and this water will wash into reservoirs, which is is the water we drink too, so if we don’t do something about it, it will enter your body system. Even though our water system is filtered, microplastics are so small, they can easily escape the filter and get into your glass, then down your throat. I think this is really unfair, because innocent people have to suffer because of some people’s actions.

Also, what we throw away can end up back on our plate, as sometimes fish eat plastic, then get fished for human consumption. This leads to plastic entering our body in more ways than one! Furthermore, when the plastic enters our system, it often contains BPA (Bisphenol A) and Mercury, which can cause Alzheimer’s disease. BPA and Mercury can lead to a variety of diseases, such as liver disease, heart disease, lung disease, kidney disease, and much more.

In addition, when plastic ends up in the ocean, it doesn’t decompose or biodegrade like paper or fruit and vegetable skins. It just breaks down several times until it ends up like microplastics in the ocean, too small to be detected. These tiny plastic bits can spread out so much that one plastic bottle when broken up can end up on every mile of beach in the world! The ocean is filled with these bits, so all sorts of marine animals, such as fishes, dolphins, sharks, and many more marine animals will swallow these bits of plastic and the plastic will end up in the animal’s body and give them BPA, cause diseases, or kill them. And guess who eats these animals? Us! So think twice before you litter, or you might just die from your own sushi.

Much of the plastic we use is only used once before it is carelessly thrown away and end up in our seas, and as a result, now our ocean is a plastic paradise. People nowadays don’t care about what they use and throw away, and when I went to McDonald’s the other day, I saw a kid, about my age, take 5 straws, just to ‘play’ with! I am extremely disappointed with these type of children, because at this age they should be mature enough to realise that the negative effect on the ocean and its inhabitants is colossal, and that what we throw away comes back, right down our throats.

Before, in the good old plastic-free days, it was extremely rare to find a piece of plastic floating in the ocean, because we actually cared for our environment, but nowadays, it’s not unusual to find plastic in the ocean. This is because we are growing more and more careless, and I think we should do something about it, because it’s very unfair to the people who’ve done nothing wrong but still have plastic in their diet because of the rest of us.

There have been multiple incidents of people choking on plastic which ended up on our plates, and I feel we have to change now, before our actions become too extreme. I am writing to you because I feel that you have influence over the public, and I hope you can help by writing an article telling people to stop using disposable plastic and products that contain microplastics, or simply spread the word to family and friends to stop, or reduce their usage of single-use plastics and products with microplastics in them. This would help me, the world and the ocean a lot, and if you and the rest of Young Post could help the animals that live beneath the ocean, that would mean a lot to me.

 

Yours Faithfully,

Ethan Zhuang