Our Own Backyard

Students in grade 6 were involved in a global project entitled “From Me To You”, as part of a Valentine’s Day initiative by Jen Wagner. This involved students from 24 schools in various countries from USA, Canada, Italy, United Emirates and Australia. This was an exciting  project to be involved in, and each of our students wrote a note to accompany their homemade greeting card. Here is Georgia’s contribution.

We had to write a letter to an international school and sent them away. This is what I wrote”From Me to You”

Hi,
I live in a small town called Hawkesdale. It is in Victoria which is in Australia. My house used to be a Railway station. My Mum helped there. We still find bits and pieces in our backyard.  Most people live on farms around Hawkesdale but I don’t. But we have a very big backyard. We have a tennis court, a pool, heaps of trees, a garage, a couple of sheds, verandas, BBQ area, games room and cubby house. We have one pet which is a goat. We call it Walter. It is very friendly to people he knows. But when a stranger comes around sometime he might charge at them.  I’m 11 years old and I’m in grade 6 this year. My birthday is on the 30^th of Hawkesdale. I am a family of 5.  Even though I’m the youngest I’m the second tallest. I’m even taller then my Mum. We go to a big city in Australia called Melbourne every holiday because all of Dad’s family lives up there.

At our school we study Chinese at least twice a week. Since I’m in grade 6 this year we have buddies. A buddy is a program where the grade 6’s get buddies in prep or grade 1.

We have a canteen at our school. It sells lollies, chips, pies, pasties, toasted sandwiches, water, fruit boxes and Big M’s. My favourite thing at the canteen is the chicken strips.

In my class there are 22 people. Only 10 are boys.

My Town

The town that I live in is called Hawkesdale. It is a tiny town which only has about 500 citizens.

It doesn’t have many buildings or stores. We only have a Post office, Pool, Pub, 3 Churches, Funky toilets and a park called Apex Park.

Most people who live around Hawkesdale live on farms. Mainly Sheep, Cattle, Dairy and a couple of Blue Gum plantations.

We have a couple of Community group such as HADDAC which is group of people who do working bees around Hawkesdale and do stuff around Hawkesdale. My Dad is the secretary for HADDAC. We have a cert team, CFA group, Hall committee, A football/Netball club and Cricket club.

Victoria

Victoria’s Capital city is a city called Melbourne. It would be the biggest city in Victoria.

Some of Victoria’s best attractions are the Great Ocean Road, the 12 Apostles, Grampians, Sovereign Hill, Flagstaff hill and the Bendigo mine.

2 years ago there was a big fire at Grampians which came pretty close to Hawkesdale. It was horrible seeing all the dead trees and animals.  We used to go to Grampians for holidays.

The Bendigo mine is one of the greatest places I’ve been. If you came to Australia I would recommend you go to the mine.

Australia

Australia is a small continent. Before English people were here there were Aboriginals. The first English to step onto Australia were convicts.

Some great tourist attractions in Australia are Uluru, the Great Barrier Reef, Darwin, theme parks and Canberra.

Canberra is Australia’s capital city. I went there for a school camp. It took 13 hours to get there. Very long! We went to Telstra tower, Old parliament house, new parliament house and a museum. It was the best camp.

Australia’s native animals are the platypus, kookaburras, Kangaroos, Koalas, Echidna and wombats.   

Your sincerely,Georgia