Around the Primary Classes
Kindergarten
Over the past two weeks in Kindergarten, we have:
- learned how to grow plants and care for them. We will be adding plants and vegetable seedlings to our garden bed in the coming weeks.
- loved seeing the innate creativity and imagination in our students.
- begun to learn Chess with parent help
- observed nature through careful observation. This has assisted us in adding detail to our illustrations.
- encouraged parents to walk with us on our learning journey.
- experienced lots of enjoyment and enthusiasm in the pool at Learn to Swim.
Prep
Earlier in the month, the Prep class went on an excursion to the Sustainability Centre on Mount Nelson (kriwalayti).
Through outdoor exploration on country, students developed an understanding of the bush in a culturally responsive way by learning alongside our First Nations Instructor Chris.
On the excursion students sang native songs, read stories about First Nations people, found sticks and rocks to make musical instruments, made charcoal, learnt key words in Palawa Kani and incorporated symbols to tell a story.
When we returned to school students reflected and shared their experiences and the importance of country to the First Nations Australians and what they enjoyed most about it. In order to represent their ideas students used the charcoal that they made on the excursion and their verbal responses were scribed. Prep had a great time on the excursion and learning from our great tour guide Chris along the way.
Year 1
Our literacy block is in full swing in the Early Years. We work hard every morning: as a whole group, small groups and individuals, to learn about letters, sounds, phonemes, words, sentences and more!
In Kriwalayti (Mt Nelson) group, we have been focusing on precise pronunciation and sequencing sounds in words. The students enjoy using mini whiteboards to practise handwriting and spelling.
We’ve introduced six ‘tricky words’ so far and have been using a range of strategies to help remember them. Tricky words are those which do not follow typical sound patterns for spelling. ‘Was’ is an example. The second sound we say is /o/ as in hot, and the s makes a /z/ sound.
Year 2
Year 2 have been walking with Jesus on our Lenten journey since Ash Wednesday. We have made a promise of actions we will try to undertake during lent. We have also examined how we can be prepared for Easter through following Jesus’ example in our actions, deeds, words and random acts of kindness.
Year 4
Last week, many classes attended the Learn-to-Swim Program at Collegiate Pool.
In Year 4, some students learned how to be comfortable and confident in the water, some practised treading water, some focused on improving their skills in floating on their fronts and backs, some honed their straight-arm freestyle strategy while others learned breaststroke and backstroke. The photos show all the fun we had!