S1 Newsletter

We hope everyone enjoys spending time with their families over the holiday period. We look forward to seeing all students return to school on Tuesday 31 January 2023, ready for a year full of learning and new adventures.

Last week the school held a step-up day where students experienced a day in their future year level. All students participated in the daily running of Years 2 and Stage 2. We were very proud of the maturity and kindness our current Year 1 students displayed as they helped our Kindergarten visitors. Year 2 students were very excited when they returned from their Stage 2 adventures.

All teachers and students look forward to seeing families on Wednesday 14 December for the K-2 Celebration of Learning. After our gathering in the hall, families are invited into classrooms for the Learning Showcase, to check out some of the fantastic artworks created this year. Who knows, there may even be a few other little surprises.

Step-up Day

Farewells

Mrs Hunt and Mr Portell will be saying goodbye to everyone this week as they move onto new adventures. Mrs Hunt has accepted a permanent position at Uralla Central School and Mr Portell is trading in the whiteboard for a surfboard as he heads to Wollongong. We wish them both all the best for their future endeavours and thank them for their commitment and contributions to Ben Venue. 

There are also a few of our lovely Stage 1 students leaving Ben Venue at the end of the year. We wish all of these students a happy transition to their new schools and/or towns next year, you will all be missed!

English

In spelling, we have learnt to spell and read words with the graphemes:

• ‘n’, ‘nn’, ‘gn’, ‘-ne’
• ‘mm’, ‘mb’

The prefixes we have been learning about are ‘aqua’ as in ‘aquatic’ (Latin origin), meaning water, and ‘semi’ as in semicircle (Latin origin), meaning half.

Mathematics

We have been learning to solve problems in Mathematics by using ‘working mathematically’ processes. These include:

• Communicating
• Fluency and Understanding
• Problem Solving
• Reasoning

If we look around, the concepts of mathematical problem solving are all around us, for example:

• How much paper will we need to wrap a present?
• How many carrots will be needed to feed the reindeer if each one eats 5 carrots?
• What length of tinsel will we need to wrap around the tree?
• How many times will I need to fill my drink bottle if I need to drink 3 litres of water on a hot summer’s day?

Remember, when you are working mathematically, the answer is important, but you need to be able to explain or show how or why your answer is correct.

Around the classrooms