Independence Centre

Curriculum

Well done to all students and their families for making such an amazing start to our second round of Remote Learning. We are so grateful for your flexibility and feedback, and appreciate the time taken to speak to your teachers over the phone last week. 

We would like to remind students and families to work as closely as possible to the timetable for each day. If students find that they complete a task and have time to spare, here are some suggested activities they can go on with until it is time to move to the next subject:

Literacy:

  • Reading Eggs tasks
  • Free choice writing - a story, recipe, procedure, information text, poem, diary entry - as they write, they can be working on the Writing Goal that they set last week
  • Independent Reading of a novel
  • Reading articles on kidsnews.com.au
  • Practise weekly spelling words - on A+ Spelling app, writing in alphabetical order, finding definitions, finding synonyms and antonyms

Mathematics:

  • Mathletics
  • Times tables practise (writing out, rolling dice and multiplying numbers, etc)
  • Calculating costs or change (from a shopping list or catalogue)
  • Board games or card games - many have a mathematical element or require strategic thinking and problem solving

Last week in Literacy, students created four S.M.A.R.T. goals for the term. As they are working, they can check their goals to see if they are using their strategies and working towards achieving them. These have been posted to Seesaw, so we encourage you to have a look if you haven’t seen them already! This week, we are looking at synthesising and comparing poems. Reading poetry exposes students to descriptive language and sophisticated writing techniques that can inspire their own story writing. You might like to share any poems you know with your children and discuss what you like/dislike about them. 

 

Last week in Maths we worked on adding and subtracting fractions. Feedback from students was that the instructional videos made them feel more confident to complete each task so we will continue to use these in the slides. Encourage them to pause or re-watch videos where appropriate, and attend our Maths Support Zooms at 10:30 each day (except Tuesday) if they have any questions. This week we will begin to look at multiplication and division strategies. 

 

This week in Science, students will begin to look at the Earth and Sun. Space is a captivating subject for many of our students and we encourage them to do further research or create their own space-themed projects in their offline choice time. In Guided Inquiry, we begin to look at the environment and look into factors that impact our natural vegetation. This could be something that students would like to learn more about in their offline choice afternoons. We encourage them to look for natural vegetation in the world around them and research more about Australian Native Plants if they are interested! 

 

On Friday, we are commencing our ‘Skill Masters’ session in the afternoon. It was obvious that students (and teachers) were missing their weekly I.C.E. sessions, so we have developed a temporary replacement until we can take part again! Each Friday, the 3/4 Classroom Teachers and Support Staff will post a video for students demonstrating a new skill. Students can select which video they would like to watch and become a master of that skill in the afternoon. We hope this will provide students with an opportunity to see a range of their teachers on screen and accomplish something new. 

 

Terima kasih for your ongoing support and feedback, 

From your 3/4 Teachers :)

Student Voice

  • Yianni - 'I did 4 [maths] problems, it was kind of hard but I liked it. It was a challenge.' 
  • Samanvi - 'I really liked the Indonesian videos of the teachers  dancing.' 
  • Jenny - 'Thank you for the feedback on my goals.'
  • Ann - 'Your work is improving my knowledge, thank you'

Reminders

  • Installment 1 for 3/4 Camp is now due on Monday 27th of July.
  • Zooms start at 9am
  • If your child will be absent from learning or Zoom sessions, please notify your classroom teacher or the office as usual
  • Students who are onsite must charge iPads and bring headphones
  • Stick to the suggested durations for subjects each day
  • Take a break and congratulate yourself for adjusting to Remote Learning!!

Pupil of the Week

3/4 D - Tanya B -

Well done on using your strength of persistence when working through the fractions tasks last week! You should be proud of yourself for working through challenging situations. Keep up the great work!

 

3/4 G - Mia C -

For being eager to come to school and ready to learn each day. You use your strength of perseverance to get yourself into the Green Zone and ready for your tasks. You should be so proud of yourself, Mia! Keep up the great work!

 

3/4 K - Lola P -

For demonstrating your independence and persistence when creating learning goals for Term 3. You responded to feedback to make sure all of your goals were achievable and challenging for you. Way to go, Lola!

 

3/4 M - Thomas B -

For demonstrating perseverance and determination to practise his Writing goal for Term 3. I am impressed by the effort you have already started putting in. Keep it up, Thomas! :)

 

3/4 R - Laura M -

For demonstrating love of learning and persistence when creating your Term 3 goals. It is great to see you showing independence to develop your SMART goals. Keep up the great work, Laura!