Prep

The past two weeks have seen the Preps exploring different jobs in our community. They have been using graphic organisers to list what they know about the unique uniforms, tasks, tools, and workplaces that different jobs have. On Fridays they have loved dressing up in a variety of creative costumes – so far, our classes have been filled with builders, hairdressers, teachers, doctors, principals and dance instructors! A big thank you to the parents who have volunteered as guest speakers to talk about their jobs with the students!

In Phonics the students have been learning about the long vowel sounds. The Preps have practised hearing the long vowel sounds in words, sorting words according to their long vowel spelling pattern and writing down words with long vowel sounds. See if they can identify any of the different spelling patterns in the books you read at home!

Finally, on Thursday August 4 we celebrated 100 Days of School! The day was full of fun activities including baking with Abbie, creating crowns, completing activity booklets with the Grade 5/6 Buddies, and using different strategies to count to 100 in Maths. It has been a wonderful 100 days of learning and we look forward to many more to come!

Grade 1

On Thursday 28th July, the Grade One’s set off on a walk to Warr Park as part of our Integrated Curriculum topic. Along the way, we noticed the types of places that make up our local community. Along Sydney Road we saw a supermarket, cafes and a dental clinic. We also saw many different buildings that people live in such as apartments and houses. Unfortunately, the weather did not work in our favour and it started to rain. Although we had to turn around and go back to school, the students were still able to learn about different places around us, experience walking with the group and practise being safe doing so. Although we didn’t get to have a snack at the park, the students ate their snack whilst having an impromptu talent show. We were very impressed by the emerging comedians and unique talents in the Grade One area!

To celebrate Friendship Day, the students discussed what being a friend means, how it makes us feel to have good friends and how to be a good friend to others. The students went on a ‘Friendship Scavenger Hunt’, where they asked their classmates questions to learn more about them. They were challenged to find as many different friends to match different statements. For example, “find someone who shares a bedroom with a sibling”. They learnt lots of new and interesting facts about their friends!

In Literacy, the students have been learning about visualising as a comprehension strategy. We explored how authors use words to help us create an image in our minds. The students listened to an extract from ‘The Twits’ by Roald Dahl and were encouraged to draw the character they visualised. The characters (Mr and Mrs Twit) were then revealed and we compared what the author had created and what the students had drawn. We then focussed on writing complete sentences about each character, with a focus on using capital letters and punctuation for sentence boundary. We are also in the process of writing narratives and turning them into published books… watch this space! :)

In Maths, the Grade One’s have been learning about 2D and 3D shapes. They have explored real life examples by searching for these shapes in our everyday lives. They have then investigated the properties of these shapes and been encouraged to describe and sort them based on these features.

Grade 2

During term 3 the grade 2s have been working on some different types of poems: including Acrostic ,Cinquain, Shape and Diamante poems.

We’ve been very excited to publish them!

(First we did a draft in our books that’s why we’re excited to publish.) Everyone participated and we hade a lot of fun!

Fun fact: did you know that the Cinquain and Diamante poems are similar to each other but different because the diamante poem has more verbs and adjectives than the Cinquain.

We’ve been working very had on these poems and would like to share them with you.

Enjoy!

Written by Rae, Audrey and Ollie.

Grade 3/4

Hi my name is Marcel and in writing 3/4’s have been writing procedural texts. We have been focusing on recipes and how to make and do lots of things. Last week our focus was the structure of a procedural text and using subheadings.

How to make a salad

Ingredients

1. Bowl

2. Lettuce

3. Cucumber

4. Avocado

5. Salad dressing

Steps

1. Get a bowl

2.Get the lettuce and wash it only with water

3.Put the washed lettuce into the bowl

4. Get the avocado

5. Open the avocado with a knife

6. Get the pip out with a knife

7. Get the avocado out with a knife

8. Put the avocado into the bowl

9. Get the cucumber

10. Cut the cucumber into slices

11. Then put it into the bowl

12. Get some salad dressing

13. Pour the salad dressing lightly

EAT AND ENJOY!

How to make a person out of paper

by Murphy

Aim: Make a paper person

YOU WILL NEED:

1 pieces of white A4 Paper

1 grey led pencil

A flat surface where you can fold and draw on (eg. table)

Instructions:

1: Rotate your paper so it is facing vertically (Short side facing up.)

2: Fold the top of the paper to the middle of it. Then, fold the bottom of the paper to just below the first fold.

3: Draw a horizontal oval shaped face on the paper.

NOTE: Do not draw a mouth! Only eyes.

4: Fold back the bottom fold and recreate the bottom half of their face underneath.

5: In that little pocket, write what they are saying.

6: Repeat steps 4 and 5 but instead of the bottom half, the top half, and show what they are thinking!

Now you can have some sort of conversation with a paper person!

How to make a sandwich

Ingredients: salami,egg,letters,2x slices of bread, mushroom x3,cheese x1,half a cucumber.

Tools: Toastie machine x1,knife x1,frying pan x1,Plate.

Step 1: Place your bread on a plate.

Step 2: put your salami,egg in the frying pan.

Step 3: Get the cheese and put it in the bread.

Step 4: get the half a cucumber and put it in the bread.

Step 5: Get the lettuce and put it in the bread and get the salami and eggs put it in the sandwich put the other bread on top put it in the toast and your all set.

To make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, you will need,

Bread, peanut butter and jelly

Instructions:

Get 2 pieces of bread

Get some peanut butter and spread it on 1 piece of bread

Spread jelly on top of the peanut butter

Take the second piece of bread and place it on top of the JELLY.

Now you know how to make a crispy peanut butter and jelly sandwich :)

Grade 5/6

Solar Buddy

The last few weeks have seen the 5/6 students researching energy poverty, exploring solar power and finally building the Solar Buddy lights and writing to their buddies. It’s been an amazing learning experience as a few students reflect below…

During the Solar Buddy project, we needed to do some fundraising in order to pay for the project. This included bake sales, free dress days, and many other fun activities. Once we finally started to create our lights, we were paired up and given one screwdriver to share. But we did have our own light. Once we had finished we got to write a letter to a child who would receive the light. This was a fun and new experience for all, and we are all so grateful to have had this opportunity.

Jasmine

When me and my friends first heard of the Solar Buddy project we were intrigued. But what we did not know was that there was a long way to go. Firstly, we had to do lots of research about the lights and more with Daniel in the STEM program and in class. But most importantly was the fundraising we did. I mean you can't just get things for free! Anyway we had many stalls on seperate days in order to reach a goal of $2700. Everyone knew it was going to be hard. But the goal was achieved and everyone was happy. Throughout all of the Solar Buddy project I think we all can be grateful for what we have. In the last phase of the project we built our own lights with a partner. Then we had to write a letter to the kids in need so they could study in the dark. We watched a video and used instructions to build the light. It was a great experience and I think everyone in 5/6 will remember this moment.

Moaaid

When I started the Solar Buddy project, I felt like I didn’t really know about the people or their lives. We wrote letters to the children and this made everyone in 5/6 realise that we should be more appreciative of what we have. At the end, I felt empathy and appreciation, because I had never fully realised how lucky I was. This opportunity gave me the chance to build a light, that, metaphorically, would shine a light on their future. I think everyone involved in the project is glad for this opportunity and grateful for the chance to help others.

Abby

Just less than a fortnight ago, the whole of 5/6 created a personal light that is to be sent to a country which is suffering from energy poverty. Each of us followed an instruction sheet and completing a light added a nice sensation to the rest of the project. We knew that our lights could help someone in real need and that they would be used every day in a beneficial way. A tricky step a couple people got stuck on was screwing in the screws that would hold down the switch. A handful of people even busted their screwdriver! Overall it was a very pleasant way to end the day and was very much appreciated by everyone. I personally didn’t want the lesson to end!

Orpheus

Art

Merri-bek Mail

Issue 11 · 08 Aug 2022

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