Spotlight on Learning

Early Stage 1

KR have enthusiastically jumped right back into learning in Term 2. KR students have loved meeting a new friend each time a new letter and sound is introduced. Last week Kindergarten met ‘Danny Dingo’ and “Hannah Hippo’ as we learnt the sounds that the letters ‘d’ and ‘h’ make. Using taught letter sounds, along with the introduction of ‘tricky words’, students have begun reading decodable books in class! They are doing a fantastic job in literacy groups as they develop their early reading strategies and skills.  

In writing, students have been hard at work, applying their letter-sound knowledge to spell words. Have a look at their sentences below! KR have also been introduced to a range of quality picture books to develop their comprehension and grammar skills and learning that texts are created for a variety of purposes. Last week, we explored the book “Shoes from Grandpa” by Mem Fox and learnt about nouns and adjectives. 

In mathematics, KR made their very own rekenreks. A rekenrek is similar to an abacus and acts as a visual model to help build knowledge of base 5 counting and number combinations to 10. We are thoroughly enjoying using their rekenreks during mathematics warm-ups to practise their counting on and friends of 10. Students have also been introduced to data collection and have been sorting objects into groups based on colour or similar attributes. They have been practising making ‘columns and rows’ to organise the data so that it can be easily viewed and interpreted. I am very proud of all students for aiming high in all subject areas. Keep up the wonderful work KR!  

Miss Raj - Relieving Stage 1 Assistant Principal

Stage 2

It has been a fantastic start to Term 2 in 3J! Students have enjoyed getting back into the swing of learning and have been embracing the new activities and experiences that Term 2 has to offer.

In Maths, students have been focusing on position. Students have enjoyed creating and analysing grid-referenced maps, using coordinates and plotting information. They also used positional language to give directions to other students in class. Students understood the importance of giving specific and clear directions so that their partner correctly reached their destination! Students have also been enjoying learning about data. We asked the question: ‘What is 3J’s favourite sport?’ and interestingly tennis was the winner! (…followed closely by soccer). To visually represent this information, students created a table using tally marks and a column graph. 3J and 3S also had a combined data lesson which both classes thoroughly enjoyed!  

Students have been thrilled to participate in technology sessions with Mr Wright this Term. They have been exploring a captivating virtual world called "Bird Island" and quickly mastered the controls to navigate its surroundings. Students have been enthusiastically capturing screenshots of the various birds they encounter. 3J are looking forward to learning more skills as the term goes on.  

Students have also been participating in our school gymnastics program this term. 3J has been enjoying the program so far, with students able to practise skills such as balance and flexibility. Amber says “I enjoyed the equipment, especially the trampoline because you get to land on it and the coach is really nice”. Jude adds “I like the trampoline when you land, I like when I stretch because it takes out my stress”. In other sporting news, we had the Cross-Country carnival on Friday which was extra special because it was the first time all of Year 3 participated! Congratulations to Beau and Boris in 3J for making it to Zone! No matter the result, students gave it their all and enjoyed being part of the event. 

Miss Jacob - 3J Classroom Teacher

Stage 3

School is so much fun when you reach Stage 3! We participated in cross country on Friday and thoroughly enjoyed being in the fresh air as we socialised and exercised with friends on the course. Roselea schoolgrounds are spectacular and we are incredibly spoilt with the scenic playground. We have also started talking about the Great Aussie Bush Camp that is happening in August and students are so excited to go on camp.  

Our 5J students continue to progress and thrive in all areas of school. As teachers, we continue to focus on what works best for our students so we have high expectations for each individual. At the same time, we realise that each student is unique and has different learning needs and preferences. Stage 3 teachers focus on quality strategies such as explicit teaching, effective feedback, learning intentions and success criteria.  We ensure that school is a safe and nurturing environment where students’ wellbeing and personal growth is vital, as we prepare our students to fit into a healthy society one day. 

In writing, we have been focusing on language techniques to improve our persuasive writing. We realise that it is important as it enables us to debate about ideas in an agreeable fashion. Students are taught to plan, analyse, construct, edit and present their text in advertisement, brochures, reviews and letters. Our students chose a topic for writing this week, ‘Why Gardening Should be Taught in Schools’. A few students decided to go against the topic. We develop writing skills by teaching our students strategies such as using the correct structure, including high modality words, asking rhetorical questions, using persuasive sentence starters and language devices. 

Our class novel lends itself to ample opportunities, not only to improve our reading but to also foster a love for reading through laughter and interesting discussions. Our students describe, compare and contrast a variety of characters as one of our learning tasks. Students in 5J use the reading concepts like intertextuality to compare past experiences or movies with the events in our novel. We learn new vocabulary and answer comprehension questions about the text. At the end of our novel study, we will also write a book review to reflect on our novel, A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle. 

In maths this term we have been learning about data, fractions and decimals and length conversions. Maths problem solving always creates opportunities for every student to learn as we progress, using a range of strategies to solve problems in Matharoo and other word problems. Students answer levelled problem-solving questions to cater for their ability. Group discussions are a meaningful way of assisting students to find the correct strategy for accurate answers and gain confidence in maths. 

Mr Andrew Wright from iTeacher created a series of Virtual Worlds for students. The virtual worlds create engaging learning experiences for our students. So far, we have dived under the ocean to look at sea life, been to Bird Island, designed crocodile enclosures and visited other planets. This way, 5J students further enhance their technology skills and learning across the curriculum. 

Mrs Janssen - 5J Classroom Teacher