Upper Primary Learning

Welcome

The term has got off to a flying start with students quickly settling back into the school routine and engaging in all aspects of their learning programs.  We are looking forward to a productive term working with the students and supporting them 'to be the best that they can be'.

English

The students have been working intensively on improving their reading comprehension by applying strategies to understand the text they have listened to or read. At the start of each lesson the students have been orientated to the text.  They have explored picture information, looked at the structure of the text, identified the theme, located and discussed unfamiliar words and have drawn on prior knowledge and experiences to connect with the text. 

Questioning has played an important part in assisting the students to understand the author and make meaning of the text.  They have been encouraged to ask questions of the author, text and themselves, before, during and after reading.  The students have also been questioned by the teacher throughout the viewing of the text around literal and inferred meaning.  They have located information that is directly in the text to answer literal questions and used background knowledge and text clues to determine possible answers to inferred questions. Some classes have also worked on identifying ‘the main idea’.  This has involved students locating important information and supporting details to determine the point of the paragraph.

Retell has played an important part in understanding the texts that the students have engaged with. Students have been supported to stop and retell throughout the text using their own words to describe the sequence of events. 

Classes have been busy working on narrative writing pieces over the past few weeks. During the planning phase students have used graphic organisers to develop characters, settings, problems, solutions and the sequence of events. They also spent a lot of time building vocabulary and exploring the use of adjectives to make their writing more interesting. After the initial draft was complete students moved to the editing phase.  They read over their work to correct spelling and punctuation, checked that the story made sense and added further detail to create a vivid picture of events. The students wrote about a variety of themes.  The following narrative was written by a student from PDJ.

The Queen’s Crown

Written by Richard

Once upon a time there was a mean King who lived in the forest in a huge castle. There was a knock at the door. Knock, Knock, Knock! The King opened the door to see the Queen.  She was wearing the crown. The King ran away as fast as he could because he knew the Queen was angry because he broke the crown. The Queen chased him to try and make him say sorry. She found him hiding in his tree house.  She started being sad to try and make him say sorry for breaking her crown.  The King felt bad and said sorry. The King and Queen hugged and were happy again.

All classes have now completed work on narratives and will focus on recount in the coming weeks.  

Mathematics

The students have completed their unit of work on Addition. Over the past few weeks classes have learned that addition is the process of combining multiple groups to make a larger collection. They have explored language around addition (eg. add, plus, more) and the different strategies that can be used to efficiently find the total of combined collections. The students have used the following tools to demonstrate their understanding of the addition process and solve number sentences as well as worded problems.

• Fingers
• Addition Mats
• 5 frames and 10 frames
• Maths manipulatives such as counters, unifix, MAB and abacus
• Drawings (to visualise and solve problems)
• Number lines and number charts

This week the focus for Number and Algebra moved to Subtraction. Students started the unit by developing an anchor chart and recording what they already know about subtraction. Classes will add more information to the chart to record their learning across the unit.

Social Competencies

Over the last five weeks, Upper Primary have been making a social story all about our different relationship groups and how we behave within them. This week we finished with members of the community and how to be safe. We talked about strangers and “tricky people” that might make us feel unsafe or nervous. We also talked about what to do if we lose our trusted adult when we’re out together. The kids have all done a great job of identifying where they belong in their relationship groups and what they can and can’t do within them. They should all be bringing home their relationships social story very soon. Well done!

Integrated Unit

Over the past three weeks all classes have attended the excursion to the Polly Woodside. This has consolidated the students' learning in the integrated unit on the First Fleet.

Students enthusiastically approached the visit to the tall ship and were able to compare what they had heard and seen in books and on Youtube to actual experiences.

On the Polly Woodside the students experienced:

* what it was like to live on a ship for months on end

* very limited accommodation and recreation areas for those on board

* how the sailors had to take turns sleeping on a roster system, 4 hours at a time, as there was limited sleeping space and they always had to have personnel working the ship

* what those on board did to fill in their time: read a book, whittling objects from wood

* codes they used on board when at sea, re ringing bells when issues happened on different sides of the ship

* instruments they used and made using wood and stone : knives, chisels

* walking the masts to fix sails

*different pulley systems they used to move items on and off ships

Even in the rain the students really enjoyed the hands on experiences that the Polly Woodside provided.  Although some students still find it difficult to believe they didn't have electricity, mobile phones, iPads, play stations, x boxes and iPods!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mother’s Day Morning Tea

On Friday 11th May the Concord Community Connections group held a Mother’s Day Morning Tea for the Upper Primary section. The group prepared fruit platters and filled cake stands for every classroom and the students shared a lovely morning tea together with their mothers and special people. A special thanks goes to Grace, Claire and Rosa for coming in to help prepare the morning tea and to all our mothers and special people who came out (in the rain!) to celebrate mother’s day with our students. Here are some photos from the morning.

Focus on Fun

Retell is an important skill that allows students to organise, describe and sequence events from a text they have read of viewed.  It supports the development of vocabulary and comprehension skills.  Support your child to retell a story you have read together. Make some simple stick puppets and put on a show for the family. 

Chris Norman - Upper Primary Team Leader

Kirsten Coulter - Teaching and Learning Coordinator