Learning Areas

Foundation

Well done to all the Foundation students for completing their first week of school! We are so impressed with the enthusiasm and positive attitudes that everyone has demonstrated over the past five days.

Our week started with lots of games that supported the students in learning their classmates’ names. The focus then turned to learning the different processes we follow in the classroom. Ask your child to share what our morning process involves (putting our bag in our locker, placing our water bottles in the communal tub, and sitting down for the roll) or how we prepare for our Writing lessons. 

On Tuesday we set up our classroom libraries by sorting our books into different categories. The following day we all enjoyed the very special opening of the Library; we’re looking forward to our weekly Library visits going forwards!

A highlight from the week was having the Grade 5/6 Buddies come and eat lunch with us. A gentle reminder to avoid nut and nut-containing products in lunches if/when possible, to assist those Foundation students with allergies as they adjust to the routines of school and communal eating time. 

Finally, a few other reminders for Term 1- please ensure all clothing items, lunch boxes and drink bottles are labelled clearly, and that sunscreen is applied before school. If you would like to send sunscreen to school with your child, you are more than welcome. However, teachers are unable to apply this for the students. Please ensure they can do so independently.

We hope you enjoy looking through some of the photos from the first week and we look forward to sharing our adventures in Foundation over the coming months.

Have a great weekend!

Lexie, Joe and Arwen.

Grade 1/2

The Grade 1/2s have settled into their new learning area and have been busy getting to know their new classmates and teachers. We have welcomed some new students to our area this year, which has been fantastic!

 The students were excited to share their experiences over the holidays and hear about what others did too.

 Developmental Play sessions have been a great way for familiar faces to reconnect after the holidays and engage in play based activities together. It’s also been a great way for new students and others to make new friends, who have similar interests. 

In Reading, we have focussed on building routines and setting up for success in the classroom. Students were involved in categorising books as part of their classroom library and have enjoyed reading a range of text types during independent reading time. They have also talked about what independent reading looks like and have been working on building reading stamina. 

As part of a Maths activity, the students talked about the months of the year and what date their birthday is on. They created their own birthday cupcake and placed them on a floor graph to analyse which month was the most and least popular. We even realised that a few students share the same birthday! Coming up in Maths, the students will be learning about the place value of 2 and 3 digit numbers. They will explore how to read, write, make, order and represent these numbers using a range of hands on activities and materials. 

We have shared some examples of what the students think about Grade 1/2 so far…

"It's so hard to decide what I have loved most. I've loved it all! I'm definitely looking forward to doing more Stem though!" - Loreta 1/2E

Grade 3/4

Well done Grade 3/4s on a fantastic start to the new school year. Our Grade 3s have settled in well and that is thanks to the wonderful Grade 4s who have been excellent role models. They have done an awesome job at answering questions and showing the Grade 3s everything from laptop care to the house point system.

The first two weeks of term, the Grade 3/4s have been taking part in the Start Up program which has had a large focus on our school values - respect, responsibility and resilience. This has led to some engaging discussions across our learning area, as we set up classroom routines and expectations for the year ahead.

During the Start Up program, students in each class got the opportunity to categorise all our Grade 3/4 books into individual classroom libraries and had a lot of fun picking their genres and taking ownership over their books as they sorted through them. We also have introduced various Maths warm up games and problem solving strategies that students will become very familiar with for Maths lessons this year.

Overall, we hope all the students have been having a wonderful time getting to know each other and are excited for 2023. We know the teachers are!

From Stefanie, Kellie, Kieran and Elena

Grade 5/6

Congratulations to our wonderful Grade 5/6s on completing the first two weeks of the year. Already, we are seeing such incredible ideas, collaboration and kindness coming from our students and we are looking forward to a great year ahead.

We have been hard at work setting up our classrooms ready for learning through the use of our Start-Up program. This has included a lot of collaborative effort deciding how we want our classroom to look, sound, function and feel. Additionally, students had the opportunity to sort through the classroom library books and categorise them in a way that made sense to the grade therefore making it easier for students to access the books available to them. This has already resulted in students having a greater understanding of the range of books out there and providing more options for them to pick during independent reading.

This week in 5/6, the students have been hard at work writing and rehearsing their speeches for leadership positions. Our Grade 5s have had the opportunity to run for Junior School Council Representative or Library Leaders. Of course our Grade 6s have been able to run for School Captain, Vice Captain, Wellbeing or Sustainability Leader. We also have representatives for each of the houses that will be decided next week. The students all did a fantastic job pushing through the nerves and presented to almost one hundred of their peers. Well done to everyone who made a speech, and congratulations to those who were successful!

We look forward to sharing more of our students’ learning journeys over 2023.

Have a fantastic weekend!

Tori, Kerry, Lina, Simon and Sandra

PE

Hockey Roadshow

It was a fantastic experience having Hockey Victoria recently attend our school as part of their roadshow program. Our students learnt the skills of hockey through exciting game-based activities in an engaging, fun and safe environment.

While the roadshow is over, students can continue their hockey journey by joining a local

Hookin2Hockey program at www.hookin2hockey.com.au. With programs starting soon now is the perfect chance to get out on the pitch.

Hookin2Hockey will allow children to expand on the skills they recently learnt at school, develop fundamental motor skills while making friends and having fun!

Brunswick Hockey Club is our local club and will be hosting a free come and try session next Tuesday 14th February. Please scan the QR code in the attached poster for more information.