What's happening?

Foundation

We have had a very fun and busy start to term 3 and have already packed so much in to the first few weeks of school. Firstly and most importantly, last Wednesday the students celebrated their 100 days of school! All the costumes looked outstanding and the children had a great day completing activities all around the number 100. A highlight was our prep parade and disco with our buddies. 

This week we have been celebrating the Olympics through our ‘Parkdale School Primary Potato Olympics.’ The students had a great time decorating their ‘spudlete’ and ‘coaching’ them through a series of events. The children practised their skills in ordinal number through these activities and showed great sportsmanship. 

We have a few more exciting upcoming events throughout the term for our inquiry unit on ‘Community Helpers.’ The first being our excursion to Parkdale Library on 21st August. We are still looking for a few volunteers to help us walk the children to and from the library, please see compass for more information and email your class teacher if you are interested. Secondly, we are looking to borrow some hospital related toys such as bandages, fake needles, stethoscopes etc for our teddy bear hospital in late August. Please make sure any borrowed items are named so they can be returned, donations are also welcome.

A reminder to complete your school nurse forms as soon as possible, notices and reminders have been sent home in your child’s satchel.

Once again, congratulations to all our wonderful Foundation students on completing their 100 days of school. We are so proud of all your hard work and are blown away by what you have achieved in your first semester at school!

Have a wonderful week.

Grade 1

This week has been very exciting for the Year 1 students as we focus on the Olympic games, the location, countries competing, players and teams. This has been a wonderful addition to our Australia theme and students enjoyed created Australian, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags which they used in Friday’s opening ceremony!

We are in the process of writing a letter to an Olympian and have been blown away by the thoughtful compliments and questions the children have included. We have also learnt about the etymology of the word Olympia and are working on an Olympic mini booklet which the kids are eager to share with their families later in the week.

In Maths we are focused on Data this week. Students have been collecting data using tally marks and are creating graphs to display the results. To compliment this, we have been keeping a tally of the medals won so far by Australia, Japan, China and USA results and also created class pictographs to help us keep an eye on the leading countries. Next, week we will move onto learning about Measurement with a focus on length, capacity and mass.  

In Literacy next week our focus will return to information reports and we will dive into learning about Victoria by creating a factual report about our state.

For Wellbeing our overall focus this term is Respect, with our motto being “Kind, Safe and Fair.” Students will look at acts of kindness next week.

Grade 2

Happy Olympics Week! Our Grade 2’s are loving learning about the Olympics! They have completed lots of exciting activities including decorating a potato for our ‘Potato Olympics’, learning about the history, and writing activities linked to the Olympics. Next week, students will continue to build their understanding of what a good written ‘explanation’ looks like, with a focus on writing their own which will include a title, opening statement, main body paragraphs written in present tense and a concluding statement. Students are also learning to apply their knowledge from our ‘Grammar Project’ lessons by identifying and using possessive pronouns within a sentence. As part of our ‘Word Study’, we are focusing on the vowel team ‘ow’. ‘Ow’ says  /ō/ at the end of a word like snow or sometimes when followed by n (like in flown, thrown etc). 

In Maths this week, we began our ‘Location’ topic linking with the Olympics. Next week we will focus on giving and following directions using precise language to describe location and position. Students will also learn to interpret simple maps of familiar locations and identify the relative positions of key features. As always, opportunities to practise the above at home, will be a great way to consolidate and build on your child’s knowledge.

We continue our inquiry into ‘Earth’s Precious Resources’, with a focus on the natural and urban water cycles.

Students are halfway through a new round of ‘Rotations’, providing opportunities to mix with other students and teachers to learn more about ways to celebrate our own strengths and achievements, design and construction challenges (building teamwork skills), and spreading kindness activities by thinking about what we say before we say it.

 Thank you for your support with homework: Regular reading aloud, sound pack practise and ‘Red Flag Word’ spelling. Optional extras: ‘Nessy Reading and Spelling’ and ‘Sunset/Jetpack Maths’ (Essential Assessment).

Grade 3

Core Knowledge: As part of our ‘Forces and Motion’ topic this week, students identified various forces acting on objects and investigated whether we could describe and predict patterns of motion.

Writing: This fortnight, students are learning to expand sentences in procedural texts using adverbs and adverbial phrases of time, place and manner. In our spelling lessons, we revised previously taught graphemes, prefixes, suffixes and red flag words, and then focused on the suffixes -ness and -hood.

Maths: We completed our topic this week, with students demonstrating a solid understanding of multiplication, as well as confidence with using a range of strategies for problem-solving and building ‘times tables’ knowledge. As always, opportunities to explore and practise further at home, will be a great way to consolidate and build on your child’s knowledge and skills.

Wellbeing: This week, students are learning to differentiate between different types or ‘levels’ of problems, and determining when and how to involve other people in helping to solve them. Next week, they will explore the concept of the ‘Circle of Control’ and identify situations that are within, or out of their control, and use this to assist them when experiencing emotions out of the green zone ( especially the blue zone- worrying). 

Homework: Thank for your ongoing support with checking weekly homework, home reading, and signing diaries.

Special events: The Grade 3s are very excited about our school ‘Mini Olympics’ day and upcoming Athletics Day. Please check school communication for details.

Grade 4

As the excitement of the Olympics unfolds, our Grade 4s have been keeping track of the medal tally and participating in various Olympics-themed activities. The students have enjoyed learning about different sports, athletes, countries, and the spirit of the Games.

Literacy This week, we continued our exploration of the text War Horse. Students have been diligently answering questions about the story, deepening their understanding and critical thinking skills. In writing, we've focused on expanding sentences to make our writing more detailed and interesting. Our students showcased their progress through their narrative introductions.

Maths We are in the final week of our division topic. Students have been mastering the skill of dividing larger numbers, both with and without remainders. Their hard work and determination are evident in their growing confidence and accuracy in solving division problems.

Inquiry In our unit 'May the Best Party Win,' we've delved into the workings of democracy and compared it to absolute monarchy. The students have been actively engaged in discussions and activities, gaining a solid understanding of these two forms of governance.

Keep up the great work, Grade 4!

Grade 5

Olympic Week 

This week we have had Australia, USA, Spain, and South Africa represent the Grade 5s in Parkdale Primary’s Mini Olympics!

To add to the excitement of the week, students have had independent reading and maths sessions themed around Olympics. From learning the history, designing venues, to budgeting and scheduling a day at the games! 

We have continued to learn about the lower and upper respiratory systems in inquiry, where students have constructed models to demonstrate lungs inhaling and exhaling air. 

In reading comprehension and writing lessons we have also continued with our story ‘A Single Shard’ and explanation text writing practice. 

Week 4 & 5 Reminders: 

Wednesday 7th August - 5B and 5G visit Parkdale Secondary College. 

Wednesday 14th August - 5H and 5O visit Parkdale Secondary College.

Please make sure you have consented for your child to attend this event.

Thursday 8th August - Athletics trials at Dolamore Oval.

Grade 6

Literacy

This week we have continued dissecting our novel ‘The Magicians Nephew’, focusing on intrusive narrating that casts a foreshadowing on future events. We have also begun to explore juxtaposition within a story and how the contrasts heighten the senses and create anticipation. In writing, we are continuing to draft our memories, focusing on acrostic poems, comic strips, and descriptive writing.

Mathematics

The Grade 6 students have completed their Angles unit and have begun focusing on Length and Area. In particular, the conversions between units of measurement and appropriate measurements for different situations.

Memory Books

Please check Compass for information sent home about memory books. Students have been asked to bring in a project book that can be used as their memory book for our upcoming projects. If you have any questions please contact your child’s teacher for clarification.

Interschool Sports

Well done and congratulations to our Girls AFL team who were fantastic last week and finished second on the day!

Good luck to our Girls Softball, Girls and Mixed Football teams, who will compete this week in the next round of matches.

Term 3 Dates

Please keep up to date with Compass and Focus, for any announcements regarding important Term 3 dates relating to Grade 6 students.