Ulysses Community Report

Term 4 2023

We would like to say a big thank you to all our families and students of the Ulysses community. As we near the end of the year we are looking forward to a much deserved break and festive holidays with our families. We appreciate the support we have received and continue to receive throughout the year. Well done to all the students who have continuously brought in their homework to show how they are consolidating their learning. 

We look forward to celebrating all of our successes, achievements and learnings with you leading up to the end of the year.

Our Learning:

Reading:

In reading, the Ulysses community have been exploring Autobiographies and Narratives. Students have read books that focus on the aspects of synthesising, making text connections, answering questions and creating a timeline of events that have happened in people's lives whilst putting these life events in chronological order. The success criteria varied as students learnt new skills throughout the weeks. For example, they looked at the characters' feelings through words and images, seeing how our thinking changes at the beginning, middle and end. Students then went on to look at narratives and explored the structure of a narrative text. To be successful in their learning, students had to identify the beginning, middle and end of the story, identify the characters and setting and identify alliteration within the text. Also, we looked at character traits and how different characters make up the story's mood, such as, looking at the setting, different features and using adjectives to describe the setting we are observing using our 5 senses (sight, taste, touch, smell and hearing). We have continued to progress through our phonics program implemented by the Ulysses teachers. Students continue to explore different digraphs and articulate their phonemes by listening to the sounds in words and locate which letters are making those sounds.   

Writing:

In writing, students have been exploring online texts and a range of Autobiography books based on famous people and their life story such as: The little refugee and Born to run. Students were then given the opportunity to write their own Autobiography. Students followed the writing process of prewriting, planning, drafting, revising, editing and publishing. We highlighted important aspects of our life such as: where and when we were born, our family, family celebrations and many other life milestones. The students loved writing about themselves and sharing some truly amazing achievements they have experienced. Students are now in the process of writing their own Narratives. They have enjoyed creating their own character, internal and external traits, setting and using their five senses to create a detailed image in the reader's head. We look forward to continuing the writing process to have a published Narrative and become an author of our own fictional stories. 

Maths: 

In Maths, the students have been working on fractions. They have developed their understanding of equal parts, whole and how that looks using shapes and collections. Students have been creating questions and surveying their peers. They have been successfully collecting this data using tally marks and putting their results into a graph of their choice. Students have also been consolidating their learning of the seasons of the years and their corresponding months. They even took a step further and discussed some events that take place during these times of the year. Students then again looked at 2D and 3D shapes, arrays and Australian money. They have worked incredibly hard and have had such fun through hands on and open communication tasks. 

SEL:

In SEL, Students have been developing their understanding of how to demonstrate the school values. They have looked at each school value in detail and have completed corresponding activities to model their understanding. Students have been really showing the school values and this has been evident via students care ticket trading. Make sure you ask your child/children what they have traded their care tickets in for this term. Eg. 3D printed dragon, lollipop, icy poles and much more.

Inquiry:

In Inquiry, the students have been working extremely hard developing their knowledge of the cultural diversity that surrounds us in our local community. We have developed an extensive knowledge of cultural foods, dances, flags, languages, celebrations and much more. Students have had an absolute blast practising our cultural dances for our parent showcase morning on December 7th and we hope to see all our wonderful Ulysses families there for a good old boogie and to celebrate all the wonderful cultures amongst our families.