Learning News

Learning News Week 5

The students across the school have completed Cold Writes this week, not only at St Michael’s, but across our Diocese, as part of our ongoing data assessment.  Students participate in a Cold Write where they are given an unseen stimulus and prompts to assist them in writing the specified text type - either persuasive, informative or imaginative, without teacher assistance.  The results are then tracked across the year and marked against a criteria which enables teachers to assess growth and identify areas of improvement to help guide their teaching.  

This term’s persuasive topic was “Hero Award”.  The students were asked who deserved a “Hero Award” and had to persuasively justify their choices.  You will be pleased to know that a lot of you (Mum and Dad) were nominated by your students for so many different reasons - your compassion, your ability to build things and how much you help others.  Even some of our teachers got a mention in the student’s responses, so keep up the good work everyone!

Yours in learning,

Mrs Shepherd

Kindergarten

Kindergarten continues to do some amazing learning this term in Science. This week, we explored the concept of floating and sinking as part of our unit about materials. We read the book Who Sank the Boat by Pamela Allen. We then brainstormed different materials that may be able to float and sink. Students made their own boat out of alfoil to experiment which different materials would float. Well Done Kindergarten Scientists!- Miss Fraser

Year 1

In Science this term, Year 1 has been learning to describe and group living things. They have learned that living things grow, eat, move and reproduce. Year 1 have learned to describe animals and plants by labelling their parts, looked at how different cultures use animals in their storytelling and dance, and have learned some Gamilaroi words for Australian animals. Next they had to design a zoo and decide how they would group different animals. Outstanding work Year 1! Miss Myers 

Year 2/3

This week in Science, Year 2/3 have been learning about native and introduced species of plants and animals. In this lesson we research a definition for both native and introduced, as well as identifying and sorting animals into these categories. Using our gained understanding and knowledge the students then created a poster displaying some  examples of each kind. Keep up the fantastic work Year 2/3. 

Year 4

This week in Creative Arts, Year 4 has been learning about the wattle, including the symbolic elements of wattle to Australia and about National Wattle Day. Students created a wattle tree artwork that required them to independently paint a green background using the technique of blending. They then drew the trunk of a wattle tree and created wattle flowers using scrunched up tissue paper. Amazing work Year 4! Mrs Gall and Miss Maunder.

Year  5/6

In preparation for Remembrance Day, Stage 3 have created various masterpieces to decorate our room for our Liturgy. Students read the famous “In Flanders Fields” which inspired their poppy flower artworks. They used a range of materials such as paint, crepe paper and oil pastels to make some beautiful images that recognises the sacrifice Australian service men and women have made for our country. Well done stage 3! Miss Rasche and Miss Summerell.