The Learning Zone

"Coming together is the beginning, staying together is progress,

and working together is success." - Henry Ford

Brain Olympia 2024

This year, St Joseph's Primary School will be entering two teams in the Armidale Diocesan Brain Olympia competition. This event is an initiative that began at St Francis Xavier's, Narrabri in 1996 and offers our students the chance to participate in a variety of academic challenges against their peers from other institutions. 

The challenges include tackling a range of general knowledge questions and mathematical problems, engaging in public speaking, and performing a drama presentation on a chosen topic. Each of our teams, consisting of eight students from Years 4, 5, and 6, will compete in the Plains Cluster at St Edward's Primary School in Tamworth this Wednesday. We wish both teams, who are pictured below all the best of luck in their endeavours. We also express our gratitude to Mrs Crittenden who prepared our teams and will manage them on the day.

Armidale Diocesan Mathematics Initiative (MaST)

What is happening in the world of mathematics at St Joseph's? Let's take a look! 

Please see the information below to assist your child at home.

Maths At Home:

Kindergarten - Mass

Mass: The amount of matter contained in an object

Hefting: To judge the weight of objects by lifting them in the hands 

Ask your child to look around at home and find objects that they would describe as being light. Once they have a collection of "lights" you could ask them to find objects that they would describe as heavy. 

Would it be fun to play on a see-saw with an elephant?

Can you add anything that would be heavier than the elephant?

What would it be?

Stage 1 - Division 

In Stage 1, your child has been showing their understanding of division as sharing and grouping. There are many easy ways you can support this at home. Ask your child to practice division by sharing objects equally. 

For example, share 8 objects into 2 equal groups. Using objects such as your child’s toys, items of food, or buttons helps them visualise what the calculation means and keeps them interested.

Ask your child to find out how many objects there are to begin with. Can they share the objects equally between the two of you? Help them to share objects one at a time between the two groups. When all the objects have been shared, ask your child how many there are in each group. If you have the same number, explain that your child has shared the objects equally into two groups which is the same as dividing by two.

If you do not have the same number, ask your child if the objects have been shared equally. For example, “We started with 11 objects and shared them into two groups. I have 6 objects and you have 5 objects. Are they equal? If they are not equal then 11 cannot be shared equally into two groups so 11 cannot be divided by 2 equally using whole numbers or objects.”

Problems of the Week:

I have 20 lollies to share equally with 4  friends and myself.

How many lollies will each person receive?

Is there another way to share the 20 lollies equally with more or less friends? 

Draw your answers and show your teacher, it would be great to see your thoughts.

Stage 2 - Fractions 

Stage 2 have commenced their next unit on Partitioned Fractions. Please use the link below to assist your child with this topic. 

Article from the Institute of Education Sciences on learning about fractions at home.

Stage 3 - Multiplication

Stage 3 are working on Multiplicative Relations.

Use Real-Life Examples and Practice

Incorporate real-life examples and practice opportunities to make learning relevant and engaging. Examples:

• Shopping and Budgeting: When shopping, ask your child to calculate the total cost of multiple items using benchmark decimals (e.g., ‘If one apple costs $0.75, how much do 5 apples cost?) Practice estimating costs before using a calculator to check the accuracy of their mental calculations.
• Cooking and Baking: Use recipes to help your child practice multiplying and dividing decimals by powers of 10 (e.g., ‘The recipe calls for 1.25 cups of flour. If we need to make 4 times the recipe, how much flour do we need?’) Compare the place value of digits before and after multiplying or dividing to reinforce understanding.

Have a wonderful week of learning!