What's happening?
Foundation
It was lovely to hear that the students had a fun and restful long weekend. This week we have begun introducing new sounds /m/ and /d/. The students have enjoyed using these sounds to create even more words. We have been so impressed with their willingness to learn, have a go, and practice their sounds at home with their sound pack and list words. By now your child should also be bringing home weekly readers. Thank you for supporting their reading at home by listening to them each day. This week we started learning ‘Red Flag Words’ which are words that have tricky parts or sounds not yet explicitly taught. This week’s word is, ‘the’ and next week we will be learning ‘is’. Ask your child to find these words in their take-home readers.
Maths Groups are running smoothly as we continue with our ‘Place Value’ topic. Students are learning about the value of numbers, how they are formed, and what they are made of (e.g. tens and ones). We have also been using a wide range of concrete aides to help support the students learning. Next week we will begin our ‘Pattern ’ unit, we encourage you to look at the patterns you see around your home and in the environment.
As part of our Social Program, we have begun learning about the ‘Zones of Regulations.’ This identifies colours to feelings and helps children recognise their emotions. We started the unit by identifying how we feel when in the ‘Green Zone’, and will soon explore our feelings in the yellow, red and blue zones. We will also introduce strategies to help us feel calm, such as mindful activities they can complete to feel their best. This can be a great way for students to understand their emotions and a great tool that they can use at both school and home!
Today we had a great time meeting Murphy at our ‘Responsible Pet Ownership’ incursion. A reminder that Buddies is now every 2nd Wednesday. Last week students enjoyed making some ‘all about us’ rainbows, where they got to know their buddies and record some of their favourite things.
Thank you to those parents that have helped out with corridor reading. A reminder to put your name down on your child’s sign-up sheet (outside classrooms for FB, FH, FD and FW. Outside FN’s room for FN). A reminder to return reading satchels each day. Books are changed once a week. Please ensure your child has read each book at least twice and filled in their reading log journal. When you read the same book twice, just add a date to the previous read.
We are looking forward to a fun last two weeks of Term 1. In the final week we will begin some Easter craft, please contact your teacher if you you do not wish for your child to participate. The students will also be gifted one small Cadbury Easter egg, again please contact your child's teacher if you do not want this to happen.
Grade 1
This term is flying by and the Year 1’s have been working really hard. They have commenced writing recounts and their first task was based on our Long Weekend, focusing on writing an orientation and including time-connective words.
We are looking forward to celebrating Grandparent and Special Friends afternoon on Friday 22nd March. If your child is not going to have anyone visit on this afternoon, please let us know so that we can arrange an alternate activity for them to complete in the afternoon.
In Maths this week the students are continuing to look at addition. The students are working on their number fluency and number sense by committing basic number addition facts to memory to best prepare them for future learning. We will be using the language of number bonds, 10 friends and part-part whole. For any families you can find a ‘number fluency’ note inside homework folders.
In word study the students have been reviewing the digraphs “sh” and “th.” Next week’s focus is “ch” Please use your child’s sound pack to practise these sounds, and keep an eye on Homework folders for the next Word Study Practise sheet.
Keep up the amazing reading at home. We love seeing the traffic lights coloured in each night.
Grade 2
It is hard to believe there is only 2 weeks left of Term 1!
This week, students are further developing their recount writing skills, with the goal of describing their experiences written in past tense using time connectives (first, then, next), appropriate adjectives, and including their thoughts and feelings.
As part of our Word Study, we have been focusing on when to use the long spelling -ck and -tch (long spelling right after a short vowel). Students have also been learning to apply their knowledge from our ‘Syntax Project’ lessons to expand their sentences using the conjunctions because, so, but.
In Maths, students have been investigating 2D shapes and 3D objects. They are learning to use appropriate mathematical language to name and describe their features.
A couple of reminders:
- Students are completing their habitat research and planning for their diorama, which they will begin constructing next week. It would be wonderful if named shoeboxes (or similar size) and any additional materials could these please be brought into school by the end of this week.
- Next Thursday 21st March, we will be heading off on our excursion to Moonlit Sanctuary. Please ensure you have read all the information on the notice (sent out via Compass) and consented/paid.
As written in the last newsletter, students are now set up with a homework folder that is in their blue reader bag. Homework expectations include: regular reading aloud to an adult and ‘Red Flag Word’ spelling. Students also have access to ‘Nessy Reading and Spelling’ and Sunset Maths if they are looking for something more.
Grade 3
Reading/Inquiry
Last week, students read a range of texts exploring the effects and potential consequences of overfishing. This week and next, we are reading ‘One Well, The Story of Water’ and will explore the effects and potential consequences of water overuse. As well as building students’ knowledge, we are focusing on developing their ability to identify information within a text, link information across a table within a text, and answer questions after reading.
Writing
This fortnight, we will wrap up our focus on the persuasive writing genre. Students have looked at structure and language features, as well as brainstormed multiple arguments, selecting the strongest three to support their opinion before writing their persuasive text. In our grammar and syntax lessons, we have worked on verb tense within sentences, and will move onto using apostrophes with contractions. In our spelling lessons, we looked at the graphemes ‘ai’ and ‘ay’, and v-c-e syllables, and will move onto the graphemes ‘igh’ and ‘y’= /i/, as well as reviewing previously taught suffixes.
Maths
We began our measurement topic this week and will focus on length, followed by area for the rest of this term. Students are getting lots of ‘hands-on’ practise measuring with formal units: metres, centimetres and millimetres, and converting between units. As always, opportunities to explore these concepts in everyday situations at home will be a great way to consolidate and build on your child’s knowledge.
NAPLAN
This week, students completed their first two NAPLAN assessments, with their final two assessments next week. Well done Grade 3s!
Grade 4
Grade 4s are really starting to find their feet here in the Hubb art Parkdale. Thank you for all the efforts and amazing attitudes towards their learning.
Literacy
We are completing our information report writing unit by looking at the different elements and structure of our pieces. Along side many great examples we will be diving into the learning of short and long sentences (compund sentences) and how to write an engaging introduction. Grade 4’s are loving our inquiry unit of ‘Into the Unknown’ where wr are delving deep into our history of Australia and how our society was formed. Students will continue to either borrow a book from school or read a book from home for their daily reading.
Numeracy
Our measurement topic of ‘Addition’ has been our focus. Using the mathematical language of Sum, total and altogether, students are able to add multiple numbers together and show their understand through vertical algorithms. Soon we will be starting Subtraction.
Reminders
Please ensure your child is bringing their diary with them each day, and recording their reading each night. Students should be dressing according to the weather, and labelling all of their belongings!
Grade 5
We hope everyone had a lovely long weekend and are feeling refreshed and ready for the final few weeks of Term 1. The Grade 5’s thoroughly enjoyed their beach program and ‘Crazy Chemicals’ science incursion they attended over the last two weeks.
Maths
This is the final week of our topic of addition and subtraction and next week we will begin our next topic with an applied focus on angles and geometric reason. Students will acquire new knowledge and apply this to real life contexts.
Writing
Students have been working hard on persuasive writing over the last few weeks and will continue to do so for the remainder of the term. They are all constructing a persuasive text on the topic ‘Is taking public transport better than driving a car?’. We are learning to include a variety of persuasive techniques in each of our paragraphs to convince the reader. Students will finish and publish their texts over the coming weeks.
Reading
In reading, we have been focusing on energy, matter and ecosystems over the course of the term. During these lessons, there has been a specific focus on vocabulary retrieval, comprehension questions and fluency readings in response to a variety of non-fiction texts. Students have been answering deep questions on inferring, predicting, clarifying, summarising and questioning.
Inquiry
Our Inquiry unit has been a busy one this term! It has been full of interactive experiments which have displayed students’ cooperation and critical thinking skills. The students are excited to begin their projects this week. They will start by selecting their experiment and understanding the scientific method required to conduct it, as well as what materials it requires. Experiments will be conducted next week.
Reminders
NAPLAN will be running over the next two weeks on the following dates; 13th, 14th, 18th and 19th of March. Please ensure your child has their headphones in their bags or at school on these days. If they don’t have them, there will be a few spares at school.
Cross country will be on Friday morning and students will need to wear their sports uniform to school and ensure they have sunscreen on.
Camp reminders and a packing list will be given out in the last week of school so that students can get everything organised over the holidays, ready for camp in the first week of term 2. Our camp payment is due on Wednesday 10th of April (a week before camp).
The students will be beginning their science projects this week and are required to bring in some of the materials that they need. They will be in pairs/groups and start to bring in their materials during this week and early next week, which will require assistance from home.
Grade 6
Literacy
The Grade 6 students continued their novel study of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island. They have been working on summarising the significant events that transpire during the book and expressing their opinions based on this. A big focus has been providing evidence from the text about relationships between the characters.
Writing
The Grade 6 students kickstarted their writing block by looking at a persuasive text based on Scotland. The aim of this text was to persuade the reader to visit Scotland. The students then got to choose their own country to research and write a persuasive text on this. A challenge was set for the students to include verbs of high modality throughout their writing. Stay tuned on Seesaw for their completed persuasive texts.
Grammar
This week, students have been learning to use apostrophes to show possession in a singular word and plural word.
Mathematics
In Mathematics, students have been developing their understanding of Decimals and Percentages. Next week, we will start work on Fractions.
Inquiry
The Grade 6 classes have been working on their ‘Political Party’ theme covering our nation’s system of government, democracy, and the constitution. Over the next few weeks, the students will apply their knowledge to a group project which will involve them passing a bill in the format of government.
Interschool Sport
Last week, Grade 6 concluded their Summer Interschool Sports program with games played against Mentone Primary. Throughout this term, all students displayed ‘sportsmanship’ and were wonderful representatives of Parkdale Primary School. We are still waiting on the results which will determine who will proceed to finals (fingers crossed)!
Term Dates and Events
Please check Compass for further information regarding Term 1 dates and events relating to Grade 6 students.