Student Learning Snapshots

PREP SNAPSHOT 

Hi Prep families, 

In Literacy, students have continued learning that 2 or 3 letters together can make one sound e.g. ‘wh’. Students have also continued learning how to write a recount of an experience by using the words ‘First’, ‘Next’ and ‘Then’ to support sequencing their ideas. 

In Maths, students have been reviewing addition and subtraction. Students have now been introduced to the symbols +, - and =. Students have learned a range of strategies to solve addition and subtraction problems including counting on, using their fingers, using counters, and drawing a picture representation. 

This week we concluded our Inquiry unit of our 5 senses. Students have engaged in a range of learning experiences with the senses (e.g. using their sense of smell to guess what is in a jar). Students have been encouraged to use their senses to describe things by using adjectives (e.g. using their sense of tase to describe a lemon as ‘sour’, or ‘squishy’). Students have been then writing about these experiences during writing time. 

Reminders: 

• Library is on Mondays. 
• Please return any take home readers back on Mondays so these can be swapped to new ones for the week. 
• Please ensure students come with a hat and drink bottle. Students will be required to sit in a shaded area if they do not come with a hat. 

Thankyou! 

Prep team. 

YEAR 1/2 SNAPSHOT 

Our Grade 1 and 2 students have definitely been busy over the past few weeks. 

We have been learning all about doubles and halves in Maths, with the Grade 2s also learning about quarters. We have solidified our understanding of grouping and sharing whilst recreating familiar events for the students - learning how to share lollies equally across a friendship group is a very important skill to have 🙂 even if we are using tokens and pretending! We are also still skip counting by 5s, 10s and 2s… please make sure to ask us to show you how well we can do it!

In Literacy, we have been learning the difference between a retell and a paragraph shrink. We are still using descriptive writing and making sure we are using adjectives and adverbs, making sure that we are ‘showing’ the reader by giving them enough detail to picture our story in the mind, and not just telling them. 

In Knowledge, we are finishing up our unit on the Human Body and we have learnt so many amazing facts about our skeletal, circulatory, respiratory and nervous systems. We have produced some amazing artwork too - our skeleton hands were fantastic!

Reminders: 

• Library is on Tuesdays - please make sure that your child/dependant has their library books to return. 
• Term 4 is ‘No Hat = No Play’ at HBPS, so please make sure that hats are kept at school. 
• Please ensure that your child/dependant brings their fruit/vegetables for our ‘Brain Food’ time in the morning (10am) and also has their drink bottle every day.

YEAR 3/4 SNAPSHOT 

See next newsletter. 

YEAR 5/6 SNAPSHOT 

The Year 5’s and 6’s have been very busy over the last few weeks getting well underway with our Knowledge Units! We have further invested our time into learning about significant Australians and the speeches they have given. This has allowed us to look more at the impact those speeches had on their target audience, as well as any techniques they used that we could emulate to improve our own speech giving. Developing these skills has allowed us to hone in on the skills we need to give speeches that are not only persuasive and emotional, but also targeted and concise. Our next step is to start working on active listening, responding, and rebutting. 

In the area of Mathematics, we have been making solid links between manipulating fractions and understanding chance. We have been making connections between fractions, decimals, and percentages, as well as the way we use them to describe different probabilities. Now it’s on to applying these skills into real life scenarios, and who doesn’t love a good discount! Working with percentages will allow us to make a connection between our theory work and the real world (as well as do a little pretend shopping!).

Last week we were able to send off the phenomenal ‘Banks Baddies’ band to the Geelong Show to represent Hamlyn Banks. They had an amazing time and showed their persistence while performing during some incredibly wet weather! They were awesome under pressure, performing some George Ezra, Benson Boone, and Taylor Swift classics to amaze their audience. Great work everyone involved, with a special shout out to the staff and parents who came along to help.

A bit of a ‘Save the Date’ for all our Graduation bound Year 6 families, with the date getting locked in for the 18th of December. We look forward to seeing you all dressed up in your semi-formal best, ready to take part in a night of celebration and hopefully not too many tears!

Our last reminder is for all Year 6’s families to keep an eye out for our Adventure Park excursion on the 17th of December, the day before our graduation. There will be information about coming out on Compass soon, so stay tuned!

Thanks for an excellent few weeks, Year 5/6!

5/6 Team

SPECIALIST 

STEM

This term in STEM students across all year levels have been building their problem solving skills while working through the design process.

Prep students

1/2 students have been busily testing to find the materials and properties of a range of objects.  They then used this knowledge to design and build a raft that could safely carry a LEGO figure across water.  Students are currently learning about different plant based foods, the different parts of plants that we eat and the importance of “eating a rainbow”.  They practised their food preparation skills this week by designing and creating a fruit kebab.

3/4 students were busy exploring basic physics at the start of the term through the design of their own “marble rollercoasters”.  Students explored different ways to get the marble to build enough momentum to travel through the entire rollercoaster.  They also had to ensure that the marble stayed on the track without falling off - this required some serious problem solving skills!  Students are currently exploring materials that float and sink and designing a boat that will be able to carry a playdough figure across water.

5/6 students started the term researching about rollercoasters and different rollercoaster designs.  They then worked together to design their own “marble rollercoaster” and then went on to build these using plates and cups.  There was lots of testing and improving along the way!  5/6 students have now moved on and are exploring objects that are conductive (allow electrons to flow through them) and using these to create circuits that can control our iPads.  To do this, students have been using a tool called “Makey Makeys”, where they are required to connect alligator clips to the controller and any conductive object.  5/6 students have been really engaged with this and are making many discoveries of their own through the process.