Reception class: Jess

We have a had a busy couple of weeks. It has been an absolute pleasure getting to know all the wonderful students in Reception.

Students are showing real Grit as they learn how to be resilient in order to bounce back from wobbly situations. We have been working on using our words to tell others if we don’t like what they are doing instead of using our hands.

Each Monday morning we are enjoying a walk and talk session where we practise listening to our partners and then we have time to share our stories with our friends. It’s a lovely way to become a better listener and sharer. We are using the prompts: where, how, who, what, when to help us guide us with our questions.

Each week we introduce two sounds where we practise handwriting and sounding out words using the sound of the day. We then get to use our creative skills to make a craft of that sound. Check out our Grapes for G. Students did a GREAT Job!

Numbers, number everywhere!

We are focusing of numbers, and building onto numbers. Students have created number ladders and their own personal number flash cards for them to use or play games with. This helps with number writing and number representation.

Reception class: Kelly

We have been super busy learning our new sounds m, d, g and o. The children are doing such a great job with forming their letters correctly. We have been making words with all the sounds we have learnt so far too.

With maths we completed our learning about counting in different ways (crossing out, using our fingers, moving the counters away etc) and we have started focusing on subitising. We have been playing games where the children have made their own subitising cards to play a game of memory and snap.

Samantha's year 2 class joined in with our class to talk about harmony day and why it is important. The children then got into groups and the year 2's helped the class trace around their hands. It was lovely to see them all work together.

Year 1 class: Jaya

Over the past 2 weeks the year 1 class has been busy consolidating their knowledge of the sounds ‘oi’, ‘oy’ ‘ea’, ‘ee’ and the different sounds that ‘oo’ make. We have begun to look at trigraphs and how sometimes a single sound can be made up of 3 letters like ‘igh’ in light! We are getting more confident in writing our sounds and have been gritty when putting these sounds into words and sentences. Within our narrative writing, we have been coming up with lots of creative stories, making sure we have character/s, a setting and a complication.

Within maths, we are loving exploring patterns. We have been looking at repeated patterns as well as predicting what might come next or what is missing from a pattern. We have discovered that patterns are all around us and that making patterns using body percussion is really fun.

In HASS, we have started looking at different jobs and roles that we have in our families and community, with a focus on what might have changed over time. I learnt that there are lots of responsible people in our class that help with lots of jobs at home!

A highlight this week has been the activities and conversations around diversity, individuality and belonging. We loved reading the book ‘The world needs who you were made to be’ by Joanna Gaines. Harmony Day is a great way to share the importance of treating everyone with kindness regardless of differences. We particularly enjoyed tracing around our hands and drawing unique designs on them to share our own interests and differences.

Have a lovely and restful weekend everyone.

Year 2 class: Samantha

In literacy, we've been delving into the fascinating world of morphemes. Morphemes are the smallest units of meaning in words, and understanding them helps us unlock the secrets of language. We've been focusing on prefixes such as dis-, be-, un-, re- and suffixes like -ing, -ed, -er. Learning about morphemes not only boosts our reading fluency and speed but also deepens our comprehension by revealing the meanings hidden within words.

In maths, we've been sharpening our skills through interactive games, particularly focusing on skip counting by 2, 5, and 10. Skip counting lays a strong foundation for understanding multiplication and patterns in numbers. Additionally, we've embarked on an exciting journey using the 6S problem-solving method. This method emphasises the importance of searching, sorting, and sketching as initial steps to tackle worded problems. It's incredible to witness our students embracing these strategies and becoming confident problem solvers!

As Harmony Day approaches, our class has been collaborating with Kelly's Reception class to explore the significance of this special day. Together, we've learned about the importance of celebrating diversity and promoting inclusivity in our community. In preparation for Harmony Day, students have been working in pairs or small groups to create unique handprints, symbolising our individuality and the beauty of coming together in harmony.

Year 3 class: Stephen and Troy

We have survived the week of Naplan testing and we are now back into our normal routine for the mornings. An important part of our morning routine is Guided Reading. This is a session where we read a shared text one day, then re-visit the text to answer comprehension questions the following day. Guided Reading develops our comprehension skills, including summarising, inferring and making connections between what we read and ourselves. The pictures below show some of us in our Guided Reading group.

In maths we have started to learn about adding larger numbers. Our focus is on transferring our knowledge of place value to do this, especially when it comes to exchanging.

For HASS we now combine with Sam’s year 2 students for Indigenous Perspectives. Our first task was to share the picture book Sorry Day (Coral Vass & Dub Leffler) and to then unpack the author’s message. Through this story we have started to discover how many years ago, bad decisions made by politicians in Australia made Aboriginal families feel hurt and sad and experience immense suffering. Our task was to create a Venn Diagram to summarise how the storybook showcases two parallel stories from different time periods.

Coral Vass & Dub Leffler, 2018, National Library Australia

Year 4/5 class: Alex

There have been a lot of highlights for our class this fortnight. We have had a new Year 5 student, Harry Rogers join us in Week 7, welcome Harry! Students are starting to look forward to Sports Day after voting for their house captains and participating in their first practices of the health hustle. We have also enjoyed a Harmony Day celebration this Thursday, sharing a song, lunch and banner decoration with students across the school. This fortnight our Year 5 students have put in their best effort to complete their NAPLAN testing. The Year 4 students have been excited to begin using their new laptops for the first time this week. The whole class has begun typing lessons to practise their finger placement for touch-typing using the laptop keyboard.

Through their Design and Technology ‘Kids in Space’ unit, students have been learning about the problems that need to be solved in space, rocket launches that have taken place in Australia and Katherine Benell-Pegg’s career pathway to becoming the first ‘Australian trained’ astronaut in space. Students have also been completing tutorials to practice and hone their digital design skills using Maker’s Empire.

In writing this fortnight students have been practising their use of dialogue in their narratives to reveal characters and move the plot along. They have been practising using quotations marks accurately and moving down a line each time a new character speaks. Students have been adding to a bank of descriptive words they can use instead of ‘said’ to reveal how the character speaking is feeling, behaving and what their intentions may be. Some examples in our word bank are: ordered, screeched, cried and stuttered.

In maths students are continuing their unit on place value. Students continue to participate in daily mental maths and Mathletics tasks to maintain their fluency engaging with concepts across the curriculum. They have been practising their multiplication and division facts ahead of regular testing of these number facts. Please support your child to practice at home if they have time.

Year 5/6 class: Sallie

Another whirlwind fortnight for the year 5/6 class. Naplan for the Year 5s and the Year 6's working in other classes (lots of positive remarks from the other teachers).

In English we have been looking at writing techniques to support our narratives. "Show don't tell" for the last few days. Ask your children about my slamming the door and yelling! Then the number of different scenarios lead by the students where we examined, body language, tone of voice, and actions. Trying to "show" rather than just retell. Another 2 groups started their group reading and its interesting unpacking, writing techniques, new words and why and how of writing.

We are gaining momentum with our Geography assignment and looking at how Powerpoint can be used to support our oral presentations. Students are comparing an Australian state/city with an Asian country/city. We have listened to some traditional Japanese music and Mongolian Throat music to support this. It has been a great backdrop to support our understanding of diversity and support our Harmony Day activities.

Continuing to delve into all that encompasses place value and number and gaining confidence in this area has been our focus in maths.

We have been practising team cheers and the health hustle and doing tryouts for the district carnival. I am sure your children are coming home tired and worn out from all our learning and activities!!!!

Indonesian: Ibu Susan

In Indonesian the students in year 5/6 have started work as fashion designers and are creating outfits for their favourite celebrities, all with descriptions in Indonesian!

The year 4/5s have written descriptions for various clothing outfits using several adjectives, including colours and size.

The Reception students have been busy practising number and colour words with stories and songs.

The year 1, 2 and 3 students have been creating clever and funny sentences based on the story about “topi” (hats). This requires an understanding of Indonesian word order.

Science

Reception and Year 1 - continued exploration of materials and their properties. They used bar magnets to observe magnetic force and used their skills with pipettes to test for waterproof and absorbent materials.

Year 2 - The class followed up the Week 6 papermaking session by doing some lovely drawings on the paper that they made. This week they continued investigating how paper can be changed. We did more paper folding and made a small and a big paper plane. The task was to investigate which plane would fly furthest.

In learning about solids, liquids and gases, Year 3 did a re-run of an experiment in which they melted ice cubes in both hot and cold water.

Years 4, 5 and 6 observed properties of liquids solids and gases by doing a 'Lava Lamp' experiment using water, oil and vitamin C tablets. Apart from developing concepts about the properties of solids, liquids and gases, the focus was on developing observation skills and writing predictions and results (with possible explanations for these results). Week 6 lessons looked at differences in the arrangement of molecules in solids, liquids and gases.

PE: Emma and Troy

During PE this week we have been fine-tuning our agility and coordination within relays, using different objects to balance, kick and catch with. Our social focus involved what it means to be a part of a team. Students agreed that teamwork involves encouragement, collaboration and engagement. This coincides with our upcoming Sports Day next Thursday! - Emma

Over the past fortnight, students have been getting ready for Sports Day practising both tabloid and athletic events. Students have had the chance to work on their high jump and long jump skills as well as hurdles and sprints. We look forward to seeing lots of families out next Thursday. - Troy

Mon 25/3	Pupil Free Day
Thur 28/3	Sports Day
Fri 29/3	Good Friday Public Holiday
Mon 1/4	Easter Monday Public Holiday
Fri 5/4	*Sallie's Tuck Shop
Thur 11/4	*Colour Run
Fri 12/4	Last Day of Term 1 - Early Dismissal 2:10pm

Pupil Free/ School Closure Days
Mon 25/3	Pupil Free Day
Fri 10/5	Pupil Free Day
Mon 22/7	Pupil Free Day
Mon 4/11	School Closure Day

Important dates