Merri-bek Mail

Teaching and Learning Areas

Foundation

Term 1 is off to a great start! The Preps have settled in well and have made so much progress in a few short weeks. Students have been taught the sounds from the first stage of Little Learners Love Literacy’s phonics program (m, s, f, i, t, p, c, a) as well as ‘heart’ words (words we learn by heart) including My, The and I. We are now practising blending these sounds together to read simple words and sentences e.g. cat, sit, tip, fit. We are now beginning the second stage of the program, focusing on a new set of sounds and words.

 

Thank you to parents and carers that are prioritising practising sounds and heart words at home. As mentioned in the information sheet sent out with the yellow sound packs, students will receive decodable readers once they are fluent with their sounds/heart words and are blending their sounds together with ease. Your child may come home with a list of short words that you can practise reading with them as a step before the decodable readers. Blending can be a difficult concept so we are hoping students can do this comfortably before we send home readers. Reading this list of words can help them to focus on the skill of blending i.e. the sounds /s/, /i/ and /p/ make the word ‘sip’.

 

By this point in the term, your child should be able to do these things independently:

  • Put their bag in their locker
  • Collect the things they need to bring into the classroom (eg water bottle)
  • Greet the teacher and/or any friends sitting at their table
  • Engage in the table activity set up for them

 

Encouraging your child to do this on their own helps to set them up for success.

 

If your child is struggling to transition to school in the morning, here are some tips for ensuring your child has an easier separation:

  • Arrive as soon as the soft start bell rings at 8:50am.
  • Allow them to independently complete the morning routine (as listed above).
  • Make the goodbye as quick as possible (try not to linger).
  • Stick to a rule (e.g. one hug goodbye then I go) and follow through.
  • Explain what will happen before coming to school i.e. “When we get to your classroom, we are going to do one quick hug goodbye then I will leave.”

Currently in maths, we are learning strategies for appropriate counting behaviours. With collections of up to 20, we are practising saying the number aloud only as you touch the item as well as moving items from one spot to another to ensure you don’t accidentally count something twice. We are also matching numerals to a collection of items. At home if you use a countdown for transitioning between tasks, try counting forwards and backwards from 20 or 12, instead of 10.

 

Every day so far in Prep, students have engaged in an hour of Developmental Play. Various activities and play materials are on offer each day. During these sessions, we focus on developing social skills, appropriate play behaviours and cleaning up after ourselves.

 

Lastly, students may attend a specialist class or complete a lesson from our Integrated Curriculum unit. Our current unit is called ‘Me at School’. We have designed lessons to help ensure adjusting to school is easier. This includes focusing on how Kinder is different from school, how if we make a mistake that is a good thing as it helps us learn, how we all have different strengths but we are all kind to one another as well as how we can help others using our strengths. Lastly, we focussed on advocating for yourself by role playing situations where you may need to tell a teacher straight away or tell a teacher after you used your words first.

 

Thanks,

The Prep Team (Arwen, Stef, Tori)

Grade 1/2

The Grade 1/2s have continued to settle into school very well. We have been busy learning about phonological awareness (speech sounds, syllables and rhymes) and phonics (sound and letter patterns) and are now writing some of the focus sounds on mini whiteboards.

 

 We have been reading narratives and students have also been writing their own stories. In maths, we have been learning about numbers and the place value system through lots of games and learning activities.

 

 In our Inquiry lessons, we have been exploring families and how they are similar and different in how they celebrate, foods they eat, who is in them and things they do. We are looking forward to reading about all the special people that the Grade 1/2s interview in the coming weeks. 

 

Please see the Compass note from Luisa about the special person interview. The interviews need to be returned to school by Friday the 28th of March.

Grade 3/4

Mathematics in 3/4

The year 3/4 students have begun their unit of addition in Mathematics. We are practising additive thinking strategies such as 10s facts, build to ten, doubles and near doubles. To practise these skills, we played archery addition where we tossed counters onto a target and calculated the total. We recorded the total in our grid books, alongside which strategies we used. Not only are we practising addition, we are practising our reasoning by explaining the strategies used. We also practised using 2-digit numbers and for some of us - decimals! 

Grade  5/6

The Year 5/6s have all done a stellar job settling into the term and have been making incredible progress with their learning across the curriculum. 

 

PBL 

Students kicked off our PBL learning with some creative group work (see photo below), making a display focusing on the ‘Four Cs’ of PBL - Creativity, Collaboration, Critical Thinking and Communication. 

After some whole group exploration and individual research, students formed into groups for the first mini project focusing on what life might have been like for the thousands of generations of First Nations people prior to colonisation. We learned about the incredible design of the Brewarrina Fish Traps on Ngemba Wayilwan Country, what life might have been like 40,000 years ago at Lake Mungo on Mutthi Mutthi, Ngiyampaa and Paakantji/Barkandji Country, and SO much more. Students are now busy preparing to share their understandings in creative formats including maps, podcasts, and collages. 

 

Maths

Maths has been a learning whirlwind with students learning about the connections between decimals, place value, fractions and percentages. They have worked extremely hard and have demonstrated remarkable persistence when converting between mixed numbers and improper fractions, and between fractions, decimals, and percentages. Students have also used their decimals and place value skills when measuring items in the environment and converting those measurements into other metric units. 

 

Literacy

In Writing sessions, students worked on their narrative writing skills including developing ideas from images, adding descriptive and sensory details, and editing using steps memorised with the acronyms CUPS and ARMS. In Reading, students just completed the unit on historical fiction, having analysed several texts by First Nations and other Australian authors, identifying elements of the orientation, summarising texts, making inferences, and exploring key vocabulary using Frayer models. 

 

Bunjil the Eagle

After reading the Dreamtime story of Bunjil the Eagle, the Grade 5/6 students were inspired to create their own representation of Bunjil using leaf litter gathered from the school grounds. They learned how Bunjil, an ancestral Wedge-tailed Eagle, created the land for the Wurundjeri people. According to the creation story, Bunjil originated from a falling star, and as he descended, he used the air from his beak to form the earth. His talons scratched the soil, causing the first trees and plants to grow, and his actions brought life to the world.

As they constructed their leaf-litter Bunjil, the students also discovered the significance of Bunjil's relationship with his brother Mindi, the snake. They learned that Bunjil, while soaring back into the sky, picked up a branch from the manna gum tree and shook it, creating Mindi, who would become the law of the land. Together, Bunjil and Mindi shaped the animals we see today, including the kangaroo, koala, platypus, and echidna. The students' artwork not only celebrated the creation story but deepened their understanding of Aboriginal culture and the Wurundjeri people's connection to the land.

 

Blue tongue Show and Tell 

The Year 5/6D Dragonflies were lucky to have two visitors to the class one Wednesday, when Vivienne kindly brought in her pet blue tongue lizards for Show and Tell. Vivienne shared a wealth of knowledge about blue tongue appearance, care, lifespan, behaviour. We learned the correct way to pat a blue tongue, before each student had the chance to give one a pat! Thanks Vivienne for teaching us so much! 

Young Leaders Conference

On Monday, 3rd March 2025, 22 Grade 6 leaders from Merri-bek Primary School attended the National Young Leaders Day at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. Teachers Joseph Hess and Sandra Pepi also joined them for a day of leadership activities and inspiring speakers.

At the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, the students joined hundreds of other young leaders. The students heard from four inspiring speakers:

  • Thomas Duncan-Watt, award-winning screenwriter, shared his thoughts on creativity and staying committed to goals.
  • Emma McKeon, Australia’s most decorated Olympian, inspired with her story of hard work and success.
  • Majak Daw, former AFL player, spoke about overcoming challenges as a refugee and becoming a leader in sport.
  • Catherine Laga’aia, actress and future Moana in a live-action Disney film, talked about breaking barriers in entertainment.

Students had the opportunity throughout the day to chat with other young leaders. They reflected on the speakers' messages and exchanged ideas about leadership. The students also took part in fun dance activities, which added energy and excitement to the day.

It was clear the year 6 students had not only had fun, but also gained valuable leadership insights. We are proud of our young leaders and look forward to seeing how they apply these lessons throughout the year!

 

 PE

Hockey Victoria & Brunswick Hockey Club Clinics

Students had the opportunity to participate in a free hockey clinic run by Hockey Victoria and Brunswick Hockey Club. The sessions focused on developing fundamental hockey skills through engaging games and activities. Representatives from Hockey Victoria and Brunswick Hockey Club encouraged students to refine their skills while emphasising the importance of safety when using hockey equipment. 

STEM

Term 1 in STEM has been all about chemical science. Students have had fun experimenting with chemical changes in the classroom, including changes of state and reversible and irreversible changes. We have also had lots of fun thinking about the materials we use and their properties, and making decisions about what materials would be best while making.

 

Spanish

This term at Merri-bek Primary School, students have been actively building their Spanish skills through engaging lessons.

 

 Foundation and year 1-2 students have been learning greetings and goodbyes, counting from 1 to 20, and exploring colors and fruits while expressing likes and dislikes.

 

 Year 3 and 4 students have been practicing introductions, expanding their number knowledge up to 50, and mastering the Spanish alphabet, with a focus on tricky letters like ñ, ll, and y.

 

  Across all year levels, students have enjoyed interactive activities, songs, and games that make language learning fun and meaningful. They have also been developing confidence in speaking and listening through role-playing and class discussions. As the term progresses, they will continue to build on their vocabulary and pronunciation skills. 

 

The enthusiasm and curiosity they bring to each lesson make learning Spanish an exciting journey!

Performing Arts

It’s been an exciting Term 1 as all grades have been busy learning choreography for the upcoming school concert that will be taking place on the 18th of September, Term 3!From the Wizard of Oz, to Disney, to 90s and 80s classics, there’s so many iconic film songs that will be performed on this magical night! Watch this space, as our awesome performers rehearse and workshop their ideas.