Learning and Teaching

A mesage from Mrs Hodgetts

In the last newsletter, I made reference to 'this time last year' ..........well I am going to do the same again in this edition.

In the last newsletter before the holidays, I always like to provide families with some suggestions to keep the children active and engaged ....and on a budget! Mr Magnabosco has some Mathematics suggestions below too!

Some great ideas, include:

• Going on a nature walk and collecting leaves, sticks, or interesting finds
• Have a winter picnic (rug up with blankets and hot drinks!)
• Create a backyard or around the house scavenger hunt
• Fly a kite on a breezy winter day
• Visit a playground or park you've never been to
• Build a DIY obstacle course outside
• Have an arts and crafts day using recycled materials
• Create a comic strip or mini storybook of one of your holiday activities
• Design your own board game and play it together with the family
• Host a movie marathon with homemade popcorn
• Bake something simple like cookies or muffins
• Create a reading nook and dive into books
• Try a DIY spa day (face masks, relaxing music)
• Write and deliver kind notes to friends
• Start a gratitude journal or holiday scrapbook
• Learn a new skill, such as drawing, dancing or a magic trick
• Visit a popular landmark, that even though you live in Melbourne, you have never been to, such as the Shrine of Remembrance or Captain Cooks Cottage!

As we are doing Geography next term, a great idea would be to create a map of your backyard, hide a treasure and see if a family member can follow your clues/map to find it!

Please have a safe holiday and I look forward to seeing everyone in Term 3!

Mrs Hodgetts

Mathematics

What a fantastic term of learning in Mathematics! Throughout Term 2, students have engaged in a variety of hands-on and collaborative learning experiences, building their confidence and mathematical understanding.

This term, our students focused on developing skills in addition and subtraction, exploring a range of strategies to solve number problems efficiently and accurately. They practised using mental computation, number facts, and written methods to explain their thinking and solve increasingly complex problems.

In data and graphing, students collected, organised, and interpreted information in meaningful ways. They created and analysed different types of graphs, learning how data can be used to answer questions and make informed decisions.

Our learning in measurement provided many opportunities for students to estimate, compare, and measure length, mass, capacity, and time. Through practical investigations, like when our Year 4 students weighed the bin from each classroom and compared the masses, students developed a deeper understanding of how measurement is used in everyday life.

A highlight of the term was the many opportunities students had to apply their learning through problem-solving tasks. Working collaboratively, students explored different strategies, justified their reasoning, and persevered when faced with challenging mathematical situations.

Term 3 will bring lots of learning about multiplication and division, where students will learn multiplication facts and their related division facts, solve problems using written strategies, and apply problem-solving skills to apply their knowledge to the real world.

Holiday Maths Challenges

For families who would like to continue exploring mathematics over the holiday break, here are some optional problem-solving activities to enjoy together:

1. The Shopping Challenge
   • Give your child a budget of $20 and create a shopping list.
   • Can they work out the total cost and calculate any change?
2. Graph Your Holidays
   • Collect data about your family's activities over a week (e.g. walks, movies, reading, sport).
   • Create a graph to display the results and discuss what the data shows.
3. Measurement Hunt
   • Find five objects around the house.
   • Estimate and then measure their length, height, or weight.
   • How close were your estimates?
4. Number Puzzle
   • Using the digits 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, create addition and subtraction equations that equal 10.
   • How many different solutions can you find?
5. Family Problem Solver
   • If your family travels 25 km to visit a friend and then another 18 km to go to the park, how far have you travelled altogether?
   • Can you create your own word problem for someone else to solve? Maybe a problem based on something you actually did over the holidays!

We look forward to continuing our mathematical learning adventures after the school holidays, in Term 3!

Joel Magnabosco