School News
Prep
Prep land has been a lot of fun over the past couple of weeks!
The Prep students thoroughly enjoyed their excursion to Melbourne Zoo. We loved seeing so many different animals throughout the day, and the beautiful weather made it even more special. Some of the animals we saw included lions, tigers, lemurs, monkeys, butterflies, giraffes, Tasmanian devils, meerkats, koalas, emus, and seals. We also enjoyed the bus ride to and from the zoo, with some students being so tired that they fell asleep on the way back to school!
The Prep students also recently participated in an exciting Cyber Safety Incursion where they learnt all about how to stay safe online. The students were highly engaged throughout the session and loved discovering important ways to use technology safely and responsibly. They enjoyed learning about keeping personal information private, being kind online, and knowing what to do if something makes them feel uncomfortable. One of the highlights of the incursion was receiving a special phone call from Pevan & Sarah, which made the experience even more memorable and fun for everyone!
PMP has continued to be a highlight of the week! The students have been participating in a variety of fun activities designed to develop their gross-motor skills and coordination. These activities have included throwing, catching and passing balls, balancing, jumping, hopping, skipping, crawling, and practising hand-eye coordination skills. It has been wonderful to see their confidence, coordination, and independence continue to grow as they challenge themselves and develop new skills each week.
In Reading, we have been learning about the letters c, k, e, and the digraph ck. We have been identifying them in words when reading, as well as writing them when sounding out words.
In Writing we have been learning to write a recount, ensuring we include 'who', 'what', and 'where'. We have focused on writing a recount about our Zoo excursion, as well as our investigations and play times.
In Maths, we have been learning to add numbers together, in particular adding 'one more' or 'two more' to a number. We have been doing this by participating in fun hands-on activities that challenge the students and get them to use their critical thinking skills.
The students have been loving the new investigations spaces! We have also recieved some chrysalises for the students to observe over the next couple of weeks as they transform into butterflies!
Important reminders:
- Please ensure you are signing in at the office before entering the school building before school, as teachers are often in a meeting or organising students' learning prior to the day starting.
- The Premiers’ Reading Challenge is currently underway, so please remember to log your child’s books online. Once they complete the challenge, they will receive a certificate later in the year to recognise their achievement.
Have a wonderful weekend and stay safe!
Kind regards,
The Prep Team
Laina Brebner, Kayla Hartrick and Emma Wright
Grade 1
What a great fortnight we have had in Grade 1. In Writing we have been learning, practicing writing and following procedures. We enjoyed following the steps to make chocolate balls that were sooooo yummy!
In Wellbeing, we had our first connect groups. Some of our favourites were jewellery making, Auslan, Skipping, Origami and Nature Craft and Collages. We can’t wait till we see our connect groups again. We have also been learning about ways to make new friends. We have learnt we can introduce ourselves, ask a question and find things in common.
In Investigations, we learnt more about ways to make sound and listened to music unique to different countries. We responded to the music with colours, lines and movement.
In Maths, we have begun learning about addition. We are learning to count starting from the biggest number and counting on. We have enjoyed using dominoes and number lines to practice this skill.
In Reading, we have begun Level 5 on DRA. We have learnt some new digraphs like ai (rain), ay (day), ea (beach) and ee (tree). We have been practicing doing dictation using words that contain the sounds we are learning. We are getting so good at writing with full stops, capital letters, and spaces between our words
The Grade 1 Team
Mel Layton, Sally Newton, Tim Huntington and Rowena Blake
Grade 2
We have had a great couple of weeks in Grade 2!
In Reading, students explored a variety of procedural texts with a focus on identifying nouns, proper nouns, verbs and adjectives. They also completed their Reading Learning Task, which demonstrated their understanding of the features and purpose of procedural texts.
In Writing, students planned, drafted and edited their own procedures as part of their Writing Learning Task. They each selected the perfect sandwich for this task and described clearly the steps on how to make it! We are looking forward to starting our Poetry unit in Week 5!
We have completed our unit on Time, and we encouraged students to continue practising reading analogue clocks at home. Students dived into a new unit focussing on Addition, where they explored efficient strategies for solving problems.
Students continued their Inquiry unit, Raw to Ready, where they investigated how foods are produced and packaged. They also began researching a food of their choice and explored the journey from farm to table. Students practised gathering information and using research skills.
A big thankyou to Lilydale High School who came on Monday to run a sports session with our Grade 2's. They loved practicing soccer drills, basketball skills and working as a team.
The Grade 2 Team
Allie Harrison, Sarah Margetts and Brendan Van Haaster
Grade 3 & 4
Level 3/4 is an exciting place to be with many exciting events coming up, including visits to Quantum and Alexandra Adventure Camp.
Last week we enjoyed a visit from Kiah and Jack from the Cyber Safety Project, where we took part in a fun and interactive session to discover more about how to use positive language and feel safe when online.
In Reading and Writing, we have been learning how to read and identify key facts and information. Students have learnt how to use nonfiction text features such as headings, captions, maps and glossaries to research a country of their choice. They have then used this to write an informative text with evidence of text structure that considers both audience and purpose.
In Maths, students have been learning effective mental strategies for addition. We have focused on doubles and near doubles, and the split strategy so that we can first make a reasonable estimate, then check for accuracy.
In Inquiry, students have been exploring typical landscape features and climates of countries around the world. They have learnt about island countries including Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Bali, and are now beginning to research and plan to create a travel brochure about one of these countries.
In Wellbeing, we are learning about character strengths and identifying our own strengths. These include being kind, fair, funny, brave, forgiving, curious, honest, generous, determined or brave. Identifying our strengths helps us understand how we can draw upon our own strengths to form positive relationships with the people around us.
Kind regards,
The 3/4 Team
Damien Smith, Daena Hailey, Brent Smith, Claire Cripps and Nick Pagliaro
Grades 5 & 6
It's been a busy couple of weeks in 5/6, with lots of learning, sports, and even a Wellbeing incursion!
Students recently participated in a Cyber Safety Project incursion, where they engaged in valuable discussions around staying safe online and using technology responsibly. Students learnt about the importance of 'switching off' from devices and turning off distracting notifications. They also learnt how to be an 'upstander' when interacting with friends on digital platforms, as well as being accountable for online behaviour and making responsible choices. Students contributed thoughtfully to positive and robust discussions involving real-life scenarios.
Training for the Winter Sports Day is well underway, with students enthusiastically practising their allocated sports each week. They have been developing their skills and teamwork in soccer, football, netball and t-ball. It has been great to see them giving it a go and supporting each other. We're looking forward to Tuesday 16th June, when students will compete against other local schools in a fun-filled tournament.
Some of our students attended the AFL Girls’ Gala Day earlier in the week, representing our school proudly while showing off their footy skills. The girls demonstrated great teamwork, persistence and enthusiasm throughout the day and had a lot of fun.
Students have been working hard to complete learning tasks recently, which they are excited to bring home to share with families in Week 6. It has been wonderful to see them showing pride in their learning and continuing to challenge themselves across all areas of the curriculum. We can't wait to see what else they achieve this term!
The 5/6 Team
Llinos Poole, Erin Rennick, Hayley Peirce, Mykaela Oakley & Kylie Morrissey