Learning and Teaching
Number Intervention
Our Number Intervention programme is progressing well, with some wonderful achievements being made by our Year 3 and 4 students in Number. Many thanks for the continued hard work of our Learning Support Officers: Sophia, Pauline, Rosa and Tegan and a big welcome to Maree who has joined the team this term.
Congratulations to Marco C (4R) and Adele D (3R) for their awards for exceptional effort and improvement in Maths!
Marco has this to say about his progress: “Going to the Number Intervention sessions with Mrs Ferris has really helped me with my addition and subtraction and knowing my number facts. I’m much quicker now! And, now I can read and write big numbers like 999 888 777 666 543” (He actually can!) “I can count by 10s, 100s, 1000s, 10 000s and more. The arrow cards have helped me a lot. Now Maths is way easier. I like coming to Number Intervention!”
Adele says: “Number Intervention has helped me a lot, so now Maths is easy. I feel more confident in Maths. I used to be the last person to finish, but now I’m the first! That makes me happy and grateful that Rosa helped me.”
Thanks also to Maree and Sophia for their work in Maths with students from Years 2-6. After pre-testing the children in their classes, teachers design a programme which differentiates between the varying levels of student knowledge and skill in the particular topic. Maree and Sophia then work with various groups of children, supporting the teacher to focus on the needs of each child.
Below are some ideas that you can use with your children at home to develop a strong basis for Number. In each newsletter, I will include a progression of activities – with daily practice, counting and patterns should become automatic. Here’s to helping our kids grow in confidence in Maths!
Counting:
- Count forwards and backwards by ones and tens to 100 and beyond.
- Increase the number range to include numbers in the 1000s (when your child is confident with smaller numbers).
- Write some of the number sequences, forwards and backwards. You can write them in a ladder (Start at the bottom for forwards sequences and at the top for backwards sequences).
Patterns:
Use buttons, blocks, shells or other objects to partition the numbers 6, 7, 8 and 9:
Start with 6 objects. Have your child find as many ways as they can to break the 6 objects into 2 groups. Eg 5+1, 3+3, 2+4 and so on. Children from Year 1 and up can write the combinations as sums.
Repeat with 7, 8 and 9 objects.
Practise until the combinations for each are automatic!
Jane Ferris
Number Intervention Leader
jferris@gsmelbournesth.catholic.edu.au
Book Club
Issue 4 of Book Club is out now. Orders are due by the 7th June. All orders are to be placed through the Loop App. No cash orders will be accepted at school.
Please note: Some books will not be distributed until the beginning of Term 3.
STEAM News
It has been wonderful to hear about all the learning taking place in the classrooms this term. The emphasis is very clearly on Science. Students have been busy learning about electricity, energy, habitats, the sun and moon and even earthworms!
On Tuesday 23rd May Prep E and F visited their buddy classes to complete a STEAM experiment called 'Dancing Worms'. The Prep students worked with Year 6 to predict what would happen when they dropped lolly worms into a bicarb and vinegar solution, record their responses and create a presentation using iPads.
The teachers were very excited to watch the worms dance! Unfortunately, the experiment did not go to plan and the worms did not dance - they only danced their way to the bottom of the cup! Although the experiment was not a success, it did raise lots of discussions as to why it all went wrong. The students became super scientists and kept investigating and hypothesising. It was great to watch and listen to this rich discussion.
It was wonderful to see the Year 6 students taking on their leadership roles with pride, and working with their buddies enthusiastically and patiently!
We had lots of fun and are excited to share our results with the school community.
Thank-you to Miss Evans and Miss Fahy for creating a great hands-on experience for all of our students.
If you would like to try this STEAM experiment at home, please visit:
https://www.thoughtco.com/dancing-gummy-worms-science-experiment-604166
New Resources have been ordered for students to use within their STEAM topics this term. Our focus is on Science. If you are an expert in the Science field, please make contact with your child's/children's classroom teacher/s. We love having parents participate within our community.
STEAM Boxes
With help from my Year 6 STEAM Leaders Amelia C and Isabella T, we have been able to create STEAM boxes for each year level to use. These boxes are designed to provide teachers with the resources they need to create hands-on STEAM learning for their class. Resources include recycled containers, cardboard tubes, crepe paper, wire, pliers, polystyrene balls, pipe cleaners - the list goes on. If you are able to donate any materials for our boxes, please leave them with the School Office or alternatively send an email to khart@gsmelbournesth.catholic.edu.au to find out exactly what we may need. Thank-you!
Miss Kayla Hart
STEAM Leader/Year 6 Teacher
Premier's Reading Challenge
Well done to all the students who have entered the Premier's Reading Challenge. We currently have 109 students registered. What an amazing effort! If you are experiencing difficulties using the login and password details given to your child, please don't hesitate to email me.
Danielle Gerecke
dgerecke@gsmelbournesth.catholic.edu.au