Primary

                                                                   Mrs Leanne Schulz

Welcome

Welcome to Term 3 and Home Learning! Thank you to staff, parents and students for once again making a smooth transition to Home Learning. The teachers have been working hard to provide quality learning experiences for the students. The school timetable is followed closely and Zoom meetings are scheduled accordingly. Teachers are mindful of the challenges students may face when working at home, and the varied family circumstances. A very big thank you for the strong partnerships that we have established between home and school, so that the best learning opportunities are provided for the children in our care. Please do not hesitate to contact us if in need of further guidance or extra support.

Primary School Building Update

Cumberland is certainly looking very different! Over the holidays the Year 4, 5 and 6 classrooms were demolished, making way for the exciting new Cumberland (Year 3 - 6) precinct. Another exciting development is the new Year 4, 5 and 6 classrooms that have been established on what used to be the ‘out of bounds dam’ where lost balls congregated. The classrooms are fresh, new and inviting. Just this week, new turf was laid, adding exciting playing areas for Cumberland students to enjoy, including a bat tennis court, four-square courts, and a half basketball court. We just can’t wait for the students to return so that we can all appreciate these new facilities.

Semester One Student Reports 

Home Learning has enabled many parents to have a closer insight into the learning needs of their children. The upcoming Parent Teacher Interviews, via Zoom, will provide an opportunity for parents to discuss their child’s learning and the Semester One reports with teachers. 

Avoiding the Politics of Parenting

When viewing Semester One Reports, it is important to remember the advice from parenting experts such as Michael Grose, one of Australia’s leading parenting educators. He offers sound parenting advice reminding parents not to compare children but rather to focus on individual differences and achievements.

‘Kids develop at their own rates'

Each child has his or her own developmental clock, which is nearly impossible to alter. There are late bloomers, early developers, bright sparks and steady-as-you-go kids everywhere. It’s the first group that can cause the most concern for parents who habitually compare children to siblings, their friends’ kids and even themselves when they were in school. The trick is to focus on your child’s improvement and effort and use your child’s results as the benchmark for his or her progress and development. “Your spelling is better today than it was a month ago” is a better measure of progress than “Your spelling is the best in the class!”’

For the full article, please go to:

https://www.parentingideas.com.au/blog/avoiding-the-politics-of-parenting/

Prep - Miss Jackson (AHOS)

Last week the Preps jumped straight into their Home Learning with their new word of the week, ‘car’. The Preps enjoyed a hands-on activity making cars out of resources found at home. This week we are learning all about addition in Mathematics. The Preps are doing a fantastic job and adding objects together. We are also learning the 'ng' like in king. The teachers and students are enjoying the live lessons on Zoom each morning and seeing the class all together. 

Years 1 and 2 - Ms Petterson (AHOS) and Miss Donohue (Deputy Head)

Year 1 and 2 students have resumed Home Learning smoothly and successfully. It has been great reconnecting with everyone on Zoom and hearing all about our time during lockdown.

Year 1 students have been busy learning about sharing in Maths. We have been sharing out numbers into groups and arrays to help us work out. We also have been using materials in the house to help. Students have been challenged to explore their Mathematical understanding in various ways to embed their understanding. We have been drawing pictures, using online programs, writing stories, using objects around the home and even sharing food. Some of the Year 1 students have been sharing videos explaining their learning – we may even have some Maths teachers in the making!

Year 2 students have enjoyed catching up with friends in breakout rooms and sharing our work by uploading it onto My Aitken. Last week, we began writing letters about our experiences during COVID-19 and we will be posting them to the national letterbox to go into a time capsule.

Years 3 and 4 - Mrs Adams (AHOS)

The Year 3 students have been learning about Australia and its neighbours. They have focused on important landmarks across Australia including Uluru, the Blue Mountains and the Great Barrier Reef. The Year 3 students have also been focusing on the features of information texts and are looking forward to writing their own text in the coming weeks.

The Year 4 students have been delving into their Australian history unit for Integrated Studies. They have also been exploring Indigenous Australian’s perspective and have created their own Dreamtime stories.

Years 5 and 6 - Mr Keegan (AHOS)

Our Year 5 and 6 students have transitioned very well back into Home Learning for Term 3. They all did very well with Home Learning during Term 2, and we know that students will give it their absolute best this term. We are thankful for the incredible support from parents and families with Home Learning.

During the coming weeks, Year 5 students will be engaged with many topics including measurement, informative text writing, reading comprehension activities and skills, and working through Integrated topics on 'Space' or the 'Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program'.

In Year 6, students are working on informative texts, reading comprehension skills and justifying ideas and opinions, angles, fractions, decimals and percentages for Maths, and Renewable and Non-Renewable Energy during Integrated Studies.

Students will be engaged in many other interesting and exciting activities across the various subject areas; please keep an eye on My Aitken for these.

Term 3 Assemblies

What a pleasure it has been to see all the students, parents and teachers at our Zoom Assemblies every Monday.  It gives us all the chance to reconnect and maintain our sense of community. Year levels have been rostered, as per table below, to provide a brief presentation during Assemblies. Families are also encouraged to send any videos or snippets of learning from home to teachers for inclusion at Assemblies.

FAIRVIEW                                                                                         CUMBERLAND