Learning Areas

Foundation

The Prep Team has been very impressed with how our students have settled back into schooling in Term 2. A huge thank you to all the families who have supported their children in settling back into the school routine.

The first two weeks have seen us continuing to work on segmenting and blending sounds (both in Reading and Writing). We have of course continued our Phonics work through lots of hands-on activities and the singing of our chants. Please continue to practise the chants as well as the ones below, which we will learn during the next two weeks.

Umbrella up, /u/, /u/, /u/

Lizard likes lollipops /l, /l/, /l/

Five fish, /f/, /f/, /f/

Bounce balloons /b/, /b/, /b/

In Mathematics, we have been looking at the days of the week and place value. We have been experimenting with two-digit numbers and breaking numbers into tens and ones. In Integrated, we have started our unit on My Family. A big thank you to families who have sent their home group teacher a picture. In Term 2, the Preps will be exploring the question ‘what makes a family?’ We will compare what different families have in common and what makes them unique. We look forward to showcasing a student created museum exhibition at the end of the term of all the fantastic work the students have completed.

From Lexie, Joe, and Arwen.

Grade 1/2

The Grade 1/2s have made a great start to Term 2. In Reading, the students have been working on non-fiction texts. They have explored and compared the different features and characteristics of these texts. With the new knowledge they are learning, students will follow the writing process to create their own information report about a topic. They will gather information and present their findings to share with the class. 

In Maths, the Grade 1/2s have been learning about addition and subtraction strategies. Coming up next week, the students will learn about efficient mental strategies to solve addition questions such as doubles, near doubles and chunking. 

Our Integrated Curriculum topic this term is called, ‘My Natural World’. In this topic, students will learn concepts about Earth and space such as the seasons, weather patterns and the Earth’s resources from a sustainability lens. 

At the end of last term, the students made posters about a special person of their choice. The students have been so excited to share these, as well as their narratives, with the community and we hope you enjoy them! 

Grade 3/4

Hello families of 3/4,

Welcome back! We hope the school holidays were restful and that Term 2 brings lots of fun and lots of learning for Grade 3 and 4. It is a short term at only 9 weeks but there are lots of exciting things happening. Next Monday, we are going on our first walk down to the Merri Creek as part of our Integrated Curriculum unit, ‘Understanding the Merri Merri’. We also have 3/4 Camp to Cave Hill Creek coming up in Week 5.

To finish off Term 1 in Maths, we explored Shape including the features of 2D shapes and 3D objects. They did lots of making and building of 3D objects and counted the vertices, edges and faces. Now that it is Term 2, we have started our unit on addition and subtraction, and 3/4 have been introduced to a range of mental and written strategies to solve problems including ‘chunking’ and the ‘vertical algorithm’.

In Writing at the end of last term, we finished our focus on persuasive essays and moved on to persuasive letter writing. They were given opportunities to publish one of two letters they completed - something they want to change at school, or something they want to change at home. These letters were then sealed in an envelope and delivered to the recipient. Some of the recipients included family members or caregivers, and other recipients included teachers, specialist teachers and even the Minister for Education. There were some excellent persuasive techniques in the letters and we hope some of the recipients can be persuaded.

The Grade 3/4 team wanted to shout out Maria, who received a very large amount of letters, and spent her break writing an individualised written response to every single student who sent her a letter. She has also taken some of the more manageable ideas on board and will be meeting with a few students to discuss their ideas further and hopefully bring them into fruition. We hope students have understood the power of persuasive writing!

This term in Writing, our focus has shifted to Information Reports. They have been researching an animal to do their first report on, and next week will start another report on a particular place they may be interested in. Our Reading focus this term has been identifying the structure of information reports as well as summarising nonfiction texts. Next week, we will begin making connections with a text and discuss how the ideas in a text can be linked to things we notice about the world. This is to add on to the ‘making connections’ focus we had at the end of last term, where we made connections between a text and ourselves as well as a text and another text.

The Grade 3/4 team were blown away by the quality of presentations when students delivered their ‘famous failures’ partner project to their class in Term 1. The Google Slides included a lot of detail, were well-researched and had ideas written in their own words. Students were able to use their learning about ‘Growth Mindset’ to discuss how a famous person overcame their challenges and succeeded. Well done, Grade 3/4!

Lastly, we wanted to say a big thank you to Kellie, who as team leader has been an immeasurable help, fantastic colleague and friend. The students will miss you and so will we. Good luck on your maternity leave and we hope all goes well!

• From the Grade 3/4 team (Stefanie, Elena, Kieran and Kellie).

Famous Failures Project

Addition/Subtraction

3D Shapes

Letter Writing

Grade 5/6  

Term 2 is back and in full swing!

In the classroom, students are focusing on non-fiction texts, specifically on information reports and biographies. Our literacy focus ties in nicely with PBL this term, as students have the opportunity to research and create information posters and reports about a specific fad or craze. Students have chosen some different fads to focus on and research when they were popular, how they’re made, why people create fads. In PBL, the work will diverge into looking at the business and economics side of crazes including supply chain and the environmental impact of such fads. To show the kids one of the oldest crazes out there, we played marbles for a House Comp which was enjoyed by all.

Very excitingly, we have camp coming up in Week 3. The 5/6 team as well as Belinda, Sengul, Cameron and Joe will be joining us, ready for an action-packed week. We will be heading to Woorabinda Somers Camp in Yallourn North which is about a 2.5 hour drive on Monday 8th May and coming back on Wednesday. I know all the teachers are very excited as I’m sure are the kids.

Other news in the year level is that we have a wonderful pre-service teacher in 5/6A, Kate, who will be with us until Week 5. Still to come this term, we have footy, soccer and netball for interschool sport, cross country and student-led conferences. Simon is galavanting around and having a wonderful time in Europe with his family. Lastly, we have been lucky enough to welcome Thomas back to the team for the term.

Have a restful weekend.

Tori, Kerry, Lina, Thomas and Sandra