PLC News

Professional Learning Community Foundation (Preps)

Professional Learning Community 1 (Grade 1)

What a fantastic start to Term 2 we have had in Grade 1. We have been very busy getting back into the swing of things and the students have settled in extremely well. 

In Numeracy, we are continuing to work on subtraction and addition strategies and we can already see so much growth in this area. It’s really great to see the students using manipulatives and hand on equipment to solve different equations. 

Our Writing theme at the moment is Autumn, and the students have been outside exploring and observing all the different colours and weather changes that Autumn brings to Ballarat. We are really excited to read the students' Narratives pieces in the coming days. 

Grade 1 have some sensational excursions coming up this Term, so keep an eye on Compass and your emails for more details to come. 

Professional Learning Community 2 (Grade 2) 

Term 2 already! 

We hope you all had an amazing break and are all rested up for the term ahead. We started off the term with our Cross Country, where we are very proud of the efforts the Grade 2 students put in during their race. 

This term we have writing focus on Autumn where students having been working extremely hard on using their writing skills while ensuring they are forming their letters accurately. 

In Reading, the students have been working on fluency. To maintain fluency the students have been practising reading at a good pace, changing their voice to suit the rise and fall and reading to the punctuation. This week we have moved on to analyse a text by identifying the author’s purpose, genre and language features used. In Numeracy, we are currently working on addition, where we are practising using efficient strategies to add collections together. 

We are looking forward to the term ahead!

Professional Learning Community 3 (Grade 3)

Here we are in Week 2 already! Time is flying and we are so excited for the learning in PLC3 over the coming weeks. 

In Reading we have been inferring how characters of fiction texts are feeling by identifying their traits and characteristics. Students use clues from the text (evidence) and their prior knowledge to gather information about a character’s relationship to others and what motivates them in the story. During writing students have been creating some amazing paragraphs containing beautiful language about Autumn. They have enriched their sentences with detail by adding some amazing adjectives, adverbs and figurative language. We are quite impressed when students experiment with different language techniques such as repetition, after it has been explicitly modelled by the teacher.

In Numeracy students are investigating what a fraction is with examples and non-examples shown. Correct language has been encouraged with students completing various activities by identifying equal parts. 

Rug up and have a great week everyone!

PLC 3 Teachers

Professional Learning Community 4 (Grade 4)

We hope everyone has had a relaxing term break and is ready for Term 2!

We've already gotten straight back into learning. The Grade 4s are reviewing their place value knowledge of renaming and extending numbers. We can rename and extend the number 4567 in the following ways 4567 ones, 456 tens and 7 ones, 45 hundreds, 6 tens and 7 ones and 4 thousands, 5 hundreds, 6 tens and 7 ones.

Our Reading focus this week is inferring characters emotions or even their non-physical traits, this has helped us develop our skill of understanding cause and effect. 

In Writing we are developing our narrative writing skills by writing about the bush and camping. We are learning to try our best and give everything a red-hot go!

Speaking of camping, thank you to all the parents who have handed in their camp forms. The teachers are currently working hard to make sure that every detail is planned out so we can have the most amount of fun! We have a lot of great activities in store, such as canoeing, bushwalking and more! The purpose for this is to develop our love for the outdoors through challenging and fun activities while making lifelong memories and developing our social skills, problem solving skills and independence!

There are many exciting things awaiting this term!

Professional Learning Community 5 (Grade 5)

Dear Parents/Carers of Grade 5, 

We have had a wonderful start to Term 2! The students have come back focused and ready to learn. 

We started off the term with Cross Country. The students put in a great effort in completing the new 2km course. Thank you to all the parents/carers who came to give their support. 

We have also had Health Day. This was where the students learnt about personal hygiene and participated in a number of activities to gain a deeper understand about the best way to eliminate germs.

EBT is also underway for those who have chosen to participate in this wonderful activity. Participating students will begin to meet with Mr Toan to learn about the exciting adventure ahead. 

The students have also been put into groups for Winter Sports and will be training hard every Friday afternoon. 

In the classroom: 

Over the next few weeks in Writing, we are focusing on ‘Autumn’. The students will be writing a descriptive narrative that will be focusing on following the structure, using descriptive language and rereading and edit to enhance writing. 

In Reading, we have introduced the book ‘Wonder’, where we have been learning about identifying character traits. This is a wonderful book that teaches the students some great life lessons. 

In Numeracy, the students have been asked to design a zoo focusing on area and perimeter. They have started off this task with great enthusiasm. 

Professional Learning Community 6 (Grade 6)

Dear Grade 6 Parents and Carers, 

Welcome back from the recent term break. We hope that everyone had a restful and enjoyable time off. As we continue into the new term, we have some exciting updates to share with you regarding our learning activities and upcoming events.

In Reading, we are thrilled to be diving into some class texts that will help develop our skills in inferring and making connections to well-known texts. We believe that this will be a great opportunity for our students to explore and deepen their understanding of literary themes and concepts.

In Writing, we are focusing on building our descriptive skills by writing about Autumn. Our students are working hard to create vivid descriptions of the season, using sensory details to bring their writing to life.

In Numeracy, we are currently working on organising data and graphing it. Our aim is to help our students develop a strong foundation in mathematical concepts and equip them with the skills they need to succeed in future studies.

In Project Based Learning, we are exploring the topic of Australia as a Nation. This includes studying Federation and The Constitution, as we delve deeper into the history of our great country. We believe that this will be an excellent opportunity for our students to gain a deeper appreciation for our heritage and identity as Australians.

We have recently sent out forms for our students regarding high school next year. We ask that families fill them in and return them as soon as possible, so that we can ensure a smooth transition for our students.

In addition, we would like to remind families that we have our Mother's Day stall coming up next Friday. We are also looking forward to Grandparents' Day, which will be coming up soon as well. We encourage all families to mark these special events on their calendars and look forward to celebrating with you.

Thank you for your continued support and involvement in your child's education. We are excited about the term ahead and look forward to working together to ensure our students' success.

Regards, PLC 6