Classroom News

M23 Clean Up Australia Day

On Friday 4th March 2022, which was Clean Up Australia Day, M23 went out onto the oval to pick up some rubbish and there was a lot! We found around thirty wrappers, 28 pieces of plastic, 6 dog poo bags and a lot more. When you walk your dog please make sure you don’t just pick it up, put it in a bag and leave it there. Otherwise there’s no point picking it up. So, take it home and put it in your bin. Or you could tie a loose knot and then pour the dog poo into the green bin. Also, Surfside students you get something from the canteen make sure you put your rubbish in the bin You could play around the places where bins are so you don’t have to walk as far to find a bin, When someone drops their rubbish it could blow away into the ocean. Turtles eat jellyfish and plastic in the ocean looks like jellyfish to turtles. So, they eat it thinking it’s a jellyfish and die! Which is really bad. It may not seem like much picking up just one bit of rubbish but it’s a start. 

By Annabelle Lockett M23

Hello My name is Riley Lunn,

I am in year three and I’m writing this letter to you to tell you that we need to give earth another chance, because poor earth is full of rubbish. Let’s help earth because litter is a real thing not a fairytale not a dream it’s all real! Listen to this story, so my class were on the oval cleaning up for Clean Up Australia day and I only found a little bit of rubbish but when I went to wash my hands I didn’t even get to the toilets because my hands were full of rubbish, rubbish, rubbish, rubbish! And part of the rubbish could’ve been recycled. So please follow the 4 Rs(refuse reduce reuse recycle),think before you put something in the landfill bin, and pick up rubbish when you see it lying around unless you want to be in a world where you can’t look anywhere without there being rubbish in your sight.

FOUNDATION CURRICULUM REPORT

English: Foundation students are continuing to build on their known letter sounds. We are beginning to blend our sounds to read simple consonant/vowel/consonant words. We have begun small group teaching in reading. We continue to practise our phonemic awareness using the Heggerty resource daily. In writing we are focusing on letter formation as well as beginning to write short sentences. We are focusing on spaces between our words, hearing and recording sounds and drawing a picture to match our writing. 

Maths: Foundation students are focusing on becoming automatic and fluent with seeing the numbers 1-5. We are focusing on trusting the count through subitising (which is where we can see a set and think quickly about how many items are in that set). This is an important foundation skill for beginning addition and subtraction. We are also learning about 2D shapes, where we focus on identifying the number of corners and sides of regular shapes. 

Investigations: The students are working towards self directed learning time. During Investigations the students are able to be their own teacher. We are encouraging students to practise a skill they would like to get better at. Students choose from a variety of activities that offer additional exposure to the core learning concepts in maths, reading and writing as well as fine and gross motor skills. Investigations is a time where we develop important social skills and the ability to move from playing alongside our friends (parallel play) to working with our friends for a shared outcome.

YEAR 1 CURRICULUM REPORT

English: students have started to take responsibility for their take home packs, with the expectation that they are taking these home and bringing them back to school each day. Students in Grade 1 are learning to read words that include open or closed syllables as well as digraphs (two letters combining together to form one sound/phoneme). Our small group reading sessions will target student needs for the explicit teaching and revision of individual sounds and spelling rules. Students have also been focused on the reading and retelling of narrative texts. They have been continuing to develop their vocabulary by completing sentence level writing tasks, with key vocabulary drawn from a text. Students will also be working on applying their knowledge of open and closed syllables and digraphs to their writing. 

Maths: Students are focusing on both counting and place value, with the core concept being ’10 ones is the same as 1 ten’. Students will be making, writing, ordering and drawing two digit numbers by partitioning them in a variety of ways using tens and ones. Subitising practice will continue to be an ongoing focus, along with students practising their individual mental maths goals weekly. 

Investigations: Twice a week the Grade One’s have been engaging in Investigations sessions. Each investigation session starts with formal instruction linked to our current learning intentions which are then reflected in a range of hands-on activities. Some of our current investigations include; a collage area, block play construction, writing stories, fine motor activities with paint, fishing for cvc words to practice blending, cooperative maths games and a variety of dramatic play areas. We have been focussing on the sharing of resources, being a team player and building our resilience when facing challenges in our learning.

YEAR 2 CURRICULUM REPORT

English: Students are continuing to develop daily reading routines in the classroom. Each week they have the chance to take on the role of word detective (finding words that follow the spelling rule explicitly taught) and word collector (finding new vocabulary words). In writing, students are beginning to write a narrative about the superhero they have created. They have been focused on using correct sentence structure and have been exploring writing skills such as similes and onomatopoeia. This term students have been focused on spelling rules that are under the syllable type; closed syllables. These include the floss rule and long spelling right after short vowel (such as tch and ck). 

Maths: Students have been focused on place value this term. They have been exploring the place value of 2 and 3 digit numbers and have been renaming these in different ways. Students have continued to develop their counting and number knowledge through practise of their mental maths goals. 

Investigations: Students have been learning about their fantastic, elastic brains. They have explored the different parts of the brain and what each part is responsible for. Students were intrigued to find out they could stretch and grow their brain and have identified areas and skills that they would like to stretch their brain in.

YEAR 3 CURRICULUM REPORT

English: Students have been focusing on two traits of writing during writing sessions this month. Students have learnt that sentences must have a subject and a verb, exploring different types of verbs (action, sensing, saying and linking verbs). Students are also working on developing ideas and using their ideas to plan a narrative. In reading, students are revising the skill of syllabification to solve any unknown words, developing their comprehension skills by reading at level texts and responding to questions while also viewing and responding to news stories through BTN. In word work sessions, students have continued to revise known spelling patterns, with a focus this month being on the use of silent e (magic e, gentle cindy) and long vowel sounds. 

Maths: Students are continuing to develop their mental maths skills through weekly counting goal sessions. Students are learning games or activities to help them practice and revise their goal. Students are also developing their understanding of place value, in particular rounding to the nearest 10 or 100, placing and ordering numbers on a number line and looking at the patterns when adding or taking 10 from a number. Students have also been continuing to revise their knowledge of analogue clocks and solving problems around time duration using efficient strategies. 

Investigations: Students have been viewing Hector’s World and discussing the importance of being safe online and sharing strategies to allow them to be safe online. Students have also continued to work on Zones of Regulation, discussing what each zone looks like, strategies to support themselves when in certain zones and the impact they have on others when they are in certain zones.

YEAR 4 CURRICULUM REPORT

English: Learners are investigating short stories and narrative writing. Students have completed a common assessment task asking them to develop, plan, write and revise a short story using 4 2021 camp photographs as their prompt. Reading: Our learners have been working on selecting key events from both texts and a ‘Mockumentary’ and plotting them on story graphs and timelines. Classes are beginning to work on our cohort text ‘Rowan of Rin’ with a focus on predicting. 

Maths: We are continuing to investigate analogue time and vocabulary around time such as ‘half past 8’. Students are exhibiting their learning through the creation of clocks using paper plates and pins with clear visual representations of skip counting by 5s and ‘past; and ‘to’ vocabulary. Students are also exploring place value and numbers up to 10,000s. Students are completing maths games connected to these concepts and think boards. Investigations: Year 4s are completing community walks to support preparation for camp in week 8. On these walks students are also exploring mapping, directions and geographical features. Our first community walk took place on Clean Up Australia day and students collected rubbish whilst exploring the Wetlands.

YEAR 5 CURRICULUM REPORT

English: Reading - During reading students have begun reading and responding to close reading activities. This requires them to look at different levels of thinking when responding to questions about a text. They continue to develop their ability to be sustained readers through daily independent reading sessions. Writing: During writing the students have been unpacking writing seeds and developing their ability to become sustained writers as well as developing strategies for creating ideas. They have begun looking at the structure of a narrative and will explore this further through writer’s notebook. 

Maths: In maths students have begun exploring the fundamentals of place value to 2 decimal places. Students have used a range of digital tools and concrete materials to examine numbers at their level and what happens when they increase/decrease their number. They continue to identify and work towards their mental maths goals through a range of strategies in class. 

Investigations: Students have been looking at digital citizenship and what safe practice online looks like. This involves looking at a range of situations applicable to their age level and identifying correct choices they may be faced with. Students have also looked at positive behaviour in the school yard, identifying situations that may require them to act and what the best choices in certain scenarios may look like.

YEAR 6 CURRICULUM REPORT

English: In reading, students have been involved in explicit lessons on the four areas of Reciprocal Reading (clarifying, questioning, predicting and summarising). Students have been practising these four reading strategies when reading both fiction and nonfiction texts. We have had a major focus on the set up of ‘Book Club’, ensuring that classroom expectations are set clearly before students take this responsibility on in small groups. In writing, students have been practising following the writing process independently. They have been involved in explicit lessons on finding an idea or ‘seed’ and revising and editing using the acronym CUPS and ARMs. We are looking forward to setting up writing conferences with small groups of focus students in the future. 

Maths: In maths, students have been practising their mental maths goals with a partner. They now have a bank of games that they can play when practising. We have started the unit on fractions, where we have grouped students into four groups, with Sally Catchlove taking the extension group. Students have been practising; making, modelling, and drawing fractions, equivalent fractions and placing fractions on a number line. Investigations: We have started our investigations topic of Natural Disasters. Students have been involved in activities to gather their background knowledge about the topics and have had the chance to share their wonders to the class. Students were involved in a gallery walk of images and key words related to natural disasters. Students discussed the possible impact, science and history of the natural disaster photographs.

KITCHEN REPORT

Now into the 3rd cycle of classes for grade 6. With an abundance of zucchinis the theme for this fortnight was preserving and a zucchini and apple relish was made to sell to the school community. We have had a meeting with Kitchen and Garden captains and ideas were put forward for additional events/special days. Ideas for Easter and Mother’s Day baked treats to sell. We will meet again next Wednesday to put plan in place to work towards creating products in Kitchen and Garden. Masterchef is coming up for Grade 6’s in the last two weeks of term. A task will be set and given to Grade 6’s in a fortnight to prepare for their Mastchef session.

GARDEN REPORT

Classes are underway and the year 6 students are busy immersing themselves in the veggie patch, tapping into their senses and discovering their favourite place to come back to when they need a quiet place to reflect or take some time out. Seedlings are emerging and will be ready for the students to plant in the next few weeks. This month the key focus is on preparing for Mother’s Day. The year 6 students will be propagating plants and potting up seedlings. The plan is for these to be available for students to buy at the Mother’s Day stall. Students will gain an understanding of how plants grow from seeds or from cuttings. Soil health is also going to be introduced. The chickens are not back yet as we have been undertaking some clean up and repairs on our chicken coop and then we can commence a roster and get some new feathered friends.