What's happening in the classrooms

Junior School

The first 2 weeks back at school has been phenomenal. The children were very excited to see their friends and teachers as they transitioned back to school last week. There has been big changes and small changes. Children were explicitly taught to wash their hands and sanitise them in addition to being mindful of social distancing.                                           

In the classroom, the children have been assigned tables and chairs and developmental stations were set up. The purpose of these stations is to promote oral language, fine motor, numeracy and literacy skills, as well as develop cooperation and turn taking skills. The children have been enjoying these activities. One of the activities that they have enjoyed immensly has been using Bee-bots. They are learning to programme the bots to complement what they have been learning in Maths and ICT.                                                   

The children have continued exploring our big Inquiry and RE concept of CHANGE. They have been investigating the changes that occur in food such as bread and popcorn, and using their 5 senses to record their observations. Finally, the Juniors have been re-telling and reflecting on parables that nurture a change within our hearts.

Middle School

In the Middle school we entered into the generating phase of our Inquiry cycle for our topic: ‘How can I change my world?’. So far this term, students have been exploring ways in which they can change their world and make a positive impact. This week students have thought about ways that they can make changes in their lives and encourage others to make changes for a better world too.                                                                                               

As part of their writing unit, students have begun to plan and draft their persuasive texts with the topic: ‘Students at Holy Family should bring waste-free food to school.’ In Reading, students have also been learning about and investigating recycling, plastic pollution and caring for our environment. Together students are building an awareness of their impact on the world around them and how they can better care for our common home.                   

In Mathematics, students have been learning about symmetry in nature and creating their own symmetrical artworks. We look forward to welcoming our students back to school in week 9!

Senior School

The Senior school is buzzing with excitement as the return to school is on the horizon. Learning has continued throughout this social distancing period. In Mathematics the students studied Geometry. They learnt about rotational symmetry and tessellation (see examples below). This week they have been looking at fractions, in particular adding and subtracting fractions. 

In Reading, the students have completed a unit on making predictions and have started comparing and contrasting different texts. 

In Inquiry we have been learning more about states of matter and scientific report writing with interesting vocabulary such as: expanding, contracting, soluble, insoluble, dissolve, constant and variables. We conducted an experiment where we needed to find out if substances such as salt, sugar and sand were soluble or insoluble. 

Mounika concluded that, “The molecules in sugar dissolved and made it look like it disappeared. The molecules in salt were destroyed by the water molecules and the water molecules were surrounding the salt molecules. Nothing happened to the sand/pepper because they were too heavy for the water molecules.”

    Tessellation

Rotational Symmetry