Curriculum News

Curriculum

Student progress in the areas of English and Mathematics continues to be monitored closely so that learning is targeted to the specific needs of each student in the form of explicit, whole class teaching and workshops.

 

WRITING, SPEAKING, LISTENING and READING 

The Year 7 Semester 2 writing focus will be on developing skills in constructing historical recounts, reviews and information reports and the Year 5/6 writing focus will be on information texts and reviews. Vocabulary expansion will be dependent on text topics, integration of all other curriculum areas as well as words identified through class novels and independent reading.  We also focus on "academic vocabulary" to empower our students to be successful in interpreting demands across all subjects and in a variety of learning contexts.

 

Students also have the opportunity to regularly express their ideas and work on specific aspects of their writing through Ten Minute Writing tasks.  Making plans, proofreading and editing written work will also be a focus with the expectation that students take greater responsibility for this. 

 

Listening and speaking skills will be developed through class participation, assembly presentations, Year 7 speeches and class based oral presentations. 

 

Spelling workshops are targeted to student needs and focus on understanding spelling generalisations and the origin of words, with the expectation students will then transfer skills into everyday writing.

 

Developing reading comprehension skills will take place through guided reading sessions, class novels,  and small group work targeting key reading behaviours and comprehension skills.

Mathematics

Learning Mathematics is an active process where students build their own mathematical understanding through interaction with the ideas they hold and alternative ideas held by others. Students are encouraged and supported to take risks and persevere with new or different and efficient ways of thinking and solving problems, and will understand that mistake making is an important part of their learning. 

 

Students will continue to develop understanding of the algorithms for addition, subtraction, multiplication and division and will explore, and apply a range of written and mental strategies for computation to solve multi-step problems with a focus on measuring masses. Students will continue to apply their understanding of concepts related to place value, fractions, decimals and percentages.

 

Students will develop their understanding of concepts relating to mass, as well as have opportunities to collect, represent and interpret data and investigate chance. 

 

Year 7 Mathematics

This semester, our Year 7 students will be consolidating their understanding of percentages through investigations involving financial mathematics. This will lead into probability and statistics with many opportunities to represent and interpret data and to explore concepts relating to chance. Students will reconnect with 'shape' by focussing on the classification of triangles and quadrilaterals and investigate angles.

Interdisciplinary Studies

Including: History, Geography, Economics & Business, Science and Design & Technology 

We use an inquiry approach to assist the students’ learning of skills and attributes necessary to become successful, independent and lifelong learners. In addition to the subject specific concepts addressed, key skills developed through our inquiries include: questioning, researching, analysing, evaluating and communicating.  The Fisher staff plan and assess all inquiry units together.

 

Year 5/6

What is beneath our feet?

Students will investigate this question with a focus on mining, water, sustainability and environment. Learning experiences will be hands on, collaborative and involve the students making connections with the real world. If you have any knowledge or experience in any of these areas and wish to share, please contact your child's teacher. 

 

Term 4 will involve an Economics and Business inquiry with students learning about the purpose of business and recognising the different ways that businesses choose to provide goods and services. They will also identify individual strategies that can be used to make informed consumer and financial choices.

 

Year 7

Humans and the impact on our world 

This semester in Science, Year 7 students will investigate Biological Sciences, Earth & Space Science and Physical Sciences. They will be exploring how living things can cause changes to their environment and impact other living things, with a strong focus on human activity. Students will be participating in fun and hands-on experiments relating to Earth's renewable resources, focussing on water, the environment and comparative investigations on renewable and nonrenewable energy sources.

 

Students will be engaging in a range of STEM challenges and investigations using “Solution Fluency” where they work through the ‘6Ds’ process; Define, Discover, Dream, Design, Deliver and Debrief in collaborative learning teams.

 

HASS

During Term 3, Year 7 students will be building upon their learning in Ancient History and Geography and the emergence of civilisations with a focus on the importance of water, its impacts on communities in the past, present and future in relation to recreation, economics and uneven distribution.  Sustainability, critical and creative thinking and global perspectives will feature throughout.

 

Term 4 will involve an Economics and Business inquiry with students learning about the relationships between producers and consumers and the characteristics of successful businesses and entrepreneurial behaviours.  We will create pop-up businesses with the aim of making profits to contribute to school resources as a legacy left by senior students upon completing their time at LNPS

 

We will also conduct a Health inquiry into puberty, its impacts and developing resilience to cope with physical, social and emotional change. More information will be sent home prior to beginning this unit.

Th'ARTS & Technologies

This year, Fisher students are participating in Thursday Arts.  Each student elects their desired experience and works with a different Fisher teacher each time.  The electives include, Drama, Dance Music, Media and Visual Arts. As well as offering students a range of experiences and access to expertise, this programme also helps prepare students for high school by providing the opportunity to work with specialist teachers. 

 

Ms Brook is teaching Dance, Miss J Martin is teaching Music, Mr Tarleton and Ms K Martin are teaching Visual Arts, Mr Clayton is teaching Media, while Ms Baker and Miss Sonja are taking Drama. This is a great chance for students to develop new skills, take risks and increase confidence. See the Reflections page for photos and videos of the students' work.

PE & Health

This semester, our Year 5 - 7 students will be learning through movement by practising, applying and transferring a variety of movement concepts and strategies with and without equipment. The focus sports for the semester will be Tchoukball (A Swiss ball/court game), Ultimate Frisbee and Golf. During these sessions students will be demonstrating control and accuracy when performing specialised movement sequences and skills. They will be applying these movement concepts and refining strategies to suit different movement situations.

 

Premier’s Be Active Challenge

The Challenge:

To be physically active for 60 min a day, for 5 days a week, for at least 4 weeks, in order to earn a medal. Activities are many and varied. Recess and lunch play can be included as well as any other physical activities that are undertaken at or outside of school. Students are asked to join the Premier's Be Active Challenge Google Classroom (Class Code: k89538l) and make a copy of the PBAC slide to record their physical activity over 4 weeks. Once students have completed the challenge, they must submit the record sheets to the PBAC Google Classroom by the 20th September.

 

Important dates:

SAPSASA District Athletics Day- Tuesday the 11th of September  (Week 8, Term 3).

State Championships- Tuesday 25th September (Week 10, Term 3) at Athletics SA Stadium.

Languages - German & Greek

Language learning experiences include reading and creating written texts, oral interactions and listening tasks.  Students communicate with peers to share ideas and opinions, relate experiences and express feelings. When participating in collaborative activities and classroom routines, students ask and respond to questions, working both independently and collaboratively to develop and enhance their vocabulary and language learning skills.

 

Students are encouraged to support their learning and build their confidence and fluency by working online with Duolingo, the world’s largest online language learning platform.  Duolingo can be accessed at home and is very easy to follow.  Each student has an account and their progress is monitored. Share in this learning at home. Parents can learn too!

 

Google Classroom has also become an integral of our teaching and learning. Students are encouraged to check Google Classroom regularly. It is used to share announcements, pose questions, extend learning and give feedback. It is a valuable means of communication where additional information and resources can be shared and accessed by students at any time, not just during their language lessons.

 

 

OPA Thursday has been successful and will continue to take place in the gym at lunch time once a month. All students are encouraged to join in the experience of Greek music and dance.

 

Libby Edwards (German Teacher) and Voula Pagonis (Greek Teacher)