CLASS NEWS

The Balanced Reader Week 5

How can we best help our children to read at home?   Click on the link below to find out more.

Students Of The Week ~Week 8

for Attitude, Values and Study Habits 

Transition - Archer Bates

for putting in his best effort.

K-1-2 - Lachlan Bates (Year 1)

for excellent class discussion and persuasive writing.

Yr 3-4 - Oscar Thomson (Yr 3)

for his valued contribution in Science lessons.

Yr 5-6 - Georgia Baird (Yr 5)

for always working to the best of her ability.

Reading Awards

50 Nights ~ Coen Gough

Last Friday students from K-6 enjoyed the hands on activities during the "Fake a Fossil" Science Incursion presented by Susan Filan, Education Officer from Australian Earth Science Education (sponsored by Santos).

While creating fake ammonite fossils, students discovered how scientists reconstruct past life, looked at a variety of real fossils and learned about everyone's favourite, fossil shark teeth.

Australian Earth Science Education

Australian Earth Science Education (AusEarthEd) aims to create, produce and deliver innovative, valuable earth sciences experiences; to further the recognition of earth sciences as an integral part of STEM; to improve the quality of the talent pipeline for industry; to increase awareness of the wide range of career opportunities that earth sciences provide; and to emphasise the importance of earth sciences in understanding contemporary issues.

The following five core values embody how we strive to be Australia’s leading resource for earth sciences education, through resource development, student and teacher engagement and working with industry to provide real-world context and opportunities.

Perceptive – anticipate the needs of those we work with

Relevant – strive to reflect the real-world

Inspiring – capture the hearts and minds of others

Creative – innovate solutions in interesting and engaging formats

Ethical – do it the right way every time

Ava ~ I liked how we made the fossils by putting plasticine in a fossil mold and pouring plaster in the mold. It was fun!

Felicity ~ It was amazing and we learnt a lot of cool stuff. I really enjoyed the hands-on experience!

Oscar ~ It was cool! I really liked making the fake fossils.

Dougie ~ It was fun making the fake fossils. It was also great looking at the rocks and fossils.

Tyler ~ It was fun! We haven't seen fossils for a really long time.

Armidale Diocesan Mathematics Initiative

Last Wednesday all staff took part in Mathematics Professional Development under the guidance of Trish Mitchell, our Math’s Specialist Teacher (MAST) from the Catholic Schools Office. 

K/1/2 have been lucky enough to be involved in the Mathematics Pilot project that the Catholic School’s Office is running in some schools in the Diocese. 

Rather than teaching rules and procedures our students are encouraged to explain the strategies they can use to obtain their answers using the correct vocabulary. This approach asks the students to justify their answers and helps teachers to assess students' knowledge and understanding as they are learning and adjust teaching strategies to meet the needs of each student as needed.

Trish also worked briefly with a small group of students at the end of the day. During this time Trish discussed the importance of the “Third Teacher” with the students. If students are unsure of how to solve a problem, they are able to use the Math’s Wall in the classroom. These walls will have a Bullet Proof definition and show step by step samples to assist students with their Skill Development.

In Math’s this week K/1/2 will be learning about Data 

Kinder

Together with your child, keep track of the time they spend watching TV or using their device. At the end of the week, see if you can make a simple display of each day of the week and the time spent using their device or watching TV.

* Play games such as ‘paper, scissors, rock’ and record wins and losses.

* With your child, read and collect information about their favourite sports teams. This could be their own weekend sport teams.

Year 1 and 2

The 21st century has brought about a huge emphasis on data. Our students must have a deep understanding of data to work effectively. In our daily lives we are called upon to understand information that is presented in graphs and tables. Helping your child with data

Year 3-6 will be exploring Fractions

A common misunderstanding for children is that the smaller the denominator, the smaller the fraction. For example, children might think that 1/5 is bigger than 1/3 simply because 5 is a larger number than 3. 

On the other hand, most children understand that they will get a bigger slice of pizza if it is shared between three people rather than five, so use this analogy.

In science, 3/4 students have been learning about the role of micro-organisms in food. They have  been investigating the conditions micro-organisms need to grow and have been doing experiments with yeast. Yeast are tiny microscopic organisms, or micro-organisms that people often use to make bread rise. 

This week we looked at whether the amount of sugar mixed with yeast and water would affect the size of a balloon expanding on the top of a bottle. Bottle number 1 had zero sugar, bottle 2 had 1 teaspoon of sugar, bottle 3 had 2 teaspoons of sugar and bottle 4 contained 3 teaspoons of sugar. As you can see the bottle number 4 with the most sugar captured more gas in the balloon making it bigger. Yeast feeds on sugars and starches then they turn this food into energy which releases carbon dioxide gas. In this experiment the fermentation process has meant the yeast has started to eat the sugar turning it into energy. This has created carbon dioxide gas which was captured inside the balloon. The more gas it produced the bigger the balloon became.