Learning News

Learning News

In the past fortnight, our students have been engaged in a range of exciting writing activities. Some classes have focused on crafting narratives inspired by their class novels, while others have delved into informative writing, researching topics such as the Great Barrier Reef using videos, books, and various sources. Additionally, all students in Years 1-6 participated in a Cold Write activity, where they were tasked with writing a narrative titled The Day Time Stopped. This exercise involved a stimulus and thought-provoking questions to spark creativity, providing valuable insights for teachers on each student's writing progress. The results from this activity help guide future teaching practices and ensure we’re meeting the individual needs of our learners.

Leah Summerell

Leader of Pedagogy / Mathematics Specialist Teacher

Kindergarten

This week, students in Kindergarten have been learning all about the sounds and letter names for Dd and Rr. They have enjoyed a variety of fine motor activities, picture books, songs, art and craft activities and cued articulation to help with their learning. They have practised correct letter formations using playdough and pre-writing activities. 

Kindergarten took part in the first Warm Write for the year. Warm Writes are used by Armidale Catholic Schools to monitor student progress in writing during Kindergarten.

The children had to draw about a surprise that they have had. They then attempted to write their story using initial sounds in words they wished to use. Stories were made complete with teacher scribing.

Well done Kindergarten. I have enjoyed a fantastic week working with you.

Mrs Underwood

Year 1

Year 1 students have been exploring the engaging narrative A Bag and a Bird by Pamela Allen. Through interactive storytelling and actions, students retold the story, deepening their understanding of key events and characters. They also examined simple sentence structures, focusing on prepositional phrases to describe where and how things happen in the story. This hands-on approach helped develop their language skills while fostering creativity and comprehension.

Year 1 Teacher

Miss Lyall

Year 3

This term, Year 3 has been studying ‘Fantastic Mr Fox’ during their writing lessons. We have looked at the structure of a narrative, and developed our understanding of techniques such as visualisation to create interest. Year 3 have enjoyed learning about the characters and their actions, as well as the problems they encounter as the story progresses. The students had the opportunity to create their own Farmer and describe their personality and actions.

Mrs Davis

Year 3 Teacher

Stage 3

Over the last few weeks, Stage 3 have been working hard on writing an orientation for a narrative.  We have looked at the wonderful example found in Colin Thiele’s “Storm Boy” for inspiration and tips on what to include.  A good orientation includes details of the setting, and rich characterisation - showing us who the characters are without explicitly telling us, with a hint of the problems our characters might face in the future.  We also focused on trying to use figurative language - such as similes and metaphors to make our writing more engaging for our target audience.  See if you can spot them!  I’m sure you will agree that Stage 3 has done a fine job.  Great writing everyone.

Mrs Shepherd

Stage 3 Teacher/AP

Farmer Ellie

Farmer Ellie lives near the banks of the Namoi River in the small town of Manilla. The trees near the Namoi River dance to the wind that sounds like music. The river always carries secrets to pass on to other rivers, while the fish dance and dance all around.

Famer Ellie lived with her husband and her two little girls on the junction of the rivers. She loves to spend time with her family,  farm and the river. Every day, Ellie loves to go to the river with her family and her dogs to swim with the fish, platypus, turtles, birds and her dogs. When Ellie’s family went down to the river to swim, the river gurgled with joy and the rocks danced all around, happy to see her and her family. The trees dance to the wind and nature.

Ellie was a young lady with natural blonde hair, blue eyes and nice clothes.  Ellie hates when people break into her property and shoot the kangaroos. 

By Willow Cocking

Coach Jeff

Coach Jeff lived near Warrabah National Park, a fantastic place on the Namoi River where the crystal clear water slides though the rock.

People go there to flock around the water and swim in the beautiful pools as birds fly over them. They all gather and sit down on the side of the hill and look at the lush green jungle.  The bush walk paths are nearby and if you walk down them you will see glorious waterfalls, perfect for fantastic fishing and swimming.   At the top there is this magnificent place with BBQ facilities, a rope swing and huge rocks, just right for exploring.                                                                        

But Coach Jeff will not accept shooting in the area, maybe feral pigs, but the goanna and the kangaroos, that is not acceptable. If you get caught, the consequences will not be good.               

Coach Jeff will go to town every once in a while.  All he goes there for is to get dog food or food for himself. He works at the RSL and he likes to make food, that is also what he does for fun.

By Jet Martin

Farmer Ben

Farmer Ben lives in the hills near Warrabah National Park. With the river flowing quickly through the flats snaking like a fireman’s hose, it irrigates the land, stock water and the house.

Farmer Ben lives in a 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom house with his three kids and his wife. His wife likes to have her own bathroom so it doesn’t stink and only reluctantly lets Ben use it as well. He has a shed the size of NSW to store his tools and machinery.

One morning Ben was heading down to the Namoi to go fishing because his wife wanted a big old cod for dinner.  When he got closer to the river he noticed something odd. The river had dropped 2 metres.

By Billy Taber

Old Man Jeff 

Old Man Jeff lives unt Borah, the place that everybody knows, just north-west of Manilla. Mount Borah juts up like a thumb in the sky touching the sun, as hot as a bowl of soup.  Paragliders go there from around the world to fly into the sky like an eagle. 

Old Man Jeff has retired from his job as an owner of ‘Fly as an Eagle’ business. It was the best paragliding in the state and he used to teach young kids to be better than him.  Once he reached 80, he had sold his business and now went occasionally to teach younger kids and to help out when they were busy.

It was a beautiful cloudless day when Jeff decided to go for a walk to his back paddock to check on the cows.  The grass was getting short and he wanted to make sure they had enough feed and water or was it time to move.  As he was walking along he saw some paragliders and thought “It’s a good day for it,” when suddenly a huge, huge cloud came over.

By Jack Kenafick

Crazy Cat Lady Chaviet

Crazy Cat Lady Chaviet lived on a dairy farm on the outskirts of Manilla right next to the Namoi River, shaded with majestical gums and willows. She was next door neighbor’s with Sergeant  Sam Smack who does favors for her because  she's very busy working at the farm and looking after her grandchildren but in return she gives him some lovely fresh milk. Every day she would  take her dog Rascal out for a walk down to the river to check the water in the cows troughs.

Chaviet lives with her son Josh and his wife Lilly. They lived on a farm when they were kids so they knew all about it.  Josh and Lilly had six kids who played around madly like kittens on a piece of string. Josh and his family had moved to Chaviet’s farm from Hazelwood, a lovely little town in Victoria, in the drought because Chaviet was struggling with workers. 

One morning Chaviet was walking her dog over to check the water when she smelt something quite odd.  She walked down to the river  bank and saw birds lying dead and fish scattered all over the pebbles.  It looked like someone had been camping here for the night as there was food wrappers and scraps everywhere and it also looked like they had a fire .

Chaviet thought to herself  “Why was there a fire here? It's the middle of summer”. 

By Alice Coombes