Round the classes 

Reception class: Jess

What a fantastic fortnight it has been in our classroom! The students have been showing great determination and enthusiasm as we work through new learning challenges. 

In Phonics, we've been focusing on the digraphs ch, sh, and ng. The class has demonstrated excellent perseverance in practising these sounds and applying them in their writing. It’s been amazing to see their progress as they continue to develop these essential skills. 

In maths, we've been having fun with hands-on games to explore doubling numbers up to 6. The students have shown impressive engagement, and their confidence is growing as they work with these numbers. We’ve also been diving into shapes, with a fun shape treasure hunt in the sandpit! The students were excited to discover over 60 different shapes hidden throughout the sand, reinforcing their understanding in a playful and interactive way. 

Lastly, I want to highlight how proud I am of the class for their bravery last Friday. They hosted our school assembly with such confidence and poise. Each student stood tall and sang in front of an audience, showing real courage and teamwork. It was an unforgettable moment, and I couldn’t be prouder of them. 

Well done, everyone! Keep up the fantastic work—your dedication and growth are truly inspiring. 

Looking forward to the next fortnight!   

Reception class: Kelly

What a busy two weeks we have had, especially last week getting ready for the Summertown and Uraidla Show! I have to congratulate the children on their wonderful performance with the Junior Primary Choir. They were wonderful and so very brave as there were so many people watching them. To add to this, I also want to congratulate the children on their magnificent art work. They worked extremely hard on their pieces of work. Well done!

We have continued working on our sounds and have started some new graphemes. We are now being really challenged as even though the graphemes (letter names) are different, the phonemes (letter sounds) are the same. We have been working on ai as in rain, ay as in play, ee as in feet and eat as in eat. The English language certainly is a challenge 🙂

For maths we have continued with addition and subtraction and are now looking at some worded problems. We have been working on modelling, representing and explaining our thinking.

We have been taking advantage of the beautiful weather lately and last Thursday, Amy (the student teacher) organised an art activity outdoors. It was such a beautiful way to get the children to really appreciate their surroundings. 

Year 1 class: Jaya

In literacy, the Year 1 students have been working hard on new digraphs (2 letter sounds), trigraphs (3 letter sounds), and exploring the complexities of how and when to choose different sounds in words. They’ve been learning about prefixes and suffixes, and it’s impressive to see how well they are grasping these concepts! Every day, they engage in routines like reading, writing, and using movement to reinforce their learning. They enthusiastically share their ideas with each other, building vocabulary and confidence. It has been wonderful to see this knowledge come through in their writing and hear their noticing when we are reading different texts. I am really proud of their progress and their willingness to stretch and challenge themselves. 

In other exciting news, it was so fabulous to see so many smiling faces performing on the Uraidla Show stage as part of our junior choir. The reception and year 1 students spent lots of time learning, rehearsing, and practising their songs. They demonstrated bravery and confidence when performing, especially since they had such a large audience! It was clear the audience enjoyed every moment. Well done, Year 1s and receptions! 

Year 2 class: Samantha

What a wonderful fortnight it has been for our Year 2 class! We have been busy as bees, diving into hands-on learning experiences and proudly representing our class at the Uraidla Show. Here are some highlights from our recent activities:

Bee Walk Adventure

We recently took a bee walk around our school grounds, observing bees in their natural habitats and collecting valuable data in preparation for designing our own native bee gardens. This real-life learning experience allowed the students to see firsthand the importance of bees to our environment. We observed their buzzing flights between flowers, noted their behaviour, and learned about their role in pollination. It was inspiring to see the students so engaged and curious!

Uraidla Show Success

Our class entered our bee-themed artwork and even decorated a special bee cake for the Uraidla Show. And the exciting news? Our cake won the Champion ribbon in the party cakes division! The students showed fantastic teamwork and creativity in designing, decorating, and presenting our bee cake. It’s a wonderful accomplishment that we’re all proud of – well done, Year 2!

Singing on Stage

A huge congratulations to all the students for their bravery and enthusiasm while singing on stage at the Show. Stephen and I were incredibly proud to see everyone give it their all, demonstrating confidence and creativity. What a fantastic experience to celebrate our community spirit and share your talent!

Enjoy the photos below that capture these exciting learning moments.

Year 3 class: Stephen and Emma

Flexible thinking has been a focus for the year 3s.  They have spent some time reflecting on moments where they have been flexible in their thinking and also, times when they have experienced stuck thinking.  They have completed some art work on this topic.  Below is a picture of just some of the flexible thinking champs in the class .

The year 3s have also been busy memorising the lyrics to class songs, as this enables them to perform more comfortably to an audience.  It is also quite a challenge!  For maths, the students are continuing to revise past learning of all concepts covered throughout the year.  They are also about to start learning about time – reading analogue clock faces and working out lapses in time.

Our focus this fortnight in Health has been understanding our identity. Questions posed were; I know and like who I am, and I can talk about different parts of me and my family. Parts that we explored were race, ethnicity, nationality, strengths, abilities, interests and family. Students felt confident and open in talking about these aspects of their identity which led us into a class discussion about embracing all qualities of ourselves and others and celebrating our uniqueness!

Year 4/5 class: Alex

The students participated in a range of STEM challenges designed to provide them with opportunities to develop problem-solving skills and strategies.  The STEM tasks also allowed the students to utilise and manipulate resources made from different materials.  The students also gained experience in using specific tools which included hot glue guns.  The students engaged with a range of specific language tasks that incorporated the use of iPad apps. These allowed them to record and present clips with a focus on adding background music and text to enhance the effectiveness of the clips. 

Year 5/6 class: Sallie

I loved walking around the show and seeing the school and local community in a different light. What a great community event! Our fish looked fantastic! Helping set up on Friday gave all students a sense of inclusion and then those who made it on Monday did a fantastic job cleaning up. In English, we have finally finished our unit of work on information reports and with each student analysing their writing pieces it made it easy for them to identify their goals and work out what to focus on next time. The year 6's have finished labelling their plants (from our Cleland excursion) and have chosen one to frame.  They look impressive. Thank you to Peter Geers who gave up his time to give our Year 6's this opportunity. 

Indonesian: Ibu Susan

In Indonesian the students have all been super busy learning numbers. The younger students have enjoyed songs and stories using Indonesian numbers. The older students have completed puzzles, quizzes and online games to reinforce their learning. The students in Sallie’s class have continued to rehearse their shopping role-plays and are trying to memorise their lines!

Science: Philippa 

Reception and Year 1  Classes

Students did drawings of weather symbols and had fun trying an experiment called 'Colourful Rain in a Glass'.

Year 2 and 3 Classes

Learning was about the Sun. Students drew annotated diagrams of the Sun (scientific name Sol), added labels and wrote facts.

Years 4,5,6

Students continued their learning about micro-organisms and mould. We started an investigation into what conditions help mould to grow on slices of bread.

PE: Emma

Lower Primary

This fortnight in PE we have introduced skills and movements associated with tennis. Classes have been fortunate in utilising our new tennis equipment thanks to our Sporting Schools funding! Students in lower primary have been focusing on pivoting their feet in different directions and keeping balanced when hitting the ball. They have been perfecting their hand-eye coordination during their practices, making sure their eyes stay on target for accuracy. Persistence was our challenge this week during games and students demonstrated this incredibly well.

Upper Primary

Students in upper primary have been practising their two groundstrokes in tennis- the forehand and backhand. During this skill practice they have focused on moving their arm from a low to high position when hitting the ball and pointing the palm of their hand towards the target. Motivation was a key attribute we concentrated on this week, particularly when movement sequences became challenging.

Gardening: Jo

This term the year one class is learning the importance of water in the veggie garden and in our world. Why is water important? How to conserve water and be waterwise. The students collected the green waste and fed the worms and the compost bins. Rinsing out the bins and emptying the water onto plants in the garden is one way to be waterwise. Plants need water to survive and the year one saw to the veggie patch plants by hand watering the seedlings and seeds that had been planted.