TEACHING AND LEARNING

NAPLAN 

This week our students started their NAPLAN assessments. They have prepared well by engaging Practice Tests over previous weeks and building up their test taking strategies. We are very proud of all of our students and know they will work hard to showcase their best work. At home you can support your child by ensuring they have enough sleep the night before and by celebrating their successes throughout the NAPLAN testing window.

Numeracy  

Our students have been engaged in exciting mathematics learning across all year levels! 

In Year 5/6, students have been exploring measurement concepts, developing their skills in measuring length, mass, and capacity through hands-on activities. They have linked their learning to Sport’s Day, including measuring how far they can jump and throw. Students have developed their skills by ordering and comparing their measurements. 

In Year 3/4, students have been learning to read and interpret time, strengthening their understanding of digital and analogue clocks. They have also looked at the duration of different events, considering which parts of our day take the longest/shortest time. 

Our Year 1/2 students have also been measuring the length and mass of different objects. They were very excited to use the balance scales to compare the mass of two objects. They have built upon their addition skills, using various strategies to solve problems with confidence.

In Prep, our youngest learners have been developing their number knowledge by making, matching, and ordering numbers in fun and interactive ways. It’s wonderful to see our students applying their mathematical thinking in meaningful and engaging ways!

We continue to be impressed with our students' problem-solving skills and willingness to give all tasks a go, no matter how challenging. 

I’m looking forward to seeing what these fabulous learners continue to achieve as the term progresses. 

High abilities update 

Our High Ability Numeracy students in Year 5/6 have been looking at strategies we use when we are problem solving! These have included creating a table, finding a pattern and drawing a diagram. We have a focus on being able to show our working out and explain our understanding, which is trickier than it seems. 

This week, our High Ability writers in Year 3/4 and 5/6 have been working on understanding voice and tone in their writing. One of the activities which we did was imitation sentences, where we use a mentor text and attempt to imitate the sentence, while changing the tone of it. Students worked hard on creating original and beautiful sentences–some are included for you to have a look at in this newsletter. The mentor text we chose to use was “Mallee Sky” by Jodi Toering.

The fabulous thing about using “Mallee Sky” as a mentor text, is that Jodi will be visiting next term to work with some of our senior students on their writing during whole-day workshops. We can’t wait to have her visit!