What's Happening
Foundation
We have packed so much into the first few weeks of school and somehow we are halfway through the term already. Firstly and most importantly, last Tuesday, the students celebrated their 100 days of school. All the costumes looked outstanding, and the children had a great day completing activities all around the number 100. A highlight was our prep parade, special dance and cohort disco.
Inquiry
We have so many exciting events throughout the term for our inquiry unit on ‘Community Helpers.’ The first being our excursion to Parkdale Library on Wednesday 12th of August. We had a great time listening to stories and exploring the library. The students used their knowledge of ‘road safety’ to walk carefully to and from the library. Thank you again to the parent helpers that came along on the day, we greatly appreciate your support.
Maths
Over the last two weeks we have been learning about ‘Subtraction.’ Throughout this topic we have been busy learning all the different strategies we can use to assist us when covering this skill. We have had great success with using whole-part-part boards and using the cross out strategy.
Literacy
Over the past few weeks, within PhOrMeS, we have been focusing on reading and writing both words with four codes and five codes. Each lesson, we review what we have previously learnt to ensure students are continually practising their adapted skills within literacy. This week we are reading and spelling words with three consonant sounds at the start of words, e.g., spl at (splat).
It was also very special to celebrate ‘Book Week’ this week across the school. We loved our Kaboom! incursion yesterday and loved dressing up today. How lucky to do so many fun things celebrating literacy this week!
Social
This term focuses on behaviour around being a good friend, showing respect, and supporting students with skills to appreciate our differences and have a positive mindset. We are continuing to follow both the UR Strong program and the RRR program. Students are given opportunities to practise these problem-solving skills on how to manage themselves, their friendships, and stressful situations.
Grade 1
It has been another busy and exciting week of learning in Year 1.
In Mathematics, students have been skip counting in 2s, 5s and 10s, challenging themselves to start from numbers other than 0. We have also been exploring skip counting in different directions and investigating increasing and decreasing patterns.
In English, we have continued our Procedural Writing unit. Students are developing their ability to give clear instructions and have been learning how to expand simple sentences by adding adjectives to make their writing more detailed and interesting.
In Inquiry, we have been learning about the three Australian flags and discussing their meaning and significance. Students have also been exploring their place in Australia by locating Victoria, Melbourne, Parkdale and our school on maps. We have been looking closely at our school address and what the different parts tell us.
In Wellbeing, we have been learning how to become peaceful problem solvers. Students are learning the difference between small problems they can solve themselves and big problems that require adult help. We are practising the steps Stop, Think and Talk It Out to help us manage problems calmly and respectfully.
As always, thank you for your continued support with home reading. Keep up the wonderful effort, Year 1.
Grade 2
Literacy
In Writing, students have continued to build their understanding of what makes a strong Explanation text. They have also written a piece about the frog life cycle and were formally introduced to Persuasive Writing. Classes have been unpacking the structure of persuasive texts and identifying the key features needed to create a strong and convincing piece of writing.
During our PhOrMeS/Word Study lessons, students have been learning to read and spell words containing open syllables, as well as words that follow the rabbit pattern, where the consonant is doubled after a short vowel.
In Grammar, students have continued to develop their understanding and use of pronouns. They have been practising adding and changing pronouns in sentences, as well as removing repeated pronouns to make their writing more fluent. Students have also been revising subordinating conjunctions.
Inquiry
We have continued our inquiry into ‘Earth’s Precious Resources’, with a focus on understanding both the natural and urban water cycles. Students have particularly enjoyed conducting an exciting experiment this week, where they created a mini water cycle inside a zip-lock bag! It was wonderful to see their enthusiasm as they observed the water cycle in action.
Maths
We are now halfway through our Multiplication and Division unit. Students have been learning to recognise and represent division as grouping into equal sets, while solving problems using efficient mental and written strategies. These strategies have included drawing arrays, making equal groups, and using repeated subtraction.
Next week, we will explore the connection between multiplication and division in more depth and begin working with fact families to develop fluency and strengthen students’ number sense.
Wellbeing
As part of our RRRR (Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relationships) program, students have been identifying activities they enjoy and comparing how their preferences may be similar to or different from those of their peers. We have also been discussing how labels are for jars, not people, and learning that individuals should not be labelled or limited based on their gender.
Homework
Thank you for your continued support with homework. Students are expected to read aloud regularly and complete their weekly Word Study/PhOrMeS worksheet. Optional online activities include Nessy Reading and Spelling and Sunset/Jetpack Maths (Essential Assessment).
Grade 3
Well done to our Grade 3 students for their enthusiasm and participation in both our Athletics day and ‘Book Week’ dress-up day!
Core Knowledge: This fortnight, we wrapped up our ‘Forces and Motion’ topic with a focus on magnetism. Students conducted activities with magnets to determine which materials are and are not attracted or repelled by a magnetic force. They experienced the push and pull of magnetic force and how distance affects this, establishing the idea that a force can act upon an object and make it move without even touching it. Students then completed a unit assessment to demonstrate what they had learned about forces.
Writing: Last week, we completed our procedural writing unit, with students honing their skills with using relevant adverbs and adverbial phrases. Students also learned about appositives, and how to use them to combine sentences. This week, we started a unit to further develop students’ information writing skills, with a focus on paragraph structure.
In our word study lessons, we reviewed the morphemes ‘rupt’ and ‘tract’, and introduced ‘form’, combining all three with a variety of prefixes and suffixes, and we continue to read and spell a range of ‘weird words’.
Maths: Last week, we finished our study of angles and 3D objects. This week, we began our next Multiplication and Division unit. Students are learning to identify key information in a worded problem, represent multiplication and division problems with bar models, and choose an appropriate strategy to find the answer. Encouraging your child to practise basic multiplication facts and related division facts at home, will help them continue to build their understanding and fluency.
Wellbeing/Values/Social Skills: This week, students have been exploring character strengths, the ways in which we can use different strengths to show respect, and how being respectful can benefit others.
Homework: Thank for your ongoing support with checking weekly homework, home reading, and signing diaries.
Project: Over the next few weeks, students will design and plan to build a balloon-powered car as part of our core knowledge topic. We will provide some of the materials, e.g. balloons, skewers, straws, tape, and have asked students to think about what additional materials they will need, e.g. box, cardboard or plastic bottle to make the body of their car, materials for decoration, and bottle tops for wheels (we have some spare bottle tops for students who aren’t able to source any).
**Additional items should be brought to school on Monday 17th August, to begin construction that week.
Grade 4
We’re just over halfway through Term 3, it’s been a busy and exciting time in Grade 4. Well done to everyone who participated in school athletics last Tuesday, it was fantastic to see so much effort and enthusiasm on the day. Congratulations also to those students who participated in the Australian Maths Challenge.
Writing
This week, we continued our persuasive writing unit, focusing on writing strong body paragraphs using the PEEL structure. PEEL stands for Point, Evidence, Explanation, Link, and it helps us organise our ideas clearly and convincingly. We practiced using persuasive techniques, such as rhetorical questions, emotive language, and facts or statistics, to make our arguments more powerful. In grammar, we focused on writing compound and complex sentences to add more detail and variety to our writing.
Reading
We are coming to the end of our novel study, War Horse. This week, we focused on answering novel questions in detail, making sure to provide multiple examples and direct quotes from the book to support our answers. This helps us explain our thinking more clearly and show a deeper understanding of the story and its characters.
InquiryIn our Inquiry lessons, we have learned about the voting process, including preferential voting, and discussed how citizens participate in decision-making in a democracy. We also explored why voting matters and how it affects our community.
Reminders
Please make sure to return camp medical forms as soon as possible.
Grade 5
The Grade 5 students had a fantastic time at Camp Manyung last week. It was wonderful to see students challenging themselves, stepping outside their comfort zones and supporting one another across the many activities and experiences camp had to offer.
Comprehension – A Single Shard
This week, through our continued reading of A Single Shard and supporting articles, students are developing their understanding of the dynamics of families and society in ancient Korea. Students also discovered a shocking detail about Min and his wife in the novel, which helps explain a lot about Min’s personality and behaviour. This week, students will also complete their mid-unit comprehension assessment.
Writing – Explanation Text Writing
Students will now be independently constructing an explanation text on the circulatory system. This provides students with an opportunity to recall and apply their learning from our Inquiry topic while incorporating the structure, features and Tier 3 vocabulary of explanation texts that they have been learning about. We’re looking forward to reading their completed pieces!
Maths – Angles
Students have now completed their unit on Operations and have begun a two-week unit on Angles. Throughout the unit, students will learn about different types of angles, how to accurately measure and construct angles, complementary and supplementary angles, and how to calculate missing angles. Our next Maths unit will focus on Shape.
Inquiry
This week, students will be taking a closer look at the heart, its role within the circulatory system and how it works to pump blood around the body. Students will consolidate their learning by constructing a detailed and accurately labelled diagram of the heart.
Homework
Week 5 Homework: Seesaw Task (Vocabulary/Maths), as well as regular reading and recording in student diaries.
Grade 6
Grade 6 students are now well and truly immersed in our class novel, The Magician’s Nephew. It has been wonderful to see the depth of thinking and discussion taking place as students explore sophisticated literary concepts. Students have been identifying and analysing literary devices such as juxtaposition and allusion. Visiting teachers have been incredibly impressed by the high standard of work being produced, with many commenting that the students are already working at a high school standard!
In Maths, students continue to work with a focus on angles, measurement, and ratio. We have been pleased with the confidence students are showing as they apply their knowledge to new challenges and deepen their understanding of these concepts.
Excitement is also building as camp quickly approaches. Packing lists were sent home this week, and students are counting the days. Be sure to bring a pillow!