What's Happening in our Classrooms

Prep

What’s Happening in Prep: Weeks 3 & 4

What’s been happening in Prep

The Preps have been so excited about bringing their own sound pack home to impress their parents and carers with all the sounds we have learnt so far this year. We have also introduced our big question for our Geography unit this term, looking at needs and wants and what makes up a positive school community. This week, the Preps are excited to meet their Year 3 reading buddy! We will be catching up with them fortnightly, to share in the joy of reading.

What will be happening this fortnight

Wellbeing

• Celebrating our personal strengths

Phonics

• Identifying and writing open and closed syllable words
• Identifying the phonemes; j,w,z
• Reading and writing words with a superhero ‘e’

Reading

• Using pictures and text in books to make meaning
• Retelling stories in the correct sequence
• Practising decoding unfamiliar words

Writing

• Constructing sentences correctly (finger spaces between words, capital letters and full stops)
• Rereading our writing to check it makes sense
• Using onset and rime to spell words

Maths

• Understanding that numbers are made up of parts (part-part-whole)
• Answering yes/no questions to collect information
• Displaying information on a graph
• Counting forwards and backwards from various starting points
• Identify what ‘half’ is in shapes and numbers

Inquiry

Big Question: How are we part of a community?

Over the next fortnight, students will be exploring the following lines of inquiry:

• Who and what is in the community? 

Homework

Continue looking through Decoding Detective and Word Wizard book as well as take home readers.  

Optional: Mathletics

Reminders

• Half Day Celebration (students will be at school for the whole day) – Monday 6th May (information on Compass)
• Mother’s Day Breakfast – Friday 10th May 
• Visit to Local Library - We require parent volunteers to accompany us on a walk to the library on Friday 10th May and Wednesday 22nd May. Please see the Compass post with the volunteer sign-up sheet for more information
• Brickworks Incursion consent and payment – please see Compass for further details

Year 1

What’s Happening in Year 1: Weeks 3 & 4

What’s been happening in Year 1

The Year 1 students have settled beautifully into school routine this term. Students have been introduced to our new Inquiry topic: History. We’ve discussed our big question ‘How has family life changed over time?’ and we are excited to delve deeper into this subject as the term progresses. Students have further developed their vocabulary by looking at vivid verbs. In addition to spotting exciting verbs while they read, students have been using vivid verbs in their writing. This resulted in a beautiful class book called ‘Imagine’. 

What will be happening this fortnight

Wellbeing

• Students will be using their Zones of Regulation knowledge to help construct a ‘feelings throughout the day’ tracker. 
• To support their learning, students will be reflecting on their work and setting their own writing and personal goals. They will continue to evaluate their abilities and adjust their goals accordingly throughout the term. 

Literacy

Literacy encompasses spelling, reading and writing. For the following few weeks students will be focusing on: 

• Spelling: r-controlled vowels 
  We’ll be looking at –ar, -er, -or, -ur and -ir. We’ll be reading r-controlled words and using them in sentences. 
• Writing: adjectives
  Students will expand their adjective bank by spotting them in books and using them in their writing. Students will be improving sentences by adding simple adjectives, amazing adjectives and vivid verbs. 
• Reading: adjectives
  Year 1’s will be exploring books and spotting amazing adjectives as they read. 
• Students are also continuing to focus on strategies for reading accurately.

Maths

• Students will build on their number knowledge by further developing their skip counting skills. 
• The Year 1 students will be starting their measurement unit for numeracy. In Week 4 we will start by exploring and comparing length. We are also beginning to focus on addition and subtraction – starting with learning different addition strategies. 

Inquiry

• Students will be looking at how family life has changed over time. Questions such as, ‘How big were families? What traditions did families have? What did daily life look like in the past?’ will be explored. 
• In Week 4 Year 1 will go on an excursion to Ripponlea Estate. Students will be asked to dress up for the excursion to really embrace the experience and be transported back in time. 

Homework

• Students are required to read 10-15 minutes each night.         

Reminders

• Please complete your grandparent or special friend interview and upload it to Seesaw.
• Excursion to Ripponlea Estate: A reminder that students can dress up in ‘olden day attire’ for the excursion. We will be sending out a detailed reminder closer to the excursion date.
  • 1Z and 1LP will be going on Tuesday 7th May. 
  • 1M will be going on Wednesday 8th May.

Year 2

What’s Happening in Year 2: Weeks 3 & 4

What’s been happening in Year 2

Over the last two weeks the Year 2 students have enjoyed each others company and getting to know two very important visitors that will be coming to visit each week. The two visitors that will be coming to visit us in Year 2 each week are Maureen and Milo from Story Dogs. Some students in Year 2 will have the opportunity to read to Maureen and Milo each week. We are looking forward to forming a connection with Maureen and Milo! We will also continue to write to our Pen Pals from Beaumaris North Primary and we look forward to receiving their next letters!

What will be happening this fortnight

Wellbeing

Students will continue to work through the RRRR (resilience, rights and respectful relationships) program with a specific focus on personal strengths. 

Reading

During Term 2, students will continue to have the opportunities to build on their fluency and comprehension through partner reading along with small group reading. Students will continue to work on their decoding and understanding of letter blends. Over the next two weeks students will be exploring different authors and the authors purpose as well as recognising how authors use language to describe characters and settings. 

Writing

Over the next two weeks the Year 2 cohort will be working on utilising boundary punctuation accurately in their writing along with using precise verbs and adjectives to describe characters and settings. Students will also use a range of verbs to add detail and imagery to their writing.

Maths

Students will begin investigating mathematical modelling to solve practical additive and multiplicative problems, including money transactions, representing the situation and choosing calculation strategies.

Inquiry

Big Question: How and why do people connect to different places?   

Over the next fortnight, students will be asked to: 

Think about different environments in our community and think about how different people connect to different places and why.

Reminders

• Walking Excursion to Long Hollow Heathlands- Friday 17th May please find an updated Compass post with new links to sign up as a parent helper. 
• Take Home Readers- students will not be taking home readers in Week 3 due to the readers being audited.
  ** Throughout the term some students will transition to bringing home their own chapter book to read from the library instead of take home readers. It is expected that your child reads for 20 minutes each night and records this in their reading journal. 
• Library- please find below the timetable of when your child will visit the BPS library. Please ensure that your child brings their library book each week on this day. Students should bring their library book to and from school in a library bag (this can be the navy-blue BPS one or another bag of your choice). 

• Hats will no longer be needed as of the 1st of May, (1st of May, hats away!)
• If you wish to contact your child’s classroom teacher for any reason, please do so using the beau box. Beaumaris.ps@education.vic.gov.au 

Specialist classes

Year 3

What’s Happening in Year 3: Weeks 3 & 4

What’s been happening in Year 3

The Year 3 students all enjoyed a long weekend that included ANZAC commemorations. Prior to the weekend, we read ANZAC texts and tasted ANZAC biscuits to inform our understanding of Australian history. 

During maths sessions we have continued to practise addition strategies, up to, and including three-digit numbers. 

When reading, we have focused on making connections to texts to improve our comprehension skills and during writing, using vivid verbs to enhance our descriptive sentence writing.

What will be happening this fortnight

Wellbeing 

• Strengthening our existing relationships and building a supportive and team environment within our classroom and in the yard.

Reading

 • Learning to distinguish between fact and fiction and develop critical media literacy when reading texts.

Writing

 • We are focusing on the writing trait of voice during these sessions

Maths 

• Measurement with a focus on length

 • Measuring accurately

 • The relationship between millimetres, centimetres and metres

Inquiry - History

Big Question: How and why has Australia changed over time? 

During the next two weeks, the students will be introduced to European settlement in Australia.

Homework 

At this stage, students are asked to continue to read every night and to complete Mathletics tasks set by classroom teachers. 

Reminders 

Diaries are expected to come to school every day with their reading recorded and ready to be checked by the teacher.

Year 4

What’s Happening in Year 4: Weeks 3 and 4 

What’s been happening in Year 4 

With their first ever House Cross Country competition and Camp, the Year 4 students have been very busy this term. It was amazing to see the students display their excellent teamwork skills and demonstrate great resilience in many of the activities on camp. We know they have learnt skills which will apply across many areas of their lives. House Cross Country was also another highlight. The sun was shining, and everyone gave their best effort. We were so impressed by the positivity and team spirit shown by so many. 

What will be happening this fortnight in Year 4 

Wellbeing

 • Creating identity wheels and exploring the influence different people and things have on us 

• Understanding the important of seeing situations from other people’s perspective

Reading 

• Whole class reading and building vocabulary 

• Focus on fluency through a range of whole, paired and independent activities 

• Silent reading personal choice book 

• Developing understanding of characters, settings and events in books 

Writing 

• Drafting, editing and publishing magazine articles for an ‘Intrepizine’ writing competition (a Literacy Planet feature) 

• Focusing on developing clear writer’s voice 

• Structing paragraphs in non-fiction texts 

• Creating an engaging narrative

Maths 

• Decimal numbers, exploring tenths and hundredths 

• Addition of numbers, including looking at mental and written strategies 

• Addition of decimal numbers

Inquiry Big Question: 

How can we educate younger year levels on the importance of creating a safe, fair and happy environment for everyone? We will be exploring:

• Different perspectives in a range of situations

• Our own identity and what is important to us

Homework 

Homework consists of 20 minutes reading a night and 3-4 Mathletics tasks to reinforce the concepts being taught at school. Diaries will be collected every Friday. 

Reminders

• Mother’s Day/Special Friends stall is in Week 4 on Wednesday 8th May 

• Seaside District Cross Country is in Week 5 on Wednesday 15th May, payment/consent can be completed via Compass

Year 5

What’s Happening in Year 5: Weeks 3 & 4

What will be happening this fortnight in Year 5

The Year 5 students will be playing their first round of Winter sport in Week 3. Students will need to arrive at 8.45 am for a prompt 9am departure, making sure they have all the necessary equipment needed to play. Remember for football and hockey - No Mouthguard No Play! Week 3 we play Brighton Primary School and Week 4 we play Hampton Primary School. 

If your child made it through to the District Cross Country event (congratulations) this will be held on Wednesday 15th May - Week 5. It would be great if these students could do some training before the event. 

Wellbeing

• Students work on resilience, respect, relationships and responsibility. 

Literacy

• Students are practising reading fluency (accuracy, rate, prosody) through repeated oral strategies through information texts related to natural disasters in Australia and around the world
• Through study of our mentor text ‘Cyclone’ by Jackie French students will identify language choices that help move the text forward and aid comprehension of the reader
• Students will recognise techniques authors & illustrators use to evoke emotion
• Students will use an image to inspire ideas
• Students will use literary devices to capture a feeling
• Understand when to use the blend consonant -le and -el
• Spell Words with Common Letter Patterns but different pronunciations.

Maths

• Students will be learning to give directions based on spatial orientation using directional language
• Students will use coordinates to make plots on a grid and use grid coordinates to locate items on a map
• Students will use coordinates to make plots on a grid and use grid coordinates to locate items on a map
• Students will use the cartesian plane to locate items on a map
• Students will be explaining the link between whole numbers and decimals and converting fractions to decimals
• Students will understand the link between fractions, decimals and percentages
• Students will compare and order some common unit fractions

Inquiry: Geography

We are starting a new inquiry unit investigating how regions are predisposed and respond to natural disasters. 

Big Question: How might we reduce the impacts of natural disasters? (human, environmental, economic)

• Students will investigate whether other continents have similar environments to Australia
• Students will understand what natural disasters are and how they can occur 

Homework

Students are expected to be reading every night and completing assigned Mathletics activities over the fortnight.

Reminders

Interschool Sport V Brighton Friday - 3rd May

Interschool Sport V Hampton Friday - 10th May

Region Tennis Thursday - 2nd May

Mother's Day/Special Friends Stall - Wednesday 8th May 

Mother's Day/Special Friends Open afternoon - 3.00-3.25 Friday 10th May

Year 6

What’s Happening in Year 6: Weeks 4 and 5 

We hope our Year 6 families enjoyed the long weekend. The students have had a busy start to Term 2 with Prep Tours and Cross Country running last week along with settling into the usual beginning of term routines. Interschool Sports training has also begun with the first round of competitions this Friday. 

What will be happening this fortnight in Year 6 

We have a busy fortnight ahead of us with Mother’s Day Breakfast, District Cross Country and our next Open Afternoon in Week 4. In Week 5 we have an excursion to the NGV on Tuesday 14th April. Please make sure all permissions are returned in a timely manner. 

Wellbeing 

Students are rehearsing how to communicate clearly when having help-seeking conversations. 

Students will continue to discuss appropriate sources of help when required. 

Literacy 

Students are practising reading fluency (accuracy, rate, prosody) through repeated oral reading strategies through inquiry linked texts. We are going to be reading about how countries experience drought and water saving strategies for individuals and the community.  

We are going to be using Jackie French’s ‘Drought’ as a mentor text to demonstrate strategies for producing engaging writing. We will be focusing on sentence types, figurative language and their impact on the reader.  

Students will be continuing to review and apply the spelling rules of the <e> and <y> suffixing conventions. 

Maths 

Students will be analysing and interpreting data sets and graphs, determining which type of graph works best based on the data. 

Students will be creating a range of graphs, understanding that graphs have distinct purposes. 

Maths Olympiad 1 (extension competition) takes place in Week 4. 

Inquiry 

Lines of Inquiry  

We are starting a new inquiry unit investigating how regions are predisposed and respond to natural disasters.  

Big Question: How do people respond to the geographical challenges of their region? 

We will begin the unit by looking at challenges in our region including fire, flood and drought. 

Homework 

Students are expected to be reading every night and completing assigned Mathletics activities over the fortnight. Diaries with reading recorded will be checked weekly and Mathletics tasks should be completed by Friday 9 May.  

Reminders 

Mother’s Day Stall: Wednesday 8/5 

Mother’s Day Breakfast: Friday 10/5 

Interschool sport: Round 2 Friday 10/5 

Year 7 Transition Forms due Friday 10/5 

Excursion to NGV: Tuesday 14/5 

District Cross Country: Wednesday 15/5