Upper Primary Learning

UPA

Students in UPA have had an adventurous start to the term full of engaging activities, excursions and exploration activities and social games that have sparked many class discussions and deepened our connections. Together we set up our structures, routines and expectations. Each day students start by exploring their feelings and how their body displays the feeling and then checks in on our ready to learn scale, this sets us up to have a successful positive start to our day.

We have had many highlights this term, one was attending Melbourne Museum for our Discovery Unit looking at what life was like in the past. Students explored various spaces and helped develop their vocabulary around past, present and change. Each week we explored different facades of the past through our mentor texts and our learning experiences like singing to a piano, making butter, exploring toys and various objects and games from over the years. Through these experiences we developed our vocabulary together and developed sentences for our writing. Students also applied their knowledge by changing their text in past tenses by adding ‘ed to adjectives.

Students were engaged in hands on learning activities to help continue to build on their knowledge around number and place value in Maths.

We have had a big focus on our social competences program this term, building students’ social skills and body awareness through introception activities. Students have engaged in experiences that help us to understand our feelings and body reactions. Students have enjoyed sensory play with playdough, sand and water and had discussions around how our body feels calm during this activity.

We have joined with UPD to help develop our team building skills through social play. Students enjoyed playing board games in small groups together and a fun game of pass the parcel.

It has been a fantastic term and I look forward to another engaging term of learning and growing for Term 2.

UPB

In UPB, we had a busy and productive term, packed with engaging learning activities and wonderful discussions around many topics. We talked about the changes from Lower Primary to Upper Primary, set up the structures and routines in the class and developed our connections with others through excursions, hands-on activities and social games.

Through our discovery unit, we also looked at what life was like in the past. We explored the old house and transport at Melbourne Museum and some toys, leisure activities through the language experiences at school. We enjoyed describing our experiences as a group, writing our ideas down and eventually publishing the books. It’s a great pleasure to see students being so devoted and showcasing their knowledge and skills.

In Maths, we focused on Place Value and continued to hone on our skills to count, build and explain numbers. For social competencies, we worked on identifying our body signals and linking them with our readiness to learn each day. From there, we can investigate different tools to regulate our bodies.

I’m super proud of what we have achieved in the first term and look forward to more adventures in Term 2!

UPC

UPC has had an exciting and busy start to the 2024 school year. We have continued to foster some incredible friendships, along with developing new ones. UPC has shown they can quickly adapt to new classroom structures and routines, they consistently demonstrate our Concord School Expectations through their care for others, positive mindsets, and responsibility for their learning area.

This term students have been involved in several engaging excursions and language experiences that allows them to build deeper connections between the learning content and their personal experiences. Students attended an excursion at Melbourne Museum, walked to the Watsonia Op Shop and Gresswell Forest.

UPC worked together to make butter, complete chalk drawings and take photos of themselves using AI. All activities and experiences have helped students build knowledge of the similarities and differences between the past and present.

We look forward to continuing to build positive connections and strive to achieve our learning goals in Term 2.

UPD

It has been a busy and productive first term in UPD, full of learning opportunities and authentic experiences. The students have thoroughly enjoyed the many language experiences that have provided a context for oral language and writing activities.

We ventured to Gresswell Forest to investigate the native fauna and flora. We also walked to Watsonia shops to visit an Op Shop and buy an item of interest. It was fun to compare toys from the past with toys from the present when we read the text “Window”, such as spinning tops and wooden toys.

The students were enthralled on our excursion to the Melbourne Museum where they were able to discover aspects about the city of Melbourne from different decades in the past, such as transport, clothing and household utensils. They compared the Exhibition Building from 1880 with the current modern buildings, such as the museum and city skyscrapers.

In relation to the text “My Place” the students thoroughly enjoyed making butter from cream, singing songs around the keyboard and drawing with chalk and blackboards, as activities associated with the past.

In Maths the students have developed their skills in the area of Place Value.

During Social Competencies the students have focused on understanding their own body signals and their readiness to learn each day. We have discussed the student expectations and followed daily routines and schedules.

Thank you to all the students for a great start to the year!

UPE

UPE has started the school year with lots of friendships and smiles. All students in UPE have shown their individuality while coming together and settling in very nicely to the new classroom and classmates.

It has been a busy start to the term with excursions to the local Op shop, Gresswell forest and the Melbourne Museum. These excursions and those in the future allow students to demonstrate Concord expectations while learning in a fun and engaging manner.

Students continue to participate in language experience activities relating to the learning topic. Within the last 6 weeks students have played with toys from the 1910s to 2000s, made butter in a jar and engaged with texts relating to the past. UPE has had lots of great discussions around these activities and other learning topics whilst being able to practise their writing skills each week.

We look forward to expanding our learning through engaging and enjoyable activities in 2024.

UPF

The first term of 2024 has flown by. We started with a Start-up Program, getting to know each other, establishing routines, familiarising with the Concord Student Expectations and enjoying ourselves along the way. Since then, we've delved into learning and social activities, enhancing our knowledge and skills while maintaining our routines, exemplifying school expectations and having a blast throughout.

We've had the opportunity to go on three excursions, including a visit to the Melbourne Museum where we explored The Melbourne Story in connection with our Discovery Unit theme, "What Was Life LIke in the Past?" Additionally, we've manually churned cream to make fresh butter, compared and contrasted historical and modern clothing, food and dwellings and learnt and played traditional games such as marbles, jacks and skittles.

In Social Competencies, we integrated the Berry Street Education Model with interoception, creating a unit that explicitly teaches personal and social capabilities through self-awareness and management and recognition and expression of emotions.

Now it's time for a well-deserved break! Enjoy your two weeks of school holidays and get ready for even more adventures in learning when we come back for Term 2.

Warm regards,

Michelle, Alex and Heba

UPG

UPG have had a stellar start to their 2024 school year! We have worked super hard on settling everyone in and getting to know their new classmates and teachers, and for some, their new section or new school. We developed a Class Agreement around the Concord Expectations, and work hard to live up to our values every day.

Students have thoroughly enjoyed three excursions in just one term - exploring the local flora and fauna of Gresswell Forest, walking to the local op shops and finding many special treasures, and the highlight, a whole day excursion to the Melbourne Museum. These excursions have supported the hands-on, engaging activities that we have been doing in class to develop our knowledge of what life was like in the past.

We can’t wait to see what Term Two has in store for us!

UPH

UPH have had an exciting, fun filled start to the school year. In just Term One we have visited the local park at the start of term, where we went on a scavenger hunt looking for animals. UPH were lucky enough to see kangaroos and a kookaburra. We also had the opportunity to visit Melbourne Museum which tied in with our classroom learning about the present and past. The students of UPH where very excited to see what phones looked like in the olden days. UPH were very excited to have the time to look around the dinosaur exhibit before heading across to the park for lunch. We have had the opportunity to join in many different language experiences from songs and dance to making butter.

In the classroom the students have enjoyed the many math games around the number before and after.

UPH have showed great resilience and demonstrated how flexible they can be as we have had a change of teacher during the term.

As a class we are very excited to see what term two has in store for us.