Student Learning
N4 and M5 have been busy making memories!
During Book Week, our buddies teamed up to share their favourite stories, enjoy some quality reading time and create special keepsake bookmarks.
They also recently came together to talk about something just as important as reading: our emotions. They discussed worries, feelings and ways we can help ourselves when things feel a little tricky. Our wonderful Year 3 “big buddies” helped their Year 1 “little buddies” create their very own worry dolls to take home.
There was plenty of chatting, crafting, kindness and teamwork, and perhaps a few worries magically disappearing along the way!
We love seeing these buddy friendships grow. Sometimes the best learning happens with a good book, a little creativity and a buddy by your side.
Exploring Our Near-Neighbour Countries
M5 has recently been researching near-neighbour countries, and we have used a range of sources to group information, including a country's classification, geographical features, native plants and animals, and people and culture. We have been thinking carefully about the audience and purpose of our writing to order information into effective paragraphs.
Strong curiosity within the classroom has led to the uncovering of a range of interesting facts and information when comparing and exploring neighbouring island nations.
As the class continues to research and explore, they are becoming more selective about the information they include, making their information texts as interesting as possible.
N4’s Chairs Go on Strike!
There has been some serious persuading happening in N4!
Our persuasive writing unit began with quite a surprise when students returned from recess one day to discover that their chairs had gone on strike! The chairs had left behind a strongly worded letter explaining exactly why they were unhappy, complete with some very convincing reasons for their actions. With nowhere to sit, N4 quickly realised they would need to put their persuasive powers to work if they wanted their chairs back!
Throughout the unit, students have been learning how to write persuasive letters that can really convince their audience. We have explored the language of opinion, experimented with high and low modality words, and used the OREO structure to organise our writing, stating an Opinion, giving Reasons and Evidence, and finishing by reinforcing our Opinion.
Along the way, we have shared some wonderful mentor texts and discovered that strong persuasive writers don't just tell someone what they think, they give convincing reasons to make their reader think twice!
Thankfully, N4’s persuasive skills were eventually strong enough to convince the chairs to return to work… and everyone was very relieved to be sitting down again!
