Magnify

Magnify Around the Classrooms

#magnifysandhurst

It has been a busy fortnight in the P-2 area with lots of wonderful learning happening.

Foundation

Grade Prep children are learning new sound-symbol relationships and how to use the alphabetic code to read. 

The children are building up their bank of tricky words for reading and spelling. They are reading short captions and sentences and have been introduced to the InitialLit decodable readers. They are enjoying the story, “Thunderstorm Dancing,” by Katrina Germein. They are making predictions and identifying the parts of a narrative text (beginning, middle, and end).

Gr 1

Grade One children are revising sounds and letters. They are learning about vowels being special letters and that every word has a vowel sound in it. Grade Ones are building on their bank of known tricky words and are focusing on reading and spelling ‘said,’ ‘are,’ and ‘her.’ Grade One’s story book is “Max,” by Bob Graham and the Grade Ones are learning more about the structure of a narrative text whilst reading this.

Gr 2

Grade Two children are learning about word parts (word base, prefixes and suffixes) and the different spelling rules that apply to these. They are learning about what happens to a word’s spelling and meaning when you add a prefix or a suffix to a base. Grade Two have also been reading the “Stone Lion,” by Margaret Wild. They’ve been exposed to rich vocabulary and introduced to similes. This story has provided great discussion around doing things for others.

Foundation

Grade Prep are working on the topic of subitizing (instantly identify the number of objects in a small group without counting). They are learning to identify a pictorial representation of a number between 0 and 5. They are using dice to assist with this skill.

Gr 1 and Gr 2

In Maths, Following the OCHRE program for maths, the Grade One and Two children are working on the topics of addition and subtraction. In this unit of work children will learn how addition and subtraction complement one another. They have begun revising previous learning and are working on strategies such as building to ten using tens frames and number lines and partitioning. Children have been learning about part-whole partitioning of numbers.

Gr 3 and 4

Reading & Writing: Literacy activities for the first part of this term have been based on the novel “Yirra and her Deadly Dog, Demon” by Anita Heiss. Our writing in particular has been focused on factual recount texts - format and features (accurate facts, chronological order, past tense and time connectives).

Maths: Our Maths topic at the moment is 'Multiplication and Division'. We have used arrays to represent multiplication facts and to learn about commutative law for equations eg 7 x 9 = 63 and 9 x 7 = 63 and associated division facts eg. 63 ÷ 7 = 9. We are also learning to follow algorithms to generate number patterns eg doubling. 

Gr 5 and 6

In 5/6 our Literacy focus for the start of this term has been centred around the book 'Black Cockatoo' by Carl Merrison and Hakea Hustler. We have been reading the book, and completing character analysis on the characters, and in particular, the main character Mia. The story follows Mia and her family, who live in a remote community in the Kimberley. In particular, it focuses on Mia's connection with her Totem animal, the Black Cockatoo (Dirrarn). Tahlia Cooper, who works in the 5/6 area, has also been helping us learn about totems and understand their significance within Indigenous culture. 

This week, we will be moving onto our next book 'Dirrarn', which is the follow on story of 'Black Cockatoo',

In Mathematics, we have started the term focusing on Fractions. In particular, we have been looking at ordering, comparing fractions and equivalent fractions. This week, we will move into our next topic, which is 3D shapes.