Curriculum Update

Year 5 & 6 Team

We are well and truly settled into life in Year 5 and Year 6 and it was great to welcome back all of our senior students last week for the second half of the school year. It was lovely to meet our parent community once again during the PTI’s on Monday and Wednesday and we look forward in continuing to strengthen ties with you to best support your child for the remaining part of the school year.

We have some exciting things happening this semester, some to note are our ‘Immigration Journeys’ Incursion, our trip to the Chinese Museum in the heart of Melbourne’s Chinatown, Family Life, Market Day for our 6’s, Friday sports rotations, along with community sports in Term 4.

The students have settled in exceptionally well since the start of term and are continuing to kick goals in their learning. In Reading, our students have dived into the magical world of books and are exploring captivating stories with friends in our Literature Circles! This exciting program offers students the opportunity to read and discuss a variety of novels in small, engaging groups. Each week, the students meet with their group to share insights, explore themes, and discover new perspectives through guided discussions and fun activities. We would encourage you to support your child’s reading at home as this is part of the routine in order for students to successfully carry out their roles each week.

In Writing, the creativity is flowing from classroom to classroom as we dive deep into Snapshot Writing. Of course, this lends itself to our wonderful yearly event of Reading Writing Together is Magic whereby students will get the opportunity to share their wonderful creative pieces with our Willy North Community. Here is a combined effort of one our classes in the senior school.

In Numeracy, students have been actively making connections with fractions through our Decimals and Percentages unit. They have participated in engaging activities, such as creating human number lines to represent fractions, decimals, and percentages. Additionally, we have explored real-life applications, such as using shopping lists from Bunnings to understand budgeting and cost calculations. Through these activities, students have discovered how concepts like money, weight, and lengths are interconnected, enhancing their practical understanding of mathematics. 

We have been exploring a range of topics in Well-being sessions this term. This has included how to be a responsible student and how to take ownership for our decisions that we make on a daily basis. Over the course of the term, students will be exploring how to problem-solve real-life scenarios that they may encounter out in the school yard or within our community. Lessons will also centre around Cyber-safety and how students should navigate the world of online environments.

Geography is our Inquiry unit for the first half of this term. Students will dive into the study of different places and environments, both within Australia and globally, exploring natural and human features, climate, and sustainability. Students will be investigating human-environment interactions, such as land use, resource management, and environmental change, and understand global connections between Australia and other countries, including trade, culture, and global issues. Engaging in projects, students will apply their learning in real-world contexts, bringing Geography to life and developing critical thinking skills to become informed global citizens.

Since returning this term, we have been very fortunate to be able to facilitate sports lunch time clubs for our students across the senior school. The sports that students will be afforded this term are Basketball and Soccer. Here are some of our fantastic sports stars in action. 

BOOK WEEK & RWTIM

Book Week Celebrations and Costume Parade: CBCA Book Week is coming! This year’s Book Week will run from Monday 19th August to Friday 23rd August (Week 6). This year’s theme is one we are very excited about, ‘Reading is Magic’. There’ll be many fun activities for students across the week, including our famous Masked Reader competition, buddy reads, book clubs, whole school shared reads, quizzes and a book fair! 

On Friday, 23rd August, at 9:30am, there will be a costume parade where students are encouraged to dress up as one of their favourite book characters. The parade will be held at 9:30am on Tasmania (athletics track), and families are more than welcome to come along and watch the celebration. We’d love students to bring along the book that inspired their costume and share it with their class throughout the day.

Reading and Writing Together is Magic (RWTIM): Wednesday, 21st of August, 5.45pm-6.30pm

We are excited to announce the return of our annual student writing showcase event, Reading and Writing Together is Magic!

This evening event celebrates students’ literacy, as they present a short piece of their own original poetry to a small group of students and families. During class in the lead-up to the night, students will draft, revise, edit and publish their writing and rehearse their presentation in preparation for reading it aloud in front of you and the rest of their audience. 

On the night, students and families are allocated to small multi-aged groups, in classrooms across the school. As well as sharing their own writing, students will hear from peers in their year level, and from those in year levels above and below them. Our senior students host the event in each classroom, as part of their leadership development. 

We encourage all students and families to participate. Early next week, look for information on how to register your child for the event.

JUNIOR SCHOOL COUNCIL (JSC)

Congratulations to all of the Year 3 to 6 students that received the role of JSC representative late last term. The effort was exceptional and speeches and ideas that were shared were quite amazing!

Next week the Junior School Council Leaders, will have their first meeting on Monday 29th July, with Mr Peters to brainstorm a list of ideas and then begin to discuss these further. 

At next weeks, whole school assembly on 2nd August, the children that received JSC, will have their name called out.  Badges will be given to the students at their first meeting.  With thanks Jamie Peters

Year 3 & 4 Students

Alice, Molly, Noah, Isabelle, Monty, Zoe, Jude. Maddie

Evie, Harry, Will, Mia, Elizabeth, Lily, Finn, Patrick

Year 5 & 6 Students

Sophie, Winifred, Madeline, Olive, Vienna, Freya, Sofia, Yzabela, Patrick, Archie, Sadie, Jake, Blake, Pippa, Hamza, Jemma, Alison & Patrick

WELLBEING

Wellbeing focus: 

Over the term under Wellbeing (our school value Resilience) we are focusing and working with students around the size of the problem and our reactions and actions towards others. This poster is a great resource to have at home to share with the family talking about your feelings and reactions when an incident has occurred.