1/2 A Mainstream 

What we have been up to: 

“Bugs, bugs and more bugs!” The 1/2A and 2/3S loved getting up close and personal with all sorts of six-legged creepy crawlies during our Melbourne museum visit this week. They discovered that’ ‘bugs rule the world’ and how they contribute to the ecosystem of humans by pollinating flowers and decomposing waste. The exhibition aligned beautifully with our “schoolyard safari” integrated unit. 1/2A listened and participated in the “Bugs Alive” program, led by a staff member of the museum in one of the Learning Labs, with much enthusiasm. 

Throughout the day, the students were also able to look through exhibition spaces such as the Forest Gallery, Our Wondrous World, Native Garden and of course the Bugs, Bugs Bugs exhibition. 

Our excursion also meant we traveled there and back on the tram! The students were super responsible and I was really impressed with how they all took such care. Thank you to all the parents who came along and supported the independence, learning, and experiences gained during this excursion. We had a fantastic day! 

Maths:

In our numeracy lessons, we have begun to explore addition and subtraction. As we develop our skills and understanding of these concepts, our goal is to use different and more efficient strategies to join numbers together. To build confidence (and have fun!), we use lots of different number stories which can then be translated into other number strategies. 

If you would like to practise addition or subtraction with your child at home, ask them to create joining and separating stories and model their thinking. You could also practise speed facts by playing ‘addition snap’!

We also continued our exploration of 2D shapes by investigating all the different shapes that can be formed by joining 2, 3, 4  and 5 triangles together.

Literacy:

As part of our phonics program, classes reviewed Little Learners Love Literacy  Stage 7.1 sounds. These sounds include: –y as in silly, igh as in night, ie as in pie, ea as in meat, -y as in fly, and oa as in float. They have started learning Stage 7.2 and starting with the  sound ar as in art and or as in sort .

Students collected facts about different bugs in preparation for writing their information reports. They chose an insect and planned and drafted their first information report. Students have been introduced to the features of information reports such as sub-headings, diagrams and labels.

What’s to come in the next two weeks:

• In the coming two weeks in phonics, we will be continuing to learn Little Learners Love Literacy  Stage 7.2  and the sounds air as in hair, are as in care, and ere as in there.
• Continuing with the text type  information reports.

• We will start developing our understanding of addition and subtraction by first representing and modelling, joining and separating stories. Focusing on mental strategies for addition and subtraction including the 10s facts, doubles, related facts and using place value. These strategies will assist in the mental computation of larger numbers. We will finish off 2D shapes and 3D objects with a building task, where students explore how 3-dimensional shapes can be composed into more complex structures. 

   

  We would love any small empty boxes you may have at home to help with this activity. Please send these along with your child to school. Thanks so much for your ongoing support.

Stephanie