Learning News

Learning News Week 7

It’s been a busy week of learning for both our students and our staff.  Last Wednesday, five of our staff attended the 3-6 Maths and English Curriculum Workshop run by the CSO to learn more about implementing our new syllabi next year.  It was a very informative and useful day.  

Back in our classrooms, teachers and students organised a variety of performances for our assembly on Super Hero Day, ready for our Super Dads.  On top of this, classes have been doing their regular learning, from persuasive writing about why chickens should not drive a bus or if children should play sport, to descriptions of our dads and colour poems.  Such a variety of wonderful learning opportunities at St Michael’s.  Well done everyone!

Yours in learning,

Mrs Shepherd

Kindergarten

This Semester, Kindergarten have began learning about the Geography unit 'People Live In Places'. As part of this learning, the children have learned about different important places and their purposes. The children have also been looking at maps and have been learning to map places including the school. In the photos below, the children used natural materials to represent buildings or important places in the school. Kindergarten then added other details such as the playground and oval. Mrs McNair has some exciting plans to come for the children's learning in Geography. Well done Kindergarten! 

Miss Fraser

Year 1

This Term in Geography, Year 1 students have been learning to describe where they live. First, we looked at floor plans and students created their own floor plans of their house. Next, we looked at the map of Australia to learn the names of the states and territories. Students were amazed to see how these are abbreviated. In the next lesson, students learned how to write their address by writing their details on an envelope. Finally, students learned about how places get their names. They learned that places can be named after people or natural features. Great mapping skills Year One, we are super impressed! 

Mrs Russell and Miss Myers

Year 2/3

This week in Year 2/3 we have been learning about how to use digital technology to create a Word Art/ Word Cloud. We used our knowledge and skills in order to create a very special Father’s Day Artwork. First, we created a list of words that could be used to describe a special person in our life and checked the spelling. We then copied words into the Word Art generator, selected our shape and colours and then visualised our design. We hope that our special person enjoyed their surprise gift! Fantastic work Year 2/3! 

Mr Beaumont.

Year 4

This week in English, Year 4 have been learning how to write a discussion based on the topic ‘Should Children Play a Sport?’. To begin, the students came up with a detailed list of ‘for’ and ‘against’ reasons as to why children should play a sport. From this, they then learnt how to write a discussion introduction which involves them introducing the topic with a rhetorical question and stating their ‘for’ and ‘against’ arguments. The students then used their prior knowledge of writing PEEL paragraphs to continue their discussions. Amazing work Year 4! 

Miss McDonald and Miss Maunder. 

Year 5/6

Stage 3 are continuing to develop their poetic skills by using their 5 senses to write a poem about a colour. Students thought about their favourite colour and had to think of what that colour looks, feels, sounds, tastes and smells like, as well as how their colour makes them feel. The students were super creative with their descriptions and have shown great improvement in their poetic writing abilities. Great work Stage 3! 

Miss Rasche and Miss Summerell

Blue

Blue looks like the sea.

Blue sounds like whales in the ocean talking to each other.

Blue smells like flowers in the garden.

Blue feels smooth and soft.

Blue tastes like a gatorade after a footy game.

Blue is calmness.

By Nulla Gillon

White

White looks like the purest of snow,

White sounds like a playing orchestra,

White smells fresh like vanilla,

White feels like a young rabbit,

White tastes like clear cold water,

White is purity

By Molly Gallagher

Numeracy News Week 8

Kindergarten

This fortnight, Kindergarten have continued to develop their subtraction skills. We have learned to use concrete materials including numicon blocks and counters to solve subtraction stories. We have also learned that when subtracting, we are taking away from a number, so it becomes smaller. Kindergarten have been backward counting from 20 and have been using an interactive number line to practise jumping backward from a number. Wonderful work Mathematicians! 

Miss Fraser

Year 1

This week, Year 1 finished their division unit. They have been working hard to distinguish between a ‘given amount of groups’ and ‘groups of’. They learned that the part of a collection that can’t be shared equally into groups is called the ‘left-overs’. They have been very clever mathematicians and have not been tricked with left-overs! They even got creative and made the spines on an echidna (bigibila) into ‘groups of’. Outstanding work Year 1! 

Miss Myers

Year 2/3 

This week Year 2/3 have continued our journey of Division. We have continued to build our skills in sharing and creating arrays as strategies to solve problems. We have furthered our understanding of this by finding the factors of numbers by creating arrays and using our knowledge of times tables. Well done on your continued hard work Year 2/3. 

Mr Beaumont.

Year 4 

This week in Mathematics, Year 4 has been learning how to use scaled instruments to measure and compare masses. Students have learnt to identify the common units of measurement used in Mass, how to convert grams and kilograms, used balance arm scales and electric scales to compare the masses of various objects and solved word problems involving Mass. They then extended their knowledge by using measuring cups to work out the weight of sand using various scales and discussed how this knowledge could be applied to real life context when baking and cooking for example. Great work Year 4! 

Miss Maunder and Miss McDonald

Year 5/6

In weeks 7 and 8, Stage 3 has been learning how to find the area of a shape, using a variety of strategies. At the beginning of the unit, students worked collaboratively in small groups to create posters of everything they already knew about area and shared with the rest of the class. Over the last 2 weeks, students have practised finding the area of a range of quadrilaterals and triangles, as well as applying these skills to solve the area of an L-shaped composite figure. Fantastic work Stage 3!  

Miss Summerell & Miss Rasche