St Gabriel's School Newsletter

Learning & Teaching

Literacy in our hubs

Our classroom hubs have been buzzing with excitement and explicit teaching this term! Our Targeted teaching is in full swing. Our teachers have carefully analysed children’s data to create flexible groups, ensuring each child receives the right support and challenge.

 

Our Preps have embarked on their phonics journey, mastering the first sequence of sounds: S, A, T, P, I, N, M, D, and tackling tricky words like "i," "is," "the," and "a." It's wonderful to see their reading and writing skills in action!

 

The Grade 1/2 students are strengthening their phonics foundations by reviewing the sounds th/th (voiced and unvoiced), ch, ng/nk, sh, ai, ee, igh, oa, and the two sounds of oo. They are also working hard to incorporate tricky words into their reading and writing with increasing automaticity.

 

Our Grade 3-6 children have been immersed in the world of book clubs, exploring how

 authors engage readers through their choice of words. They're making connections, summarising chapters, and developing a deeper appreciation for literature. In writing, the focus is on correct grammar and spelling, which students are applying to their independent writing pieces.

 

 

How You Can Support Learning at Home:

  • Read with and to your child: Sharing stories together is a wonderful way to foster a love of reading and build vocabulary.
  • Build a routine: Establishing a regular time for reading and other learning activities helps children develop good habits.
  • Tricky Word Hunt: Display tricky words on the fridge and make it a game to see who can find the word the fastest!
  • Storytelling Adventures: Encourage your child to create their own stories. They can draw pictures and tell you about their characters and adventures.
  • Real-World Reading: Point out and read signs, labels, menus, and other real-world texts with your child. This helps them see the practical application of reading skills.

What's happening in Maths 

Time 

In Maths, the children in Years Prep–2 are learning about Time. They explore, tell, and read the time, comparing and discussing the duration of everyday events and the order in which they occur.

 

At home, you can help by encouraging children to notice the duration of events and activities using hours, minutes, and seconds, and by talking about connected events in their usual sequence.

 

Here is a link to support children at home: Exploring Time

 

Addition and Subtraction

In Maths, the children in Year 3–4 are learning to represent and solve addition and subtraction problems using various strategies. These include counting on, partitioning, and rearranging parts. They understand addition as combining quantities (e.g., "something and something make...") and use the plus symbol (+) to represent this operation.

 

For subtraction, the children explore strategies such as using facts of 10, counting back, counting up, using doubles, making a ten, and adding up. They understand subtraction as taking away or counting back to find the difference.

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At Home you may explore Addition and Subtraction:

Deck of Cards: 

Using a deck of cards, this  activity can be played with 2 to 4 people. Each person picks up two cards. They then need to add or subtract the two numbers and provide the answer.

 

Dice:

Make that Number is a simple dice game to practice addition and subtraction. All you need is 2 or 3 dice and a list of numbers 0-12 (for 2 dice) or 0-18 (for 3 dice). Children can roll the dice and add or subtract their numbers together. If they are using 3 dice, they can add one number and subtract the other.

 

Blocks: 

Use building blocks and ask the child to build a tower with a certain number of blocks, for example 5. Then, ask them to add or subtract blocks to the tower, like 3 more or 3 less. Ask what are you left with? 

 

Multiplication and Division 

In maths the 5-6 children are learning about Multiplication and Division. 

 

 

In Multiplication:

  • Solving problems involving larger numbers multiplied by one- or two-digit numbers.
  • Selecting the most efficient mental and written calculation strategies.
  • Using digital tools where appropriate.
  • Checking the reasonableness of their answers to ensure accuracy.

In Division:

  • Solving problems with an emphasis on choosing the most efficient strategies.
  • Interpreting remainders based on the context of the problem.
  • Expressing results as whole numbers, decimals, or fractions.

The children are also learning to recognise and explain the connection between multiplication and division as inverse operations. This includes developing families of number facts, which will enhance their problem-solving skills and flexibility when working with numbers.

 

At Home:

Foundational Multiplication Facts:

  • Start with the basics: multiplication by 1, 2, 10, and 11.
  • Emphasize understanding rather than rote memorisation.

Mastering 3s, 4s, and 5s:

  • Use doubling and grouping strategies to tackle the 3s and 4s.
  • Utilise halving techniques for the 5s, connecting it to the 10s times table.

Nines Trick:

  • Explore the patterns within the 9s times tables, helping your child understand the relationships between numbers.

Tackling 6s, 8s, and 12s:

  • Employ multiples of 5 and 10 as stepping stones for efficiency.
  • Break down larger multiplication problems into more manageable parts.

Division Strategies:

In division, children have been learning a variety of strategies to efficiently solve problems. Encourage your child to explore equal groups, partitioning, the inverse relationship with multiplication and sharing. These strategies provide a well-rounded understanding of division and strengthen mental math skills.