Classroom News

Foundation Curriculum Newsletter - Term 2 Week 8

Dear Parents/ Caregivers,

Welcome to Week 8! It's hard to believe we are already heading into the final few weeks of Term 2. With our exciting Myuna Farm excursion on Friday, students receiving their first school reports, Parent-Teacher Interviews, and the end of term just around the corner, it's shaping up to be a busy and exciting two-and-a-half weeks in Prep.

A reminder for our farm excursion to please pack your child's lunch, snacks and water bottle for the day. As we will be spending most of the day outdoors, students will need to wear enclosed shoes and bring a jacket or windbreaker (names written on all clothing) to keep warm. Keep an eye on the weather forecast throughout the week, but at this stage it looks like we may be lucky enough to enjoy a dry day with no rain!

We are looking forward to a wonderful end to the term and celebrating all the learning and growth our Prep students have achieved so far this year.

A reminder that Chatterbox continues to run each week, and students are encouraged to bring along any items they would like to share with the class on their allocated day.

As the weather becomes cooler, we also kindly ask families to ensure all jumpers and jackets are clearly named to help us return any misplaced items.

Date	Event
Wednesday 10 June	Bookings Open on Compass for Parent Teacher Interviews
Friday 12 June	Myuna Excursion
Friday 19 June	Semester Reports available on Compass Bookings close on Compass for Parent Teacher Interviews
Wednesday 24 June	Parent Teacher Interviews and Pupil Free Day
Friday 26 June	Grade 6 Bake Sale and Coffee Cart Whole School Assembly 9.10am (weather permitting) Last Day of Term - 2:30pm finish

Literacy:

In Reading, students will conclude our farm-themed learning by exploring texts about the seasons of farming and the journey produce takes from the farm to the market. These texts will continue to build students’ vocabulary and understanding of how food is grown, harvested and transported.

In Sounds-Write, students will work on reading and spelling CCVC words (words with two consonants at the beginning, such as stop, frog and plug). They will continue to practise segmenting and blending sounds to read and write increasingly complex words. Students will also learn the high-frequency words to, do, your and four, developing automatic recognition to support fluent reading and writing.

In Writing, students will continue to participate in modelled writing and dictation activities to strengthen their letter-sound knowledge, handwriting, spelling and sentence construction. Through the Syntax Project, students will expand simple sentences by adding information about who, what, when and where, and will begin using conjunctions such as because and but to create more detailed and interesting sentences.

Numeracy:

In Mathematics, students will explore concepts of calendar and time, learning the days of the week, identifying morning, afternoon and night, and comparing the duration and speed of events using terms such as longer, shorter, faster and slower. They will also begin learning to tell the time and apply their understanding through problem-solving activities.

Students will then investigate flat shapes, learning to name and identify common 2D shapes, compare how shapes are the same and different, and sort shapes into groups based on their features. They will develop their understanding of positional language to describe locations and explore how flat shapes can be found in everyday objects. Students will consolidate their learning through hands-on activities and Maths games.

Science:

In Science, students will complete their learning about living things by selecting a plant or animal and creating a visual representation to demonstrate their understanding. They will identify the basic needs of their chosen living thing, such as food, water and shelter, and explain the key features that help it grow, survive and thrive in its environment.

Here are some photos from the last two weeks…

Warmest regards,

Tegan Cochrane, Renee Kociski, Ashleigh Smith and Vanessa Stimar

Foundation Teachers

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Year 1 Curriculum Newsletter - Term 2 Week 8

Dear Year 1 Parents and Caregivers,

Below is a snapshot of recent activities, alongside important dates for the next few weeks.

Important Dates to Remember:

Date	Reminder
Wednesday 10 June	Bookings open on Compass for Parent Teacher Interviews.
Wednesday 17 June	Foundation to Grade 2 Assembly
Friday 19 June	Bookings close on Compass for Parent Teacher Interviews.
Wednesday 24 June	Parent Teacher Interviews and Pupil Free Day
Friday 26 June	Grade 6 Bake Sale and Coffee Cart Whole School Assembly 9.10am (weather permitting) Term 2 concludes 2.30pm

Curriculum Overview:

Literacy:

In Literacy, students have continued their exploration of information texts. In weeks 8 and 9 students will be learning about the blue whale and the salt water habitat. They will be learning topic specific vocabulary like regeneration, for example what happens to star fish. To conclude our writing unit on information reports, students will be publishing their favourite animal from the term with headings, diagrams and information about habitat, appearance and diet.

Numeracy:

In Numeracy, students will be focusing on capacity and volume using hands-on materials to increase their understanding. They will also be using terms such as: full, empty, nearly empty and half full to describe the volume of a variety of containers. Students will then be comparing numbers by partitioning 2 digit numbers into tens and ones.

Example: 23

Wellbeing:

In Wellbeing, students have been learning to manage their anger through regulation strategies including, balloon breathing, pressing hands together and drawing coping strategies. Students will be learning to show their anger in ways that aren’t hurtful. They will also be learning to look on the bright side and read a story about being grateful.

This term we farewell Noah from 1A, Lion from 1A and Alexis from 1C. We wish them well as they return to Tasmania, Norway and Sweden. We will miss their friendly faces in our TPS community.

Kind Regards,

Year 1 Team

Caroline Morrison, Rosie Robinson and Alison Sparks

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Year 2 Curriculum Newsletter - Term 2 Week 8

Dear Year 2 Parents and Caregivers,

Below is a snapshot of recent activities, alongside important dates for the next two weeks.

Important Dates to Remember:

Date	Event
Wednesday 10 June	Bookings open on Compass for Parent Teacher Interviews.
Friday 19 June	Reports Available Bookings close on Compass for Parent Teacher Interviews.
Wednesday 24 June	Parent Teacher Interviews and Pupil Free Day
Friday 26 June	Grade 6 Bake Sale and Coffee Cart Whole School Assembly 9.10am (weather permitting) Last Day of Term 2.30pm finish

Literacy :

This term students have been crafting informative paragraphs about their chosen animal, focusing on its appearance and habitat. We have been building our writing skills through boundary punctuation, using commas in lists, and constructing compound sentences to add detail and variety. In our phonics work, students have been exploring the different ways the /j/ and /oo/ sounds can be represented in writing. It has been wonderful to see them apply these new skills with growing independence.

Maths:

In maths, students have been developing their confidence with addition and subtraction involving regrouping. We have been using place value strategies to understand how numbers can be broken apart and recombined, alongside mental strategies such as the split strategy. These approaches are helping students see that there is often more than one efficient way to solve a problem. We encourage you to practise these strategies at home through everyday activities like shopping or cooking.

Science:

Our science learning has taken us into the fascinating world of life cycles, where students have been investigating how living things grow and change over time. We have also been exploring the interdependent relationships between animals and plants within ecosystems. Through this, students are discovering how each living thing relies on others to survive and how delicately these systems are balanced. It has sparked some thoughtful discussions about caring for the world around us.

Kind regards,

Daniel Lewis, Thilini Marasinghe, Zhuang Bian, Charlene Maguire

Year 2 Teachers

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Year 3 Curriculum Newsletter - Term 2 Week 8

Dear Year 3 Parents and Caregivers,

Thank you for your support over the past few weeks. The students have been doing some fantastic work and showed their learning over a range of literacy and numeracy tests.

Below is an overview of important dates for Term 2. There will be possible updates or new dates added to Compass as the term progresses:

Date	Event
Wednesday 10 June	Bookings open on Compass for Parent Teacher Interviews.
Thursday 18 June	Year 3 Melbourne Museum Excursion
Friday 19 June	Reports Available Bookings close on Compass for Parent Teacher Interviews.
Wednesday 24 June	Parent Teacher Interviews and Pupil Free Day
Friday 26 June	Grade 6 Bake Sale and Coffee Cart Whole School Assembly 9.10am (weather permitting) Last Day of Term 2.30pm finish

Maths: Multiplication

In Numeracy, we will be completing our unit on reading and graphing data. After this, students will learn about angles. We will explore what angles are, and how to classify different angles.

Reading: Expert Answering

Students are thoroughly enjoying our Core Knowledge unit, The Ancient Roman Civilisation. So far, they have explored the causes of the Punic Wars, learnt about the different groups within Roman society, and are now investigating the fascinating world of the Colosseum and the Circus Maximus. They have been practising how to answer literal, inferential, and evaluative questions using short passages from the core knowledge text.

We will begin to learn more about the rise and fall of one of the greatest leaders, Caesar.

Writing: Complex Sentences

As part of our Information Text unit, students are developing new skills through the Model Text Toolkit. They have been identifying the different parts of complex sentences, learnt how to write a topic sentence, and strengthen their understanding of simple and compound sentences.

Students will be continuing to add detail to their information report about Rome, and it's God and Goddesses.

HASS: Ancient Rome

Students will continue learning about Ancient Rome in both HASS and Reading. We will explore the impressive buildings of Rome, including the Colosseum, and learn about important historical figures such as Julius Caesar. Students will also discover some of Rome’s marvellous inventions, including roads, bridges, and aqueducts, and learn how these helped shape everyday life in ancient Rome.

Wellbeing: Friendship Styles

Students recently completed a Wellbeing Survey. These surveys are anonymous and are an important tool that help us monitor how students are feeling and progressing, while also allowing us to adapt our planning and respond to the individual needs of our students.

To further support your child at home, you may like to ask them the following three questions:

Where did you show kindness/resilience/respect/responsibility today?
What is something you did today that made you feel proud?
What is one thing you would like to practise or get better at?

You can also play: High, Low, Buffalo

The High: Ask them to name the best or most exciting thing that happened at school today.

The Low: Ask for the hardest, most frustrating, or saddest part of their day.

The Buffalo: Ask for something random, funny, or weird that happened to them.

Over the next few weeks we will be looking the benefits of having a positive mindset, and how this can make your life and the life of others around you better.

Kind Regards,

Year 3 Team

Cassie, Harrison, and Lauren

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Year 4 Curriculum Newsletter Term 2 Week 8

Dear Year 4 Parents and Caregivers,

Below is a snapshot of recent activities, alongside important dates.

Date	Event
Wednesday 10 June	Bookings open on Compass for Parent Teacher Interviews.
Friday 19 June	Reports Available Bookings close on Compass for Parent Teacher Interviews.
Wednesday 24 June	Parent Teacher Interviews and Pupil Free Day
Friday 26 June	Grade 6 Bake Sale and Coffee Cart Whole School Assembly 9.10am (weather permitting) Last Day of Term 2.30pm finish

Maths:

In Mathematics this week, Year 4 students are learning how to draw perpendicular line segments on a square grid. Students will identify right angles and use their understanding of line relationships to accurately create perpendicular lines. This learning will help strengthen their geometry knowledge and spatial reasoning skills.

Literacy:

Reading

In Reading, students are learning and practising to identify time connectives and explain why authors use them in texts. Exploring how words such as first, next, then and finally help organise events and make writing easier for readers to follow.

Writing

In Writing, students are working on paragraph four of their historical allegory narratives. They are using the Rule of 3 to build tension, emphasise important ideas and improve the rhythm and flow of their writing.

Wellbeing:

Wellbeing

In Wellbeing, students are learning about how to make and maintain positive friendships. They are exploring the skills needed to be a good friend, including showing respect, listening to others and resolving simple conflicts.

HASS:

History

In history students continue to learn about First Nations Culture and Traditions.

Kind Regards,

Year 4 Team

Sam Pallas, Katie Smith, Tim Maclachlan and Jessica De Angelis

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Year 5 Curriculum Newsletter - Term 2 Week 8

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

Below is a snapshot of important Term 2 dates. Please note that additional events and updates may be added to Compass throughout the term, so we encourage you to check regularly to stay informed.

Date	Event
Wednesday 10 June	Bookings open on Compass for Parent Teacher Interviews.
Thursday 18 June	Year 3 Melbourne Museum Excursion
Friday 19 June	Reports Available Bookings close on Compass for Parent Teacher Interviews.
Tuesday 23 June	Hands on Science Incursion
Wednesday 24 June	Parent Teacher Interviews and Pupil Free Day
Friday 26 June	Grade 6 Bake Sale and Coffee Cart Whole School Assembly 9.10am (weather permitting) Last Day of Term 2.30pm finish

Lance and Isobel are the winners of the buoyancy boat challenge.

Homework:

We appreciate the ongoing support from families in encouraging students to complete their homework each week. While we have seen improvement, some students are still occasionally forgetting to bring their homework books or are not consistently completing tasks. We kindly ask parents and carers to continue supporting their child by ensuring homework books are brought to school every Friday and that set tasks are completed and returned on time. Developing strong homework routines supports students to build organisation, responsibility, and independence, which are essential skills for success at school and beyond.

Uniforms:

As the weather continues to get colder, we are still seeing some students wearing non-school hoodies. A reminder that students are expected to wear the correct school uniform each day. If uniform items have been misplaced or need replacing, families are welcome to access the second-hand uniform shop for affordable options.

Toys/Fidgets:

We are pleased to note that there has been a positive improvement with students no longer bringing fidgets and toys to school. Thank you for your support in reinforcing this expectation at home.

Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or require further clarification.

Regards

Vanessa Burke and Josh Bretherton,

Year 5 Teachers

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Year 6 Curriculum Newsletter - Term 2 Week 8

Dear Parents and Carers,

Below is an outline of the important upcoming dates, along with an update on what we have been doing in Year 6.

Important Dates to Remember:

Date	Reminder
Wednesday 10 June	Bookings Open	Parent Teacher Interviews
Wednesday 19 June	Bookings Close Semester Reports	Parent Teacher Interviews Available to download on Compass
Wednesday 24 June	Pupil Free Day	Parent Teacher Interviews
Friday 26 June	Year 6 Bake Sale Coffee Cart	Whole School Assembly 9.10am (weather permitting) Term 2 concludes at 2:30 pm

Writing: Narratives

In Writing, students continued to use Single Paragraph Outlines to develop further their ideas for the build-up and problem paragraphs of their narratives. They experimented with figurative language to engage their audience and build description, and consolidated their understanding of compound and complex sentence structures, including the appropriate use of appositives.

Mathematics: Multiplication

Students applied their knowledge of place value and the vertical multiplication strategy to multiply decimal numbers, and used long and short division strategies to divide decimals resulting in decimal answers. They consolidated this knowledge through worded problems and open-ended tasks.

Physical Science:

In Physical Science, students will use their knowledge of light and electricity to begin work on their Physical Science Project for Term 2. This project requires students to construct a house and create 2 electrical circuits to create lights (circuits will be created at school). The project also requires students to create an information presentation, outlining key learnings from this semester's work.

Graduation fundraisers:

Planning and fundraising for the Year 6 Graduation ceremony continues.

Toy Sale:

A big thank you to all families for donating toys for the Year 6 toy sale. The students raised $1,615.55. An excellent result!

Bake Sale:

Last term's Bake Sale was a huge success, and we are so grateful to all of the families who contributed. Our next Bake Sale is on Friday 26th June. If you can, please bring in small homemade treats such as cupcakes, biscuits, cookies, or slices; we would greatly appreciate your support. Please deliver all cakes to the 6A classroom.