Learning News Weeks 1-2, Term 4 2024

Learning News

Welcome back to Term 4! It seems incredible that we are already up to our last term and another year is almost over. As always in Term 4, this term is jam packed with sporting and cultural activities, school events and the general busyness of the end of the year. So strap yourselves in and get ready for a wonderful 10 weeks of learning.

In the last two weeks, our classes have been busy working on a variety of topics across our Key Learning Areas. Kinder have been learning about groups in maths and have made some wonderful virtual pizzas with equal amounts of pepperoni. Year 1 have explored different natural and built features of different places and their purposes. Year 2 have learnt interesting facts about trees and are about to create a multimodal persuasive text on that topic. Stage 2 have worked hard on writing engaging procedures and our seniors have settled back in after their exciting camp to Coffs Harbour. All this in just 8 days! We look forward to experiencing more great learning across the term.

Yours in learning,

Cathy Shepherd

AP/LoP

Kindergarten

Kindergarten have had a great and engaging time in Geography learning about special places. This week, we learned about Manilla and the special river, the Namoi River, that runs through the town. The children learned it is the fastest running river in the state. The children discovered how the rain flows down the mountain sides to create the river systems. To show this learning, we made topographic maps of Manilla using paper and pastels. The students scrunched the paper and shaped it to create the mountain side. We then used spray bottles to demonstrate the rain sliding down the mountain side.

Excellent work Kindergarten!

Miss Fraser

Year 1

This Semester in Geography, Year 1 have been investigating the natural and built features of different places. They have learned about how people describe the weather, that every place does not have the same weather as other places, and the different activities people can do depending on the weather. Year 1 has been exploring different places and how they can be used for different purposes. They have been learning how to take care of places including parks and have applied their learning to looking after our school grounds. Outstanding work Year 1! You should be very proud of yourselves!

Miss Myers and Mrs G

Year 2

Artistic Year 2 are back! This week, we learnt how to create a silhouette image using printmaking. We firstly used cotton balls and coloured paint to dab a ‘spooky’ and ‘spotty’ background. We then had to use very precise cutting to cut out our silhouette. The students enjoyed picking an image to cut out and discussed how they wanted to make the eyes on their characters look like they were glowing!

Great job Year 2!

Miss Rasche

Year 3/4

This week, Year 3/4 had the opportunity to attend an excursion to Manilla Junction to learn all about platypus spotting from Dr Gilad Bino. Students thoroughly enjoyed listening to his experiences working with platypus and getting to see the nets and special equipment that he uses in his work. Year 3/4 learnt lots of new facts about platypus. Did you know that platypus are one of the few mammals that lay eggs? The males also have venomous spurs on their back legs that they use for defence. We were also amazed to hear that baby platypus are usually the size of a jellybean when they are born. Year 3/4 have continued their learning about platypus in the classroom by exploring various texts and participating in dot painting activities.

Fantastic start to Term 4 Year 3/4!

Miss Maunder

Year 5/6 Coffs Coast Adventure Camp

Our Term in Year 5 has started with much fun and excitement with our Camp to Coffs Coast Adventure Centre in Week 1. Following this we have reflected on our time there and have written about our experiences and why people should visit there. As part of our writing the students identified the activities they enjoyed the most and recorded these into a recount text. Hopefully you enjoy some insights into our exciting excursion!

Great work Year 5.

Mr Beaumont

COFFS COAST ADVENTURE CENTRE

By Jasper Lendon

In the first week of Term 4, Year 5 and 6 and Mr Beaumont, Miss Summerall and our Principal Mrs Underwood went to the Coffs Coast Adventure Centre for the first time in the school's history. Well there were lots of different activities but I will get on to them later. The Adventure camp is south of Coffs Harbour in Bonville, near Sawtell. The day of the camp was Wednesday the 16th of October and we left to come home on the 18th of October. We went to the camp so that we could learn new skills outside of school.

DAY 1

Well on the first day after we had lunch we went to do the Commando Course and it was so fun. After the Commando Course we did Skywire and you went so fast down to the bottom.

DAY 2

On day 2 the first activity was the Giant Swing and it was so fun. You can go 10 m in the air and then you pull a rope and then you just drop. After the Giant Swing we did canoeing and I got third in a race with my partner Will. Next we did Survivor and there were so many different challenges to do.

Coffs Coast Adventure Centre

By Bryce Mitchell

Coffs Coast Adventure Centre is such a fun place where everyone should go if you're looking for a fun, exciting school trip. We went with our great Principal, our 2 teachers and all of the students. We had to leave school at 6am and it was a hectic trip.

On the first day, we did a little activity called Ga Ga which is a ball game in a little circle room you have to hit the ball with your hand at people's feet to get them out. Every time we got free time everyone would play it. Also when the music came on it meant it was eating time. After all that, we did the commando course which is a big mud run where you had to do the course with your team and encourage them and get to the end which was really fun. Then we did the big swing which was so scary. There was 10 levels and I went to level 10 and it was so scary and fun. The food was really good, then it was bedtime.

The next day we started our first activity with canoeing which you did with a partner and was very fun. After that we went on the zipline which was so fun. We all did it and had lots of fun. After lunch we went out into the bush for Survivor. We went on the trolley and there was 2 teams. Our team won 28-9! I loved making really smart ideas that helped us win and I had so much fun with my mates. We then learnt how to do fencing with our mates. We all had a good time. Then, after dinner we watched a movie then played a huge game of Capture the Flag. We all had fun running around in the dark, then we settled up for bed.

On the last morning we went surfing which was fun with the surf instructors then we got in the bus and that finished our amazing trip. I recommend every school should go there.

Year 6

Year 6 started Term 4 with a very early start, as they ventured off with Year 5 to the Coffs Coast Adventure Centre. They had an exciting and very busy 3 days! This week, students worked in pairs to write about their experience at each of the activities from camp. What an incredible way to start a busy final term of primary school! Fantastic work Year 6! -

Miss Summerell

Commando Course by Tobie & Farrer

The commando course was just like a mud run but with less mud and more action. There was a 100m mud pit filled with water and soft and squishy mud. The activities were tyre running, rope swing, rock wall, mudslide, mud pits, chin up challenge, push up challenge, sit up challenge. It was very fun. We learnt how to work as a team, show kindness to each other and to encourage one another.

With the chin up challenge, we had to do 5 chin ups to continue. We had to crawl through the 100m mud pit. We had to run through the tyres quickly. On the mudslide, we had to run up a mountain then slide down it. When we got to the rope swing, we needed to swing across the mini mud pit. With the rockwall, we needed to help and support each other to climb along a 3m high rock wall.

Zipline and Big Swing by Owen & Destiny

Have you ever been on a big swing? Well I have and it was so fun. You had to put a harness on and you had to learn how to do the right thing and the other people had to pull a rope to make you go higher and if the other people dropped the rope you would fall all the way to your death. But the instructor made you jump off the ladder to see if it was in the right spot and the instructor asked you what height you wanted to go up to. There was 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 metres, of course I went to 10 metres.

Have you ever been on a zipline? Well if you haven't this is the story for you. You were of course harnessed up and you had to pick partners. And you went down at the same time as them, so it was like you were racing them . But the heaviest person always won. I gave my partner a five second head start. My partner was Isaac and I still won. He wasn't happy about it but I said that it was only for fun. It was so hard to walk up the hill with all the stuff on you but I guess that the harness kept you safe from falling off the zipline, so we could have another turn. The teachers Miss Summerell and Mr B raced and it was so fun.

Canoeing by Ollie & Nulla

Have you ever been canoeing at the Coffs Coast Adventure Centre at the river? It was really fantastic. We played lots of games such as tag, ball games and racing each other. We had lots of fun canoeing. Our favourite game was tag. It was a cheerful day.

Survivor by Susie & Pauline

Survivor is a journey, and it has many challenges. First we started by splitting into different groups so everyone was in even teams. There were many different types of knowledge testing like, puzzle solving, physical activities, and it all required endurance, teamwork and participation. There were big puzzles in the sand that we had to put together, a maze on springs, and a unique activity called “Black Hole”. There were 9 different activities to complete and most groups finished successfully. All in all, I reckon that Survivor is such a good team building activity and every group that ventures to Coffs Coast Adventure should try out Survivor.

Games by Tommy & Isaac

At Coffs Adventure Camp we had lots of amazing fun playing really awesome games. The first game that we played was an awesome game called Gaga. It was so fun that we played it every single day until we couldn’t.

That night we played speed stacks. We had to stack 3 cups on top of each other as fast as we possibly could. Then we played spotlight, at night. It was so amazing and awesome. After that, we then played capture the flag. At Coffs Adventure Camp we had lots of amazing fun playing really awesome games.

Sawtell Surfing by Molly, Leah, Chelsea

Salt air, white sand, crashing blue waves. Red surfboards lying down on the pearl-coloured ground, yearning for someone to pick them up and ride on the waves.

At Sawtell beach, 21 school kids in swimmers held surfboards and bodyboards. They were taught to stand on surfboards, hold on to bodyboards and how to be safe around the water.

“Never go to a private beach alone.”

“Take something that floats.”

“Don’t go too far out.”

“Listen to the lifeguards.”

“When in doubt, come back.”

Then of course, the children walked toward the water and began to do what they were waiting for: to surf, and bodyboard. They also learnt that the super moon which occurs a few times every year, affects the height of the tide - low tide is further down the sand then usual and high tide which sits higher on the sand.

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