Classroom Insights

SPECIALIST SHOUT OUT

The Specialist Shout-Out this week comes from Josh. He gives a shout out to this class for being great self-managers during PE by ensuring the gymnastics equipment was always safe by pushing blue mats back into the right spot and going one person at a time.

Congratulations to…PREP B!!

IN THE GRADE 5 CLASSROOM:  Scaffolding Numeracy in the Middle Years

Over the past few weeks, students in Grade 5 have been part of the Scaffolding Numeracy in the Middle Years program which explores maths concepts such as simplifying, multiplicative thinking, strategising and problem solving. 

Students completed an original test in the first weeks of term and then were organised into different fluid zones that met their current methods of thinking and points of need.  The rich tasks encouraged students to look for new and multiple strategies to solve problems. 

With Mr. Nicho, students have been able to use a number of concrete materials such as counters and dominos. They explored multiplication and division facts with playing cards and discussed how to use additive thinking to solve tricky multiplication problems. 

One favourite task in Jack’s room saw students enjoy building arrays with counters. This helped them exploring factor pairs and products. Building the language of factors and multiples has helped students differentiate with worded questions. 

Sarah’s group also enjoyed planning tiles after a toxic waste spill! Using grid paper and another colour to make a “toxic spill”, students had to find strategies to quickly work out how many tiles needed to be replaced. Students used a mix of counting and array methods. 

A number of these activities were then shared with parents at our Celebration of Learning in Week 5!

PREPS IN ART

Prep students have completed their first art project. They explored different types of lines using oil pastels, then painted over their work with watercolours. After that, they cut their artwork into the shape of an icy pole and attached it to a decorated background using collage techniques.