From the Classroom

News from 5/6

In Maths, students have completed their 3D Dream Bedroom and they really enjoyed the creativity and the fact that the task was so open ended. Students are currently learning about fractions, decimals and percentages. We have been finding equivalent fractions, adding and subtracting fractions and some students have been multiplying and dividing fractions by whole numbers. Next week, students will move on to learning about probability and graphing. We look forward to conducting some fun chance experiments!

In English, we are continuing to focus on our book 47 Degrees, which is based on Black Saturday. Students are analysing characters, summarising chapters and researching the author and his messages throughout the book. It is an emotional read at times and it has been lovely to see students connect so strongly to the book. 

Last week learned about puberty.  As dictated by the Victorian government, we focused on the names of the reproductive systems and their functions, the physical, social and emotional changes associated with puberty, variations in the timing of puberty and hygiene products used during puberty. Please find a moment to sit down with your child and discuss what they have learned and the booklet we used this week in our Puberty sessions.

What's happening in 3/4

Wow! We are half way through the term already and have covered so much. Well done to all those students who participated in the school cross country. It is so great to see everyone trying their Personal Best in this yearly event. Congratulations also to those students who then went on to compete at the District Cross Country event.

In Maths we have been working on the division algorithm and looking at the relationship between multiplication and division. Our maths fluency continues to improve as we test ourselves daily on our number facts. We are also encouraging all students to practise the times tables at home.

In English we have started reading our whole class novel 'Birrung the Secret Friend' by Jackie French. This novel ties in beautifully with our Inquiry history unit as we continue to learn about the relationship between the English and Aboriginal peoples in the late 1700's. Students have also been studying words and their parts like prefixes, suffixes and base words. These word parts (morphemes) are defined as the smallest meaningful units of meaning. Morphemes are important for phonics in both reading and spelling, as well as in vocabulary and comprehension.

Adventures of 1/2

1/2 students have been busy during English sessions over the last few weeks. We have been identifying the 'who' in a sentence and the 'what' they are doing. There was a lot of fun and giggles when students were writing silly sentences, using their knowledge of 'who' and 'what'. We have also been comparing common and proper nouns and sorting these into groups. Students enjoyed using their senses of sight and sound to write and expand sentences. This week we are looking at imaginary texts and investigating story elements, including characters, setting and plot.

In Maths, students have been developing their knowledge in multiplication. We have

 explored the terms groups of and repeated addition, how this looks as arrays and how they are all related and connected to multiplication. Students demonstrated their understanding by building colourful array cities. Students also reviewed data and graphing. They designed their own question, collected data using a tally and then represented this information as a bar graph- terrific effort 1/2s!

In our Inquiry unit, My Place in the World, students have learnt about natural and constructed places and how these may change over time. We read about Aboriginal peoples connection to Country and the Wurundjeri seasons. We learnt when these seasons occur and what happens to the land and animals during the changes in weather. Students did a fantastic job drawing pictures of the 6 different seasons!

Fantastic Foundation

Foundation has been busy in our English lessons learning about non-fiction texts with a focus on First Nation Scientists. Students have 1/2 students have been busy during English sessions over the last 2 weeks. We have been identifying the 'who' in a sentence and the 'what' they are doing. There was a lot of fun and giggles when students were writing silly sentences, using their knowledge of 'who' and 'what'. We have also been comparing common and proper nouns and sorting these into groups. Students enjoyed using their senses of sight and sound to write and expand sentences.

In the past week Foundation students have finished their unit on shape and identifying both 2D and 3D shapes in their environment. They have had fun making displays of shapes by using tangram shapes to create a picture and then replicating this with craft materials have a look at the amazing shape animals below! 

 We are now learning about addition and are enjoying using hands on materials to model two parts and how as they come together it is addition.  

The past week in Inquiry we have had a focus on Aboriginal people's connection to country and we have learnt why Country is important to their culture. Our Inquiry unit has now moved it's focus to Community Helpers and we are excited for our incursion in the coming week. The first visit by Fire Rescue Victoria will be in our classroom with the firefighters teaching us about ; Firefighters are Helpers, Good fires and bad fires, Crawl Low in Smoke, Safe Meeting Place and What is an Emergency? 000 (Triple Zero). The second session on the 14th June we will get to explore the firefighting equipment and look inside the firetruck.

News from Physical Education

Foundation, Grade 1/ 2 and 3/4 classes are completing a unit on assessing Movement

 and Physical activity. 

Through sporting school money we have a grant to run a gymnastic program for 1/2/3/4 classes. 

Izzy and Jack from Melbourne Institute of Sport in combination with myself have organised a structured 4 week  Program during Physical Education lessons . 

Here are some photos of our students . 

Teeball Program

5 /6 classes have been using Teeball to develop their Physical Activity and Movement Skills. 

Here are some photos of the students doing activities.