Icarus Community Report
Welcome to the Icarus Community
Welcome to the Icarus Community to all our families! Our students have settled in well to the term and have been eager to learn. We have loved hearing about their holidays and can’t wait to get to know them even better. Term 1 is going to be a very busy term, where students will be learning the routines to their new community. We can’t wait to see the amazing work our students produce!
Reading
In Reading, 3/4 Icarus have been busy creating our Reading Community. We have been focusing on selecting good fit books, setting individual reading goals and practising independent reading skills. Students are currently practising their decoding strategies and monitoring their reading.
Our Home Reading program will commence shortly. Students will be required to borrow good fit texts (texts that students can read comfortably and independently) and read these at home each day. We require students to keep a log of their reading, return their books to school daily and engage in reading and discussions with family members. We would also like parents to sign their child’s record book.
Writing
In Writing in Term 1, we have been working on building our understanding of Narratives. We were learning about the sentence structure and correct use of punctation to write a narrative text. We also were learning about how to use conjunctions, adverbs, and prepositions to make writing more interesting. The students had the opportunity to write compound and complex sentences using conjunctions. They enjoyed sharing their work with a peer and giving feedback about what worked well and ways to improve their writing. Students have been focusing on using correct punctuation to develop their writing skills.
Maths
In Numeracy, students have been learning about various strategies to solve mathematical problems and develop deeper understandings of Place Value Concepts. We have been using number talks to initiate our prior knowledge and solve a problem using different strategies. Students were using STAR method to enhance their problem-solving skills and were able to justify their thinking by showing different ways to solve a problem and explain why they chose an operation/strategy. They were given opportunities to recognise, model, represent and order numbers using hands on activities. Students explored place value concepts using MABs, counters, pop sticks, dice, and number charts. They have been making numbers, grouping them using place value, comparing numbers, and ordering them from smallest to largest and vice versa. Stents enjoyed working collaboratively to explore maths concepts.
Inquiry
This term, students will be exploring the topic ‘Am I the only person responsible for my choices?’ This topic will look at a range of practices including recognising and regulating emotions, developing empathy for others and understanding relationships, establishing and building positive relationships, making responsible choices and developing leadership skills.
They will be guided by the following questions:
- Are all consequences bad?
- How do my choices impact on the people around me?
- How do different people make choices?
Social and Emotional Learning (SEL)
The Icarus community has started the term with embracing a growth mindset through a positive self-talk and the ‘power of yet’. We learned to identify and describe our emotions, as well as recognise how our emotional state impacts our learning. The Icarus students were proactive in creating "Ready to Learn" plans and use the common language about zones of regulation.
Friendly Reminders
- Please ensure your child has a water bottle at school each day and that it is labelled with their name.
- Please ensure your child is attending school regularly and on time as ‘It is not okay to be away’.
- Please ensure that your child is reading their home reader for 20 minutes every night and that their reading log is filled in and signed by a parent/guardian.
- We strongly encourage students bring along some brain food (fruit and vegetables) that they may eat in class. It is important that this is included as an additional snack in their lunchbox.
Best wishes,
3/4 Icarus Teachers
Christina, Amandeep, Amanda and Aliya.